Plucking the strings hard for the blues

Scott Lerner, 27, is young in the world of blues music. But the road he likes to travel is limited in a city like Boston where the tradition of folk blues is fading.

Lerner was born in Salem and grew up in Wakefield, a quiet town of 25,000, located 10 miles northeast of Boston. For his10th birthday, he demanded a guitar from his parents. Later he went to a guitar class, where he learned some basic skills. However, the lessons lasted only six months.

"I did not like the formal class. I wanted to play and figure out things myself," Lerner said. Since then it has been a long love affair with his guitars.

Lerner played intensely long hours from the age of 12 to 16, during which he mastered most of the basic fundamental guitar techniques. He also learned to read music from books and now is able to talk about musical notation as easily as he discusses different styles of the blues masters - living and dead.

"The kid in the next house had a drum set and I used to wheel my guitar there on a skateboard," Lerner said. This was how they started their first band. They named the band 360 Flip after a skateboard trick. Later, while in high school, he and his friends started another band called Blind Rise, "a name [that] came up after we saw a sign on the roadside while driving around the town."

The first gig Lerner and his friends played was for a junior high school graduation party. Lerner was 14 at the time and the band covered alternative rock and pop-punk songs. At the age of 16, his band Blind Rise entered a local battle of bands competition.

"I played the guitar with my teeth and the kids at the back were laughing because they did not know what I was doing," he said recounting the video footage of the performance. His band won the contest.

Peter Aloisi, who started 360 Flip with Lerner, recalls winning the battle of bands when they were 14 years old. Aloisi, Shaun Kenney and Lerner played together in 360 Flip and Blind Rise. They played mainly rock & roll and punk-pop, covering such bands as Smashing Pumpkins and Bush. They also composed their own songs.

"Now I am the only one from Blind Rise who is still playing music," he said. Others have taken different path. Some have gone into business and others have started families."

When Lerner stopped playing in the band, his involvement with blues became more serious and his love for it deepened. This also became a personal journey about the self-discovery of his inner desire and a path in life that he now follows with passion.

Blues is a musical tradition that strikes human emotions because everyone has had a love affair, a broken heart or other emotional experiences. "But it is not always that blues music talks about sadness, loneliness and downturns in life," Lerner said. "It also talks about falling in love, celebration of life, and freedom from slavery and oppressions."

Lerner, like most musicians, has many guitar heroes from whom he learned and copied styles. BB King, Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan are some of the bluesmen that taught him many "tricks of licks."

People often come to Lerner after a gig and give him various comments such as "you sounded like Stevie Ray Vaughan," or "your tunes were a mix of Slash and Clapton." This can be attributed to the fact that he earnestly tries to "pick goodies" from just about any guitar player who does a new guitar trick. "I take a bit from everybody's pot - a bit from BB King, a bit from Albert King, a bit from Stevie Ray Vaughan and put them in my pot. You stir these inspirations together and it becomes your individuality."

When John Parnaby, a lifelong musician, thought about putting together his band Sokinwet, Lerner was his first choice as a guitarist. "I was impressed with the energy and emotion he brings to his playing. He puts a lot of himself into his playing and isn't just looking to impress with a few fancy licks," Parnaby said.

"Being a self-taught player gives [Scott] a uniqueness of style. Scotty has that ability to either rip into a lick from the masters or to give a little taste of his own musical personality in every note."

Lerner draws inspiration from blues pioneer Robert Johnson, who gave such classic songs as "Walking Blues" and "Sweet Home Chicago." He is fascinated by rumors about Johnson trading his soul to the devil in exchange for the guitar expertise. This is not because Lerner "believes in devil worship" but because of the dedication and fanaticism Johnson had for music.

A single ritual that Lerner observes everyday is to listen to BB King's "Live at the Regal" album at least once. "There is something about that music because it is as relevant now as it was then. I listen to the first four or five songs every time before I go to play in a gig as it puts me in a right frame of mind."

At the moment he is happy to play music in Sokinwet, a blues band, whose other members are all in their 50s and 60s. "I cannot ask for more than being paid to do something that I passionately love to do. It's good clean fun."

"He has always been a great guitar player, but has really become incredible in the last few years by dedicating a lot of time to guitar," Aloisi said.

Lerner does not see much future in Boston, where the blues as a musical tradition has limited audience in a few small geographical pockets.

"I might eventually move to a city like Chicago, where the music scene is still pretty decent," Lerner said with one hand on the steering wheel, the other one punching text onto his iPhone and BB King's "How Blue Can You Get?" loudly playing in his car. He seems to be a quintessential multi-tasking youth, but with a musical taste of an era gone by.