Blues Musician Gives the Homeless a Voice

from Knowledge Plex

Mighty Sam McClain is a man who understands a bit about misfortune.

The veteran bluesman, who sings with a powerful voice at once soulful and sweet, has lived one of those lives in which good luck often seemed to pass him by.

It is this life of experience, faith and resilience that lends extra meaning to McClain's words and vocals on the compilation album Give Us Your Poor, part of a fund-raising campaign to bring attention to the many faces of homelessness and poverty in America. Give Us Your Poor is a non-profit charity based at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. The CD, several performances and a documentary film are all bringing focus to the cause.

McClain, who has made his home in New Hampshire since the early '90s, worked with Jersey boy Jon Bon Jovi to contribute "Show Me The Way" to the Poor CD. The song is not the one of the same name done by '70s rocker Peter Frampton; it's a first-hand account of a guy seeking guidance from inside and from above to overcome hard times.

The Give Us Your Poor CD also features contributions from an eclectic group of performers, from Natalie Merchant to Keb 'Mo, from Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger to Sweet Honey in the Rock.

"There are such myths, such hogwash, about the homeless in this country," McClain said earlier this week, as he rehearsed for upcoming shows throughout New Hampshire and in Russia. "We want to believe these are bums. Lazy bums. These are people with jobs. Trying! Trying! This is a hard, hard world sometimes. And we need to shine light on that."

McClain knows all about that hard world.

Born in Louisiana in 1943, he found joy in singing in his mom's church choir when he was 5. By the time he was a teenager, though, McClain was being abused by his stepfather and finally escaped the only way he could - through a bedroom window. He found himself homeless

but not hopeless; he began to work for a regionally popular R&B performer. By 1966, McClain found some success with a solo recording of Patsy Cline's "Sweet Dreams."

Success didn't build on success, though, and for the next three decades McClain found himself working menial jobs, sometimes selling his blood to raise cash, and gradually becoming a part of the nation's homeless invisibles.

McClain doesn't dwell on the near-misses of his life. Instead, he sees them as proof that his survival was part of God's larger plan.

"There was a gradual, humbling process. I can remember seeing guys so desperate they were eating out of garbage cans, and I'm thinking, 'How can you be eating out of a garbage can?' " he said. "Then later, it's me eating out of a garbage can, and there's my answer. You eat out of a garbage can because you're hungry."

As a man born in the pre-civil-rights deep South, McClain has also experienced racism, both subtle and overt, throughout his life. His former wife and current wife are both white, which has caused much antagonism. He recalls arriving in Alabama in the early 1970s and walking down a street with his then-wife, a simple act that was so distressing to locals that they stopped their cars in the middle of the street to glare.

By the early '90s, McClain was collaborating with Boston-area musicians, and he eventually settled in Newmarket.

He also finally found the path to a notable career. One amateur music reviewer on Amazon.com wrote that McClain's delivery "moves you at the gut level." It's a voice that conveys an understanding of the blues that only comes firsthand.

"What I've been through, it's made me who I am, what I am," said McClain. "It's all about being humbled, being thankful and realizing that this earth is just a giant room, and life in this room isn't always easy. We need to help each other out."

(Give Us Your Poor is available at music stores and online, as are McClain's solo albums. Mighty Sam McClain performs Saturday at the Blow Me Down Grange Hall in Plainfield at 7 p.m. and Sunday at the Stone Church in Newmarket at 7 p.m. For more information, check mightysam.com.)