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Nothin’ but the blues
By Corey Stulce
The Telegraph
September 25, 2003
To sing the blues, you have to live the blues.
Local musician Les Reader never considered singing about his troubles before -- he was more concerned with releasing his demons through a healthy dose of rock 'n' roll.
The Vietnam vet has released four rock albums with his band the Mind Gangsters starting in the late '90s, despite the fact that for much of the time, Reader was struggling with his health - his lung capacity down to less than 20 percent at one stage.
But after a transplant, Reader was feeling healthier and set his sights on packaging his first four albums into two -- putting songwriting on the back burner.
"I just happened to write a blues song," he said. "Everybody kept coming over and saying, 'Jesus, maybe you missed your calling.'"
Reader wasn't looking for a new project, but when he took the song to his friend Johnnie Johnson in St. Louis, he became convinced to start writing a full blues album.
"After that, the songs started coming easy," Reader said.
Piano legend Johnson, who waws inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a couple years back, had previously contributed a track to Readers's last album, and has already lent his unique stylings to Reader's blues tune "Blues Men".
"I think he's a good songwriter," Johnson said. "He had some health problems for a while, but it's coming back his way now and I think it will be all right."
Reader is hoping to get another St. Louis blues legend, Gus Thornton, to lay down a track for "Blues Men", though Thornton has been dealing with his own health problems as of late. Reader said Thornton was impressed with the unique style in which he approached the blues.
"He told me, 'You throw your own stuff in there, and that's what makes it different. You got the blues down,'" Reader said.
Reader's musical travels have given him many interesting opportunities over the years - at one point, he was crashing at Beach Boy Brian Wilson's place and the two collaborated on a song - but he is hoping his foray into the blues will offer him a break to reach audiences outside the River Bend area.
"Lindsey Buckingham (of Fleetwood Mac fame) got a hold of two of the tracks, 'The Game' and 'I Got the Blues,' and he loved both songs," Reader said. "He told me, 'I'm gonna do both these songs.'"
Reader is in the process of mixing the blues CD, and hopes it will be available by the end of October and the beginning of November. A CD release party and some live dates are on the horizon. Johnson has his own album coming out soon with a bunch of "heavy hitters," like Bonnie Raitt. Bruce Hornsby and Johhny Rivers making appearances.
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