Janiva, Diffie & Tippin and theatrical Kung Fu

by Chris Aaland

Sometimes in the process of interviewing musicians, writers fall into the rut of asking a series of mundane, obvious questions: How did you begin? What are your influences? How did you come about recording so-and-so’s song on the new album? How did the Durango audience treat you last time you were here?

These interviews turn into trivial interactions with performers who are bored with stock questions and reporters who are just mailing it in to meet their word count or, worse, earn a paycheck. I’ve been guilty of it, even though I try to research the artists in advance and formulate at least a question or two worthy of a legitimate response.

Every once in awhile you’re blessed with a real conversation with a real person who has something to say. Blues singer Janiva Magness proved to be the deviation from the norm. Her back-story is among the most tragic I’ve ever heard. Both of her parents committed suicide before she was 16. She bounced in and out of homelessness and foster homes in Detroit, giving up a child for adoption as a teen-ager. After an awkward beginning — I totally forgot about our pre-scheduled interview and had to talk with her a day later as she battled a cold at home in Los Angeles — we had one of the most personal and emotional conversations I’ve ever had with a total stranger.

If you haven’t heard of Magness, you need to. She has released a string of 10 award-winning and critically acclaimed blues and R&B-tinged albums during the past decade. She won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award in 2009, becoming just the second woman ever to receive blues music’s highest honor (the late, great Koko Taylor was the other). And her latest Alligator release, “Stronger for It,” will firmly land in my Top 10 albums of 2012, chock full of the introspective originals of a woman who has triumphed in the face of tragedy and earnest reworkings of songs by the likes of Ray Wylie Hubbard, Buddy & Julie Miller, Tom Waits and Grace Potter. She even recorded a standout track — “The Devil is an Angel Too” — on last year’s KSUT Roots & Rhythms Vol. 5.

Magness returns to the Abbey Theatre at 7 p.m. Sunday, sharing a bill with Hello Doll Face and Caitlin Cannon & the Artillery. Her last appearance in Durango netted about 15 paying customers. The ones I talked to said she delivered a performance nothing short of brilliant.

“The job is about connection,” said Magness. “It’s about human connection. The gift is the music. We can come to find our greatest tragedy can become our greatest asset. It certainly has formed my music. That’s one of the things I love about blues and rhythm & blues and soul music … It ain’t about posturing or posing or faking some sort of other kind of experience, it’s about true human experience. It’s the music about the working class American and it always has been.”

Magness puts her money where her mouth is. For six years, she’s been a spokeswoman for Casey Family Program’s National Foster Care Month and is an ambassador for Foster Care Alumni of America.

“It’s a cause we need to celebrate all year long because somebody stood up for me when I couldn’t stand up for myself,” she said. “I cannot stress this term literally and loudly enough: It’s seconds and inches for youth at risk. You don’t really know when the smallest act of human kindness is going to change their entire life.”

She went on to relate her own experience. “Those people who loved me when I could not love myself, I owe them the debt that cannot be repaid,” she said.
And there’s Magness’ music — forged in the middle ground shared by blues greats like Otis Rush, Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins, and R&B legends like Etta James, Aretha Franklin and James Brown.

“The music has connected me in a way that I otherwise would not have known,” Magness said. “I was pretty un-tethered as a child, which is not unusual for foster youth. With music, I cut through that like a saber. It’s lifted me up and carried me through so much of life — the good, the bad, the ugly, the glorious.”
Top 40 country comes to the Community Concert Hall in the form of Joe Diffie and Aaron Tippin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Only don’t expect the boot-scootin’ boogie of their polished bands. This time, the two will share their stories and songs during a special acoustic evening. Diffie, who first topped the charts in 1990 with his “Home” album, has delivered 12 No. 1 hits during his career, including “John Deere Green” and “Third Rock from the Sun.” Tippin’s 20-plus-year career has yielded 30 charting hits, including “You’ve Got to Stand for Something.”

The Concert Hall gets into the theatrical Kung Fu mode — yes, you read that right — at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when it welcomes the Shaolin Warriors: Voices of the Masters. Known throughout the world for disciplined spiritualism and martial arts prowess, this troupe is said to combine the agility and grace of gymnastics with the showmanship of Cirque du Soleil.

Elsewhere: The Porchlights bring indie Americana to tonight’s Ska-B-Q from 5-7 p.m.; Pete Giuliani plays a solo acoustic date at Vallecito’s Schank House from 6-10 p.m. Saturday; and Moe’s madness is highlighted by music and dancing to DJ Niko and friends from 9 ‘til close Saturday.
This week’s Top Shelf list shares four of Janiva Magness’ biggest supporters:
- Mavis Staples – refers to Magness as “Sista Janiva”
- Bettye LaVette – calls Magness “the real deal”
- Delbert McClinton – “She will not be denied”
- Charlie Musselwhite – “She hits every note just right”

I’ll just keep pretending and whistlin’ in the dark? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.