Bluesman Chris Vincent Croons of the Past and the Present
Chris Vincent is surrounded by guitars and sunlight in his French Quarter home. His blind golden mutt Cindy, a Vieux Carré oracle and flâneuse, cocks her head as Vincent plucks strings from his 1947 Gibson L7 named “Gloria.” From northern New Jersey, Chris Vincent is a bluesman who in another life rose to the surface from the bayous of Louisiana. He came here in 2022 for the second time in his life on a journey not many people travel to The Big Easy to take: the road to sobriety.
After a divorce, achieving sobriety and the passing of his father, he decided it was time to go south and settle in the only place he says has ever felt like home.
“I couldn’t write the stuff I was writing anywhere else but here,” he says. “This place is fertile in ways I can’t really describe. Everybody is here for different reasons and a lot of them are searching inside of themselves looking for something. ”
His sobriety gets him up early and he spends the time as the sun rises songwriting and workshopping the music he will eventually tinker with and develop throughout the day. Many songs get written in one session and are refined over 24 to 48 hours. It’s an amplified and fast process that he believes came from not doing it for so long in the years when alcohol clouded his creativity.
“This little story would not be so cut and dry,” Vincent sings on his April 2024 album’s title track “Things Have Changed.” “Things have changed … and so have I. I rode and I tumbled, folded and crumbled a thousand times before.”
His voice reverberates with a tone of hopefulness that outweighs the darkness of his past.
“New Orleans allows for the lyrical substance of the songs a lot of the time and as far as the guitar is concerned, I’m very much a student of jazz.” He says his jazz inspiration and abilities, honed with playing alongside NOLA notable drummer Johnny Vidacovich, ensures that not all of his songs sound the same.
He recalls the very first step into his lifelong musical adventure. The first time he ever played the guitar, it was an open B chord while trying to learn Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” at age 15. “I remember finding a guitar book (we didn’t have the internet back then) and being so proud of myself when I went from a B to a C chord.”
That was his initiation into the foray of the artist life before he laid down his true foundation in New Orleans, the birthplace of his songwriting capabilities. On “New Orleans, My Darling,” he croons about the city having had its way with him. However, the city that inspires Vincent as a songwriter is not defined by the same somber path depicted in cautionary tales like “House of the Rising Sun,” but rather highlights the positive aspects of New Orleans. Like the mighty Mississippi that flows several blocks from his house, he is always changing and evolving.
In February, local filmmaker Gian Smith approached him at a show at The Howlin’ Wolf. He had been enchanted by Vincent’s song “Half Block Cadillac” and immediately asked the guitarist to do the score on his “Sopranos”-esque film, “The Capitalist.”
Vincent lights up talking about his latest project with Vidacovich. They formed The Real Deals and have an album on the way. Vidacovich is a hero to him.
Sipping what he calls his “rocket fuel,” Vincent reflects on what he really does when he’s not playing guitar and he can’t really think of anything else.
“What can I say? I’m an addict. I traded one addiction for the other.”
Fun Details
Astrological Sign Leo or Virgo cusp Aug. 23
Instagram @chrisvincentmusic
Songwriting Motto “Nobody found Jesus on prom night.”
Q&A
What advice would you have for someone who wants to play guitar starting later in life? Practice! Play the guitar for your own reasons and on your own time and don’t rush going out in front of people before you are ready. And more than anything else, enjoy it.
What is the most memorable guitar performance you’ve ever witnessed? Charlie Sexton with Bob Dylan in Asbury Park about 10 years ago. Charlie is an unbelievably inspiring player. In New Orleans, it was a jazz bass guitar player named Dave Stryker at Snug.
Where should someone who is visiting New Orleans go to see live music? Snug Harbor and The Davenport Lounge. Snug is a pure listening experience.
