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Stephen Barry has long been established
as one of Canada's finest blues bassists and songwriters. With a career spanning over 30
years, he’s had the chance to back such legends as John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Pinetop Perkins, Van “Piano Man”
Walls, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, Hubert Sumlin,
Big Mama Thornton and Oliver Jones.
Awards include “Best Canadian
Blues Band” and “Best Blues Album” (Happy Man) at the 1996 Jazz Report Awards. In 2001, he won the Maple
Blues Award for “Bassist of The Year”, and more recently, was honoured at the 2004 Lys Blues Awards in recognition
of the lifetime contribution and dedication he has made to the Quebec
blues scene.
Crossroads Blues is honoured to
feature Quebec’s patriarch of the blues in our very
first issue.
CB: Welcome,
Stephen. How do you feel about being recognized as Quebec’s
Father of the Blues?
S.B.: I receive this astonishing accolade with heartfelt
gratitude to my family and friends, fans and supporters and all my fellow musicians because THEY'RE the ones carrying the
Blues flame into the next millennium (my kids still call me "Pop").
CB: Backing up such great blues legends must have been very interesting. What kind of stuff did
you learn by working with them?
S.B.: It was such a gas
to be able to play with such good musicians and such nice people. They showed by example how to use dynamics 'cause the blues
can be played so quietly. Pinetop Perkins would say, "... the blues is like a reel (a fiddle tune) because it goes round and
round...it's home-made music...”
CB: In the same vein, there are a lot of young blues artists emerging on the scene. What lessons
or tips can you pass along to them?
S.B.: Big Moose used to
say "...don't listen to the OTHER guy's mistakes, just worry about your OWN mistakes!" Good advice.
CB: Growing up, what blues artists influenced you the most? S.B.: I listened to everything but I loved Hendrix and the 'Stones and the Beatles and Booker T. and the MG's so it was just
a little jump to Muddy Waters and B.B. King and big bad Albert King. I saw T- Bone Walker, the Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker,
Paul Butterfield, Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells at the Esquire Showbar when I was 17! I hope some of what they had rubbed off on
me!
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| Touring with Bo Diddley - 1978 |
CB: And who do you listen to now?
S.B.: I still listen to
the blues but now, 40 years later, the list is a lot longer. Lately I've been bingeing on Percy Mayfield and Mose Allison.
I've been listening to a lot of pre be-bop jazz like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Christian, Ikey Robinson, etc. I
hear the blues in all of it.
CB: It should be mentioned that you’re also a member of Colin Perry’s band ‘Blind’,
who feature a great repertoire of old jazz and blues tunes in which your bass-playing really stands out (in a good way!) . Tell
us a little about working with these young talented musicians... and did you ever receive any formal musical training?
S.B.: I don't have any formal
musical training at all - I learned on the job! One nice thing about working with Colin, Peter Mika (piano) and Ben Caissie
(drums) aside from the fact they're a nice bunch of fellows, is that the music is closely related to blues but with just a
little more structure. This helps me to connect the dots, as it were, that blues leaves out. The main thing is that the
feel, the groove is very similar. The late Skip Bey once told me that for a blues player to learn jazz is a step but for a
jazz player to learn blues is a much bigger step. Sometimes in blues you don't have any chord changes at all to cling to,
just maybe a line and a whole lot of groove. You can run through the changes to a song rubatto and you can still recognize
the tune but if there are NO changes and you can't play a decent groove, you're toast. For me, the groove is paramount and
the various melodies are subordinate to it. "…it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing..."
I should mention
that I also play with the Granary Blues Band (Terry Gillespie & co. from Van Kleek Hill), Bat Taylor, Dan Livingstone,
Bernadette Fortin, Jordan Officer and a few other duos and trios.
CB: You’ve released some great blues albums of your own. “Here On The Highway”,
“Happy Man”, “The Gold Record”, “Original” and the more-recent “Bluesville”.
Has your approach to song writing and recording changed throughout the years?
S.B.: Thank you. We always
try to record as "live" as possible in the studio but lately, thanks largely to the ears of Jody Golick (our sax player),
we're getting a warmer sound than ever before; with Andrew Cowan (guitar) and Gordon Adamson (drums) and me and Jody we have
a tough little band. As far as songwriting is concerned, I just write whatever I'm thinking about... sometimes it's a story
I want to tell.
CB: Aside from your well-deserved awards mentioned above, what are some of the highlights from your
involvement in music?
S.B.: I remember one night at the Rising Sun in particular: we were backing
up Big Mama. The sets always ran very long. The band was playing soft and low "...down in the alley..." and Big Mama was singing
"Rainy Night in Georgia" like she did every night with that magnificent voice, infinitely tender and sad and it feels
like we're slowly rolling down a siding in the heat of summer forever standing there playing the blues inside the shelter
of her towering spirit... I can't describe it in words. It was the closest thing to a religious experience I ever felt. It's
too bad so many of them are gone.
CB: Do you have a strange or humorous live performance story to share?
S.B.: I was asked to play
ten minutes solo for a benefit for Cancer Research. It was Comedy Night and I had a few comic songs ("Only Jerks Care" etc...)
so I said "Sure, why not?” I get there, the place is packed and stand-up comics are the order of the day. Someone gives
me the 5-minute sign. I'm making my way back stage to get my acoustic guitar and I knock over a beer. Naturally, it lands
directly on the crotch of my light grey suit and runs down my leg. I panic. I run to the bathroom to try to dry it off. No
good. No time!! What to do?? I'll laugh it off. Yeah, right. They'll say, "Aw, the poor bastard pissed himself and now
he's trying to laugh it off. It's so sad”. So, I figure what the hell? It's Comedy Night. I take my pants OFF, put on
my trench coat, pick up my guitar and GO ON. Man, did that ever work! I only had ten minutes and it took nine for the people
to stop killing themselves (especially one lady) long enough to actually sing a song. It was a unique moment for Cancer Research
but DON'T ask me to do it again!
CB: What do you like to do in your spare time?
S.B.: I read as much as
I can and I like to fool around in the woodworking shop.
CB: What’s next for Stephen Barry?
S.B.: I would like to record
a little more with the current Stephen Barry Band and play more regularly in town. We NEVER play in town.
Thanks so much to Stephen
for taking the time for us. Be sure to catch the Stephen Barry Band when they roll into YOUR town. Until then, check out their
website HERE.
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| The Stephen Barry Band |
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