Print
Chicago blues! No two words so powerfully summon to mind the vivid imagery of smoky bars brought to life by the rowdy rhythms and grainy ensemble sound of storied performers like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Not since the days of Mike Bloomfield has a young white guitarist/vocalist/songwriter like Nick Moss emerged on the scene who embodies both the spirit and impeachable pedigree of that legendary Windy City era.
“That’s the thing about Chicago blues that I think is unique,” relates Moss. “It isn’t an intricate music in theory, but as far as executing it, it is.” Explaining the elaborate interplay among musicians at its core, he adds. ”Its not five instruments on stage. You’ve got to think of it as one sound and you’ve got to make that sound flow. It’s so beautiful when it’s done right.”
Moss was born in 1969 in Elgin, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. As a kid, he emulated his older brother Joe picking up the bass guitar to be a part of his band. Confined to hospital for six months with a genetic kidney illness in high school, Moss seized the opportunity to hone his skills on the instrument.
Soon, he was making the rounds, jamming in Chicago clubs, watching and learning the ropes from the masters. “I didn’t go to a conventional college,” says Moss of his hands-on education. “But I’ll tell you what: the college I went to, the professors didn’t teach from the books – they wrote the books.” At twenty, he was on the road with Jimmy “Fast Fingers” Dawkins. Four years of playing bass in the Legendary Blues Band with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith was followed by a three year stint on guitar with Jimmy Rogers. (Both Smith and Rogers were sidemen with Muddy Waters.)
In 1998, Moss struck out with the Flip Tops his game plan built on the dual platforms of respect for tradition and well-penned originality. “I’m trying to find that fine line of not compromising the integrity of that classic music,” he says, “and yet still make it a little fresher-sounding where I can get across to the element of the crowd that isn’t hard-core.”
Conceived with love from the heart and delivered with passion straight from the hip, the Flip Tops’ consistently top-drawer, eight-CD output has fans and critics flipping from North America and Europe to Japan and Australia. Over a relatively short time span, Moss and company have racked up an impressive sixteen Blues Music Award nominations including a remarkable four consecutive ones for Blues Band of the Year. Their 2007 CD, Play It ‘Til Tomorrow, placed #16 on Blues Revue’s list of twenty five great albums that defined the past ten years. A tantalizing amalgam of sweaty party mojo and dance-floor-filling zeal Moss’s latest studio outing, Privileged, is another heavy weight contender.
Incisive, splendidly embellished guitar work, juicy harmonica, two-fisted 88s, thumping bass and shuffling back beats, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops are an oasis for fans thirsting for a long cool drink of real deal Chicago blues! www.nickmoss.com
Ken Wright
