interesting comment.
Personally, I don't see these guys as trying too hard to emulate. I see them as embracing, understanding and moving forward, as each one still catches my total interest when I hear them play. Rick brings a high degree of humor and fun to the mix, Kim has an unearthly momentum and Rod sounds 10 ft tall.
If blues was to really evolve and sound more modern, wouldn't it start to mix in drum machines, beat box rhythms, synthesizers and everything else that has evolved in the music world since the 1950s?
-----Original Message----- From: RON SMITH <ron@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tue, Oct 4, 2011 3:10 pm Subject: [Harp-L] Gussow in Princeton Alumni Weekly
Interesting article but I didn't agree with his statement below, copied from
the article: I guess three of the best and most successful harp players have
got it all wrong. (Yeah right)
As Gussow sees it, this perceived need to stay true to the music's roots has
led many blues performers to stagnate. He singles out contemporary white
blues harpists such as Kim Wilson, Rod Piazza, and Rick Estrin, saying that,
by trying too hard to emulate the old blues masters, they have perpetuated
an unduly conservative approach to what ought to be a more vital and
evolving kind of music. "It has been -costumed [and] profoundly confected
onto that old-time stuff like it's the only way to go," he says. "They
resist -modernization."
http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2011/10/05/pages/5226/index.xml? __xsl=/cms-p
rint.xsl
I happened to get this magazine in the mail and was surprised to see a
harmonica on the cover, then realized it was Adam Gussow (didn't realize he
was a Princeton guy!).
Interesting line in the article about the students at his workshop looking
like a Cialis commercial -- I had noticed in the photo all the T- shirted
bellies hanging over the waist bands of the shorts -- but the Cialis crack
hadn't occured to me. Above is a link to the on-line article.