THE Texas/Oklahoma region is among the most musically diverse in the United States. It’s where singer/guitarist Burt Herrin learned the blues, country, jazz and reggae.
Herrin, 62, has long wanted to make a blues/reggae record. Late last year, he finally got the chance to blend the two sounds when he and several Jamaican musicians assembled at the Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston for sessions that resulted in the album, Lightning Bolt.
The 13-piece set was released in the United States in July, but Herrin plans to have a Jamaican launch in Kingston next month.
“I discovered reggae in the early ’70s. I could feel the beat, very similar to blues, full of passion,” he said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. “I love the music but it’s hard to play reggae without Jamaican musicians.”
The Jamaican musicians (known as the Global Warming Jamaican Band) Herrin assembled for the Tuff Gong sessions have played on countless reggae hits. They include saxophonist Dean Fraser, percussionist Bongo Herman, drummer Kirk Bennett, bass players Aston ‘F“The songs were written and inspired by the people that I worked with and met during my visit in October (2013). I wanted to create a new sound that everyone from all walks of life would enjoy and the songs just poured out of me,” Herrin said.
Some of those ‘inspired’ tracks include Humming Bird, The White Jamaican, Suburbs of Kingston and Sittin’ in Montego Bay. The latter is a reggae spin on soul singer Otis Redding’s classic Sitting on The Dock of the Bay.
Burt Herrin earned his musical chops working the Texas blues scene that has produced a number of outstanding musicians such as the Vaughn brothers, Stevie Ray and Jimmie (he covers Jimmie’s Flamingo Dancer on Lightning Bolt). But growing up in the town of Fletcher, Oklahoma, in the early 1970s, he first heard the sounds of Bob Marley and the Wailers.
While his biggest influences were blues guitarists Albert King, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, Herrin said Marley’s music made an enduring impression on him.
“He’s one of my favourite people of all time. He cared more about his people than he did about fame,” said Herrin.