There is still a light on at a farm in a small Drenthe hamlet. While the chilly winter wind blows through the tops of the old oak trees, music sounds from the share. Music that cuts straight through your soul: the blues.
Erwin Java makes his guitar howl and Sean Webster sings like his life depends on it. That evening, the two musicians and their band will play songs from the album that will be released on January 14 in café De Amer in Amen. Live for the first time. “We have never played this on stage before. Fortunately, this program is called Jamming” Java jokes. “Oh well, it will happen always quite well.”
Jamming comes today with a special broadcast from De Amer. In this episode you can see the full performance of Java and Webster. A performance in which the blues takes center stage. “The blues runs deep in your body,” says English Sean Webster. But make no mistake, the music is not just for when you’re feeling down. “The blues can also just be a celebration.”
The two men have had the blues running through their veins all their lives. Erwin Java came into contact with it as a child. “I had many older brothers,” recalls the native of Assen and former guitarist of Cuby + Blizzards. “They used to have LPs from the American Folk Blues Festival. These were black American blues musicians who visited Europe. Records were released at the end of the 50s and early 60s. They were the same musicians who influenced The Rolling Stones, but also Harry Muskee.”
Java picked up the guitar at the age of 13 and soon played in the school band. “Boys in my class listened to Genesis and Pink Floyd and wondered why I played the way I did. Well, I played my brothers’ blues records.” But father and mother Java also shaped him musically. “They also listened to rock ‘n’ roll, like Little Richard and Chuck Berry.”