If you were to run into Ben Rice on the street you’d probably think that guy’s a lawyer, maybe a realtor or possibly an accountant. But when he straps on his guitar, leans into the microphone and blisters those first few chords you realize; that guy is not an accountant! Rice and his bulked-up sextet, the PDX Hustle, recently made a few West Coast appearances on a quick, 10-day romp through the Southwest. The show on this evening answered two primary questions… this is who we are and this is the music we make. What Ben and the band generated was a collective master class in musicianship and versatility. A high-octane and wide-ranging performance over a variety of genres richly coated with blues. So we started our conversation with musical diversity.

You and your band play everything; blues, soul, R&B ballads, rockin’ boogies and I know I heard mariachi in tonight’s set list. Where does that kind of adaptability originate? “My parents record collection, really.” Ben tells me. “My mom was a big Al Green, Isley Brothers fan…George Benson. My dad was really eclectic…I think our first concert as a family was AC-DC, and we went to Metallica and he was a huge Marshall Tucker fan. He had this old, nylon-stringed, classical guitar and this was before any of us played music, dad would come home from the bar and pick up his guitar and just strum. He doesn’t play guitar but he knows if he puts his fingers here and it sounds good and if I put this finger here…I’ve got three brothers and when dad would put the guitar down, there was a pecking order. There’s the oldest brother, then the second oldest…usually I’d get it the next day.”

With that many siblings were there garage bands? “My older brother started a garage band when they were in middle school and they would rehearse at our house. I was like five or six years old and I remember watching them rehearse at band practice. I was mesmerized…the drums, the bass, the guitars and the singers. This is what a PA is and I got guitar lessons when I was seven. My dad told me, when you turn seven I’m going to buy you your own guitar and put you in guitar lessons. And as long as you go, I’ll keep on paying for them. So, I took guitar lessons from age seven all the way through high school. And eventually joined the band and then started my own band with friends. “

Tell us about Jimmy Hale and the last Wednesday of every month? “That was an all-ages blues jam that I found when I was fourteen. The last Wednesday of every month I would drive with my little brother and parents there, and they would let me play along with them. It was my first blues jam where it wasn’t just me and my friends; these were guys who studied blues…both mentors and great friends.”

It carries such a distinctive sound, can you talk a little about the steel resonator you sometimes use? “I got into blues from my guitar teachers and at first it was the sounds, you know? We’re talking about the resonator…when I was 12, I would go to Fred Meyer and it was the only record store where they used to have CDs. And they had a blues bin and a jazz bin. And the blues CDs were like $2.99 and $4.99. And Delta blues compilation albums. And I’d buy those! I’d save up my paper route money and ‘cash-in’ bottles and cans and buy these CD’s. At one point, I had ALL of them. And that’s where I first heard Bukka White, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Son House. And that’s where I first heard the resonator. And I wanted, wanted, wanted one. Finally, when I was in college I found one I could afford.” (laughing)

Geographically, the Northwest has produced a phenomenal number of blues musicians over the years. Curtis Salgado comes to mind. “I met him when I was 16 and he heard my band playing and said ‘you have a CD?’ and he gave me his number. A week later he called and had listened to my record…and we talked for hours. He’s a mentor…and I’ve been playing with his band for the last couple of years, as much as I can. It’s a push-pull between his schedule and my schedule. John, our bass player tonight plays with him and Dave; I met Dave through Curtis, too. I saw them working together on a blues festival set and Dave was arranging the horns. It was literally Curtis singing these horn lines and Dave writing them out in the moment.”

The PDX Hustle is Pete Petersen on saxophone, drummer Adam Carlson, John Wolcott on bass, Pat MacDougall on keyboards and Dave Mills on trumpet. Mills says, ‘Ben wanted to start a larger group and he called and asked me to write some horn charts for his band. I did that and now…’ Mills grins. ‘That was a couple of years ago.’

Again, the entire touring band seems to take an exploratory and creative approach to music…the soulful R&B, boogie, blues, some Motown and of course…Mariachi? “I think about the band in that manner.” Ben smiles. “It’s a bunch of people around me saying, ‘Yeah! Okay sure, keep going, let’s try that.'”

Did your songwriting start early? “Yeah…right from the get-go…yeah, I was talking about my dad’s guitar. I didn’t know songs; I just started writing songs to play. At first it wasn’t really full songs, it was riffs and ideas, but the more you write the better you get. A big influence was Robert Cray and I always think of him as a great songwriter.”

Do you write with an instrument? “Yeah, I write with the guitar. Every once in a while I’ll plunk something out on the piano.”

Your career gained some traction back in 2014-15 at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. “There was a time I was thinking about moving to Memphis. A lot of my friends were there, John Nemeth and Tony Holiday, Max Kaplan, Jon Hay and Matt Wilson.”

Recordings…’Live at the Purple Fox Loft?’ “You know that was the first record that I ever made where we sound like the bands that I saw growing up. We had the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland and I would go there every year with my family and that’s where I first saw Curtis Salgado, saw Sean Costello and Walter Trout… But my drummer had just gotten his law degree and he’s like, ‘I’m gonna’ go be a lawyer now.’ Well, let’s go record because this is as good as we’ve ever sounded. It was me and my two best friends who were also monster musicians and we recorded ‘Key to the Highway’ that I actually performed at the finals of the IBC. But my version of ‘Key to the Highway’ is a little bit different and I tried to capture it in the studio a handful of times, but it just never worked out. It is a ‘live’ song and you can hear the audience and the whole room just breathing along with the music.”

