Little
Joe "Sun Piedmont" McLerran didn't go to college. Instead
McLerran, 23, decided to try his hand at being a blues man.
"They
can't teach you how to do that in school," said McLerran, the
lanky and mustachio-sporting guitarist who plays a special style of
music called " Piedmont blues."
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Copy
of the Tulsa World photo
by Cory Young / Tulsa World
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McLerran
won the Blues Society of Tulsa's solo/duo competition last year and
he's competing in Memphis this weekend at the national Blues Foundation's
International Blues Challenge.
The
Blues is a complex genre, with divisions that include "Delta
blues" - a simpler but more raw style of blues from the Mississippi
Delta region, popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin'
Wolf.
But
"Piedmont blues," from the southeastern United States, merges
ragtime, swing and jazz into melodies that sound almost like piano
rolls on a guitar, McLerran said. The style also is typified by more
intricate cord changes.
He
has been playing this kind of music since he was about 8 years old,
he said, beginning as a kid growing up in Boulder, Colo. He moved
with his family to the Tulsa area at 15, but never stopped playing
the blues, despite an attempt at forming a metal band.
"That's
really the first thing I really wanted to learn." he said, adding
that his father, Rob McLerran, listened to old blues musicians. McLerran
plays bass for his son in their duo.
McLerran's
influences include Homesick James, Big Bill Broonzy, Bumble Bee Slim,
Blind Boy Fuller and Robert Johnson.
"The
old blues stuff, it's raw human emotion.. These people aren't superstars.
They're really saying what they feel and they have emotion behind
it - like real, genuine emotion."
He
unleashes that raw emotion on an old Gibson guitar that's more than
twice his own age.
McLerran
released his last album, "Little Joe the Hard Way," in 2005,
had he is working on some new material. His first album was "Son
Piedmont and the Blues Krewe," which featured McLerran's younger
brother Jesse on washboard, Jesse was killed in an accident following
that disc's 2003 recording.
The
McLerrans competed last year in Memphis, but lost. This year, if they
win first place, they'll receive prizes including $1,000. The competition
takes place on Beale Street each year, McLerran said.
Another local act, blues band Odd Sheep Out, will compete in the band
division of the competition, said the group's drummer, Richard Coffey.
The blues/rock band will head to Memphis for its first try at the
contest, Coffery said.
"We
play from the heart," Coffery said. "It's authentic; it's
solid. It's kind of real deal. We try to make it as authentic as possible."
Pete
Marriott plays guitar in the bandk while his wife, Jennifer Marriott,
sings, Coffey said. Pete Marriott's career has included gigs with
Joe Cocker, Freddy Fender and Ronnie Dunn, while Coffey said he has
played with such artists as Dwight Yoakam.
Feb
3, 2007 Memphis - King's Palace Cafe
