Kenny Neal: Blues don’t have to be down and out
The 1990 Living Blues interview
(This article was originally published in Living Blues issue #91, May/June 1990. It is reprinted here with minor editing.)
By Kenny Neal with Jim Trageser
I was just brought up around the blues. I didn’t know I was going to be playing the blues. And my father raised ten of us up off the harmonica. I don’t know if you’d call it a sideman or whatever — as a kid playing in his band, I helped out and was really helping out the family when I was playing. I was just brought up into it — he never forced me into it.
How old where you when you began playing with your father at gigs?
About 13, 14 years old. Really, I was doing something that had to be done at the time. I wasn’t really just, “Hey, man, I’m a musician.” I knew how to play and he needed a bass player. So, I went out and helped my dad. When I was doing it, it was more like helping out — more than just being an entertainer.
How did your touring with Buddy Guy come about?
Well, Buddy Guy was my dad’s guitar player and he’s from Baton Rouge. So, he used to come back and visit all the time and he knew about me. So, when I turned 17, his bass player had a few problems and had to pull out of the band and he called me up to fill the man’s spot.
How long did that last?
From ’75 through ’79.
Looking back, what do you feel you got from playing with Buddy Guy?
The only thing I got out of it was traveling, because my father had taught me everything Buddy Guy was doing, anyway.
Was that the first time you toured extensively?
Yeah, as far as traveling around. But as far as learning anything, I knew that when I started. The only thing I did was move around the country — which was a good experience because it taught me to go buy me a guitar and get my own band together. So, that’s why I’m here now.
How did you end up in Canada?
I married an Italian! Made two babies — a little boy and a little girl that I love dearly — and I stayed up there eight years, and after my divorce I moved back home.
When did you put together your band and begin writing your own songs?
I started up in Canada — 1980. I brought my brothers up to Toronto. Larry, Raful Jr., Ronnie and myself played Toronto. I had a four-month contract, and I was the house band and I would bring people in every week. Like Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins — they were all guests. Every different week I would have them as guests.
Then, after my brothers moved back because they couldn’t handle the cold weather, I started another band. And that lasted about a year. And then the Downchild Blues Band offered me a job as front man for their band. They’re like the B.B. King of Canada. The Blues Brothers did two of our songs. They did “Shot Gun Blues” and “I Got Everything I Need (Almost)” — that’s two of our songs that they recorded on their album.
I was the first black guy ever to enter their band, and I started to get so much attention because I was from the South and that’s where the blues came from. Every time the media would come in, they would want to focus on me. And so it was chilling their groove, you know. So they fired me in a nice way. And I love them to death still today. And I understand they had to do what they had to do, because that’s the way it went.
How many of your brothers and sisters are musicians?
Everybody. The whole nine yard of them.
How many professionally?
Six of us. I’m the oldest of 10. My sisters will be with us later on. I’m still pacing the way right now, but my sisters will be with us. They were with us in Chicago, and we had a great time there.
Which instruments does everyone play?
Darnell plays bass. Noel plays bass. You’ve probably seen him with James Cotton; he’s been with James Cotton for about five years. My brother Raful Jr., he plays guitar. I have another brother, Gralin (Hoffman), who played on my first album, “Big News From Baton Rouge.” My brother, Ronnie, he sings, and he’s a good percussionist, too.
When you’re not playing with your family, who are some of the people you like playing with?
My old buddies, from a long time ago. Like Ken Johnson, from James Cotton’s old band. And, you know, just the guys who I was brought up with, like Rudolph Richard, who played with my daddy for years; James Johnson — just the locals back home that are well-known around the country, and also abroad. But they don’t know that, see. Like Slim Harpo’s band works with dad all the time right now, and I go back home and say, “Hey, man, I hear you guys all the time.” And they just go, “Oh, man, really”? They’re Slim Harpo’s band from the “Scratch My Back” days. But they’re still right at home, and they’re like family to me.
Who among your generation of blues artists do you admire?
My brother, Darnell, and my brother Larry on drums, and Kenny Birch on keyboards. And besides that, I admire my little nephew, Tyree. That’s about it, man.
I mean, I admire anybody who’s making an effort to do anything; I believe in going out and making it happen.
What do you think of music critics?
I think when they write something and it’s not a positive attitude toward it, it’s because they don’t really understand it – and you have to look at it in that concept. I mean, if the guy is trying to write about the blues and doesn’t really know about the blues, you can’t get upset with him – you just look at it as if he doesn’t know any better. (Laughs). That’s the way I take it.
Where do see the blues 30 or 40 years from now?
Everywhere! I don’t care if it’s the rich man. He might not put on a blues record, but he’s gonna have some ups and downs.
One thing about the blues is that we had the blues really heavy in the early ’40s; the ’50s, we got into R&B and that knocked the blues down a bit. I admire a lot of the guys who made it in the disco, but it wasn’t good for us. It really put a damper into what we were dong. And now, people have gotten tired of this stuff, and they’re going back to their basics. So the blues is just revolving and coming back around again, and I’m glad to be a part of it because I think it’s perfect timing for me.
Throughout the ’90s — I’m predicting this — but I think that throughout the ’90s, it will be “The blues is back now.” Now, after the ’90s, we might have something else come through. But I think we have the next ten years sewed up.
See, what I’m doing with the blues myself is try to make it all “up.” I was talking to a young lady today, and she said, “You do blues, but when I think of blues, I think of down and out.” I said, “Well, blues don’t have to be down and out.” It’s running away from reality if you can’t deal with what the words are saying. And I think the words in blues really get down to the basics. Down to earth is telling it like it is, and I like that, man. And that’s the way I live.
I think the blues in the next 40 years will still be around.
Many American jazz musicians are visiting Africa and incorporating modern African musical ideas into their music. Do you see a similar interest in revisiting the roots of African-American music among blues musicians?
No, I don’t think so. I think the blues musician is trying to make a dollar. They’re not worried about Africa. Shit, they’re trying to make a dollar, man. I mean, they enjoy it and they’re doing what they know best, but I don’t think they worry about freeing Mandela, which I do. I’d like to see him get out of the slammer.
Paul Simon loves the African culture; I have to tell you that, man. I admire that guy a lot, because he’s into that African feeling, that whole rhythmic ... he’s into it. And he brings a lot of that stuff to the audience — they wouldn’t even think about it. Paul brung it to them. And I admire him for that.
And a lot of the blues players, man, they’re trying to make it. They’re not worried about Africa, which they come from. I don’t think they’re trying to bring the culture from Africa — they’re trying to get ahead over there. That’s the way I feel about it.
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