INTERVIEW: Mr. Downchild Answers Three Questions Ahead of Edmonton Show
Donnie Walsh, founder of the Downchild Blues Band in 1969, doesn’t do many interviews anymore, but agreed to answer some email questions in advance of the band’s appearance at the Edmonton Blues Festival in Hawrelak Park on Friday, Aug. 19, part of The Longest 50th Anniversary Tour Ever.
Q: I interviewed you at least once when I was the music critic at The Edmonton Sun, but I can’t dig up the story. I remember you talking about how “Canadian blues” has a sound of its own. Do you still think so? Can you elaborate on what that means? How does the current Downchild Blues Band carry that on?
A: I think Canadian blues still has its own sound. It may be different from the sound of the early days as it evolves, and there are now bands, still Canadian, but from different backgrounds and cultures. There are, for example, Indigenous blues bands and their sound comes from their unique life experiences as well as from music they have listened to over the years. As for Downchild’s sound, I have always played what I love and feel, and have been fortunate over the last 50 plus years to have surrounded myself with great players who “get it.”
Q: The year was 1980 or so and I was working by myself in Regina, SK, went out one night, wandered into some barn with straw covering the floor – and heard a glorious sound: The Downchild Blues Band, you blowing your brains out on harp, and the late Jane Vasey amazing on piano. It was the finest music I’d ever heard, a religious experience, if you will (you know, like The Blues Brothers). The event put me on a path: Became a blues musician, stint with the late Harpdog Brown, yada yada yada, then onto the dark side: Music journalism. Have you had other people come to you with similar stories? How do you feel about having inspired so many young Canadian musicians?
A: I don’t believe I’ve had many fans who have had a “religious experience” at a Downchild concert, but have had and still continue to have people approach me after a show and admit they’d never heard anything like it, and would like to hear more and/or learn about the music. Who’s to know if some of those fans went on to pursue a career or life in the music industry? Influencing young musicians is not something I intentionally started out to do, but it’s pretty amazing to know that has happened over the years. Actually rewarding as well as amazing.
Q: Do you think The Blues Brothers would’ve been the same without your influence?
A: John Belushi was big into the Chicago blues scene back in those days. I think he and Dan Aykroyd would have come up with SOMETHING musically. However, I don’t believe it would have been “The Blues Brothers” without them having seen Hock [his brother] and I performing together in Downchild. And of course they liked our music enough that they recorded two of our original songs on their first album. Over the years, I have got the call: “We’re playing in your area. Come and do a few tunes with us.” Always good fun.
