Songs In The Key Of… Harmonica

Shawn Hall AKA The Harpoonist on the harmonica: “I have dedicated my live life to transforming this instrument into a synth of the people.” Photo: Ali Rashedi on Unsplash

Featuring greats like Junior Wells and Sonny Terry, acclaimed harp player Shawn Hall, AKA The Harpoonist, picks his essential dozen

When I was 14 years old, my Grandma gave me a harp and cassette for the musically hopeless for Christmas. I had been playing the cello for three years and was drawn to the seedy underbelly of venues that the harp presented itself versus the cello. Long story short, I kept playing the cello till I was 19 and found myself in and out of booze cans and speakeasies since 1993…

In some miraculous and devious way, I’ve managed to carve a career blowing the shit out of a tin sandwich for the last 18 years. I have dedicated my live life to transforming this instrument into a synth of the people by introducing repetitive rhythms wherever possible and integrating compulsion into breath and love.

Here is my choice of 12 tracks that changed the harp…

PEOPLE GET READY BY SONNY & BROWNIE

This song straight-up welcomes all to the well of love and hope. I first heard this song on my parents’ record player when I was 13 and was immediately hooked into the world of love and soul music. The era had folks like Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield who penned and carved their versions of this song, however, no other version of this song has worn better through the ages than this one. This seemingly simple call and response hooked me at 13 and, in a lot of ways, I’ve been chasing this spirit ever since. It’s endlessly welcoming thru and thru the ages, regardless of its religious narrative …. That’s secondary.

SNATCH IT BACK AND HOLD IT BY BUDD GUY AND JUNIOR WELLS

Raw, stripped back, powerful, and dry… This song holds a mighty torch to all things Chicago. Cut free from the country of the South…it’s raw urban hip hop in the DNA of pure electrified Chicago Blues. It’s a slick polar response to its origins in the rural South. The harp work by Junior Wells is unapologetically ruff and crude in a manner that would soon be the norm around those parts in that era. I simply love this as an island of cool. It’s the equivalent of Birth Of Cool by Miles Davis in many ways: refine, refine, re-fine!

LEAVING TRUNK BY TAJ MAHAL

By far the toughest and most intriguing blues songs I ever tried to learn when I was a kid. I’m still trying to get my head, or soul, around this gem. It’s high, it’s full of piss, vinegar, gasoline, and lust. If you approach this song without any of the above ingredients, you’re fuckin’ cooked. Intention is the mother of invention and, ultimately, sensation. This song schooled me and, even after opening for Taj back in 2011 in Kaslo, I’ve forever been in awe of his recipe.

REBEL MUSIC (3 O’CLOCK ROADBLOCK) BY BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS

I once biked across Toronto, from the west of Oakwood and St Clair to the East End, to hit a super-stoned party at 15. This song was on in the basement at the house when I arrived. I walked into a room of very thick air and THIS SONG ON THE RECORD PLAYER. It blew my soul apart upon entering the party. It’s rude, rough, country, reggae, roots, Nyabinghi, call and response, rebellious, wailing, affirmative and pure Gospel.

The harp work here is uncommon for the era and style and also very natural in its delivery: not blues, not country, just informative and not self-indulgent in the least. My ultimate favourite harp work is just that… serving a purpose…not just wailing for the sake of it.

Shawn Hall AKA The Harpoonist: “I’ve managed to carve a career blowing the shit out of a tin sandwich for the last 18 years.”

MISS YOU BY THE ROLLING STONES

An all-you-can-sleez buffet/disco anthem, with bass man Bill Wyman at his best. This song is the Stones’ answer to War’s Low Rider…but in a way that is unforgiving. It’s gathered no dust over the years, and I’ve used the harp riff constantly when I’m outta ideas and in that terrain.

SONNY’S THING BY SONNY & BROWNIE

Vibrancy!! No other song got my ass hooked into blowing harp more than this show-off, proud, inventing, inviting, straight-up hip-hop approach to harmonica. It’s call and response, and just around funky shit. I treated this song as a learning board for many years, and I still have much to learn. To anyone considering playing harp, I’d recommend this teacher. The whoopin’ alone is wild and real.

ISN’T SHE LOVELY BY STEVIE WONDER

This song is a magical and wondrous baptism into the world of Stevie Wonder. Love, acceptance, and joy. I don’t know of a greater piece of music that is more welcoming than this. Loveliness is too often forgotten, and this is a reminder of what’s right in front of us. Really, God’s gift channelled right through the dude.

100 CIGARETTES BY BIG SUGAR

It’s a front porch to Kingston Jamaica, yardee grooves ft. my homie Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar and his fellow Kelly Hoppe on harp. Its a beggar’s stumble upon the back end of 4 am desire…but with control and civility.

BUT ANYWAY BY BLUES TRAVELER

One of the peppiest introductions to harp of the 90s … open, grooving, fast, clean and hopeful. This cat literally re-wrote the harp and introduced it to a broad audience in the 90s. Absolutely brain-teasing runs on the harp, and too playful. Its arch is all in the playfulness of this band, and songs.

WHISKEY RIVER BY WILLIE NELSON

Your cousin called and asked for a lovable favour. That’s this song thru and thru. A call and response between Willie and Mickie Rapheal’s harp. This is Waylon Era minus the amphetamine-fuelled grooves. Pure country soul at its best.

PRETTY PLEASE BY THE HARPOONIST & THE AXE MURDERER

Simply the hardest, most driving tune of my live career. Desperation = guaranteed good times. Both intricate and belligerent. This song has stapled my ass to the western Canadian landscape for ages… its really the closest I’ve ever come to paying homage to Sonny Terry.

GOOD PEOPLE BY THE HARPOONIST

A return to roots, simple…Effective, and soulful. This harp work is nothing but elemental in its givingness. All I can hear is an invitation to be here… no trickery, no hooks… just love.

Shawn Hall is The Harpoonist, and his debut solo album Did We Come Here To Dance, is out on 8 November via Tonic Records. For more information, head to theharpoonist2.bandzoogle.com

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