Peppermint Blues
Lam' du Blues,
Festival des Alpilles June 30,2007
Lamanon,France
David Bascunana
(Condensed and Translated from French)
1300 people live in Lamanon,France and this blues concert attracted an audience of more
than 800 people. Sam Taylor had been in hospital a few days before the concert and Wes Mackey had come to take his place. Like a blues angel, he came especially from Canada. Bearing a physical and sometimes a musical resemblance to John Lee Hooker he was the benefactor of this evening. Sitting on his metallic case with blues globe trotter stickers saying "fragile", this guy, always smiling, seems to be willing to share his good humour.
At the risk of looking a fool, the artist takes his shoes off and shows the amazed audience a pair
of black socks with white spots that match his tie and his pair of braces. If I was dressed like that, I would look like a clown but on Wes, it's really smart ... perfectly elegant! With subtle guitar playing, full of boogie, of swing and feeling. the voice of anangelic crooner and the
surrealist foot playing on the bass pedals…(am I) Hallucinating?! How is it possible to sing
so well, to have a perfect guitar playing, to play with his feet, to keep smiling and share his
joy of life ? It's not possible that this man is a human being! Wes Mackey, a phenomenon! Probably a new mystery we'll have to clear up.
This strange bluesman with heart has no limit. He doesn't fear making his songs last more than 10 minutes, each time
with more emotion and intensity. However the man didn't come alone. He was backed by the excellent harp player Vincent Bucher who has a very good reputation and by Christophe Gaillot , an exceptional drummer who had not
played in this area for a few years.
With slow blues and more up tempo music reaching Chicago blues, Wes Mackey is a wonderful showman. Charming and charismatic, he captivates the audience with original titles and some covers « Who Do Da Voodoo », « Ain't That Good News », « Rock Me baby ».. then to a very sensual cover of « One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer », « I'll Play The Blues For You », and covers of « Everyday I Get The Blues » and of « Nothing But the Blues ». The legendary song «
A Change Is Gonna Come , sung for the second time that evening, becomes the hymn of Lam' du Blues 2007.
And as a party can't be lived alone, Wes Mackey invites OC Blues for a jam, playing "Caledonia", the Louis Jordan R'n'B title written in the1940. For the finale Wes Mackey plays "Baby what you want me to do", the most beautiful song of his spiritual master : Jimmy Reed.
After the concert, we questioned the audience and they told us they preferred Wes Mackey to Tony Joe White we performed last year and to this day, 2007 this is the most exceptional show
for Lam' du Blues.
This bet is won for us and especially for Wes Mackey. Energy, raising emotion, the enthusiasm of the artists only grew as the minutes went by…
Now as a guardian angel, Wes Mackey has to write a song for Lamanon. Let's hope he doesn't forget.
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