Racky Thomas and his band are gearing up for another BluesNBrews Festival held at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, Massachusetts this August 22. Thomas was part of the side stage duo at last year’s BNB and he had his full band there back in the summer of 2009. Thomas also has a new CD coming out at this time, so he is doubly excited.
“It’s been a few years since the band has played BluesNBrews in Westford,” he said. “I was there last year on the side stage with a piano player, Matt McCabe, and that was a lot of fun. But, I think the last time we played the BluesNBrews, we had just released our last album. It’s good timing that this appearance of the festival is going to coincide with the release of our latest record.”
Thomas hasn’t quite figured out yet how much of his new material to work into his BluesNBrews set. “I’m going to try and come up with the best set I possibly can,” he said. “My goal is to set the festival on its head, or on its ear. We want to shake things up at the festival, give everybody a great time. That’s really what it’s all about. I’m sure we’ll play a few songs from the new record.”
Thomas enjoys the fact that BluesNBrews is a great cause, which is put on by Westford Rotary Charitable Foundation. “Johnny Mac does a great job organizing it,” Thomas said. “The staff there is great. There’s a lot of beer to chose from, a lot of beer to taste there. From my experience last year, just seeing how well run it was and just the vibe from the audience was really cool, just a bunch of great people enjoying a great day at the ski slopes and enjoying great blues.”
Thomas said he will likely abstain during the event. “I tend to avoid it when we’re performing,” he said. “But, I’ll be walking around, looking around. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get a sampler and taste it.”
Thomas also likes this particular festival because it features local blues DJ Carter Allan as its host. “Carter is a great guy, great advocate for local music and the blues as well,” Thomas said.
Thomas will be sharing the BluesNBrews stage with artists like Selwyn Birchwood, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Ben Knight, and Vanessa Collier. “I’m sure that they’re really great or they wouldn’t be on the bill,” Thomas exclaimed. “I feel humbled to be on the bill along with those folks. I really hope to put our best foot forward and put on a performance worthy of all the other artists.”
Racky Thomas band was selected by organizer John MacKinnon for several reasons. “I approach the line up trying to showcase a variety of blues styles,” MacKinnon said. “Racky is a staple in the Boston blues scene that brings Chicago Blues and Swing to the line up, that gets people on their feet. Racky Thomas Band sits right in the middle of our line up; don’t miss them.”
MacKinnon also touched upon the charity mission that drives BluesNBrews. “Blues ‘N’ Brews is a project of the Westford Rotary Charitable Endowment, Inc,” Mac explained. “All of the funds raised from the festival will support a variety of charities, provide local scholarships and projects supported by Westford Rotary Club.”
For fans of the Racky Thomas Band, this year’s BluesNBrews represents a chance for his fans to hear some new material. Thomas’s new album is called Goin’ Home, a reflection of all of the blues sub-genres that Thomas has immersed himself into since becoming a blues fan after seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn in concert. Thomas’s deeper immersion into blues began when he was working in a small coffee shop in South Boston. A patron who had lived across the street used to come in mornings and blow a few riffs on his harmonica before ordering his coffee.
“He started bringing me tapes of Little Walter and Junior Wells, all those guys,” he said. “He turned me onto that. I fell in love with the harmonica sound.” From there, other blues fans and musicians would point him in new directions, leading him to find his own way, as he researched blues artists from the Delta era to the present day.” Thomas is a big fan of Taj Mahall, Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, and more obscure blues artists from that era.
Thomas eventually found his way to gospel, spiritual music and even some swinging Louisiana blues. Listening to C.J. Chenier is what began a fascination with accordion flavored blues, Zydeco, and Fats Domino. “I picked up a compilation of Cosimo Matassa’s recordings,” Thomas explained. “He recorded many, many New Orleans based artists.”
Featuring support musicians like keyboardist John Juxo, keyboardist Matt McCabe, drummer Michael Avery, famed bassist Mudcat Ward, guitarist Peter Henderson, vocalist Carrie Johnson, and vocalist Shavonne Moore, Thomas’s new Goin’ Home finds him indulging himself in these traditional genres, especially Louisiana blues. His focus on playing traditional music began during a special gig. He had to hone his act into something acceptable to a brunch crowd at the Sunday blues brunch at British Beer Company in Walpole. After getting told to keep the volume and dynamics under control, Thomas changed tact.
“I infused a lot of the country blues that I’ve had,” he said. “Mudcat Ward turned me onto some old Hank Williams gospel music, so I started getting more into gospel, and we brought that into the equation. We made it a mix of blues, gospel, country, this and that. It’s an amalgamation of those things. It kind of works, and I really discovered how I like singing that kind of stuff. When we went into the studio, that’ just what came out of it.”
“Goin’ Away, Baby” is a Joe Turner/Pete Johnson song Thomas included. It has only vocals and piano, an approach that he and Matt McCabe have been using for a long time. “We thought it would be a nice change of pace,” Thomas said. “I’ve been a big fan of Joe Turner’s style so that’s why we added that song to that record.”
His next cut on that CD is title track “Goin’ Home.” The blues tune is a spiritual number about traveling back to one’s place of origin. Piano, accordion, harmonica and more are loaded with spiritual fiber. A choir like chorus carries the message even further.
“That’s a Charlie Patton tune that he just sang with guitar and the voice, and I just liked the whole gospel vibe to it,” Thomas said. “It’s going back to the roots. I just love the melody and the singing and everything and the girls just sang background. That really enriched the song. John Juxo’s great accordion playing just gives it a joyful feel. I love that tune. We pulled out all the stops on that. That might be my favorite track on the CD.”
The second half of the new Thomas album is more assertive. “Down In The Bottom” has a crisp vocal approach that makes everything sound urgent and harried. “It has a blending of ‘Rolling And Tumbling” and Down In The Bottom,’” Thomas said. “I just like that Delta feel and the slide guitar. You get an almost R.L. Burnside vibe or Junior Kimbrough.”
“Mary Don’t You Weep” is a sleepy Louisiana blues that gets its layers of soul from an accordion melody, a girl choir, and slide guitar phrasing. “I’ve heard a few different versions of that song,” Thomas said. “That’s another gospel song. Bruce Springsteen’s done a version of it. Taj Mahal did a version in the major key. We went into the studio with that, and it came out with a Latin feel too. That’s just the way it evolved in the studio, and we went with it.”
Thomas’s experiments with blues roots music can be heard on Saturday, August 22, 2015. BluesNBrews 2015 runs from Noon to 7:00 p.m. at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, Massachusetts.
978-692-3033.
Tickets:
Early Bird, $27; Advance $30; Gate $35.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Racky-Thomas-Band/143374715733719?fref=ts
