Dr. John still makes his own rules

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      Already prone to throwing out terms like spirit kingdom and the meat world, Dr. John gets particularly deep and mystical when it comes time to discuss Dan Auerbach, who produced his Grammy-winning 2012 comeback triumph Locked Down.

      The genre-mashing voodoo-blues legend born Malcolm John Rebennack, and sometimes known as the Nite Tripper, wasn’t overly interested in Auerbach’s professional achievements with the Black Keys. When you’ve lived the kind of life that Dr. John has been both blessed and cursed to have, Rolling Stone covers, platinum records, and MTV awards don’t really mean a lot.

      With Auerbach, Dr. John was more interested in what was going on inside. Turned on to the Black Keys by his kids, the 72-year-old musical alchemist from New Orleans would, upon meeting the 34-year-old singer-guitarist, realize that he was dealing with a kindred soul.

      “What I liked about Dan was the fact that he was open to all kinds of music,” Dr. John says, on the line from his Los Angeles, California, home and speaking in a voice that sounds like a Cajun version of a ’20s gangster. “Even since he did this thing with me, there’s a kid from Africa [Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar] that he did a record for. And that’s good. I think he’s spiritually correct.”

      He has no problem pinpointing what he liked about working with Auerbach on Locked Down.

      “We did some different kinds of stuff, old-school stuff that I like. We’re putting vocals on tracks and all of that, and I give him two sets of lyrics to pick from. He picked them fast. I like the way that he operates and thinks. He’s on the money, you know? He going to probably be, in future days, one of the best producers that there is. I really believe in this guy.”

      Based on what we hear on Locked Down, the respect between the two artists was completely mutual. Dr. John has never stopped making records since debuting with the trippy psychedelic-blues landmark Gris-Gris back in 1968. Over the course of a career that’s now spanned six decades, the singer-pianist has refused to play by any rules other than his own, blending born-on-the-bayou zydeco with roadhouse R&B, acid-laced rock ’n’ roll, codeine-dosed jazz, and boogie-blasted swamp-country.

      It’s proved a potent mix, one which has made fanboys out of everyone from the Rolling Stones and Little Feat to Spiritualized and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. It’s also blazed a path for those of the opinion that there’s no such thing as being too daring; numbers “Where Ya at Mule” from 1971’s The Sun, Moon & Herbs not only flew the freak flag, but did so unabashedly.

      What Auerbach and Dr. John managed to tap into on Locked Down is the anything-goes majesty of the singer’s early years. At the same time, the disc escapes the lo-fi garage-grime vibe of classic albums like Gris-Gris and Dr. John’s Gumbo, with the songs given a modern sonic punch. All pimp-tastic keyboards and seasick horns, the album’s woozy first single, “Revolution”, is a first-listen wonder that could easily be a Keys B-side. From there, the album is as likely to stick a flag in the atmospheric French Quarter (check out the retro brass in “Big Shot”) as it is to suggest someone’s been studying the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique (the hip-hop-flavoured “Ice Age”). Elsewhere, “Locked Down” starts out sounding like midnight in a New Orleans cemetery before riding an elastic bass line to Funky Town, while “God’s Sure Good” is Muscle Shoals blues with a gospel injection.

      That Locked Down is pulling from all over the musical map only makes sense when you look at where Dr. John has come from: the man hasn’t lacked for life experiences, and he’s soaked up every one of them. Famously, he was trouble when he was younger, running a brothel in New Orleans as a teen, and spending his nights hanging with the junkies, pimps, and gangsters who were part of the Crescent City music scene. When he began honing his craft on the road, things became even more surreal.

      “Those days were pretty crazy,” Dr. John says matter-of-factly. “I worked the chitlin’ circuit, and the chitlin’ circuit was much more dangerous than the bucket-of-blood circuit, which was in Arkansas and Kansas and Missouri. I had a few friends who worked them both. When you survived it, it was great, and that’s all I can say about that. I’ve been shot a few times. I’ve been shanked a few times. It’s life, you know?”

      If that hints at anything, it’s that the singer is a survivor. He’s done jail time, overcome a lengthy heroin addiction, and somehow managed to persevere in an industry where the average career lasts about as long as the average radio-hit single.

      Dr. John’s reputation has in many ways been built on being inarguably out-there, right down to fabled stage shows (think Mardi-gras costumes and voodoo medicine rituals) that were as much about performance art as they were about music. With Locked Down, he’s added to his legacy in the same way Johnny Cash did with his late-career American Recordings triumphs. The result has been some of the best reviews of his career, as well as three 2013 Grammy nominations, including a win for best blues album.

      The album has introduced him to a new generation, one that recognizes him as being every bit as revolutionary as acts like the Gun Club and the White Stripes. Or, if you prefer, the Black Keys, whose Dan Auerbach Dr. John clearly can’t speak highly enough of, to the point where he says he’d love to work with him again.

      “Listen, if we can work that out, that would be perfect for me,” Dr. John says. “I would love it.”

      He pauses, says something that might very well be from a voodoo incantation (“I jus’ can get jon tula tar”), and then follows that up with something that sounds deep, not to mention mystical: “We gotta always do that, because the spirit kingdom doesn’t allow the meat world to just plop anywhere. And that’s good.”

      But nowhere near as good, it might be argued, as Locked Down.

      Comments

      2 Comments

      A. MacInnis

      Jun 14, 2013 at 8:06am

      Was privileged to catch Dr. John touring Locked Down in Victoria a year or so ago. He was in fine form, has a very tight band, and not only did the new material sound great, they did amazing, Afrobeat-inflected versions of all his classics ("Right Place Wrong Time," "I Walk on Gilded Splinters"). Weirdly, it was at the Alix Goolden hall, a former church where dancing is actually *discouraged* - not that the largely senior crowd was looking to get down ANYHOW - so I felt like a freak leaping up to dance in the aisles a couple times (which is not normal behaviour for me, but I couldn't help it). That shouldn't be a problem at the Vogue, tho, eh?

      Alan Layton

      Jun 28, 2013 at 9:25am

      Dr. John is great. I had never heard of him but my friend insisted and
      so we went despite me not "digging" the jazz or blues or other music like that. Still, I was surprised. Not too bad! He can really play piano.
      Where did he find the time to get his medical degree? - he must have had to practise a lot. He seems so "into" the music or he might be drunk, does he shake his head that way in his medical practise? As a patient I might not like
      that.