1997 Terry Robb Acoustic Blues Trio won Best Traditional Blues Act
1998 Bill Rhoades & Alan Hager won Best Traditional Blues Act
1999 Bill Rhoades & Alan Hager won Best Traditional Blues Act
Article Reprint from the February 2000 BluesNotes
By: Rick Hall
"Alan Hager is the most complete and accomplished musician I've had the pleasure to work with. His sense of time and musicianship are excellent. Not only are his guitar solos different, original, and interesting, his rhythm guitar work, which now seems to be a lost art among guitarists, is superb; a musician's musician! " -- Bill Rhoades
"Alan Hager's musicianship is the standard by which I judge all others, particularly myself!" -- Terry Robb
Alan Hager has been playing music for almost 40 years now and his love of it abounds in everything he does. He lives it, he breathes it he relates it to others. It is who
he is. Alan is a consummate professional musician who makes his living teaching music and performing music. His passion for both is unflagging.
Alan teaches guitar lessons by day and performs with three different groups on various nights of the week. He's a member of the
Terry Robb Band, Bill Rhoades & The Party Kings and the two-time
CBA "Muddy Award" winning acoustic duo group of Bill Rhoades & Alan
Hager.
Alan was born and grew upright here in Portland and like a lot of people his age, was turned on to Blues in his formative years through the Rock circa. His interest in Blues-based Rock groups like
Cream with Eric Clapton and Canned Heat were his catalyst. From there he looked to the material these groups were performing and kept seeing the names of people like
Chester Burnett (aka Howlin' Wolf), McKinley Morganfield (aka
Muddy Waters), Son House and Charlie Patton
listed as the authors of the songs. He sought out the recordings of these men and found, as
Alan describes it, "the real guys" of the Blues. This eventually led him to playing Blues music and forming bands who covered Blues.
Alan's interest in music started at an early age. He relates, "I started playing guitar when I was 10. When I was five, I remember I wanted to play violin, but it never took hold. My dad was your typical self-taught quasi-musician. He played piano a little bit, and played trumpet when he was a kid. He really loved music. We had a stereo and he would plop me down in front of the speakers and while Ma was still asleep on Saturday mornings, he'd crank the stereo up and he and I would lay there listening to music. I have a suspicion that had a lot to do with my early interest in music. H played all kinds of stuff and exposed me to a lot of different styles of music. Being with my dad and listening to music made me think that music was a pretty cool thing."
"When the Beatles came along, I knew I didn't want to play the violin; the guitar was way better! My dad had passed away when I was seven, and when I was nine, I told my mother I wanted to play guitar. She took me to a local guitar store out in the Parkrose District where we lived and the guy at the store said, 'He's too small; he can't play guitar. Bring him back in another year!' l was totally bummed! So, we went back in a year and the same guy said, 'He's still too small; he'll never play guitar!' But, my mom bought the guitar anyway. I got the guitar and seven lessons. Three weeks later that guitar salesman was brought into the backroom where I was taking lessons and made to eat his words! Not only was I playing, but my guitar teacher was very impressed."
That first guitar was an acoustic guitar that Alan still has to this day. It's hanging on a wall in his studio. He makes a point to let his students see all the sweat marks and tear marks on it, just as a small source of inspiration. He got his first electric guitar just a year later. Alan continues, "I really wanted an electric guitar and my mom knew I was hooked. Prior to music, I was a really good drawer and it was something I spent all of my time alone doing. As soon as the guitar came into my life, the drawing took a backseat to that. All my free time was spent playing that thing. I had seven lessons and my guitar teacher left town to join the Navy. From then on I was basically on my own and I taught myself. And, I was starting to get together with friends who played a little bit. My first band started when I got that electric guitar. I was still in grade school and I had my first band called Hager's Heroes. That was the first of many bands while I was in school."
