Fiona Boyes

Fiona Boyes –Australia’s 1st Lady of the Blues

By Barry Maxwell from Blues On The Hill

Fiona says, “Timeless fingerpicking bril- “when I started liance!” is the only way to describe the playing I was latest release from Fiona Boyes – the influenced by country only Australian musician ever to be Blues fingerpicking. recognized in the American Blues Although I loved all Foundation ‘Blues Music Awards’, with sorts of Blues, I felt eight nominations and the first non- that a lot of the American to win the International Blues masculine electric Challenge in Memphis. Chicago Blues was a little bit daunting for Blues Legends regard Fiona with me to tackle. So respect. Her friend and mentor, the late melodic fingerpicking Hubert Sumlin said, “She’s got it! I’ve was my entry point played with all of them - and she’s got and I started out it!” and Grammy-winning Delta pianist; playing acoustic Willie ‘Pinetop’ Perkins said, “I ain’t country Blues in never seen a woman finger-pick a guitar coffee shops”. like that since Memphis Minnie. She’s the best gal guitar player I heard in more Influences than 35 years”. Probably the biggest influence on Appreciation Society in Memphis. She Fiona was Memphis Minnie. “There’s says “entering a competition was a Fiona Boyes has built an interna- not many women guitarists in the Blues strange thing for me to do and it took a tional reputation as a Blues guitarist, scene compared to the number of men lot of encouragement from my husband vocalist and songwriter and her versatil- and at some point, I thought, I love this for me to enter the competition. I was ity means she’s impossible to categorize. music, but I’m mainly hearing men and I thrilled when I won and had a chance to She swaps between acoustic and electric wondered where the women were? go to America. I didn’t imagine that I guitars, including a collection of unique That’s when I discovered Memphis would win, I was just pleased to be there. cigar box guitars and a rare National Minnie. She’s an influential guitarist and The Blues Challenge is held in bars and ResoLectric Baritone. Her mostly songwriter. She was very innovative. She venues along Beale Street, Memphis, original repertoire draws from the classic started doing country Blues and pio- which is an historic place for the Blues. Blues sounds of Chicago, Memphis and neered resonator instruments. Then she So there I was getting ready for my first New Orleans. Listen to her play and went to Chicago and pioneered electric set and all I could think of was…This is you’ll hear slide guitar, single chord guitar and she actually influenced a lot of amazing, here I am playing on Beale grooves and intricate fingerpicking. male players that went on to be more Street, where Memphis Minnie played famous than her. But it wasn’t only her back in her day. In my set was a song Fiona released her first solo album playing that influenced me. I remember called ‘She Could Play That Thing’, ‘Blues In My Heart’ in 2000 and in when I bought my first Memphis Minnie which is a tribute song to Minnie. I September this year she released the album and I saw the front cover; she didn’t know what American audiences remastered 20th Anniversary Edition. I looked so feisty and the way she holds a might make of me because a lot of my took the opportunity to talk with Fiona guitar, with attitude, so yeah everything original songs had stories attached to about her career and this important about her was inspiring for a girl with a them and I wondered whether they milestone re-release. guitar who wanted to play the Blues” would understand my accent and my said Fiona. sense of humor. So, I figured…I’m Beginnings thrilled to be here and I’ll just be myself Fiona first heard the Blues when International Blues Challenge and play. When I won, it was fantastic she went to college. She says, “I joined In 2003, Fiona Boyes became the and of course, winning the Challenge the Folk and Blues Club. It was a great first woman and the first non-American then gave me the opportunity to go back club, they had a lot of activities and the to win the International Blues Challenge. to the United States and play some key Club President played me some early It was an event that changed the course gigs”. stuff from the 1920s and 30s. And I of her musical career. The significance thought, wow, where has this music been of the win is not lost on Fiona who says Winning the Blues Challenge in all my life?” “it was my first trip to America and it felt 2003 was the start of a fruitful relationlike Cinderella goes to the ball”. ship with the United States. Fiona says “I Fiona came from a family that was invited back to Memphis a few valued music and she played clarinet To get to the International Blues months later to play at the W.C. Handy when growing up, but it wasn’t until her Challenge in Memphis, Fiona firstly had Awards, as they were known before they mid-twenties that she started to teach to win the local competition and the right herself to play guitar. to represent the Melbourne Blues continued on next page November 2020 • Rock and Blues International 15