At the show tonight you could feel the audience responding, a couple of songs I felt a few Solomon Burke riffs and shouts in there…“Seriously? Oh my God, I love Solomon Burke! My favorite CD of all time, is the one he did called, ‘Don’t Give Up on Me’ and it’s produced by Joe Henry who is a producer and protégé of T-Bone Burnett. And Joe Henry also produced a record for Bonnie Raitt, ‘Slipstream.’ I only know this because I’m a fan of Joe Henry. All of Solomon Burke’s records are like chitlin’ circuit soul singer and this record ‘Don’t Give Up’… is like Solomon Burke is this close to you, just whispering and playing with your ears, it’s like…Ahhh! I’ve really been focused on singing these last three or four years and part of the catalyst was actually Curtis (Salgado) a few years ago saying, ‘you need to learn how to sing.’ And I’m like; I’ve sung for 12 years, what are you talking about? And here’s your vocal teacher and he gave me a number and I called the number. I talked with Curtis and told him he’s not getting back to me…Curtis said, ‘Hound him! Hound him!” (laughing) “It’s a test! You knock down his door.’ And sure enough I said, Hey Tom Blaylock…and now the whole band knows Blaylock’s vocal warm-ups and exercises…but I would sing along with the Solomon Burke record. But for Solomon Burke it was so effortless, just sitting there telling stories and singing these great lines. He sings so high and powerful, low and powerful and your voice doesn’t work that way. You can be loud and forceful or soft and wistful, but you can’t do both.”

In 2018 you release ‘Wish the World Away’ and it picks up three Blues Music Award nominations. “It was my attempt to…I was just going to do a quick, me in the studio with my resonator just singing into the microphone and just put that out and use the sales and funds from that to do a whole band record. That was my plan but of course that’s not what happened. I got in the studio…I spent about a year in the studio, it was Jimi Bott’s studio, the drummer for Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and he plays drums on one of the songs, the last song we recorded. We had finished the record; it was supposed to be just me and my guitar, but this needed pedal steel and background singers…I’ve got a great singer friend in Nashville and we’ve got to get her over here and that’s the title track and it turned into this whole thing and by the end I didn’t really save any money…but shoot, the album came out and it got nominated for three Blues Music Awards. It’s still surreal to say that and Jimi texted me the day of the announcement and said, ‘Congratulations on your two, oh no, three Blues Music Award nominations. I was like, are you messing with me right now, what is that? I’m really proud of that.”

What’s in the water up in the Northwest, so much musical talent; Paul DeLay, Terry Robb… “Mitch Kashmar is up there, too. A guy from the Bay Area, Daniel Castro moved up to the Portland area. Mike Osborn who used to play with John Lee Hooker is up there. Tony Coleman, B.B. King’s drummer is up there. Paul DeLay is probably one of my favorite songwriters and I really didn’t get into his stuff until they did a tribute show. I met him once when I was a kid and he was really a sweetheart of a guy. His band played together all the time and would come up with all these wacky, cool arrangements of their songs. When they did the tribute everybody in the original Paul DeLay band said, ‘nope, that’s a lot of work and we can’t recreate that…so they did a tribute and they made a musical out of his music catalog and the first time they did it, they had Sugaray Rayford playing the Paul DeLay character…he’s a freight train!”

You are a student of music, jazz theory, blues…do you still teach music? “I had to stop teaching. I love teaching and there were a couple of times where I was teaching private lessons and had gone on the road and I’d be like…I need to just focus on being on the road and I let my students go. Then I’d teach one lesson and go, what am I doing, I love teaching. This is so fun, sharing music with people so I’d build up my lesson studio again and have 15 students and go on the road, and realize this is where I need to be, and I’d let all my students go, again. The second time I did that, I got a call from the local university that they needed a guitar professor…that’s what I want to do!” (laughing) “My friend was the head of the jazz department there and he said, ‘we need someone who can teach guitar students here…I’m in, and I did that for two years. And then I added horns and organ in this band and I started doing this full time. I have to be all in. I used to play as a trio; the Purple Fox was a trio band. When we played Gator by the Bay (San Diego) we were a trio band. I was worried about personalities and scheduling but it got so much more enriching to have this many people, and all the great stories.”

You work with and collaborate with so many people, R.B. Stone. “Yeah, he’s a good friend and at Jimi Bott’s studio. He was going to put together an all cigar box record. It was me, R.B. and it was supposed to be J.P. Soars and Matt Isbell. Well J.P. had just put out a record and Matt Isbell had just put out a record. You know putting out a record…when you pour your heart and soul into something, day in and day out and once it’s out and somebody hears it…you’re just exhausted. So, R.B. and I connected and wrote songs, all of them and I loved it. I think the first song, ‘Hot Rod Mama’ R.B. said, ‘Here’s an idea, I don’t know’ and he sings ‘she’s a red hot mama, she likes going fast. I go take a shower and in the shower I go it’s not red hot mama, its Hot Rod Mama and here’s the song. I sang it in the shower.” (laughing)

Creative sparks from the collaboration effect. “It’s a lot of fun and there are so many people and I’m always learning. Curtis (Salgado) has a new record out and he and I collaborated on a couple of the tunes along with my friend Josh Huff, who came up with this guitar lick. You need to come over to write this song and we got together maybe, eight times. Digging out what is the song and Curtis is just relentless, he’s so persistent in pursuing ideas. It’s so great and such an inspiration to watch. John and I were like, we have four notes we want to start with…” (laughing) “I have another group I collaborate with called ‘Cosmic Gold’ and we’re putting out a song per month. Just singles. It’s me, my friend Andy Worley and Lindsey Reynolds who’s a fantastic singer. Vyasa Dodson just joined the group and he played guitar with Curtis for a long time, two or three years. He also had a band called ‘the Insomniacs’ who were on Delta Groove.”

How did you get involved with United by Music? “Oh, yeah. It was based out of Gig Harbor, Washington but they had a group in Portland, too. They needed someone at the very last minute to go to the Netherlands. I had run into Amanda Gresham, the founder, she and her mother, Barbara Hammerman were inspired by Candye Kane’s work in the Netherlands program and they wanted to bring that to the states. United by Music North America works with people on the spectrum, neuro diverse and neuro-typical people with exceptional musical talent. You can check out United by Music at UBMNA.org if you want to know more about them.”

The post On the Road with Ben Rice and the PDX Hustle appeared first on Traveling Archive.

I find it hard to believe it’s been three years since we lost James Harman. That’s probably because his music is still on such a high rotation across all my playlists. So imagine my delight when friend, Nathan James walked over and handed me a brand new James Harman CD from Electro-Fi Records. The disc entitled, ‘Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime’ features twelve fresh tracks all written by the man himself; James Harman. The recordings were captured online during pandemic ‘live streams’ or in studio recording sessions at Nathan’s Sacred Cat Studios in Oceanside then produced and mastered in his new digs in Mountain Center.

