Katie

Schardl

By KATI SCHARDL
Tallahassee Democrat

To quote Lightnin' Hopkins, I gotta talk to you on this ol' rainy day.

I'm here to tell you I am sure enough eat up with the blues.

This is not a bad thing. Most folks think of the blues as something sad and bad. It's more than that. The blues as a musical genre encompasses the entirety of human experience – one song can contain all the heartbreak and pure happiness of life. It's a yin-yang thing.

The blues is low-down, nasty, mean and merciless. It is also up-beat, compassionate, funny and sassy. No matter what your state of mind might be at any given time, there's a blues song to match the mood.

Get up on the wrong side of bed? Ma Rainey's "Morning Hour Blues" says it all. Feel like you've got to get out on the dance floor or else you'll burst? You must be one of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun." Looking for some sweet loving from your baby? Let Bessie Smith say it for you with "I'm Wild About That Thing."

There are blues songs about food, sex, religion, work, death, money (and the lack thereof), traveling and supernatural doings. The blues will make you cry, laugh, pray, cuss, sing. It'll make you want to holler, it'll set you free, it'll lift you up and rock you till your skin turns cherry red and the hair stands up on your head.

The blues is all about catharsis and empowerment. It is loneliness so deep it seems there is no bottom. It is connection so strong you can't see the end. Joseph Campbell once referred to "the joyful participation in the sorrows of the world." He wasn't talking specifically about blues music, but it's one of the best descriptions of what the blues is all about.

So when I tell you that I'm neck deep in the blues, it's just my way of saying that I'm experiencing life particularly keenly right now; I feel like a big ol' radio receiver sucking up emotional airwaves. Apparently, I'm not the only one. People are pitching wang dang doodles all over this town.

Every person packed on the dance floor at Dave's CC Club last Saturday night gyrating to Johnny Rawls had the blues and was loving every low-down minute of it. Bonnie Edwards and her excellent band opened the night with blues so hot and heavy it "grabbed mama's child and tore it upside down," in the words of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson.

Monday night, a small army of people turned out at the Pearl Oyster Bar for the Blue Monday Jam, hosted by Bill Pandolfi and featuring former Blackfoot guitarist Charlie Hargrett doing some serious shredding on his gold Gibson Les Paul. It was a world away from Dave's CC Club, but the feeling was the same -- rough, ready and real.

I'm going to ride this blues pony like Mustang Sally, until it bucks me off or takes me where I want to go. Lucky for me, this area is chock full of fine blues artists. A short list includes (but is by no means limited to) Big Daddy & Red Hot Java, the Bonnie Edwards Blues Band, ACME Rhythm & Blues Band, Pando Bando, the King Cotton Blues Band, Pat Ramsey, Charles Atkins & the Blues Boys and Johnnie Marshall. On any given weekend, one or more of them can be found keeping the blues alive somewhere in Tallahassee.

Get sanctified, people. Just tuck that John the Conqueror root in your pocket and let the good times roll.

The Tallahasee Democrat