By Spencer Sadler

For over 50 years, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater has been singing the blues. And with the schedule that he has coming up, he doesn't have time to consider slowing down at all. In fact, a few days before our phoner from his home in Chicago, Clearwater was in England where he was headlining a line-up of musicians paying homage to Rock-a-billy, "We celebrated it (the genre) good," he laughs.
What keeps him going after all these years? It may sound clich*, but it is truly the fans. "Being around the people, and meeting new people that are in to the music makes me happy. Just the fact that if someone enjoys what I'm doing gives me a lot of enthusiasm to continue doing it. It's a good feeling."
Also, since Clearwater has been in the business so long and has frequented the same clubs (like he has in his return to Goodfellas), he has cultivated a following of familiar faces, so that in a lot of respects, it's like visiting friends with each stop on his tour. "We have a good friend and her husband that always comes out when we're in Hampton," says Clearwater. "Her name is Tracy and she's very supportive of me. They always show up, and we always have a good time." He explains that there are other such people on his city to city tours that he considers good friends, and he looks forward to seeing these people with each CD that he's out supporting. It is this personalized approach that Clearwater emphasizes and credits for his "positive direction."
"It gets better and better," Clearwater states of his musical progression over the years. "It's like a fine wine that gets better with age," he laughs. Even though the blues has a small niche in the market place of the music world, Clearwater expects big things in the future of the genre. "I think that the blues will escalate and move way forward. That's my prediction. I think that the younger generation is picking up on it and getting some insight in to the music, and it is a universal language, a common ground. Like good news, the word is starting to spread. Like 'l' Man River, who just kept floating along until someone notices."
Over his long legendary career, Clearwater has dealt with many labels and though he still never speaks negatively on any one, you get a sense that some of his dealings with record labels have been strained. He chalks these less-than-perfect relationships up to differences in artistic opinions. "Each one has their own ideas and ways of doing things," he says. "It may be the same subject, but they all have a different concept of it."
Clearwater continues, "But, this is what I like about Bullseye because they let me express my ideas when I go in to the studio. In other words, I write my songs and then send them in to whoever is producing my sessions, and they pretty much go with my ideas. They allow me to express myself as opposed to just them getting me to see things their way."
Though Clearwater has not been with a label where he was forced to succumb to "their way", he knows that that is a common problem in the business with major labels. In fact, he thinks the main reason why the music industry is on the ropes is because they are too suggestive or overbearing. There are too many cookie cutter groups being produced by the same producers and as a result everything sounds the same.
"If you can't express your own ideas, then you aren't expressing what is coming from you but just their view of it. They produce things with a certain few producers' ideas and not the artists' ideas. That's the thing that I resent about it." So, as a result, you can flip up and down the radio dial, and though the voices may change all the music sounds the same because its from the same labels and producers. As a result the music business is at an all time low.
Clearwater's business, on the other hand, has never been better. He has more engagements than he's ever had. More recognition than he's ever had. And, makes more friends with each trip out. "I really love what I'm doing. You've got to love it or you wouldn't be able to survive in this business. And, I love making people happy with my music."