Few things celebrate America like its #1 Import, The Blues. The amazing ability of its attraction to all types of people from all walks of life was evident at the 25th Annual Cajun & Blues Festival in Simi Valley, CA. Intermingling amongst each other were bikers, moms and Sunday School teachers, and that was just ONE WOMAN! Businessmen and burned out hippies united as only Americans are able to on the Memorial Day Weekend when we celebrate the fallen patriots that have given us the freedom to sing the blues.
On Saturday’s Blues Stage, Charter Members of Woodstock in the form of Canned Heat took us on a trip through boogie and blues with classic pieces such as “On the Road Again” and “Back at the Chicken Shack.” Dave Spalding played a mean harp and sang like a barroom brawler on “Goin’ Up the Country” while drummer Fito de la Parra” sizzled the sticks on a shuffling “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” The climactic and closing “Let’s Work Together” resounded as a message for our country as poignantly as it did a half century ago. Spalding summed up the feeling of the set by looking out over the packed crowd and exclaiming “These are our people here.” Work together, indeed!
Next up, Guitar Shorty, who’s made his name playing behind everyone from T-Bone 
Walker to Big Joe Turner to Little Richard to Sam Cooke emphasized his homage to Jimi Hendrix on his set that included a highly Experienced take of “Hey Joe” as well as a Nixon era reading of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Emphasizing long solos on his guitar, Shorty stretched out on “ You Done Me Wrong, So Long” and rocked out hard on “I’m Gonna Leave You Alone” before closing the set with a tribute to our soldiers with a cooking take of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
How else to sum up the evening, as well as the blues itself, better than having octogenarian John Mayall close the first day of the fest with his blues busting band of Greg Rzab/b, Rocky Athas/g and Jay Davenport/dr take you from Chicago to London to Laurel Canyon with material that not only encompassed his whole career, but the history of the music itself. Spry, enthused and with a perfectly leathered voice, Mayall switched from keyboards to harp (who EVER has played it as well?) and guitar with a songs that are on his most recent release (“A Special Life”), his very first album back in the 60s (“Chicago Line”) and on both (“Heartache”). Guitar strings were flying through the air with the greatest of ease on the sizzling “Walking on Sunset” while the juke joint was jumping as Mayall wailed on the harp during “That’s All Right.” As timeless as the music that he performs, Mayall not only plays, but embodies the blues and all of its treasures. What a great country, and only a Brit could make an American proud to be in the US with a grateful return of its most precious export.
