Blues blowin

By Mary Tewksbury

Bay City Times - August 28, 2009, 1:55PM

With more than 30 years of national spotlight talent to showcase, Chicago blues man Vince Agwada says he still sometimes feels like he's just starting out. But he's cool with that.

In fact, his debut solo CD, "Eyes of the City," was released just a year ago and he is currently booking studio time to record his sophomore effort this fall. The vocalist/guitarist has taken the proper strides to be the best musician he can be, while having lent his talent to many other band leaders over the past three decades.

With that in mind, Agwada brings his love of the blues and his veteran talent to the Tawas Blues By the Bay Festival as a headliner at 8 p.m. Friday.

"I'm looking forward to coming up there to Michigan," raved Agwada during a recent interview from his Chicago home. "It's all about bringing people together. That's one of the reasons I love it (music) so much. I've made so many friends and the ability to touch people is an awesome, awesome thing to be blessed with."

Agwada honed his guitar chops over the years side by side with a who's who of Chicago musicians. Larry McCray was the first Michigan artist Agwada toured with.

"I've played with Larry for quite some time, off and on since about 1990 when (McCray's album) 'Ambition' came out," he said. "We're still good friends."

The road to touring with McCray started years prior to 1990 and took Agwada through many musical trials and tribulations.

"The first gig I ever got paid for (was) in 1977," he laughed. "I made 10 bucks. I was floatin' around town. The early '80s is when I actually started. My first recording was with Chicago Beau on (his CD) 'My Ancestors.'"

As Agwada made the rounds of cover bands in the late '70s, he developed a love for different styles of music, from Black Sabbath to Led Zeppelin, from jazz to pop. He grew an appreciation for the particular ways those artists were recorded.

"From the recording or technical perspective, I listen to everything critically. ... Today I was listening to the Jackson 5 stuff and I was really checking out how the Motown (sound was).

"I like bands like The Black Keys, The White Stripes -- probably a lot of bands you wouldn't expect. I still listen to Miles (Davis) and (John) Coltrane, (Jimi) Hendrix, I listen to a lot. For recording techniques, (Led) Zeppelin, Hendrix -- I'm always curious how they recorded it."

But it was his stints jamming along with the likes of Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush and John Primer, among many others at Chicago venues such as Theresa's and the Checkerboard Lounge, that put him on the blue path. Then he scored a stint touring with Son Seals.

"Son really influenced me a lot," the guitarist said. "That was the first band I worked with that was for the road, somewhere around 1983. I rejoined him around 1986. We were still friends up until he died. He was a unique guy.

"The thing I liked about Son was he wrote his own music. He was original and had his own style. It was kind of loosely based on Albert King's style, but he executed everything different so it came off sounding unique. He played with Albert -- he played drums on the 'Live Wire/Blues Power' album. He was a drummer, too! That's why he was so rhythmic. I'm glad I had the opportunity to work with him. He was a big influence."

Agwada was also a college student, learning the tricks of the trade on working to become a guitar amplifier guru. Eventually, his musical rounds led him to stints as a studio engineer/producer.

He eventually found his way back into the studio for himself and onto the road to become his own boss and band leader. "When you ain't got money, you got to just kind of (do what you have to do)," Agwada said. "Getting the first album done was huge. Playing the Chicago Blues Fest as a leader this year was big for me. The Tawas Fest is big for me. It's one of the bigger gigs I'm doing following this album. Although I've been around a long time, I'm still kind of a new act to a lot of people."

One particular performance stands out for Agwada though.

"One of the big highlights in my career was doing the Chicago Blues Festival in 1988 with Koko Taylor, playing 'Wang Dang Doodle' and 'I'd Rather Go Blind' for upwards of 20,000 people in Grant Park. ..."

But it's his look ahead at the production of his new CD that has him inspired at the moment.

"I booked my first studio session for right when I get back from Tawas, the following Tuesday, Sept. 1," he said. "I'm going into a friend of mine's (studio), Island Recorders. I've got my home studio, so I basically only go out of the studio to do drums, really. I do everything else at home. I can work on a guitar part for three months and nobody's going to care.

"There will be some pieces on there that will be more traditional (blues). It's got kind of a funkier, Band of Gypsies meets Sly and the Family Stone kind of vibe on some of the stuff."

As Agwada arrives in Tawas, headlining the day before his old buddy McCray, he said he feels as if he has more to offer than ever and his music is continuing to grow and bring people together.

"I just want to put together a good show that is cohesive (and) has a good flow to it, hit the crowd as hard as we can, hopefully making some friends. Like anybody else I would like to be Michael Jackson -- rich and famous, sell records and all of that. But really and truly, the thing that drives me as an artist is the process of creating.

"To be able to make money at it is like gravy. The meat and potatoes of it is just creating music and really allowing it to come through you. I don't know where it comes from. I feel like I've got a lot of music left to come through me. God gave me the talent and I need to honor it and be productive."