onurblues: Bill Deraime - Bouge Encore (2008)

July 03, 2022

Bill Deraime - Bouge Encore (2008)

► Get the album at the usual place...

Blues with a French touch

Bill Deraime is the godfather of French blues, often imitated, rarely equaled. Today 75 and officially retired from music, he's been striving to establish a blues scene in France for more than fifty years with some twenty-five albums, numerous performances and tours, despite a chronic manic depression.
Scorching voice, meaningful lyrics and roots soul sound, he never hesitated to borrow from other genres, particularly reggae, but also African music, gospel, funk..., to enrich his basic blues foundations. Far from the syrupy stuff delivered by many contemporary French "pop" artists, and from the spotlights, Deraime once said that blues is "the music of the soul". The statement is quite evident but at least, it deserves to be reminded from time to time.

Coming out of the
darkness of depression

The project of this 2008 album was born three years earlier after a tough breakdown period for Deraime : to shake the depression off, he reacted by picking up back his old Guild 12-string guitar and revisiting fifteen of his older songs with new arrangements, sometimes modified lyrics, and added five freshly written new ones : "Les Rames De L'Âme", "Merci Pour Tout", "Oh! Toi", "Dis-Moi Encore" and "Quand L'Avion".

"Bouge encore" (still alive or not dead yet) is not a "Best of…", but a real album, recorded with nice musicians led by Deraime's long time accomplice, talented guitarist Mauro Serri, perfect on slide, steel (dobro) or lead. Deraime's fans will rediscover with pleasure the old songs in their new outfit, and appreciate the previously unreleased ones which demonstrated at the time that the veteran French bluesman had not lost an inch of his songwriting talent.

The good ol' 12-string Guild guitar

The result is great, plain and rich at the same time, and Deraime puts his guts in his vocals, that's the least we can say. I won't bother to point out this or that song, they're all good. His tortured lyrics, sometimes close to mysticism, unveil a haunted man, but he's never dark to the point of closing the door to hope.

His blues with a French touch is tasty, his love of reggae colors many songs, and his old 12-string sounds good highlighted by Serri's slide guitar. France can be proud to have an artist like Bill Deraime. And, by the way, the album's cover drawn by Swiss cartoonist Zep, father of "Titeuf", is quite rejoicing. ■

Interview
● "Sur la route du blues" (On the blues road) : https://youtu.be/Yb95__ZEKB4

Live perf. of songs featured on "Bouge Encore"

● 2009, promo concert for the release of "Bouge Encore" with Mauro Serri :

Deraime and Mauro Serri

→ Part 1  : https://youtu.be/CZwGfdVpQj0

→ Part 2  : https://youtu.be/u36SCgCdwvE

→ Part 3 : https://youtu.be/EX_Z4GNw4ws

● 2010, "Le Train Roule" (clip from the album) : https://youtu.be/1h2d6sNt7ik

● 2011, "Je Rêve" with Mauro Serri : https://youtu.be/QrvNsHB9lQk

● 2018, "Je Rêve", Le Trianon (Paris) : https://youtu.be/VyoTkqF1YYI

● 2019, "S'coue-toi" [with Pascal Bako Mikaelian : harmonica - Florian Robin : keyboards - Antoine Arroyo : bass - Philippe Draï : drums] : https://youtu.be/avh6Z11AAmY - https://youtu.be/1SHDCFu-83s

Other lives

● 2018, "Avant la paix"  : https://youtu.be/SFy-HPhnMf4

● 2018, "Dimanche après-midi : https://youtu.be/fQUdyBF5SiI - https://youtu.be/_wfj5qf4R8s

● 2016, "J'me sentais mal" [with Pascal Bako Mikaelian : harmonica - Florian Robin : keyboards - Antoine Arroyo : bass - Philippe Draï : drums] : https://youtu.be/9sdVF4S7Zf4

● 2012, "A Travers Chants" Festival : https://youtu.be/NK8q4sx9wuI