Australia's best female guitarist? You betcha, as Fiona Boyes is definitely that and much more. Leading blues legends are also affirming the same tag. After embarking on a solo in 2000 that saw the release of her much acclaimed debut solo album, 'Blues in My Heart' Boyes just went from strength to strength winning award after award including 2001 Female Blues Artist of the Year, 2001 APRA Song of the Year, and 2002 Blues Performer of the Year. Her most recent outing Lucky 13 continues the trend and etches Boyes name further upon the music scene. Joe Matera caught up with Fiona Boyes to talk blues, success, working with the greats and guitars.

What made you pick up the guitar and choose to play the blues?

The Blues came first. My initial exposure to the style was through a friend at college - early documentary recordings of country and Delta Blues and the classic Chicago greats like Muddy and Howlin' Wolf. The music resonated with me in a way that nothing else had. I listened avidly for many years before I decided to try and play myself. At that stage I would never have envisaged my future as a full-time musician. I borrowed a guitar and started to learn by ear, listening to a stack of old albums by people like Mississippi John Hurt, Tommy Johnson, Rev Gary Davis and Big Bill Broonzy.

You have had the pleasure to play with greats such as Muddy Water's slide guitarist 'Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin and Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, what was that like?

As a Blues fan, let alone a musician, it's a fantastic experience. When I heard first heard Bob Margolin play live, I was struck by the muscular tension and conviction of his playing. It was at the Rum Boogie Café on Beale Street during WC Handy Week in 2003. The memory of my early vinyl encounters with Chicago Blues leapt to the fore - here was that sound - the one I remembered from all those years ago but seems to be seldom heard at gigs today. Bob played with Muddy Waters for many years and has become an important keeper of Muddy's musical legacy. He can really play those signature licks, especially Muddy's haunting standard tuning slide parts which are not often emulated.

Although Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf are considered the two greats of Chicago blues, Wolf's long-time guitarist Hubert Sumlin offers a different stylistic approach to Margolin.

Hubert, of course, is the author of that distinctive guitar sound that stings its way through many Howlin' Wolf hits. Not only a seminal guitarist, he is also a real gentleman and a living link to a classic era in Blues history. Hubert has an incredible sense of phrasing; it really is a defining part of his style along with sudden shimmering single notes with a biting tone. He is cited as a major influence by guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards. I learned so much, even much that's intangible, by having the opportunity to play and hang out with Bob and Hubert.

Did either of them pass on any stories about their time in the business to you?

They sure did...lots of stories; some of them scurrilous! That's one the things that's so great about hanging out. Stories often reveal something about the teller as well as the subject. For example, Bob used to go around and visit Muddy's house in Chicago. Muddy used to pretend to ignore him while Bob just sat in another room and played Muddy's songs. A few bars in and there'd be a roar from the other room... 'WRONG!' So Bob would go away and work on that song until the next visit to see if he'd get further into the tune next time. He had such great persistence and love for Muddy's music.

Hubert has lots of tales from the heyday of the Chicago Blues scene and the musicians that were around. Like when Little Walter drove his Cadillac through the wall of the Chess Records office because he was unhappy with his royalties, or lack of them. But, to me, a very Hubert-ish story is one he tells, in his inimitable way, about driving between gigs out of California. Late at night he and Howlin' Wolf stop in a gas station near Las Vegas. When Hubert goes to use the restroom, he discovers it is equipped with a slot machine. Hubert doesn't mind a bit of a gamble. He puts in a quarter and hits the jackpot! The other guy in the rooms starts trying to pick up the coins so Hubert shoves him out and locks the door. All these coins, all over the toilet floor... What to do? Hubert takes his shoe laces out and ties them around the bottom of his trousers. He scoops all the coins into his pant legs and proceeds to waddle heavily back to the car. Wolf is angry with him at first, thinking that Hubert has rolled the gas station attendant as well as keeping him waiting.

How does it feel to have been the first Australian artist with your recent debut U.S release, "Lucky 13" to be nominated for the Memphis Blues Music Awards in its 27 year history?

I consider it a great honour. The initial round of voting for the Blues Music Awards is conducted by an international panel of music industry people: music and recording industry executives, radio hosts, critics and reviewers. To get to the nomination stage is no small achievement, especially for someone in my position. When I recorded the 'Lucky 13' album I wanted to include a wide range of my original compositions in different Blues based styles. Yellow Dog Records gave me and producer Kaz Kazanoff creative freedom over the project even though our approach may have been considered risky. I am proud of the result and it's fantastic that the album has been so well received.

You're in the midst of relocating to the U.S so do you think it's vital for any Australian artist, to move there if they want to achieve a level of success in the U.S?

