onurblues: Pat Thomas - His Father's Son (2009)

February 15, 2023

Pat Thomas - His Father's Son (2009)

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“I just sing and play the blues”

His father was a gravedigger, he became one. His father was a sculptor, molding figures from clay, he became one, molding figures from clay. His father was a famous Delta blues musician, he became a Delta blues musician. His father was discovered in the 1970s through documentary films about Delta bluesmen. He appeared in the excellent documentaries "M For Mississippi” (2008), and later in “Moonshine & Mojo Hands” (see at the end). His father was nicknamed "Son", but he is simply Thomas, the son. His father, who died in 1993, was James "Son" Thomas. He is Pat Thomas, really “his father's son”.

At his father's grave

This very properly titled album, recorded in a couple of days in August 2008 and released the next year, is his debut one. Nothing flashy or revolutionary in the country blues world, just some bare down-home rural blues from the Delta. Most of his songs are covers or traditionals, many that his father used to play already when himself was still too young to walk, but he plays them in his own unadorned style.

Thomas Jr was raised listening to the rural blues so typical of the Delta, later learning how to play guitar (probably from watching his dad), and developing his own personal touch : a simple, almost primitive, form of blues. Thomas is neither a brilliant guitar player nor an outstanding singer. What his raw, unfiltered music lacks in sophistication and virtuosity, he compensates with authenticity and almost innocent sincerity.

Half the tracks are boogies : “Dance With The Red Dress On”, “61 Highway”, “Big Fat Mama”, “Dimples” (from John Lee Hooker but performed quite differently), “Leland's Burning Down” (sung as “Nelson Street” by his father) and “The Woman I Love”. The other tracks are closer to folk blues : “Standing At The Crossroads” (nothing to do with Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues"), “Mule Plow Line”, “Sugar Mama” (originally written by "Sonny Boy" John Lee Williamson), “Cairo Blues” (from Texas country bluesman Melvin Li'l Son Jackson), “Rainbow At Midnight”, “Beefsteak Blues” (from his father whose gravestone is engraved with the lyrics of the chorus).

As he says with disarming simplicity in one of the videos proposed below : “I just sing and play the blues”. The words are simple, his voice is plain natural, his fingers sometimes stumble on the neck, his guitar even sounds almost out of tune some other times, and the drummer gives a basic at times faltering beat. It's organic, no additives used. Producer Jeff Konkel from Broke & Hungry Records has voluntarily kept the whole album definitely unrefined, because such rawness is precisely what makes it deeply moving.

No matter how you qualify his blues ― vintage, roots, the real thing ―, Thomas is more than just his father's son. ■

Videos

■ The documentaries
► "M For Mississippi: A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues", full documentary (Pat Thomas at 33 :00) : https://youtu.be/9vECArwtqhc
► “Moonshine & Mojo Hands” (2014–2015), a 10-episode documentary series released in 2014-2015, shot by the same team as “M”, Roger Stolle & Jeff Konkel : http://www.moonshineandmojohands.com/episodes.html