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     Who Stole the Soul from the Blues? - December 4, 2006
 Who Stole the Soul from the Blues?
  Blues Foundation policies not helping most black musicians

  This essay also blogged at:
 www.bluescritic.com/morecommentary.htm


   The world is going to end soon, declared the crusty old author Kurt 
Vonnegut, in the Aug. 24 2006 Rolling Stone. America’s addiction to oil 
will bring world war and environmental collapse, Vonnegut said; it’s 
hopeless.

  Except for one thing: the Blues.

   “You must realize that the priceless gift that African-Americans gave 
us musically is almost the only reason many foreigners still tolerate 
us,” Vonnegut said. “That the specific remedy for the worldwide 
epidemic of depression is the blues."

   Growing out of some of the toughest human conditions in the world, 
blues has struck a universal note. “Blues is the classical music of 
Black people,” wrote Ralph Metcalfe Jr., music promoter and historian. 
More broadly, blues is the root of American popular music: jazz, rock, 
r&b, hiphop, even influencing country and folk music

   Yet, like other forms of American roots music, blues gets lost in the 
scramble for the latest marketable new thing. A few giant record 
companies and media chains control hundreds of stores, venues and radio 
stations. Their advertisers want pop music that is safe, bland, even 
trashy.

   As the great old generation of blues men and women pass from the 
scene, the blues sinks further in the marketplace. Bob Putignano’s 
column from New York in the December 2006 issue of Big City Rhythm & 
Blues magazine notes, “Each day does not pass without some disturbing 
news about an artist not being able to go out on tour, a label running 
into financial stress, and about how clubs are not as willing to book 
blues based music.” Blues record companies constantly lament their tiny 
1-2% share of the market. Schools keep cutting arts subjects out of the 
curriculum; in many cities, students are starved for musical 
instruments and teachers. If young people don’t hear blues, how can 
they get into it?

   Standing against this tide is a diehard network of blues societies, 
largely-volunteer radio DJs, festivals, and small local venues. For 
national leadership, many blues fans look to the Blues Foundation in 
Memphis. The Foundation states that its mission is “to preserve blues 
history, celebrate blues excellence, support blues education and ensure 
the future of this uniquely American art form.” 
http://www.blues.org/about/index.php4

   But what is the Blues Foundation doing to fulfill its mission? Its 
two major events are not education, nor outreach to find new fans. 
Rather, they are competitions among existing musicians! The Blues Music 
(W.C.Handy) Awards and the International Blues Challenge (IBC) aim at 
generating even more new bands, not new fans. The blues music business 
is already crowded and sometimes vicious. In Chicago, which advertises 
itself as the world blues capital, tourist clubs are paying musicians a 
pittance. With the infighting over smaller and smaller crumbs in a tiny 
pie, the blues could soon die of backstabbing.

   The main Blues Foundation competition is the “Blues Music Awards” in 
May, formerly named after W.C. Handy, a highly educated 
African-American composer in the early 20th century when vaudeville was 
evolving into jazz. Handy, a trumpet player, discovered black people in 
the south playing a primitive music, which they called the blues. One 
wonders why the dignified, historic name “Handy Awards” was dropped, 
just last year.

   The awards themselves show that today’s African-American blues men 
and women are not being encouraged to emerge in their 40s and 50s. Of 
25 Handy Award categories in 2006, 10 went to white musicians, 15 to 
black. Of the 15 black artists receiving awards, six were deceased and 
all but one of the rest were over 65. The opposite was true for the 
white awardees; all were under 65. The message to up and coming black 
blues artists, intended or not: You are worth nothing until you are old 
or dead.

   How does the Blues Foundation determine the winners? Record companies 
and current recordings dominate the process. Record companies and some 
artists submit recordings, limited to releases in that year, to 100-125 
blues business people whose identity is screened from the public. The 
Foundation website does not say who chooses the “committee of 100.” The 
committee goes through two rounds of nomination; fortunately, those 
with vested interest in a song or artist are excluded from Round 2. 
Foundation members (memberships cost $25; you can join at www.blues.org 
) then vote among five nominees in each category.

   Early Handy award winners were solid blues men and women. 
http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/pastyears.php4
   In 1982 they included Albert King, Bobby Blue Bland, Sippie Wallace, 
Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells. Are there good musicians following in their 
legacy out there today? Yes…and though their names are not household 
words, their faces can be found on the covers of Big City Rhythm & 
Blues, Living Blues, and several fine European magazines. But they 
don’t have a record deal every year, so you won’t find them at the 
Handy (sorry, I’m still calling it Handy) Awards. Instead, you’ll find 
some big names of pop and rock stars who happen to do a blues album.

   Blues is not the music of successful pop and rock stars. It is the 
cry of a people who suffered 500 years of slavery, poverty, brutality, 
and discrimination. And, some say, even that cry is being stolen from 
them.