I spoke to Nathan about the recordings featuring his late friend and mentor. “I wanted to show the world the stuff we were working on up until James died.” Nathan said. “These are basically his last recordings. Although he was very sick the last several months of his life, he was driven to put out a new album of original material which consists of a lot of this album – ‘Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime.’ We weren’t able to get it finished because his health was declining so quickly. Some of his last messages to me were about ideas for the next release. Our last sessions together were ‘live stream’ recordings during the pandemic. He brought over a large notebook of his lyrics printed out, and he’d pick random songs and would sing them for the first time with us for the recordings. He was extremely prolific and this was less than a year before he passed.”

Several things jump right out at you from this recording; Harman’s masterful skills at songwriting, instrumentation and then of course like he always did, surrounding himself with incredibly talented musicians. This album reflects all of that. Harman has his long-time guitarist, Nathan James and percussionist, Mike Tempo appearing on most tracks. The rhythm section of bassist, Troy Sandow and drummer, Marty Dotson are some of Southern California’s best. Legendary keyboardists’ Carl Sonny Leyland and the late Gene Taylor as well as drummer, Hal Smith also contributed to this recording.

From the opening track ‘Pick Up the Slack’ and throughout the record, you have to appreciate Harman’s harmonica work. He’ll accentuate or supplement a specific groove, and then in the very next bar use that same harp like it’s a second voice, just to emphasize his point. Listen for it on ‘Who’s Got the Geetus,’ and ‘That Old Clock’ he just kills.

Nathan James worked and toured with Harman for years, so I wanted to know how special this project became for him? “It was very special and personal for me to work on this project and I probably spent more time on it than any other album I’ve produced. I was very fortunate to have Andrew Galloway and Electro-Fi records giving me full creative control over this. Andrew understood my vision and wanted the album to do James justice.”

How much material did you comb through to come up with these 12 tracks? “I went through quite a bit, but first I went through James’ notes of his personal selections of tunes he wanted to use. He had several ideas of groups of songs to use and I could kind of tell he wasn’t as focused as he might’ve been if his health had permitted, because he had enough songs picked for two full-length albums. Most of the album is taken from the three ‘livestream’ recordings we did, but there were several tunes including the title track that were from sessions 10 years ago. I have most of his recorded work on a hard drive. There is a lot of unreleased material, and some may still be on analog tape somewhere, which I don’t have.”

Talk a little more about the ‘livestream’ process and performing ‘live on YouTube’ during the pandemic? “More than half of the album was taken from live streams.” Nathan says, “Live on Facebook and YouTube performances. The ability to livestream during the pandemic really got me through the pandemic and helped me stay creative. It was a big challenge to set up the cameras and sync it with the video and then get it to broadcast over the internet in real time. I was going live on my own almost every day at random times. One great memory was always seeing James comment on my solo livestreams. He was always saying something encouraging or funny in real time while I was playing. I knew he was itching to play and sing as well, and he would even crash our livestreams sometimes, walking in with beer for the band…such great memories.”

Harman had an incredible gift of story-telling through imagery and his turn of phrase; lines like ‘Opportunities knock, but I was out!’ It became visual poetry set to music. Did improvisation or the spontaneity of his art form ever surprise you or the rest of the band? “That was James’ biggest gift.” Nathan says. “He’d always surprise us… Every. Time. There were lots of stories he would tell repeatedly as well. Some stories from his youth I had thought were tall tales, but when I met some of his old band mates in Panama City, Florida where he first started performing music, they all confirmed those stories with all the same details as James had told!”

You have any favorite memories when you listened back to some of these compositions? Memorable elements that continue to inspire you or take you back in time? “I have many memories of the songs I was fortunate to record with him. A lot of him explaining the meanings of the lyrics and origination of the stories he was singing about. Some are X- rated and only for band members to hear. James set the bar really high in terms of quality and taste with the music he created. Everything was conversational and quirky, but always coming off as natural sounding and not forced. He is definitely my biggest influence for songwriting. He was a master with his way of words, and he knew how to make them flow within the song. He was so intelligent, and his knowledge of the English language was such a gift, he knew how to break the rules while throwing in his signature Southern slang along the way.”

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this CD. It is truly memorable and some of the best of James Harman. A special ‘Thank You’ goes out to Nathan James for his years of dedication in making this recording available for life-long Harman fans. Just the best parting gift, ever. Like the man said, ‘when it’s all said and done, didn’t we have some fun sometime?’

The post James Harman – Last Call appeared first on Traveling Archive.

If you ever get the chance to hang out with D.K. Harrell and his band, make sure it’s over the breakfast table. The conversation flows fast and thick like our biscuits and gravy and the subject matter ranges from everything family and friends, good times, hard times and all things music. The entire band is well-versed in the latter and all speak fluent blues, jazz, soul, R&B and roots dialects. Not only young and talented, they openly display a shared enthusiasm and serious commitment to the music they love. You see it clearly when they acknowledge influences or when praising those who paved the way, but it grabs you by the throat when they step on stage and you witness it up close and personal with every note they play.

D.K. let’s start with early life; you’re originally from the Peach Capital of Louisiana… “Ruston, Louisiana is my hometown, I was born there on April 24th, 1998. I was there because I marked it on the calendar.” He grins. “And it is the Peach Capital of Louisiana. I spent a lot of my childhood listening to blues music with my grandfather, C. H. Jackson from Spearsville, Louisiana which was 36 minutes North of Ruston, way up in the country. My mother, Christal Jackson was also my inspiration when it came to blues because my grandfather kept blues not only around me, but around the whole family. He was a blues fanatic and he loved old school R&B from the 50s and 60s because during that time in his life he was in his late teens and early 20s. A college kid at HBCU listening to Otis Redding, B.B. King and Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and it stayed with him throughout his life…and he hipped his grandson to it. His other grandchildren and my cousins were more into Hip-hop, that’s what they liked. But there was something about the blues and R&B music that just stuck with me and I loved being around my grandfather. We actually counted how many vinyl albums he had and it amounted to 322 vinyl records in his home. And it was a vast variety of music; blues, gospel, R&B, soul and he liked Elvis. Which kind of blew my mind…but he told me Elvis had come to the Monroe Civic Center which is just 30 minutes away from Ruston and B.B. King had played there, Albert King had played there, and Johnny Cash because back then it was considered the chitlin’ circuit. And my grandfather actually housed Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland and his band at his home in 1977 when they were traveling from Jackson, Mississippi to Dallas and instead of staying in a hotel in Monroe they came across my grandfather, who was an educator and he said, ‘you know what, I’ll save you guys some money you can stay at my home.’ If you know about Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland at that time, there were about 8 or 10 people in the band. And we’re talking about a three bedroom, two bath room home; he said he had so many pallets lying out through his house…” (laughing)

