ANYONE WHO caught Mike Henderson and The Bluebloods on Jools Holland s New Year s Eve Hootenanny special will have been left in no doubt about the awesome power this Nashville-based blues outfit are capable of generating.
The band s debut album, First Blood, released last year on the Dead Reckoning label, was one of the most refreshing offerings of raw blues heard in a long while. From the opening bars of When I Get Drunk to the album s closing cut a powerhouse version of Elmore James funky Mean Mistreater First Blood blends shuffling rhythm and blues with blistering slide guitar, perfectly backdropping Henderson s gravel-throated singing.
The Bluebloods established their reputation at a Monday night residency in Nashville s Bluebird club. The fact that there is a blues scene of any kind in the country music capital of the world may come as a revelation to some but not to Missouri-born Henderson.
Blues has always been very popular in Nashville, he insists. I ve never seen much difference between the two kinds of music myself. To me, all American music has a basis in the blues. If you check back, most old country songs have the word `blues in them somewhere. The main difference is in the way they re sung and in the rhythm. A country drummer would play on the beat and a blues drummer would play behind it.
The Bluebloods credentials are almost as impressive as their sound. Henderson, who is equally adept at playing bluegrass and country has recorded with Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt and Delbert McClinton and had his songs covered by The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Patty Loveless. Reese Wynans, the keyboard player was previously in Stevie Ray Vaughan s Double Trouble while the drummer John Gardner has laid down the beat for the likes of Johnny Cash and Al Kooper. Bassist Glen Worf has played live, and on record with, amongst others, Aaron Neville, Bryan Adams, Lonnie Mack and Mark Knopfler.
Knopfler in fact, has become a huge fan of The Bluebloods and writes the liner notes on First Blood. There really aren t that many people around who can write, sing and play country and then deliver a cracking blues set without so much as a pause, he observes, adding that, Henderson sings and plays the way a hundred blues bands can t and don t.
First Blood was recorded live in the studio over a two day period, with most of the tracks put down on the first take. This approach, as Henderson explains, lends it an organic, natural feel. We just went in and did what we always do, he says. In that sense, it sounds exactly like our live set so anyone who likes us live will like the record.
The album features a slew of blues standards ripped apart and reconstructed by Henderson & crew, from Sonny Boy Williamson s smouldering So Sad To Be Lonesome to Hound Dog Taylor s Give Me Back My Wig and there s even a nod towards Bo Diddley on Pay Bo Diddley , a song that was recorded by Henderson s previous band, The Snakes, with Diddley himself guesting. He gets a third of the publishing rights, says Henderson. He s had so many bad publishing deals in the past that it s only fair to acknowledge his influence on the song.
Henderson attributes much of the Bluebloods success to being part of the Dead Reckoning family, a label that also includes more country-oriented artists such as Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Tammy Rodgers.
It s close knit thing and we re all helping out each other, he explains. More importantly we feel that we re building something that is going to last. We re bringing out an album featuring all the people on the label soon and we ll probably tour together under the Night Of Reckoning banner.
If their last visit to these shores is anything to go by it ll be unmissable so be there! n