It is difficult to get a profile anywhere without hard work and some sort of live presence in that area. That goes for touring in Australia too. Hopefully, touring elevates you from being just another CD in the rack or name on a poster to a recognizable performer, helping you to get gigs and other opportunities. America has so many different territories to work on and a huge population compared to home. It's a big, potentially daunting task and probably best tackled from on the ground. It will be interesting to see how emerging internet factors change this dynamic. I'm a recent convert to myspace and find the contacts from people all over the world fascinating.

How do you find audiences in the U.S compare with those in other countries and particularly in Australia?

I have been very warmly received in America, which I really appreciate. The Blues Foundations' 'International Blues Challenge' in Memphis provided my first performance opportunities in the US. I was playing solo acoustic and there was the double whammy of competition, as well as wondering how the local Blues lovers would respond to my performance style. Would they understand my accent or sense of humour? Would it be considered presumptuous to play the things I was playing? As it turned out I won!

For me, no matter where I am performing, the audience deserves respect and I always try to do my best for them. Venues and audiences vary so much; from sensitive, quiet concerts to rowdy bars. It's always a challenge to try and gauge the mood appropriately. Whatever happens, it's the people who actually come to gigs, buy CD's and support the music that keep this industry alive - they deserve heart-felt thanks.

Touring is essential for any artist, how do you find that side of the business. Do you enjoy it and embrace it or do you prefer the confines of a studio?

Live gigs, touring and studio performance all have their own particular demands. Touring can be very tiring and hardly the 'glamorous' party that people suppose. However, it also provides a great opportunity to play for different people in different places. I really prefer playing live and interacting with an audience. It's a very immediate experience. Initially, the studio was a less familiar environment for me, so I am happy that I've been learning over the years with each project how to adjust to that environment. Recording the 'Lucky 13' project at Wire Studios in Austin was an intense but really enjoyable experience; having the right people around you is important in the studio. The bulk of the album was recorded live over 3 days (15 tracks) with the horn arrangements added later. Producer Kaz Kazanoff did an amazing job of coordinating our revolving door of musicians. On the first day of the session, for example, we had two different bassists and a tuba player, as well as our special guests Bob Margolin and Marcia Ball. It was pretty hectic!

Do you think the blues is universal in the way it connects with people on a deeper level than say pop music or any other genre of music?

In its best expression, Blues has the ability to take personal experience and render it universal. That doesn't mean everything has to be 'deep and meaningful' - on the contrary, Blues is full of tongue-in-cheek crudity and fun as well as raw emotion and nuance. It's just that Blues tends to revolve around basic human concerns and feelings that most people can relate to. Music has an important place in human experience as a mirror to reflect the concerns of society, both personally and collectively. Different people experience this in their own ways but it is interesting to note the diversity of Blues fans all over the world that, like me, felt like they were 'coming home' when they first heard the Blues.

Some guitarists say the blues is a simple style of music to play, particularly pentatonic based, again a simple scale, and the emotions are usually just as simple and basic too, all of which is the reason why it connects with the everyday person on the street.

While Blues may be considered a simple, even derivative form of music, the challenge is to take that form and find a way to express yourself uniquely within it; to find your own voice while drawing from the tradition of the music. In addition, the Blues and various allied roots music, in reality, provide an incredible range of musical palettes. Here I would include Soul, Zydeco, New Orleans music in all its variations, and Blues styles as diverse as Jump, Mississippi Hills, Piedmont, Delta, Chicago and Gulf Coast even through to something like Western Swing. I love all this stuff! All these different regional styles have distinctive sounds and I find it a fascinating world to explore.

How do you find being a woman in an industry that is male dominated?

It's true that the music scene, and particularly the blues genre, is male dominated. So gender issues inevitably become a point of interest when people ask me questions. I have never paid too much attention to the matter because my main focus is to just get to the next gig and hopefully get better as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and performer. It does chafe, however, when people want to discuss gender issues to the exclusion of the music - and no musician wants to be marginalized as a mere novelty. It's interesting to note that women often want to talk to me at gigs about my experiences or seek encouragement about their own performing aspirations. Relatively recently I saw Bonnie Raitt at a gig for the first time. In some ways it surprised me the effect her playing had on me, quite apart from the music itself. 'Wow - a mature woman really playing guitar - great!' It's a reminder that there aren't many role models but hopefully that is changing.

You play and use Maton guitars?

