Night trained

The guys-to-watch give Wormtown a lesson in the blues

by John O'Neill

It's an unseasonably warm Wednesday night, and by 10:30 the bar is so packed that both the front and back door need to be opened intermittently to let the temporary relief of a fresh breeze waft through. It's an eye-irritating heat -- a heady combination of stale air, fresh smoke, and warm bodies. After a quick scan of the room, there's little doubt that you're officially hanging with the in-crowd and the people who like to rub their elbows. It's an easy-going cornucopia of who's-who and who's-not. Drafts flow, martini glasses clink, smoke ascends lazily to hang like a toxic cloud over the festivities, while the crowd gossips and laughs.

Your hipness slides off like the tired, old skin it is, and as the night wears on, the happy faces only get happier. Over in the corner, setting the soundtrack for the evening, a three-piece outfit keep the place jumping with a mix of country swing and West Coast jump blues. Guitar, piano, stand-up bass, vintage mic, and powered only by a guitar and vocal amp -- the boys slash and roll, tumble and burn through an arsenal of classic rarities. They also cut an image -- suits and ties, coifed hair -- that if anyone suggested that the trio, called Night Train, hopped Peabody's time machine and commandeered it straight from 1950 to Wormtown '99, you might almost buy it. The vibe they ride enhances the cocktail-cool tone, and it feels more like an event than a simple night on the town.

The core of the usually impromptu Night Train -- Troy Gonyea, Jeff Berg, and Mark Stevens -- represent more than the backbeat to a great night out. They are also the brightest stars on Worcester's blues horizon -- key proponents of the back-to-roots mentality that's been coming on strong for the past three years, and the primary mechanism for introducing blues to the under-30 crowd. They've also been instrumental in re-injecting a jazzier, upscale side of the genre into the established community.

"It's very much a conscious choice, the stuff that I'm doing," says Gonyea, who, at age 22, has already made three guest appearances at Chicago's annual Muddy Waters Tribute, and is generally regarded as the city's most promising guitar talent since Duke Levine. "Ninety percent of the stuff that's being called blues doesn't register with me. The thing about blues that gets me is the vibe and the tone. Once [musicians] start talking about trying to do something `new' to the blues is when they lose me."

Since picking up a guitar at age 13, shortly after a life-altering Friday night listening in to former WCUW jock Red Hebert's blues show, Gonyea has become an encyclopedia of blues and jazz knowledge. A longtime childhood friend of Berg's, who also caught the bug early, Gonyea would get together with Berg to tape each other's albums and talk about music. After years of learning and waiting, Gonyea and Berg have been making their mark on the area with their respective outfits, the Troy Gonyea Trio, and J.B. and the Activators (which featured Stevens on piano). Both groups run the gamut of traditional styles, incorporating elements of urban, swing, jump, jazz, and country blues into their music.

Embracing such disparate influences as Big Joe Turner, Fats Waller, and Nat King Cole just as much as Howlin' Wolf or T-Bone Walker, the young guns have taken a refined, traditional approach, in contrast to the ubiquitous guitar noodling that anchors so much of today's commercial blues. As long as there are suburban white guys to play air guitar in front of a mirror, record labels will continue to heave self-indulgent, blues-rock hammerheads at the buying public. Clapton gave way to Stevie Ray, who's being thinly imitated today by Johnny Lang. And each passing generation gets further away from the genre's roots. The formula goes: young-guy-plus-loud-guitar-antics-equals-heir-to-"blues"-crown. Repeat as needed.

Which is what makes Worcester's current crop of guys-to-watch so exciting. Night Train replace the tinny, shrill, screechings of the Stratocaster with full, lush, hollow-body. Guitar wankfests are scrap-heaped in favor of a precise and measured style that picks the right spots to let it rip.

"When you're playing a music like this, it's really about restraint," says Gonyea who allows plenty of elbow room for Stevens's rollicking but rhythmic boogie-woogie piano, and Berg's bass. "That whole over-the-top approach squashes a lot of what the blues is all about."

Gonyea and pals are advanced beyond their years as performers. While most artists will talk about influence and continuing the tradition of the blues, few have the ability to reach such depths and fully understand the wealth of blues sub-genres. Even fewer can bring it home and translate it (witness the swing revival) in relevant terms.

"It's fun to be around them, because they have such enthusiasm," says blues veteran Ron Martinez. The original manager of Roomful of Blues, Martinez came out of scene-retirement to manage Gonyea after catching a live show. "They're mature, sincere, and they aren't insecure, so they don't pretend they have to act a certain way. There's a sophistication there that a lot of [musicians] never get to."

"One of the most important things is that a bunch of us all somehow found each other, and we all bought a little knowledge about these older bands," says Berg, who slings a pretty mean ax himself when not working the bass, and is slowly introducing another pair of young disciples, Bob Malone and Tim Brow, into the local mix. "We realize there's a big gap besides contemporary that needs to be filled. We've studied and are very selective about things we like and don't like. What we do just leads to the idea that a blues song can have an arrangement. It's not just get in there and guitar jam to a 12-bar. There are all different parts that belong."

As selfless as they are talented (in a rare case of nice guys finishing on top), Night Train have been tearing up the local circuit the past five months, and have been gaining a solid fanbase with, of all things, the rock community. Due chiefly to misconceptions surrounding what is, and isn't, blues, Night Train have been able to knock down preconceived notions by balancing between early rock jump material and sublime numbers that can pass for quasi-lounge pieces. Understatement, personality, passion, soul, and raw talent drive the combo. And as there's no escaping the energy that is inherent in good music, most folks immediately take to these guys.

"I love it when someone says `This is good, is it blues?' " chuckles Mark Stevens, who, if Gonyea is the brain and Berg the well-planted feet, is the balls of the trio. "People's idea of the blues is the whole Eric Clapton cover-blues thing. This stuff is real. It touches me and makes me want to clap my hands or stomp my foot. It just feels good.

"Blues isn't about sitting and looking at some guy on stage. It's about having a good time and letting the music move you."