Native blues guitarist plays from the heart

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There were a couple of anxious minutes of silence as the tape wound its way through the ghetto blaster. Then a lightning guitar rocketed out from the tape hiss.

The sounds were reminiscent of Texas guitar heros Stevie Ray Vaughn and Johnny Winter. But in this case they belonged to Clyde Roulette, an Ojibway blues wizard from Sandy Bay, Manitoba.

"There's a lot of Native blood in blues music," says the 36-year-old Roulette, who now lives and works out of Vancouver.

"Muddy Waters had a bit of Cherokee blood. A lot of the original blues players have Native blood....It's anybody's music. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out."

Rocket scientist? Well, maybe most people can learn the basics of 12-bar musics. A couple of licks aren't hard to pick up. But Roulette is way beyond the basics. He's a player who sounds at home with the jet-propelled modern blues popularized by musicians like fellow Manitoban Colin James.

Sliding Clyde, as he is known around parts of the music scene, also likes to put his Native identity up front with his fiery finger work. He says he hopes it will encourage other Native musicians to come out of the woodwork and show off some of the talents hidden in the community.

"I always have my hair in a ponytail. I tell people what they are getting - a Native playing blues," Roulette said.

"There are a lot of Native people into playing the blues. Here in B.C. they think it is odd to have a Native guy playing them, but it has been going on for along time."

But no matter what spin you put on the presentation, the blues will always be the blues: accessible and straight to the point.

"Hopefully, the music speaks for itself....It's understandable because everybody

has had the emotions. With the blues you know what's happening. You know whether the song is happy or sad."

Roulette first picked up the guitar 20 years ago and has been playing professionally almost since the word go. It all started at the age of 14 when his brothers needed a drummer for their band. Although the teenage Roulette was more interested in sports at the time, he gave the drums a fair try. But the affair didn't last long.

"The drums had too many pieces. They are too hard to haul around," he says. "With guitar there are less things to haul around. Just keep track of your amp and the six strings and away you go. I tried the guitar, had some luck and that was it. I'd found my calling."

Roulette's love of the blues developed from there. He credits much of his interest to his brothers, who were fans of groups like the Allman Brothers and B.C. King. His mother also played a big role, exposing him at an early age to legendary performers like Aretha Franklin and Muddy Waters.

His father, who still lives in Sandy Bay, also introduced him to some of the country greats like Hank Snow. Roulette has worked frequently with country acts and now says he is coming to appreciate that music as much as his first love.

"I played country a long time, but it was always on the side. The blues were my thing. Now both styles are. The country really grew on me."

Roulette's career has taken him from Manitoba to Toronto and now finally British Columbia, where he is trying to make some inroads into the United States. He's played all over western Canada and made trips up to Yellowknife, N.W.T. He also yet to produce any music in the studio, but hopes to make a professional recording soon.

By the way, what's this business about a Native connection to the blues? Roulette says there's a guy from Ontario's Six Nations who has a theory that the music associated with blacks deep in the southern United States really comes from Natives. Could it be true?

"I don't know. They've both been oppressed, so they have the feelings...African music comes from drums. So does Indian music. why not? I don't know. I'm just a guitar player."