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Kevin (Sonny) Gullage was a teenage bandleader playing a residency at B.B. King’s Blues Club in New Orleans when he discovered he was probably a part of blues royalty.
One of his uncles approached him at the club five or six years ago and pointed to an old black-and-white photograph of the legendary Lead Belly, one of the most influential folk and blues pioneers in the 1930s and 1940s. His uncle said the man on the wall was part of the family. Needless to say, it was a monumental discovery for the now 25-year-old blues player that his bloodline went back to Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. Well, it probably does.
“He said ‘Yeah, before we were Gullages, our last name was Ledbetter,’” says Gullage, in a phone interview with Postmedia. “He said it in a very nonchalant way.”
Gullage wasn’t sure what to believe. But not long afterwards, his aunt said the same thing. It may seem strange that there isn’t 100 per cent certainty, but that’s only because there is such little documentation available. It’s never even been firmly established when Lead Belly was born, although it’s usually listed as 1888 or 1889.
“So much of our lineage and history comes from the oral tradition, not through written documents or papers,” Gullage says. “You can barely find those on most people in my family. My grandfather technically did not exist until a few years back when he had some health issues. They tried to put him into the hospital and they had no record of him being alive. He’s 90-something years old now and for 90-something (years), he just didn’t exist.”
Finding documentation that Gullage’s impressive blues lineage goes back to Lead Belly may never happen, but his ties to gospel royalty are well-established. His grandmother, Sister Alberta Gullage, was a recording artist in the 1960s. She had 12 children. Six were girls who had their own gospel group. Six were boys, including Sonny’s father Tony, who also had a gospel group. Tony Gullage, who now plays bass with his son as part of Sonny Gullage and the Blues Groovers, also played with Dr. John and Henry Butler, among others. So there are all sorts of shades of blue in young Sonny’s DNA.
“(Gullage ) was a big name in gospel music,” says the artist, who will play with the Blues Groovers on Saturday, Aug. 3 on the mainstage at Millennium Park (now called Cowboys Park) as part of Calgary Bluesfest. “But then to hear that besides gospel music, it’s the blues. What you do now, you were meant for that somehow. That’s in you. That is who you were meant to be.”
Whether this fate was pre-determined or not, a quick listen to the three singles available from Gullage’s upcoming album Go Be Free – scheduled for release on Aug. 23 – suggests he has become a faithful inheritor of the many styles he soaked up growing up just outside of The Big Easy.
“Forty-five to the east was New Orleans, while 45 minutes to the west was the Bayou areas,” he says. “Those have two vastly different cultures in music. So while I had to learn how to be just as good as the jazz and the blues guys and the gospel and R&B guys in New Orleans, I also had to be just as good as the swamp-pop guys, the zydeco and Cajun-music guys, the country-music people to the other side.”
On top of that, Gullage’s career has had a number of intriguing tangents, even if he is only in his mid-20s. He was still in high school when he was selected to be the pianist for the 2017 Thelonious Monk All-Star Quartet. A few years later, at the age of 19, he began his residency at The B.B. King Blues Club in New Orleans. When that club shut down due to the pandemic, he tried out for the 20th season of American Idol under the name Kevin Gullage. He made it to the showstopper round although didn’t make the Top 24.
“I had both of those two prior experiences under my belt,” says Gullage. “So when I got to Idol, I was all about being me. It was ‘let me go out there and show them what I got.’ That did a great deal for me, just being myself the whole time. I approached every stage that I performed like it would be my last, which was a lesson that I learned during my B.B. King days. I had my own Sonny Gullage flair to it, where I would mess with the audience a little or I would speak to them a little. It all came to together to paint a picture of who I was and the artist was luckily myself.”
Yet his artistry continues to be influenced by those around him., particularly the veteran players he enlisted for the Blues Groovers.
“The Blues Groovers and I are a family,” he says. “Every step of the way they had my back and still to this day. In recording the new album, they didn’t record on it but they are going to be playing it live. They are going to be doing the work. Being an artist is not just about being in the spotlight, it’s about sharing the spotlight with those who deserve it to be shared.
Sonny Gullage and the Blues Groovers play the main stage at Cowboys Park (now Millennium Park) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. as part of Calgary Bluesfest, which runs until Sunday. Visit calgarybluesfest.com.