PLAIN FOLK

by Les Pearson
Mark Sterling's Blues Are Rare, Refined, and Retro

Just when you thought that summer festivals had satiated your aural receptors, open your ears for a healthy helping of Mississippi mud pie. Mark Sterling is coming to the Marseille Cafe this Saturday evening to serve up his special brand of original and traditional, sweet and oozy, blues songs. You'll marvel how this Alberta boy gets the recipe so fine and so right.

How was a White boy from Edmonton baptized in Mississippi Delta Blues? The musical odyssey began with his love of British rock. Sterling has been playing guitar for twenty years now. In the early years he dissected the Beatles and Stones. The more he peeled rock's skin, the clearer it was to him that tunes like Kansas City and Little Red Rooster had a blues heart.

Mark's retro journey took him back to Chuck Berry and Little Richard, through T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters, back to the originals like Robert Johnson and further. "The further I went back, the more I loved it," Mark says. It was "satisfying" for him to re-discover what was almost the lost art form of pre-WWII blues.

There were times, while patrons were pouring Blue in bars where he played, that Mark could indulge his own growing addiction to blues. He played his own originals and the blues classics along with rock. Soon folks were asking when he was going to record these simple soulful tunes.

When he did in 1997, the self-titled CD reflects a purist's love of the art form. The no-to-low production on both this CD and its successor, "The Well" (1999), show care for the basics. Yes, there is electric amplification but you have to admire Sterling's ear to detail when "foot" is listed as an instrument.

Beside his foot, Mark sings and plays twelve-string, dobro, harp, harmonica and guitar. He is joined on both CD's by back-up musicians from "Come On In My Kitchen." This is an annual blues series that Sterling hosts for CKUA radio. This connection with CKUA is important. Note that Lionel Rault co-wrote the cover song for "The Well."

Sterling is my second summer encounter with a blues singer who mixes blues and gospel. Ruthie Foster sees gospel as the joyful counter to blues' depression. Sterling has the same rose and blue bi-focals. For him blues are Saturday night music; gospel is Sunday morning. His song, You Gotta Move (Fred McDowell) is pure gospel sugar.

Chasing a Car ("The Well") is a poignant, passionate, original blues song based on a relational break-up. His girl is leaving and she won't be back. "If I tried to follow her, I wouldn't get far--I'd look just like a dog chasin' a car." Male ego; no sugar added.

Looking for Saturday night sinnin'? Indulge yourself. Have more than one helping! Wallow in Mark Sterling's blues. He's a low-cal blues treat!