Guitar Shorty

 Bare Knuckle

Alligator Records 

By Mike Baum

These days it seems as though we lose blues legends every month, but it is both encouraging and amazing to consider that an elite class of elder statesmen are still actively playing the blues, including octogenarian B.B. King, and nonagenarians Pinetop Perkins and David “Honeyboy” Edwards!

Septuagenarian blues guitarists that are still recording, touring and making music that matters include: Lonnie Brooks, Eddie C. Campbell, Eddy Clearwater, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and now after his third, scorching new CD for the Alligator label called Bare Knuckle, Guitar Shorty belongs in that elite list.  Born David William Kearney on September 8, 1939 in Houston and raised in Florida, Guitar Shorty began performing professionally at age 17, and more than 50 years later is making some of the most important music of his career.

Eric Clapton has called Buddy Guy his favorite guitarist, but Guitar Shorty can claim he was the favorite and inspiration for a young Jimi Hendrix in Seattle during the early ‘60s.  As Guitar Shorty recalls it: “He’d [i.e., Jimi] stay in the shadows, watching me.  I hear my licks in “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe.”  He told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn’t do back flips like I did.”  (The back flips were part of an energetic, acrobatic stage show Guitar Shorty picked up himself from the legendary Guitar Slim while touring with the New Orleans-based great.) 

While the stage acrobatics may have slowed down for Guitar Shorty, his fretwork acrobatics and vocal prowess have certainly not diminished, and he delivers powerful, soulful, songs with conviction on this new CD.  Produced by his bass player Wyzard and Alligator Founder and President Bruce Iglauer, the CD offers a nice, diverse collection of contemporary blues and blues-rock numbers that address current issues and politics.

In the opening track “Please Mr. President,” Shorty pleads for him to “lay some stimulus on me,” and he sings about the plight of scarred and disabled Iraq-Afghanistan war veterans in the aptly-titled “Slow Burn” blues number.  Shorty and his band also do a couple of nice covers from younger generation artists Kenny Wayne Shepherd (“True Lies”) and Tommy Castro (“Get Off”), but half of the music on the new album comes from the band itself, with Shorty contributing to three songs: (1) The opening track “Please Mr. President;” (2) “Texas Women;” and (3) “Too Late.”  On all twelve songs comprising the album, Shorty delivers heart-felt, genuine interpretations that could only come from decades of life experience and honing his craft.

Shorty cut his first single “Irma Lee” with Willie Dixon in Chicago back in 1957 for the famed Cobra Records label after wowing Willie with a life performance, so it seems fitting that Shorty has come full circle and is now creating the strongest music of his career for the Chicago-based Alligator label.  And he is also still wowing the crowds with his life performances, following a relentless touring schedule to promote Bare Knuckle.  Guitar Shorty will be a headliner for the Chicago Blues Festival on June 13, 2010. I highly recommended that you make plans to attend that show, and buy the new album Bare Knuckle to enjoy his exciting new music that will undoubtedly be showcased in his Blues Fest performance – new blues music from a old blues master that still matters.   

Mike Baum is a long-time Chicagoan and blues fan. He’s also a deejay and producer for the Blues Show on Northwestern University radio WNUR, 89.3 FM. You can hear it online at www.wnur.org. The WNUR Blues Show airs Sunday afternoons from 1 – 2:30 p.m. as part of the station’s day-long American roots music programming. Times change throughout the school year, so check the website for updates.

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