By Bob Margolin

   If you've been reading the Blues press for the last few years, you've taken in much discussion about how the Blues World is changing. Though there are more Blues festivals, the Blues club scene is generally shrinking. Older Blues fans don't go out as much as they used to and young people (with a few exceptions) aren't as interested in playing or enjoying Blues music as their parents were. The resulting lack of a scene where young Blues musicians can develop may mean that when another generation or two of Blues musicians and fans have passed, Blues as we know it will be "history." 

   The only hope in the future for Blues - performed and recorded by musicians who are both carrying on Blues tradition and making their own contribution - is in the "exceptions" I mentioned parenthetically above: the young, talented musicians who will carry on Blues music their own way.

   I had a great time playing at the King Bis-...uh, "Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival" a few weeks ago, but I was so busy with my three sets that I couldn't check out the "Emerging Artists" stage. I would have loved to see who is indeed emerging and at least I got to hear young Colorado Bluesman John-Alex Mason play some very accomplished deep Delta Blues on the main stage just before I filled in on bass with Diunna Greenleaf's Blue Mercy band.

   But it was at Pinetop Perkins' Annual Homecoming at Hopson Plantation, just south of Clarksdale, Mississippi, on the Sunday after the festival - ironically as traditional a place and player as exists - that I had a chance to look much further on up the road at what may be the future of Blues music twenty-five to fifty years from now. When I arrived, Pinetop's manager Pat Morgan introduced me to The Hiser Brothers - Jacob, 15 and Kane, 16 - who had played on the Emerging Artists stage at the festival and were at the party to jam as much as possible. Jacob was playing some very advanced solo Blues piano when I came in and Kane was carrying in a real upright bass.

Jacob Hiser Playing Solo Blues Piano At Hopson Plantation

Photo by Bob Margolin

Kane Hiser On Upright Bass
University Heights Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri

Photo by John Hiser

   Hearing them jam that day showed me that they were already very developed players and I could hear what they had listened to and been influenced by already in their young lives. They accompanied older musicians with professional competence and experience. They knew both how to play Old School Blues and modern styles, and I could tell that their musical background was not limited to Blues. When Jacob picked up his electric violin, sound engineer Dawn Hopkins thought his tone reminded her of electric Blues harp. I didn't hear that, though he functioned musically as a harp does in a Blues band. I thought he had an interesting electronically-enhanced tone that wasn't exactly like anything traditional, but was musically exciting. It was Jacob Hiser finding and playing his own Blues, already with more originality than any other musician in the house that day.

"...as long as there's a musician,

the Blues will stay alive..."

   I smile just thinking about all the good music these young men are going to play. I knew I wanted to tell you about them in BluesWax, and I wanted to ask them for us: Musician/writers like me often talk about what "young folks" are or are not doing and where they're coming from about Blues - how about letting them tell you themselves:

Jacob Hiser And His Electric Violin Play
For Rumble The Blues Away
At The Oasis Convention Center, Springfield, Missouri

Photo by John Hiser

Bob Margolin for BluesWax: Do you intend to become professional musicians - to make a career from playing?

Kane Hiser: Yes.

Jacob Hiser: I certainly do.

BW: Do you think you would like to be a professional Blues musician specifically, or not be limited by style?

Kane: I don't want to be limited by any genre. There are a lot of other great genres out there. But Blues will always be a part of our lives. It's what's been paying the bills and keeping us going.

Jacob: It won't be primarily Blues. I also enjoy playing Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass...everything, pretty much.

BW: How are your parents encouraging you?

Kane: They spend money on the music gear we need, drive us to our gigs, and make time for us to practice our instruments.

Jacob: Dad also home schools us so we have more time for our music.

BW: How did you become interested in Blues - it's certainly unusual for your age?

Jacob: When we were little, Dad ran sound for a band called Blues Illusion. They rehearsed at our house, so we were always listening. Dad also played fiddle and mandolin a lot. We were always listening to Rock and Blues albums.

BW: Tell us about your musical background, so our readers will know where you're coming from.

Kane: I started playing the piano at seven. As a pianist I have played Classical music for the most part, but I can play other styles as well. I picked up the bass when I was twelve. First it was just electric bass, then, about three years ago, I decided I would try out the acoustic. Ever since I started, I have loved playing the bass.

Jacob: I started taking Classical violin lessons at five years old and piano at seven. My brother and I started playing at our local Blues society's [Blues Society of the Ozarks] monthly jam and picnic when I was eight and he was ten. We both became interested in Jazz fairly recently.

