John Primer and the Real Deal Blues Band at BluSeed Studios in Saranac Lake

It’s All Happening Here

What registers immediately is the injection, you know, that infusion. The boost, the balm, the grit and bounce. There’s the groove, the lilt and the beat. The band opens you up and rocks you with its sound. 

John Primer is in Saranac Lake, NY. Two-time Grammy nominated artist, American blues legend, former bandleader and guitarist for Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Magic Slim & The Teardrops, John is here with his Real Deal Blues Band. He has played on 82 albums, earned a Lifetime Achievement Award, two Living Legends honors, and an award for Best Traditional Blues Artist from the National Blues Foundation. And, he’s here, right now.

On stage, in trousers, vest and black fedora, he twists his mouth as he finesses his guitar strings. With a voice his second nature, he’s at home with his guitar: wants the slide on it “crisp like bacon with no distortion,” John tells me in a pre-show interview. He uses no foot pedals. “Yeah, that’s right, no foot pedals. It comes from me naturally. That’s the way you do it. You gotta feel it from your whole body and soul,” he says. 

Photo by Laura Carbone

The Real Deal Blues Band

John’s band members include: Steve Bell, who keeps over a dozen harps on stage with him and “is like a blues harmonica train, so hold on tight he'll take you for a ride!” states www.johnprimerblues.com; drummer Lenny Media, from under his New York Yankees ball cap, whose “...energy and double beats are amazing!”; and Danny “Smoke” O’Connor who wears thin ash blonde dreadlocks and shades and plays a five string bass. 

When John sings, “They Call Me John Primer”, his tribute to Muddy Waters, each musician is in his own zone rocking, grooving and jiving yet creating the whole live synergy. John’s guitar replicates a swarm of bees and Steve does a “harmonazing” solo. 

To the lyrics, “My eyes keep me in trouble. I want every woman I see,” the tight team drives and jams. Their next number is soulful and rhythmic. 

When we, the audience, hear John sing, “Don’t say I don’t love you ‘cause I stay out all night long,” I want to throw my arms up and out, embrace the music, take it in, feel it in my veins, in my heart, all the way to my soul. It’s so imploring. Steve’s harmonica is sweet as honey. Next up, some rock n roll with “She’s so Fine” with its pulsing, building, persistent beat.

The venue is like a large living room with low ceilings and smiling friends wherever I look. We, our ages ranging from 30 -70, dance. It is an all-out party! After the next number, John introduces his band members and adds, “We’re the Real Deal Blues Band. We make blues you can use.”

“Everything going to be alright,” John sings. “I’m a hoochie coochie man.” The harmonica echoes his voice.

John is singing love with the swinging sound and blended notes for the dancing crowd. 

To his lyrics, “If you don’t think I love you, you’ve got to be on your way,” Steve cranks a little “Room to Move” melody on his harmonica.

Did I mention we dance? Oh yeah, to “Let the Good Times Roll,” and “Mustang Sally” when Smoke, the bassist, gets out front and struts his stuff.

The bandmembers - each in their own zone, bring it, together. “You packed up… please give me something to remember you by.” Drummer Lenny’s precise beats nail it.

Whether it’s to “Forty Days and Forty Nights” or “Can’t You See” we dancers groove, John’s voice belts it while demonstrating his remarkable guitar virtuoso, the harmonica wails and wah-wahs, the drummer metes it out, and the bass man holds it all down. For the latter song, each musician in his own niche of expertise, puts his own stamp on a wildly nostalgic song in a painfully good way.

To “I’ve Got my Mojo Working” everyone stands, sways and sings with raised hearts in response to the wondrous energy of this bona-fide blues band.

“I’m always happy when I get a guitar in my hands. That’s my life,” John says. Would he do anything differently? “I don’t think so, no. I was born to play music.” To that end, he’s working on a new CD.

We’re psyched.

Beckie O’Beill    April 14, 2018