John Mayall. 8 p.m. March 9. $25 advance plus fees; $28 day of the show. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-524-7354, variety-playhouse.com.
John Mayall may be a man of few words, but at 82 the Godfather of British Blues continues to let the music do his talking, with no plans on ending that conversation any time soon.
Mayall, who formed his original Bluesbreakers in London circa 1963, not only introduced the world to his handpicked arsenal of rotating bandmates — Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Peter Green — he schooled listeners in blues history and the artists who inspired him. Suddenly, teenagers were uttering names like Sonny Boy Williamson, J.B. Lenoir and Freddie King.
More than 60 studio albums later, Mayall’s own name will go into the Blues Hall of Fame in May alongside those whose praises he’s been singing his entire career. In the month of March alone, he’ll only take one day off as Mayall and his band hit the road to support his latest album, “Find a Way to Care,” an exercise in Chicago-style electricity and Southern soul.
He recently took time between tour stops to talk about his band, his latest album and the state of the blues.
Q: Your band has been together for seven years. You've said the rapport may be the best you've ever experienced. What makes this group special?
A: It's the personal relationships between the musicians and the skill on the instruments, of course. Everybody locks into the same key, and we just get along so well and enjoy playing so much. It's just a real pleasure to go out on the road. … In order to make good music, you have to have that good relationship with the musicians who create it. It's definitely a creative thing that comes out of the way we react to each other musically.
Q: Your latest album has six covers and six originals. What's the magic formula for choosing the right songs?
A: If there are songs I want to record, we record them until we have enough material for an album's length. Whether I write them or whether they're written by someone else, they have to have a different feel to them so when you play an album the songs are all in different keys, they have different moods and different tempos. There's a feeling that you're listening to a bunch of singles rather than an album. In a lot of cases, people don't seem to pay attention to that and songs blend into each other and tend to sound the same. So I try and avoid that.
Q: Last year, you released the John Mayall's Bluesbreakers album "Live in 1967" that had never been released. It featured Peter Green and the band that would go on to form Fleetwood Mac. What's it like going back and listening to a time capsule like that?
A: It's not only historically very valuable, but I think the energy in the music is totally captured. And it gives people a glimpse of what it was like working with Peter Green playing at his very finest. I don't think he ever did anything else that equaled that.
Q: What do you think of the state of the blues in the 21st century?
A: I think it's in a very healthy state, and I think it's evidenced by the number of younger players who are reaching their teenage years and finding a great attraction to the blues. So it's a long and happy relationship that we have, and there's no chance of it dying out. … It's a very wonderful situation that all of this stuff is available now digitally and online. People do have access to all of the history of the music. You can't beat that.
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