Is it true some of your first words were singing along to B.B.’s ‘The Thrill is Gone?’ “I was about 18 months old and I didn’t make much noise as a baby. I rarely cried or didn’t babble or say momma or dada and it worried my family to the point they almost had me tested for vocal cord issues. My grandfather said, ‘Maybe he just doesn’t have anything to say, right now.'” (laughing) “One day my mother and I were going to Shreveport and my grandfather gave her a copy of B.B.’s ‘Deuces Wild’ to listen to and she heard a little voice in the background in a car seat singing ‘The Thrill is Gone.’ And that’s stamped as the day I started talking. But the way my mother puts it, ‘that’s how he started talking and since then I haven’t been able to get him to shut up.” (laughing)

“To play that guitar, I was done living right then, my life was done. Take me now, Lord!”
—D.K. Harrell on playing ‘Lucille’ B.B. King’s guitar.

You got to meet B.B. at a concert, didn’t you? “Russ Bryant, my musical director…” D.K. starts to shake his head. “…the way the universe works is strange. Russ runs PSS the Premier Production and Sound Services in Baton Rouge, Louisiana…Russ, you tell him.“

Russ Bryant: “My company PSS…we were doing all the sound production for B.B. King’s performance at the Baton Rouge River Center Theater and unbeknownst to me, I had never met D.K. but he was there, and Andrew Moss our bass player was there as well. We were all at this show before we met each other and eventually we all realized we had experienced B.B. King together and I still have the microphone that B.B. King sang on. And I think it was one of the last shows he did in Louisiana before he passed.”

DK: “It was January 19th 2013. It was a late Christmas present and my mother had a manila envelope and I opened it and it was two tickets to see B.B. King in the Orchestra section; it was beautiful. At the end of the show I kind of pushed my way through the audience to the front of the stage and everybody is yelling, ‘BB, sign my hat. Sign my shirt,’ and I’m like, Mr. King, Mr. King and he looked dead at me and I swear my legs turned to jelly and he goes, ‘Hey young man.’ And I said I want to be just like you, I got my haircut just like you from the 50s. And he goes ‘Yeah, I remember when I had hair like that, but I don’t have hair like that anymore.’ And he gave me one of his picks and he shook my hand and said, ‘Young man, you can be whatever you want to be, and if you want to be like this old man you gotta’ work hard.’ And as soon as I got out the door of the theater, I busted out in tears and haven’t been to another concert since. It was a very magic moment. My grandfather came to Baton Rouge with us and picked us up after the show and said, ‘Did you get a chance to shake his hand?’ I said, yes sir. He said, ‘Well, maybe B.B. put some good mojo on you.’ And look, ten years later, this is what you got.” (laughing)

I don’t think many people realize you didn’t start on guitar, but on the harp. “Yes. Not harp like classical music, but harp as in harmonica… the Louisiana saxophone. My cousin, Jamari Harris is older than me and around 2009 or 2010 said there’s a movie called ‘Cadillac Records’ and it’s got blues and stuff in it, so you’ll like it. I watched the film and it had music from Little Walter, who is actually from Marksville, Louisiana and I said man, I want a harmonica. I asked momma, can I please have some harmonicas and she said okay as long as you actually play them. She got me three in the key of A, C and D and I blew the reeds out of them in two days.” (laughing) “I shattered them all! I’m pretty sure over the course of two years I went through like fifty harmonicas.“

You’ve mentioned Guitar Slim as another influence for you. “He did a song called ‘Think it over one more time’ and I was like, I really like this song. I like the way this guy’s playing because what I like about the old cats is they just had an ear for music and then of course however they played was just how they played. It was so interesting because he just had a different playing style and it almost sounded sloppy to me. When you listened to the guitar solo in ‘Think it Over’ it’s a weird solo when he starts it but it folds out better as he goes on. My grandfather and I would stay up till like two in the morning watching different artists on his computer like Big Joe Williams, Big Joe Turner, Sarah Vaughan, Slim Gaylord…what I liked about Slim was his humor, but in my opinion his was one of the most underrated jazz guitarists, Slim Gaylord was a very talented musician from piano to guitar he could play anything. That’s one thing I’ve tried to bring to my show from Slim Gaylord…is the humor in the stage presence and lyric wise with the vocals.

Another big influence when I first started playing guitar was Elmore James and Muddy Waters, but I’ve got stupid fingers. I can’t play slide to save my life.” (laughing) “…very stupid fingers. I also listened to Chuck Berry, but the Stones got him down and the Animals and all these guitar players have his sound down so I thought to myself, this was like 2012, who’s an artist that people try to get tone-wise and style-wise and try to have that same approach but just can’t get it? And it’s B.B. because if you think about it B.B.’s playing to me as a guitar virtuoso, is very similar to the approach of Miles Davis an how he handled trumpet because Miles took advantage of space just like B.B. took advantage of space. And that goes hand-in-hand on what my grandfather used to tell me, time waits for no one, so do what you can now. In other words you have to take advantage of time and space because once it’s gone you can’t get it back.“

Russ: “It’s not about how many notes you play or how much you can shred as a guitar player, but rather can you play the right note, at the right time and the right place. And that was B.B.’s style.“

Let’s talk a little about your songwriting, do you write with your guitar, do you have a process? “My process is usually, I sit down, not with my guitar but by myself in a room and sometimes I watch movies or TV or talk to random people and sometimes they’ll say something that just clicks and I’ll go…Oh there’s a song in there somewhere and I’ll write it down on my phone but I still believe in a pen and paper, but the phone is right there and I’ll take it out and make notes. And I’ll come back to it and then I’ll sit there and really focus on the lyrics. A lot of people like music specifically for the music; you know the sound of the instruments but I feel like a real artist is concerned for what the audience listens to on a lyrical basis. Because the lyrics are really what makes the audience connect with you. If you think about it, every poet, every painter has details in their speech and in their art and if there is one little thing missing or one word is missing it wouldn’t make sense. It’s the little things that matter and that’s what changes you. When I write songs, I try to be as personal as possible. Even if you haven’t been through it, you can understand it because I’m trying to describe it in detail…and that’s the process I try to use.“

