DEEP BLUES: RYAN LEE CROSBY BAND – RiVER MUSiC

RS: Your earlier albums present your love of solo nation blues. How did your embrace and examine of classical Hindustani music and Malian desert music come about, and was there a lightbulb second the place you mentioned, “A-ha!” It is all related?

RLC: There was! in 2013, I had a type of “a-ha” moments whereas listening to
Michael Chapman‘s “Thank You PK” off his 1969 album Rainmaker. What he performed on that tune wasn’t even actually blues or raga, however it had a droning slide sound with a suggestion of japanese influences and listening to that was like being struck by lightning. Round that very same time, I had additionally been listening to quite a lot of RL Burnside and Robert Belfour, alongside Sandy Bull and Robbie Basho. I used to be additionally beginning to get into 12 string and tuning it all the way down to C, which is the place quite a lot of raga music is performed. My 12 string has a large neck, like a baseball bat, which made me consider a sitar the primary time I picked it up… and since quite a lot of hill nation music is performed with a single chord, generally with bottleneck, I used to be enthusiastic about modal sounds with slide and it simply all got here collectively from there. I began researching blues and raga alongside one another and found the Hindustani raga guitar custom that manner. I did not get my first Indian slide guitar till a few years later, however quickly after I discovered myself sitting on the toes of masters just like the late Pandit Buddhadev DasGupta, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya (my guitar guru who I am lucky to see yearly) and the good vocalist Warren Senders, who I examine frequently with in Boston.

In 2014, I obtained to listen to Robert Belfour play in entrance of the Cat Head store in Clarksdale, MS and that was additionally very inspiring and academic. Seeing his fingers up shut and listening to him in particular person was an unforgettable expertise that straight impressed plenty of songs on River Music.

Someday after seeing Mr. Belfour, I grew to become extra interested by African music, which was one thing that I started to discover about two years in the past. And whereas I’ve barely even begun to scratch the floor, I’ve spent a good period of time with the music of Boubacar Traoré and that basically impressed the strategy to River Music. His music is so lovely and shifting. The mixture of syncopated rhythms with bittersweet melodies and a delicate, but driving sound actually spoke to me in a manner that was like nothing I had ever heard earlier than.

RS: That is fascinating to me, as a result of I first heard Indian slide guitar across the similar time you probably did and I may hear in that sound lovely drone similarities to Junior Kimbrough and Robert Belfour, simply as I heard the connection between them and Mali’s Ali Farka Toure and different “desert music” artists like Tinariwen, after which listening to Robert Plant and his guitarist Justin Adam’s efficiency from Mali’s Competition in The Desert in 2003 actually despatched me down the rabbit gap.  

Ryan Lee Crosby with the good Jay Scheffler

RLC:: These are all nice connections! I actually hear quite a lot of resonance between Indian slide guitar and Mississippi Fred McDowell‘s taking part in, too. With the droning chords, the slide and the ahead sense of momentum, I discover that a few of his songs sound fairly good on the chaturangui. One other piece that basically has a foot in every world is “Darkish Was The Night time, Chilly Was The Floor.” That actually has the qualities of an alap (the opening sequence of a raga) and sounds so pure on a chaturangui. And sure, I additionally hear overlap between artists like Junior Kimbrough, Robert Belfour, John Lee Hooker and Lightning Hopkins with Ali Farka Touré, Boubacar Traoré, and Tinariwen. There are lots of extra nice artists from Mali who’ve these qualities of their music, too. Have you ever heard “Mississippi to Sahara” by Faris Amine? He performs plenty of American blues requirements within the Tuareg fashion and performs all of the devices, too. Leo “Bud” Welch sings and performs on two tunes, as effectively. That file was considered one of my favorites of the previous few years.

RS: How troublesome has it been to cross between the strategies required to play raga’s and blues, or do the mechanics of each kinds simply make sense to you as an completed guitarist and instructor?

Pupil Ryan Lee Crosby with Professor Jimmy Duck Holmes

RLC:: I’ve discovered it tremendously difficult and rewarding to discover the similarities and
variations between raga and blues, from a number of views. As I did not develop up with both custom, on the one hand, I attempt to perceive as finest as I can from the surface in… and on the opposite, I’ve the chance to resonate with each traditions in methods which might be actually private. I did not play lap fashion in any respect once I first grew to become fascinated by raga… and though there are guitarists on the market who can play it with a bottleneck slide, most of my blues taking part in did not contain slide in any respect, so I actually was ranging from scratch with the Indian slide guitar. Luckily, I’ve had some nice lecturers in Warren Senders and Debashish Bhattacharya and my very own ongoing instincts about what I aspire to attain, which is one thing that I feel is once more very private and one thing that may be a distillation of all of the music that strikes me, inside and outdoors of each traditions.

