cw stoneking

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If you hadn't heard the story of CW Stoneking (CWS) then you'd easily be forgiven for thinking that his albums were the product of a lost Louisiana bluesman. His two albums, King Hokum and more recently Jungle Blues have been very well received by critics and fans alike and this 37 year old seems to have the world at his feet.

He plays a very old fashioned kind of blues that doesn't just have its roots in, but actually is, Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf and Leadbelly.  CWS is, of course, a white Australian of American extraction raised in an Aborigine colony in the Northern Territories and playing blues in bars at a very precociously young age. His first album was picked up as an album of the year by a radio station and over the space of a year we had a new blues darling.

He does sound authentic but in my opinion, the blues isn't just a sound. There's a tale to tell too and the singer needs sufficient gravitas to properly carry it off. There's plenty of blues singers who are very good but a lot of them just don't seem to have that mystery ingredient. I'm going to be controversial here but I'd include Gary Moore in that group. There's no doubting his proficiency but his blues left me very cold. Most pub blues bands are the same. Even with a good guitarist and a decent singer it doesn't ring true. At the other end of the scale, musicians like BB King, Seasick Steve, Daniel Lefkowitz (who I profiled recently) don't just sing the blues; they seem to live the blues. So back to the question, is CWS an authentic blues singer or a novelty pastiche?

I'm still not entirely certain but I do think he's the real McCoy but I would like to see him extend his repertoire. He's certainly done his homework on his musical heroes but in my opinion he needs to find his own voice too. He first came to a lot of people's attention on the Jools Holland show and without trying to be snobby there is a certain element of 'dinner party music' to that show. I hope that if CWS does get more experimental that the dinner party set who have bought his first and second albums also appreciate his variations in style. I also hope that the music encourages them to explore traditional blues a bit more.