I just received the link to the video of our performance at the Blues Blast Music Awards last October in Champaign IL: youtu.be/hjpMfiBvk8I And, if you havent seen the cover story and interview in this weeks Blues Blast Magazine, see below Enjoy, and Happy Holidays, Bernie > > FEATURED BLUES INTERVIEW - BERNIE PEARL > > _BROWNIE, SONNY, LIGHTNIN,\ SAM SAID;_ > > _LEARN THIS MUSIC AND UNDERSTAND;_ > > _IT COMES FROM TRUE LIFE INTO YOUR HEART;_ > > _AND WE\RE GOING TO HELP YOU MAKE A START._ > > - FROM SITTIN\ ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BLUES > > The above lyrics from the title track of California bluesman Bernie > Pearls 2011 compact disc name-check some highly-regarded and > well-respected pioneers of the blues. But those are more significant to > Pearl than just some random names pulled out of a dusty ole history book. > Those are some of the names that Pearl saw play, hung out with, got to > know as people and even shared the stage with on many occasions at the > fabled Ash Grove. Those are some of the names that helped Pearl first step > onto what has now became a lifelong path of playing the authentic blues. > Even the title of that song, Sittin On The Right Side Of The Blues is > an homage to those legends, for it was on the right side of the stage > where Pearl sat at the Ash Grove, just so he could watch their hands in > action. > > Pearl gives a tip of the hat and hearty thanks to Mississippi Fred > McDowell, Lightnin Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Big Joe Williams and more, on > his newest long-player, _Take Your Time_ (Bee Bump Music). Just like his > previous release was, _Take Your Time_earned a _Blues Blast Award_ > nomination for Best Acoustic Album this year. > > Its been a year of challenge and its been a year of great satisfaction. > I had a health issue at the end of last year (2013), which has been solved > and Ive been fine ever since. But really, it was my first time ever > having any kind of health issue and Im 75, so my apple cart was upset a > little bit, but its under control and Im fine, Pearl said. That > coincided with the finishing of _Take Your Time_ and really from the start > of the year, promoting the album and doing my CD release concerts, along > with various other gigs, it was a real challenge. But the way its worked > out - with the _Blues Blast_ nomination and with the airplay its gotten > and all the good reviews - has been very gratifying. I do think its my > best work. > > _Take Your Time_ represents more than just an album title to Pearl. Its > also a fragment of advice that was given to him by Rossville, Tennessees > favorite son - Mississippi Fred McDowell. > > Thats what he used to say and I think thats good advice for not only > playing music and playing the blues, but also when used as a life lesson; > dont hurry, Pearl said. Mance Lipscomb used to say similar things, but > that was one of Freds things he would say when we were playing, Take > your time, take your time. Dont hurry it, let it go where it needs to > go. > > The fantastically-gifted Barbara Morrison makes a special guest appearance > on _Take Your Time_, lending her prodigious vocal talents on three of the > tracks. Even though Pearl and Morrison had never sang together on an album > before, their vocals mesh and intertwine spot-on, complementing each other > as though theyve been playing together on a regular basis (Thats a > tribute to her artistry, Pearl said. Id never had the audacity to sing > with her before.). > > I had met Barbara in 1981 when we were both involved in a stage > production that was an adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorcas play called > _Yerma_. The director wanted to put it in a fictitious deep-south setting > with an all-black cast. He got in touch with me to provide some authentic > music that would work with the songs and the dialogue, he said. Barbara > was a member of the cast and as soon as I heard her sing, I recognized her > as somebody extraordinaire. It turned out that at that time, she was > working with Johnny Otis and Cleanhead Vinson and Big Joe Turner and > people I knew, so we became friends at that time. > > Friends, but not yet collaborators at that point in time; that would come > several decades later. > > We always talked about doing something together - and this was in 1981 - > so we come to 2014 and I mentioned to her that I had been in the studio > for the first session, which was just the bass player and myself. I wrote > her an e-mail saying that I was really happy with the session and she > wrote back to me and said, Could you use a girl singer? laughed Pearl. > And she wanted to do it, so we had one session with her and remarkably, > the session was on a Wednesday and she came over the Monday night before > that and we went over the songs and I made a tape for her of them. She > learned them and we had the lyrics in the studio and we went through them, > mostly in one take on everything. One of the things that I was most > pleased with out of the sessions was the way our vocals worked together . > I mean, I really didnt know what was going to happen when we sang > together, so Im glad it came off like it did. > > Once in the studio, the spirit quickly moved through