With a couple of years behind me now, I really feel that I am getting nearer in some methods to the sound I hear in my thoughts, however I feel it may take a couple of extra years a minimum of to specific it totally as I think about it now. And one thing that I like about each the raga and blues traditions is that they’re each so deep, it should take a couple of lifetime to develop a whole mastery of both custom in a complete manner. So, there’ll all the time be one thing to work on.

For me, raga music has been an particularly terrific train in endurance and humility and in growing the capability to be at peace within the face of uncertainty. It actually requires a way of religion and belief. However, that’s considered one of many issues that I discover so interesting concerning the music – it’s serving to me to develop personally, in addition to musically. I discover the values throughout the music and the self-discipline that’s required to play it as an embodiment of the type of expertise I need to have as a human being and as a spirit.

RS: Hindustani slide guitar as a comparatively younger historical past, having solely turn out to be a factor, from what I can inform as a result of the historical past is a bit imprecise, within the mid-nineteen-sixties, and as I perceive springing from the identical effectively as all slide guitar: Hawaii. The daddy or popularizer of the sound and scene, Brij Bhushan Kabra, first heard Hawaiian lap metal guitar and modifying the guitar with, very similar to a sitar, sympathetic and drone strings. Are you able to discuss a bit concerning the variations within the devices just like the instrument you play- the Chaturangui, and the Mohan Veena, and the Hansa Veena, and what attracted you to 1 over the opposite?

RLC:: Sure, Brij Bhushan Kabra (the guru to each Debashish Bhattacharya and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt), was the pioneer behind Hindustani slide guitar. He modified a Gibson archtop to be performed lap fashion with 3 melody strings and drone strings. I’ve heard Debashish ji speak about Tau Moe and his household as being the hyperlink to Hawaii when he came visiting to carry out in India throughout WWII. And when Debashish ji began as a younger guitarist at round 3 years previous, he started by studying Hawaiian tunes. So that’s nonetheless part of his taking part in in some respects – he can actually get that sound on Chaturangui and on a 6 string lap guitar.

The Mohan Veena additionally has 3 melody strings, 5 chikari (drone) strings and 12 sympathetic strings, which run beneath the melody strings, like a sitar. This was the instrument that I began with. I discovered, although, that though this association can work fairly effectively for raga music, it was limiting for the fingerpicking blues fashion I had already spent years growing,

as taking part in with alternating bass and monotonic bass traces is an enormous a part of the way in which that I play. I missed listening to these notes within the decrease octave (the Mohan Veena has the equal of 4th, 2nd and 1st strings on a 6 string guitar) and so I had mine modified to have all 6 strings sometimes discovered on the guitar and that left me with solely 2 chikari as an alternative of 5. It labored – the chikari may nonetheless be used as a rhythmic drone as it’s in raga… however once I met Debashish ji in 2016, I used to be actually impressed by another variations in his design – he put the chikari strings (two notes an octave aside) in entrance of the melody strings with two different unison drone strings within the again. This permits for a lot of extra rhythmic potentialities within the jor and jhalla sections of a raga efficiency and it provides so much to a blues sound, as effectively. It makes the guitar sound like an orchestra and to my ears, it has so much in frequent with a 12 string guitar. The chaturangui additionally has it is sympathetics set again from the melody strings, which make them extra accessible in efficiency.

I’ve by no means had any direct contact with the Hansa Veena, however I do know it’s made by Bhabasindhu Biswas, who additionally makes the Mohan Veena and different stringed devices in India. And it appears there’s an ever-growing checklist of musicians to find who’ve modified guitars for raga music. I lately met Willy Schwarz in Germany, who is a superb musician and participant of the Vichitra Veena (a video of this assembly is on my Instagram web page. Throughout that point, he performed us a uncommon file by which he performed a modified electrical guitar for raga within the 70s. He known as it the “Roy Smeck Electrical Glide Sitar.” You possibly can hear it on this video at round 13:30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNVQkTfAANE.

So that’s fairly wonderful! A part of what I feel is so thrilling about these developments with the guitar is the thought of the instrument’s construct being one more extension of the artist’s expression. And there are some actually distinctive visions on the market.

RS: You’ve got lately returned from a European tour. Might you discuss concerning the band you used on that tour, and the way your blues hybrid went over with audiences. Did it’s a must to take any steps to let an viewers or bookers know that this won’t be their commonplace blues fare, or is the famously open-minded European music fan prepared, versus maybe the common fan within the U.S., to simply accept any permutation of blues music with out query? Am I being unfair or generalizing concerning the U.S. blues fan or do you discover there to be a distinction?

