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Irish blues-rocker Rory Gallagher hasn’t visited these shores in five years — an eternity by American standards. His name may not ring automatic bells, but he’s had a legendary career. His band Taste opened the American tour of Blind Faith (the Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood supergroup) in 1969. He also toured with John Mayall and Cream, plus did Muddy Waters’ “London Sessions” and other sessions with Jerry Lee Lewis, Albert King and the Rolling Stones.

“I’ve been working a lot in Europe and recording over there. But it’s time to come back and build up the following again in America,” says Gallagher, who headlines the Paradise tonight.
“I was sick last year with a virus infection, and even heard a rumor that I was dead,” he adds. “It’s funny how quickly some people forget you.”

But fans have come out of the woodwork to see Gallagher on his long-awaited return. One fan was Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist who jumped on stage at Gallagher’s recent Los Angeles show and jammed on Chuck Berry’s “Nadine.”

“I liked Slash. He’s a nice guy and can really play,” says Gallagher. “We rocked out.”

The 42-year-old Gallagher, who has toured under his own name for years, has made 14 albums of electric blues, cut with some slide guitar and some country-blues, especially on his new album, “Fresh Evidence,” on the IRS label.
“I tried to make it a rootsy blues album,” he says. “I wanted to touch on styles that went back to the ’50s, before the superstar blues of Albert and B. B. King. A lot of the electrified country blues of that early period, by Son House and Tampa Red, gets overlooked. It’s very rhythmic and very raw. And that’s what I went after on songs like `Ghost Blues’ and `Heaven’s Gate,’ a tormented kind of blues in the tradition of Robert Johnson’s `Hellhound on My Trail.’ “

The “Fresh Evidence” album also sounds rootsy, because Gallagher insisted on using original studio techniques. “I used old forms of echo and old tube compressors. A lot of new sound decks just make things sound synthetic and tinny. I like a nice rumble on bass, openness on guitar and drums that breathe.”

The album is typical of Gallagher’s refusal to sell out. “I’ve never commercialized my music. I’ve seen that ruin too many people who think two-minute ditties are the answer.”

One thing for sure: The Paradise will be rumbling tonight: In person, Gallagher hits overdrive. “Playing live is my natural element. It’s too hard to relax in the studio because there are too many options. It’s just not as exciting.”

Steve Morse, Boston Globe, March 29, 1991

Sweet Home, Chicago!

Currently ranked as the third-most populous city in the United States, Chicago was first discovered by European explorers, Marquette and Jolliet, in 1673. It’s name was taken from the Native American word shikaakwa, meaning water leek, a plant commonly found along the banks of the Chicago river. The Chicago of today is a dominant force in finance and industry. It’s musical heritage is no less impressive. The list of famous blues musicians who called the “Windy City” home at one time or another is impressive: Scrapper Blackwell, Big Bill Broonzy, Arthur Crudup, James Cotton, Bo Diddly, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy to name but a few. Chicago was the destination of choice for many of the delta bluesman of the forties and fifties fleeing the South in the “Big Migration”. They took their southern folk music, electrified it, and transformed it into a unique sound called, “Chicago Blues”.

“This is the place where people just like myself came from the South to create new lives and a new kind of music. The generation just before mine came up here playing folk music. But soon they traded in their acoustic guitars for electric instruments. And when they plugged them in, they created a new, urban sound, that we call Chicago blues.”–Buddy Guy

Originally, black artists performed blues for black audiences in the predominantly black, Southside of Chicago in clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge or the 708 Club. The new sound could not be confined to the Maxwell Street area however, and as the music gained acceptance with the white audience, more and more blues clubs started popping up, particularly in the city’s predominantly white, Northside. Black musicians and white musicians were now playing that new, urban sound. It was a sound that would influence and guide many of the famous guitar slingers of the burgeoning rock culture from Mike Bloomfield to Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page to Irish legend, Rory Gallagher.

“My music is for the most part blues…There is more Chicago blues influence in the music than there is rock…one of the characteristics of Chicago blues, [is]its toughness. It has a street feel to it. It’s real tough and hard-driving. I like to get the same effect in my music.” –Rory Gallagher, Cleveland Scene

Rory played on Chicago Blues giant, Muddy Waters, historic “London Sessions” along with Stevie Winwood, Georgie Fame and Mitch Mitchell in 1972.

“It was a real honour. The whole thing has stuck in my memory like a video. I can plug it in at any time and replay it in my head. I only wish I could do it again with my experience now because Muddy taught me an awful lot during those sessions and I came out a much better player than I went in…They were magical nights”–Rory Gallagher, Hot Press 1992

Like many other major U.S. cities, Chicago has a large Irish-American population. By 1860 it was the fourth largest Irish city in America, but unlike their counterparts in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, they have wielded tremendous political power disproportionate to their numbers. Chicago’s twelve Irish mayors have governed for more than 80 years, and on St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago river is briefly turned green to honor the city’s Irish ethnicity. And what better way to honor the Irish than with a Rory Gallagher concert at one of Chicago’s finest nightclubs, the Aragon Ballroom!

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