By Mark Plotnick
Photos: Jim Summaria
Ruf Records 30th Anniversary Tour Featuring Samantha Fish, Ghalia Volt, Canned Heat, Bernard Allison & Mitch Ryder
Arcada Theater, St. Charles, IL,
November 10, 2024
By Mark Plotnick
Photos: Jim Summaria
Decades ago, a German teenager witnessed bluesman Luther Allison jamming with elderly folklore musicians at village bar in Germany’s Black Forest region. It was then when Thomas Ruf experienced the rapture of the blues and its ability to communicate across language barriers.
The young entrepreneur founded independent label Ruf (pronounced roof) Records and recognized the importance of preserving and advancing the blues with the artists he would sign and promote.
To the jubilance of blues and rock music fans, Ruf Records brought five acts – four current and one former - to the Arcada Theatre for a thirtieth anniversary celebration. And what a party it was. On this particular evening, the collective performances of Ghalia Volt, Canned Heat, Bernard Allison, Mitch Ryder and Samantha Fish had enough might to topple the Berlin Wall if it still existed. And while the Arcada’s well-preserved architecture remained unscathed, flesh and blood concertgoers were gob smacked by the evening’s epic show.
Ghalia Volt
Following a brief introduction by label founder Thomas Ruf, the night began with the evening’s most unexpected surprise, Belgium native Ghalia Volt (real name Vauthier).
Decked out in black from hair to boots, Volt seated herself holding a classic white Les Paul Standard. Stationed before her was a minimalist drum kit: kick, snare (vertically positioned on the floor) and hi-hat. Where was the band? The former Brussels street busker didn’t need one. She was the band although she has recorded and played collaboratively.
Her soaring vocals and layered, multi-instrumental attack filled the Arcada with an avalanche of sound. I’m still scratching my head as to how this artist drummed, played guitar and sang at the same time.
There’s an old soul in this industrious, well-traveled performer. It resides in her lyrics, vocals and turbocharged guitar attack. She laid down hypnotic John Lee Hooker grooves from which to launch several of her songs. Her one-woman percussion kit kept time like a grizzled bluesman stomping on a wooden porch. But her beauty shattered that vision. Elements of rock and roll, rockabilly and even punk were present in her blues anchored repertoire.
The 60 Minutes interviewee opened with “I Can’t Explain” from her appropriately titled album One Woman Band. The song began with a buzzing guitar figure and haunting vocal that I still can’t clear from my mind. She sang about being a slave to her thoughts…wishing there was a switch to shut down her mind and unwind. But as a woman of the blues, the devil was naturally part of the story, letting her know that attempts to escape her restless mind were in vain.
Volt then elevated the mood with the danceable song “It Ain’t Bad.”
“If it ain’t good, it ain’t bad. And if it ain’t bad, that’s pretty good.”
I call that poetic convoluted optimism. This mashup of rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll revealed the influences of Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats, Keith Richards’ rhythmic playing on “Midnight Rambler,” and T-Bone Walker’s signature full string bend and slide-up technique.
The road warrior’s next song addressed her traveling life. Traveling here and there to play us her songs – sometimes from an Amtrak train. Working her feet and fingers to the bone while going it alone.
“I don’t need no happy home…I don’t need nobody else…I ride this road by myself.”
Ghalia treated the Arcada gathering with a song from her latest album Shout Sister Shout. The title is an acknowledgement of gospel singer/guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharp who many consider the Godmother of rock ‘n’ roll. Near the end of the song “Meet Me in My Dreams,” Ghalia turned her head skyward and howled like a wolf. Not to the moon but to the stage lights overhead.
The rockabilly and slide guitar goddess closed her set with a cover of the Elmore James classic, “Talk to me Baby” (a.k.a. “I Can’t Hold Out”). Volt commandeered the audience to sing back the words “talk to me baby” until she was satisfied with our efforts.
Fortunately for us, Ruf Records’ secret weapon is no longer a secret.
Canned Heat
L to R: Jimmy Vivino, Rick Reed, Dale Spalding
With only one original and surviving member, my expectations for this legendary band were on hold. But drummer Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra tapped a seasoned and stellar group of musicians to continue the band’s 56-year legacy. I was ready to boogie!
On lead guitar (and vocals) was Jimmy Vivino – longtime guitarist and musical director for Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Blowing harp, singing and playing second guitar was Dale Spalding. The California native studied harmonica under reed wizard Sonny Terry of the famous folk/blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Dale masterfully filled the role of the Canned Heat’s co-founder, Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson. And on bass was Richard “Rick” Reed who played with John Mayall, Paul Butterfield, The Chicago Blues Reunion Band and others. Reed was chosen to replace long-time Canned Heat original Larry “The Mole” Taylor who died in 2019.
From the opening notes of the modal sounding “On the Road Again,” the Arcada faithful were transported back to Max Yasgur’s farm. Thankfully without rain, wind, mud, lightning and crappy (no pun intended) porta potties. When the crowd responded enthusiastically, Dale Spalding shouted back with “Peace and love to you all.” We could sure use some of that right now!
