BluesFest headliner Jamiah Rogers brings funktacular rock

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Jamiah Rogers is known in Chicago as the “Blues Superman.” His live shows jet through splintering fast, traditional blues tunes only to release into crooning, reggae waltzes and funky blues-rock jams.

The rumbling one, four, five chord pattern was instilled in him from growing up in a household of Chicago blues musicians. His father, bassist Tony Rogers, was never short for work.

By age 7, Rogers gravitated toward the drums and found “the pocket,” which he would scarcely leave. Rogers said his performances as a youth garnered citywide attention, which earned him the title “most talented kid under the age of 12” by The Chicago Music Awards three years in a row.

Hot off a tour in France and Switzerland, Rogers returns to the U.S. for the top slot at the Michigan Blues Fest.

“I was always in the basement and it was the playground,” Rogers said. “My father was a blues guitarist, and he had his band. At the times they were rehearsing, I would be sitting on the stairs creeping and listening to what was going on.”

Once the rehearsal came to a close, Rogers would sneak down into the basement to fiddle with the instruments.

“You can’t just go fiddling around with someone’s instrument when you’re not in the band, but I was careful,” Rogers said.

Prowling around the guitars, drums and bass, Rogers became a triple-threat musician that could play each instrument with ease. He said by age 9, music became “a full-time job,” as he recalled “sneaking” into clubs and performing throughout the city. 

The youngster eventually caught the attention of Buddy Guy, an acclaimed Chicago bluesman. Rogers began playing and attending shows at Buddy Guy’s Legends, the guitarist’s personal blues bar.

“I was basically, if not the youngest, one of the youngest blues musicians in the industry,” he said.

Now Rogers does more than hold the modern torch of blues tradition, he is committed to passing it. Apart from touring the world, Rogers studies music education at Chicago State University.

“Superman is someone that is focused on saving what’s good, I like to think I’m that for the blues,” he said.

However, for his newfound fame, Rogers scoffs at the traditional path of musicians getting signed to a record label. Gone are the romanticized blues days of Chicago’s Chess Records, famed for giving its signed artists a brand new Cadillac and promoting trailblazers like Chuck Berry, Etta James and Muddy Waters.

Instead, Rogers prefers to remain independent to keep his music and intellectual property close to home.

“It is nothing to take away from them, but I like owning everything I make and making everything back on it,” the bluesman said. “Everybody deserves what they work for. There are too many signed people who are famous, but don’t have anything in the bank to show for it.”

While some see a blues guitar solo as a means to show off, Rogers said when he plays a solo, it is like he’s crying.

“When you cry, you make a lot of noise and the notes are high,” Rogers said. “If you’re actually crying and holding the note from the gut, people can hear you mean it. That comes over the guitar if you mean what you’re playing.”

Jamiah Rogers performs at BluesFest Saturday, for a full schedule visit the BluesFest website.

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