Jontavious Willis is performing at the URI Guitar Festival on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at The Towers in Narragansett. Go to uriguitarfestival.org for more information.
TRANSCRIPT:
Jontavious Willis: I think the connection between like old school church, like old school rural church, and the correlation between church and blue will gospel and blues. You know, I grew up you know, I grew to understand it more. And yeah, I had appreciation for the older things. And you know, that’s kind of what I always like.
James Baumgartner: Can you tell me what the connection is between blues music and church music?
Willis: Yeah, these are the same people making music one on Saturday, one on Sunday. Some of the some of the cadence, similar music, similar words, just a few words off different you know. … And also, there’s always borrowed from each one of one of them know, like Thomas Dorsey, the father gospel music, he started off as a blues but a famous blues player in the early 20s. And he went on to be the father gospel music painting, great songs. Great gospel song that people still saying today. Yeah, so it’s, it’s you know, as that back and forth because it’s the same culture doing both. John was a music he’s a you know, so it’s, yeah, there’s so many similarities and the you look into the blues scene, a lot of the blues guys will you know, what passes at certain times because it’s similar pastures. And like the the underlining you know, I guess the reoccurring theme of Blues and Gospel is to put on like, performance a show like the past Yeah, he preaching but it’s also like a, like a, you know, a performance, you know, then the same thing with these blues players. And you can always see dad in a story that most of them were church people in. They enjoy it. They enjoy going to church and singing in church, a lot of the gospel people won’t won’t want to acknowledge it, but a lot of them enjoy listening to the blues.
[music: Jontavious Willis, “The World is in a Tangle”]
Baumgartner: Do you pick up songs from old recordings? Or is it from the older blues musicians that you’ve met? How are we picking up songs and styles of music?
Willis: Yes, it’s all it’s all of that. … Mr. John D would definitely one of my biggest influences. He actually taught Taj Mahal some stuff too. When he moved to North Carolina, Mr. John D is a was a great finger picker. He didn’t want that motivated me to finger pick. It wasn’t Mr. John D. Holman. Um, and then yeah, some of it some of it Yeah, you get for record because like I said, the vocabulary were placed by those fools. You can’t you know, you can’t you can’t not listen to him. You have to you have to listen to those folks to kind of get the blueprint in and get the get the you know, the feel for it.
Baumgartner: Why is blues music important to you right now?
Willis: It’s important to me because it’s a part of my history and is a part of, you know, rule rule history as well. I mean, urban history well, but a lot of the players that I listened to, had a big rule background so I think it’s a part of America story of black store and it’s a story that’s not really been told you know at least it’s one sided a lot most of you here Mississippi Chicago but it’s more places in in the US that birth a lot of gray lose and still still doing it. So I think that’s important to kind of keep that story going.
Baumgartner: You’re playing the URI Guitar Festival Are you playing solo? Do you have a band with you? What can people expect to see on stage?
Willis: I’ll be playing solo and and and plan from the heart you know? You know, just good time blues.
[music: Jontavious Willis, “Take Me to the Country”]
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