It took a little cajoling but the gathered blues and rock artists got President Obama to sing a short verse of "Sweet Home Chicago" at the White House. Like the video for his Al Green dare at the Apollo Theatre, it will undoubtedly become a hit.
For those who thought President Obama was a soul man only, their attention should be directed to the video making the rounds wherein the commander-in-chief breaks into a little blues. Although it took the gathering of rock and blues greats to convince him to sing a verse, the president eventually complied, joining Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy, and B. B. King in "Sweet Home Chicago."
It was Buddy Guy who did the talking. "We were trying to get you to help us sing. I heard you singing Al Green," the blues guitar legend yelled to Obama on Tuesday. "So you started something. You got to keep it up now. You can do it."
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger handed over a microphone to the president and the host of singers, musicians, and guests were clapping and singing along as he added some presidential stylings to the old blues standard believed to have been written by the incomparable blues legend Robert Johnson. Incidentally, Jagger's band, the Rolling Stones, was formed by the singer and Keith Richards in an attempt to emulate blues greats like Johnson and Muddy Waters. A song from the latter is where they got the band's name.
Just last month at a fundraiser at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York, President Obama sang a line from Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." He said he did it on a dare. Dare or not, it became a video sensation.
If the president isn't careful, he's going to allow a precedent to be set. Then he'll have to record an album or something, perhaps one well-recieved enough to win a Grammy to go alongside his other one for Best Spoken Word Album for his book The Audacity of Hope.
According to the Associated Press, Keb Mo joked ahead of the show during rehearsal that Obama would sing at the concert and that he and the president were going to record an album in the future. He said the album would be called: "After the second term, now I can finally get my groove on."
After the president got the evening started, 86-year-old blues legend B. B. King kicked off the concert with "Let The Good Times Roll" and slid into "The Thrill Is Gone."
Beck, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist noted for his solo work and early work with the British blues/rock band The Yardbirds (which also featured such notable guitarists as Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page), played the instrumental, "Brush With The Blues," and Jagger sang a few tunes as well. He also did a rendition of the Rolling Stones "Miss You" with Shemekia Copeland and Susan Tedeschi.
It should be noted that Beck, King, and Guy are all on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
After a couple hours of music Obama introduced the the "White House Blues All-Stars" for the night's finale.
"For Michelle and me," he said, "there's no blues like the song our artists have chosen to close with - the blues from our hometown."
Others in attendance and performing at the White House/PBS event were Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Gary Clark Jr., Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers Band, G'ment Mule), and Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi (who together won the 2012 Grammy for Best Blues Album). Actress Taraji P. Henson acted as the program host and Booker T. Jones led the band.
The White House gathering of musical greats was part of a PBS event for Black History Month. The president's addition will undoubtedly make the cut for "In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues," which will be broadcast on Feb. 27.
There is little doubt that the president just gave the Republican Party a great sound bite for numerous ads in the coming year. They'll be yelling that the president was singing the blues, that he's pining for his old home in Chicago, and that the voters should oblige him and send him there to sing some more blues. But until then, the clip will just have to be a hit in the media and on YouTube.
Wonder if it will get as many hits as his "Let's Stay Together" video? That few seconds of presidential soulful crooning has been seen over 7 million times to date.
(photo credit: U S Senate, Wikimedia Commons)
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