By junior high, Alan and his group were playin' dances and private parties. Terry Robb was in the same junior high as Alan and that's were they first hooked up. Terry had the same interest in the Blues as Alan. They were both into Canned Heat and became obsessed with that type of music. For awhile, they were the Canned Heat cover band. That grew into doing some of the tunes of the originators of Heat's music. They started doing Muddy Water's tunes, Son House tunes, Little Walter's tunes and many other of "the real guys" stuff. Terry went on to Parkrose High School and Alan's mom moved and he went to Adams High School. However, he and Terry gigged around town all throughout their high school years playing Blues-based music. They were in and out of many bands.
After high school, Alan wanted to study music. He had the kind of mind that wanted to know how things worked. Portland didn't seem to be the place to study music and he had heard about this place back east in Boston called, The Berklee College Of Music. He investigated the options and thought this might be a place where he could study music, without a classical approach. Alan continues, "I decided to go back there. However, I really didn't enjoy my time at Berklee. I found that the teachers were a lot of 'BS'. There was a lot of hip-cat and groovy talk and jive which I just found more and more difficult to relate to. But, what's interesting is that, while I was there for five months, I got to study with Pat Metheny, who is only a year and a half older than me. That blew my mind that here was this guy not that much older than myself and he was not only a great player, but so wide open to all this different music. Metheny was the kind of teacher that could listen to me and tell what I needed to do. And, part of what I needed to do was to get out of the traps I'd set for myself; things in my playing that I fell back on all the time. He opened me up to a lot of things, including Classical music. He wasn't particularly into it himself, but through his style and teaching, I drifted into the Classical realm. I became really interested in the music of J. S. Bach. I started playing all this Bach music on the guitar. Somehow the music made sense the way it came together. I could study this music. If I went to the library and read about the music of Bach by different authors, they would pretty much agree on how the music came together. On the other hand, if I went to the library and read about a Jazz piece by different authors, they'd have differing opinions on how the music was put together. Classical music really made sense to me."
"I thought to myself, I really want to study music and if I do it, I want to do it the most thorough way possible. Maybe I need to go to a school that's strictly a Classical school. And, that's what I did. There was a school right there in Boston, and a very good one at that,
The New England Conservatory. I headed over there and walked into the guitar department unannounced and the head of the department looked at me and said,
'May I help you?' I told him I wanted to come here as a Classical Guitar major. He said,
'Alright, how long have you been playing Classical guitar?' I said, 'Well, a
few months'. He just stopped and looked at me and blurted out, 'Most of the students who go to this school have been playing
Classical music since their childhood!' And, I was like, 'ya, so!'
'Well,' he said, 'I can't take you on as a private student, but what I'll do is send you to one of my students. And, after two or three lessons, he'll tell you whether you should play the guitar or take up the trombone.' I took those lessons and to make a long story short, less
than a year later, I was admitted as a junior at The New England
Conservatory. That department head not only became my teacher, but a very close friend. We constantly laughed at the trombone reference."
Alan's focus shifted dramatically, however, he still loved Blues and other forms of music. After he graduated, he started teaching Classical music. With good fortune, he landed a very nice job teaching at The Cape Cod Conservatory. He still lived in Boston and commuted to Cape Cod to teach four days a week. While he was teaching, he also performed, mostly in a duo format. While living on the East Coast, Alan performed with The Boston Symphony, The Boston Opera Company and many chamber music ensembles. He traveled throughout the U.S. and the world and has done many radio and TV broadcasts. And, in 1983, he produced a Classical recording.
