Gary Gordon

Where do you find the Blues? Chicago? New Orleans? Down in the Delta? Along the Mississippi? St. Louis? Yes... Real Blues is born in many places, but mostly in your soul. Gary Gordon grew up in the farm country of Southern Illinois across the river from St. Louis, Missouri. “During my grade school years I loved the sounds of the Delta and the sounds of Chicago blues too. My home in Randolph County was just about the halfway point in between”, says Gary. “This music has been in me since I was a kid.” “But, in all my years of performing and recording, this is my first solo project and my first blues record.” At the ripe old age of 12, Gary started playing with much older musicians in local bands. He soon found out that a band gig was a sweet escape from the hard work on Dad’s farm! By the time he was 17, he’d began working with the blues oriented electric group, "Farm". “We were blessed with lots of airplay on what was then "underground" FM radio”. A few years down the road, Farm had run its course and European reissues and bootlegs followed. At that point, Gary started to focus on the acoustic sounds he’d always loved. He put together “The Gordons” and began touring across the U.S. and abroad. They played an eclectic mix of Bluegrass and Folk along with accents of Blues and Rock and even Soul. Most listeners would be familiar with Gary’s acoustic music. But many have never had the chance to hear this Blues side. “The "Real Blue" album comes from way down inside...” says Gary. “Some songs are originals, some written for the great blind blues man Jimmy Skinner, some obscure, a few in tribute to the originators who influenced me so deeply.” Gary’s joined by dear friends Tim Beattie, harpist extraordinaire, and Ross Sermons, a stand-up bass player renown for his excellence! “Tim is the equal of any living harmonica player. We've worked a ton of shows together and he is always the epitome of taste and invention. Ross throws down the tone... be it rich and sweet or powerful and driving. Like any great player he'll tip his hat to Willie Dixon while moving beyond that to become a stylist in his own right”, according to Gary. “My son Noah joins us on drums. He has immersed himself in the Nashville music scene since the age of 18. I welcomed this opportunity for us to work together on the record. Noah brought along a wealth of studio experience helping all the way through mix and mastering of "Real Blue".This music is a million miles away from the grimacing, loud, bar band variety that has masqueraded as blues for so long. This is the real animal... Music from the heart, music from my past and present... even the future. “This record is a million miles away from the grimacing bar band music that has masqueraded as blues for so long. This is the real animal... music from the heart... music from the past, the present... and future. “My early blues influences are all over these tracks. Guys like Ray Nance, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, Furry Lewis, Howlin' Wolf, Lightin' Hopkins and Albert King”, says Gary. “I loved the early John Mayall so much I’ve recorded a sort of tribute version of Broken Wing.” In the recording of these tracks, Gary used a Tut Taylor TN10 Tennessee Blues round neck resonator guitar, a Gallagher G-50 flattop guitar, and Regal round neck metal-body resonator. Some of the cuts reveal the sounds of a Custom Roehm square neck resonator guitar and even an old Silvertone small body acoustic. “I use that Silvertone for both standard playing and bottleneck”, says Gary. “There’s a spirit in each of those instruments. It’s almost like the notes were already in there just waiting to come out.” The goal with Real Blue was to travel back to the time before the big P.A. systems and big light shows. To move in towards the heart of the blues... to strip away what’s between the musician and the listener. When you break it down to its most pure state, that’s Real Blues.