JD Hobson: Press

Acoustic blues continues to thrive. There are a few good examples of this right here in the Puget Sound area. Hobson is one of these. His voice is a bit like Bob Dylan though geared a little higher. His choice of material includes tunes by Skip James, John Hurt and Son House, as well as traditional numbers. He also writes a bit and does so quite well. The title tune is one of his and it's a good one. Another one of his is "Bury Me Standing," which is played with an abrasive slide. He also does well on "Hard Times," a tune attributed to Steven Foster. JD is still a young guy so we can look forward to having him around for a good long while..... and that's a good thing.

Our 2010 IBC Representatives:
An Inside Look
J. Henderson
This article is the first in a series about the musicians
the South Sound Blues Association will be sending to
Memphis to represent us at the International Blues Challenge.
As so clearly exemplified at our recent fundraiser at The
Swiss on August 30th, our members take the Challenge very
seriously, willing to commit their support with time, funds,
and lots of encouragement. These musicians are OUR
musicians, so it’s kind of neat to get to know them beyond
what we see on the stage. With that in mind, I chose to interview JD Hobson first, because he was a complete stranger to me when I first saw
him perform at the competition.
My first impression - this young man knows the blues!
His vocal style is smooth, sweet and genuine, and he has
managed to find his own emotion within some very fine old
blues standards. His finger-pickin’ on the guitar is clean and
precise, a testimony to his respect for the blues legends he has
studied.
JD was born and raised in the central district of Seattle,
the oldest of three kids. He credits his dad with introducing
him to the blues. As JD tells it, his father grew up listening to
Southern blues and later became a music critic for a small
independent newspaper, interviewing people like Howling
Wolf, Buddy Guy, Luther Allison, etc. His dad listened to
every blues radio program in the Seattle area, so JD became
exposed to blues virtually every night growing up.
JD began taking guitar lessons “sporadically” at twelve,
then as a teenager became interested in local Seattle rock and
roll bands. “Eventually, I discovered that some of their solo
projects often bordered on blues. The blues began to become
cool to me at that point.” His attention was drawn to solo
projects by Mark Lanegan, front man for the Screaming Trees
and Andre Wood from Mother Love Bone. One notable song that Mark Lanegan performed with Kurt Cobain was Lead
Belly’s, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night,” back in 1989.
JD attended Fairhaven at Western Washington
University, graduating with a BA in Cultural Anthropology.
JD explains, “I stayed with Navajo people living traditionally
off and on between 1992 and 1998. I was introduced to them
through a school-sponsored trip to the Southwest, and my
stays with them inspired my decision to get a cultural
Anthropology degree.”
“Staying down there and living in that way was very
inspirational to my song writing. It was part of a spiritual
growth process for me, and it fueled my desire to make music
my vocation.” JD’s website reflects the impact his time in the
desert had on him, and his original songs are often based on
the experiences he had there.
JD had a band while he was in college, performing in
Bellingham in places like the Viking Union, Casa Que Pasa,
and the Fairhaven Auditorium but, he says, “The band politics
sort of got me down.” He later formed an acoustic duo with
one of his former bandmates.
In 2001, JD was performing roots music, including a
couple of Son House songs. His dad suggested he go to the Port
Townsend Country Blues Festival, where he took classes from a
number of the great living country blues masters like Honey
Boy Edwards and John Cephas. JD returned to Centrum a few
times, each time adding to his repertoire of blues songs and
styles, including those of Skip James, Charlie Patton and Blind
Lemon Jefferson. He explains: “Over the past decade, I’ve
developed a passion for old style pre-war country and delta
blues. I get really excited about discovering new styles from all
the various performers of that era and bringing those influences
into my own music.”
JD also brings some seldom-seen traditional instruments
into his music. I had to ask him about the Porch Board Bass he
uses in his shows. He told me “ It adds a low frequency thump,
similar to that of a kick drum. I first heard a guy named Scott H.
Biram from Austin, Texas play one. He used to play a lot of
solo blues material. It is not only useful as a rhythm section
behind your vocals and guitar, but it also allows me to add
additional rhythmic material to the songs, and shift between
rhythms making them ‘polyrhythmic’.”
JD is looking forward to competing in Memphis. He
says “ It’s going to be fun to leave it all out there, and then see
what those judges think. I appreciate such an incredible
opportunity, and I’m very grateful to the SSBA for sending me
there. People have been telling me that my music will go over
well at the IBC. The music from Memphis has always gone
over well with me, so we’ll see.”