Blues has always been considered a form of communication; do you consider yourself a storyteller? “Oh yeah, watch this…Once upon a time.” (laughing) “I do consider myself a storyteller but the words I use really matter and you know that saying, ‘words hurt.’ What’s the actual saying…the pen is mightier than the sword. That saying is true. If you tell hurtful things to some people, they can hurt themselves or other people just because of what you said. So storytelling is important you try to make it positive and even if it’s a negative subject the idea should be that you overcame whatever it was that was hurting you and that you continue moving forward. Either way, life is short, take it with a grain of sand and keep moving.“

Tell me about your album ‘The Right Man.’ “Jim Pugh is the president of the Little Village Foundation recording label and I owe a great deal of gratitude to this man. About two years ago we met at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and I really owe my recording career to Jim Pugh and Michael Kinsman. ‘The Right Man’ was recorded in three days with Kid Andersen; we also had Tony Coleman who was B.B. King’s drummer for 35 years. We had Doc Kupka from Tower of Power do horns for us along with Neil Levonius, John Halbleib, Mike Rinta, Mike Peloquin and Aaron Lington. But a real highlight of the whole recording session is we had the original bass player on the recording of B.B.’s ‘The Thrill is Gone’ Mr. Jerry Jemmott.

Jerry is in his mid-70s now and we were recording ‘Leave it at the Door’ and I was sitting there playing my guitar part in the studio and Jerry was listening and said, ‘the red Gibson you’re playing’ it belonged to Kid Andersen and was like a ’66 or ’68, ‘it’s the very same style of guitar that B.B. had when he recorded ‘The Thrill is Gone.’ It wasn’t the exact one, not his, but it looks just like it. He told me recording on this session these past few days has brought back so many memories of recording with B.B. and it’s an honor to be on the record with you. And I wanted to cry; because I was thinking…I should be saying that to him.” (laughing) “But recording that session was like a match made in heaven and Jim Pugh…I love you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

You had the unique opportunity to play B.B.’s guitar ‘Lucille’ at one time, didn’t you? “Yes! September 9th, 2019. I was 21 years old and my very first gig, my first show, was the B.B. King Symposium in Indianola, Mississippi near Itta Bena, B.B.’s home town. Lil’ Ray Neal is usually the guy that plays B.B.’s guitar, he’s part of Kenny Neal’s band and I think he’s his little brother; and Lil’ Ray pulls out ‘Lucille.’ There were several of them but this was the ‘Lucille’ that Gibson made for B.B. when they opened the museum in 2005. At that time only three people had played it; B.B. himself, Keb Mo and Lil’ Ray Neal. I said to Ray, Oh, are you going to play it? And he said, ‘No, today is your day!’ And the first song I played on that guitar was ‘Sweet Little Sixteen.’ To play that guitar, I was done living right then, my life was done. Take me now, Lord!“

Introduce your touring band? “Russ Bryant is our production manager, musical director and saxophone player. Andrew ‘Fingers’ Moss on bass, Orlando Henry on keys, Dan Isbell on trumpet who now goes by Doctor because he’s a professor of music at Penn State University. And the youngest member of the group is Justin ‘the Giant’ Brown on drums from Vicksburg, Mississippi. This band is my dream band. We like hanging out together and I really like how close everyone is. Having a relationship on stage is great but having a relationship offstage makes the energy on stage ten times better.“

Your music draws from so many musical influences; the grittier hill country blues, the Chicago city sound to a soulful R&B feel. Do you consider yourself a student of the music you play? “You know I became a fan of hill country blues after I discovered a film called ‘Black Snake Moan’ and I really see that film paying homage to R.L. Burnside. And that’s when I first heard hill country style music and fell in love with it. The song ‘Alice May’ was one of my favorites, and ‘Stagolee’ which is very vulgar and raw and much grittier than the original…that’s R.L. Burnside. I also get a lot of influence when it comes to guitar from jazz players, Grant Green, Django Reinhardt and even horn players like we mentioned earlier, Miles Davis. I heard some of the licks he does and apply them to what I do on stage. I like to do a mixture of morphed jazz and blues…“

Russ adds, “We try to pull from every area and all the masters, it helps you develop your own sound and your own style. Drawing from everybody helps you create your own vocabulary and rearrange it to what fits your heart.“

DK: “If you listen to ‘The Right Man’ record, in my opinion, of course its blues but to categorize it into a certain genre, it would be difficult because the record contains so much blues, jazz, pop and R&B influence it becomes a mixture of everything. So, sound-wise the record is very unique.“

A number of musicians I’ve spoken with throughout the years have told me that a bands’ energy comes directly from their audiences, does the D.K. Harrell band every experience that? Russ says, “At a show in Lucerne, Switzerland last year we played a special dinner show and D.K. went into the crowd and everybody got up and surrounded him and he was just singing his heart out and they wanted to be in the moment. It was special because we not only want to play for them, but to actually connect with them while we do it. Because if we don’t have the people to connect with, what’s the point? We might as well play in a vacuum, music is meant to be shared and experienced.”

The post D.K. Harrell – Rhythm and Roots in the Key of Blues appeared first on Traveling Archive.

He has released five albums in the last decade under his blues pseudonym; Mr. Sipp. His latest, ‘the Soul Side of Sipp’ was recently honored with a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues album. And then there are the just announced Blues Music Award nominations where Coleman has been recognized in not one or two, but four different categories. Those include Album of the Year, Soul Blues Album, and the performance-based Contemporary Blues Male Artist and the highly-coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. It makes sense really considering his earliest blues influences are indeed legends, like the aforementioned B.B. King, John Lee Hooker as well as songwriters and showmen like Willie Dixon and Bobby Rush.

