The Burnaby NOW arts reporter, Marelle Reid, recently chatted with Khari Wendell McClelland of The Sojourners about his career and upcoming performance at this summer's Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.
Question: Where are you from?
Answer: I'm from Detroit, Michigan. I've been in Vancouver now for eight years.
Q: What brought you here?
A: Well, it started with a period where I had been really involved in academic life and I was working at a factory in Detroit. Also, it was the end of a 15-year relationship, and things changed really quickly.
When I came out here I ended up being really connected with the arts community pretty immediately and my first employment when I moved here was as a florist. So that was the first thing I did when I moved here, but I knew that I wanted to do something artistic with my life, and I'd played music as I was growing up. And then I'd had a relationship with someone who was a touring musician and was a pretty prominent solo artist, and I started an a capella gospel quartet with her and some other friends.
From there, I met The Sojourners in their original formation maybe six years ago now. It was at the Vancouver Folk Festival. We were all on stage together and I sang an old gospel tune and they just immediately started singing in harmony with me. From then on, every time I saw them it was like, 'Hey, we should sing together,' and then one of the members fell ill and they needed someone to sort of fulfill that role and that's when I was called to ask if I would become part of the group and that's been three years ago now.
Q: Are the other two in the group also from the States?
A: Yeah, Will (Sanders) was born in Alexandria, Louisiana, and Marcus (Mosely) was born in Ralls, Texas, and both spent time in California as they got older, so yeah, we're all from the States and all found ourselves in Vancouver for different reasons. I think it's been a great move for all of us. It's been a healthy and creative career (move) for us.
Q: Where do The Sojourners perform? Are you a touring group?
A: Yeah, we just got back from the Winnipeg Jazz Festival last week and we're going to be going to Dawson City for the Dawson City Music Festival in the Yukon. We'll go back out towards the east again to play the Winnipeg BBQ and Blues Festival. We'll be doing of course a variety of roots and blues festivals (this summer).
Q: Can you tell me about your latest album?
A: It's really cool. It's not titled yet, but it's definitely, I would say, more blues centered. Still gospel, but centred musically and instrumentally around the song structure and arranging around the blues more . the last two albums were more on the folk side and this one's, I don't know, maybe a little bit more danceable and a little bit more energetic. It's not a total departure (from our original sound), but we're just sort of realizing we have a lot of fun when we sing certain songs and kind of went in a direction that kind of lended itself to an energetic show.
Q: How would you describe your group's genre?
A: I would say it's sort of rootsy gospel music. It's three-part harmony in the style of the early gospel quartets. You know, people like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye, and you know, the list goes on and on and on, and they almost all started by singing gospel music in churches.
Q: Have you toured in the States?
A: We've played in the States. We haven't done much touring, but I think that's going to change in the next little while. We're actually going to Australia this year, to spend Christmas and New Year's touring festivals and we're going to the U.K. and Denmark in the spring, so yeah, lots of things are going well.
Q: What can your Burnaby fans expect from your set at the Blues and Roots Fest this summer?
A: A really energetic show. I feel like the group really has an intention of addressing social issues. I think that it's music that is good for reflection and, you know, sometimes we find ourselves with situations in our lives that are challenging and we don't know which way to turn and we look for solace in music sometimes and I think the music that we do is a place for joyful recognition of brotherhood and sisterhood. I think it's music the people leave feeling more themselves, leave feeling joyful (after hearing). . It's the basic questions of existence, you know, why am I here? What's my purpose here? And our group is not religious, we're not trying to proselytize, or tell anybody anything, but rather (to perform for an audience) that is made up of multiple (beliefs) and different sexual orientations. There is no dogma in terms of anything besides trying to be kind and good to yourself and to others and that's really the centre of what we're trying to do.
Q: Where does the name The Sojourners come from?
A: Jim Byrnes, who's won a Juno in the blues category, . before I was in the group, he had the group sing on a couple of albums and he just brought the three
original members together to do that and he also suggested the name The Sojourners and that name stuck.
Q: Are you looking forward to playing in Burnaby?
A: Oh, yeah, I'm so excited to be playing. The couple that I've gone to, I've really appreciated the quality - like, whoever's choosing the bands does a great job. I think we're incredibly excited to see Charles Bradley. . He sings about the real challenges that people are facing and how they can do better, how they can rise up and live happy and good lives.
Q: What was it like to get a Juno nomination?
A: It's always nice to know that you're being recognized and that people are listening to you, and I think that's the goal of any musician, is to want to be heard by people and have it resonate with them and it's recognition that people who listen a lot to music and I think have a lot of experience within those genres, listen to something that we create and think it's a mark of excellence.
It's always great to have that happen.
What: The 14th annual Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival. Headlining the festival is Blue Rodeo, the country-rock band on tour celebrating 25 years together. In addition to The Sojourners, the lineup includes funk/soul/R&B singer Charles Bradley, Canadian blues-rock musician Shaun Verreault, blues/soul/R&B singer Shakura S'Aida, multi-award-winning blues guitarist David Gogo, folk-rock/reggae duo Jon and Roy, blues rocker ZZ Ward, multi-instrumentalist and Emmy-nominated composer John Lee Sanders, folk-rock artist Vince Vaccaro, singer Ndidi Onukwulu, and the six-piece ensemble band Brickhouse. The 12 bands will perform on three stages this year.
When: The festival takes place on Aug. 10 from 1 to 10 p.m. Gates open at noon. There will be a Blues Family Area, with activities for kids, open from noon to 7 p.m. Children must be supervised by a parent or guardian.
Where: Deer Lake Park in Burnaby.
Tickets: Advance single tickets are $65 and a pack of four is $180. On the day of the festival, single tickets will be available for $75. Children 12 and under get in free with an adult. For more information and/or tickets, call the box office at 604-205-3000 or visit www.burnabybluesfestival.com.
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