Alan went to school, taught and performed in the Boston area for almost 15 years. In late 1988, Alan returned to Portland. He recalls, "My duo partner that I had been playing with in Boston and I broke up. We had different philosophies about playing. I was also really getting tired of my teaching situation there. Things at the school where I was at had changed. At the same time, my mother, who was still living here in Portland, was going through a messy divorce. So, I decided to just take a leave of absence and come home to Portland for maybe three to six weeks. I really didn't have a plan. However, over the years I had kept in touch with Terry, and whenever I'd come back for visits, Terry and I would always see each other and I would go see him play and maybe even sit in for a song or two. On talking to Terry upon my return, he said, 'Gee, you know Denny Handa over at Denny's Music really needs a good guitar teacher and I told him about you. You ought to go down there and talk to him.' So, I did. He was impressed with what I'd done and I started teaching out of his store, and within a short time, I'd built up a good number of students. I thought that this just might be the right thing for me to continue to do. I had always loved living in Portland and I really never enjoyed living in Boston, so I decided to hang here and I'm still hangin'!"
Alan stayed in Portland and continues to teach guitar privately to this day. It's his full-time job. He hooked up with Terry Robb for a traditional Blues duo format in the early '90s, which grew into a trio when Greg Fisher was added on drums. They made a recording on the Burnside label in 1994. In '93, Alan had also started playing with Terry Robb's electric band. Later on, Terry and Bill Rhoades were doin' a thing together, and Terry encouraged Alan to come on out and play with them. That's where Alan met up with Bill Rhoades. Terry had other commitments, so Bill Rhoades on harmonica and Alan Hager on guitar formed the Bill Rhoades & Alan Hager Duo, an acoustic group which has proven to be a great pairing. The Duo has been rewarded the past two years by winning the Cascade Blues Association's "Muddy Award" for "Best Traditional Blues Act". They released a top notch traditional styled Blues recording titled, "Runnin' & Ramblin' ", on Burnside Records in 1998.
Bill also had his electric band,
The Party Kings, and in the mid-90s, was laying down some tracks for a recording and had
Alan play on some of the songs. He then encouraged Alan to join that group too. So, in addition to his full-time job of teaching guitar, he plays with
The Terry Robb Band, Bill Rhoades & The Party Kings and the
Rhoades & Hager Duo. And, if Terry wanted to
gear up the acoustic thing, he'd be right there doin' that too. To say this man truly loves music is an understatement indeed!
Alan says, "An interesting thing is that when Terry and I were in junior high together, there was this project where the teacher asked us to write down our hobbies on a piece of paper and hand them to the front of the room. Terry sat in front of me and saw mine when it was being passed to the front of the class. I had written music on mine. Later, after class, he said to me, 'Why did you write that as your hobby? Music isn't your hobby man, it's your Life!' And, he was right! To this day it's always been there for me and I love it!"
Alan Hager is a perennial CBA "Muddy Award" nominee for Acoustic Guitar. He speaks highly of everyone he's playing with these days and he seems genuinely happy with where he's at in life. Alan closes by saying "Thanks Dad (for the gift and love and joy of music), Ma, Kurt, and especially Katey for putting up with me and my music for as long as they have. Thanks Alan C. Wilson (Canned Heat) for all you did!"
Look to the CBA Calendar for all the groups Alan's playing with: The Rhoades & Hager Duo, The Party Kings and The Terry Robb Band (who are always at The Candlelight on Wednesday nights). Alan Hager's worth seeing and hearing anytime he takes the stage. Alan's a first-class musician and a first-class gentleman!
Note: Look for Alan as part of the All-Star House Band at Bill Rhoades' Fifth Annual Harmonica Summit on February 26th at The Melody Ballroom (see the full article in this issue of BluesNotes.)
Also, Alan Hager and Terry Robb will be teaching a five-week course on finger picking guitar (Blues & Ragtime) at Morrison Bridge Music in April. The course will include the theory, practice and history of the genre, as well as lab class performances and is open to intermediate and advanced players. There will be special guests. Watch the BluesNotes next-month for more details.
Look for Alan on these Burnside recordings:
"Acoustic Blues Trio" - Terry Robb
(1994)
-"Backwater Blues" - Sheila Wilcoxson (1997)
"Runnin' & Ramblin" - Bill Rhoades & Alan Hager Duo
© 2000 Cascade Blues Association