Blues guitartist performs in Superior

“You’re in for a great performance tonight,” Jim Goss, treasurer of MCPAC (Mineral County Performing Arts Council), announced as the crowd settled into the hall of the Superior Baptist Church last Thursday night.

Blues guitarist Spencer Bohren was on tap for the evening and all but a few chairs were occupied. Through grant assistance from a TourWest grant administered by Western States Arts Federation, the council was able to bring Bohren to Superior. Goss said that the council “never could have done it without the grant.”

Bohren took the stage shortly after Goss, noting that he’d “never met so many nice people in one space.”

“There’s no microphone tonight, no tricks so we’re really going to be going on the natural tonight,” Bohren told the audience before moving into the first tune of the night, “Night is Fallen.”

The tune was gritty and the lyrics solemn as he sang, “…say goodbye to another long, long day.”

The audience gave him a big round of applause when he finished.

“I want to tell you a bit about myself because I don’t know you and you don’t know me,” Bohren said, switching from the lap guitar to a more traditional guitar. Bohren utilizes a variety of guitars on any given night to paint his sonic picture.

Bohren was born in Casper, Wyoming. He told the audience that his father was a preacher in a Baptist church and his mother was a choir director. She directed the youth choir, church choir and the kids’ choir and Bohren said that wasn’t enough for her.

“She didn’t care too much whether we were girls or boys,” Bohren said, “she was much more interested in whether we were alto or soprano. I learned to sing the third above the melody about the same time I learned to speak English.”

The family sang in churches, schools and nursing homes around the state in every conceivable combination: duos, trios, quartets, quintets, solo and full ensemble. Bohren said that once he graduated he was gone and became a folk singer.

Raised with gospel music all around him, Bohren never intended to record a gospel album, but a few years ago he ended up doing just that and in a way paid “respect to his roots.”

With that he moved into his next tune, “I’ve got a home in Beulah Land,” so named for his grandmother who initially wanted one of his kids named after her, Bohren said. Noticing that more than half of the lips were singing along to the tune, Bohren invited the audience to join in and they sang the verses a couple times over. From the gospel tune, Bohren moved into a number that utilized the piedmont blues style.

“You’ll notice that it’s not that bluesy,” Bohren said.

 The Piedmont style is differentiated from other styles, particularly the Mississippi Delta style, by its ragtime-based rhythm. It was an extremely popular form of southern African-American dance music for many decades in the first half of the 20th century. Bohren asked the audience to listen and compare it to another number he played that was African mixed with Celtic music and then incorporated some ragtime piano.

Finishing, Bohren told the audience that he was just giving them what was coming to him. He said when the muse comes and goes, whether you’re performing or writing songs, as an artist you just have to be ready.

“And when they come you need to be ready with a pencil sharpened,” Bohren said. “When I did my gospel record, I didn’t intend to write anything.”

Bohren then shared his song that he wrote entitled, “Wings of an Angel.”

As the performance continued, Bohren shared a little bit more with the audience about the music in America today. He said it’s a result of people bringing music from all over the world.

“And what’s interesting to me is that the people who brought the biggest contributions were the people that came unwillingly on slave ships and such,” Bohren shared. “What they brought provides the very element that gives us what we have today. And we don’t know the name of a single one of them.”

Bohren moved into a deep tune next in tribute to those people, a song called, “Wade the Water.”

From there, he moved to the banjo, which he said reminded him of the forests, rivers and streams in Kentucky. He said that playing the banjo is much more atmospheric for him. From the banjo, he moved back to a guitar and played some Hank Williams songs that he’s recorded on his new album, The Blues according to Hank Williams.

Bohren continued to share a few more songs for the audience before calling it quits for the night. But the artist wasn’t finished in Superior. He headed to the high school in Superior on Friday to teach the students and give another public performance while educating. Under Bohren’s guidance, the group traced the historical overview of America’s traditional music. Students from the area’s three high schools were invited and adults from the communities also attended as well.

The educational component was also part of the grant. Goss felt that is was a great educational tool. The Bohren concert itself saw some younger adults and teenagers in attendance. Goss said that students have been appearing at the shows more steadily and that is something he would like to see continue. Goss said that he hopes with the two-day performance from Bohren they might see even more.

Shows are free to the public, except for the council’s yearly fundraiser. Goss said they have been able to keep shows open to the public at no cost due to generous audience members.

“We’ve had extremely generous audience donations and so at this point, we don’t see the need to charge a ticket price,” Goss said.

The council receives money from sponsors for each concert season from area residents and businesses that make the concerts possible each year.  Next up for the 2010-2011 concert season will be David Horgan’s Quintet, Air Mail Special on January 26. And like Bohren’s performance, it is sure to entertain. The group interprets Charlie Christian music.

“Christian is an old time electric guitarist who sort of popularized that medium. He actually performed with a sextet, where Horgan has a quintet, but they make it work,” Goss said.