Blues singer Ivy Ford performs for Huntley Community Radio
Ivy Ford ready to perform on Huntley Community Radio.
HUNTLEY – When radio host Mike Ptak asked his guest to perform the opening theme of his show, he expected greatness but certainly not the eclectic performance he received. Blues musician Ivy Ford sang her rendition of “Blues is My Business” with nothing other than her acoustic voice and her feet enthusiastically tapping along to the rhythm.
“When she performs, she’s very active,” said Ptak. “It’s hard to keep her quiet in the seat.”
Ptak saw Ivy Ford perform at Marquette Michigan’s Blues Fest earlier this year, where she was the headliner, and approached her in the performer’s tent afterwards. He found her to be extremely personable and invited her to be the first guest on his new blues radio show. As an Illinois native and a blues entertainer who regularly performs in the Chicago area, she readily accepted.
Dubbed the Chicago Blues Kitten by veteran blues singer and guitarist Buddy Guy, Ford has become a big name in the blues field and even opened for Guy at his legendary blues club, aptly named Legends. She describes herself as a “Buddy fan as the day is long,” and cites him as one of her musical influences, among Billy Holiday, Freddie King, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
In addition to singing, Ford plays guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano, and the alto saxophone. She fronts her own five-person band, although she doesn’t shy away from performing solo, as she did for Mike Ptak on his show. She played songs from her new album, Club 27, without accompaniment from her band, all in one take and with one microphone. Ptak’s producers were aghast, since recording artists typically do multiple takes in order to avoid error, but Ford was unbothered.
“If you just do it right the first time, we don’t have to do it again,” she said.
All the songs on Club 27 were written and produced by Ford herself as a tribute to the famous musicians that make up the famous 27 Club. Each track channels a different artist and the first samples “Crossroad Blues” by Robert Johnson, whom Ford called a “rock star in the blues genre.” The album was released on Ivy Ford’s 27th birthday and listed among the Top 10 Blues CDs of the Year in Deep Roots Magazine.
Among the artists in the 27 Club, Ford cites Amy Winehouse and Jimi Hendrix as being particularly inspirational. She grew up in the height of Winehouse’s fame and admired her as both a singer and a female guitarist. She enjoys Hendrix’s psychedelic vibe and how well he played on rock guitar.
Ford has recently returned from a weeklong teaching and performing experience in France, where she played with the lead guitarist from Muddy Waters. It can be assumed that she’s glad to return to Chicago, since she described to Ptak that performers from her home state have a style of blues that is a little flashier.
“Chicago blues [has] a sense of showmanship like no other,” said Ford. “You don’t see that in other cities and other regions.”
Ivy Ford continues to perform gigs around the Chicago area and is so busy doing so that she’s had to delay making her original work. She hopes to release her new CD in the summer of 2022. The new album will be more traditional blues and have a love theme, while Club 27 was more of an array of genres.
The newest episode of “Blues is My Business” featuring Ivy Ford will be split into two parts and air on November 19 and 20, and November 26 and 27. The show is a great resource for blues enthusiasts, as is Ivy Ford’s website where she chronicles her shows and records.
