ON_THE_ROCKS

The Worcester Phoenix
Nov. 30 - Dec. 7, 2000

[On The Rocks]

Blues brothers

Wheeler and Gallagher live for the music

by Brian Goslow
"The blues is powerful medicine." T.J. Wheeler is a doctor of the blues. The medic spoke those words during an enthusiastic 45-minute phone interview at the end of a 24-hour period in which he had driven non-stop from a performance at Glenn's in Newburyport to New York state, where he gave a class of elementary-school students a first-hand lesson in the music of his life. We
caught up with him in a motel in New Jersey.
"People of all ethnic backgrounds are playing the blues, but we should honor the source so it doesn't get co-opted and forget why it was created," says Wheeler, a Portsmouth, New Hampshire resident who travels around the country presenting his "Blues in the Schools" programs. "It's a healer that came out of the struggles and troubles of racism, so it only seems logical for all of us that benefit from the blues to give back to it."
Wheeler arrives at classrooms toting a one-string washtub bass crammed with African drums, washboards, maracas, and kazoos. "I give them an introduction to the blues," he says. "I show them video excerpts of different bluesmen so they see and hear the real deal."
Wheeler created his school program 25 years ago, and some of the students he's exposed to the masters have heeded the call. "There's been a number of young players who have come through my band and who are playing full time in regional blues bands," he boasts. For his efforts, Wheeler was honored with the first W.C. Handy Keeping the Blues Alive in Education Award in 1993.
Despite his busy class schedule, you can usually catch Wheeler performing each weekend somewhere in New England, usually accompanied by his sidekick, Pat "Hatrack" Gallagher. This Friday, they celebrate the release of T.J. Wheeler and Hatrack Gallagher with the Smokers' new CD, Next Right Thing (High Desert Recordings), at Maynard's Sit 'n Bull Pub.
"This band is like a traveling blue festival because of the eclectic style of the blues music," Wheeler says. "A typical concert goes from the early country blues of Peg Leg Sam Jackson, Bukka White, and Brownie McGhee to Charles Brown and Tiny Grimes to the Kansas City Swing and blues to some New Orleans R&B and traditional jazz to some Wes Montgomery to some boppin' blues."
Next Best Thing captures the band's versatility. On "Sassified," which has a soft gospel feel throughout, Wheeler sings, "No matter how I tried/How many tears I've cried/I'll never get out of these blues alive." But, you know he isn't complaining. The Smokers (bassist Melvin Graham and drummer Gordon Grottenthaler) are joined by pianist David Maxwell, who gives the hop-steppin' ragtime tune a Ray Charles feel. The laid-back swamp sound of J.E. Lenoir's "Down in Mississippi" is fueled by Gallagher's harmonica.
The band really hit their stride on "Soulforce," which got its name via one of Wheeler's heroes. "It was a term Martin Luther King used to battle violent racism -- he used a soulforce instead of a physical force," says Wheeler. "I tried to have that song embody that inner strength." The instrumental tune opens by heading in a Steely Dan-ish jazz fusion direction; it takes several listens to recognize that you're not listening to a clarinet but Gallagher's harp. At various times, Wheeler's guitar-playing sounds as if it's about to break into Johnny Rivers's "Secret Agent Man."
Wheeler points further back in time for the roots of those beloved guitar licks. "It's a hot-blooded soul kind of guitar sound. I like to play like a lot of the early blues guitarists who could play a number of styles -- like the late Wayne Bennett. I use a real Leslie effect on `Soulforce' and I've worked with a number of Hammond B3 players, so I love to use that sound." He does acknowledge a healthy use of "Secret Agent Man" during Gallagher's "The Spy Boy," on which Hatrack sings, "I'm a spy boy from the blues/Come to see who's paid their dues." Gallagher's own detective work began when he crossed tracks with Wheeler in 1972.
