Kingston Mines was filled with music from 7:30 pm until 3 in the morning. This is a pretty typical night at this famous blues bar in Chicago and, on November 23, the crowd of mostly local Chicagoans was treated to some rocking music by Thornetta Davis and Joanna Connor. While these singing ladies may not carry the same name recognition as some of the Blues greats that lived and worked in Chicago like Howlin Wolf or Muddy Waters, they are well known and respected amongst fans.
For both artists, what truly carries their solo albums is passion and feeling — a love of the blues that you can taste. Connor’s skills on the guitar were impressive as she improvised sweet licks, and both bands can certainly play. Kingston Mines has a good set up that alternates between two stages, allowing the musicians who have the stamina to play deep into the night. Instead of having one band play for eight hours straight, they alternate. One band will play on the left stage for 30 minutes to an hour, while the other takes a break, and then the band on the right stage will play a set while the band on the left stage takes a break.
A panorama of the inside of Kingston Mines in Chicago.
Connor’s first two sets were decent, but she progressively got looser, and her band really started to have some fun on the stage by her third set. My Dad and I sang along together to her rendition of “Whipping Post” by the Allman Brothers, belting “My friends tell me that I’ve been such a fool. But I stand by and take it baby, all for lovin’ you.” Another highlight was a jam-filled performance of “Playing In The Dirt”, off Connor’s album Believe It! (1990) which she played fast and aggressively. It was a special moment to be able to share the experience of live blues with my father at a classic establishment founded in 1968.
My Pops couldn’t hold out until the last bass pluck, guitar chord, and shaking sad, trembling note of the night, but, in his defense, he is getting old. In defense of the boundless energy the blues can summon from the depths of old bones, Connor is 56 and Davis is 55, and neither showed any sign of slowing down. Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater played electric performances until he died at 83, just last June. “The Chief” and Buddy Guy played together in January at Buddy Guy’s Legends, a blues club owned by Buddy Guy in Chicago, and it was the best blues show I’ve heard. Buddy himself has played with Joanna on several occasions and, despite his age (82), his voice and guitar still travel the canon of the blues with skill and emotion.
While age may not matter as much in some professions, it certainly plays a large role in the music industry. The harsh truth remains that many musicians get burned out from touring year after year, or are unable to consistently provide new material to stay relevant to their fans. Not only that, but the blues itself is getting old. The delta blues formed in the early 20th century, and after the genre evolved and expanded, the new musical possibilities eventually grew thinner. The blues seems to be losing steam in 2018. I doubt 18-26 year olds are Thornetta’s biggest growing demographic of fans. In terms of musical quality, the blues records coming out now have drastically decreased in quality from their peak in the 1950’s and 60’s (in my personal opinion), and many of the chart toppers are above 40.
Many of the upcoming younger bands that play blues and rock, like Larkin Poe (comprised of Georgia-born sisters Megan and Rebecca Lovell, aged 29 and 27, respectively) rely heavily on cover material. For instance, Larkin Poe’s 2017 album Peach is composed of nearly half cover material from the likes of Lead Belly, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson. I will say that it is refreshing to hear female vocals on blues staples like “Come on in My Kitchen” by Robert Johnson, but for the blues to progress as a genre, I believe it needs to move away from the past and into new directions. If the blues doesn’t change, it risks forever stagnating and becoming a relic of the past.
Maybe my hopes are too high, and I should just accept that the blues will never move beyond the greatness of what it once was. Old stars and new cover artists alike will honor the songs made, in many cases, over 50 years ago. For me, nothing I have seen yet will capture the original spirit and authenticity that formed those records so long ago.
Your move, young blues artists. I’m rooting for you but trying to be a realist here. While the blues will likely never be as popular as it once was, the younger generation of musicians need to start focusing less on covers and more on writing new unique songs.
Article and photo by Jack Austin