Blues On Stage - Son Seals

Son Seals
@ First Avenue, December 11, 1997

Son Seals 1997
Photo © 1997 by Tom Asp.
All rights reserved

Son Seals made two appearances in the Twin Cities this past year (Biscuits & Blues in May and First Ave. in December) and both shows were very similar. Seals delivered his raw, powerful guitar playing and gruff vocals to packed houses both times. Son Seals, who turned 55 last August (1997) moved to Chicago from Arkansas in 1971 and quickly fell in with Hound Dog Taylor. It was during one of his shows with Hound Dog that Alligator Record's president Bruce Iglauer first saw Seals perform. This quickly led to his first CD in 1972 and he has been recording with Alligator ever since. It was interesting how Seals described Iglauer's marketing idea. At the time, Albert Collins was being portrayed with all the images of cold and ice. His "Ice Pickin'" CD for example, had the guitar chord running down into that big block of ice. Well, Iglauer used the opposite image for Seals portraying him on the fiery side with CD titles like "Chicago Fire," "Live and Burning," and his most recent release "Spontaneous Combustion."

Son Seals
First Avenue - 12/11/97
Photo © 1997 by Steve Felling.
All rights reserved

Seals always has that rough and tough (Bad Axe) image on stage, usually staring you down with that famous scowl of his. It is also interesting how his "fiery" titled CD's actually mirror his live shows. He normally stands in one place, not moving around much, letting his stinging guitar and trade mark riffs do his talking. The show starts out with a slow burn, gradually picking up steam and energy and getting hotter as the night goes on, finally bursting into a blazing fire (just like a "spontaneous combustion"). In person though, Son Seals is really a very sweet guy.

Son Seals
First Avenue - 12/11/97
Photo © 1997 by Steve Felling.
All rights reserved

Seals was backed by a very good band. Justin Smith on second guitar (who plays some nice and nasty slide), David Russel on drums (and occasional vocals), Ron Jamison on bass, Malcolm Martin on Trumpet and long time partner (12 years now) Red Groetzinger on Saxophone and flute. That flute sure adds a nice twist to Seals' blues.

It was just one year ago that Seals was shot in the face by his wife (a bullet is still lodged in his jaw) so it is remarkable that he was able to get back out performing as quickly as he did. I asked him if he was still with his wife and he said "Are you kidding? After what she did to me?" And that's all he said about that incident. It was ironic however, when during his performance he sang the song "The Sky Is Crying" with the line "I got a bad feeling, my baby don't love me any more." Or even prophetic with some of the song titles on his previous albums - songs like "Good Woman Bad," "No, No Baby," "Don't Fool With My Baby," or "Before The Bullets Fly." In any event, that is behind him now and we are just glad he is out touring as much as he is again. He says he is going to continue to play just as long as he is able to still get out there and do it.

Visit the Son Seals Web Page

E-mail Ray Stiles at: mnblues@aol.com

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Copyright © 1997 by Ray M. Stiles
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.