The 18th annual Canal Bank Shuffle Blues Festival (CBS) is about to start in Thorold tomorrow night, and the genre is showing signs of rebirth along the Niagara frontier.
The area has been a hotbed for blues music over the past few years but it's still a misunderstood musical form as the majority still equate it to that rudimentary form of communication that began in the cotton fields of the deep south.
The Thorold festival this year will feature some traditional blues artists but the music has evolved into many presentations, broadening the appeal.
CBS 2019 will include British rock/blues hall of fame guitarist Matt Schofield and Mississippi's Johnny Rawls performing with an all-star band paying tribute to the great STAX studio of Memphis. And Pretzel Logic will handle the straight rock and roll portion of the program.
But the festival will also include some young players who are forging their own musical path. All hovering around the age of 20, Hayden Fogle from Buffalo, Spencer MacKenzie from Ridgeway, and Riley Michaels from Beamsville will all appear in Thorold stages this weekend.
Blues is not a typical genre for young people to excel in, but these three have already managed to make waves well beyond this region.
"To me, the blues is simply a way of expression. I can tell you a lot more about how I am feeling with music than I can with words. It just possesses a feeling of normality to me, in the sense that I can be who I am as an artist, and I don't have to feel restricted to a specific set of rules when it comes to my music," Michaels told the Thorold News.
Fogle explained, "It seemed to really speak to my soul. It’s just so raw, and a clear cut way of expressing emotion, and feelings. Listening to the greats, like the three Kings (Albert, BB and Freddie), Buddy Guy, and Albert Collins, just connected with me so well, and gave me a feeling unlike that of any other genre of music."
And it's that deep inner connection the music seems to install in listeners and performers that has been mentioned time and again by artists who have made their way to Thorold over the past 18 years.
Mackenzie added, "I made my way into the blues because it reminded me of being so happy. And later, playing this form of music gave me even more joy.”
He credits more local influences, saying, "I got into the blues seriously by taking part in jams like the one at Donnelly's (Pub), influenced by players like Brant Parker."
All three expressed an early connection to the music and that explains how they became so proficient while still in their early teens.
"I got into blues before I could even walk. I used to live in Mississippi, and when I was growing up I fell in love with blues the first time I heard a Muddy Waters record," said Fogle.
Michaels cited more recent artists. "I'm a huge John Mayer fanatic, and through listening to him, and people like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Elvis Presley, I found myself getting closer and closer to the style. It felt relatable," he said.
All three view the blues genre as a living, breathing form of art while acknowledging it's not generally the music of choice for young people.
To Fogle, it's a matter of exposure. "I think to convince young people to pay attention to the music, we just need to expose them to it more, on the radio, on TV, and in places where music is being played. Buddy Guy told me once that he could count on his fingers the number of radio stations that play his music, and this was really heartbreaking."
For Michaels, it's a matter of peer pressure. He noted, "We have to convince young people that it is okay to be different. Everyone likes to hop on a band wagon and listen to rap and pop because all of their friends do, and I think we need to encourage young people to really be individual and find music that conveys emotion and lyrical content, rather than the vibe that music gives off."
Fogle agreed, saying, "It’s all about what gets played, and when pop and rap music are being played constantly, people are going to listen to it, and that’s what we need to do with blues."
But MacKenzie feels a resurgence. "I see the blues going to a whole new level. Not only on a music level, but stylistically, it is brining in a number of different influences. I feel that if we broaden the genre that it will do wonderful things,” he speculated.
And Michaels argues we stand to lose much more than a specific type of music if the blues disappears from the airwaves.
"We will lose our sense of displaying meaning and conveying stories in our writing, and I think we need to get back into that," he said.
Fogle offered, "I see the blues as an evolving genre, but I don’t think the core elements of it will ever be lost. Musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan seemed to take inspiration from the greats who came before them, and added their own interpretation to it. Willie Dixon said, 'The blues is the roots. The rest is the fruits.' Blues will always be at the root of everything, even when it may not seem so." (As a side note, Freddie, the son of Willie Dixon, will be at the Shuffle this year.)
For music lovers in Niagara, it's a tremendous comfort to see these young players evolve and stay connected at a visceral level to a very emotional form of music. And like Stevie Ray Vaughan, who is credited with reviving the genre a few decades after its golden era, these young guns are poised to keep it alive and take it to new levels.
For complete schedule and lineup visit the Canal Bank Shuffle Website.
