Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 201; Larry Nager interview with Wallace Coleman, part 6 of 10

Q:

LARRY: Yes I-I-I think, you know, there’s um... what we are, I don’t know if we’re still rolling... uh, but obviously, I think there wa—there’s a great future for blues harmonica just because we are, right now, at probably not since the blues revival of the sixties, we are probably seeing more young musicians interested in older music forms. And that everything is getting a second chance um, or a third chance or a fourth chance. Uh, you know, so I think we’re seeing some very deep dives into what had been archain(sp?) and considered lost traditions. We’re seeing more people playing the old style of pre bluegrass banjo. We’re seeing people like Fr—Frank Fairfield doing that, as well as, playing old time fiddle. Uh, Old Crow Medicine Show is selling out the Riemann Auditorium playing in a distinctly 1920’s and 1930’s style, obviously, with a contemporary spin. You’re always gonna find things done with a modern point of view. But I think the whole Americana movement uh, has definitely goes deep into the blues, and into the blues forms that were considered to be almost extinct. So, I think that you’ll see revival of Little Walter, you’ll see a revival of both Sonny Boy Williams. I think the harmonica is being played, but people aren’t delving into it as deeply as... as Wallace did, where he’s playing the chords, he’s playing the background, which is what attracted Robert Lockwood for him, because, Wallace plays like a band member.