FFWD Weekly
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| MUSIC Robbie Laws Portland singer/guitarist/songwriter Robbie Laws ended up dealing in the blues, even though he walked through the parking lot of rock, R&B, and even Mexican folk music to get there. Laws ended up dealing in the blues although he grew up in a home where no other musicians lurked in doorways. Laws ended up dealing in the blues in spite of the fact that he's the first to admit the medium has its limitations, and it can be a challenge at times to stay fresh and creative inside its parameters. "The idiom has only got so many variables, especially if you're trying to create something original while kind of keeping the tradition going," Laws explains. "But blues is like folklore, handed down from generation to generation, and you kind of want to leave your thumbprints on it and pass it on. You don't want to really change it too much. It's a classic art form. You want to make it your own in a sense, but maintain a certain style or certain approach that is pretty normal. It's like a recipe for writing." With the release of his new album, Takin' the Night Train, Laws has indeed managed to respect tradition while putting his own fingerprints on the blues. The album is in tight with traditional blues, sweetened by rambling vocals and organ. It's predecessor, Midnight Rain, was released in 1995 and earned him a Muddy Award for blues recording. Not bad for a first album. Not bad for a guy who didn't even pick up a guitar until he was 22 years old. But Laws didn't exactly jump from novice to master overnight. "Most of all the music I've played, even other than blues, has had some blues base to it. I played rock for a while, I've had some students who were into certain rock players, so they'd come with these tapes, they wanted to learn these parts, so I'd be forced to figure them out. It's always been blues-based. "I played R&B. I did play in a 13-piece Mexican band, very different but even still you can see the lines of influence. Music is a worldly or international language. The old Mexican folk songs and some of the American standards are very similar." Having taken that long and winding road towards the blues, Laws seems quite comfortable with the journey. Now that Takin' the Night Train has been nominated for a Muddy Award as well, he is satisfied with where he's at. Especially if where he's at is the King Eddy. "This will be my third or fourth time there. It has an infamous sort of vibe to it. It's the quintessential blues club. You walk in and it looks like something that might have been in Chicago somewhere, the photos on the wall, the attitude of the wait staff, the overall vibe of the place is definite serious blues. We don't have anything like it here in Portland." And when he's not making the guitar catch fire at the club, teaching students how to play, or writing songs, Laws knows what to do to relax. "I don't play music!" he laughs. "I'll be driving down the road in dead silence, resting my brain and my ears." |