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Scott Ainslie bringing southern blues tunes north

Award-winning Scott Ainslie will recreate old-time southern ballads and blues songs he’s learned in the southern United States at the On the Edge Concert Series March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Red Deer Lake United Church.
Scott Ainslie
Renowned Vermont blues singer Scott Ainslie performs at Red Deer Lake United Church on March 6. (Photo Submitted)

With a knack for storytelling, a renowned Vermont blues singer and guitarist is bringing a piece of southern history to the north in a church concert this weekend.

Award-winning Scott Ainslie will recreate old-time southern ballads and blues songs he’s learned from black elders in the southern United States at the On the Edge Concert Series March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Red Deer Lake United Church.

The 67-year-old is keen to share how he developed expertise in Piedmont and Delta blues, as well as southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo traditions, and talk about the people he met along the way.

“There’s a strong thread that runs through my work that comes from my time with older musicians - black men and women born between 1900 and 1930 who were the first generation of blues musicians first recorded in the 1920s,” said Ainslie. “I’ve become a part of that tradition by presenting myself to them and learning the songs. I perform African American music with the permission of old black people.”

Ainslie’s style is widely varied, including African influence, rhythm and blues and country – all the music he grew up with. Friday night’s concert will be a combination of Ainslie’s original songs and traditional material.

“Learning to sing blues is tricky for white folks to do,” he said. “The way black people use their voice in preaching and in singing, they really move audiences. When you hear a black preacher go it’s really hard to not believe whether you’re a believer or not. The same is true with black singers. There’s something emotional about how they use language and how they deliver words.”

It all began for Ainslie at age 15 while attending a concert featuring Mike Seegers in Virginia in 1967. While on stage, Seegers called a black man forward to play guitar. The man was Virginia bluesman John Jackson.

Ainslie said he was captivated by Jackson’s technique and power on the guitar.

“It was the most complicated and interesting guitar playing I’ve ever heard,” he said. “John was playing with astonishing energetic and complicated finger picking - it had a real groove. Three or four things were happening at once. I started chasing that.”

Ainslie was so moved by the music that he dove right in. While raising his children in North Carolina, he learned a lot from the black people in that area born between 1900 and into the 1930s.

Among those he met was Willie Malloy, who was born in 1900, ran away from home with a blues band in 1915 and was blinded by an explosion in 1917, yet played music all his life. Even at age 88 Malloy was still an electric guitar player for a quartet at his church, said Ainslie.

Another inspiration for Ainslie was Delta blues legend Robert Johnson, who Ainslie published a book about in 1992 titled At the Crossroads.

It’s these people, and dozens of others, who inspired Ainslie to become the musician he is today, and he shares that at every show.

“I talk about the history and background of the music,” he said. “If you know where the song came from or something important about the guy who played it that story anchors that song in your brain. Most people who love blues don’t know how it came about and where it came from.”

Ainslie said his job is to present facts in an interesting way and then drive them home with the emotional power of the song.

“I’m presenting our history and what it means to be a human being on the planet, as well as just simply being a good musician who can move people,” he said. “We’re all changed by who we meet and what we do.”

Ainslie’s talent goes beyond his vocals. He’s a multi-instrumentalist who’s skilled with vintage guitars, the banjo and one-string homemade diddley bow.

This weekend, he will entertain with a one-string cigar box guitar and a 1931 metal-bodied national resonator guitar.

Ainslie keeps active playing large concerts, house concerts, making keynote addresses, telling stories, teaching music and public speaking across North America and Europe.

He has six solo CDs. His most recent recording is The Last Shot Got Him, an award-winning collection of songs played on a 1934 Gibson archtop.

While in Calgary – Ainslie’s first trip to Alberta - he will teach African music and blues at Studio Bell and perform at Calgary House Concerts on March 1.

Tickets to see Ainslie perform at the On the Edge Concert Series cost $25 for adults and $10 for youth. Children ages 12 and under are free. Call 403-256-3181 ext. 5 or go to reddeerlakeuc.com

Tammy Rollie, OkotoksToday.ca




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