No one said it would be easy: Patrick Sweany to headline Rock for Relief festival
Blues rocker Patrick Sweany will play Waynesville Oct. 4.
File photo
At age 51, acclaimed blues rocker Patrick Sweany has performed over the decades at seemingly at every venue from coast-to-coast and beyond. Through it all, one sentiment still rings true in his heart — “The whole thing is luck and trying to show up as much as possible.”
Raised in Northeast Ohio, Sweany was surrounded by a bevy of music from right out of the gate. His father played acoustic guitar and was a big listener of early 1960s folk music, as well as the bluegrass sounds of Flatt & Scruggs and The Country Gentlemen. There was also a heavy dose of classic country gold, from Conway Twitty to Jon Anderson, Oak Ridge Boys to Don Williams.
“But it was [my father’s] record collection [which] was the thing that brought me around to wanting to play guitar and sing,” Sweany said. “All these great Vanguard and Folkways label stuff. I latched on to the folk stuff that was bluesier and the more R&B flavored selections from the rock-n-roll shelf. My dad was really supportive of me learning to play, when I took an interest in it.”
As a young kid in the 1980s, Sweany began going to folk festivals at nearby Kent State University. From there, he went down the rabbit hole that is early acoustic blues music. After high school, he attended college at Kent State but had “no other ambition than to play music with the people I saw jamming at the folk festival.”
“I practiced playing and singing as much as possible, eventually gigging at night as much as I was going to school,” Sweany recalled. “Mostly solo [gigs], then put a trio together, and could still read the books I needed to read, and stay up all night every other week writing papers.”
With razor-sharp guitar licks and a ferocious voice that howled into the night, Sweany started to make a name for himself around Ohio and the greater Midwest — his stage presence one of authenticity and truth.
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“When I finally graduated [college], I just kept gigging. Never pursued any other employment,” Sweany said. “Then, it was practice, practice, practice all day. Gig at night in a little three-to-four-hour radius.”
Soon, there was The Patrick Sweany Band, an ensemble that included Dan Auerbach for a period, who would later go on to form The Black Keys. By 2008, Sweany relocated to Nashville and has continued to build this stoic career of honest music by a truly hardworking artist.
“As far as looking back in the rearview, that’s a great way to miss the exit ramp off to the ‘here and now,’” Sweany said. “You live a life performing. You are expressing yourself. You are entertaining people. You are trying to tell people your heaviest feelings and stories in a way that they will hopefully dance to.”
In preparation for his upcoming appearance at the second annual Rock for Relief WNC festival, which will take place in downtown Waynesville Oct. 3-4, Sweany spoke at-length about not what the blues means to him, but also how the live stage pertains to his soaring voice and innate guitar prowess — this lifelong dream still unfolding gig after gig.
Smoky Mountain News: In terms of the live realm, what does that space mean to you whenever you find yourself inhabiting it, especially as you’ve gotten older?
Patrick Sweany: I’ve always been an entertainer. The show is the most important thing in my world. People spent money to hear me play my songs. I want to present those songs in the most powerful and effective way that I can when I play and sing them. I’m there to engage the audience and make them feel like they got something they can’t get anywhere else. I’m going to show up onstage ready to play, and to be myself. There’s never been a time in my life that I didn’t feel that way about the show. And I draw a lot of strength and motivation from that.
SMN: The blues. Where and when does the blues enter your life? Who were the initial musical influences? And what about the music itself, the ethos and culture behind it, really hit deep within you?
PS: I got turned on to the blues at about age 11. I heard Ray Charles sing “Night Time is the Right Time” on TV and it just fascinated me. A year or two later, I got turned on to John Hammond Jr., and Bob Dylan’s first record from dad’s collection, which was about the time I started wanting to play and sing, and dad was teaching me “This Land is Your Land.”
Reading album liner notes turned me on to Lightnin’ Hopkins and Booker White. It all just followed from there into Elmore James, Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Son House, and Mississippi John Hurt through Doc Watson.
All that emotion was a straight line to their music. Unfiltered, yet highly distilled. I couldn’t find anything that did what that music could. I feel exactly the same way about now. The [blues] is always the mountain it’s always been. It’s fully grown. You need to be an adult to understand the nuance and space to bring the emotion through the playing no matter how much a kid practices.
I’m glad that young people are able to see more of the true source players and not having to backtrack through white rock guitar players who really don’t represent what I feel are the most important elements.
I’m always going to be excited this music. It is timeless to me, and it gives me my creative spark.
SMN: What do you see as the role of the singer-songwriter, especially when placed against the chaos and confusion of the modern world?
PS: I know my role is important. I know my role has value. I know it’s my duty as an American to continue to do what I do, to serve as an example of the obligation of young, talented, creative Americans to pursue artistic talents as a career. And that we have an inalienable right to do it.
The American music business is a multi-billion [dollar] industry. It influences the sound of the world since the first-time recorded sound came out a speaker. More people listen to music more often than ever before. There is more music being created than ever before. It is only going to get more important.
Want to go?
The second annual “Rock for Relief WNC ” music festival will be held Oct. 3-4 at multiple venues around Waynesville.
The main live music area will be a full-production setup at the Miller Street Stage in downtown. Headliners to appear onstage at Miller Street will be Patrick Sweany (blues/rock), Big Something Unplugged (jam/acoustic), Asheville All-Stars featuring Jennifer Hartswick and Kebbi Williams (funk/rock), Red Clay Revival (Americana/indie), Pleasure Chest (blues/soul), Arnold Hill (rock/jam) and more.
Tickets for the Miller Street Stage are $20 for Friday, $30 for Saturday or $40 for the weekend pass. There are also VIP ticket upgrades available.
A portion of the proceeds will go to the Haywood County Arts Council (haywoodarts.org). A beer garden, food trucks and artisan vendors will also be onsite. Children ages 12 and under are admitted free.
All shows outside of the Miller Street Stage area are free and open to the public. Those venues include Frog Level Brewing, The Scotsman Public House, The Gem at Boojum Brewing, Blue Ridge Beer Hub, Water’n Hole Bar & Grill, Smoky Mountain Dog Bar, The Station on Main, Valley Cigar & Wine Company, Watami and more.
For more information, a full schedule of acts and/or to purchase tickets, visit rockforreliefwnc.com.
