A Blues Christmas

A Blues Christmas with Rick Fines

By Jay Cooper Contributor / Musican

Rick Fines

Rick Fines was born and raised in Peterborough, to parents that loved music but were not musicians. The jazz of Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and soul music by Ray Charles could always be heard being played in the house. So why does he still love the Kawarthas so much to this day?

‘Peterborough is the perfect place for me to settle. I moved to Toronto three times, people always told me to make it in music you have to be in the city (he laughs). I loved it there but man, I couldn’t make a living in music. I always left the city to make money so I could go back and pay my overpriced rent. The last time I moved back to Peterborough, I met an old friend and married her and she had no intention of leaving. I love it because in ten minutes I’m out in nature from the downtown core. The Kawarthas is as good as it gets and we’re lucky. We are the hub of the wheel here to go to Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa or head north,’ he says.

He continued, ‘I’m the second youngest of five kids and my two older brothers (5 & 6 years older than Rick) both played guitar. I would hear music from their room. Reverend Ken/Washboard Hank would come over and hang out with my brothers. I would lean up against the door and listen to them playing. More times than not I would fall asleep, they would open the door and I would fall into the room,’ he laughed.

‘They played old blues, rock and hillbilly music. When I was a teenager, they would take me to these blue grass festivals with their band. I loved the soul music and the R & B. I would hang around the back door when I was underage, at the Trent Inn, to hear Buzz Thompson, Max Mouse and the Gorillas and Bobby Watson. I would step in on the back steps until people would give me a signal that the server was coming and then duck back out,’ he laughed.

‘Then I started playing with high school buddies that were older, already had jobs and had rented a house. In the house, in what would be the dinning room, there was Marshall and Traynor amps and a drum kit. I watched out the window and saw a 1957 canary yellow Bel Air that had been hacked up into a El Camino style ‘57 Chevy. I saw a guy get out with a handle bar mustache and a tweed hat. He pulled out a tweed Fender case and a brown-faced amp and went into his house. He looked to me like Duane Allman. The next day I sat on his step with my Gibson SG and waited for him to show up. He did and I asked him if I could play some music with him (he laughs). So he invited me in and we played music and that was Gary Peeples. We have been playing together for years after that, along with Al Black.’

‘When we all got together and played old blues, it felt like there was no one in the world. We all played rock music, but were looking forwhere it came from, the whole blues revival in Britain, as Al Black was originally from Scotland. We heard what Johnny Winter and Eric Clapton were doing and there was that direct connection from rock music to old blues. The Rolling Stones first album was a direct link to Chuck Berry and the blues. I mean, they took the name from a Muddy Waters tune,’ he says.

Their first album, Delta Sunshine, was released in 1989 and recorded in Memphis at Sun Studios. ‘We were shocked that we got radio play for music that was obscure at the time. We were touring in 1990/91 and people already knew us, because CBC was playing our music. We played with Pinetop Perkins and Colleen Peterson.’ says Rick. This is the 30th Anniversary of Jackson Delta.

Jackson Delta

Rick still has great success with his solo music. ‘‘I’ve been blessed playing with others during my solo career.’ Suzie Vinnick showed up in Ottawa at the Downstairs Club. I went to see the show and I have never had seen a woman play bass so well. She started singing and blew me away. I went over the next day and jammed, got on the phone and booked a gig that day. I’ve been playing with Suzie since 1993 and we’ve played on each others albums.’

He has played internationally and plays in the Canadian Arctic? He laughs, ‘Yes, I will be up there again next April and I’ve been going there for 11 years now. The biggest problem there in the winter with your guitars is the dryness. I check the humidity and it’s like 10% and that’s brutal on your guitar. When you bring your acoustic guitar in from freezing cold, the case sort of keeps the humidity in. Opening it up at low humidity causes problems.’

Rick has recorded an amazing amount of music and still writes and records. Driving Home was a brilliant release with a lot of rock/blues feel to it. ‘Yes, I’m working on my next release right now. Jimmy Bowskill will be playing on it, and Alec Fraser is producing it. I hope it will be out by the end of the year. Driving Home - I agree, and that’s what was in my head. I don’t fit well with the music industry so to speak, (he laughs) I just like music. What I do from one song to the next is always different. I play mostly acoustic and bluesy, but I grew up with the Rolling Stones and Neil Young and I think some ofmyinfluences come out on that album. I put memos in my phone and myphone is always full of ideas so I don’t forget how the melody went,’ he says.

He continues, ‘I still teach. But more as workshops now because the time to prepare with an individual is too much and I would have to charge too much money. I also do workshops in schools for song writing and with a school band with improvisation. Teaching is a great way for me to forget about myself, as guitar and songwriting is pretty self indulgent. It’s a lot of me, me, me, so I find teaching very rewarding.’

What’s Rick’s best gig? He says, ‘Being a Dad. Musically, it’s working with others when everything is firing on all pistons, from Delta to the afore mentioned musicians, and feeling like you’re in another world.’

Webite www.rickfines.ca

Instagram @rickfines

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We reached out to Alec Fraser (Producer and bass player) to comment. ‘Rick Fines is one of the nicest and the most talented guys I’ve ever met and is a very close friend. He’s the first guy to help anyone - just a wonderful human being. Musically, he is a joy to play with. His writing is spectacular, and he’s a very funny guy. I’m currently working with Rick on his next album.’