"The blues of the past is always there, I don't miss anything, it is carved in stone and remains in the soul forever, once you get closer to it. From my point of view, it's something so powerful and huge that I've never even tried to replicate it musically."

Daniele Tenca: I Had A (Blues) Dream

After almost seven years since the publication of "Love is the only Law" with the co-production of Guy Davis and Antonio Cupertino, Daniele Tenca returns with a new album: "Just A Dream" (2023). The approach has not changed: attention to the spirit of the times while respecting tradition thanks to contemporary sounds and arrangements but rooted in the tradition of Blues and Black Music in general, used as a vehicle of social communication for the fight and denunciation of violence and injustices of today. After the debut with "Blues for the Working Class" in 2010, the subsequent "Wake Up Nation", considered by experts to be one of the most successful products of 2013 and, as mentioned, "Love is the Only Law" in 2016, Daniele Tenca releases his fourth studio album entitled “Just A Dream”, for Appaloosa Records. The attention remains firmly on social issues, such as the fight against all types of discrimination, racism and inequality, and the protection of the environment, starting from the concept of dreams and the impact and importance that dreams can have both in personal and social.

(Daniele Tenca /Photo by Marco Coppola)

With the artistic production of Antonio Cupertino and Daniele Tenca himself, “Just A Dream” is composed of eleven songs almost entirely played by Daniele himself, of which nine unreleased by him, and two covers, “I Can't Breathe” by HER, featuring the vocals of Guy Davis, and an acoustic reinterpretation of “This Land” by Gary Clark, Jr. From 2010 Daniele Tenca’s been playing with his band in many European and U.S.A. Blues Festivals, on the same stage of such Artists as Bruce Springsteen, Guy Davis, Robben Ford, Otis Taylor, Johnny Winter, Ana Popovic, Kyla Brox, Spencer Bohren and many others. He also represented Italy (Band Act Category) at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, in 2011, and still playing all over Europe with his music and new projects!

Interview by Michael Limnios          Special Thanks: Davide Grandi (AZ Blues)

How has the Blues and Rock Counterculture influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

A deep influence, that’s for sure… the idea that music should play a fundamental role in transmitting ideals and values through generations has always been present in me. As a human being and then as a musician, I have always sought answers in music to the desire to share and spread positive values and I saw in music a powerful tool to fight and denounce discrimination and injustice.

That's what I've tried to do with my music as well, and I keep trying. Someone said “we learned more from a three-minutes record baby, than we ever learned in school”…well, this his is exactly what happened to me.

How do you describe your sound and songbook? Where does your creative drive come from?

What I try to do is use music as a language of social communication, precisely for the reasons I told you about before. And naturally, blues, black music in general and rock are the genres that most fascinated me, first as a listener and then as a musician, because they are the most used as a vehicle for social denunciation.

Practically all my records are related to social issues, such as health and safety at work, job insecurity, discrimination, social injustices, and consequently creativity has always been strongly influenced by looking around and telling all the distortions of the world around me through my point of view.                     (Daniele Tenca / Photo Arianna Cagnin)

"A deep influence, that’s for sure… the idea that music should play a fundamental role in transmitting ideals and values through generations has always been present in me. As a human being and then as a musician, I have always sought answers in music to the desire to share and spread positive values and I saw in music a powerful tool to fight and denounce discrimination and injustice."

What moment changed your music life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

I think the moment that really changed everything was my first concert, in 1994. A small bar, an audience almost all friends-made, a small stage, and so much to learn to stay on it in a dignified way, but ... boom. Knowing after that moment, that with so much effort and so much to go, I would have been able to make it a profession, or at least I would have tried all the way. The first song I played live was Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival, I think this already explained a lot about the trip I wanted to do...

Life highlights, oh, well…having a lasting relationship, a happy marriage for just over a year (and still going great, fingers crossed ...), a feeling of family that has always been the best teaching that my parents could leave me, with the will to carry it on and enjoy it day after day.

Career highlights, playing on the same stage of Bruce Springsteen, Guy Davis, Joe Grushecky and other great artists during the Light of Day Winterfest in Asbury Park, NY, playing my blues in Memphis with a lot of appreciation, having the great luck to have Guy Davis by my side as a producer for my “Love Is The Only Law” record, and most of all, as a friend. Things I’ll never forget for sure.