Yes, I have two Maton acoustic guitars. My original CW80 (circa late 80's) has now been retired from gigs. It still sounds beautiful but it aged gracefully into a sweet sounding instrument that became unsuitable for my increasingly percussive solo style. To replace it the guys at Maton built me a custom Australian model, also a dreadnought style guitar, which has a spruce face and Australian blackwood back and sides. The blackwood has a 'throaty' sound that I really like. The process of choosing attributes for a new instrument opened up a new world to me and I'd particularly like to thank Anthony Knowles for his time and advice. For example, I knew I liked my old Maton acoustic, but what would I like in a new one? My style had evolved since then and having a chance to play different models in a good room where you could really hear the differences between various models, shapes, tone woods and finishes meant I could make good choices. The luthiers and set-up people also have a sense of the actual player who will end up with the guitar. Later on, at a Maton gathering in the Green Room at the Port Fairy Folk Festival, I even met the timber man who sourced my guitars' blackwood!

Maton and I went through a similar process with my custom long-scale Mastersound electric guitar. When I first played a Mastersound the model was designed as a short-scale instrument. It felt odd to me, much too 'bendy' somehow - but I didn't realize at the time string tensions were so affected by scale configuration, amongst other things. For example, although I generally use Regular 10- 46 Dean Markley electric strings, I find it more comfortable to go up to a heavier gauge string on this particular guitar. Maton now makes production runs of the long-scale version as well as the original design. Apart from being built as one of the first long-scale models, my guitar went through several incarnations - three pots down to my customary Telecaster-style one volume/one tone arrangement and a few different sorts of pick-ups. It is now a firm favourite and was the main instrument on my 'Lucky 13' album.

My Mastersound has a fairly rude tone, with lots of bottom end. I got it just before I started touring with Hubert Sumlin and Bob Margolin and it is great for that grunty Chicago style material. The bass response is particularly suitable for old-school Chicago style playing where, in the old days, there would be one or two guitarists in a band but often no bass player. That means you have to sort of double the bass part. Bob Margolin's playing really leans to that style. Hubert played the Mastersound and loved it - and I really had trouble getting it back from Lil' Ed after I lent it to him during a jam on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise.

My latest baby is a beautiful custom white BB1200 model archtop. It's a truly gorgeous instrument and it saddens me to say that I have been on the road so much lately I haven't had much of a chance to get to know it. Let's just say we've only been on one date but the romance is looking hot! The BB1200 will take a little getting used to because it has such a wide range of voices and settings. The 4 pot controls (which are also splitable between single coil and humbucker settings) is not a configuration I usually use, but the different voicings are so good that I want to persevere and learn how to use it. I don't want to potentially compromise this instrument by messing with it too much. The only slight modification so far has been to drop the neck pick-up assembly somewhat to accommodate my finger-picking style.

Why do you choose to play Matons and what quality do they bring to your blues idiom?

My main instruments at the moment are the Maton Australian acoustic and the Mastersound electric and they are definitely an asset to my style of blues playing. As I've covered some of the guitars' qualities in the answer above, I'd like to give you a bit of other background. My relationship with Maton is probably more personal than most arrangements between instrument makers and endorsed players. Although I was a late starter on guitar, once I got going I was like a person possessed. I'd barely been playing any length of time when I heard about an open mic night it a suburb well away from where I lived. Thinking that should afford me some safety (as I hopefully wouldn't run into anyone I knew) I borrowed an acoustic guitar and went to the venue.

I didn't even own a guitar of my own. As it turned out the open mic night was one of a series of heats in a competition to win a Maton CW80 acoustic. To my astonishment I made it to the finals and won it! It was only my third or fourth time playing in public and I was beside myself with joy and nerves. At the time I didn't see myself being able to buy such a beautiful guitar, so this was beyond my wildest dreams. In all fairness, the competition was a 'talent encouragement award' rather than for sheer performance quality - just as well... In any case, Maton certainly encouraged me. I played that guitar exclusively and stayed in touch with the company through all the years until I wore it out and ordered a new one!

Aside from the Matons, what other guitars do you use and have in your collection?

I was always a 'one instrument' sort of person. For years I had one acoustic, one electric and a bass guitar. It took me a long time to realize that different instruments make you play in different ways. Before I got the Maton Mastersound, my main electric guitar was a very battered and messed up 1968 Fender Telecaster. I still play that guitar, alternating with the Mastersound at gigs, depending on the material. It has recently been worked on, with a new finger board, frets and a replacement custom back pick-up by Jim Dyson, which has given it a new lease of life.

I also have another Telecaster which was custom-built for me courtesy of my American manager, Suzanne Holmes of Blue Empress Management. The guitar builder is a guy called Steve White from the Tampa Bay area in Florida. The 'Blue Empress' guitar has a swamp ash body, Kinman 'Broadcaster' pick-ups and the most incredible metallic blue finish - it is beautifully made and sounds more classic late 50's Telecaster in tone. Steve White has also worked extensively on custom hot-rods; none of his guitars has the same tone of paint - they are all one-off shades to suit the individual player.

