Slicer's big week out
Slicer had a busy week – not with work, but with friends tempting him out to various live music gigs. Slicer yielded to the temptation. First came Blue Rodeo, an alternative country band that’s been around for decades. Make no mistake – this isn’t bluegrass or banjo-pickin’ stuff, tho’ pedal steel was in evidence. It’s rock with strong country and blues tinges. Great atmosphere was generated by a combination of the intimate venue and enthusiastic crowd. Luke Doucet guested on semi-acoustic and added a great deal (although perhaps made a little too much use of the whammy bar). “Walk Like You Don’t Mind” was a highlight, conjuring up all sorts of thoughts from turning the other cheek, to going the extra mile, to simple dogged perseverance in the face of adversity.
The next two gigs were part of a small local guitar festival, and each gig offered multiple artists. Some of the artists have received multiple awards, and have been featured in Guitar enthusiast magazines. However, Slicer is concerned at what seems to gain awards these days – lots of percussion on the guitar body, two handed hammer-ons, and harmonics in excess seem to impress the judges. Sure enough, the first few minutes of acts such as Eric Mongrain and Vicki Genfan did impress but before long Slicer began to crave some melody. Despite overuse of words like “unique” and “innovative,” each was strongly reminiscent of Michael Hedges and, latterly, Tommy Emmanuel. Now Hedges was an innovator, and one Slicer was privileged to see perform live, before his tragic death in 1997 at the age of 43.
Thankfully, other artists on the bill provided the necessary melody, and some slick acoustic blues. Brooks Williams dared to cover Blind Willie McTell’s Statesboro Blues (- we all know that “no-one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell”) and also played Belfast Blues, originally the result of a sound-check improvisation. Unfortunately on this occasion he was restricted to a ridiculously short slot of 25 minutes, to make room for an hour of that “slap and tap” stuff. Perhaps that’s why, disappointingly, we didn’t get his cover of "Key to the Highway."
Jerry Donahue and Doug Morter appeared as part of their “Wood and Wire” tour. Both are long-established artists, but ones who arguably deserve higher profile than they have had, given their substantial contributions over the years. Donahue is ex-Fairport Convention, was also a member of Fotheringay, and more recently has been in a line-up known as the Hellecasters – a less than subtle clue as to what axe its members favour. He’s also famous for his unusual style of bends on the Tele, and demonstrated his “triple bend” – 3 strings bent slowly and accurately at the same time. Morter is an able acoustic guitarist in his own right, who supported Joan Armatrading on her first UK tour, and has toured as support act with numerous artists including The Kinks, Jethro Tull, Bowie and Supertramp. He immediately hit it off with the crowd because of his humour and self-deprecating style: “I wrote this song 20 years ago.... and it’s still crap.” The two endeared themselves to Slicer as well, not least when Morter introduced a song he said he first heard performed by Dylan. He explained that it often goes down well in their gigs in old peoples’ homes: “(There’s one kind of favor I’ll ask of you) See that my grave is kept clean.”
That Blind Lemon Jefferson song asks “Did you ever hear them church bells tone?” Dylan, who often borrows from the blues tradition, used the idiom in his own song “Ring Them Bells.” Bells were ringing across the UK recently for another tour – the Papal visit. As the Pope himself acknowledged (belatedly), the moral credibility of the Church has been damaged by the shameful abuse of children at the hands of some clergy. A few words sung the other night by Vicki Genfan (from “Ain’t Got Love,” a song written by Chris Jones) seem pertinent:
“The keys to the kingdom are not just shiny toys.”
With power (even delegated power) comes responsibility, and there was clearly an abdication of that responsibility. However, in the same song Chris Jones borrows a high principle from the Church:
“If you ain’t got love, you ain’t got nothing at all.”
Seasick Steve, another blues artist, created the brilliantly named album “I started out with nothin’ and I still got most of it left.” Slicer reckons the Church needs to do better at presenting its understanding both that it started out with nothing, and that it’s been given so much. It needs to present better the love that it claims to represent. It needs to demonstrate it. Don’t we all? Then the keys would work better, whether they’re keys to the kingdom, or keys to the highway.
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