Dan Aykroyd Explores the Blues Brothers’ Legacy in New Audible Original

NEW YORK (AP) — The shades are on, the skinny tie is knotted, and the fedora is perched just right — Dan Aykroyd is ready for a stroll down memory lane.

The actor-comedian is gearing up the Bluesmobile to reminisce about his years alongside John Belushi as the Blues Brothers, shaking up Hollywood and the Billboard charts.

Aykroyd writes and narrates the Audible Original “Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude,” which begins with his first encounter with Belushi on a freezing Toronto night in 1973, and brings it all the way to the present, with gigs still rolling in. The documentary is set to release this Thursday.

“It’s cool to keep doing it after 40-some years,” Aykroyd shares from his summer home in Canada. “It’s because it’s based on the honesty of African American culture and the music, and two white guys who just loved it so much that we had to emulate it and do it in this way.”

The documentary covers their “SNL” appearances, the success of their album “Briefcase Full of Blues,” the 1980 movie and its hit soundtrack, Belushi’s tragic death, and Aykroyd’s determination to carry on the tradition with a new partner — Belushi’s brother, Jim. This led to the creation of the House of Blues nightclubs and the “Blues Brothers 2000” movie sequel.

The two-hour retrospective includes interviews with Jim Belushi, bandleader Paul Shaffer, singer Curtis Salgado, director John Landis, drummer Steve Jordan, widow Judy Belushi Pisano, saxophonist Lou Marini, and more. It also features a previously unheard interview with John Belushi himself.

“I provided the structural skeleton to a lot of really strong organic material there,” Aykroyd notes. “I think it really brought back the time vividly.”

Listeners will discover that “SNL” creator and producer Lorne Michaels wasn’t immediately a fan of the fictional brothers’ act and that their rise disrupted traditional record labels and movie studios. Pivotal moments came when Willie Nelson and Steve Martin invited them to open their shows.

The concept was unconventional: Two white comedians leading a top-tier blues band with the purpose of celebrating a musical genre that had faded from mainstream attention.

The Blues Brothers — Aykroyd’s Elwood and Belushi’s “Joliet” Jake — sported black suits and black string ties inspired by comedian Lenny Bruce, with snap-brim fedora hats and shades borrowed from John Lee Hooker’s “House of the Blues” album cover.

Aykroyd explains in the audio documentary that he and Belushi saw a chance for something fresh, fun, and timeless “in that tiny orbital skip of an electron during the seconds between disco and New Wave.”

Following their successful turns on “SNL,” first as a warm-up act then as performers, they released the album “Briefcase Full of Blues” — featuring the hit cover “Soul Man” — followed by their cult movie, where they lead police, Nazis, and a country act on wild chases through Illinois to raise $5,000 to save their childhood home. The film had cameos by Carrie Fisher, Chaka Khan, Twiggy, Joe Walsh, Paul Reubens, and Frank Oz.

Listeners will learn that one of the most iconic lines was a collaboration. Aykroyd wrote, “It’s a 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes.” Landis added, “It’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.”

The movie also featured blues legends like Donald “Duck” Dunn, Steve Cropper, Matt Murphy, and performances by Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles, who were struggling through tough times.

“You may say appropriation. We did, yes, but we preserved as well,” Aykroyd remarks. “That is what we were always about. We wanted, forever on film, to show you what these artists could do and what they sounded like.”

However, exhibitors in the South — particularly Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia — hesitated. “The consensus was, ‘This is a Black movie and no white people would see it,’” Landis recalls. “I remember going, ‘It has Princess Leia in it!’”

In the end, the Blues Brothers — through movies, albums, skits, and music venues — filled jukeboxes worldwide with classics and helped revive the careers of Franklin, Brown, and Charles, creating a renewed love for blues music.

“I’m happy that we were able to re-stimulate interest in these people that we loved,” says Aykroyd, who fondly recounts dancing with Brown, singing with Little Richard, and acting with Franklin as career highlights.

He and Jim Belushi continue to tour — including a gig this August at Blues Brothers Con at the historic Joliet Prison in Illinois — and Aykroyd views their venture like a long-standing firm.

“Jake and Elwood founded it. And now it’s got new partners and new associates. It has great endurance. The reason is because the music is real. The songs are real.”

Source: AP News