Never one to rest on his laurels, there’s Coleman’s burgeoning acting career. He appeared in the James Brown film, ‘Get on Up’ the television miniseries ‘Sun Records’ where he portrayed a young B.B. King and the feature film ‘Texas Red’ that also highlighted one of Castro’s original songs, ‘Dirty Mississippi Blues.’

The man is more productive than any three people I know and when we had the chance to sit and talk, we started with the music. After so much success and decades of playing gospel music how did Mr. Sipp come to be? “Mr. Sipp came to be after 26 years of playing gospel music, I took two years off in 2010. I came off the road as a gospel singer and stayed at home as a family man, just hanging out with my four girls, my son, my wife and the dog and I eventually realized I was a road rat. And I also became aware that the family missed me more or were happier to see me after I was gone and then came back.” (laughing) “So I decided to go back on the road but wondered what should I do? Should I do R&B, should I do hip-hop, soul…neo-soul? But I decided I’m going to do the blues, I’m from Mississippi and some of the greatest blues artists came from Mississippi. And I also realized once I got to the blues that I had been playing the blues for 26 years before I became a blues guy…because church music and blues music are first cousins.”

And you still live in McComb, Mississippi. “Yeah, I still live in McComb, I’m not looking forward to dying anytime soon, but I want to die in McComb.”

You spoke of great artists from Mississippi, a number of them came from right there in McComb; Bo Diddley, Vasti Jackson, King Solomon Hill…what’s in the water down there? “It’s a little fish grease!” (laughing) “Nah, the soil in McComb is rich for music and I’m grateful to be from McComb, Mississippi and following some of those greats you just named, and continuing to carry the legacy of music out of McComb. I’m very proud to do that.”

You and your band don’t seem to have any limitations in the music you play…you still incorporate gospel, soul, rock and blues in your sets and that’s definitely reflected in your productivity with Grammy and BMA nominations for vocalist, songwriting, guitarist, producer…are there any limitations in what you do? “No there are no limitations when it comes to music for me. To be a carrier of the gift of music first of all is just a major blessing. Music reaches all people, all kinds, any time, all the time and to be a carrier of that gift is just…it’s freedom. Its freedom and when I think about music and think about the notes and think about lyrics or the melodies I think about the freedom of it. So no, no limitations. After whatever, Grammy’s, BMA’s we’re reaching forward, if nothing else we want to just keep spreading the joy and love.”

You picked up the guitar early. “At the age of six was my first chance at showing my parents that I could play. I knew I could play before six; I got the chance to spend time with my Aunt Grace in McComb. Her husband was a guitar player and one day he gave me the guitar and I started playing some familiar tunes and my Auntie said, ‘Stop! Do your mom and dad know you can play?’ I said no ma’am. She said, ‘Let’s go!'” (laughing) “She packed me in the car and took me back to my parent’s house and she told my dad and mom to ‘sit down, shut up and listen!'” (laughing) “And I just began to play and my mom and my dad’s mouths just dropped and the rest is just…history.”

You release your first Mr. Sipp album ‘It’s My Guitar’ and you played all the instruments on it? “I played every instrument, sang every vocal part, did the mixing, production…everything. At that time I didn’t really know any true blues players. I knew what I heard and knew what I wanted to hear, so I went in the studio and just hashed it all out.”

When you create music, create a song; do you have a process or a plan, how do you approach it? “It kind of starts a little something like this.” (Castro breaks into song) “Nah, nah nah Naah! I really don’t have any lyrics, but I have a melody and most of the time now, with the new technology I turn on the recorder on my phone and record what I just did. When I come back to it, I put it together like a puzzle. For me every sound is a melody and every conversation is a song, so it comes almost second nature for me.”

Your music has now become a global experience, from Europe, the Middle East and South America. Do you see any differences in the audiences or has the music become the universal language? “I really don’t see a big difference because once the music starts then the movement starts. And once the movement starts, the smiles start and when the smiles start the love and the joy starts and it’s passed back and forth from the audience to the stage and the stage to the audience. And it becomes a great and wonderful experience.”

It’s not like you don’t have enough on your plate with the music, but now you’ve become an actor. You were in the James Brown film, ‘Get on Up.’ You played the role of a young, B.B. King in the series, ‘Sun Records.’ And you were in the feature film, ‘Texas Red.’ How did the acting come about? “It kind of fell into my lap. The James Brown movie was filming in Mississippi and I heard about the auditions and nobody really thought it was real but I was going to check it out. Turns out it was really real.” (laughing) “So they actually got me to recruit some Mississippi musicians and the hardest thing was to convince them they were shooting a real movie in Mississippi.” (laughing) “Our bass player, Jeffrey Flanagan was in that movie as well. The Sun Record thing kind of piggy-backed off the James Brown movie and Texas Red, my great friend, Cedric Burnside starred in that and I got to be in that with him and was able to do one of my original songs, ‘Dirty Mississippi Blues.’

Mr. Sipp – ‘Dirty Mississippi Blues’

What inspires you as an artist? “What inspires Castro Coleman? I don’t know…I’m a sucker for Peace, Love and Happiness!”

If and when you have downtime, how does Castro Coleman kick back? “If you ever come down to McComb, Mississippi find a guy with the overalls on, driving a 1992 Chevy pickup truck. I’m just a country guy and I love working in my yard. I’ve have 23 acres but I do have a serious problem, I love cars and guitars and I’ve got a bunch of them. I spend most of my off time in my yard working on my tractor, or working on my old cars, and I have some beautiful old cars.”

The post Mr Sipp – The Mississippi Blues Child appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Most know Sugaray as a Grammy-nominated, Marine Corps veteran who has released six albums under his own name and is currently working on his seventh. If you’re a blues fan you probably know he’s been recognized by the Blues Music Foundation on multiple occasions as the Soul Blues Artist of the Year and in 2020 he was also honored as the B.B. King ‘Entertainer of the Year.’ What you might have missed is that Rayford has starred in two different theater productions including the Tony-award winning stage play ‘Ain’t Nuthin’ But the Blues.’ He has multiple television and commercial credits and his music was featured on the network television series, ‘Person of Interest.’ What’s really surprising…that was Sugaray’s voice at the end of a decade’s worth of national McDonald’s commercials singing ‘BaDaBaBaBaa.’

