Re: [Harp-L] Guy Forsyth (a bit long and . . .

[spschndr@xxxxxxx]

apologies if this shows up twice, may have befuddled my browser).

I believe Guy Forsyth was, in fact, a theater major in college, and moved to Austin after checking out the city while doing a swordplay & slapstick stint at a nearby Renaissance festival.? I recall Ian Collard saying that when they first saw Guy, they weren't sure whether he was taking the p*** out of the blues, as the overseas expression goes.? Ian changed his mind when he got to know Guy.? It's not performance-art irony, it's simply the set of tools Guy brings to the party.

One might as well criticize a contemporary African American blues singer for coming out of a gospel church background instead of a cotton field.? Blues, like other genres, is a more vital medium when new artists?successfully integrate?fresh elements with the tradition, rather than grinding out redundant recyclings of other people's stuff that was once fresh . . . a long time ago.?? Too often I look at a video of a contemporary U.S. blues band doing a song in a nightclub/bar/restaurant and wonder how what they're doing could possibly compel the attention of the young waitress occasionally crossing the field of view, or any other person under the age of forty.? Guy Forsyth has been consistently compelling for around two decades now.? Part of it is purposefully selling a song, dramatically, whether or not he wrote it,?insofar it fits the song.? The Rod Piazza/George Smith tradition of upsetting the house is a definite influence, but I can't see why someone would blame Guy for using his training to take that further.? It's not shtick, it's sincere.

And yeah, Elizabeth, if you want to see a gathering of?the flower of Texas womanhood of all ages, Guy's shows have been one place to go.? 

It's not easy being a postmodern bluesman: how do you keep the self-consciousness from sliding into irony?? Sincerity keeps the term from being an oxymoron.? Writing your own stuff well helps too.? It's not unlike criticism I've seen leveled at Rick Estrin by people smart enough to know better: Rick developed his persona for different reasons, in a different context, but it's another postmodern vehicle for expressing very sincere emotion and extending a tradition he respects deeply.? Possibly Guy does not project the desperate,?hell-bent-on-self-destruction air people romanticize in white blues artists like Butterfield or Lester Butler or Janis Joplin.? IMO that's not something we should wish on artists we admire.?

I like hearing Guy Forsyth play harmonica live?because although he's well-versed in blues harmonica conventions, he approaches it purely as an instrument: if he can hear something in his head or on another instrument that's technically playable on his harmonica, he'll keep at it till he can play it reliably.? Overbends aside, I mean, don't think he's gotten very far into them, but something like Madcat does, if you know what I mean.??A formidable pure musician.? Speaking of self-conscious approach, I've never asked him, but I believe that Guy consciously trained himself to play harmonica with his eyes open all the time, thus avoiding the physiognomical implosion we might term "harp face," the typical scrunched-up-eyes-closed-while-soloing visage that audiences find so?enormously appealing.? Very smart point to realize?for someone who needs to work most?nights of the week.

Alan Haynes calls Guy "the Pavarotti of the blues," but I think he's teasing, not criticizing.?? Guy's vocal?timbre can be operatic, or bring Broadway to mind, but the phrasing and intonation when he does a blues tune are pure blues.?? Ever hear Junior Parker sing a song?? That may not bring opera or Broadway to mind as much, probably Sinatra or other pop singers of that era?instead, but it demonstrates that a lot of things could be blues singing, even fifty years ago.? I suspect there's probably a technical element in what Guy does, the type of?resonance they call "mask" in theater and opera, that some people think is out of place in blues because they recognize it?from other contexts.? Like I said, might as well expel the church singing too, then, if that bothers you.?

I thought the clip Dennis posted should interest blues harp players because IMO?the way Guy sustains notes during much of the harp solo is different from the way most players would do it, and he doesn't do it that way on every song.? Listen to the solo again: does it really specifically?remind you of anyone else?? He's got a harp style, but every song is thought through as well as deeply felt and his tunes aren't interchangeable: he makes them as distinctive as he can and looks for what he can find in them every time out.? Check out "For the Last Time" for an earlier slow dramatic tune by Guy, but with harp in the acoustic Rice Miller vein (might be out of print and off the recent set list).? He writes really remarkable blues songs, but very few performers/bands are gonna be able to do them justice.

I'm ambivalent about his blues-oriented studio albums only because I've seen how well he can craft the ephemeral artifact of a live performance.? When he's doing his roadhouse blues thang, he's one of the very, very few blues artists whose shows I'd unreservedly recommend to anyone who likes music, knowing they'll have a good time if they go.? He's got a lot of other musical personas and they're all worth seeing; harp fans might especially enjoy his occasional reunions with the Asylum Street Spankers.? Try his Americana-ish?studio record Can You Live Without: among people who can play the harmonica as well as Guy can, the musical range/quality and thematic/lyrical depth of that album put him on the short list with?artists like Stevie Wonder, maybe not as an innovator but simply how well he does it all.? His more recent Love Songs: For and Against is right up there too, I mean the entirety of these records, not just listening to a song or two.? You will not believe that the national media ignore him.? Perhaps he has been blacklisted for living in Austin and doing traditional blues in the early 1990s instead of living in Seattle and doing grunge.? Shoulda worn flannel and a knit cap, not suspenders and a beater.? He's on the short list for the Springsteen of his generation too, which should be sufficient warning to those in the audience who are allergic to populist lyrical content.

A genuine postmodern bluesman and postmodern songster extraordinaire.? Go see him do a show if you get a chance, and say hello because he's a gracious person.

Stephen Schneider