Rhode Island institution on a mission to entertain
After 45 years, Rhode Island’s Roomful of Blues is an institution that just keeps on renewing itself.
“We won’t go away,” laughs Chris Vachon, who has played guitar since 1990 for the band that specializes in finding connections between jump blues, rock ’n’ roll, swing and rhythm ’n’ blues (he took on the job of bandleader in 1998).
“We enjoy what we’re doing and we have always tried to keep it fairly close to the way it was started. New members come from a similar background so it stays pretty consistent, and presenting the various styles of blues means it’s not the same thing over and over.”
To mark their latest career milestone, they put in a threenight stay this past spring at Matunuck, R.I.’s Ocean Mist club, releasing highlights on a recent, rousing Alligator disc called 45 Live.
This Friday, they will also be tapping the sound of postwar Chicago blues with one of that sub-genre’s last living greats, James Cotton, in the opening night finale of the 15th annual Edmonton Blues Festival. The opening night show runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
“We’ve always done a variety of different blues styles so his Chicago style fits really well with us. He used to feature horns on some of his records too, so it’s a good fit.”
Vachon was looking forward to sharing a few tunes with the 78-year-old, Mississippi-born harmonica man and singer who is himself experiencing another round of appreciation for his latest Alligator disc, Cotton Mouth Man. While Cotton’s voice may not project as loudly as it once did, his harp attack and fighting spirit seem intact, with the sort of character that only comes with experience.
Similarly, the eight members of Roomful of Blues — sporting an average age in the mid-40s — never seem to lose sense of their mission to entertain.
“It’s not so much of a conscious effort to look at the roots as it is just playing stuff we like to play. And with the horns, there’s more than one focal point in the band. We share the solos, so everybody gets a spot to show their strengths. That keeps it interesting.”
Saxophonist Rich Lataille (who joined in 1970) is now the longest-serving player in the band that was founded by Duke Robillard and Al Copley in 1967.
A series of great leaders and soloists have passed through since then, like Ronnie Earl, Ron Levy, and singers Lou Ann Barton, Sugar Ray Norcia and Curtis Salgado. Phil Pemberton has taken on vocal duties since 2010, with three horns, guitar, bass, keys and drums filling out the band.
All together R.O.B. has hosted more than 50 players or singers over its history, serving as a launching ground for many successful solo careers.
And then there’s the music itself. The bandleader says it wasn’t easy picking out tunes for 45 Live, which packs in a boisterous 65 minutes of blues classics and band originals.
“The idea was to try to get something from every record that we did. In the end, I picked about 36 songs and pared that down to 14 for the CD. I had to skip a few records but I think we got a pretty good overview of the most important stuff.”
That includes numbers they originally recorded with late greats like Big Joe Turner, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson and Earl King. Since their eponymous debut release in 1978, R.O.B. has put out more than 25 recordings on labels like Bullseye Blues, Varrick and Alligator. They’ve earned five Grammy nominations and seven Blues Music Awards, among many honours. The band is famous in Canada for backing up Colin James on his double-platinum Little Big Band album. Their 1984 date with Stevie Ray Vaughan was another career high point.
Like many kids, Vachon wanted to play guitar once he heard The Beatles, then he caught on to B.B. King and other blues greats. Growing up in Wakefield, R.I., he was aware of R.O.B. from the early 1970s and was leading his own band when he got a chance to open for them in the mid-1980s. Once he began substituting for their regular guitarist, he let it be known he “wanted in,” but it took another six years to get hired.
Like Vachon, most of the members are based in Rhode Island or in neighbouring states, when not on the road. Like the band, their 15-year-old tour bus has seen a lot of miles too, thanks to regular renewals. The bus is on its third engine and third transmission.