I was at a jam session in a small town in Southeast Wisconsin. I noticed
a guy who was watching the players with a certain curious interest. Between
sets, I went over to him and said, "You're a player, aren't you?" "Yeah"
he responded. "But, I haven't played in a while." I asked if he had brought
his guitar, which he had not. He said he was new to the area and preferred
to come the first time and just watch.
A week or two later, he showed up
with his guitar, a '70's era Gibson 175. He had a certain authenticity
to his playing that piqued my own curiosity. As he came out more often,
we had opportunities to play together at the jam and became friends and
started to talk about playing some gigs together. That was over ten years
ago, and we continue to be good friends with the Blues being part of the
glue that binds us, today.
We used the jam to learn each other's styles and nuances in playing.
I grew up on R&B and early 60's rock, with some mix of blues, as it
appeared in R&B. During the early '70's I played cover rock such as
Clapton, Stones, Allman Brothers, and others with a mix of Blues from Albert
King to Freddy King. So, I was as much of a rocker as I was any kind of
blues player.
Then one Sunday evening at the jam, Brennan brought a friend
along. He was Harry "The Harpoon" Yates. Yates didn't have an axe with
him, but did play guitar. He asked for mine, which was open tuned, at the
time. He said he was fine with that, as he actually could only play open
tunings. He wasn't joking. He and Brennan played Blues in a way I had not
heard in a long time. Harry put a spin on the harp that reminded me of
Sonnyboy and Little Walter. His slide guitar along with Brennan's percussive
rhythms and soulful solos convinced me that from that point, all I wanted
to do was to play Blues.
For the next 5 years, I wouldn't even listen to any other musical form,
because I wanted to learn REAL Blues and didn't want other styles to corrupt
my playing. I swapped Harry for one of his Dobros and he showed me some
20's and 30's style licks and off to the land of Blues... I went out and
bought every old recording I could find and played some over and over until
I understood what the true essence of the blues is.
Robert Johnson, Blind Blake and Elmore James became my traveling buddies
in the car. With Brennan's help and guidance, by his being there and especially
in my vocals, I think I've become a true Bluesman, something I am quite
proud of.
Brennan is a humble and noble guy. It wasn't until I knew him
for quite some time, that I found out he had toured Europe, playing with
the likes of Big Joe Turner, George "Harmonica" Smith, and Jonathan Richman,
and appearing on bills with Blues legends like Albert Collins, and Lowell
Fulson. He was a record producer for Rounder and is an extraordinary technician
in the studio. He is mentioned in the latest book on Elmore James, because
Brennan was the only guy who ever figured out how Elmore got his sound.
Today, Brennan and I are best of friends and have hosted jam sessions
in the outskirts of Milwaukee for about 10 years, with some short breaks
between gigs. Our playing has a reciprocity that is as good as any, as
our solos have become flawlessly intertwined, even though after playing
together for over 10 years, we have maintained our own unique playing styles.
Our bass players of choice, whom we have worked with for many years,
are Mike Haasch and P.T. Pedersen. P.T. was Charlie Musslewhite's bassist
during the seventies and is a solid natural blues bassist. He gets the
call, every year, for the Chicago Blues Fest and has sat in with a myriad
of nationally known blues artists.
Our drummer of choice is our good friend and long time master of percussion,
Tom Utschig. Tom played with Luther Allison for a short period. We have
done some studio work and Brennan and I are currently going through our
catalogue of recordings and trying to decide which one we might use for
a CD.
By Chuck Benedon
