The Bluesman

Ray Fuller weathers 25 years as a Columbus icon

by Adam Garratt

Given the comings, goings and reconfigurations that seem to be part of the routine for many Columbus bands, a decade-long career can seem like a lifetime in local music. Giving solid performances for more than two decades would make a musician a permanent fixture here. Bluesman Ray Fuller is one of the few who has earned his stripes as a longtime Columbus icon.

Those who know the guitarist understand this isn't hollow flattery. Fuller's band, the Blues Rockers, has an acclaimed history of playing an eclectic mix of blues and rockabilly that reaches back 25 years.

Fuller first began playing locally as a solo act and with his first group, the Ray Fuller Blues Band, back in 1974. Since then players have come and gone, the band changed names, and the only constant has been Fuller himself. Reflecting momentarily on all the musicians he has played with, Fuller figures some numbers mentally. "Every four to five years there's a complete change-over," he recalled. "Why don't we say about 30."

The Blues Rockers has always been a changing act, featuring different instrumentations at different times over the years. There has been saxophone, more guitar and other variations in past line-ups. The current mix--a quartet of guitar, harmonica, bass and drums--has been together for one year, and is a mix that Fuller is most comfortable with.

Local success earned Fuller the opportunity to play with blues greats as they visited Columbus. The first major blues act he opened for was Muddy Waters in 1981. The Blues Rockers' increasing popularity was fueled by a resurgence of blues rock in the mid-80s, led by the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughn. At this time, Fuller remembers, the band was rotating through Ohio and seven surrounding states on a regular basis.

Along with his career longevity, Fuller has long been known for his broad blues style. While some acts focus on Chicago-style blues or maintain a solid rock focus, Fuller avoids being pinned down by infusing an array of styles into his albums and live shows. His combination of early favorites (Elvis, the Beatles, the Yardbirds) and later blues influences (Lightnin' Hopkins, Magic Sam, Junior Wells) come out in the band's varied sound.Fuller's new album, Twist of Fate, boasts deft Delta blues, with the bluesman lending his skilled hand to solo acoustic, swamp blues, and rockabilly. There's some Texas shuffle--a deferential nod to Jimmy Vaughn--on the album's solid opener Drive My Blues Away. That track is followed by Woman of the World, a straight rock-blues tune with Fuller on slide guitar. In a few words, a little bit of everything.

Though he claims to be "no musicologist," Fuller knows more about the history of his chosen genre than he may let on. On Twist of Fate, which consists entirely of Fuller originals, he mixes a little John Lee Hooker boogie with rockabilly for extra fuel, as on Double-Wide Baby. The album's closing song, the solo instrumental Lincoln Avenue Breakdown, sounds almost like equal parts Delta slide blues and the more Southern country-flavored Travis pick style. One gets the sense that the man in charge knows what he's doing.

The various blues sounds Fuller captures on disc are spontaneous moments, snapshots really, of the Blues Rockers in performance. Twist of Fate is short on overdubbing and long on professional "do-it-right-the-first-time" musicianship. In that sense, it records the band's live sound quite well.

Still, to be fully appreciated, the Blues Rockers must be seen in person. To witness Fuller's precision slide dance on some walking blues tune is to understand firsthand how he has remained a local favorite for so long.The Blues Rockers appear around town several times a month at such venues as the Thirsty Ear Tavern. The band stood almost four across on the stage last Saturday night, with Fuller in his black jeans and boots to the far left. The packed club absorbed all as the band moved slowly through an electric rendition of Robert Johnson's Love in Vain, then jumped into lighter swing and Graceland blues numbers.

The Blues Rockers--Mike Gilliland on harmonica, Ed Adkins on upright bass, Eric Blume on drums--create a remarkably deep, solid sound for a backing trio. And while Twist of Fate is Fuller's showcases work, in live performance the band plays, in addition to covers, originals penned by other members and sung by Gilliland or Adkins.

In person before the show, Fuller is modest and unassuming, willing to step into conversation with audience members who bought his last album Pearlene and thought it wonderful. Behind the quiet demeanor, though, is something else--a confidence without arrogance, an experienced musical mind that endures. Fads come and go, and the blues will surely re-emerge again on pop charts and recede just as abruptly. Meanwhile, true musicianship remains.