Kenny Neal has never relied so heavily on the healing power of the blues

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 30, 2005

By Steve Newton

It’s been a particularly rough year for Kenny Neal. He lost his father to bone cancer, a brother to kidney and liver failure, and a sister to murder. Never before has the Baton Rouge musician relied so heavily on the healing power of the blues.

“Blues music has been a part of my life all my life,” says the 47-year-old singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, on the line from a Nevada tour stop. “When I play blues it’s soothing, and it just puts your mind somewhere else, so that’s been helping this a lot.”

Neal was once married to Tina Gerussi, daughter of Canadian TV icon Bruno Gerussi of Beachcombers fame, so between Vancouver gigs and family visits to Gibsons, he’s spent a lot of time in these parts. He’ll return on the final night of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival on Sunday (July 3), when his group plays a double bill with the Texas-based Sherman Robertson Band at the Yale.

“Sherman is a homeboy,” reports Neal, “his folks are from Louisiana as well, so we come from the same school. He’s very soulful and bluesy. I’m gonna do my show, but we’re gonna end up playin’ together as well.”

The oldest of 10 children, Neal picked up music at a young age from his late father, vocalist and harmonica player Raful Neal, whose friends and musical associates included blues legends Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy, and Slim Harpo. (There’s a nice story about Harpo, during a visit to the Neal home, handing three-year-old Kenny a blues harp to quell his crying one day.)

By the age of 13, Neal-already proficient on bass, trumpet, piano, and guitar-joined his dad’s band, and started paying his musical dues. He would later tour extensively as Guy’s bassist before switching to the six-string, moving to Toronto, and forming the Neal Brothers Band with four of his siblings.

Since the late ’80s Neal has made a name for himself with a swampy, funked-up sound on such speciality blues labels as Chicago’s Alligator Records and Cleveland’s Telarc. He’s released 10 solo albums so far, and his next one, due in August on New York’s True Life Records, features a father-and-son tribute to Harpo.

“I started it three years ago,” says Neal of the CD, “but after my dad fell sick with cancer I stopped. I just completed it at the beginning of this year, so now it’s a tribute to Slim Harpo and Raful Neal.”