Let them play! - Canadian Blues

Let them play!

Written by John Taylor

Pop music, of course, is very much a flavour-of-the-month proposition; and in the market-driven rush to keep up with the new, there's little room for what's come before.

Pop music, of course, is very much a flavour-of-the-month proposition; and in the market-driven rush to keep up with the new, there's little room for what's come before.

"Retro" has now come to mean "last month," and the term "classic" seems no longer based on enduring value, but rather on the notion that "we can squeeze a few more bucks outta this sucker." And given the enormous profits and fierce competition for a piece of the profit pie, it's little wonder that today's superstars are tomorrow's trash.

Then there's the image thing; success in the pop world is rarely based on artistic accomplishment but rather on who's the most attractive, and who's likeliest to fuel adolescent fantasies. And all the makeup, all the trick lighting in the world isn't going to transform a poor octogenarian with fewer teeth than fingers into a sex symbol.

(Curious, though, that while blues reveres its "elder statesmen," and that rock 'n' roll was born of the blues, rock music to a very large degree still insists on mistrust of anyone much past puberty!).

But blues, taking as its subject matter life itself, has always placed greater value on experience, and its musical merit is judged upon the truth, the honesty with which that experience is expressed. And we've all heard the hoary old cliché that says one has to live the blues to sing the blues.

So does that mean that blues can only be played by those of a certain age, a certain level of experience? Is there any validity in the musical musings of pimply-faced adolescents who sing of heartbreak, when those who've been around the proverbial block a few more times know full well it amounts to little more than puppy love?

Seems to me the answer's yes.

True, we older blues fans may prefer a little more depth, a bit more meat to the experience that forms the basis of the tale at hand. But blues is by no means exclusively for the mature. It may help to have a few grey hairs, but it isn't essential. Electric it may often be, but blues is still folk music, of and by the people. And the young are people too.

All too often we forget that what we regard as "classic" blues - the magnificent music made by Muddy, Wolf, Sonny Boy and their ilk in post-war Chicago - was created when they themselves were young men. That they were still able to sing it, and play it with conviction and authority well into their twilight years merely attests to the enduring strength of the material - material, again, created largely by the young.

Times have changed, to be sure. One could easily argue that instrumental proficiency has increased substantially over the years; as in sports, milestones set by forbearers are mere stepping stones for those who come after, and many of today's players, technically speaking, can play rings around those of old. And in a world of sound bytes, headline news, and information overload, we've less and less time for subtlety. As a result, there's a tendency on the part of younger players to play faster, to cram in as many notes as possible. Often it's little more than macho posturing, a "look what I can do" approach. But is that really all that new? So-called classic blues is full of such posturing, and there's certainly no shortage of boastful braggadocio in the songs we think of as the genre's standards. Such antics may seem immature, but in truth they're as timeless as testosterone.

That each generation must assert itself, reject the old to establish its own voice, is simply a part of life, a rite of passage into adulthood. And if "we" - the current old guard, those who revere the towering figures who defined the blues as we know it, suppress the voices that are eager to define what it means for future generations - well, the blues will die off just as surely as we ourselves will, and until then will become increasingly marginalized, more and more relegated to a nostalgia niche.

Yes, the up-and-comers need seasoning; there's no question most blues artists do indeed improve with age and experience. There are lessons to be learned that only time can teach. Some will find the form too restrictive; will stretch the boundaries beyond the recognizable. It won't always be good, nor will it always be to the music's benefit.

But if blues as an art form is to survive at all, the current crop of youngsters are the ones who'll inherit it; eventually it'll be theirs to do with as they see fit. The best we can do is nurture them, support them, teach them... and ultimately, as any parent must, to let go, allow them free reign, to let them find their own way in the world.

Have faith. They'll be all right.

Copyright 2002 John Taylor

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