[Harp-L] I agree with Rob Paparozzi

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rob Paparozzi wrote:
> You will NEVER really be a Bluesman if you see only things in only Black 
> Vs White.....

In 1967 I wrote a fan letter to BB King in which I said something like "I'm 
just a white teenager, but your music moves me very deeply."

A week later I got a letter back from Mr. King thanking me for my fan 
letter, but very pointedly, and kindly, saying "This music is not about 
black or white."

Wish I could find that letter now.

That being said, when I hear a white guy trying to sound like their 
conception of what a black guy sounds like, I cringe.  That doesn't mean 
that a white musician has to 'sound white' whatever that is, or that a 
white musician can't introduce characteristic elements of roughness - heck, 
Elvis was a master of a rough sound when that was appropriate.

White musicians who imitate their misconceptions of a black sound are no 
more convincing than children imitating the sound of a foreign language 
with gibberish.

But there are singers like Billy Vera, who were completely accepted by the 
Apollo audience without ever, EVER trying to sound black.  Billy just plain 
sounds real, as does Delbert McClinton.  Neither of those guys try to do 
anything other than be themselves.

I think that might sort of be what BB King meant.

K