Oregon Music News

Karen and the band at the IBC

As we reported moments after it happened on Saturday night, Ashland’s Blues belter Karen Lovely and her band won second place at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN. Over a hundred bands and sixty solo/duos competed. Karen was representing the Cascade Blues Association, having won their Journey to Memphis competition.

Here’s what they sound like.

Listen to a track from her Lucky Girl album — Tell Me Baby

Karen stopped singing for nearly twenty years. After some tentative steps she formed a band in 2008. Her current band includes: Joe Diehl/guitar, Allen Crutcher/keys/harp, Bobby D/bass and Teri Cote/drums.

I talked with her on the phone from her home in Ashland. She was still glowing.

What were you doing all those fifteen years you weren’t singing?

I was being a mom and I had a business I ran from my home so I could be home with my kids. I would go literally for days without talking to another person. I went through a very painful divorce and my son got very ill. It was a really hard, hard time. A friend of mine said, “Why don’t you join this choir?” I started singing in the choir and then some singer showcases. I started sitting in on a Monday night blues show at Alex’s in Ashland. The more I did it, the better I felt. I said, I really want to do this again. I want to sing. I decided that for the first time in my life I was going to follow my heart…to do what I loved to do more than anything, which is singing. It’s been green lights ever since.

This past year has gone by in a blur. The CD happened. It debuted at #13 on the Blues chart and was #1 Pick to Click on XM radio. Holy Cow.

How many kids do you have?

Two. My daughter Alegra is a sophomore at Portland State. My son Jackson is 10.

How are you feeling now that you’re home from Memphis?

Oh my god, I’m on cloud nine. It was the most exciting week of my life. We had half a dozen friends and fans who flew out to Memphis from Southern Oregon to support us, too.

We got there and we found out that we were really lucky to get the best venue on Beale Street, the New Daisy Theater. The very first night, we got two standing ovations. By the second night it was standing room only. We got two more standing ovations. I looked out from the stage and Kayne was sitting in the front row. She came back after and said, “You made me cry with your slow blues.” It was “Knock Knock.” It’s a new one that’s going to be on our next record. She got the word around and on the second night I looked out and it was Candye Kayne, Bill Wax, Jay Sieleman, the executive director of the Blues Foundation, Art Tipaldi the new editor of Blues Revue, Greg Johnson from the CBA.

I felt really stunned and like I better do the best job anyone ever did on the planet. I don’t want to screw up in front of those people.

One of the things you get judged on, as they said to us over and over…there’s a reason it’s called the Challenge,..there can be equipment mishaps…our guitar player Joe Diehl had a string break on his guitar and he just pulled the string off. One of the bands, we’re not even sure who this guy was, he pulled open his guitar case and handed Joe a red 335 and just gave it to him to play onstage. You get points for that kind of thing, not crumbling under pressure…being able to adapt.

Then we found out that Janiva Magness was in the audience both nights. Bruce Iglauer from Alligator Records was there.

It was absolutely a dream come true. To make it there in the first place was so huge, and then when you get there and you realize the level of talent. Just hearing the international bands…bands that came from India, Germany and from Latvia…to think that there are people who have truly come from all around the globe to be part of this event.

When you see all the people that are there and you hear the level of musicianship and you realize that…holy cow…we’re in this group with these people…what a thrill. I literally held my breath when they announced the finalists. The announcer was so sweet…he said, “Hang on. Hang on, I want to do this announcement.” And he said, “Drum roll please!” And he said, “Cascade Blues Association, the Karen Lovely Band.” We were all screaming. Out of over a hundred bands, to realize that we were going to be in the finals was…unbelievable.

How many bands made the finals?

Eleven. And we only had fifteen minutes to perform. That was some intense pressure.

How did you choose what to sing?

That was one of the most difficult questions and one of the things that I want to really acknowledge…Greg Johnson and the CBA…they do an outstanding job of preparing bands for Memphis. Their Journey to Memphis competition is run just like Memphis so we had no surprises. One of the things they stressed over and over was that you’re not competing against bands, you’re competing against the rules. Look at what they’re looking for…first and foremost Blues content, originality, instrumentation. This year for the first time, vocals counted the same way that instruments do, which is a significant departure from the past twenty-five years.

For me, the emphasis is what can I do vocally to make sure that everything we’re doing is pure Blues. Even one of the songs that I love to do most is technically not in the Blues format, it’s more Rock Blues. They said if it comes down to Blues or something that you think might be the Blues, go with the Blues.

We decided to do only originals in the finals and make sure they were strictly blues… We picked three songs that are going to be on our next record. First we did “Blues Ain’t Far Behind.” We did, “Knock Knock,” and the third one was an upbeat song…some of the sound guys who were sitting at a table at a fried chicken place and I asked them, “What song do you guys want to hear? You’ve listened to us for two nights.” And they’re like, “Do that angry blues!” (Laughs)

“Knock Knock” was the one that made Candye cry. That’s the one I’m most proud of, that’s the one vocally that gave me the most room to show what I can do as a singer. I literally go down in the basement, soft and quiet, to big and holding notes. It was cool to get acknowledged for that. It was something I could be really proud of.

When did they make their decision?

We had to wait about fifteen minutes. It was very fast.

What was the waiting like?

The night before was more exciting for me, just to find out that we made it to the finals. “Oh god, just let us get there.” By the finals night, I felt really calm. I felt sincerely that we were incredibly prepared, we did everything we were advised to do by the CBA. We all did the very best job we could do, so I felt like there wasn’t anything else we could have done differently. I felt confident in our choices and how we played.

When they announced it, I was screaming. I was literally speechless. Screaming is something I can do, singing is something I can do, but when it comes time for acceptance speeches, that’s something else. I went up and all I could say was, “Wow! Wowie-wow-wow!” (Laughs) I turned to Bob, our bass player and he stepped up and gave a really eloquent speech.

It was so exciting.

After the pressure was off, was it party time?

It WAS! (Laughing) It was celebrating up and down Beale Street. We had to leave for the airport at 4:30am so we just stayed up all night. I was up for like forty-two hours.

It was the most amazing feeling in the world. I’ve been crying off and on every since.

Have you slept yet?

I finally fell asleep last night. I think I got about ten hours!

How is the new album coming along?

We started in August. I got to record with Jim Pugh and Richard Cousins from the Robert Cray band. I have to finish final vocals and put down some horn parts and mix and master…we’re hoping to have that out in March.

We would have never made it this far without the support that we got from Greg, the CBA, Ty Curtis. All those benefits to help us get there…it costs a lot of money to send a band of this size to Memphis, to stay there. It’s been overwhelming, the support that we’ve gotten from the Blues community, the thousands of dollars. We could have never done that.