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“ I started pushing a lot more, going to open mics, and eventually, I got my first gig somewhere along the line, and it’ s just kind of steadily rolled on ever since,” Connor said.
Connor began playing the guitar more seriously about a year before the pandemic, but it wasn’ t until after COVID-19 that he realized he could really do something with music.“ I started pushing a lot more, going to open mics, and eventually, I got my first gig somewhere along the line, and it’ s just kind of steadily rolled on ever since,” Connor said.
At first, he was self-taught and thought he had it figured out. Then his mom found guitar teacher Jim Seals in Perkins.“ It was through those lessons that I realized that I really didn’ t know as much as I thought I did,” Connor said.“ He had me on a good, fast pace, and so I was able to learn so much more through him – not just the guitar but through music, and that just set me on a good roll.”
Connor began playing with different bands and found the experience helped him grow.“ Music is one of those things that you really can’ t learn through books, you have to learn it by ear,” he said.
He’ s still solidifying his own Blues style, but for now his style closely resembles Buddy Guy’ s style – who plays an“ electrified” Blues sound with a full band – or the acoustic style of Charley Patton and Louis Johnson.
“ Each part of the music that I listen to and that I’ m exposed to, there’ s parts that I like and there’ s parts that I like listening to, but don’ t like playing myself,” he said.“ Over time, I’ ve kind of learned to take bits and pieces from all those different types of music – country, Red Dirt, rock and roll – find those parts of( that) music that I like and blend it all together in a specific Blues style that I’ m still not 100 % sure what it is. And it’ s constantly changing and forming.”
Understanding the history of Jazz and Blues is very important for
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any Blues musician, Connor said. What informed his own music was traveling to notable cities in the nation where Blues and Jazz music was born – stopping in places such as New Orleans, the Mississippi Delta or attending a concert by Blues guitarist Tab Benoit in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Instead of visiting family on spring break one year, he opted to travel the Mississippi Blues Trail.
“ In New Orleans, traditional Jazz is completely different than most of the Jazz that people know,” Connor said.“ The culture that’ s down there, along with the other styles of Jazz and Blues that you hear is something that has completely struck me. … That’ s where you’ ll find some of the oldest styles and some of the more soulful music.”
Jazz has fewer“ restrictions” on style, while the Blues is more structured, allowing musicians to play creatively within a“ box-like” structure, while appealing to the emotions, he said.
“ Blues is a music that started out of a very bad time and a very rough part of history, and through time you’ re able to realize that the music has lasted longer than any pain ever will,” he said.“ It also makes you realize how deeply the music is rooted in what you feel. … That’ s the part I love the most about it.”
Connor said he often works through how he’ s feeling by writing lyrics and playing his guitar.“ A lot of the things I write about are directly related to things that happened to me,” he said. That could be like telling a story or simply how he’ s feeling when he wakes up.
Over time, he noticed something.
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