His road is long and wide-ranging and it all started with drums in church. “Drums in church, yeah!” He smiles. “At five years old, Bethel Church of God in Christ, drums…crazy.”

Did you always know music would be your direction? “No, actually I never thought it would. My mother always used to tell me I couldn’t sing I couldn’t dance…my mother was probably the most amazing singer I’ve ever heard.”

We have to talk about your songwriting. You deal with a lot of social issues in the world today. Did your military service have an impact on that direction, as an example the song ‘Invisible Soldier?’ “I hadn’t really spoken about any of the military stuff, or PTSD in my other albums, but you get to a certain age and I’m not sure what that age is; but when you get to a certain age you get a real bad case of I don’t give a damn what people think. Don’t ask me if you don’t really want to know. So I’m at that age. I feel comfortable now, where I am musically and who I am…to talk about it. And I’ve talked to a lot of other Vets, and they’ve all told me, ‘talk about it, it’s cool because it might help somebody else.’ And I’ve always like putting things to music. When it’s hard to speak about a difficult issue, I wrap them in a real nice, funky tune. When you’re tapping your feet and listening to the music but if you listen to the lyrics and hear what I’m actually singing about you’ll maybe think a little about our Vets.

Almost like church…The music brings them into the tent and then you are able to share the message? “It does but only by this much…I don’t sing anything that I haven’t lived! All the albums and all my collaborations, everything I’ve ever sung about has actually happened. I do that not to be a stick in the mud, but I was always taught in the church that you can sing a lie just as easy as you can tell a lie. So I’ve just always kept it real.”

Your work ethic and dedication to your craft seems to be paying dividends; Blues Music Award winner as Soul Blues Artist of the Year in 2019 and 2020 along with B.B. King Entertainer of the Year honors and a Grammy nomination for your album ‘Somebody Save Me.’ “Lucky, I always say lucky. I was up for a Maple Blues Award in Canada a few years ago. That’s their version of the Grammy, but I was up against Buddy Guy and Mavis Staples…it’s all about luck.” (laughing)

Let’s put it in perspective, you’re being considered for an award in the same category as some of America’s national treasures. That alone says you’re pointed in the right direction. Speaking of which, your road has taken you through Southern California before. Didn’t you live in North County, San Diego? A little village called, Fallbrook? “The Avocado capital of the world, baby!” (laughing)

Talk some about your band back then, Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz. Any favorite memories? “Fallbrook and Temecula…Back in the day. You know back then we had so many venues we could play. We played a lot and we played in all the casinos. Those casino gigs were five hours and we played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. One of my favorite memories was opening for Etta James.”

Your musical path has taken so many turns, and now theater. You’ve appeared in the Tony Award-winning stage play, ‘Ain’t Nuthin’ but the Blues’ as well as the theatre production of ‘Low Down, Dirty Blues.’ “When I can, I love doing theater but that’s a lot of work. Go to see plays; those people work hard, 18-hour days. I’m a hard-working musician, but that was something else. We were doing eight shows a week, six days a week and no understudy. With one day off. My very first play was ‘Ain’t Nuthin’ but the Blues’ and I had never acted before. But they treated me like gold. The production of ‘Low Down, Dirty Blues’ was written by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman and I played opposite Felicia Fields. Felicia was the original Ophelia in the original Broadway production of ‘The Color Purple.’

You’ve done film trailer soundtracks, national commercials and your music was used in the network television show, ‘Person of Interest.’ “A lot of that stuff happened when I moved to Los Angeles. When I moved nobody there knew who I was and that was a blessing and a curse. But my wife told me, because I was complaining about not knowing anybody, to get off my so and so and go down to this jam. So I went to this jam at a little place called Cozy’s in the Sherman Oaks area. Of course they didn’t know me from Adam, but I put my name on the list. I went back two weeks in a row and the third week they let me get up and sing. And about five days after I did that I got a call from the owner asking me if I wanted to take over the pro jam? I said that would be cool but I really didn’t know anybody in L.A. and I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. L.A. is a hard place to get around in as a musician and it’s very political. I just want to stay in my lane. But I wind up doing it and one guy in L.A. the guy that produced Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz last album, Chuck Kavooras and Chuck said, ‘Ray, if you’ll run this pro jam I’ll bring in all the players and you’ll just sing.’ I said okay Chuck; just don’t leave me out here with nobody on Monday nights! From that, Chuck knows everybody so we were playing with Al Kooper and we became good friends, Steve Lukather, Vivian Campbell…there’s a video out there with me, Jim Carrey and Slash doing old Black Betty! The Dramatics, Mike Finnigan, Lifehouse, the Pussycat Dolls, Hubert Sumlin and Honeyboy Edwards with my buddy, Jimmy Vivino they all came through and played. I remember one night I think it was Epic Records, they brought in this little Australian girl, Orianthi…this is before all the Michael Jackson connections, and she was playing in my jam at Cozy’s. It would end up being a gold mine for me and Cozy’s just kick-started everything for me. Because all the big named cats were coming through I wind up doing my first commercial with Stevie Wonder’s band. It was Campbell’s Soup or something and that started it…and no agents, just other musicians that knew me and called to ask me to do it.”

Sugaray and Slash at Cozy’s

Talking about influences, I read Otis Clay and Cyril Neville gave you some wonderful advice. “Yes, I was in Lucerne, Switzerland at a great festival and I was opening up and sitting behind me in the wings before we played was Cyril Neville, Otis Clay and Buckwheat Zydeco. I’m trying to look like I’m not nervous, but it wasn’t easy. I did my thing and they were waiting for me back in the green room and they just told me, ‘keep on keepin’ on.’ At that time I was a young buck and they said ‘we need young people so do your thing.’ Otis Clay told me, ‘Sugar, there’s enough guys playing Mississippi blues and enough guys playing Chicago blues, nobody is playing Soul blues, anymore. Where are the O.V. Wrights, where are the Bobby Bland’s, where are the Little Milton’s? So I took it upon myself, which is why I have such a large band to bring back that Soul blues sound.”

Your band is like a locomotive… “We were in Marseille, France a few months ago and a bouncer there changed the name of the band, it’s always been SRB and he said, ‘No, no, no from now on your band is called the War Machine! And incidentally, they gave us the key to the city, so that’s pretty cool.”