BW: What does Blues music in 2005 look like to you? Is it all "history"? Do you want to become part of today's Blues scene as a player?

Kane: I think Blues is going through a transformation right now. No, as long as there is a musician, the Blues will stay alive, because everybody gets the Blues once in awhile and will feel the need to express it in a musical way. It would be nice to be well known, not just in the Blues world, but in other genres as well. Maybe even start a new kind of music no one has ever heard before. Isn't that what a musician wants to create? To have such a knowledge of music that when we listen to the music which comes from inside of us we break into a whole new realm of sounds and there we'll find out how much we really love to play.

BW: Kane, it's thrilling to hear someone your age with so much talent looking forward to creating new music that way. I bet you will! Jacob?

Jacob: It looks good, although it's not really popular right now. It's not all history. It's great to know your old traditional Blues, but a musician should be able to take Blues and do something new with it. I feel that some musicians are doing that. Yes, I would like to be part of the Blues scene, among other things. Blues is my roots. I feel honored when I get to play with the Blues greats.

BW: Obviously, for Blues music to survive as more than history, young players like yourselves will have to carry it on. From your point of view, do you think that will happen?

Jacob: I believe it could. It will take a collective effort of many other young musicians to do it. A problem we've been having is getting older musicians to take us seriously. We get "They're just kids, what do they know about the Blues?" a lot. I feel that you don't have to live the Blues to play the Blues.

BW: I can testify that older musicians that don't take you seriously would be "lacking vision and perspective," to put it gently. The Blues lifestyle that Howlin' Wolf and Muddy came out of is long gone. And the subsequent lifestyle of the touring Blues band is almost gone now. You are going to find your own way, your own "Blues." There will be similarities to but differences from the old Blues. Thanks for your insights, but as I was saying above, you guys are exceptional for your generation. How do you think other people your age view Blues, such as your friends and young musicians that you work with?

Jacob: Musicians my age view Blues differently than non-musicians my age. The musicians usually learn Blues first and have some Blues influence in whatever style they choose. A lot of the non-musicians are interested in today's Pop or Rock music. I hope they appreciate what Blues has done for today's music.

BW: And I hope that some of them will appreciate Blues for itself...

Kane:Blues is not a real hot genre right now. Although the Internet, I believe, is beginning to change that now, with all the digital music you can find there. People will discover that Blues is a good form of music that will be enjoyed for years to come.

BW: Amen to that. I'm really looking forward to the Hiser Brothers' progress. I know musicians whose parents discouraged them. They take it as a challenge and seize their musical destiny anyway, but it sure is nicer when parents nurture their children's talent. Mine did. We're all enjoying the success of young Daniel "Slick" Ballinger now - he really tore it up at festivals last summer - but just a few years ago, he was still in high school and his mother was driving him to Blues clubs and festivals all over the Southeast to meet and play with musicians that are now his musical peers and partners. Jacob and Kane's father, John Hiser tells us:

A Note From Dad (John): I first noticed Jacob was musical when he was one year old. He had one of those Fisher Price toy pianos and was playing gospel tunes on it. Jacob started writing melodies on manuscript paper when he was three. He would write smiley face notes, but the notation was correct; simple melodies, but awesome for a 3-year-old. Kane started piano at seven years old and bass at twelve. He's been a quick study on the bass. He's also a superb Classical pianist. Both the boys have been interested in music since they were babies. They would dance in front of the speakers in their diapers. We've been asked many times about where the musical abilities came from, Mom or me. Although we both played music and we would like to think it's from us, we believe that it is a gift from God. From the time they started playing, to the time my wife, Cristy, got breast cancer in January of 2004, I tried to keep the boys playing together. But when my wife was diagnosed, Kane stayed home to take care of her while she was going through her cancer treatments. Jacob and I went on the road featuring him with Jazz and Blues acts all around Missouri. Now that Cristy's cancer is in remission and the boys are back together, I hope to continue doing what we're doing and encourage them in the direction they want to go. Things are back in a normal pace and we're ready to move on. My aspirations for my sons are for them to be workable in all aspects of music and be respected for their musical skills, as well as being decent human beings.

Bob, turning to you: I think that John Hiser has already accomplished that for his sons, and I wish his family continued success. The Hiser Brothers have a lot of good music to give to the world, and I'm gratified that they respect and appreciate and play the Blues that will be part of its foundation. To catch up and keep up with The Hiser Brothers, check out their website at www.thehiserbrothers.com.

Bob Margolin is a contributing editor at BluesWax. You may contact Bob at blueswax@visnat.com.