Blues legend Eddy 'The Chief' Clearwater is Whippany-bound

Blues legend Eddy 'The Chief' Clearwater is Whippany-bound
June 9, 2010
BY BILL NUTT
The Daily Record

He was born in Mississippi and raised in Alabama. But when Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater sings and plays the guitar, blues aficionados usually think of only one place: Chicago.

A veteran of more than 50 years on the music scene of the Windy City, Clearwater will bring his brand of blues to the Ukrainian American Cultural Center this Sunday night, as part of the center's Splatter Concert series.

Clearwater acknowledges that the blues has had its ups and downs since he started playing the music in 1950.

"The blues has never reached the notoriety of some types of music," he says. "But it's always there. A lot of kinds of music have something that comes from the blues. That's what keeps it going."

As an example, Clearwater cites Chuck Berry(whose distinctive guitar style he has sometimes emulated).

"When you hear Chuck Berry, you can hear (Texas bluesman) T-Bone Walker. But Chuck re-invented the sound. Walker was playing the pure blues."

His love for music dates to his childhood. He was born Eddy Harrington in Mississippi in 1935. By the time he was a teen living in Alabama, he knew he wanted to play the blues.

"I had heard so much about people like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf," he says. "That was the dream I wanted to follow."

His dream became a reality when his uncle, Houston H. Harrington, wrote to his nephew and invited him to move up to Chicago.

"He told me that if I wanted to be serious about being a musician, that was the place to be," Clearwater says. "That was all I needed to hear. I was 15, and I headed for Chicago."

There, the young man quickly found a place among performers. His uncle introduced him around and even arranged for his first recording sessions. He rubbed shoulders with some of the greats and made friends with such lauded bluesmen as Buddy Guy and Magic Slim.

"Chicago was a very healthy scene," Clearwater says. "There was a blues club every few blocks. It was a vibrant time."

He initially played under the name "Guitar Eddy" before his drummer Jump Jackson suggested the moniker "Clear Waters," as a takeoff on "Muddy Waters." By the end of the 1950s, he was Eddy Clearwater. (The "Chief" part of his name came from the fact that he would sometimes wear Native American headdresses when he performed; showmanship has been part of Clearwater's act as much as the music has.)

In his career, the 75-year-old Clearwater has tried to expand the spectrum of the blues by incorporating elements of jazz, gospel and rock. In 2003, he took another turn by recording an album, "Rock 'n' RollCity" with Los Straitjackets, an off-the-wall instrumental rock combo that performs wearing Mexican wrestling masks.

"I had been wanting to do something different, and I whispered to my manager that I wanted to do a rockabilly album," Clearwater says. A mutual connection suggested using Los Straitjackets as his backing band. He was flattered to learn that the band would sometimes play his songs "Hillbilly Blues" and "Lay My Guitar Down" as part of their act.

"We had a good time doing that record," Clearwater says.

Clearwater feels that the blues is able to survive, thanks to infusions of other types of music.

"Once you have the foundation, you can create new ideas and new styles. It's still the blues," he says.

He has also noted that blues audiences today are savvier and more enthusiastic.

"They hear a new song, and they'll accept it," he says. "But when I play an older song, they find they can relate to it. There are a growing number of younger blues fans, and that's a good thing. They're becoming more enlightened."

For his part, Clearwater is grateful for the opportunity to bring his style of music around the country. He notes that audiences in the New York/New Jersey area are especially responsive to the blues.

"They appreciate what you're doing," he says. "They really listen to what you're playing."