click image for magnified detail
click for magnified detail Sweet Man Blues
1998
Oil on linen
58.0" x 72.0"
Available - Contact Louis Meisel Gallery

I love the Blues. It's the music of my youth, the music I learned to dance to, the music that was "mine" in Central Texas in the 1950's. No Pat Boone or The Four Freshman for me. I wanted to listen to Ruth Brown, The Flamingos, Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters. I wanted authentic and real. We danced to "Work with me Annie" and "Annie Had a Baby" even though they were banned from the radio and forbidden in most of my friends' homes. We acted all grown-up and hung out at "The Night Owl", down the road in the next county, where "Big John" played low-down dirty Texas roadhouse blues and they let us in even though we were way too young. I still get a thrill walking into a blues club - it feels comfortable and familiar and just right. Sweet Man Blues is about the musical instruments and how beautiful they look and sound. It's also about after the show: taking off your tie and hat - relaxing with a drink and maybe a joint - playing cards or rollin' the dice.
JAlbum 3.6