Hubert Sumlin and Fiona Fiona Boyes

contined from previous page became the Blues Music Awards. And awards can be found at the end of this then I played at the Blues Hall of Fame article. induction dinner in front of Ruth Brown nominations. “The awards have been an and Solomon Burke. Key to the City of Clarksdale One of the more distinguished Recognition accolades given to Fiona was when she After that the accolades flowed and was presented with the ‘Key to the City’ things opened up for Fiona internation- in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Fiona says, ally. In 2007 her first US recording “it was during the Clarksdale Juke Joint ‘Lucky 13’ was nominated in the Blues Festival. There was a ceremony to Music Awards under the category welcome everyone and suddenly, the ‘Contemporary Blues Album of the Year’ Mayor Henry Espy announced my name and it didn’t stop there. and called me to the podium. I was Fiona is the only Australian about to happen. So it was a great thrill musician to have been recognized in the and, of course, the Key to the City holds American Blues Foundation ‘Blues pride of place in my musical lair at Music Awards’, with no less than eight home”. amazed because I had no idea it was interesting journey,” says Fiona. “I’ve Chatting with the Bluesmen now settled into the traditional female Fiona suddenly had a faraway tone category, but over the years, I’ve gone in her voice as she fondly remembered from contemporary blues to acoustic the time she was in Clarksdale for the blues to traditional female artist. I think unveiling of a Blues Trail Marker at the that’s interesting, because, you know, Hopson Plantation Commissary in honor quite often you’ll see people who get of Willie ‘Pinetop’ Perkins. Fiona says, nominations in just one category. So it’s “After the ceremony everybody had gone kind of cool that I’ve been keeping except Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, everybody guessing”. Bob Stroger and Willie Big Eyes Smith. My husband and I went over and sat with Fiona has been nominated twice in them. It was amazing to chat with them 2016 and 2019 for the prestigious “Koko and listen to their stories, you know, Taylor Award” for the Traditional Female Pinetop grew up picking cotton at Blues Artist of the Year. Hopsons, and all these guys were friends for so many years. For me to listen to the A list of other nominations and rhythm of their speech and their stories 16 Rock and Blues International • November 2020 Pinetop Perkins Foundation Fiona has been living the Blues for more than twenty years and she feels it’s time for her to give something back. She is genuinely excited when she explains how she is helping to mentor the next generation. “Pinetop Perkins held down the piano spot in Muddy Waters Band for many years and then had a successful solo career. He was still playing and touring when he died just shy of his 98th birthday, which I think is a wonderful inspiration. His legacy lives on through his music and also through the Pinetop Perkins Foundation, which helps older musicians in their later years and also supports young players”.

“The Foundation does master classes every year at the Hopson Plantation. I’ve been lucky enough to be the guitar instructor for three years. The program is fantastic. The classes go all day and there’s jamming at night. The students encourage one another and the program culminates when we put bands together to present a showcase at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale. I’m honored to be able to be part of it because I’m somewhat in the minority being female and non-American”. Blues In My Heart Re-release So that brings us full circle, back to the 20th Anniversary re-release of her debut solo album ‘Blues In My Heart’. I asked Fiona why she had done this. “When I first went to America I met Suzanne Holmes who became my road manager” says Fiona. “She’s a dear friend and has been incredibly strong and supportive over the years. She lives in Florida now and I went there to do a benefit show after Hurricane Michael. I was having dinner with Suzanne and ‘Blues In My Heart’ was playing on the stereo and it’s funny, after all the years, I thought there’s some interesting songs there. So it got me thinking…it may be interesting to remaster and re-release a 20th Anniversary Edition in 2020. I thought there was a nice synchronicity in that.” Fiona also intended that it would tie in with her planned 2020 American Tour because the original album was released before she had any international profile. “Although the album may be familiar to Australian audiences, I thought it’d be interesting for my American and European audience” said Fiona. “When I was remastering it, I realized there was a lot of history that led to the year 2000 when I recorded it. I was learning my craft, and this album was pivotal. It was a marker between

