As Mighty Sam McClain is fond of pointing out, "If you think Jesus didn't have the blues, let somebody nail you to a piece of wood. Then you'll have the blues." He made that insightful assertion and many others like it during his two sets at the House of Blues in Cambridge, Massachusetts, inaugurating August, 1998. It's the kind of statement that pours out of McClain's varied experience both as a God-loving Christian and as a down an' dirty soul singer. At fifty-five years of age, he is at the height of his career (so far), touring the U.S., Europe and Japan in support of his latest and greatest album, Journey, and making bold proclamations about faith and love in the real Mighty Man Himself, Jesus Christ. True afficionados of soul and blues have known something that most fans of CCM have thus far sadly ignored or neglected: Mighty Sam McClain is a musical tour-de-force to be reckoned with. A heavenly hurricane of hope. A dynamo of dire straights and the dedication to make it through, come hell or high water. He is a steam engine bound for glory, and it's nigh time y'all got on board.
Mighty Sam McClain, the deep-soul vocalist, has the uncanny gift of expressing true emotional magnitude. Whether he is singing about his earthly love for his wife or his heavenly devotion for his Creator, McClain has a way of putting the heart of the matter in your lap. It is his greatest strength: the ability to tell a tale in such a way that you feel like you must be a part--you've gotta. McClain also has a mighty, mighty band. This fact proved itself Saturday night at the House of Blues when his talented posse played two instrumentals, one to open each set. The rhythm section was stellar. Kevin Belz greeted us with funky, soulful blues-guitar playing; George Papageorge threw everything he had into a Hammond B-3; Tim Ingles laid down throbbing bass, and Jim Arnold kept them all in time thrashing at the drum kit. The horn section, comprised of Walter Platt on trumpet, Chuck Langford on saxaphone, and Kenny Wenczel on trombone, heralded the event with heavy horns of plenty. Most of these guys have been playing with McClain for years, and their gifted musicianship is evident in their tight, focused, spell-binding arrangements. They are no mere back-up band; they are instrumental to McClain's brash and varied sound (shameless pun intended).
After his band warmed up the audience with an inspiring bit of blues and hot jazz, Mighty Sam McClain himself took the stage in a manner worthy of his station. Then things really got smoking as he began to share his autobiographical accounts of life, humanity and gratitude to God. It was a musical event marked by a remarkable thematic unity and powerful proclamations for the need for prayer, reconciliation and transformation through soul-saving grace. McClain's story enfolded for an audience held in suspense to the glorious end revealing a man concerned deeply with love, peace and realized second chances. His pulpit is the blues; his message is the blues; and he preaches it with every bit of muscle and power his God-given talents can muster.
There wasn't a weak moment in the whole set list, but a few real highlights included, "Thank You," a happy R&B-tinged celebration of gratitude to God for his grace; "Pray," a powerful admonishment for the audience to do the same; "Prove It to Me," a dazzling display of funky blues celebrating love; "New Man in Town," a rockin' number about the Big JC, and "Mr. So and So," which finds McClain and company paying homage to a local friend and skirting successfully close to an all-out pop song. Not only that, but McClain's dead-on interpretation of "A Change is Gonna Come" is so honestly good that it seems as if Sam Cooke wrote the song for McClain in the first place. Additionally, their collective rendition of "Long Train Runnin'" popularized by the Doobie Brothers had the masses cutting rug, belting along and listening to McClain's plaintive urge to look full in the face of Father God as the ultimate source of love. The most powerful song of the evening, however, was arguably "Hangin' On the Cross," where McClain likened his worldly woes to Jesus's suffering and found a companion in God who understands our troubles only too well.
The second set could've been a bit longer. If more of the audience had been more receptive, (there were some "distractors" bent on stealing focus) and if the band didn't have to leave for a long journey to a Pennsylvania blues festival, they probably would've played longer. For my money, I'd love to see "Other Side of the Tracks," "I'm Yours," and "Somebody Help Me," a trio of memorable songs from his latest album, Journey, added to the line-up. Regardless, new and old fans alike were treated to an event--a musical snapshot of a worthy journey through the blues and into the soul of a man with a predilection for lifting up the Lord.
Mighty Sam McClain and company play uncommonly good soul music that
is not commonly heard these days, especially by Christian audiences.
McClain's combination of blues music, soul sensibility and gospel messages
is a rare commodity, and an aboveboard and appropriate one. Larry
Howard and Glenn Kaiser are among the few keeping the blues lit for Christians,
while Mighty Sam McClain has been taking his torch to largely European
audiences falling in love with the blues. I, for one, think it's
time we kept this talent state-side for awhile to let his powerful messages
of reconciliation and resurrection affect our national consciousness.
He is CCM's best kept secret. By his own admission, he's not perfect.
Yet his humility and heaven-bent desire to serve our God to the best of
his talent resounds with great honesty. If you get a chance to see Mighty
Sam McClain play in a bar
or club or festival near you, be sure and take a friend. It
will be a great way not only to enjoy some down-home blues music that will
knock your windsock westward, but a worthy introduction to the gospel relayed
in full blues-fashion besides.
For more information about Mighty Sam McClain, visit my review of his latest album, Journey, at (http://www.tollbooth.org/reviews/msm.html ), and look for my review of his live in Europe release, Joy and Pain, sometime soon.
Approximate set list:
Kenny's Tune (Instrumental)
Gone for Good
Sledgehammer Soul & The Down Home Blues
I'm a Man
Thank You
No More Tears
Pray
Hangin' on the Cross
The Blues is Alright
Instrumental Introduction #2
Where You Been So Long
Mr. So & So
New Man in Town
A Change is Gonna Come
Prove It to Me
Long Train Running
By Steven Stuart Baldwin