"I met Hatrack in the Pacific Northwest on a little island called Bainbridge about a half-an-hour ferry ride from Seattle after returning from a year of hoboing around picking up what I could from the likes of Peg Leg Sam Jackson," Wheeler recalls. "He [Gallagher] was already a serious harmonica player -- but more like urban Paul Butterfield electric harmonica style. He was ready for a change."
The two traveled to Colorado, where Wheeler had established a circuit of winter-season gigs in the ski areas and Denver clubs. Gallagher returned the favor, inviting Wheeler to join him and John Henry in Ragtime Rodeo. Soon afterwards, they moved east, modified their name to the Ragtime Millionaires, and began playing folk-blues and opening shows for the likes of Big Joe Turner, Tiny Grimes, and Roosevelt Sykes.
When Gallagher relocated to Gardner in the early '80s, the duo performed together less frequently, although many musicians would be happy with a dozen shows a year. Three or four years ago, Gallagher began performing regularly with Wheeler and the Smokers, whose music Wheeler calls "Bluebeat," which is really world beat, but narrowing it closely to the roots of the blues."
Which is why they're proud to play Willie Dixon's "When the Lights Go Out," on which Wheeler's voice visits Al Jarreau territory, and "Evening," a song popularized by Jimmy Weatherspoon, that's filled with the night-time cool of a pre-money-machine Sinatra. You expect to hear Blaster Dave Alvin join in during their rendition of Peg Leg Sam Jackson's "Greasy Greens," which skips to the knee-slapping beat of Graham's stand-up bass.
Next Right Thing's final track, "Neutral Ground," documents the events of May 8, 1995, when a huge monsoon hit New Orleans.
"I was coming back from a guitar lesson from a great guitar player in the hood and then [the storm] hit so heavy," says Wheeler, who had been in town for the annual JazzFest. "I had to pull my van to neutral ground to keep it from floating away. I was the only white person in the area and was invited over for gumbo and rice and people helped me push the van down when the water subsided."
The incident only helped reinforce his belief in the communities his music programs are intended to energize. "When people hear I go into inner-city schools and do residences and spend so much time in New Orleans or Memphis or Jackson, Mississippi -- as well as when I go into Roxbury and Dorchester -- they ask me how safe those areas are. They ask me if I'm scared going in there as a white person, but I find neutral ground. The six-o'clock news never fails to put on the crime that happens in those inner-city areas, and that's all people isolated in the suburbs see. What blows my mind visiting these areas is the struggles of good people doing their best to keep their families together and get them a good education and character. But you're not going to see that on the six-o'clock news because it isn't sensational."
T.J. Wheeler and Hatrack Gallagher with the Smokers appear at the Sit 'n Bull Pub, in Maynard, on December 1. Wheeler and Gallagher perform on December 7 at Harry's Too in Westborough. For information on the "Blues in the Schools" program, visit www.bluesbank.org.
Palladium shows on hold
Whether it was started intentionally or by a careless toker, the fire that erupted in the Palladium's upper balcony area on Saturday evening (November 25) during a performance by the Persuasions has thrown a smokescreen in front of this weekend's full schedule of events. The building's owners and Mass Concerts, its promoters, hope to be able to get the Main Street venue back in shape to honor next week's schedule. Check their ads for the latest info.
At press time, we do know that Friday's House of Vibes shows featuring DJ Skribble has been moved to Il Palazzo (100 Wall Street, Worcester). Promoter Anthony Shippole assures us there will be shuttle buses running between the Palladium and Il Palazzo to make sure unsuspecting fans don't miss either the 21-and-under show, which runs from 7 to 10 p.m., or the 18+ party, which goes from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Turntable cat burglar Skribble has broken into endless homes via MTV (The Grind, The Daily Burn, Spring Break, and Yo! MTV Raps) and his series of hip-hop and house-music dance mix CDs, including DJ Skribble Presents: Essential Dance 2000 (Atlantic).

Brian Goslow can be reached at bgoslow[a]phx.com.