Morrison and her > natural talents easily sprang to life. > > We were listening to the Lightnin Hopkins tune (Katie Mae) that the > bass player (Mike Berry) and I had recorded and she said, Oh, that makes > me want to moan. And so she did it (moaned) in the studio in an entirely > different place (in the song) than where it ended up, said Pearl. When > we got to that place, I said, Lets see if we can move her moaning over > here and use it instead of a sax solo. It was just completely fortuitous > and it worked out perfectly and brought a great deal of smiles to all of > us. > > Pearls lifelong involvement in blues music covers more territory than > simply just playing guitar, singing and writing songs. Hes also been a > producer, a promoter of concerts and festivals, a teacher (of guitar), an > educator (on the history of the blues) and a disc jockey. Thats a lot of > different balls to juggle - sometimes all at the same time - but Pearl > just seems to take it all in stride. > > Well, the only real time when that becomes a challenge - and Im glad I > dont do it anymore - is when Ive produced a festival or show and was > also emcee, producer and bandleader, he said. Thats hard . too hard. > But I love teaching. When I go out to play a festival, I always offer > instructions or workshops or lectures of some kind. I really enjoy sharing > my perception of things. I dont play every style of blues, but Ive taken > on certain styles that Ive made headways with. > > All the different styles of blues that Pearl has played and experimented > with over the years had a comfortable and cozy home on Melrose Avenue in > Los Angeles from the late 50s until the early 70s at the fabled Ash > Grove. There, Bernies brother Ed Pearl, the owner and operator of the Ash > Grove, booked artists such as Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Taj Mahal and > Sleepy John Estes - to name just a very few - as well as now-iconic > roots-based performers such as Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Flatt and > Scruggs. And for the lions share of those 15 years the coffeehouse/club > was thriving, you could bet that Bernie Pearl was there, soaking it all > in. > > In the 50s, there was a very vital black scene (in southern California) > that I and very few other white people had anything to do with or any > connection to. We had such a depth of everything from Cleanhead Vinson > to T-Bone Walker and Pee Wee Crayton - the more polished acts - to guys > like George Harmonica Smith and Harmonica Fats and dozens and dozens of > great players like that in those days. The Ash Grove was where people got > exposed to hearing the real stuff . it was a real forum. I give a lot of > credit to my brother for being so open to bringing in not only the Son > Houses and the Bukka Whites, but also the local black performers that > started coming in because people like Big Mama Thornton and Howlin Wolf > played there, Pearl said. That helped some of the local artists to find > a home there and thats how I ended up meeting most of them. > > Not only did Bernie Pearl meet and hang out with most of those legendary > artists that stopped in to play at the Ash Grove, he was also fortunate to > end up calling many of them friend and along the way, he picked up some > priceless first-hand lessons on how to play the real-deal blues from the > hands of the masters themselves. > > It was a revelation. And really, most of the education came from the > hanging-out part. I, for one, didnt approach them from a > teach-me-how-to-do-that perspective; it was more from the personalizing > aspect of knowing them as people and their entirely-different > experiences, he said. They were only too open to talk about their lives, > and in many cases, they willingly shared their music. But more importantly > to me, they shared the background of the music and what it meant. They > never set up a standard of youre white, so you really cant do it. > Along that tangent, they were pretty much universally upset - in their own > language - that my own peoples dont learn my music. They were very much > afraid that their music would die with them. Most all of them expressed > that and were all very encouraging. The really great revelation was how > they were as people . some were more gregarious than others, but they were > all pretty open to friendships and personal relationships; and these were > the legendary masters. > > One of those masters - Brownie McGhee - ended up spending some one-on-one > time with Pearl, showing him some of the nuances of the Piedmont style of > blues picking. > > I approached him and asked him for some paid lessons and ended up taking > a few of those with him for a couple of years. I dont play much in > Brownies style, but that was really my start. It was sitting in my > brothers kitchen with me and Brownie on guitar and Sonny Terry sitting > beside, gently blowing his harp and going Whoop, whoop, whoop. Thats a > pretty good kick. And learning with Brownie prepared me for Lightnin who > came along a year or two later. I got a lesson from him and started > working on his stuff and pretty soon, I was playing with him. I never did > take the stage with Brownie, though. Lightnin would say, Learn this. > Then go away for a