Father-son duo shares love of the blues in new album

Nearly every seat at a packed Brick Room in downtown Salisbury was occupied while Chris English and his son Grayson tuned their instruments. After a careful discussion with the sound technician, English was ready to perform for an eager crowd.

With a long strand of white hair hanging in front of his face, English, dressed in his black shirt and black jacket, fixed his focus on the fretboard of his resonator guitar while stomping his cowboy boots rhythmically on an old Coca-Cola box.

To satisfy his desire to achieve the most optimum sound quality, English called on the technician to tweak the sound throughout the show.

English, a 64-year-old Salisbury native, thrives in these often-intimate settings, leading him to play basement shows and parties throughout the region. Through his storytelling and passion for the blues, he has established himself as fixture in the local music scene.

The April 22 release of his newest album, "Howlin’ So Long," is a collection of performances from the dimly lit bars and clubs he often finds himself in.

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It all started with his father’s Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar propped on a chair.

“It was exotic and beautiful; it was beckoning me to play it,” said English at the kitchen table of his riverside home off a secluded dirt road in Eden.

After his older brother returned from a trip to Richmond, Virginia, he brought with him new music.

His first lesson in the blues was a song called “The Monkey and the Engineer,” by one-man musician Jesse Fuller.

“The more I got into it, the more I realized that this is the meat and potatoes of American music,” said English.

'My jaw hit the floor'

At age 11, English created the foundation of his eventual 44-year career playing blues music, a career that is now a family undertaking involving his youngest son.

Since that time, he has become a well-respected performer and a scholar of the blues.

His lifelong study of blues music earned him a lecturing position at Salisbury University, teaching a course called "Blues and the Roots of Rock and Roll."

In his class, students learn the origins of blues music dating back to the oral traditions of Africa and onward through the early recordings of the 1920s and 1930s.

Longtime friend and fan Troy Butler of Melfa first encountered English and his music at a 1995 party.

“My jaw hit the floor,” said Butler. “I was very impressed.”

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In the years since, English has schooled Butler in the blues during late night jam sessions around the kitchen table, Butler said.

“Playing around the kitchen table is where the best stuff happens,” English said.

'Here, do something'

For his 30-year-old son, Grayson, a childhood involving him listening to his father's and friends’ late night practices led to eventually performing with his father.

“It was cool, because they practiced late into the night, so I got to stay up later than most kids my age,” said Grayson.

Noticing her son was bored one summer, Helen English, an abstract painter and Chris’ wife of 39 years, advised him to pick up one of the many instruments lying around the house.

“Mom came up to me one summer with a bass and said, ‘Here, do something,'” Grayson said.

“From that minute on he was interested,” Helene said.

English closed the hourlong Brick Room set with an encore of an original song that carried the same intensity as the beginning.

He bellowed a deliberate howl at the end of a verse, as he led the audience to the conclusion of the show.

At the performance's end he shook hands with his admirers, enjoying the acknowledgment of a pleased crowd.

As a man whose calling put him at odds with attaining great wealth, his desire to play small venues like these has motivated him to continue his passion.

“When I look back I don’t want to say I have a lot of money and an empty soul.”