"People Are Starting To Know What I Do"
- Steve Likens
- Dec 21, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 9, 2024
Is this thing working?
Is this thing on?
Can you hear me in the back?
R.L.'s big heart made him generous to a fault. To say he was quick to forgive implies that he took offense in the first place or even remembered your supposed slight. He neither sought nor wanted material things for himself. As St. Francis admonished, R.L. wore the world like a loose garment.
On January 19, 2018, Barbara Newman notified R.L. that he had been nominated for Blues Music Awards in two categories: Traditional Blues Male Artist and Best Emerging Artist Album (for Roll & Tumble). Barbara was, at the time, President & CEO of The Blues Foundation. R.L.'s Grammy nomination had been announced by the Recording Academy just the month before. The world was taking notice.
The Blues Foundation
The Blues Foundation, in Memphis, Tennessee, functions as the umbrella organization (or Mothership, if you will) for affiliated Blues Societies across the globe. In addition to producing the Blues Music Awards, The Blues Foundation produces the International Blues Challenge competition, administers the Blues Hall of Fame, and assists artists in need through its H.A.R.T. (Handy Artist Relief Trust) Fund.
Throughout the preceding years, I volunteered with The Blues Foundation in a variety of capacities - tour docent at the Blues Hall of Fame museum, IBC stage manager, and event photographer. With Cedric Burnside's assistance, I located and secured artifacts for the R.L. Burnside exhibit in the Hall of Fame museum, including his guitar and 2003 Grammy nomination medal (for Burnside on Burnside). It was especially gratifying, therefore, to have The Blues Foundation recognize R.L. in this way. [1]
Here's a short promo for The Blues Foundation I filmed with frequent R.L. collaborators Carlos Elliot and Bobby Gentilo:
BMA Week
The Blues Music Awards involve a week of activities in downtown Memphis, including the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a Recording Academy reception, jam sessions on Beale St., and the Awards ceremony. The Sheraton Convention Center Hotel served as BMA headquarters and the location for several of the week's activities. R.L. had a room there. At the time, Dawn and I lived in a condo on South Front just 1.2 miles down the street from the hotel. I hung out with R.L. during the days and left him to his own devices at night after the events.
R.L. the Storyteller
During the week, R.L. sat for a number interviews. His session with Jesse Finkelstein of Blues Radio International [2] was by far the most enlighting and entertaining.
Jesse and R.L. clicked. I had never seen or heard R.L. as engaged or animated during an interview before.
He told Jesse stories about his early days playing in fife & drum bands with his uncle Otha Turner and Napolian Strickland, and later playing drums for Jessie Mae Hemphill.
When asked about playing with Otha and at Otha's picnics, R.L. related:
I was the big bass [drum] player. It was fun. We'd kill a goat, throw it in the pot, then bar-b-que it. We'd play from Friday night to 3 o'clock in the morning on Sunday. ... [People] didn't sleep much those weekends. I taught Otha's grandkids how to do the thing so they could have their own show when I went off on my own.
R.L. recounted that Jessie Mae was a drummer, too, before she started playing guitar. "Jesse was a tough lady," he said, laughing. "She was mean ... in her style."
He also talked about "good times" and "runnin" with R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, going to Junior's club, and playing with other members of the Burnside family - particularly Duwayne and Cedric.
R.L. told BRI's audience that he picked up the guitar around the time he was 23 years old and would sit on Otha's porch with Luther Dickinson playing every Friday and Saturday night until 12 or 1 o'clock in the morning.
On his style, R.L. said:
I don't read music. I picked it up on my own and I got my own style. The only one and the last one with it. Blues is what you want to make out of it. Whatever you want to do, go out and do it. Ain't nothing to it. Put out what you want. Play your style of blues. It's like, if you go to Church, do whatever the Spirit leads you to do. ... Make it say what you want it to say.
On playing blues vs. "church songs," R.L. explained:
When I was coming up, I used to sing a lot of gospel songs. Then one day, I slipped out the side door of the church after something hit me. One day, my pastor, John Wilkins, asked me, "Brother Boyce, when you coming back to church?" ... Some days I get down on my knees and I say, 'This is the talent you gave me. If you want me to play church songs, I'll do church songs." But, something hit me and this is what I do.
Importantly, R.L. shared his admiration for his biggest hero:
Fred [McDowell] was the greatest man I ever seen in my life. I could hear him coming around Honeydew Corner every Friday evening. I said, "One of these days, I'm gonna be just like that man." But, I don't do any of his music. I got my own style. ... Fred came down the street playing in the back of a mule wagon and would set up right there on Main Street in Como. People were ready to go when they heard him coming.
Years before, R.L. told me he would "slip under" the porch of his parents' house to listen to Fred McDowell when he played parties at their house, because they didn't want the "youngsters" in the way.
R.L. definitely had a style of his own, but Fred McDowell had a big influence on it. Lightin' Malcolm touched on this dynamic in one of our email exchanges with the label on what song R.L. should perform during an upcoming television appearance:
[T]hat guitar rhythm figure [in the guitar part being discussed] is very close to Fred McDowell's "shake em on down" ... which is the MOST EXCITING OF ALL and really sets R.L. apart from EVERYBODY ELSE. It's very upbeat plus it's got this great descending line ... that is AMAZING. ... Nobody in the world can do it but R.L. Ask Luther!
