Talented musician happy to be performing again

Talented musician happy to be performing again
June 18, 2009
By Kevin Joy
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In September 2006, blues musician Kenny Neal lay bedridden at home in Palo Alto, Calif., weakened by medication administered to fight a hepatitis C infection.

The illness derailed years of steady touring and a plan to visit a recording studio.

And the diagnosis followed other hardships: Neal's sister Jackie was slain by an ex-boyfriend; his father, lauded blues harmonica player and songwriter Raful Neal Jr., died of bone cancer; and his drummer of more than 20 years passed away.

"Man, it was like the whole world was coming down on me," said the 51-year-old Louisiana native.

The emotions swirling in him were soon translated onto paper, eventually becoming the opening strains of the soulful title track on his 2008 album, Let Life Flow.

Just when you think / You've got it all figured out / Here comes something / You never dreamed about / Life is so unpredictable / That's the way it is.

"I just started writing what I felt," he said. "I've been so touched by how many people are going through the same things. I'm getting e-mails from all over the world."

Renewed with a clean bill of health and a long-standing faith in music that's helping him push through his grief, a resilient Neal is happy to rekindle his career. The multi-instrumentalist will perform as a headline act Saturday night at the Creekside Blues & Jazz Festival in Gahanna.

Defining his musical style as swamp-blues -- "a combination of Cajun and deep Delta blues . . . mixed with the jazz traditions of New Orleans" -- Neal says his influences are both traditional and contemporary.

"My experience of traveling exposed me to so many different types of blues," he said. "I just combine everything together in a professional way, still keeping the feel and the flavor."

Such experiences started early for Neal, the oldest of 10 children. Music has been a constant for him since his childhood in Baton Rouge (blues musician and family friend Slim Harpo once handed a fussy 3-year-old Neal a harmonica).

Neal's siblings embraced instruments with similar enthusiasm, he said, mainly because "out in the country, you're bored to death."

Neal, who danced on a bar at age 6 while his father's band played, joined the ensemble at 13.

At 17, he was asked to play bass alongside guitarist Buddy Guy, requiring him to tour the United States and Europe -- and see greater career potential in his homespun craft.

"I noticed all these musicians with recording contracts, but they weren't that good," Neal said. "Buddy opened my eyes to see that I could do my own thing."

At Guy's urging, he later moved to Toronto, forming the Neal Brothers Band with four of his brothers. He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004, where he began hosting a TV show on blues.

His albums -- including an outing with blues-harp player Billy Branch, which in 2005 won a Blues Music Award (formerly known as the W.C. Handy awards) -- have been hailed by music critics.

The tunes on Let Life Flow range from the optimistically cathartic (You've Got To Hurt Before You Heal) to the steadfast (Blues, Leave Me Alone) and the irresistibly funky (Louisiana Stew, which details the sights, sounds and spicy cuisine of the bayou).

Though a California resident, Neal keeps a home in Baton Rouge, which he visits frequently. Southern roots, after all, aren't easily shaken.

"When I come home, it's on," he said. "We do a lot of cooking outside -- okra, smoked sausage, shrimp. Every day is like a picnic."

The desire to enjoy good company and relish each day is stronger than ever for Neal, whose hobbies of home renovation, antique-car restoration and horses occupy him between musical pursuits.

"I don't want to miss out on life itself," he said. "I feel 100 percent better. It's time to go back to work."