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Musician Mike Rogers of
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Blind Faith
By
Jeanne' McCartin
features@seacoastonline.com
He’s always a best man, never a groom, metaphorically speaking. At 63, with four decades in the business, Mike Rogers is about to come out with his 13th CD, with nary a self-titled one in the lot.
But old
Bullfrog, as he’s known, is there behind the name of Roundhouse, and often the
guy working alongside John Perrault and Buddy Shute. He’s one of the Salt
River Trio, and of the duo Mike and Bev, the group that comes closest to
putting his name in the forefront. And it’s
He also appears on 25 or so recordings, done as a studio artist throughout his career.
The above
is not a list of bands gone by. They’re current. All of them. It’s a virtual
well-synthesized symphony of associations - say that three times fast while
tandem bike-riding, round-dancing and writing poetry, which is exactly what
It’s
Roundhouse that’s slated to release a compact disc,
The yet-be-named recording will feature Delta-style blues and ’40s swing music, and is shooting for an early fall release. It will feature covers, and originals penned by Graf and Mike Rogers.
"This band actually started because my son, a software engineer, just got back into music by buying a set of drums, after 15 years," he says. "I wanted to do something with him and I’d never been in a blues band. So, I figured, I’d start my own."
Although he
claims Roundhouse is just for fun, it’s certainly getting around. To date it’s
performed at Cap’n Simeon's Galley, The Press Room, the Navy Yard Bar and
Slim’s Tex Mex. It’s already on the
It’s quite
possible neither this, nor any of his five affiliations, would exist were it
not for
"This is genetic; sisters have it, two nephews. … It’s retinitis pigmentosa," he says in nonchalant manner.
The manner is an acquired one; fought for even. Initially his reaction to losing his sight at 37 was years of avoidance.
"After I went blind, I went through depression. I tried to handle it chemically, of course.
"It took me a few years of banging my head against the wall till I started to see with my spiritual eye and found the Bahá'í Faith," he says. "I wasn’t a particularly spiritual person till then. … The blindness opened my life spiritually." a tailspin. But with time it proved the catalyst to change, which today, he’s quite content with.
Music wasn’t a major part of his life then either, just an occasional weekend and vacation activity.
After the darkness descended, he was taught to cane chairs. It’s the sort of thing they did with blind people at the time, he says. Later, when he got his dependencies under control, he started working with folk musician Taylor Whiteside.
"I picked up music because it was something I could do. It was sort of a backdoor move (in to the field). But the bigger change came after Bahá'í."
Once a Bahá'í, he started "traveling for our faith." Although the religious organization doesn’t have missionaries, its members do move purposefully into communities. Once there, they practice openly. If others ask about their faith they share their beliefs.
This period
took them to
Next up, 10
years in
"We were
very heavy into performing from the time we left
Then it was
back to the Seacoast, home since the age of 19. Born in
"It was
quite a culture change from the suburbs to Eliot - where all the kids walked
in the road! You didn’t do that in
The ’70s
hookup with Perrault was his first serious local, musical connection.
It was the
same era he connected with MacDougall, "(known him since he was a pup)." The
two worked on and off for years.
Bev and
Mike, the husband-and-wife duo, is the bread-and-butter band, and more than a
performing group. An average of three times a week the two hit the road
performing or teaching harmonica workshops at area nursing homes and adult
education programs, from
Salt River
Trio is 6 years old and includes
"Both
Roundhouse and
The latest band certainly bears witness to his comment. The Delta blues, which Roundhouse plays, requires a new style of playing. In Delta, the harpist holds his microphone. The change makes the tone more reliant on the shape of the mouth and throat, rather than breathing technique and the slide of the instrument.
"I wasn’t getting the tones I wanted," he says. "I had to revise the style of playing a lot. It’s not really difficult, but requires a lot of practice."
"I’ll probably keep up this pace for a while. It’s not like I’m looking forward to a time when I’m not doing music. I’m going to do it till I drop dead."
And it would appear by how busy others keep him, he’s the best man for the job.
"Really, I’m very satisfied with the turn of events. My blindness was a blessing in disguise for me. Once you can overcome the loss, not being able to see things, and let the blindness become part of who you are, you begin to become happy with yourself."
Mike and Bev Rogers: "Steppin' To A Brand New Beat" 1987 Variety 1993 Salt River Trio: "Evenin' Tide" 2000 "Lookin' Back" 2003 John Perrault: "Thief in the Night" 1977 New Hampshire 1980 "Tenants in Common 1984 Country Matters" 1988 "Rough Cuts" 1998 "The Ballad of Louis Wagner and Other New England Stories in Verse" 2004 Jim MacDougall and the Funky Divas of Gospel: "When I Cross Over" 2001 "Don't Stop At Half" 2003 Buddy Shute: "Out Standing in His Field" 2000
HONORS Salt
River Trio: Selected to represent
Bev and
Mike: Represented
POETRY