   Besides having a tough time winning Handy Awards at the top end, the 
middle aged African-American professional musicians also face obstacles 
trying to break into the bottom of the national blues scene. For 20 of 
the 22 year history of the International Blues Challenge each February, 
the rules favored amateurs over professionals. Only after an outcry 
when Joey Gilmore was disqualified as first place winner of the 2005 
competition due to an obscure 10 year old record deal, were the rules 
changed to fully admit professionals. The rules had excluded many 
African American full time musicians in favor of mostly-white amateurs 
with money to promote themselves.

   It doesn’t stop there. National and local Blues Challenge winners are 
awarded agents and festival slots. Hearing these amateur bands, fans 
will not necessarily learn what real blues sounds like. And amateur 
acts that take blues festival or club stages tend to put veteran 
professional musicians out of a job.

   The contest rules on judging also fall short. The Blues Foundation’s 
website under “IBC Scoring Criteria” says only: “Everyone has his or 
her own interpretation of what is and is not Blues. Any given 
three-judge panel will include members with varying opinions of blues, 
covering the spectrum of blues whenever possible, from the most 
traditional to soul/blues and rock/blues.”

   In reality, with very few African-Americans in the local or national 
judging panels, the evaluating is not always balanced. Even though the 
IBC scale is supposed to be “4 points blues content, 3 points talent, 2 
points originality and 2 points stage presence,” bands emphasizing 
original rock or folk-rock tunes have won first place in local 
competitions this year.

   Go back to the definition of blues. The key is not making up 
something original and clever, although that can be entertaining. 
Rather, the blues is based on feeling. “Ever since the blues first 
developed from African-American field hollers, feeling has been the 
most essential ingredient,” writes critic Bill Dahl under “What is the 
Blues: Essays” on the Blues Foundation web site, www.blues.org.

   One problem might be that it’s hard to judge “feeling.” Many of us 
hesitate to use our right brains when we are designated a “judge.” 
Again, the African-American culture puts greater weight on feelings and 
relationships than the mainstream European American culture which 
values facts and theories. Perhaps having more black judges would bring 
back the feeling.

   Willie Dixon, musician, producer and songwriter, was fond of saying 
that blues are the roots, other music is the fruits. And today, white 
critics like David Whiteis have pointed out that the roots of blues are 
in the feelings and community of African American culture. Separate the 
roots from the fruits too far, and you won’t have any more blues.

   Could it be that an unconscious form of discrimination—the separation 
of the music from the people who make the music-- has eroded the heart 
and soul of the blues, and that is why it’s not winning more fans? 
Don’t we need a conscious effort to reconnect today’s aging masters of 
the art with African American young people, who are recently showing 
signs of interest? Don’t we need also to put these musical masters to 
work educating and entertaining people of all ages and backgrounds, 
instead of so much emphasis on contests pitting them against each 
other?

   With better fed, happy professional blues men and women leading the 
way for other fans and musicians, blues will again be able to do its 
magical work: helping save the world by changing sorrow into fun!

   Your comments are welcome; send them to me at : 
bonni at barrelhousebonni.com


  Appendix: WC HANDY “BLUES MUSIC AWARD” winners, May 2006

  African Americans (15 awards) and year of birth:
   --Little Milton Campbell, 1934-2005: Album of Year, Soul Blues Album, 
Soul Blues Male Artist, Song of Year
  --Clarence Gatemouth Brown, fiddle instrumentalist, 1924-2005
  --Buddy Guy: Entertainer of Year, 1936
  --Zac Harmon, Best New Artist, 1957
  --Etta James, Traditional Female Artist, 1938
  --BB King, Traditional Male Artist, 1925
  --Eddie Shaw, horn instrumentalist, 1937
  --Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, drum instrumentalist, 1936
  --Mavis Staples, Soul Blues Female Artist, 1940
  --Hubert Sumlin, guitar instrumentalist and Traditional album, 1931
   --Historical Album of Year, Chess Recordings Vol. 2:, 1952-58: Muddy 
Waters , others

  Non African Americans (10 awards and year of birth)
  --Marcia Ball, piano instrumentalist, 1949
  --Tab Benoit, Contemporary album, 1967
  --Mookie Brill, bass instrumentalist, 1960
  --Al Kooper, Comeback Album, 1945
  --Janiva Magness, contemporary Blues Female Artist, 1957
  --Charlie Musselwhite, harmonica instrumentalist, 1944
   --Paul Oscher, acoustic album and acoustic artist of year, age not 
given, under 65
  --Rod Piazza & Mighty Flyers, band of year, 1947
  --Kim Wilson, contemporary blues male artist, 1951


   Bonni McKeown, the white middle class author of this article, is a 
freelance writer and blues piano player in Charleston WV. She spent 
three years on the West Side of Chicago and co-produced Chicago 
bluesman Larry Taylor’s debut album They Were in This House. Her 
website is www.barrelhousebonni.com.

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