​Blues infused

Blues-infused rock band Canned Heat formed in Los Angeles in 1965. They created a name for themselves by marrying country blues and rock and roll. They have shared the stage with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin at the Monterey pop festival and headlined Woodstock. They’ve played venues from the Fillmore to Carnegie Hall. Needless to say, Canned Heat is the stuff rock and roll dreams are fueled by.

Now, this coming weekend they will be one of the headliners in the 2016 Fargo Blues Festival. The High Plains Reader had an opportunity to chat with Canned Heat drummer and self-published author Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra about the blues, Woodstock, and the state of music as we know it. When I disclosed that I grew up listening to Canned Heat albums records in my mom’s collection, Fito and I realized we had a common bond. We both share a mutual respect for our musical elders.

“Sometimes our audiences are 30-40% younger people and that’s great. I think that someone who is younger and coming to a Canned Heat show is an act of rebelliousness.” Says de la Parra.

High Plains Reader: There’s something to be said about great music that can withstand the test of time. Maybe that’s something we have in common, especially in seeing that your musical influences are these older blues musicians.

Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra: Yeah that’s right! By act of rebelliousness I mean normally a kid under 20 years old wouldn’t know anything about us or the history of our band, but they come looking for something different than what the establishment is giving them.

HPR: Is that rebelliousness what initially attracted Canned Heat to the blues?

Fito: It had nothing to do with acceptance or popularity. When we got into the blues it was just because we thought the musical format was very soulful. It had a lot of humanity and heart to it. Before we got together and became Canned Heat all of us in our own lives were already into the blues. Three of the founding members were musicologists and record collectors. They were real authorities on blues music and American music in general.

HPR: As part of the movement, what do you think sparked the blues revival of the 60s?

Fito: A lot of great music came out at that time. I’d call it a renaissance in music, because the situation was pretty much stagnant after the British Invasion of the mid 60s. Of course there were The Beatles and all of those other bands. It wasn’t really going anywhere until the real revolution came with a lot of blues-oriented music like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Cream, Canned Heat, and John Mayall.

You have to see and remember that in the 60s, blues music was not accepted or known. Club owners were actually afraid of blues bands--it was just not a popular thing. That was one of our main missions we had when we formed Canned Heat.

We had three worldwide hit records that were blues music and we always put an emphasis on that and an emphasis on making that music palatable and popular with white audiences. That was our mission and that’s what we wanted.

We never expected to be popular and have hit records and all of that. That came almost as a bonus.That also made us available to be able to travel all over the world and promote this kind of music. Now 50 years later blues music is recognized as an American art form.

HPR: According to your website, Canned Heat is credited with “bringing in a number of forgotten bluesmen to the forefront of the modern blues scene.” Can you tell us about that?

Fito: That was part of our mission, to make the blues recognized worldwide, but to also give the proper due and recognition to the old masters that we were inspired by.

HPR: Did you seek them out or was it a happy accident?

Fito: The guys that were musicologists and music experts--they were always looking around for these guys, and yes we did seek them out. It was amazing the places we would find them. We found Silas Hogan, one of the old country blues artists in the yellow pages working as a plumber in Baton Rouge Louisiana.

We met John Lee Hooker at the airport in Portland. We were landing there and all of a sudden near where you picked up your luggage, we saw this black guy picking up a guitar and we recognized him.

My God! That’s John Lee Hooker! We all ran towards him--and this time WE were the groupies!

We went John, John! We admire your music--we’ve been listening to you since we started playing. He knew who we were and that started a wonderful relationship. We ended up making three albums with him.

Alan Wilson, one of our founders actually found Son House in a hospital in Mississippi. He went to visit him and convinced him to perform at The Newport Blues Festival--everybody thought he was gone.He was one of the greats but he was damaged. Too much alcohol and all of that and very old.

It was a wonderful thing, this young kid from a white blues band goes and rediscovers this old blues guy, sits down with him, plays guitar with him, and teaches him how to play his own music again.

Later on, Son House was able to make it to the Newport Blues Festival and recorded one of his finest performances there before he died.

HPR: So Woodstock, What was the scene like backstage at Woodstock?

Fito: What was the scene like--(bursts out laughing).

You know most people ask me “what was your experience like at Woodstock?” Nobody has asked me what it was like backstage!

It was a mess out there in the back. We were all just somehow making it. Organizing, trying to play in order-it was really something. It was a lot of fun though. It was probably the biggest party we ever attended. It was very magical, it was like anarchy come true but with peace and love--you know? Upstage yes...backstage..MY GOD!

HPR: You and bass player Larry Taylor have been playing for decades, can you tell us about your dynamic?

Fito: We were known to be a killer rhythm section. We are very unique , and we are both experts on the shuffle beat. I don’t think there’s anybody that can play the shuffle beat like we do--and the way we marry country blues with rock and roll.

Larry Taylor has been my dear friend, he’s a man that I admire a lot. Larry started playing with Jerry Lee Lewis when he was 16 years old, he recorded in the famous studio in Memphis--Sun Records. Lately he’s been playing with Tom Waits. Basically, he is the bass player in most of Tom Waits records.

HPR: What do you think about current music trends and and what do you think are the most noticeable changes?

Fito: There have been a lot of noticeable changes, especially with all the technology coming in. Music has changed a lot and some of it makes me depressed and some of it gives me hope.

When I see young kids interested playing an instrument, singing, and approaching music the way we did when we were kids in garage bands--I feel good about music. There’s hope for creativity--the humane side of music.

Then on the other side, the majority have lost the feeling of music somehow. Because now all of these disc jockeys--they make all of this music electronically with samples. They never learn how to play an instrument or experience the communion of the people you are playing with. This is very important and this sometimes gives me fear, that all of this stuff with the technology and the robots and all--will take over music.

We should always back and protect live music from the trends put on us by the establishment, by the corporate culture, and by the bean counters at the record companies.

IF YOU GO:

Canned Heat

Saturday, July 30, 8 p.m.

Newman Outdoor Field, 1515 15th Ave. N, Fargo

For tickets call: 1-866-552-5837

http://www.cannedheatmusic.com for Fito’s book

For the complete line up: http://fargobluesfest.homestead.com/index.html