The man behind Jethro Tull gets his due

If you name your band after someone, it helps to know a little bit about his life.

But Jethro Tull founder Ian Anderson rocked on for decades without knowing much of anything about his band’s 18th-century English agriculturist namesake. But then a trip through Italy a couple of years ago inspired Anderson to look more into the real Tull’s life (1674-1741) and work.

“I’d always been a bit embarrassed about being named out of a historical character. I didn’t know who Jethro Tull was until we got the name. I just thought it was a name my agent made up,” he said.

That research has turned into the rock opera “Jethro Tull,” which Anderson brings along with the music of Jethro Tull to Gallo Center for the Arts on Friday, Oct. 21. The show includes classic Jethro Tull hits, new material and interactive video segments.

Scottish-born musician Anderson rose to prominence in the late 1960s blazing a new trail with his band. The progressive rock act and its flautist frontman filled arenas thanks to progressive rock hits such as “Living in the Past,” “Aqualung,” “Locomotive Breath” and “Thick as a Brick.”

Anderson, 69, spoke with The Modesto Bee from his home in the South West England region about the real Tull, his new endeavors and how his old work fits surprisingly well in the world of British agricultural revolution and Tull’s invention of the horse-drawn farming innovations.

Q: So tell me about this new concert tour, would it be correct to call it a rock opera?

A: It’s a term I was using when we started doing those shows last year. I can’t think of a better way to describe something that describes a narrative, or telling of a story in musical terms with arias and songs, connected by little elements of explanation. It follows the basic operatic form. But musically speaking, it isn’t operatic in the sense of classical terms.

I use (my) music to tell a story about Jethro Tull, not Jethro Tull the rock band but the Jethro Tull the historical character and whose name our agent took for us in 1968.

Q: What did you find when you researched the real Tull?

A: I knew absolutely nothing about him at all. (I was) trying to figure out who he was and what he was about. I knew, historically speaking, what he did. When I read about him, I realized parts of his life were almost uncanny to (songs) I wrote some 20 to 30 years ago. … Thought that’s a little spooky that ‘Aqualung’ suffers from bronchial weakness and ailment, and Tull had a real (pulmonary disorder).

There are a lot of little funny, weird coincidences. Rather than think about it and push them off to one side, I’m going to capitalize on them and come up with a project that allows me to pay respect to old Jethro, whose name we purloined all those years ago.

Q: Tell me how the videos work into the show.

A: The videos are a way of bringing in characters to the story. Characters include Jethro Tull, his wife, his son, other imagined people. Still, 80 percent is just me singing on stage.

Q: What about the music and its message?

A: It includes the best Jethro Tull pieces that fit the story and in some cases that worked very easily with almost no change of lyrics other than maybe pronouns. Some of them have had new verses added. The Jethro Tull I’m singing about is a reimagined Jethro Tull, not necessarily the historical character but someone repositioned to be in the present day or near future. He is someone involved in the agricultural world of genetic engineering and biochemistry. It’s talking about the reality of our world. The agricultural innovation is not over, nor should it line the hands of Monsanto and other companies.

There are five short new songs that touch upon these issues. But the show is also very easily the best of Jethro Tull. It’s just giving it context and a place and is now telling a story or part of a story. It allows you to think of those songs in a different way.

But, of course, people are there just to be entertained. For those who want to delve into the detail or examine the lyrics, they can. My assumption is most people aren’t going to do that, just going to come along and have fun with music many have known for many, many years. So I am there just to enjoy doing some of my fondest work, but get the little bit of intellectual fillet of performing some new material and in a way that has reason to be there.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 10:35 AM with the headline "The man behind Jethro Tull gets his due."