DISCOGRAPHY 1971-2017 (20CD)
BIOGRAPHY
(Donnie) Walsh has been called the 'father of Canadian blues' and with good reason. He is a blues pioneer on the Canadian scene. It was Walsh who paid the highest dues so that later Canadian blues acts, such as the Jeff Healey Band, the Colin James Band, the Powder Blues, Sue Foley, The Sidemen and The Highliners could also enjoy their success.
The Canadian blues scene, which has blossomed nicely in the last few years, was relatively barren in the late 1960s when The Downchild Blues Band first started out.
The Downchild Blues Band was formed in Toronto in the year 1969 and
continues to perform today. It was co-founded by two brothers, Donnie
("Mr. Downchild") Walsh and Richard ("Hock") Walsh.
The band's international fame is partially due to three of its songs, the
originals "I've Got Everything I Need (Almost)" and "Shot Gun Blues", and
its adaptation of "Flip, Flop and Fly", all from its 1973 album, Straight
Up, being featured on the first Blues Brothers album, Briefcase Full of
Blues (1978). "Flip, Flop and Fly" has been Downchild's only hit single,
and became the signature song of Hock Walsh.
The band name came from the Sonny Boy Williamson II song, "Mr.
Downchild". The initial band membership was Donnie ("Mr. Downchild")
Walsh, who remains the sole constant band member, with younger brother
Rick "Hock" Walsh on vocals, accompanied by Dave Woodward, Cash Wall, John
Tanti and Jim Milne. They were the house band at the fabled Grossman's
Tavern from 1968–1970, managed briefly by former musician, Ron Gerston.
Classically-trained pianist Jane Vasey joined the band in 1973.
The initial blues musical influence on Donnie Walsh was Jimmy Reed. He
was later greatly influenced by James Cotton, both in terms of musical
style and band format. Walsh and Cotton later became personal friends.[12]
Donnie Walsh described these early influences as follows: "Jimmy Reed. I
heard him at my girlfriend’s birthday party. Some guys brought a Jimmy
Reed album over and that was it, for me. ...I’d put him on the record
player, and when I went to sleep at night, it would still be playing when
I’d get up in the morning.
Then I’d play him all day, and it was unreal. Then, of course, I spread
out to Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and
Albert King. Then, I got a job in a record store. A blues record store
that stocked 45s only. All alphabetical all around the whole room. You’d
go to the Muddy Waters section, and there would be eight Muddy Waters
singles. You’d go to the Sonny Boy Williamson section, and there would be
five Sonny Boy Williamson singles."
The band's first album, Bootleg, is regarded as one of the first
independent albums ever produced in Canada. It was recorded over two
nights in 1971, in a makeshift studio at Toronto's Rochdale College.
Donnie Walsh and others distributed the album by hand. It was welcomed by
major Toronto music retailer Sam Sniderman, of Sam The Record Man renown,
who was very much disposed to promoting Canadian music. The record was
soon acquired by RCA Records Canada for more general distribution.
According to Donnie Walsh, more than 120 musicians have been associated
with Downchild since its 1969 founding. The band has never lost its focus
on blues music. While certain band members have left to pursue what was
perceived to be a more lucrative rock music career, Donnie Walsh has a
different perspective: "Just around when I started here were all these
guys in blues bands and of course they were impatient and they wanted to
make some more money so they became rock bands. I played the blues then
and I play the blues now. That's what I love. ... It's a living thing,
it's living music.
By living and breathing it goes on and what that means is that instead of
being the same kind of music somebody else wrote years ago, it lives and
evolves. Blues is serious stuff, it's a heavy kind of music in your soul.
You show up with the blues I play, you lighten up. That's what it's all
about. It's like medicine."