Press | Hartford Advocate - Staying True to Tradition

"Charley Patton isn't doing anything different than Hendrix in becoming one with the instrument. It's about expressing oneself and that root of expression was most powerful to me," says Sardinas.

Finding the traditional music on record was the easy part, playing it presented its own set of problems. Sardinas is left-handed in everything, but he learned to play guitar with his right hand. Unlike other kids who play guitar, Sardinas was drawn to the hefty, acoustic guitars that made this deep, soulful music that flowed from the Delta.

"I started playing guitar acoustically at an early age," he says. "I was drawn to fat-body guitars like the thick Gretschs, Gibsons and arch-tops. That was what I considered an electric guitar. I always felt more comfortable with a thicker instrument in my hands."

But Sardinas didn't stop there. He knew that first-generation Delta bluesmen customized the instrument to fit their voice. Instead of trying to sing to the guitar and make the guitar sound like the human voice, they would tune their guitars to their voice. Over time, instrument and human became one.

"What they did with what they had has given us the most powerful music I've ever heard," says Sardinas.

So at an early age, while everyone else was running to music stores to buy a Jimi Hendrix custom Stratocaster, Sardinas took a road not often taken to discover his unique guitar voice.

"I was drawn to the acoustic resonator because it was expressive and it really worked well with my slide," he says. "Then, I decided to make it louder. I electrified my resonator in 1990 when I was 18 years old, long before anybody else was thinking about it. I took an old pickup and just drilled holes in it. The guitars I play are crude, go outta tune, but it's my own thing, a traditional blues instrument and I make it what it is for me, everything from a weeping willow to a chain saw. This is me."

Because of that guitar fire live and on record, he's initially thought of as a monster guitarist.

Remember, once the lights go down, Sardinas is the polar opposite of the reserved guy you spoke with at the door. In his trio format, he explores music vistas spontaneously with Paul Loranger, his bass foil since 1991, and Mike Dupke, his new drummer.

"It's very groove-oriented and of the moment. I think that groove is a critical part of the blues. When I say groove-oriented, I mean it moves away from straight shuffling. We can go in different directions at the drop of a note."

For Sardinas, this is the organic nature of his playing -- to follow the will of the music.

"It's a place that's so hard to define. Even though I put myself out there, it's really an introverted expression," he says.

At 30, Sardinas has recorded two high-octane CDs fueled by the blues. In July, he's releasing his third.

"I consider each of my records a musical photograph or freeze-frame of where I was at at that moment," says Sardinas. "The first two albums showed where I was coming from musically. There's a lot more to me that is coming through on my new record. Musically and lyrically it's more a representation of where I'm at and how I've gotten here."

Friday, May 30, 9 p.m.

Black-eyed Sally's, 350 Asylum St., Hartford, 278-RIBS

Remember the quiet guy with the long, wavy hair you talked to before the show? The one you thought probably never talks above a whisper? Be ready for the metamorphosis. By the middle of the show, look for him to be stripped down to the waist, brandishing body tattoos, covered with curly hair matted to his head, and ridin' the strings of a battered resonator guitar he's customized.

All you need to know about Eric Sardinas is what the tattoo on his back says. "Respect Tradition." This isn't body art he designed last year; he's had it since 1990.

"Nobody can tell me that where I come from or what I play isn't in the right place. Or that I'm not respecting the music," says Sardinas. "I grew up really enthralled with the sound of blues, and so I am really rooted in straight blues."

Sardinas' jumping-off point is a reminder of his dedication to the time-honored conventions of the blues. As a child in Florida, he was more exposed to R&B and mainstream blues. Once bitten by the music, he backtracked into straight-ahead Chicago blues. Then Mississippi Delta blues. Then back further to early country blues.