Barrelhouse Bonni Sings the Blues

Barrelhouse Blues
from Nov/Dec issue of The Americana Rhythm Magazine

I had a reader tell me, ‘hey, don’t forget about the blues.’ Hey, I love the blues! There’s plenty of it in and around the valley. And here’s your chance to get a unique serving of it. On Saturday, November 18th the Art Group of Shenandoah County will be hosting Art Of The Blues. And among the entertainers on tap will be a most unique musician, Bonnie McKeown, better know as “Barrelhouse” Bonnie.

“The blues is a music that was created by African Americans to cope with hard times, and its music that I’ve loved since I was in college,” Bonnie told me. “I grew up during the soul era, and I loved Motown. And somebody told me, ‘hey if you like this stuff, you ought to try Johnny Lee Hooker.’ And so I learned what the Blues was. But I really didn’t know that much about it. I never thought I could play it because my background isn’t there. You know, when you feel it you can play it. I think there’s a roll for a lot of people to play the blues, but for it to be authentic, the real soul of the blues comes out of the African American Communities.”

Bonnie’s passion for the music fueled her desire to really immerse herself into the study of it. “I really wanted to study that community,” she said, “and be part of that community to really understand the music itself. Being from West Virginia, I decided to move to Chicago, because obviously there is a much bigger African American community here (in Chicago). There are just so many black musicians in Chicago to hang around with.”

But the Philadelphia born, West Virginia raised McKeown quickly learned that there is truly basis for the passion behind blues music. “I was in Chicago for two years, and I’ve had enough. I’m moving back (to Charleston, West Virginia). It’s been two years of eye opening experiences; Living where they live, hanging around those musicians.”

It Ain’t So Easy
They say blues is a simple music to learn to play, “but it’s a hard music to play well,” Bonnie said. “The element of getting the feeling into it, the soul into it, that’s what people miss. Like in Jazz, you can be technically good at it. But the blues requires that you put yourself into it. And I’m still working on that, because I get scared sometimes. You know, you have to show yourself to people, your inner feelings, and it’s not something everyone can do, even if they’re a good musician. The blues musicians come out of a very rough background. They have to get their feelings out and that’s why they do it so well.”

The blues can be credited as the basis of American popular music today. “But the blues musicians are still not getting their due,” she said. “You’ve got one or two high profile musicians like BB King and Buddy Guy, but there are plenty of people that play better than Buddy Guy right here in Chicago today, and they are simply not getting their due. Blues is a cultural resource. And the musicians a lot like our Appalachian old timers, are dieing out. People have set out to capture their music (Appalachian) on recordings to preserve it for the future so people can learn it. But for some reason they don’t think it’s as necessary for the blues. I think plenty of people would take it up as an art form if it were economically rewarding. But what I’ve found is that these musicians are taken advantage of still today. And they still have all the problems of living in the Ghetto. And so to get yourself together personally in the face of a lot of adversity, it’s very difficult. I’ve found it not to be possible (to survive that way) for me at this point. That’s why I’m moving back. It’s that bad. The white rock-blues bands have under cut and under bid the real blues guys and have gotten all the club gigs. This town is merciless, and it’s sad.”

Blues In A Barrelhouse
So Bonnie takes all these experiences and brings them together into her music and her performances. She prefers the Barrelhouse style because of its roots and authenticity.

“I went to the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins WV to learn how to play the blues. You know, they have these weeks that you can go learn how to play different kinds of music. Well, they have a blues week and the blues piano teachers were people like Ann Rabson, and some of the uppity blues women. One of the teachers was talking about how he used to play in a Barrelhouse. If you’ve seen the move The Color Purple, that scene with the juke joint, that’s pretty much like how it was. It was usually very primitive shacks that the African Americans in the south throw up to recreate in. The only night they had off was Saturday night from working in the cotton fields, or lumber yards. And they would all go to these Barrelhouses and throw a huge party. And a lot of times the only bar was a plank stretched across two barrels – which gave it the name Barrelhouse. So the kind of piano I aspire to play is this all night long boogie woogie style. It’s not frantic but it’s this rhythmic style. And you can still find it sometimes down south. Like Willie King, a combination of old time juke and soul. I love that stuff, trance, one chord stuff.”