(Lightin' Malcolm, 10/11/2017)
During the BRI session, R.L. performed portions of "Jesus Gonna Meet Me At The River Jordan," "How Many More Years," "I'm Nothing But a Child of God," "R.L.'s Boogie," "Roll & Tumble," and "Gonna Boogie," as well as some improvised material ("What You Want").
After Jesse's interview, BRI made a donation to The Blues Foundation in R.L.'s honor.
BRI premiered the R.L. sessions worldwide on October 7, 2018.
R.L. the Model
Photographer Jeff Fasano set up a pop up studio, for nominee portrait sessions, on the second floor lobby of the Sheraton. R.L. took his turn and we moved on to other business. Later in the summer, R.L. dropped these contact sheets off for Dawn and me:
R.L. the Gentleman
Jumping ahead briefly to the afternoon of the awards ceremony, at one point R.L. and I walked outside the hotel for him to smoke a cigarette. Mary Lindsay Dickinson, Luther's delightful mom, pulled up to check in after driving up from Hernando, Mississippi. While we talked, she looked through her car and realized she left one of her bags. At R.L.'s insistence, he rode along on the hour-plus round trip, to her home and back to the hotel, just to keep her company.
Hall of Fame Inductions
On May 9, we attended the Blues Hall of Hame inductions in the Halloran Centre at the Orpheum Theater. In the lobby, we met up with fellow 2018 Grammy nominee Fabrizio Poggi and his wife, Angelina Megassini. They had befriended us in New York back in January [3] and were in Memphis for Fabrizio's BMA nomination in the Acoustic Album category (for Sonny & Brownie's Last Train, his collaboration with Guy Davis). Angelina had a special request. Fabrizio's birthday was coming up in July. Before the induction ceremony started and during breaks, unbeknownst to Fabrizio, Angelina recorded many of the attendees, including R.L. and me, holding a sign that wished Fabrizio a happy birthday while waving or sending a greeting. She later compiled those individual clips into a video as his present. [4]
Once inside the auditorium, R.L. sat next to and made friends with singer Candi Staton, who would be a presenter at the Awards ceremony the following night. Elvin Bishop and Corky Siegal inducted drummer Sam Lay (Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, and others). XM Radio's Bill Wax (Bluesville) inducted Georgia Tom Dorsey. Other inductees included Albert King's version of "Cross Cut Saw;" Booker T. & The MGs's hit "Green Onions;" Bo Diddley's classic "I'm A Man;" and Ma Rainey's version of "See See Rider Blues."
BMA Awards Ceremony
The Awards ceremony took place the night of May 10 at the Memphis Convention Center, which is across an outdoor concourse from the Sheraton. Little Steven Van Zant hosted. R.L. and I sat at a table with Ori Naftaly, Tierinni Jackson, and the other members of Southern Avenue, whose self-titled debut was also nominated for Best Emerging Artist Album.
If R.L. was nervous, he did not show it. Early in the evening, Little Steven handed Rick Estrin the BMA for Traditional Blues Male Artist. R.L. took it stride.
Fabrizio Poggi and Guy Davis performed a track from their nominated album. The North Mississippi All-Stars, featuring frequent R.L. collaborators Luther Dickinson and Sharde Thomas, received nominations in the Rock Blues Album (for Prayer for Peace) and Band categories. They also performed. Luther received a further nomination in the Song category for "Prayer for Peace," which he co-wrote with his brother Cody and long-time Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge. Other performers included Southern Avenue, Sugar Ray Rayford, Keb' Mo', Mike Welch & Mike Ledbetter, Vaneese Thomas, Harrison Kennedy, and Walter Trout.
Later in the evening, when the members of Southern Avenue rose from our table to accept the award for Best Emerging Artist Album, I turned to R.L. and said,
"I'm sorry, buddy."
"It's ok," he replied. "People are starting to know what I do."
Futurorum
In 2022, R.L.'s live album, Boogie w/ R.L. Boyce (Fancy!), received a BMA nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album. R.L. was invited to perform at the ceremony that year. Unfortunately, I had business out of town. When I later asked R.L. how the show went, he replied, "They only let me play for three minutes." - If you know, you know!
Thanks for stopping by,
~Steve
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Notes:
[1] In November 2023, The Blues Foundation, through its H.A.R.T. fund, helped with R.L.'s funeral expenses.
[2] Please read the Introduction to this collection for Jesse's kind words about R.L.
[3] You can read about our adventures related to R.L.'s Grammy nomination and trip to New York for the Grammys ceremony in R.L. Got Gramminated (Extended Play Edition).
[4] Per Angelina, Fabrizio dedicated his November 12, 2023, performance of "Amazing Grace" to R.L.'s memory.
text © 2023 Steve W. Likens
Blues Hall of Fame photo © 2015 Steve W. Likens
Fred McDowell headstone (reverse) photo © 2017 Steve W. Likens
All other photos, except as otherwise credited © 2018 Steve W. Likens
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