"I think to just be yourself and express yourself through honest music making – spreading the “sonic love,” as my friend Matt Wilson calls it."

Chris Bergson: Comforts in New York

Chris Bergson is an internationally acclaimed American born guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Bergson is best known as the leader of the Chris Bergson Band. Elmore Magazine calls the Chris Bergson Band “one of the most talented bands playing today,” whose soulful blend of American Roots music encompasses “blazing rock to funk to soul to Delta blues and all that’s in between.” Bergson is also an accomplished sideman who has performed with luminaries across a wide range of genres including Norah Jones, Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Bernard Purdie, The Blues Project, Al Foster and Annie Ross. The Chris Bergson Band’s 2007 album Fall Changes, recorded at Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, New York, was named MOJO Magazine’s Number One Blues Album of the Year in 2008. Bergson was inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist in 2015. Bergson is also an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston where he teaches guitar and songwriting. Chris Bergson is a D’Addario Artist and plays McCurdy Guitars.                                         (Chris Bergson / Photo by Ahron R. Foster)

On his latest record, Comforts of Home, (2024, 2 Shirts/CRS), Chris Bergson celebrates family, both biological and chosen. Bergson’s “chosen” family is the extended musical family he has been a part of for the last 20 years, the band MOJO Magazine has described as “gut-busting, horn bedecked NY blues.” Comforts of Home captures the Chris Bergson Band in its new lineup with Moses Patrou on keyboards/vocals, longtime bassist Matt Clohesy, groovemaster drummer Diego Voglino, and Jay Collins playing and arranging the horns. Recorded live at Brooklyn’s Grand Street Recording, most of Bergson’s vocals and blazing guitar were done in complete live takes.

Interview by Michael Limnios

How has the music influenced your views of the world? What moment changed your music life the most? 

I’m grateful for all of the different places in the world music has taken me – I’m typing this as I take the train to teach at a Blues camp in the Southwest of France. I’ve been fortunate to play with great musicians all over the world from all different backgrounds from Benin to Paris to Russia and we’ll say “Let’s play some blues.” Then “Ok, what key?” And off we go!

How do you describe your sound, music philosophy and songbook? What's the balance in music between technique and soul? 

Gritty, honest New York blues and soul with a little bit of jazz harmony mixed in. The blues is at the root of everything I play, sing and write and I write about what I know. The technique must serve the music not the other way around.

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you?

I’ve been fortunate to get to play with some of musical heroes like Levon Helm (The Band), Hubert Sumlin (Howlin’ Wolf) and more recently playing and recording with master drummer Bernard Purdie. Also meeting and studying with jazz guitar master Jim Hall when I was just 18 years old was a very important and inspiring experience for me early on and I still regularly use both the chord voicings and musical concepts he was kind enough to share with me (some of which he learned from the great pianist Bill Evans.)

"Gritty, honest New York blues and soul with a little bit of jazz harmony mixed in. The blues is at the root of everything I play, sing and write and I write about what I know. The technique must serve the music not the other way around." (Chris Bergson & Hubert Sumlin, NY. / Photo by Tony Ferrari)

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you?

He didn’t say it directly to me but the advice Bill Withers shares in a rap on his first album, Just As I Am (given to him by producer Booker T. Jones) to just “Do what you do and do it good” rings true. The late great guitarist Hubert Sumlin told me after a concert we played together “There are a lot of good guitar players out there but not a lot of them can also sing so you gotta keep singing!!!”

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I like my blues and soul music raw and prefer to record mostly live in the studio (as we did on Comforts of Home) that’s the way most of my favorite records were recorded. I think a lot of records are really over-produced these days and the feeling and immediacy that I love hearing on older records sometimes gets lost. (Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul is one of my all-time favorite albums), I worry that the Blues audience isn’t attracting as many younger fans and what will become of the music ten to twenty years from now?

It’s interesting to see older styles like bluegrass and country music becoming so popular with college-age people (which wasn’t the case when I was in college in the mid-90s) and I wonder sometimes why that couldn’t happen with Blues as well – if younger people were exposed to some of the incredible, unpredictable and sometimes strange music by artists like Skip James and Howlin’ Wolf, they might become fascinated by it – as I did when I was a kid learning licks from records by Muddy Waters and Albert King.

Maybe younger people hear a blues band playing in a bar playing “Sweet Home Chicago” for the umpteenth time and think “Ok, this is blues? This is boring.” But Blues expresses so much more than that and it encompasses so many different styles – it’s not only a 12 bar shuffle groove (as powerful as that can be when played right.) Also, as is widely known, the current streaming model is not a sustainable way for musicians like myself who need to record in real studios with big live rooms to keep paying for the next record.

"I just want to play good, honest music and hopefully reach and move people. I love the famous quote from drummer Art Blakey that “music washes away the dust of everyday life.” (Chris Bergson & Ellis Hooks - Cognac Blues Passions, Groove au Chateau, France July 2024 / Photo by Bruno Migliani)

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us? Do you have any stories about the making of album “Comforts of Home”?

I’ll never forget the time Levon Helm called me on a Saturday afternoon to come up to Woodstock, NY and play with his band that night! He said “Son, there gonna be some gigs coming up that my regular guitar player, Jimmy Vivino, can’t make so why don’t you come on up to the Ramble tonight so you can start learning the book. Jimmy’ll show you what to do.” And you better believe I hi-tailed it up to Woodstock in time for downbeat! It was an incredible experience playing with Levon – what an amazing, deep groove he had! He had a unique way of pairing everything he played and sang down to its raw, honest essence. The pure joy that both Levon and Hubert Sumlin played with was truly inspiring!

It was also a real thrill recording with master drummer Bernard Purdie on Comforts of Home, along with the great pianist Dave Keyes and my bass player of 20 years, Matt Clohesy. Experiencing Bernard’s deep funk groove and mastery in the studio was truly something else.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people? 

I just want to play good, honest music and hopefully reach and move people. I love the famous quote from drummer Art Blakey that “music washes away the dust of everyday life.”

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

I think to just be yourself and express yourself through honest music making – spreading the “sonic love,” as my friend Matt Wilson calls it.

Chris Bergson - Home

(Chris Bergson / Photo by Ahron R. Foster)