RLC: The band featured Jay Scheffler on harmonica and Grant Smith on calabash and hand percussion. I sang and performed 12 string guitar and a Stella 6 string transformed for lap fashion taking part in. I used to be glad to let folks know upfront that we had been going to be presenting our personal interpretation of the blues and it appeared that by the point we obtained there, a minimum of some members of the viewers in every metropolis we went to had been both anticipating it or excited by it as soon as we began taking part in. I discovered that just about in every single place we went, folks listened with open ears and hearts and appreciated listening to one thing new. I can perceive and recognize the popularity that European audiences have for being nice listeners, as that is typically all the time been the case for me once I’ve traveled there during the last 5 years. More often than not I additionally discover American audiences to be fascinated by one thing new and completely different, however I’ve discovered European audiences to be constantly respectful and engaged.

This can be a huge a part of what retains me going again 12 months after 12 months. It nourishes the soul. As as to whether or not there’s a distinction between US and EU blues followers, I can not say for positive, however I can say that the tone of the expertise for me has been a minimum of just a little bit completely different in every of the cities and cities that I’ve performed in world wide, which embrace Clarksdale, Cambridge, Seattle, Berlin, New York, Amsterdam, Milan, Zürich, Paris, Leuven and Malmö, in addition to within the quite a few smaller cities in Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Coming from Boston, however being strongly influenced by music from Mississippi, what I’ve witnessed firsthand in MS is the naturalness with which the music is offered (and listened to) there, which is maybe a distinct vibe from the reverence that the remainder of us world wide really feel for it. In MS, I’ve seen and heard it performed with a relaxed strategy, whereas in every single place else, many of the remainder of us come to it with a extra formal enthusiasm. However, once more, I can not say for positive. I am nonetheless studying.

RS:: Boston has had a longterm love affair with blues music, both as straight blues or as a base for different music, I am pondering of artists like your self, Peter Parcek, Ted Drozdowski, J. Geils Band, and sure, Aerosmith. Do you may have any perception as to why that’s, and might you inform me about any new Boston or New England-based blues artists which might be making a reputation for themselves or pushing the blues envelope, or poking the blues bear with a stick, so to talk?

RLC: This checklist contains some tremendous gamers (Ted Drozdowski and Peter Parcek are musicians I like and respect each as artists and folks), however there are two different names that come to thoughts – Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson additionally grew up right here and obtained began performing in Cambridge within the 60s. And I’ve to say the good guitarist Paul Rishell, who taught me songs by Skip James, Charley Patton, Tommy McClennan, John Harm, Barbecue Bob, Robert Johnson, Robert Wilkins, and Son Home, together with some selecting strategies that Home confirmed Rishell personally. Paul was additionally fairly lively on the Cambridge/New England circuit and performed with many of those artists and different greats after they got here via city. He continues to gig to this present day with the excellent harmonica participant Annie Raines. Cambridge

was a hotspot for the blues within the 60s and 70s. Membership 47 (now Passim) was on the heart of that and so they keep on the custom nonetheless with current reveals by Todd Albright and Blind Boy Paxton. And there are some actually tremendous musicians which might be primarily based within the better Boston space – Danielle Miraglia, Sonny Jim Clifford, Julie Rhodes, Erin Harpe, and Large Jon Quick are a couple of who come to thoughts. I feel roots music, normally, is a part of Cambridge’s DNA and there are some actually gifted of us who know and recognize the music deeply. As well as, we also needs to acknowledge Dick Waterman, who was one of many of us who helped “re-discover” Son Home and was a significant a part of the folks scene in 60s’ Cambridge. He helped arrange blues concert events right here and after finding Son Home, he additionally helped to handle him, together with John Harm, Skip James, Lightnin‘ Hopkins and extra. One among his missions was to ensure the artists had been all pretty compensated for his or her work, which has beforehand not been within the case.

RS: Hey, Ryan! I am coming over to your home tomorrow to borrow three books, and pay attention to 5 information. What is going to you mortgage me, and what would you like me to listen to?

RLC:
Books:
The Mysticism of Sound and Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan
The Listening Ebook by W.A. Mathieu
Zen Grasp Poems by Dick Allen
Albums:
1 & 2 – Kar Kar and Mbalimaou by Boubacar Traoré
3 – Calcutta Slide Guitar by Debashish Bhattacharya
4 – “Inde Du Nord” collection Raga Jog carried out by Gopal Krishan on vichitra veena
5 – 22 Strings by Seckou Keita

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RS: Thanks, Ryan! This was enjoyable.
RLC: Thanks, Rick! I actually loved it.