couple of months and come back and wed pick right back > up. > > Although he may not have criss-crossed the globe with her, Pearl did pull > a tour of duty in Big Mama Thorntons band back in the day. > > I was only with her for like six weeks. I had just came back from a > summer in New York and showed up at the Ash Grove and my brother asked me > who played better blues on the electric guitar, me or my partner David. I > said, I do. And he told me that Big Mamas guitar player either quit or > was fired and she needed a guitar player for that night, Pearl laughed. > So I went and got my guitar and sat in the dressing room and played some > B.B. King riffs for her and she liked them, so she hired me. I was with > her for a few weeks and she was indeed a character. She was a real person; > she could be rough-and-tough, but my take on it was she was a woman alone > in a rough mans world and she had to have a gruff exterior to survive. I > was really not that well-versed on the electric guitar at that time. I was > looking to do more Lightnin Hopkins kind of stuff, and to be truthful, I > didnt cut it after awhile and I was let go. But we remained friends after > I left her band. She was a great artist. > > Pearl never really had any sort of master-plan or grand designs on > becoming a musician. Its not like he just woke up in 2014 and realized > that hed been playing the blues for five decades, but . > > It was kind of a gradual decline; I slowly fell into the pit and only > come up for air by teaching and doing this or that, he laughed. But I > love the whole thing. I love the blues, I love the blues people, I love > the repertoire . I love the comradery, and Ive pretty much just tried to > focus on that. > > A defining moment in Pearls transformation into a bluesman came early > on, way back in 1958, when not as a performer, but rather as a customer, > he attended a show at the Ash Grove. > > Yeah, my epiphany came very early on. I was sitting at a table with a > couple of friends and it was a folk music show - the headlining act was > some local folk renown at the time, one that the crowd came to see - and > the opening act was Jesse Fuller, the one-man band. When he started > playing, me and my friends went nuts. At a certain point I looked around > and was expecting the house to be jumping, but the folk music crowd was > just sitting there, sipping their cappuccino and waiting for Jesse to get > off the stage, he said. So thats the moment that the drum started > beating in my head. I thought that was way too compelling. At that time I > didnt think I would ever understand what he was playing, or what the > blues were, I just knew I was seeing something special. > > Southern California still has a healthy blues scene these days, but in > Pearls eyes, its hard-pressed to keep pace with what it once was when > the Ash Grove was the destination for real-deal blues and folk. > > I have to say that its (the blues scene in southern California) devolved > into something that Im not much a part of. I dont hear a lot of variety > in approaches and I dont hear much traditional blues being done, he > said. A lot of it is really rock-oriented, and then you have the west > coast jump thing, but its primarily a white scene. So I havent been > really involved with the local scene for awhile. Theres a lot of blues > and a lot of blues bands and blues players here. Im constantly amazed at > how many really good guitar players there are. But ultimately, I think a > lot of them have not adhered to the take your time and be yourself > principal. I do get a little tired of the emphasis being on the show, > rather than the more palpable content of the blues. > > Tentative plans are being made for Pearl and Morrison to reunite next year > for a set of country blues in a festival-type setting. Fingers are being > crossed that the duo has the opportunity to head back into the studio and > lay down some of those country blues tunes onto disc. Whether or not that > comes to fruition, one thing is certain; Bernie Pearl is going to keep > doing what hes done for over five decades now, which is just to be Bernie > Pearl. > > Lightnin Hopkins and Smokey Wilson gave me the same advice, decades > apart, and that was to be yourself, he said. So I dont try anything > that is not of myself. Thats what I do. > > Visit Bernies website at [LINK: berniepearl/] > berniepearl/ > > PHOTOS BY BOB KIESER © 2014 BLUES BLAST MAGAZINE > > BLUES BLAST MAGAZINE SENIOR WRITER TERRY MULLINS IS A JOURNALIST, AUTHOR > AND FORMER RECORD STORE OWNER WHOSE PERSONAL TASTE IN MUSIC IS THE SONIC > EQUIVALENT OF ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER. WORKS BY THE BEE GEES, CAPTAIN > BEEFHEART, BLACK SABBATH, EARTH, WIND & FIRE AND WILLIE NELSON SHARE > EQUAL SPACE WITH MUDDY WATERS, THE STAPLES SINGERS AND R.L. BURNSIDE IN > HIS COMPACT DISC COLLECTION. HE\S ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO SPEND TIME HANGING > OUT ON THE STREET CORNERS OF CLARKSDALE, MISS., EATING COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF > BARBECUED DELICACIES WHILE LISTENING TO THE WONDERFUL SOUNDS OF THE BLUES.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 23:02:28 +0000
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