Mississippi Delta blues wasn't always Scissormen slide guitarist and music producer Ted Drozdowski's musical meal of choice. He preferred the crunchy, distorted taste of alternative rock. But after being taken under the wings of some of blues' most elite, his appetite changed.
"As a guitar player in punk, psychedelic rock and improv bands, I'd digested a lot of music, but when I heard R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill, they totally blew my mind," Drozdowski said in the band's bio.
"Their music had the deepest spirit of blues, as well as the transporting qualities of psychedelic rock. It was a sound I'd wanted to hear my whole life, without even knowing it still existed.
"I'm just a guy whose family crawled out of the coal mines in Pennsylvania," Drozdowski added. "I still can't believe how lucky I was to meet and to be befriended by R.L., Junior and Jessie Mae and to have R.L. talk me into trying to play his music. I resisted for three years, because I revered R.L. and his sound. But eventually, I caved, and
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Event: Scissormen, blues Time: 9 p.m. Date: Saturday, Oct. 24 Place: 180 Main, Dubuque |
The Mississippi Delta blues-tinged sound of Drozdowski's group, the Scissormen, will perform at Dubuque's 180 Main Saturday, Oct. 24.
"We've never been to Dubuque before, so we're really excited about it," Drozdowski said in a phone interview.
Based in Nashville and described as "a guitarist of spellbinding invention and intelligence" by Rolling Stone and VH1 music critic Anthony DeCurtis, Drozdowski is hailed internationally as being one of slide guitar's most searing and electrifying performers and musical interpreters -- who can play just about anything on the slide guitar to boot.
"I have a reputation of being able to slide anything," Drozdowski said. "Everything from a full plate of spaghetti to a blow torch, a pistol (with an empty chamber clip), shoes, boots, fruit and meat. It's really just about the angle you play the object against the string.
"It's a small part of the show, but it's pretty fun. Slide guitar is challenging, and it's just about being able to deliver this music with high energy across the decades. There is a lot of cross generational appeal. It very rewarding to be able to play."
Drozdowski described Scissormen's niche sound as "off the path."
"There is a lot of unconventional character reflected in this music," he said. "It's really an extension of who we are as musicians. It's inspiring."
The group planted its roots in 1991, after Drozdowski fell under the influence of Mississippi Delta blues legends Burnside, Kimbrough and Mae -- known universally as being three of the most influential musicians of their genre.
"These individuals influenced an whole school of blues," Drozdowski said. "There are blues festivals abroad that honor them specifically."
Drozdowski said their sound resonated with him on an emotional level, after spending more than a decade away from blues.
"There are a lot of people who play in an unexciting fashion," he said. "We carry forward the reinvention of this music, in a way, and play it with a new approach."