“Music is a life giving force and it helped me when I was down. That’s why a lot of people listen to the blues. It’s better than drugs. It’s a good thing that won’t harm your body. You can listen to it and feel better. The blues is not sad music. It’s music that’s based on a hard time, but a lot of times they’ll turn it around and make fun of it and make an upbeat little ditty tune to go with it. And that’s the way the blues is.”

I was born in Philadelphia but I spent half my life in rural West Virginia. My family runs a summer resort there. We had a difference of opinion and so I lost my job there eight years ago.

I took piano lessons when I was a kid. Once I learned some of the traditional, classical music, I started improvising on chord progressions. Of course my teachers didn’t like it. But there was no teachers at that time to teach improvisation. And so later when I was a teenager I took up folk guitar, because it was the folk craze going on. So I learned to play the guitar and I learned a little about chords. Then I got my high school teacher to teach me chords on the piano. That was all the information I had to draw on to learn to play the blues. But the rest has to do with feeling and rhythm.

Live music is under threat everywhere, all forms of it. But I believe there is an answer to it. But it’s going to take a cooperation between tourism entities and non prophet organizations interested in preserving live music. It all has to be coordinated together, advertising, artist and venue compensation, and educating the public. This cuts across all live music formats. If the tourism people would understand what kind of attraction live music is and would get together with these list keepers (community music colanders), and help promote the live music in their communities. These lists are gold but not many people know about them. Live music is competition with computers and TV, DVD players. People have become couch potatoes and we need to help them understand that they’re missing out on this live art form. If live music is lost, we’re going to really loose a very important element to our culture, not just the blues but all forms of live music. To see the artist live, the unpredictability, is what is fun. You see what the players on stage are doing and how they cope with adversity and how they work together. It’s like watching a baseball game. There’s a level of unpredictability and spontaneity there. It’s part of the fun. And how people reach out to your feelings, you can’t get that on a recorded CD. If we could form a Society For Preservation Of Live American Music (SPLAM) in every community then we could make sure that live music survives for future generations.

Did your passion come from Chicago ….

You put little funny asides even into the sad songs. It’s helped me to survive and a lot of other people to survive tough times. Because of the way the society is right now it like everything that is old is just discarded. Now the Hip Hop people are complaining about the same thing. How hip hop has been taken over by the mainstream culture. Now it’s no longer the expression of black rage which is how it started out. Now’s it just imitated and purveyed that culture as the lowest common denominator and smutty. So what started out as a form of protest music is now no longer a representation of the culture that created it. It’s just like the blues. It’s been perverted. This culture takes everything and waters it down and perverts it. You have to build up an alternative system right beside the old system. But you have to do it with people that have standing in the community who want to build up the local economy.

I hope to do some blues teaching in WVA when I return and just continue to do my thing. www.barrelhousebonni.com

She co-produced a highly acclaimed album with Chicago
blues singer-drummer Larry Taylor, which is now on the ballot for a Grammy
nomination.

Networking Small Business and the Arts

The website that is helping to change the way
people think about the Internet
It's all about networking...

Rock Band Tee Shirts
Custom Made T-Shirts - Unmatched Quality & Selection
Rock Music and Rock Band Concert Memorabilia

Band Tee Shirts - Band Posters

We are looking to network with Art Groups, Musicians, Cultural Art Centers and businesses worldwide. music@shentel.net

If you have any ideas, comments or suggestions please do not hesitate to call us
540-984-8190 or email: markb@shentel.net

Website Design with Promotion

The Shenandoah Connection Network
Networking The Shenandoah Valley and Beyond!

Getting a professional website geared toward your target audience is
what the The ShenandoahConnection can do for you! Our desire it to help businesses
and individual clients establish or maintain a professional presence on the World Wide Web.

Business Marketing in the Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley Online Business Networking and Arts Magazine
Internet Advertising Business Networking - Search Engine Optimization
Shenandoah Valley online Business Networking and Arts Guide
Shenandoah Valley Online Business Marketing
Online Promotion and Marketing Services
Radio Advertising Shenandoah Valley

How Will People Find Your Website?
First Page of Google Search Engine Optimization

If you have any ideas, comments, suggestions or would like to work on a project with
us please do not hesitate to call 540-984-8190

We create business for people who understand the power
of the Internet.....