By Ken Wallis.
They say the apple does fall far from the tree. And that’s certainly the case with The Blackburn Brothers. Their father, Bobby Dean Blackburn, was well-known for his performances in the Toronto area for over 30 years. The Blackburn Brothers have carried on that legacy and have become established musicians in their own right.
Ken Wallis interviewed Duane and Cory Blackburn of the Blackburn Brothers for the radio show BluesSource Cananda. The following are excerpts from that interview, amended and edited for brevity and clarity.
Ken Wallis
They say talent runs in the family and the Blackburn brothers are sheer proof of that. Joining us is Duane Blackburn and Cony Blackburn, two for the price of one! How are you guys doing today?
Duane Blackburn
Doing good Ken
Cory Blackburn
Yeah, very good Ken
Ken Wallis
So, what I really would like to hear about is your family history. It's an amazing story.
Duane Blackburn
Our family came through the underground in the early 1800s. Elia Earls, my great, great, great-grandfather was born in Kentucky in 1792, and he and his two sons, my great great-grandfather, they came to Canada through the Underground Railroad in the early 1800s and settled in Southern Ontario, Owen Sound area, and we still have family up there to this day.
Ken Wallis
Cory, what's it like having so much talent in the family? That must be amazing for you guys to get together.
Cory Blackburn
Yeah, it's extra special. We definitely don't take it for granted. We love the fact that there's still some old-timers around and we get to play with them or go see them play. We're very blessed to have this music flowing through our family and being exposed to it since we were kids. Like Duane talked about, our family settled in Owen Sound, and we've had a picnic gathering every year during the August long weekend for 160 years now I think. It’s really something that I have such fond memories of. I feel so proud that we're able to gather like this and celebrate our emancipation.
Ken Wallis
So, Duane you're the lead vocalist, can you tell us who else is in the band and what they play?
Duane Blackburn
Yes, I'm lead vocals and keys, Cory Blackburn plays drums, Brooke Blackburn, my older brother plays guitar and vocals. He does background vocals and a couple leads on a couple of tunes. On bass guitar. we have alternates. When we travel on the road, we have a bass guitarist called Andrew Stewart, who played on our previous CD, and also we’re trying to incorporate our cousin as well, Nathan Blackburn. We have a horn section, which is basically two, saxophone and trombone, Neil Brathwaite and Ted Peters, who played on the last two CD'ss with us.
Ken Wallis
So why the title Soulfunkin’ Blues for your new album?
Cory Blackburn
The title really kind of brings home what we play. Brooke will always talk about the foundation of our music being the blues. We like to really bring It funky with a lot of energy, and Duane's voice is naturally soulful. He’s got a beautiful soulful tone. When I think of Duane's voice, I think of a lot of greats like Ray Charles and Nat King Cole. He just really brings that Soul element, as well as our groove. But there's other elements in our music too. It's not just Soul, Funk, and Blues. There's Reggae influences, there's definitely Jazz influences, and heavy Fusion stuff. If you come out to see our live show, there's definitely a huge portion of it is improvisation and we got some heavy soloists that like to stretch out. You'll hear a lot of Jazz licks, a lot of Blues licks as well, and we're definitely a melting pot of different things. But Blues is the foundation, it’s who we are, it's our culture, it's what we were brought up on with our father. He really taught us about it and naturally it's going to be incorporated in our music. It definitely is the foundation.
Ken Wallis
That gives us a nice little segue into one of the tunes on the album, Bobby's Blues, a very special song for you guys.
Duane Blackburn
Well, the history of that tune is my brother Brooke wrote that one, and it's basically about my dad. He came to Toronto in the early 40s and 50s. He was a Cadet and Hurricane Hazel hit Toronto and how he came in to rescue a lot of people. And the history of him coming up playing music in Toronto, dealing with the segregation of black musicians. It was hard for them to get gigs back in the day and even up to the 70s and 80s it was pretty segregated in a sense, where a lot of it was in-house keeping to yourself. Being an outsider of a different colour, it was very hard for him to break through, but he did, and he persisted, and he wouldn't take no. He did it his way and that's how his legend became reality.