Five years ago I got married - and you'll all agree I made the right choice when I tell you that the wedding present from my beautiful husband Steve was a brass Resonator guitar. Hand made by Greg Beeton from NSW, it is a single-cone model that is set up for finger-picking and it just sings. I was just about to record an acoustic studio album 'Gimme Some Sweet Jelly Roll' when this beauty came into my life, so it features quite a bit on that recording.

Can you detail what the songwriting process is like for you and how you approach it?

I've heard about songwriters that always use a certain methodology when writing, but I can't say that is the case for me. Some songs have been written around a bass line, guitar feel or progression; sometimes a particular lyric idea informs the whole musical approach. As I start writing something, I usually get a sense of whether this tune is designed to be an old style acoustic finger-pickin' piece or more of an electric, band sort of song. That influences how the tune comes together and what style I am aiming for. Some songs hang around being 'not quite right' for a long time before something happens that makes them feel 'finished'. On the other hand, very occasionally a song almost writes itself in a glorious moment of mystery. The best example in my repertoire is a ballad from the 'Lucky 13' album called 'Stranger in Your Eyes'. I had the idea for the song but it was about a recent, painful heart-break so I didn't want to think about it right then. I wrote the title down on a piece of paper and put it away in a drawer. About five years later, I got up one morning, went to my guitar and just played the song as if I already knew it. It is one of my most lovely, simple songs and one that seems to resonate strongly with audiences.

What sort of advice can you pass onto other blues guitarists who want to follow a similar career path?

I'm not sure if there is a set 'career path' for blues musicians...It's a musical form based on tradition, so I guess my advice would be to listen to the music and the elders and try to build an appreciation of the nuances. Play live as much as possible because you learn a lot from actually doing gigs. Respect other musicians and realize playing with others offers a learning opportunity. Try to find your own style and play it will all your heart. If it's not any fun then don't spoil music for yourself - it's too precious; go and get another job.

What gives you the "blues"?

Meanness. I am always vaguely surprised and shocked when people are mean.

What have been some of your proudest moments in your musical career?

• My first guitar
• Winning the acoustic division of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis
• Getting a standing ovation from Ruth Brown after my set at the Blues Hall of Fame Induction dinner at the Gibson Lounge.
• Being compared to my hero, guitar player Memphis Minnie by legendary Delta pianist Pinetop Perkins. ('I ain't never heard a woman finger-pick like that since I saw Memphis Minnie. She's the best gal guitar player I heard in more than 35 years').
• Being invited to hang out with Hubert Sumlin at his house for the weekend.
• Being nominated for a USA Blues Music Award for 'Contemporary Blues Album of the Year' 2007

What's your most prized possession and why?

I love my guitars, of course, and I guess I have some cool possessions but really my family and friends are more important to me than anything. It's interesting to try and answer a question like that because sometimes you don't really know how important something is to you until it's gone or there is a crisis in your life. 'You don't miss your water until your well runs dry' as the ol' blues lyric says. I will tell you, though, that I was once in a situation where the fire alarm went off in the early hours of the morning and we had to get out of our hotel room really quickly. As it happened, my guitars weren't with me. I didn't give a thought to any of the other equipment or possessions that I did have in the room though. I grabbed my handbag because it had my wedding ring and opal earrings from my husband - and the only other thing I took was my bag of hand-made Rocco stage shoes. Well....who wouldn't?

What can we expect from Fiona Boyes this year, both recording and touring wise?

Mostly this year will be devoted to touring around the 'Lucky 13' album. I have gigs and festivals in Australia, the US and Canada at this stage, including the USA Blues Music Awards in May, with more shows being posted as things are confirmed. I am hoping to get some time off at some point to start writing more.

Generally I like to have personal space and solitude for writing and they have been hard to come by with the recent touring and re-location. There are a few different album ideas I'd like to pursue and each requires some thought about musical focus and material.

What do you want to achieve with your music?

I'd like to keep exploring. I hope that I can do that with the same enthusiasm and curiosity that has got me this far. I hope that my silly songs make people chuckle and the deeper ones help touch feelings that people can relate to and perhaps think about.

In one sentence give us the philosophy you live by?

In my musical life, at least, my philosophy is 'I'll play anywhere they let me loose!'

If you were granted three wishes, what would you wish for?

1. - A kinder world
2. - Health, happiness and financial security for my family and musician friends
3. - A nice home of my own for when I finally get off the road...

By Joe Matera
www.joematera.com

Mon 19th Mar 2007