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

The blues of the past is always there, I don't miss anything, it is carved in stone and remains in the soul forever, once you get closer to it. From my point of view, it's something so powerful and huge that I've never even tried to replicate it musically. My effort has always been to "actualize" the blues my own way, mixing it on a sound level with what are the sounds of our time. I think that if you tell the world of today, as the Bluesmen told theirs, to be credible to the end you have to do it with the language of our days, and not only with the lyrics, but also musically, certainly following influences of the past, but still remaining current.

And if I have to think about the fears about the future of the blues, the main one is that in making blues today we look too much at replicating the past rather than making the blues also accessible to the new generations and, if I may use the term, contemporary. Many great artists are already going in this direction (Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr. for example) and are leaving an important groove and a deep trace to follow, and this is, instead, my great hope.                       (Daniele Tenca / Photo by Fabio Roscio)

"I believe that ensuring a future for the blues means making courageous records, which make it current, and making courageous proposals in the main festivals, which can attract new generations. Detach from the blues of the past to save its tradition. It may seem counterintuitive, but I think it is the best way to preserve its beauty, its power and make it reach future generations."

What's the balance in music between technique and soul? Why is it important to we preserve and spread the blues?

Let's start from the fact that you are talking to someone who is not particularly technically gifted, so the answer might seem biased and obvious, but in my case, and I speak to you not only as a musician but as a music listener, I have always favored artists and genres where the soul and message of the songs were priority over technicalities. That said, I don't know if there is a recipe to balance the two things correctly, but for sure I am instinctively inclined towards the soul more than towards the technique.

Preserving and spreading the blues is fundamental precisely because of the spirit with which it was born, for the truth that comes out of every note and every verse, because it is such a deep creative approach that it is one of the few ways to ensure blues music, and music in general, an important role in culture, tradition and positive change in the world and future generations.

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

Nowadays, less than I would like it to have, especially if we look at how much music has contributed to changing things and the world in the previous decades (or should I say in the previous century ...). The fact of making it so usable and “liquid” has certainly taken away a good percentage of magic and evocative power, making it almost similar to a kind of consumer goods.

Revert? It is difficult, you can only keep the flame burning by making and writing powerful music, which tells things as they are, in a way that involves those generations that have the strength and the will to change things for their own future. And let's go back to the topic of spreading the blues as an approach and not just as a wonderful bunch of traditional songs I told you about before.

"Preserving and spreading the blues is fundamental precisely because of the spirit with which it was born, for the truth that comes out of every note and every verse, because it is such a deep creative approach that it is one of the few ways to ensure blues music, and music in general, an important role in culture, tradition and positive change in the world and future generations." (Daniele Tenca with Jimmy Ragazzon and Marcello Milanese on stage, La Parrocchia del Blues, Godiasco 2019 / Photo by Federico Sponza)

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

Well, here’s a few tips…

1. Be humble.
2. Do not worry about being the best, sooner or later you will meet one better than you.
3. Be honest when writing your songs.
4. Respect other artists' music, always, even if you don't like it.
5. Don't care about the charts, music is not a football league.
6. Play the same way in front of one or a hundred thousand people, and always give it your all.

Basically, it all comes down to point a…

Do you think there is an audience for blues music in its current state? or at least a potential for young people to become future audiences and fans?

We always return to the same point; I'm talking about the Italian situation, which I know better, but talking to other artists the discourse can be expanded, the current audience for the blues is mainly composed of fans of the blues of the past, and therefore the generational change is difficult to implement, especially if the musical proposal draws on those who refer to the canons of the blues of the past.

From personal experience I tell you that some young people who have listened to contemporary blues records, contaminated by other genres, have become passionate and then have traveled the path back to the first blues records, remaining fascinated.

I believe that ensuring a future for the blues means making courageous records, which make it current, and making courageous proposals in the main festivals, which can attract new generations. Detach from the blues of the past to save its tradition. It may seem counterintuitive, but I think it is the best way to preserve its beauty, its power and make it reach future generations.

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(Daniele Tenca / Photo by Arianna Gagnin)