The Joy of the Blues: A Review of Frankie’s Blues Mission and The Trouble Tones at Maxwell’s Cigar Bar June 19 and 20, 2021

This piece has taken on a more reverent tone than some of my others, probably because the topic is so dear to my heart.

There are bands that play the blues and there are Blues Bands. I was fortunate to see two of the latter last weekend at Maxwell’s Cigar Bar: Frankie’s Blues Mission on Friday, and The Trouble Tones on Saturday. In this write-up, I’m going to put on my teacher hat to explain why both were Blues Bands.

The roots of the Blues lie not only in the historical oppression of African-American people, but also in their spiritual liberation. Blues are also a form of “church”. The music itself and the nature of the audience engagement even share Black church characteristics:  spontaneity and improvisation, call and response, and rhythmic physicality. More importantly, the Blues are a sermon that begins with acknowledgement of suffering and ends with joyful proclamation that love will overcome.

Like all genres, Blues are defined by rules. The playing field is simple – usually 12 bars, 4/4 time, three chords, AAB pattern, etc. But within this simplicity lies the space needed for the complexity of dynamics that create “church” outside of church. This is the differentiating factor between bands who play the blues and Blues Bands. Here is a breakdown of what I mean, and how it relates to the bands I saw.

Call and Response

 Most blues songs will start out with a call - think of the guitar lick intro to Sweet Home Chicago. From there, it’s a continual balance of tension/release - vocal call and musical response or musical call and vocal response throughout the song. Think of this as laying down the first track for the next to build on.

If you are in the audience, to NOT respond to release the tension of the call, either by dancing or moving physically in some way, saying something like  “Come on now!”, humming, or even singing a counter melody- then you are missing out on what the experience is supposed to be. It’s like ordering a delicious meal and just looking at it. It’s White church.

Blues Bands get that there is no Blues without audience participation.  Not only is there a clear reminder within the musical first track, but there is often a literal call to the audience to respond. Frankie made eye contact to invite us along (this seems like a given for singers, but surprisingly, it is rare). Patrick (TT’s) actually left the stage, mingled among the audience, kept it simple for the kindergartners among us, and INSISTED (“You all answer back now!”) that we respond to his call of “The truck broke down…” I was quite happily surprised to see people remove the cigar plugs from their mouths so that they could respond. It raised the energy in the room. 

Spontaneity and Improvisation

 Blues Bands either don’t have a set list or they are not afraid to change things up if they do. FBM seemed to be playing it by ear as they went along, sometimes just calling out the chords for a song that not every band member was familiar with. I don’t know if there was a set list or not – I didn’t see one.

 The TT’s did have a setlist, but they didn’t stick to it. Additionally, some cool cat named David Olsen came out of nowhere looking like a tall, fashionable Elvis Costello and they let him shred up the guitar for a few songs. 

The Blues leaves room for these kinds of thing, which allow the bands to respond to the energy within and between them and to the energy of the room.

Rhythmic Physicality

Movement and spontaneity are the rhythm of life. Most of us are just improvising – living out our sad and lonesome little melodies, shuffling along two steps forward and one step back, singing the Blues all the time. Like its smooth and mellow Soul cousin, Blues music has a shuffly groove that imitates life. It’s like some sort of refresher to remind you to stay on course and just keep grooving along – even if you do swing backwards sometimes.

Both bands’ music shuffled rhythmically, and you would have to be deaf or oblivious not to match their grooves with your own body movements – foot tapping, swaying, whatever they may be. 

In another sense, these bands “shuffled” by reaching back in historical time as they moved the songs forward in present time with their own interpretations. Both bands paid homage to the original Blues artists and told us who they were and sometimes a little about them before playing their songs. They really knew the Blues, and they played a cross-section of the Blues, not just the commercial successes.

A band who just plays blues songs, in contrast, might choose songs like The Thrill is Gone helps to seal crowd buy-in and larger tips. Neither FBM or TT sold the souls of their predecessors. Instead, they pulled out the more obscure songs by people like Bobbie “Blue” Bland (FBM) and Earl King (TT’s) and tried to educate us a little.

Joyful expression in Suffering and Love

The human condition of suffering is borne from real or illusional notions of separation. But love is the binding, the connection that sews our individual patchwork squares into a beautiful quilt of many colors, shapes, and textures. That’s something to celebrate with joy. 

FBM and TT played music with both somber and celebratory tones that captured the range of these emotions and solidified it with their technical abilities, audience engagement, stories, song choices and openness to spontaneity. They moved to the Spirit and not just to a setlist.

And, so…

To me, joy is, paradoxically, what the Blues is all about. Love is a lot of things, but at its core it is this: “Life is tough. But I see you, and I get you, because I’ve felt like that, too. And despite all that, there is joy in love and singing this life song together”. It may have its roots in the experiences of one race of people, but the message is universal.

If I leave a place with that feeling, I know I’ve seen a Blues Band. Frankie’s Blue Machine and the Trouble Tones were the real thing.

Frankie’s Blue Mission – Vocals and Guitar – Frank “Frankie Lee” Robinson; Bass - Kurt McManus; Drums – Rod Breland

Trouble Tones: Vocals – Patrick Vining; Drums- Calvin Kelley; Guitarist – Alec James; Bass- Mike Chapman;  Sax – Dan Stark (He was not at this particular show)