Jimy puts boot into blues

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

The blues, mood and music though not the movies, are infused with loneliness, and last Friday night at Redbones Blues Café, New Kingston, Jimy 'Blusic' Graham was a lone figure onstage.

In addition, there was no one inside the arc of light cast by the lighting directed at the stage for The Fire Deep Inside. The couples which occupied the seating area before the stage chose to sit in the relative dark.

Still, the applause from the bar area after many of Graham's songs indicated that he had some company - and on the rare occasion when no one applauded he still said thanks anyway. And even though he was alone onstage, the silver fret of his black guitar glinting and the gold bracelet in his right hand glowing, Jimy Graham did not seem like a lonely man. Not with his left boot, a colourful bandana tied around the shin attached to the foot stuffed into the fancy brown footwear, audibly thumping the paving stones of the stage many a time as the rhythm of the blues got Graham going.

In his second set, Graham started out by paying respect to the recently wedded royal couple and birthday wishes to Duke Ellington, the hurting kind of love between couples and admiration for Ellington lacing the next 45 minutes of music.

The song moved from the singers love of his partner to the conclusion "I don't think she really cares" and, further, "one thing I know though/she's going to kill me soon". The pace of his guitar licks varied, Graham declaring "the blues is the roots" before doing one of his own compositions, which declared: "I'm gonna leave this town/ain't gonna be coming here no more".

Graham's song was especially appreciated by his sparse company and, when it was over, he mused about a New Orleans crowd. "We need some gumbo up in here. Some ackee and salt fish," he said.

uptempo music

Lightning Hopkins' Mojo Hand was uptempo, Graham adjusting the lyrics for the country at one point as he sang: "I'm gonna go down to Jamaica/get me an obeah man". That left boot got especially involved at the end, Graham saying "that's right", as he lifted it totally off the ground.

Graham went down to Louisiana for more mojo and he sought the advice of a Gypsy woman to win him the heart of a lady, but concluded eventually that "it just ain't working on you".

Avatar was an instrumental. There were strikingly high guitar notes at the start of Since You Been Gone at the end of which there was a shout of 'bluegrass!' from the bar area. "Bluegrass," Graham confirmed.

Duke's Shuffle was dedicated to the Duke, Graham punctuating his guitar playing with a yelping "yeah!" and he took his music on the rails for the next track as he sang: "Got up this morning, got on the train". There was a literal train ride not so long ago, as Graham spoke about a beautiful experience riding on the revitalised train service two weeks before. He said that Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, who was on the journey, "just rocks".

Graham made the geographical connection between countries and cities, saying, "New Orleans meets Jamaica, Chicago meets Kingston, Memphis, Tennessee meets Jamaica", before ending with another lonely song. "I got a sweet little angel/but she stays out all night long," Graham sang to end the show.

"Thank you for your eyes, your ears and your soulful hearts," Graham said, the applause close to midnight indicating that he had really not been alone.