CENTERblog

James Cotton Blues Band
by Woodruff Laputka- University of Alaska Anchorage

Seeing James Cotton on stage is like taking a trip back in time, when Blues was erupting from the Juke Joints in the Deep South and pouring from the low end, underground clubs in urban Chicago. Seeing James Cotton on stage, one thinks, wow, right there is a physical embodiment to this music that we all know as Blues, and you cannot deny it, because it’s right there! Standing and playing right in front of you, with every fire and spur to its soul that ever sparked the music in the first place. Every note a tribute to the genre’s greatest stars, from Muddy Waters to B.B. King, not to mention the likely endless lists of musicians that the James Cotton Blues Band members have played with to get this far in the game. It’s electrifying, exhilarating and soulful.

But, after seeing James Cotton on stage, when the music stops and all these thoughts sink in, one impression sticks the longest, and even follows you into the day after, “wow, man, James Cotton is very old.” As simple as this thought might be, you have to consider just how such an element may affect the performance of one of the last remaining “original” Blues musicians today. While his talented accompaniment of musicians from all over the rocky history of Blues music impresses, the age difference between the members of the James Cotton Blues Band, and Mr. Cotton is staggering. It almost gives the feeling of an after school special: “Mr. James Cotton and his band of rough, young Blusers!” Seriously though, this concept isn’t too far from the fact that Mr. Cotton was genuinely tired up there on the stage. Though he obviously enjoyed his concert and the men he played it with, his very disposition gave the impression of one nearing the end of a 60 year road tour, both looking and acting the part.

Aside from this depressing factor, the concert exhibited quite the original, Bluesy feel that the audience was looking for, permitting them to interact with the performers while still keeping the a stern, perhaps heart-felt reserve that Alaskans tend to exhibit when occupying crowded spaces. With the music carrying for nearly two hours of rip-roaring tune that stands quite well against the great, roaring hits of the Blues genres beginning, the concert gained the favor of audience members the moment the musicians walked on stage, pushing aside the otherwise natural awkwardness of a concert hall to deliver an experience that the night will be known for.

One other note worthy element that the concert’s musical success certainly relied upon was the music from the opening act, Gordie Tentrees and his trio, a small 3 person group from Whitehorse, Yukon. Despite the fact that the trio had only two members present for the concert, with the third missing in action due to unknown circumstances, the group carried the stage away to a rather rough and folk-like feel that really set the town for the much more energetic and seasoned talent of the James Cotton Band. The “trio” music, Gordie told the audience, is what happens when a Hippy Mother and a Moonshine making father get together in 1974, and believe me, it sounded like it. A rough acoustic twang along an otherwise back country tune so akin to the merits of deep southern blue grass, yet very much bearing that unique, “one man” soul commonly attributed to Johnny Cash or Bob Dylan. The reason this worked so well for the concert is how low-key it was. It wasn’t exciting to watch the trio, nor did it convince anyone to start clapping along, or to get up and dance out in the aisles. What it did do, however, was weave a truly potent atmosphere of emotional movement, where everyone who listened made sure to keep their mouths shut and permit the two gentlemen from the trio to tell their lyrical, blue grass-twang written stories uninterrupted, permitting the breaks in-between songs to be open for the thunderous applause that ensued. This is what the concert needed to open with, considering the energy and culture that the James Cotton Blues Band performed with, allowing the audience to become sentimental, moved and emotional and then taking those emotions and forcing them out of their seats and into the aisles, to dance.

In all, the James Cotton Blues Band concert, promoted and produced by the Whistling Swan Productions team, gave a meritable victory to the wise and well learned powers of the more folk-like, Bluesy aspects in music that current popular culture rarely portrays. It was a look into the past, and a look into the future for Blues music and country grit alike, permitting its listeners to see the rich culture of men who make music their lives and spend those lives on the road, finishing off with the music’s always present and original message: let the good times roll.

James Cotton Blues Band
Whistling Swan Productions
Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 7:00 P.M.
Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, Discovery Theatre