The Road To Memphis: An Interview with Jeffery Attakorah from The Blues Reincarnation Project

(Photo Credit Brianna and Ryan Photography)

From conception, every band dreams of their “big break”. That time has finally come for one of Delaware’s premier original blues bands, The Blues Reincarnation Project (Jeffrey Attakorah, Charlie Graves, Dylan Walker, and Michael Macartney). The band has been hand-selected to represent The Central Delaware Blues Society in the The International Blues Competition, a multi-day event held January 7-11 on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. There they will go head to head with some of the nations best blues bands to become reigning champion giving them access to great national blues festivals, advertising, and a cash prize. We sat down with lead singer Jeffrey Attakorah and chatted about the band's origins, competing on a national level, and the road to Memphis. 

How did the band form? 

Well, Charlie and I went to the same high school…Glasgow High. Charlie was already drumming, and I had just started playing guitar – we had a chance to play in the jazz band and other programs at Glasgow. Charlie was involved in the Checked Heroes – a Punk band from the Newark, Delaware area.

After about a year after High School, When the Checkered Heroes took a break, Charlie and I started jamming at his house and began to reminisce on some of the tunes we used to play in high school. We immediately realized we needed a third and then we had Ryan Gorman, who had just started his bass guitar journey, join us. Ryan was the singer of the Checkered Heroes, but while new to bass, he wanted to get involved and make music as we all progressed and learn from each other.

After a while, due to family and work demands, Ryan stepped down as our bassist. We had subs here and there, most notably, Isaac Moore, currently of Gray Mount. After a while, Jeff and Dylan Walker met at the 4W5 Blues Jam at The Reef hosted by Michael Phouts. Dylan immediately becomes the TBRP bassist. After a while, through hired gun work and projects I was involved in like Hoochi Coochi, I met Michael Macartney and invited him to help when TBRP gets a chance to play big stages.

(Photo by Jordan Brown Photography)

What inspired you to make blues music?

Well, first of all, Blues Music is one of many genres I “perform” or do. And this is such a hard question to answer but I will try to keep it simple.

Being a Ghanaian Christian, I have played in lots of Churches that have music rooted in Highlife and Traditional Ghanaian gospel genres – These are tunes I grew up listening to and soaked in subconsciously. I also play in other Modern African churches that mix these influences along with genres like Reggae, modern CCM, and American Gospel music. Aside from that, playing so basic jazz in high school, my love for classic rock music and artists as well as now modern Afrobeats, RnB, Neo Soul, Rap, and many more. I have gotten a chance to be inspired by all that music.

I say all that to say, for me, Blues is one of many highways that lead to self- expression and artistry.  What I find unique about Blues is, that the long history of blues allows it to be this genre-bending vehicle to explain and express the artist; from the sub-genres to the international interpretation and the way it allows the musician to capture an emotion, event or story and taps into those things with a simple melody phrase, guitar lick or moan of a vocal line. The artist can share those emotions, events, or stories with the audience, and the audience to feel those experiences.

Keeping all that in mind, I had a hard time and was struggling in college. That also allowed me to dive even deeper into expressing myself through Blues music. Ever since I have been working to understand the history and essence of the genre. Through that journey, I have come across so many artists and friends that inspire me – from Eric Gales, Isaiah Sharkey, Jubu Smith, Gary Clark Jr., Buddy Guy,T Bone Walker, Christone Kingfish, Roger Girke, Mikey Jr., Derek ‘Harmonica Slim’ Matteson, Jake Banaszak…  the list can and will go on, but I will stop here. Best believe there are many more I can name. Inspiration comes from a lot of places and people for me.

How has navigating the blues music scene been?

Like most music scenes, they all have challenges. I like to believe the Blues Scene is smaller, but mighty. With it being smaller, there are lots of smaller pockets of communities, each with their relative handful of venues. Unless you are a national act, regional name, International Blues Competition Winner, Blues Music Award Winner, a young Viral Sensation, and a local hero, it is hard to make your way into different Blues Scenes and Communities.

Each of the scenes and communities has their favorite artist, and local support that they use, so making it as the ‘newbies’ is not easy, especially in Blues. As a band that has been together for over 8 years and is still settling in on its identity, we have a lot to prove, lots of hands to shape, venues to play artists and heroes to meet, babies to kiss, and hours to play together. We are practically infants when it comes to our growth in the Blues World and we sure do have a long way to go!

(Photo by Jordan Brown Photography)

You guys originally placed second in the competition but due to foundation rules, you guys were bumped to first place. How did that make you feel?

Personally, undeserving and shocked. I took the ”loss” pretty hard, I felt the boys and I checked all the boxes to make it but Lower Case Blues (LCB) was electric and had the room on the edge of their seats, just cheering as they always do. They clearly had the better showcase and set as usual. We always dreamt about qualifying but not this way, so, of course, I had my doubts, because if we couldn’t “win” locally, what chance do we have internationally? After talking to friends, IBC veterans, and fellow musicians, and receiving tons of supporting messages, my perspective has changed. It’s not about winning, it’s about making connections, meeting other bands on the same course as the boys and I, as well as leaving our mark. Winning will be the cherry on top.

What’s next for TBRP? 

The Central Delaware Blues Society is hosting a fundraiser on Sunday, January 5th.  There is a stacked bill with lots of our friends and mentors from Lower Case Blues, Roger Girke, Barrelhouse Blues, Derek ‘Harmonica Slim’ and co, and Wendy Logan Band! This is to help them recoup their IBC expenses.Then that week we will go down to Memphis Tennessee. For fundraisers, our main push is on “GoFundMe” where we are crowdfunding.

To support TBRP on their journey to Memphis visit their “GoFundMe” page here.