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Authentic
Blues?
As many of you know, I’ve been in the music business for many
years. I love to sing the
blues because it fits my style. I
am well-aware that some people think that I do not have “true
blues attributes” of the “stereotypical blueswoman.”
However, I’m quite confident when I say that what I have
few can match.
I’ve learned a lot about people in this business,
and I wanted to share something that alarmed me at a new “blues”
club near my home in Lockport.
Early in January I spoke to the club owner about a booking
my band. He invited me to
come and sing at his open mic on Thursday. I told him I’d be there
and that I would bring my band since they already knew my material.
Since this is a way to audition with the hope of landing
a paying gig, I met my band at the club that Thursday. Bluesman Billy
King and a slew of other local musicians showed up.
Two months went by without a word. However, we did hear
some disturbing news; we heard the club owner would not hire white bluesman.
I knew this basis for hiring was practiced in some Chicago
clubs, but I was floored to hear it was happening in my own back yard!
I’m not one to spread rumors, so I went back to the
club owner.
I arrived at the club and he was talking with a well known
local blues promoter. Since I didn’t intend to stay long, I cut
to the chase and asked him why he hadn’t called me for a gig.
He said he was booked, but that maybe he could get me in
on a Monday; adding that “the dough is low,” but that he
was planning to install a tip jar on the stage.
I didn’t say what I was thinking; instead, I listened.
As he talked, a familiar song came through the sound system. I asked
him who it was.
He said, “It’s Billy King”. I
hesitated, but then asked him why Billy hadn’t received a call
about a gig in this club. He
stuffed his hands in his pockets and then told me he believed that only
black people could accurately sing or play the blues.
I heard my promoter friend holler “Yes! I’m in full
agreement with that!”
I was stunned. The owner added that he thought Billy was
great, but he couldn’t play the club because he was white.
Look up irony in the dictionary:
this club owner loved Billy’s music, and he was using it
sell his idea of blues played by black people!
What?
I turned and asked, “What’s the difference if
you listen to a white musician on your stereo or listen to them live
with your eyes closed? It’s
not about skin color, it’s about the music!”
I had hoped we were past this. It’s upsetting to think
that this sort of prejudice is still with us in 2009.
Evidently, in the eyes of one club owner, we clearly are not.
Honestly, it sickens me that there seems to be such a strong
and persistent reverse racism among some club owners in Chicagoland.
How do these hiring practices promote and support blues musicians
of all colors?
I
wondered what local black blues musicians would think of all this, so
I spoke with a few of them. I learned that they felt much the same way:
there might be a difference in sound “some of the time,”
but to discriminate based on skin color was simply wrong.
The blues communities of St. Louis, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New Orleans
seem to have it right. As
a competitor in the International Blues Challenge myself, I know that
race should not be the sole reason to hire a blues act. I’ve led
blues bands that featured people of all races.
Many great bluesmen and blueswomen have diverse bands.
I really think that a blues community segregated along color
lines helps no one, and I wished more people shared that opinion.
Black musicians = Authentic blues…one hundred percent
of the time? Really?
Maybe we need to open our eyes.
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