Perspectives: Blues society grew out of a love of music

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Perspectives: Blues society grew out of a love of music
February 19, 2011
By Sam Shawve
The Marietta Times

Webster's defines the blues as "black folk music characterized by minor harmonies, typically slow tempo and melancholy words."

Cobbler John Bolen would agree.

"It's a celebration of black music. What makes our music so different from Europe and other countries is the influence of our African-American population," he said. "They've contributed so much, from the songs to the instruments and style - string bending and the percussive beat."

Bolen, 63, is president of the local Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society Inc., the hosts of this weekend's River City Ohio Blues Competition.

He believes most American folk music is rooted in the blues, including zydeco, early country and even bluegrass.

Living in New Jersey, Bolen became enamored with the late 1950s and early 1960s folk music revival going on across the bay in New York City.

"Folk encompasses all types, and I'm really into that roots kind of music," he said.

So it's not surprising that, after moving to Marietta where he ran a shoe repair business for 33 years, Cobbler John became involved with a group of fellow music-lovers who founded the Blues, Jazz & Folk Music Society.

"This area needed something besides more country and rock music, so when I heard the Society was forming, I thought, 'that's something I want to be part of,'" Bolen said. "(The late) Dr. Keith Gatto, who was also from New Jersey, started it in 1987, and Moon (Michael Mullen) was the Society's vice president."

Mullen said Gatto was a music afficianado familiar with the New York metro area.

"I was sitting in my office at the River Press on Front Street when Keith walked in and introduced himself," recalled Mullen, who has served as Marietta's mayor since 2004. "And within a couple of hours we realized we both had a mutual interest in music. Although we came from different backgrounds, we seemed to have met at a common crossroads that day."

He said Gatto belonged to a network of underground "tapers" who would record live concerts and share them with others for free.

"They took that format from the Grateful Dead, who were against commercialization and encouraged people to tape their music, then circulate it among their fans," Mullen said. "There was no computer technology developed at the time, so these tapers worked under the radar, sharing tapes of live shows on the East and West coasts."

From that meeting 24 years ago between Mullen and Gatto, the society has become a driving force in the development of Marietta's growing musical reputation - including a notable venue for blues music.

"The society gave us an opportunity to grow our downtown music scene," Mullen said. "We focused on blues, jazz and folk music and realized music was a way to pull the community together - community building through music - and it has worked."

Bolen said it wasn't always easy to keep the society going.

"Dr. Gatto had the money and padded our operation in the beginning," he said. "And there were times when we wanted to give up, but somehow kept it going."

The society promotes a variety of musical styles, including folk and bluegrass, country, Celtic and jazz. But over the last several years, blues seems to have taken center stage.

"There's been a blues revival across the country since the 1980s," Bolen said. "And blues societies have grown out of that revival, including at least five right here in Ohio. But ours is the oldest.

"We've been doing this a long time, and now other societies come here to see how it's done - and we don't mind," he added.

Marietta is currently host to at least three signature blues events every year, including this weekend's River City Ohio Blues Competition, the River City Blues Festival in March, and the Red, White and Blues Festival every July.

Steve Wells, vice president of the society, said the competition was originally part of the blues festival.

"But it became so big we had to make it a completely separate event," he said. "We started doing it on Saturday as part of the festival - only four or five people with families, just friendly competition.

"Then we started getting more bands, so we made it a separate event in 2000, and later we began sending them to the international competition in Memphis," Wells said. "We haven't had a winner in Memphis so far, but we hope to change that this year."

Although 18 acts are competing this weekend, Wells said there were at least 65 online inquiries from musicians all over the world who expressed an interest in participating in the event.



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