Justin Adams

Justin Adams has sometimes been referred to as the British Ry Cooder. It's true that they both play guitars, produce records, and are fascinated by the music of other cultures. But that's where the resemblance ends. Adams, currently playing in Robert Plant's band, discovered the music of the Middle East when young, before coming up through punk and finding himself, working with any number of people, including a stint in Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart. His solo album, Desert Road, is a wonderful, atmospheric tour of the Maghreb, connecting Arab modes and melodies to Delta blues in a way few have managed.

"I was in punkish groups from the age of 16, in school and through college," he recalled. "The groups got a little more funky, a little more aware of black music, and through that African music would filter in. So I was listening to a lot of reggae, James Brown, but through punky eyes, and African music. I went to Turkey, heard Turkish music, and it was really familiar to me from my childhood in Jordan and Egypt, where my dad worked. I'd forgotten about it, and knew it had all the elements I liked, with a drive and emotional feel. I was in a pop band called The Impossible Dream that never had any commercial success, and I brought in little Arabic scales and things. I felt I could do something mixing all these musics I liked, but it was rare to find people in England who were interested in stuff like that. You could find academic or jokey approaches, but they weren't right for me."

However, someone was pursuing that kind of music, and it seemed almost inevitable that their paths would cross.

"I knew Jah Wobble was interested in Arabic music, and I met somebody who played with him. Two weeks later he called me, and asked me to do a tour of Holland. That started off eight years of collaboration."

"I began to realize I could play rock'n'roll or blues in that rhythmic pocket, and it was closer to John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters than the way so many white guitarists took the blues."

As a member of Invaders of the heart, Adams found himself working on a number of tours and albums with Wobble. It lasted until "around 1996, and I found myself in this country'n'western position of I lost my job, I lost my woman, I lost my home all around the same time. Desert Road comes out of that period.

I started making weird little sketches, first on a four-track Portastudio, where I was exploring ideas of circular rhythmic motifs, just in a very simple way - I went back to zero, to see what I could do on guitar. I recorded lots of these things, and I was paying the bills by playing with Sinead O'Connor, which was incredible. She's a fantastic singer, very emotive, and better live than on record - she has the power to reduce you to jelly. I got more in tune with Irish music; at one point Davy Spillane was a member of the band. I also had a project going with her drummer and producer, John Reynolds, and a classical cellist, that was called Ghostland. We were also working with Natacha Atlas, whom I knew from Jah Wobble days, and doing the odd bit of work for TV and film when I could get it. I also met up with Lo'Jo through [journalist] Andy Morgan."

In some regards, meeting the French band became a turning point for Adams, and it gave him opportunity to try something new - producing an album.

"They were no record deal, and they didn't know what to do, but they had a lot of amazing ideas, but not much studio experience. Andy knew I didn't have much on, and he put me in touch with them, since I'd spent a lot of time in the studio with Jah Wobble, and we'd worked with African and Arabic rhythms, putting them together in a way that didn't sound corny. So it was a good meet, and Lo'Jo and I learned together - I hadn't produced for another band. It was a really fruitful collaboration on Mojo Radio, and then they were invited on a cultural exchange to Bamako, and asked me to come, so we could do a little recording. I leaped at the chance, and it was an incredible experience. It was the source of so many kinds of music I'd loved for so many years."

With its pentatonic scales and four against three rhythms, the music of Mali fit in perfectly with Adams's passions. He produced Bohême de Cristal for the band (and he has a co-production credit on their new disc), and began thinking a little more about a solo record, bringing into play the things he'd learned working and learning with Salah Dawson Miller.

"He's been another important figure in my musical life," Adams admitted. "I met him while I was working with Jah Wobble, and we've continued a friendship for some time now, and he's taught me a lot. He's a percussionist who's studied in Brazil, Cuba, notably in Algeria, and Morocco. I played darbouka a little, and was aware of Moroccan music, but he explained the rhythmic subtleties to me. We played a lot of cover versions of North African stuff. His wife's an Algerian dancer, and by doing tiny little gigs for dancers, or dance workshops, playing for hour after hour with minimal equipment was a great way for me to develop my playing and learn about rhythm. Playing on electric guitar, I began to realize I could play rock'n'roll or blues in that rhythmic pocket, and it was closer to John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters than the way so many white guitarists took the blues. Again, it's that three against four. It's weird that by learning Moroccan rhythms it's provided me with an insight into Bukka White or Charley Patton."

With Desert Road finally recorded (much of it done at home) and in the stores, Adams found himself taking a completely unexpected path.

"Off the back of Desert Road came a band. Suddenly I was the singer and guitarist in a band called the Wayward Sheiks, which took the music on to another level, by doing gigs here and there. It's a great band - Salah on percussion, Andy Cox, from the English Beat and Fine Young Cannibals, and a fantastic kit drummer called Shay Akinde, a London Nigerian, and Simon Edwards, of Billy Bragg and Shriekback on bass. Last summer we did a fair amount of festivals, and my plan is for us to make a record. We have a lot of live recordings, and I'm wondering if we can piece together a live album - it's more the time."

Much of the music on Desert Road is influenced by the sounds and rhythms of North Africa and the Middle East, and the Wayward Sheiks had a chance to take it home when "the British Council took us to Syria for a week, and we met up with five top-class Syrian musicians. They'd been listening to Desert Road, so they knew a few of our tunes, and we worked out a few Syrian tunes, and we did two gigs in Damascus and one in Aleppo - we were the first band to play electric guitars in Aleppo! That was a dream come true, and there are plans to bring them to England."

From there, Adams has become quite an in-demand figure. He was asked to join Robert Plant's new band, and appears on Plant's Dreamland record. There's talk of him producing the new CD by Tinariwen, possibly for the prestigious World Circuit label, and a summer U.S. tour with Plant kept him busy - as did becoming a new father. And the Plant connection might hold for a while, as "he's talking about doing a new album next year. He knows where I'm coming from and lets me do my thing - and it's well paid! There have been moments in my career when I thought I'd have to do other things to pay the bills. I haven't had to hide my identity on this, it's been great."

Justin Adams

"I began to realize I could play rock'n'roll or blues in that rhythmic pocket, and it was closer to John Lee Hooker or Muddy Waters than the way so many white guitarists took the blues."

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