The Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues band, described by one reviewer as “the premier blues band in Canada”.
The blues pioneer on the Canadian scene, founding member Donnie Walsh, has been called the ‘father of Canadian blues’ and with good reason. That country’s blues scene, was relatively barren in the late 1960s when The Downchild Blues Band first started out.
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, which was featured on the first Blues Brothers album, Briefcase Full of Blues in 1978.
The band’s musical style is described as being “a spirited, if fundamental, brand of jump-band and Chicago-style blues”. The band name came from the Sonny Boy Williamson II song, “Mr. Downchild”.
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. Other credited influences were Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Albert King.
The band’s first album, Bootleg, is regarded as one of the first independent albums produced in Canada.
According to Donnie Walsh, while more than 120 musicians have been associated with Downchild since its founding the band has never lost its focus on the blues genre.
Walsh is quoted as saying… “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.”
The Lead singer for many years Richard “Hock” Walsh…died on December 31, 1999, at the age of 51, of an apparent heart attack. …Donnie Walsh assessed his brother’s ability as follows: “He was a fabulous singer; he could sing the blues better than anybody I’ve ever heard. He had the timing, the phrasing, a fabulous voice…”
The song, “I’ve Got Everything I Need (Almost)” was selected as one of 125 “essential” Canadian songs, and the only blues song on the list.
Since 1971 the band has released no less than 31 albums and has been the recipient of numerous industry awards.
Source: wikipedia; https://www.downchild.com/