Rory Block has so much passion, soul, and depth, and she connects to an audience like only a handful of performers I’ve seen. Besides being an amazing country blues and slide guitarist, singer,
Rory Block has so much passion, soul, and depth, and she connects to an audience like only a handful of performers I’ve seen. Besides being an amazing country blues and slide guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Rory is also one of the most qualified interpreters of classic blues. There are few players with a biography as rich as Rory’s, who started her career at 14, playing and hanging around with legends such as Mississippi Fred McDowell and Son House. Her latest album is A Woman’s Soul : A Tribute to Bessie Smith [Stony Plain Records].
I’m going to quote your own writing from your website: “When I played ‘Big Road Blues’ by Tommy Johnson, someone in the audience jumped up and shouted ‘She plays like a man.’ I didn’t understand what men played like, or what women played like. I didn’t comprehend that I was black or white or 14 years old or 40. I was in love with the music.”
I didn’t see myself as a category. I just saw myself as a player. There may have been an initial kind of surprise when people saw me playing blues, but I chose not to register it. I didn’t see what was so different and surprising. It’s just what I was driven to do. I mean, Robert Johnson just fascinated me.
I want to talk about interpretation. There’s something in blues that when you pick up someone else’s songs, you’re jumping into their whole style. Was there a point when you found it easier to find yourself in the midst of that?
Yes, but I don’t know when that happened. In the very beginning, you are emulating all you can, and it may be impossible to say when your style becomes your own. We have to make it real