From The Newsroom To The Stage

 

       Reprinted from Vue Weekly - A weekly publication from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada  - May, 1998  

From The Newsroom To The Stage
Vue Weekly- Edmonton, Alberta
by Cam Hayden

If you like your blues hot with a little bit of rock thrown in-and a touch of spice in the form of dynamics-chef Roger "Hurricane" Wilson will be dishing it out all next week at Blues On Whyte in the Commercial Hotel. After a quarter century of playing at home and on the road, this Atlanta native has learned the value of a full and varied musical menu that still stays close to the basics, the blues. Wilson began playing guitar at age 9. After taking lessons for a while, he had a stack of books he could play from, but wasn't really interested in that. "I didn't concentrate much on what my teacher told me," Wilson said. "He didn't like that very much, but I guess basically I started pounding on the guitar, getting sounds I liked." In those days those sounds included bands like the Animals, the Stones,, Cream, and Paul Revere & The Raiders. (Hey, they covered a Muddy Waters tune.) Wilson moved to Atlanta at age 14 when the Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker, and Wet Willie were beginning to do their things. Music hasn't been the only staple in his life. His other love was broadcasting, which began in high school when he was working in the TV studio, and as part of the school band. In his first and second years of college he began to meet a lot of promoters and musicians in his broadcasting work and, as he put it, "It was like a whole amusement park of things out there for me. I spent 25 years in broadcasting. Being in Atlanta, home of Turner Broadcasting, led to jobs as a sports producer, DJ, and eventually as a newsroom producer for CNN. The balancing act continued and gave him a nickname along the way, "Hurricane". As Wilson told me, back when I was working as a broadcaster, I was still playing 200 dates a year. I'd leave work, go to the gig and play and try to come back early in the morning to work. I'd go out, make a mess, then leave real quick. My producer in the newsroom, who was also my bass player at the time, said it was just like a hurricane. Never one to stand still, Wilson spent 14 years teaching guitar to literally hundreds of students. I thought there might be a touch of irony there, considering what he put his own teacher through, and it wasn't lost on him. "I did try to teach the way I was taught at first, but then I decided to teach them whatever they wanted. I'd have students coming in with records that were so new the vinyl wasn't even dry yet, and I'd listen to them and help my students learn the songs. As with most creative people, Wilson continues to evolve and learn. His first CD, released in 1994 had a definite Southern Rock feel to it. His second CD, a live effort, was more in the blues/rock vein. His soon to be released 3rd CD is, as he said, "Half electric and half acoustic and it's more straight blues. I'm getting back to what it should be, the blues. "His current road band is a trio and I asked him about working in that format. "There's not as many crazy people to put up with," he said with a laugh, "there's one less. Really it started out as a financial thing, but it does give me more room to play. I've been playing in trio so long that I've just learned to fill the holes and go with it. There's nothing to hide behind, everything that comes out is you and I try not to play too much, to leave some space, balance rhythm and lead aspects and not just have a barrage of noise." As far as Wilson is concerned, "The whole thing about keeping an audience's attention is dynamics, which is why I vary tones, volumes, and styles in the show. It sounds to me like a lesson that could be well be learned by numerous guitar-slingers on the scene today. Classes begin Monday night.

(Cam Hayden hosts the Friday Night Blues Party from 9pm - midnight and Alberta Morning from 6-9am weekdays on the CKUA Radio Network, 580 AM and 94.9 FM.)