The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Steeped in the blues’
A veteran of the scene, Billy Branch playing free show at Rock Hall to celebrate genre
Singer and blues harp player Billy Branch arrived on the Chicago music scene exactly 50 years ago. However, he just missed meeting and working with his hero — blues legend Little Walter Jacobs, who died in 1968. “I met and played with so many people that knew him — I almost felt like I knew him,” said Branch, calling from the Windy City. “I used to play with his old band, The Aces. Most of the guys knew Little Walter and had stories about him to tell.” What mattered most to Branch was the musical legacy of Little Walter, who was inducted in 2008 in the sideman category. The harmonica virtuoso was a key contributor to bluesman Muddy Waters’ music through most of the 1950s. “He’s the most influential harmonica player possibly of any genre in my global travels,” Branch said. “As recently as last year in China, they got a harmonica club that’s trying to play like Little Walter. I’m in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador doing the blues and these kids are trying to play like Little Walter. “He’s the guy who pioneered the use of a cheap microphone and overdriving into it an electric amplifier — essentially utilizing feedback as a musical tool. You can’t be a serious blues-harp player unless at some point you go through Little Walter.” With that in mind, Branch performing Little
Walter’s music will be going through Northeast Ohio for the free “Blues Day” performance Aug. 24 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Branch is celebrating the new Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues’ album “Roots and Branches — The Songs of Little Walter.”
Rock Hall Director of Fan Engagement and Onstage Experience John Goehrke said Branch’s involvement in “Blues Day” is apropos. “Billy Branch is steeped in the blues in every way possible,” Goehrke said. “He was discovered by Rock Hall inductee Willie Dixon,
founded the Grammy Blues Committee and is a blues education pioneer thanks to his important work developing the Blues in Schools curriculum. “We’re thrilled to welcome him and his band to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a great day of Chicago
Blues music.” Over the last half century, Branch has released 15 albums under his own name and has also recorded with Willie Dixon, Johnny Winter, Keb’ Mo, Lou Rawls and Koko Taylor. When it comes to performing Little Walter’s material, Branch said he contemporizes the classics. That includes performing the blues great’s career-defining songs such as “Nobody but You” and “Blue and Lonesome.” If the latter seems familiar, it’s because that’s what the Rolling Stones titled
their 2016 blues cover album, which included Little Walter covers “I Gotta Go” and “Hate to See You Go.” Branch noted royalties from the Grammy Award-winning album allowed Walter’s daughter to buy a new home. Considering the importance of blues to the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll, it makes sense the Rock Hall would host a “Blues Day.” “As Muddy Waters said, ‘The blues had a baby and named it rock ‘n’ roll,’” Branch said. “All of your great rock performers — The Stones, Cream, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix — openly admit their respect and love for the blues. “They all began with those songs going back to Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf. So it’s a natural connection, a natural melding of the genres. Willie Dixon said, ‘The blues are the roots and all of the rest of the music is the fruit.’ So, there it is.”