Canned Heat followed with the beloved “Amphetamine Annie” and its warning shouts of “Speed Kills.” When the song ended, Dale Spalding poked the eye of a certain Cleveland, Ohio music institution with the remark, “As the only blues band at that time with three hit songs, we know why they aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Canned Heat jumped from 1968 to 2024 with “One Last Boogie,” a Jimmy Vivino tune from Canned Heat’s 2024 album Finyl Vinyl.
“One last boogie, 'til the break of dawn, Boogie 'til they lay you out in Forest Lawn.”
For those unfamiliar with Forest Lawn, it’s a Los Angeles area cemetery where several famous entertainers are buried. Following a brief dissertation on how the band got its name, the quartet ripped into a rousing version of Alan Wilson’s “Going UpThe Country” -- one of my all-time favorite driving songs.
Up next was a forgotten gem from Canned Heat’s Harvey Mandel era. The song “So Sad (The World’s in a Tangle) appeared on the 1970 album Future Blues. This progressive rocker’s environmental message is still relevant.
The band again returned to their 2024 LP Finyl Vinyl with “East/West Boogie,” a highly creative instrumental that invoked visions of belly dancers, snake charmers and Moroccan fez hats.
L to R: Rick Reed, Jimmy Vivino, Dale Spalding, Fito de la Parra
Canned Heat ended its regular set with the hit single “Let’s Work Together,” originally penned in 1962 by Wilbert Harrison. By now, most of us were free form dancing and singing along…realizing this was likely the last time we’d see Fito and the boys making a Canned Heat record of performing as Canned Heat onstage.
Bernard Allison with Canned Heat
Canned Heat was then joined by Chicago native Bernard Allison for three additional songs. As the son of the multiple awards winning blues great Luther Allison, Ruf Records had literally come full circle.
Like his late father, Bernard is a virtuoso blues guitarist with a soulful voice and formidable songwriting skills evidenced by his 2024 Ruf Records album, Luther’s Blues, dedicated to his late father. With commendable backing from Canned Heat, Allison unleased an arsenal of wicked blues chops that turned St. Charles into a South Side Chicago blues bar. His growling vocals reminded me of the legendary blues harpist Junior Wells.
Dale Spalding then asked, “Anyone feel like more boogie?” With Benard Allison still onstage, the quintet “went for broke” with the Canned Heat classic “Fried Hockey Boogie.” I kept waiting for co-founding vocalist Bob “The Bear” Hite to appear with original guitarist Henry “The Sunflower” Vestine and hear Hite saying, “Go ahead, buzz for me Henry.” Vestine was known for his fuzztone attack.
Nearing the end of the jam, Vivino and Spalding whimsically sang the words “Got to say bye bye” two three or four times before walking to center stage and taking their well-earned bows.
Samantha Fish
As he often does, Ron Onesti took the stage to banter with patrons and express gratitude for the work done by various professions. And then it was time for the headliner.
Samantha Fish is a genre-bending musician. Although she is known for her fretwork, Fish knows how to write a song and deliver a story as authentically and passionately as anyone in the business. The Kansas City native has opened for the Rolling Stones, toured with Slash and Experience Hendrix, and was requested by Eric Clapton to appear at his 2023 Crossroads Festival. She’s gone from local saloons in her home town to world stages.
Seven of Samantha Fish’s ten song set (excluding songs with Mitch Ryder and Ghalia Volt) were drawn from her career building period with Ruf Records. Three were pulled from her more recent projects on Rounder Records.
Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady” roared from the house sound system as Samantha and her band took the stage. With her workhorse guitar - - an arctic white Gibson SG -- slung from her frame, Fish shouted out: “Are you ready to rock?” Cliché? Not when it’s coming from a woman who in her teens, cold called local bars for gigs. Not cliché when it’s coming from a woman who her loves her saloons, smoked ribs with dry rub, New Orleans and Kansas City sports teams.
Picking up on Aretha’s “Rock Steady” groove, Samantha and her crack band segued into the title track from her 2015 album Wild Heart. Backed by drums (wild man Jamie Douglass), bass and backing vocals (Ron Johnson) and keyboards (Michael “Mickey” Finn), Fish wasted no time unleashing a blitzkrieg guitar assault and soul shaking vocals.
Fish followed with “Better Be Lonely” from the album Faster (if you don’t have it, check out the album cover). The chorus for this song contained recognizable fragments of “Everybody Wants You” by 1980s arena rocker Billy Squier. Remember him?
After just two songs, the venue’s energy level was approaching earth’s thermosphere. Time for a slow bluesy love song Samantha Fish style. With a new axe in her clutches (a surf green, Fender Jaguar Vintera) the singer ventured into steamy Etta James, Dinah Washington and Peggy Lee territory for the title track of her 2017 album Chills and Fever.
“When you hold my hand, tell me that you're my loving man.
Kiss me and squeeze me tight, tell me baby, wanna love all night?
Like Ghalia Volt before her, Fish asked the multitudes to sing along on the chorus “chills and fever.” After blowing the roof of the Arcada, Samantha expected us to reciprocate. After a meager attempt, she implored, “You can do better than that!” The audience obeyed.