Ken Wallis
There's another song on there that's really important as well, and that's Sister Rosa.
Cory Blackburn
The Neville Brothers were a huge influence for us and obviously we could identify with them and actually these guys would jam on that tune before I even started playing.
Duane Blackburn
It’s one of those tunes where the message is so strong, and it has such a nice little groove to it. So, we decided to make it our own in a sense, where we put a James Brown type groove, heavy when we do it live. But this recording is something we did a while ago and we just decided to revise it. We do it live and we do it different ways. The message is of the whole Freedom struggle, the Freedom Movement in the the 60s. My parents were a part of that here, always striving to help out those who need help and those are in need who are discriminated against. They always had an open-door policy in our house, so that was part of it. It was a good message to get out there and in our next CD I'd like to talk about Viola Desmond, who started out here in in Canada, and maybe on the next CD, we'll have something related to that.
Ken Wallis
Who writes most of the material and how do you guys go about picking the songs?
Duane Blackburn
Our older brother Robert Blackburn, and Nathan, our older cousin, before the pandemic, and over the pandemic, they were writing tunes and getting together once a week. So, on this CD my brother Robert had a large influence, and Brooke has a big influence, he's a big writer. I'm more of an R&B, Funk type writer so on this one I laid back. I maybe wrote one track, but we all are a part of the process. So Brooke would write a tune, or Robert, and then send it to me and I'll put my influence on it. Then I’d send it to Cory and he'll put his drum tracks on it. So, we're all really writing the song in our own way. But the basis of this CD is mostly Robert and Brooke who did most of the writing.
Ken Wallis
And boy you guys are making history with nine, count them, nine Maple Blues nominations. That is fantastic.
Duane Blackburn
It's an honour to be even recognized by such a great organization and great people. It's our third Blues album and it's starting to get a little traction and people are starting to recognize our music and we appreciate it.
Ken Wallis
I caught you at the Orangeville Blues Festival a couple of years ago. You guys look like you're having a lot of fun on stage, but at the same time, you guys are really serious about your music. That’s the sense that comes across to the audience. You guys are the real deal.
Cory Blackburn
And a big shout out to Larry Kurtz in Orangeville. He's doing a good thing there that festival is rock solid. It’s bringing in some serious talent. There was an energy in that particular show that you saw and that was the first show that we played since the restrictions had had been put in place. It was the first big stage that we all got together and were able to just let loose finally. It was incredible and for sure there was a ton of energy that night. It was a great way to kick off the season. That's one of the festivals we look forward to because it's early in the season. That was it was an extra special night playing there.
Ken Wallis
So where can folks get a hold of the album?
Cory Blackburn
Electro-Fi Records, definitely through Andrew Galloway. They can order it right from the website if you want to do. I know a lot of people like to order stuff online. You can definitely see us at our live shows. you can check out www.blackburnbrothersmusic.com and look for our live dates and come see us and we'll be glad happy to set you up with some merchandise, whether it be a t-shirt or the album. And then of course there's the streaming platforms you can definitely get it on Spotify and Apple Music, and all your available streaming platforms.
Ken Wallis
We much prefer folks go out and buy the album and support musicians.
Cory Blackburn
It's a huge difference. For those who don't know, when you come and purchase, whether it be vinyl or a CD or a t-shirt, it really helps out the band. It's really difficult to make any money through streaming these days, and when you pay for your subscriptions, not a whole lot of that money, if any of that money, gets back to the band. So please support and come out, buy some tickets, come out to the show, and you can definitely show your support purchasing some merchandise.
Ken Wallis
And Duane, do you have any upcoming shows in the near future?
Duane Blackburn
We're heading off to the Panama Boquete Beaches Jazz & Blues Festival in late February. We're in Panama for a week and I think that's about it for now until the summer hits. But it's early in the season and things are just starting to roll in so we'll see what happens.
Ken Wallis
Well guys it's been great chatting and meeting you. Soulfunkin’ Blues is a fantastic album. I just love the title.
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