“Vintage” Blues from HowellDevine at Union Square

Joshua Howell, Pete Devine, and Joe Kyle, Jr. (photograph by the author)

This afternoon I went over to Union Square Live to check out the first set taken by HowellDevine. Those who saw my “preview calendar” article for this month know that the genre for this group was given as “vintage blues.” HowellDevine is a trio named after two of its members. Joshua Howell is the vocalist, also playing both guitar and harmonica. Pete Devine plays drums and occasionally a washboard. The third member is the bass player, Joe Kyle, Jr.

It is slightly ironic that I should be writing about blues the day after I was taking issue with James Tenney over whether or not form is an “object of perception.” I think it would be fair to say that blues is not so much a form as it is an evolved repertoire of practices that loosely share a common framework. Variation can be found in the words, in the rhythms, and even in the overall tempo; but all those variations are rooted in the soil of a set of “common practices” (scare quotes serving as a sly nod to academic musicologists).

What springs forth from those roots is a rich diversity of approaches that players can take to improvisation. So listening to HowellDivine was not so much a matter of trying to recognize familiar tunes or following the words (familiar or not) as it was one of following the prodigious diversity of approaches to improvisation taken by all three members of the trio. Only a few of the selections were announced; and, for my part, the only hint of familiarity came near the end of the set with the performance of “Baby, Please Don't Go,” which I know best from my recordings of Muddy Waters and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Familiarity aside, following all the improvisations was a real hoot. Howell’s guitar work took in a prodigiously diverse variety of sonorities spiced up by any number of imaginative rhythms. His harmonica playing, on the other hand, amounted to almost heartbreaking sorrowful wailing, about as close an approximation to vocal work as one could hope to achieve. Devine backed up Howell with a solid sense of rhythm, pulling out the washboard every now and then for a somewhat livelier rhetoric. Kyle’s bass work made for a steady foundation, but he also had his own ways to contribute to the prevailing spirit of improvisation.

Back when I lived in Los Angeles, I used to listen to Bernie Pearl’s blues program on the radio. A couple of times my wife and I were able to catch up on a performance by the Bernie Pearl Blues Band. All that took place about 30 years ago; and, since then, my primary source for blues has been recordings. To say that the experience of listening to blues in performance by HowellDivine was nostalgically refreshing would be the height of understatement!