{"id":1977,"date":"2009-02-08T02:47:27","date_gmt":"2009-02-08T07:47:27","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-02-08T02:47:27","modified_gmt":"2009-02-08T02:47:27","slug":"title-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/title-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Town Hall Bemoans Exploitive Black Rock History Month With an Appreciation of Papa John Creach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As discussed in my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2009\/02\/02\/rock-town-hall-bemoans-exploitive-black\">kick-off piece<\/a> for Exploitive Black Rock History Month, some subjects we&#8217;ll be exploring will be more difficult to assess than the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/2009\/02\/04\/exploitive-black-rock-history-robed-choi\">African American robed choir (AARC)<\/a>. The practice of white rock bands incorporating &#8220;authentic&#8221; bluesmen is not as black and white as the AARC, and with no one else taking on the task, it&#8217;s our job to review the shades of gray.<\/p>\n<p>A scant <strong>21 seconds<\/strong> into the following YouTube clip of an interview with Jefferson Airplane\/Hot Tuna guitarist <strong>Jorma Kaukonen<\/strong>, Jorma sets up what I&#8217;m about to discuss in today&#8217;s examination of exploitive black rock history better than I could have hoped. Check it out.<\/p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GLk8c3190Jk?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>Long before <strong>Jon Spencer Blues Explosion<\/strong> found <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/R._L._Burnside\" target=\"_blank\">R.L. Burnside<\/a>, possibly the last surviving African American bluesman with any pre-rock-era credibility to drag around on tour and dazzle white middle audiences, Jefferson Airplane and offshoot band Hot Tuna turned white rockin&#8217; America onto <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Papa_John_Creech\" target=\"_blank\">Papa John Creach<\/a><\/strong>.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_rts3noH4F0?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nCreach was already a 55-year-old musician of no musical acclaim when he was discovered by Hot Tuna drummer<strong> Joey Covington<\/strong> and brought into that wing of the Airplane. In 1970, Covington would join Jefferson Airplane as well, bringing Creach into the mothership. It seems Creach&#8217;s entry followed one of <strong>Marty Balin<\/strong>&#8216;s exits (his first?), immediately following the deaths of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. (<em>Heavy.<\/em>) As Balin said in the band history <em>Got a Revolution!<\/em>, written by Jeff Tamarkin, Jann Wenner, and Paul Kantner:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I just didn&#8217;t want to go onstage and play that crazy music, that cocained, messed-up music that they were into. I stayed home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That quote may have nothing to do with the topic at hand, but I couldn&#8217;t resist working it into the discussion. Anyhow, with Marty sitting out a stretch, the Airplane did the only reasonable thing: call in Papa John. The few reports I can find on Creach&#8217;s joining the Airplane fold include this telling line, or some variant thereof: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The audience reaction to his tune-up alone convinced the rest of the Airplane that he was a worthwhile addition to the band&#8217;s line-up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OT4B-NJUcZE\" target=\"_blank\">I bet you&#8217;re thinking the same thing that I thought when I read that quote.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Although British Invasion bands like <strong>The Yardbirds<\/strong> and <strong>Fleetwood Mac<\/strong> had jammed with actual African American blues musicians years before the Airplane added Creach to their menagerie, the wide-eyed idol worship at play for the Brits was understandable. There&#8217;s a big difference about the opportunity to jam with <strong>Sonny Boy Williamson<\/strong> or <strong>Muddy Waters<\/strong> and the possible opportunism of placing an unknown, 55-year-old African American fiddle player in the middle of your honky freak show. Like the young British Invasion musicians, veteran, white, blues-based musicians of more recent vintage, such as <strong>Eric Clapton<\/strong> and <strong>Stevie Ray Vaughn<\/strong>, who shine a light on the likes of <strong>Buddy Guy<\/strong>, cannot be faulted. At least I don&#8217;t think they&#8217;re guilty of the exploitive practices that we seek to raise awareness over and possibly end this month. Keep that summer festival blues nonsense away from me, but it&#8217;s mostly about the music, man, as well as paying homage and all that jazz.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bBTgY_TudKM?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nR.L. Burnside is another shade of gray. He was brought to the public by Fat Possum Records, an indie label that made its name on finding some of the last surviving blues artists with pre-rock credibility. As a blues skeptic and acknowledged bluesophobe, the entire mission of Fat Possum Records is hard for me to judge. Maybe you can help me. Was Fat Possum they really doing a service to Da Blooz by giving Burnside and <strong>Junior Kimbraugh<\/strong> a second chance, or were they scraping the bottom of the barrel with all the blind faith and unconditional love of a collector? <\/p>\n<p>Although Burnside&#8217;s &#8217;60s recording career failed to catch fire, he learned to play guitar from <strong>Mississippi Fred McDowell<\/strong> and could cite <strong>Muddy Waters<\/strong> as a cousin. Prior to his initial recording career he shot a man dead &#8211; <em>he shot him!<\/em> I don&#8217;t mean to make light of the man&#8217;s mistake or the dead man&#8217;s ending, but let&#8217;s allow consideration of how this may have played into the decision by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, whose entire schtick was a punk-rock play on juke joint showmanship, to collaborate with Burnside. And let&#8217;s not forget the impact these details may have had on young, indie rock audiences who got turned onto Burnside in the &#8217;90s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kA_dSBLp1A8?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>But what&#8217;s wrong with Fat Possum and JSBE getting into this obscure bluesman and bringing him to a new generation?<\/em> you may ask. It&#8217;s a fair question and probably more applicable to Burnside&#8217;s last-bluesman standing status than that with Papa John getting roped into that Airplane mess. In criticizing Jefferson Airplane and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion for at least partially exploiting obscure, African American blues musicians for the purpose of &#8220;wowing&#8221; their white, middle-class audiences I am not wholly demeaning any previously undiscovered talent these artists had. It&#8217;s hard for me to judge the works of Papa John, for instance, because the racket he was stuck in the middle of did not lend itself to making any musician look good. As for Burnside, whose music I found less interesting than that of his legendary guitar teacher, more power to JSBE and Fat Possum for getting the guy whatever props he could muster and allowing him to live his final decade-plus off the earnings from his music. Considering that Fat Possum has stayed true to its mission and actually developed new bands influenced by their barrel-scraping blues finds, I find little fault in the label&#8217;s actions. Spencer&#8217;s exploitive actions are another matter, but in terms of degree of exploitation, I believe this practice is much less offensive than the AARC or other practices we&#8217;ll examine through the month. <\/p>\n<p>Are there other instances of white rockers calling in the credible bluesman for mostly exploitive gain? Did <strong>U2<\/strong> really need to collaborate with <strong>B.B. King<\/strong> when blues came to town? Did his presence somehow inspire them to record their first 12-bar blues? I look forward to your help in distinguishing among this practice&#8217;s shades of gray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As discussed in my kick-off piece for Exploitive Black Rock History Month, some subjects we&#8217;ll be exploring will be more difficult to assess than the African American robed choir (AARC). The practice of white rock bands incorporating &#8220;authentic&#8221; bluesmen is not as black and white as the AARC, and with no one else taking on <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/title-8\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[147],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}