It is entirely possible that four forty-year veterans of the local music scene are making the best music of their lives right now. Early in the pandemic, Mike Griot, Kelton Cooper, Ron Thompson, and Gene Lake formed an original blues band called Blues People. What has resulted is a series of inspiring shows and a well-reviewed debut album called The Skin I’m In. They have been nominated for Best New Artist and Best Debut Album awards by Blues Blast Magazine. The record has appeared in the top 40 of several blues charts since the album’s release earlier this year. The band has twice won the North Jersey Blues Society competition for Best Band and as a result will again travel to Memphis in January to compete in the International Blues Challenge. Their music is a fun amalgam of funk, soul, jazz, rock, and blues. Fans of Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, and Magic Sam will love it. When compared to this Chicago style of blues however, singer/guitarist Kelton Cooper bristled and instead called what they do “New Jersey Blues”, feeling that the band is its own thing and that blues in New York and New Jersey has been disrespected, compared to other areas of the country. That certainly feels more correct.
The band is named for Blues People: Negro Music in White America, a 1963 book by Newark’s Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and it lives up to that legacy. “Knee Off My Neck” is a tribute to George Floyd that tackles police brutality. Songs like “The Skin I’m In,” “Troubled Times,” and “Smoke and Mirrors” are topical and unfortunately timeless laments. A reworking of Jimi Hendrix’s “Hey Joe” addresses the gun control issue. “Amnesia” is one of the strongest songs on the record and is more of a traditional “love gone wrong” blues. Thompson’s organ and piano stand out on this and other numbers. Griot on bass and Lake on drums form a top-notch rhythm section. Cooper’s rough and tumble soul singing and stinging leads are the band’s defining features.
In a wide-ranging interview with the entire band, we talk about the Peppermint Lounge and other local venues of yesteryear that made up the scene, the road to Memphis, Griot’s successful run as curator of music at the South Orange Performing Arts Center and the Kean University Jazz & Roots Music Festival, and more.
The band members have long and interesting resumes as a sidemen with esteemed jazz, blues, and R & B artists, but it’s with this new venture that they’ve found their voice. Blues People are a reminder that we can all be relevant at any age.
Blues People – Live at The Stanhope House:
Blues People – “Knee Off My Neck”:
Blues People will appear locally at Triumph Brewery in Red Bank on December 13, Montclair Brewery on December 22, and Shanghai Jazz in Madison on New Year’s Eve.
You can SEE Dave Popkin's entire interview here.
