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By Eric Steiner
For me, the rain is a recipe for the blues. Even though I've lived in the Seattle area over 20 years now, the daily drizzle of Pacific Northwest winters gets me down. The locals call me a slow learner and that I'd better get used to it. Driving down Interstate 5 during the winter, you can see adults who are old enough to know better playing soccer or riding around in golf carts fixed with colorful umbrellas (they call 'em bumbershoots) on top. In the rain. They'd never do that in February where I come from, not far from Chicago's South Side.
As I drove to the Century Ballroom, the windshield wipers were working overtime and the sky was its usual gunmetal gray. Just the day before, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on groundhog day, and you know what that means: six more weeks of winter. Out here, it means six more weeks of rain.
Tonight was no different, except for the bright spot in my cloudy day: I was heading to the Blue Rock'It Blues Review, headlined by guitarists' guitarist Robben Ford.
I first heard Ford when he played a scorching instrumental recorded live at San Francisco's 9th Annual Concert for Kids at The Fillmore in the mid-90's. "The Brother" left me wanting more than that single cut on KFOG's Live From the Archives II, an annual compilation of in-studio and other live cuts that's grown into a Bay Area perennial bestseller.
Robben Ford is quite a guitar player. In the guitar-god or virtuoso mold of an Eric Johnson, Richard Thompson, or another Eric by the name of Clapton. His resume' includes fusion with the Yellowjackets, jazz with Miles Davis, studio work with Barbra Streisand, back-up for George Harrison and Joni Mitchell, blues with Robben Ford and the Blue Line, and a stint with Tom Scott's L.A. Express. His blues credentials are impeccable, too. At an age when most of us are cramming for college finals, Robben was playing with fellow Blue Rock'It artist Charlie Musselwhite and blues legend Jimmy Witherspoon before his 21st birthday.
Ford headlined the Blue Rock'It Blues Review, which began touring four years ago to highlight the blues talent on this small Redwood Valley, California-based label. While Robben Ford was given top billing, Blue Rock'It artists Michael Osborne and Chris Cain also were given opportunities to launch into some great blues. The label may be small, but there is nothing small about the talent that is on tour with the Blue Rock'It Blues Review.
Michael Osborne started the show with a crisp version of "Let Me Love You Baby," that would make the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn proud. Core Review members included Robben's brother Mark on harp, with Dewayne Pate on bass, and Patrick's son Gabriel Ford behind the drums, and a talented guitarist who could switch from rhythm to lead on just a nod from his bandmates, Volker Strifler. One of the evening's many highlights came early in the show: Mark and Michael introduced an uptempo version of Elmore James' blues classic, "Shake Your Money Maker," that rolled out just like a fast-moving freight train and didn't quit. Muddy Waters once said that Mark Ford would be the next Little Walter, and he lived up to that high praise tonight.
Michael turned the stage over to fellow Blue Rock'It blues astronaut Chris Cain. Cain is a first-class bluesman in the Memphis mold of B.B. King, Arthur Adams or Preston Shannon. Strong finger picking blues with up-front, assertive vocals. His 1987 Blue Rock'It Records release, Late Night City Blues, earned him four Handy Award nominations including Guitarist of the Year. He went on to record a handful of CDs for Blind Pig, and returned to the Blue Rock'It spaceship for 1997's Unscheduled Flight.
By the time Robben Ford plugged in, the SRO crowd at the Century Ballroom was looking for a place to dance. The Century has one of Seattle's largest dance floors at 2000 square feet, but tonight, the dance floor was set up for dinner. No matter. We found nooks and crannies in which to boogie as Ford launched into a souped-up "Good Morning Little School Girl." It was a Ford blues family reunion of sorts with Robben on lead guitar and vocals, Mark on harp and older brother Patrick replaced his son Gabriel behind the drums.
Patrick produced one of my favorite discs of 2000, That's It, from David Raitt and Jimmy Thackery. I've written about That's It in these Cosmik screens before, and it is a blues record from Blue Rock'It that will stand the test of time.
Robben introduced his latest studio disc on Stretch/Blue Thumb from 1999, Supernatural. Last year, another record of the same name by Carlos Santana took home the hardware at the Grammys, but there's quite a bit of magic in Ford's CD. Ford and the Blue Rock'It Review played long, extended versions of "Lovin' Cup" and "Nothing to Nobody," co-written by Robben Ford and former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald. That's what set Robben's work from other blues players: long jams that included some jazz improvisation and gave everyone a turn at a solo. "Tell Me I'm Your Man" from 1992's Robben Ford and the Blue Line ventured far from the blues way out into jazz and funk, but Robben brought everyone back together effortlessly. Two cuts from his Handful of Blues disc from 1995 got people up and moving: "Tired of Talkin'" and "Chevrolet" and they featured some skillfully improvised jazz weaved through traditional blues.
My favorite was a 10-minute slow swaggering "Little Red Rooster," powered by Mark's harp and Patrick's rock-steady beat. With a nod to Elmore James earlier in the set and this simmering version of the Willie Dixon classic, the blues is in good hands with Ford and Co.
More than three hours after Mark Ford took the stage, Robben called Michael Osborne and Chris Cain back to the stage for the encore. No matter that my wipers were doing double-time on the way home, I was flying high on that Blue Rock'It.