Fish kept the lover/passion/heartbreak theme going with “Never Gonna Cry.” Kudos to Michael “Mickey” Finn whose keyboards gave this song a lovely 1960s soul/pop vibe that reminded me of the Buckinghams.
There’s a strength in Samantha’s songs and stage presence. And unlike 1960s pop-party songstress Leslie Gore (“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to”), Fish won’t give her man the satisfaction:
“I'm never gonna cry over him. And I…I'm never gonna wait, wait for loving.
'Cause I made up my mind, I'm never gonna cry. Oh, no.”
Her next song was a slow blues that did not adhere to traditional blues motifs. “Don’t Say That You Love Me” overflowed with sadness and emotion as her soulful, spine-tingling vocals beseeched and pleaded while her cherry red Gibson Firebird shivered and quivered with tremolo.
“Just don't say that you love me, Don't say that you love me, no. I said, Lord, ho, oh, no, no.
Call off the choir, I'm playin' with fire. don’t say that you love me, oh, baby, baby, babe.
Samantha Fish with Mitch Ryder
Following three gut-wrenching songs, Samantha remarked, “Make some noise for Mitch Ryder! It was time for some frat party music with one of the most soulful and distinctive voices to come out of the 1960s Detroit music scene (Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels). And after five decades, Ryder proved he still can deliver vocally but with one caveat: “Don’t expect me to do my dance routine.”
Mitch is understandably more stationary these days.
The headliner and her band backed Ryder for two songs, both from his 2024 Ruf Records album This Roof’s on Fire. During the performances of “Tough Kid” and “From a Buick 6,” Fish grinned like a Cheshire Cat and kicked her guitar playing into overdrive…inspired by the musician performing beside her.
Before the Hamtramck, MI native departed the stage, he told the audience, “As a kid, I dreamed I’d be doing this someday. Don’t be afraid to dream.” Embracing the moment, Fish expressed her gratitude for all the support and creative freedom Ruf Records provided when she was signed at age 20…and for getting her to this point in her career. It’s the old adage, “remember where whence you came.”
Her set continued with “Either Way I Lose,” a ballad covered in 1964 by another one of her inspirations, Nina Simone. Then to everyone’s delight, the guitarist strapped on her four stringed Stogie Cigar Box Guitar for the song “Bulletproof.”
There’s always a bit of alchemy in her guitar playing. She attacked her instrument with wild abandon and entered a hypnotic state on “Either Way I Lose.” When Fish is “in the zone,” every part of her is involved with her music. She shakes her head and flips her short curly blond hair. She closes her eyes, grimaces, and raises her free hand – palms forward – to express genuine emotion.
Displaying her sense of humor, Fish remarked, “I love coming here to Chicago…we can call this place Chicago even though we are in St. Charles, can’t we?” She reminded concertgoers that visitors to her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri get the town confused with the Kansas City west of the Missouri River.
For me, the band’s tour de force performance was “Somebody’s Always Tryin’” from the album Chills and Fever. This song was packed with musical dynamics. Blues, jazz, cabaret, hard rock and rockabilly were all visited within this composition.
Fish sings as if she’s been teleported from a bygone era. Her vocal inflections and intonations make her a compelling vocalist. She’s more distinctive than most mega pop or mega country stars performing today.
Samantha knows her way around the guitar whether it’s the single note simplicity of a B.B. King blues riff or the complex, soaring atmospherics of Jimi Hendrix. She’s a badass slide guitarist and appears at ease alternating between rhythm chords and riffing. Her storytelling and songwriter skills are steeped in the tradition of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits.
Fish closed out her set with “Dreamgirls” (album Kill or Be Kind) and “Black Wind Howlin’” (album Black Wind Howlin’). “Dreamgirls” was a soulful jazz-blues fusion tune that sounded like a tune the second Jeff Beck Group might have considered. “Black Wind Howlin” was a pile driving blues rock jam that sounded like Jimi Hendrix jamming with Led Zeppelin. And hovering above the instrumental pandemonium were Fish’s sultry soprano vocals.
Encore
What could be better than Samantha Fish and her band? How about Fish, her band and Ghalia Volt! The ladies paid musical tribute to their love of North Mississippi Hill country music and the North Mississippi Allstars with “Goin’ Down South.” They took us along for a joy ride.
Following the show, I walked up to photographer Jim Summaria. We are rarely at a loss for words, but this time we were both speechless. We looked at each other and the only word we could articulate – and in unison – was WOW!
Jim Summaria began professionally photographing rock concerts in 1973 at the age of 19 when he became the staff photographer for the Chicago rock concert promoter Flip Side Productions. Jim's photos have been published in numerous books, magazines and CDs. His rock ‘n’ roll photos have been viewed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum and Hall of Fame on Rt.66 and the Grammy Awards. Jim and writer Mark Plotnick co-authored the books Classic Rock: Photographs From Yesterday & Today and the October 2024 release ‘70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts, available on Amazon.
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