Despite Anonymity, Father Of British Blues Stays True To His Roots

There may be a few blues-illiterate people out there who have never heard of John Mayall. But they may have heard of a few of the lads he discovered: Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce (Cream), Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Aynsley Dunbar (Journey and The Mothers of Invention), Andy Fraser (Free) as well as Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac).

More recently, Mayall’s bands have spawned Coco Montoya and Sugarcane Harris, well known in the blues world.

No wonder Mayall is called the father of British blues. At 63, he might as well be the grandfather of British blues, but as his new album attests, he has not been sitting on his porch rocking.

He’s been in the studio rocking. His new CD, “Blues for the Lost Days,” is more of what Mayall has stood for during his uncompromising career: roots-oriented Chicago blues with a few surprises thrown in.

He’ll be bringing a band that features yet another guitar discovery, Buddy Whittington of Texas, who has been with Mayall since 1995.

Mayall himself is the vocalist, keyboardist and harmonica player. He considers the harmonica his secondary instrument, yet it was featured on the only hit song that Mayall ever had, “Room to Move” from “The Turning Point” in 1969.

Those who followed his career for the last three decades know that the acoustic sound of “The Turning Point” was an aberration. Mayall has ventured into jazz and other blues-related idioms, but over the course of his career he has remained a champion of the electric blues.

As the “Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll” put it, Mayall has “taken the phrase ‘back to the roots’ with more dogged seriousness than most.”

Mayall, who lives in California, entered a brief slump in the ‘80s, but has regained visibility, earning a Grammy nomination and touring with ZZ Top.

At The Festival at Sandpoint, his band will include Whittington, drummer Joe Yuele and bassist John Paulus. The opening act will be Robbin and the Bluez Hoodz.

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