what happened before and where my career and my musical life went next. It was good to revisit that music, because in recent years, I’ve been concentrating on cigar box guitars and a lot of Mississippi hill grooves, which is a long way from where I started as an acoustic country Blues fingerpicker. So I’ve been getting out my acoustic guitar and warming up my fingerpicking and Ragtime licks which I hadn’t played for a while. It’s quite demanding and it’s been fun”. With a tone of nostalgia in her voice, Fiona said “Part of the reason for releasing the 20th Anniversary Edition was to reflect on the context. I spent a lot of time going through boxes and finding some interesting photos, writing the liner notes and reflecting on what some of these songs mean to me. So, hopefully people will have a better understanding of the album itself and why I re-released it”. Most Memorable Experience I had been talking to Fiona for almost 30 minutes and there was one more question I wanted to ask. It is the question I ask all my guests at “Blues On The Hill”. What is your most memorable experience? “Oh my goodness” says Fiona, “as you asked me, it was like a montage of my life flicked passed in front of me. There are so many wonderful experiences, but there’s one very precious memory for me, and that is visiting Hubert Sumlin in his home in 2006. I was touring in the USA with Suzanne Holmes. Hubert was often on the road himself, but he had a little house in Milwaukee and he was home for the weekend, so he called me and invited us to come and visit him. So we dropped everything and that weekend, it was just such a hoot. When we first arrived, we sat down and exchanged pleasantries, and then the phone suddenly rang. Hubert picks up the phone and says Oh, hey, Cotton how you doing? I’m sitting there thinking, I’m here in Hubert Sumlin’s home and that’s James Cotton who has just called to say hello. We talked, we jammed and just spent time together, and you know, he had a big old Cadillac in the garage that he hadn’t driven for a long time, so we cranked it up and drove around the neighborhood. That’s very cool. I love the Blues but I never thought I would have the privilege to share the life of a Bluesman”.

Fiona Boyes latest release, the 20th Anniversary Edition of ‘Blues In My Heart’ is available in Australia from her website ‘www.fionaboyes.com’ or USA/ Worldwide from Reference Recordings ‘www.referencerecordings.com’ Other Nominations and Awards 2007: ‘Lucky 13’ was nominated in the Blues Music Awards under the category ‘Contemporary Blues Album of the Year’. 2008: ‘Live From Bluesville’ was the winner of the ‘Blues Critic Awards’ Best Live Album and Nominated in the Blues Music Awards under the category ‘Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year’. 2009 ‘Live From Bluesville” was nominated in the Blues Music Awards under the category ‘Acoustic Blues Album of the Year’. 2010: Nominated in the Blues Music Awards under the category ‘Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year’. She was also a Blues Blast Music Awards Nominee for ‘Best Female Blues Artist’ and nominated for ‘Best Traditional Blues CD’ for her album ‘Blues Woman’. 2015: Winner of ‘Best Blues Album’ of The Age Music Victoria Awards for her album ‘Box & Dice’. 2016: Blues Blast Music Awards Nominee for “Female Blues Artist of the Year’. 2017: Blues Music Awards Nominees for ‘Acoustic Artist of the Year’ and ‘Acoustic Album of the Year’ (for ‘Professin’ the Blues’). 2017: ‘Professin’ the Blues’ was the winner of the ‘Best Acoustic Album’ at the Blues Blast Music Awards. 2019: Nominee for Blues Blast Music Awards ‘Female Blues Artist of the Year’. References The Blues Foundation (www.blues.org) Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society (www.mbas.org.au) Reference Recordings (https:// referencerecordings.com Pinetop Perkins Foundation (www.pinetopperkinsfoundation.org) Hopson Plantation Commissary (www.hopsonplantation.com) Ground Zero Blues Club (www.groundzerobluesclub.com) Clarksdale Juke Joint Festival (www.jukejointfestival.com)

About Barry Maxwell Barry (Baz) Maxwell lives in Melbourne, Australia where he is –•1Presenter of Blues On The Hill radio show (https://www.facebook.com/ bluesonthehill) and http:// www.sunburyradio.com.au) •2President of Hume Blues Club (http://www.humebluesclub.com) •3President Blues Music Victoria (http://www.bluesmusicvictoria.com.au)

Acknowledgement I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by Glenn Owens to

this article. November 2020 • Rock and Blues International 17