I can’t seem to stop thinking about the idea of cultural authenticity as it applies to music. So much is made about being an authentic performer of certain styles, mostly in roots music but other places, too, that I have come to feel awkward about continuing to play these styles. I get the feeling from reading a lot of online discussions about this sort of thing that many people feel that you shouldn’t play certain types of music if you don’t come from where those styles come from. You have to posses a born-in connection of some kind or another to be seen as a ‘real’ or authentic player of those musical styles. I don’t think everyone feels that way, but I encounter it enough to notice it.
Now, those who know me know that I have spent a lot of my adult life playing roots music ranging from blues to country to rockabilly and love each of these styles deeply. Problem is that I am pretty much a white kid from the suburbs of Chicago who became enchanted by cultures other than his own. I’m not part of the African-American world that gave life to the blues, I’m not a country boy from Arkansas who grew up picking cotton like Johnny Cash, nor am I a 1950s-style greaser with a Gretsch and the keys to a 1949 Mercury in his leather jacket. I did, however, learn to play the musics of these different groups of people pretty well and loved every minute of it. I never thought that I needed to do more than that because music is about music and I played those styles out of a genuine affection for them. I thought that was enough.
I have, however, in recent times, come to consider the fact that I may be coming to a dead end with much of the music I love because of things I have heard said about the importance of who plays what. I have been made aware that what matters to many fans and players is having that authentic cultural connection to the art we make and that those without it will never equal those who have it. In other words, that Joe Bonamassa will never matter as much as B.B. King, no matter how skilled he is or how successful he might be. I understand that I will never fully grok the cultural difficulties and conditions that created the blues or the lives of its most revered musicians. I will also never fully get the early experiences of country performers like Dolly Parton or Johnny Cash who really lived the hardscrabble Southern lives they later sang about. Maybe I didn’t think about it enough when I was coming up, but I have become somewhat hesitant about calling myself a blues or country player because of my suburban inauthenticity compared to others who really are connected to the music that they play. I don’t know that I can offer those styles anything they need, that I can only be seen as an imitator at best or as a cultural cat burglar at worst, pilfering the musical storehouses of those who came before me. To be fair, I will never be part of the cultures that gave birth to Skrillex or Arcade Fire either, for the same kind of issues.
So often, we hear that we can become anything we want to be, but then also are told that people who act like something other than what they are are posers and fake. Maybe I am overthinking the whole thing, but this is causing me quite a lot of cognitive dissonance. I guess I don’t know what I have the right to play, what I can do without seeming like a rip off artist. The only thing suburban mall rats like me have given the world is skateboard punk rock and that is not really my thing. So, I spend a lot of time wondering what is left for me to do that feels real.
What I keep coming back to is the idea of getting back to playing the roots of my personal music, and those roots are pure rock and roll. My first good band played 70s metal during the early 80s and, after that, I did blues/rock, followed by an original radio-friendly pop/rock band called Big Spender that had the honor of working with super-producer Butch Vig. My roots thing came after all that and encompassed my 1990s and 2000s. I guess I feel that, since I can never be a ‘real’ country or blues player, the best thing I CAN be is authentically myself. I came of age playing Flying Vs through Marshalls and a Steinberger guitar through a rack system. Those are the true and ‘real’ roots of my public guitar playing life. I think adding a rock and roll edge to whatever I am playing is the most real I can be and it is what I feel compelled to do, lately. My blues, funk, country, and other influences will be there, too, but I think I am done trying to recreate the music of a past that isn’t mine. All I play, I will play as I please, and that suits me just fine.
Let me know what you think and if you ever encounter this kind of thinking. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on artistic authenticity and anything else that might be relatable to this idea. I think all we can do is be ourselves, whatever that means, and speak our personal truths through our art and music. Who is the authentic you?