Page 66 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2019

The Art of

the Blues

From the Editor: The blues is all-encompassing – it’s a music,
a culture, a history, a community, a mode of expression, an art –
which is why it’s so satisfying to dive in deep to the blues, there’s
so much to submerge yourself in. In this ocean of the blues, I keep
coming across incredible art from a wide array of mediums that all
reflect the deep essence of the blues.
Art – I should say, good art – has the ability to reach each of us
in our core, helping us understand just a bit more about the human
condition. And the blues, originating from the collective sound of
the disenfranchised seeking salvation and comfort from the weight
of their existence, has the ability to connect to our raw emotions
and directly to our soul. As such, the blues is perfectly positioned
to prompt other art forms. Here, we share just a few perspectives
of artists whose creations are inspired by the blues. Enjoy!

61_49. Ÿ Stan Street, 2013

Scott Cawood
I’ve loved the blues for years. I’d say the blues is, far and
away, my favorite music – what I’ve always come back to
over the course of my lifetime. It’s very similar to the feeling
I get when coming home after a long absence, I return to
feeling comfortable, happy and complete. It’s the musical
destination on the map of my being where I feel known
and loved like nowhere else, the place of unconditional
acceptance and understanding. That sounds weird I know,
but it provides me an inner comfort by soothing me in the
one place that other music, try as it might, simply is unable
to reach... and that place is my soul.
I got into the blues in the 1970s, and in those days in
New Orleans, it was still possible to see many of the old
blues musicians live. I had the good fortune to see Muddy
Waters, Lightin’ Hopkins, Earl King, James Cotton, B.B. King,
Bobby Bland, Big Mama Thornton, Roosevelt Sykes, Buddy
Guy, Junior Wells, Etta James, Champion Jack Dupree, Furry
Lewis, Clifton Chenier, Gatemouth Brown, James Booker,
Professor Longhair and countless others, almost always in
a local bar or other small venue. Each performer had a
dynamic impact on me, and witnessing them perform live
cut deep into my inner being.
Fast forward to the present. I became an artist – a metal
sculptor. My present work incorporates steel as my medium, Skip James by steel sculptor Scott Cawood

64 Blues Festival Guide 2019