A Few Good Bluesmen

Bluesman: "You want answers?"

Music Biz Accountant: "I think we are entitled to them!"

Bluesman: "You want answers?!"

Music Biz Accountant: "I want the truth!"

Bluesman: "You can't handle the truth!!! Son, we live in a world that requires true blues soul energy. And that energy must be created by people with elite talents and special skills.

Who's going to play it? You?

You, Mr. Clear Channel radio man?

We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.

You scoff at the rhythm and blues roster and you curse our deep spiritual roots. You have that luxury.

You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: That while the cost of music business promotions for our niches are prohibitive, soul drives energy. And my very existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, drives LOYALTY! You don't want to know the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at ASCAP parties and corporate A&R meetings ... you want me on that wall.

You NEED me on that wall!

We use words like mojo, lost highway, lovesick, sweet little angel, woke up this mornin', trouble in mind and trouble no more.

We use these words as the backbone of a life spent loving and perpetuating something priceless and irreplaceable.

You use them as a punch line!

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to people who rise and sleep under the very blanket of soul I provide and then question the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a guitar and give us your soul and some pure blue magic. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"

Music Biz Accountant: "Did you expense the sun shade?"

Bluesman: "I did the job I was hired to do."

Music Biz Accountant: "Did you expense the sun shade?!"

Bluesman: "You're goddamn right I did!"

Don't want no one tellin' me
I got to write over my own talent
Play this guitar any way I want to
I don't need an amplifier

Everybody's gettin' tired
Pushin' buttons on their radio
Where was it wrote down
They got to cram it down our throats

I don't give a damn about the hook lines
They make me feel like a fish

Hook this...

Wear my hair long down to my hipbone
If that's the way I feel
Wear my sunshade even in the nighttime
Ride my woman in a Coupe De Ville

I might wanna rock
I'll play the blues all night long

I'm in this thing for life
I didn't come here for just one song

They can't put the music in a small bag
Tellin' us the way that I feel

Don't want no one tellin' me
I got to write over my own talent
Play this guitar any way I want to
Lightnin' Hopkins was a friend of mine

Don't let no one boogie witch your woogie
mmm yes...keepin' it alive
Play your music any way you want to
Don't let nobody change your mind

Rebellion: Tony Joe White [from the album The Beginning]

Check out legendary Tony Joe White at www.tonyjoewhite.com

Tony Joe White once gave me the shirt off his back…his jacket too...and also cooked us up a big feed of fresh crappie on the BBQ one night on a personal visit to his home…Tony Joe was a Combine Music writer when I was signed to Combine in 1987. Tony Joe’s wife Leanne is a photographer and a songwriter herself so I hired her to shoot some publicity photos for me and since I didn't have any cool threads at the time, she got some from Tony Joe for me to wear in the pictures she took. Those are my own sunglasses however...I have always been a sunglasses kind of guy...in fact...I wear my sunshade even in the nighttime...ride my woman in a Coupe De Ville.

Frank Trainor photo by Leanne White Nashville 1987
Jacket and shirt graciously provided by Tony Joe White

I caught B.B. King with special guest the great Howlin’ Wolf in Ypsilanti Michigan in 1972 so here’s B.B. King with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Jeff Beck doing Sweet Little Angel together at The Apollo. No actual sunshades were expensed.