Girls With Guitars

Blues Caravan Returning To Connecticut

For A Hard Rocking Curtain Call

By John Voket

Like journeyman blues musicians of the mid-to-late 20th Century, the players on Thomas Ruf’s 2011 Blues Caravan pulled up to a recent gig at Norfolk’s Infinity Hall more than an hour late, but ready to get down to business.

Grabbing their own instruments, amps and lugging pieces of the drum kit, these globe trotting players hoofed it all up to the second floor concert space. And within minutes, they were plugged in and pumping out The White Stripes “Seven Nation Army” for a sound check, stopping frequently to tweak monitors and microphone mixes.

Sounding as good as anything one might expect to hear from the likes of BB King, Buddy Guy or Johnny Winter, this group however bears no resemblance to those grizzled veterans of smoky urban blues clubs and whiskey-fueled showcases.

These guitar-wielding blues travelers — all 20-something women — represent the next generation of devotees, dedicated to carrying on traditions while laying down new pavement on highways so long ago tread by predecessors like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Bessie Smith and Muddy Waters.

A couple of hours later, after dinner and a sit-down with The Newtown Bee, these so-called “Girls With Guitars,” Dani Wilde, Samantha Fish and Cassie Taylor, blew the roof off the joint like they were playing to a sold-out stadium instead of just a few dozen curious blues lovers out for a show on a quiet Thursday night. Drawing heavily from the tour’s promotional CD or solo projects, and driven by the articulate rhythms of drummer Denis Paladin, the trio hit the stage ripping into a cover of the Rolling Stones, “Bitch.” The hour-plus set continued with each song spotlighting one or more of the players, as well as presenting a broad representation of blues styles from slide-heavy ballads to full-throttle rockers.

Having already played nearly 100 shows since late January, from tiny clubs in Germany, Sweden and Belgium, to monster festivals in Austria, France and Winter Park, Colo., the girls were nonetheless eager to sit down and chat about their newfound friendships and the responsibilities of carrying on in the footsteps of historic American blues icons.

Hailing from Brighton, England, Dani Wilde sings the blues mixing up the old-school fervor of Aretha Franklin with contemporaries like Duffy and Joss Stone. The singer-songwriter-guitarist recently released her second album, Shine, a collaboration with renowned producer Mike Vernon who has left his mark on projects by Eric Clapton and Fleetwood Mac, and is returning for her second stint on the Blues Caravan tour.

She has shared her unique freehand style of guitar playing and unleashed monstrous pipes alongside luminaries like Robben Ford, Candye Kane and Koko Taylor, but in person her demeanor is hushed, almost demure. Although she eagerly expresses her gratitude to all the musicians who have welcomed her on stage, as well as those who set the stage for what is sure to be a long and fruitful career.

Wilde told The Bee that she jumped at the chance to return to the Blues Caravan so she could break out some of her newest material for blues loving United States audiences.

At the tender age of 21, Samantha Fish is already a popular fixture on the live music scene in and around her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. She discovered the blues almost by accident as a teenager, but it has since become her singular mission in life.

Leaning more toward rock-edged performances Fish has expanded her repertoire and her fan base to venues like Rosa’s Lounge in Chicago where she opened eyes during the 2010 Chicago Blues Festival. She said she had been playing five to six nights a week with her own band, and she was thrilled to be picked to play across Europe and the UK with the Blues Caravan.

Proud to call herself the “Daughter of a Bluesman,” multi-instrumentalist Cassie Taylor has appeared on eight critically-acclaimed albums by her father, Otis Taylor, and accompanied him on tours all over the world. She was also a featured vocalist on Gary Moore’s 2008 release Bad For You Baby.

Still just in her early 20s, Taylor has been hailed for her commanding stage presence and her material. She is also instrumental in helping promote her musical genre of choice as a second generation member of the International Blues Foundation.

“You know, my dad didn’t check himself and go, ‘I gotta make sure the youth have it,’ he was just being a black blues artist passing the blues down the way it was passed down to him,” Taylor said. “It’s just a natural thing for the blues to evolve, and get passed down. I think more artists just have to share it, it can be with a 12-year-old or an 80-year-old because the more the blues can breathe in a living human being, the more the blues will continually regenerate itself.”

While the “Girls With Guitars” show has already played a handful of gigs in the region including the recent Infinity set, those who enjoy the blues or a truly captivating musical experience should plan to squeeze in as the Blues Caravan returns a its Connecticut curtain call October 15 at Black Eyed Sally’s in Hartford.

 (Read the exclusive Newtown Bee interview and view video clips of the “Girls With Guitars” Blues Caravan Tour at www.NewtownBee.com. Find this story and its additional materials under the Features tab.)