Country Crooner Sammy Kershaw's Got the Blues

Though he's enjoyed his greatest commercial success as a country artist, Louisiana singer Sammy Kershaw's always enjoyed all types of music. But even some longtime fans might not know that blues is a part of his idiomatic foundation, alongside the country and Cajun sounds that have permeated and defined his biggest hits.

It's taken a while, but Kershaw has finally released a blues LP. The Blues Got Me was actually completed in 2008 and mastered in 2009. However an extremely busy touring schedule, coupled with other releases, kept it on the shelf until May, when Kershaw decided it was time to get this one out. "I've been doing some of the songs in my live shows for a long time," he recently told the Scene. "I had even put one or two of these on other albums, but did them in a country vein. So I just felt like the album had been on the shelf for a long time, and let's get it out there."

"I grew up in the dance halls and heard all kinds of music," Kershaw continued. "The blues has most definitely had an impact on me, just like country and Cajun and zydeco. A lot of times, when you're talking about blues and country, it's really the same feeling, but you've got different arrangements and instrumentation. They both speak to the soul, and they're both about the soul, about expressing your true feelings from the heart about whatever your situation is in a song."

The Blues Got Me includes a rollicking cover of Chuck Berry's "No Money Down," a poignant reworking of Solomon Burke's hit "Honey, Where's the Money Gone" and a dynamic rendition of The Allman Brothers' "It's Not My Cross To Bear." But the most intriguing part of Got Me, save for the stylistic departure, is it's also a compositional showcase for Kershaw, who either wrote or co-wrote seven of album's the compositions.

"I don't even consider myself a writer that way," Kershaw explained. "But when we started cutting the songs, I just sat down and started writing and it really started flowing that way. I kept the blues in mind with all the tunes I was doing. Before I knew it we had a bunch of material that was ready to go, and I was really happy with what was happening." Kershaw also points to zydeco and swamp-pop as two other influences that seep into the numbers, citing everything as part of what he heard in his youth.

Sammy Kershaw's third cousin was the legendary Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw. He got his first electric guitar at age 11, and a year later was touring the Southwest with area bandleader J.B. Perry. He endured some tough times personally and professionally during the '80s, even at one point departing the music business for the retail world. But a tape submitted to Mercury Records by a friend in 1990, followed by a triumphant showcase performance, led to a deal and the '90s proved his breakout decade.

Over that time, Kershaw enjoyed huge success playing traditional country and honky-tonk, as well as more pop-influenced material. His 1991 LP Haunted Heart, one of two early '90s platinum LPs he enjoyed, is still regarded by many as his finest, particularly the single "She Don't Know She's Beautiful." But he also had big hits on the other end of the country spectrum, among them a fine cover of The Amazing Rhythm Aces' "Third Rate Romance" and the 1994 LP Feelin' Good Train. His last big hit that decade was "Love Of My Life" from the LP Labor of Love, which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.

Kershaw pursued both music and politics for several years, finishing second twice in bids for lieutenant governor of Louisiana, while also recording for a variety of labels with limited success and exposure. But he's bounced back in a big way over the past couple years. The 2014 LP Do You Know Me: A Tribute To George Jones ranks alongside Haunted Heart in the Kershaw catalog. It features 13 Possum classics, plus one stellar original, "The Route I Took." "That one I didn't care whether it sold one copy or 100,000, that one was one I had to do," Kershaw said. "George Jones has been one of my idols pretty much all my life. He's one of those people who has so much soul and honesty in their voice, someone that you know when they sing, every thing that comes out is truth."

Along with Got Me, Kershaw's also issued another full-length this year called I Won't Back Down. It's the first album he's produced himself, and it includes a fine version of R.B. Greaves' "Take a Letter Maria," plus the strong title cut (a Tom Petty cover), and a seasonal fun tune, "Grillin' and Chillin'." Kershaw is currently maintaining a busy performance schedule, while planning future releases.

"I want to put out a gospel album next, and then one of the swamp-pop and rock 'n' roll I grew up hearing," Kershaw said. "I'm also working on my autobiography. I started out in the dance halls as a kid and I've been on the road 46 years. I still love my job and I really love all kinds of music. I think that music is something that unites people, and that's what I want to do with all the projects that I'm going to put out there from now on."