When you talk to blues guitarist, songwriter and singer Bob Margolin you get the sense this is a man who deeply cares about family, friends, those he meets and animals. Those who know him use words like, “He is a very nice man,” to describe him. It is perhaps those sensitivities that have infused the sensibilities that he brings to his music, and have made him a highly regarded musician and songwriter. He has shared the stage with music legends such as, Muddy Waters, “Pinetop” Perkins, The Band and Johnny Winter.

The cover of his new album In North Carolina is homey with the photo of his black and white border collie Cap lying on the couch not far from Margolin’s guitar. On the inside of the CD is the picture of another dog, Colleen, for which he named the fifth track of this record. You can hear the sadness in Margolin’s voice as he relates the dog passed away last summer at seventeen years of age.

When Riveting Riffs spoke to Bob Margolin our discussion did not focus so much on animals or photos, but the CD fashioned to look like an old LP. We also spent time talking about his illustrious career. As he talked to me on the phone, while walking up the driveway to his home in rural High Point North Carolina, our conversation turned to the song “You Rascal You.”

“It (“You Rascal You”) is a very old song. In the early seventies, I heard a version of it that was done by Louis Armstrong and Louis Jordan. They sang the song together, traded verses and worked with their horns. The version of it that I heard by those two was a lot of fun. It may be about murder and infidelity, but it takes a lighter view of it. It is a happy song. One of the things about blues style music is that it sometimes takes life’s problems and makes you feel better about them. It is a fun song to do. I took a different approach to it musically, playing it with  Django Reinhart type licks,” says Margolin.

One should point out that Margolin is not trying to minimize tragedies, infidelity or murder, but in true blues tradition attempts to contribute to folklore, allowing us to take a step back and spoof what might otherwise be a bleak situation. His audiences usually discover the humor in the satirical punch lines. I spoke to Margolin the day after the Virginia university tragedy and this was a man who was deeply moved especially in light of the fact that he spent several years living near Blacksburg.

Turning our attention to the song “Colleen,” the affable songwriter says, “About ten years ago I wrote a song and recorded it as a demo for Alligator Records. At the time, they didn’t like the words to it, so I put it aside for another time. In thinking about the criticisms I felt that they were legitimate, however I loved the music so much that I decided to record the song as an instrumental.”

“I used a (technique) that I have (employed) for a few songs over the years, and that is to build the instrumentation as the song goes along. I begin the song fairly sparsely, and then add more instruments one at a time to build the intensity of each verse.  Instead of being joined by different musicians, I am joined by different guitar parts (played by himself),” he says.