It was Friday, November 20, 2009 and Shane Dwight was the headliner at Mojo’s Blues Kitchen in Jacksonville Beach. To be frank, I had no idea who this Shane Dwight Guy was. On his website I found that he is an American Roots Music artist, and he’s white, and about 35. Great, I was supposed to find a blues concert and I went to watch a white Gen X guy play guitar at a cougar bar. There was no other option, it had to be done this weekend, and the options were slim around Jacksonville, so there I was, in front of Mojo’s Blues Kitchen, walking in as the only person under the age of 30 to go watch a white guy play the blues or something similar to it. I was skeptical to say the least.
Alright, poor attitude aside, I was looking forward to this. I rarely go to concerts and this gave me a reason to relax, experience some fresh music, and have a few beers. All three are great reasons to go to a blues concert.
I was late. The concert started at 10:00 p.m. and it is 10:30 p.m. when I walked into the venue. Mojo’s was packed! It was standing room only in the large rectangular restaurant and Shane Dwight was on stage on the opposite end of the wide open room shredding on his guitar and the audience was devouring every electrified note pulsating from the speakers. I was thoroughly surprised at the energy resonating in the bar, everyone was there for one purpose: to have a great time.
I stood at the bar leaning while waiting for my drink for a few moments to take in the scene. The booths lining the walls all had been taken. In fact all the tables filling in the floor space were taken also. Even the high-tops close to the bar against the dividing wall, which separated the high-tops from the rest of the eatery, were full. There must have been 175 people at this concert. Shane and his band are about 90 feet away from where I was standing, a distance long enough to allow me to see the stage in context of the restaurant and patrons surrounding it. The stage was situated in the front left corner with a small dance floor in front where the uncaged cougars wearing mom-jeans were resurrecting dances from twenty years ago.
The audience was what struck me the most. I expected a certain demographic, but it was nothing like I had thought. Most of the attendees were middle-aged white couples who look like they are enjoying their empty-nest years. This seemed so off. I felt like the entire African-American element of the blues was missing from this concert. How authentic was this experience if there were only middle class, middle-aged white people at the concert? Is blues confined to certain demographics, or is it a state achieved through common experience like your husband losing a job or coming home early one afternoon to find that your wife is in your bed with another man? Blues music is about celebration of life through commonly understood emotions expressed through familiar situations, even though life at times may be unpleasant. Blues allows for an escape, even if it is for just a few short moments.
As Shane played, it became apparent what was meant when he was described as an American Roots musician on his website. His music is a composite that may be truncated to countrified blues rock. Elements of rock, country, and blues braid themselves into his music. The small three-piece band is a familiar site in all three types of music with a drum-kit, bass guitar, and lead guitar. These elements are the eggs, flour, and sugar of American music. They make the foundation for any group. Shane’s guitar solos were the most telling points of the songs. This is when I could hear the various influences, Muddy Waters,ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, and even some Rage Against the Machine ( check out the guitar solo in "Bulls on Parade"). He used his electric guitar without preconceived limitations of how it should sound so what came out was a mixture of distorted blues picking transitioning into almost bizarre scratching that sounded like a DJ on a Friday night hip hop radio station to emotionally draining Southern rock solos (watch the prelude in this performance of "Don't Forget My Name When You Pray" to see the guitar work).
It is easy to tell that Shane Dwight is a product of the times. The self-proclaimed blues man has not ignored the progression in styles of music; rather he has integrated elements to fit his blues-rich roots. While the drums and bass guitars maintained a simple rhythm and harmony, Dwight’s guitar shouted out and was only accentuated reverberating off of the hum-drum of the other instruments. And while it was Dwight’s guitar that expelled the blues, it was his lyrics which invited the musings of country into the mix. The lyrics lacked the improvisational feel of blues with theAAB rhyme scheme allowing the vocalist to conjure a third line while repeating the first line for the second. It was scripted, and it was apparently so following a five minute guitar solo in which Dwight would use his guitar like a decanter to pour out his soul, and there was no questioning the similarities to country artists, though Dwight did lack a substantial twang that often overpowers words sung in country music. This is exemplified in his new single "Gimme Back My Money."
However, it would be a mistake to discount Shane Dwight's blues credentials. It is clear from his array of performances posted on YouTube that he is in fact a blues musician. Here is a video of Shane performing an impromptu cover of a Muddy Waters song. He does a fair job of impersonating the legendary Waters. According to his Myspace page (Yes, I am citing a Myspace page) he won the 2002 Monterey Blues Festival Battle of the Bands he performs regularly at Blues Bars around the country.
Shane Dwight Ms Insider Live
Moondoggie | MySpace Video
The experience as a whole was very enjoyable. With a cold beer and great music, it is hard not to enjoy yourself. Shane Dwight’s American Root music is a conglomerate of classic American musical styles which share similar backgrounds, poor people wanting to enjoy and express themselves. This tradition lives on through Dwight and his contemporaries and does not seem to be going away any time soon.
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