The relationship between Rock music and the Blues is by now a long and interesting one. Pinetop Perkins has often reminded us what Muddy Waters said: “The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock & Roll.” Well the baby is now almost 60 years old and the parents are still alive. The folks however haven’t been doing so well of late.

There were two events that occurred over the past few months that stirred some thoughts on my part as to the relationship between The Blues, Rock music, and popular culture. Yesterday evening I listened to Bettye LaVette’s new album. It got me to thinking of a concert I saw last spring and the music of my youth and the music that should have been the music of my youth.

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Many musicologists might say that Rock & Roll is 59 years old. Well in six years I will tell you that is, in fact, the perfect age. By then I suspect I will have seen a documentary film entitled The Perfect Age of Rock & Roll.  Last April 2nd was a very good Friday in that an
interesting concert took place at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, CA, billed as The Perfect Age of Rock & Roll. Similar shows took place in San Francisco and San Diego that week.  The film will be the DVD companion piece to a musically oriented drama of the same name that came out last year.

The evening however got off to a very shaky start. I listened in horror to an opening act that was apparently put on the bill to challenge people to try and remember what they liked about Blues music in the first place.  I wish there could be some kind of ballot initiative banning really bad opening acts who close their sets with “I Got My Mojo Working” from appearing in public. If you are an aspiring, or in this case perspiring, musician please for the love of all that is holy learn another song. I thought Muddy might rise from the dead and start kicking asses and taking names right then and there.

The problem is not that the band that opened the show doesn’t love Blues music. They might. The problem is they just don’t understand it. They, like so many earnest middle-aged men who grew up playing Rock music, feel like Blues represents a natural “artistic” progression. Fair enough. It is not up to me to tell a fella what he should do in his spare time. But I do feel it is incumbent on me to point out that his hobby does not have to be foisted upon the public without some kind of safety warning or better yet ear plugs. One of the many things I love about great Blues Music is that at its best it is very nuanced music. What I love about great Rock & Roll is that at its best, it is very often not. What I hate about bad Blues-Rock bands is that they don’t know the difference.

Muddy didn’t make an appearance on this night in Orange County but some of his old band mates played to a large and enthusiastic audience. 

On this Friday night in Orange County I met up with Blues fans of all ages, including a 25 year
old guitar player, songwriter and singer named Parker Macy. As the evening was winding down I saw Parker getting an autograph from 96 year-old Blues legend Willie Joe “Pinetop” Perkins. I thought it was terrific that the youngest and oldest men in the house are both working musicians with gigs on the books. Pianist Pinetop Perkins was joined on stage by fellow Muddy alums, drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and guitarist Bob Margolin. They played with Chicago Blues veterans, guitarist Hubert Sumlin, bassist Bob Stroger and harpist Sugar Blue.

What does any of this have to do with Rock & Roll? Well not much, or a whole lot, depending how you look at it. If you are going to get anybody outside the niche Blues boutique market to watch your documentary well then you better get some “young” Rock & Roll types to sit in on the gig. That’s exactly what the concert and film producers did in this case. Pop vocalist, 61 year old, Mickey Thomas and 64 year old, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger seemed genuinely happy to be on stage and in the company of true greatness.

Mickey Thomas is infamous for not one but two big stains on the Classic Rock FM radio dial. Not only did Thomas strap Blues guitarist Elvin Bishop with “I Fooled Around and Fell in Love” but he also lent his caterwauling to what is generally considered the worst song in the Pantheon of Rock and Roll, Starship’s “We built this City”…The Horror.

Thomas mercifully didn’t stay on stage long. Robby Krieger did however and that was fine by me. I am not above a little nostalgia and his appearance was a treat for me. Krieger’s old
band, The Doors, was one of the most interesting bands to emerge from my hometown and one of my childhood favorites. The highlight of his stint in nearby Santa Ana was Krieger trading licks with Hubert Sumlin on a song they both recorded. Both guitarists made significant contributions to Willie Dixon’s Backdoor Man. Their guitar playing is a prominent feature heard on the two most famous versions of that song. 

Blues purists might disagree with me on this next point, but Blues purists are a generally disagreeable lot anyway. I really enjoyed Robbie’s spacey, acid rock solo he took in this number in Santa Ana that night. It contrasted and complimented Hubert Sumlin’s playing without attracting undue attention to himself. This is rarely the case with 60’s era rock royalty.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that, even at this stage of my life, one of the thrills for me this year was having the great Hubert Sumlin introduce Robby Krieger to me backstage an hour or so earlier that evening.  I was the perfect age of ten when I bought the 45 of The Doors single, and Krieger original “Light My Fire” back in 1967. It was like meeting a
childhood hero. Hubert Sumlin should have been my childhood hero. But Rock & Roll has by and large been the ungrateful child to its sometimes rough hewn parents. I suddenly felt very un-cool.

Speaking of un-cool, Sugar Blue blew harp on this gig. He is a Bluesman who plays like a rocker in that he thinks that it is the number of notes you play as opposed to where you place them that is of greatest importance.  Just a mere eleven years after the release of the Doors first album cleverly entitled “The Doors”, The Rolling Stones released their umpteenth album “Some Girls”. The first and biggest hit single from that record was the disco infused “Miss You”. It was Sugar Blue who blew harp on that song making him perhaps one of the most listened to harmonica players on the planet.

The evening was not without its bright spots. Krieger and Sumlin were backed by a terrific three piece ensemble of consummate professionals in Margolin, Smith and Stroger. Even before the much anticipated appearance of Pinetop Perkins, these veteran musicians treated the crowd to some great vintage electric Blues. Bob Margolin’s lead lines were subtle yet effective foils to the terrific rhythm section of Smith & Stroger.

The crowd saved its biggest applause for the 96 year-old Pinetop Perkins. He is one of only two living Bluesmen, 94 year-old, David “Honey Boy” Edwards being the other, that trace their roots directly back to the pre–war, Mississippi delta era of Blues music.

The story of Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins is a fascinating one in which the Pianist / Singer skirts around the edge of the spotlight in an almost surreal narrative that serves as a kind of subplot to the history of American music.

Long time Austin, Texas resident Pinetop, now 97, still unbelievably has a regular weekly gig
 in his adopted home town. Pinetop was however not the lone star in another documentary film which came out a few years ago.  In the movie, Antone’s: Home of the Blues, Pinetop is shown throughout the film with recent as well as archival footage. Perkins received the kind of reverence he deserves from filmmaker Dan Karlock. It was the same kind of respect he received from Clifford Antone, the subject of the film.

I suspect the filmmakers of The Perfect Age of Rock & Roll will give Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins similar star treatment in their upcoming documentary. If you know Pinetop Perkins, even a little, then you know this guy is cooler than James Dean, Steve McQueen and Humphrey Bogart all rolled into one.  It turns out, if you are Pinetop Perkins, the perfect age of a Rock & Roll movie star is 97… and that is perfect and way cool. 

- David Mac