Benny Turner and the Real Blues Featuring Sam Joyner

The blues might be the most important of all the musical styles that originated in America. The blues fused spirituals, call and response chants, and traditional ballads. This distinctly American musical style emerged from African-American communities in the Deep South following the legal abolition of slavery in 1865. The post-emancipation period allowed African-Americans to form communities, churches, and other voluntary associations free from white inference. These separate institutions allowed African-Americans to cultivate and expand upon their previous musical traditions. The blues arose from these newly independent African-American communities.

Benny and his band 

Over the ensuing decades, the blues would influence and help new musical forms like jazz, R&B, and rock and roll. While we may be able to easily explain the origins of the blues and its legacy, defining the blues proves much more elusive. Blues singer Alberta Hunter once tried to explain the blues this way, “Blues means what milk does to a baby. Blues is what the spirit is to the minister. We sing the blues because our hearts have been hurt, our souls have been disturbed.” British blues artist Alexis Kormer said of the blues, “I guess music, particularly the blues, is the only form of schizophrenia that has organised itself into being both legal and beneficial to society.”

Benny Turner plays the bass over his head 

For the first time, the DGA crawfish boil featured a blues band: Benny Turner and the Real Blues Featuring Sam Joyner. Benny Turner is a veteran of the New Orleans, Chicago, and Texas blues scenes. His connections to the history of the blues in America run deep. His brother was legendary blues artist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Freddie King. Freddie King, along with B.B. and Albert King, were the three “Kings of the Blues guitar” in America. Benny Turner released his own CD honoring his brother’s contribution to American blues music. Over his career, Turner also collaborated or performed with blues legends like Mighty Joe Young, Memphis Slim, Gladys Knight, and Otis Clay. In New Orleans, he worked as the band leader for legendary blues singer Marva Wright. In recent years, Turner formed his own band, The Real Blues.

Benny Turner playing in the crowd 

Turner, a bass player, dazzled the crowd by playing while mingling and sitting amongst the appreciative crowd. Turner introduced the crowd at the crawfish boil to a legendary American musical form and it was pleasure to have him perform.