What inspires and motivates Sugaray Rayford? “You know, I don’t know! I write what is happening to me, just real life. I just keep saying I’m lucky, but my wife Pam always says, ‘lucky is being prepared, work hard and be ready for any opportunity.’ My inspiration as I get older at least for me; is to just do a good job at every show. That means so much to me, and I’m not just saying that. My inspiration is the people that come out. It’s not so much about the money as it is, the time. Everybody has money and you can get money back. But the time it takes to drive here, to park, to walk in and do all that stuff and that people would do that…that’s my inspiration!”

Your music doesn’t have any limitations, no boundaries. How do you do that? “I’m just being me. It’s just literally being me, and enjoying the moment and hoping the people come along and enjoy it with me. Which is why we don’t do set lists and we don’t do all these tricks, it’s just an old school band, good songs and good musicians having fun.”

Your ‘live’ shows are incredibly interactive. You talk to your audiences, and they are engaged with you. “I am from the church!” He laughs. “That’s part of it, dude. But think about it, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and all those older blues cats from the last generation, they all talked to their audience. I don’t know when it became this thing if you’re a bluesman you’ve got to be frowning with a bad hat and never look up at the audience. I don’t know where that came from. When I meet young blues guys now I tell them there’s nothing wrong with talking with the audience and having a good time. This is not acting, there’s no third wall just be yourself.”

You’re also known for your song lyrics, do you have a process in your songwriting? “No, you know Pam; my wife started me off probably about fifteen years ago with a journal that I write in everyday. It started originally to help me with my PTSD and anxieties, stuff like that. When I left Delta Groove Records I was trying to figure out what record company I wanted to go with, I had Alligator, I had Ruf and then I met Eric Corne from 40 Below. We were in Memphis sitting in front of the Orpheum when I met him and I just loved the ideas that he had. I just finished ‘The World That We Live In’ album with the Dap Tones band, you know the Dap Kings with Sharon Jones and Amy Winehouse? And I had just done the album with them and I didn’t want to go back and do a traditional 1, 4, 5 blues album. I wanted to stay in this Soul lane, Soul blues lane but I also wanted to expand. I had thought from the days of the Mannish Boys and Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz, the Blues Giants and all the other bands I had played with that I had started getting pigeon-holed. As a singer there were a lot of things I could do, and still have the integrity…so I signed with Eric (40 Below Records). Some people are just born wordsmiths. Eric is a great wordsmith. He literally, has my journal now. He’ll go through it and see a passage and he’ll call me up and ask if it’s okay to write about this? I’ll go yeah, this is what happened and I’ll explain the story to him in more detail and then we’ll collaborate and start writing the album. As you can tell he gave my work depth and more complexity because he’s a wordsmith. I like it because it’s challenging for me. The other thing I like is people understand what I’m trying to say now, more so than when I was with the Mannish Boys or Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz. Back during the Pandemic when we released, ‘Somebody Save Me’ people were talking about ending their lives; that song literally turned them around.”

Sugaray Rayford – ‘Invisible Soldier’

There’s so much positivity in you music… “There always will be. I always tell people and it sounds cliché but it’s true. Government’s one thing but people are another and unfortunately because of the times we live in people get a lot of false and wrong information and the person with the loudest noise gets the most attention. I still believe in my heart of hearts the majority of Americans are not like that. I travel all over this country and I meet people from Mississippi to New York and everywhere in between and I’ve met the salt of the earth people. And there’s one in every crowd but I’m not going to let them sway me, that says this is a bad country or everybody in this country is bad because I don’t believe that.”

You address so many topics in you music, both original and covers and most have an emotional connection for you. “I don’t do any songs, even if I do covers, there are no songs I’ve done, other than ‘Grits Ain’t Groceries’ are all things that I’ve actually lived. It makes it real and I don’t have to try and emote. They are actually real feelings that I had when it happened to me.”

It’s like the core of your creative. “I guess you could call it that. Everything I write is something that I lived. The last six albums, everything I write has come out of my journal.

You had your own YouTube channel. “You know I needed an outlet and with all the craziness between Covid and Pam with the cancer I really missed the camaraderie of other musicians. I was telling my media guy I know so many musicians from so many different genres and that’s why I brought so many people on, like my buddy Mike Finnigan. And you know he passed away just 48 hours after that. I only wanted to talk about 15 minutes but Mike wanted to talk and it was like three hours. Finnigan was one of those guys that should have been world famous. Most people in music know him, all those years with Bonnie Raitt, Etta James even Taj and the Phantom Blues Band.”

Tell me about your connection with Emerson, Lake and Palmer. “That was at the Baked Potato. Did you ask my wife about that, because she would have laughed…because I didn’t know who they were.” (laughing) “It wasn’t until we got home and she said, ‘you have no idea who that was, huh?’ No! ‘It was Emerson, Lake and Palmer.’ This has happened to me several times, once I was playing at the Maui Sugar Mill. I was in L.A. and I got a call from Jimmy Vivino and my buddy, Kal David and they were playing at the Maui Sugar Mill in Tarzana. Jimmy calls me and says ‘Sug, you in town?’ I said man; I’m just sitting here doing nothing. So he says, ‘why don’t you come sit in and play?’ So I get there and it’s Kal David, Jimmy Vivino, Nate Watts (Stevie Wonder) and Gary Mallaber (Steve Miller) and I get up there and I’m singing and there’s a guy there playing harmonica, I thought he was Australian, I didn’t know. I was just gonna’ do one song, we end up doing five, and we’re having fun. We take a break and Kal and I are talking, I hadn’t seen him for awhile, shooting the breeze and the little Australian guy walks by and says. ‘Hey Mate, you’re the real deal, I appreciate you. I enjoyed playing with you, let’s do it again.’ Okay cool man, thank you very much I appreciate it and he walks away. Kal’s leaning against the wall and he’s laughing at me…again! Kal goes, ‘Ray, you have no idea who that is…do you?’ I go no, but he’s a pretty good harmonica player. He says ‘that was John Mayall.'” (laughing) “So, the funny thing is, we’re now label mates! I’ve talked to him a couple of times and I asked him do you remember that? He goes ‘I remember that Ray, I remember meeting you.’

You talked briefly about your commercial work. I didn’t know you had a McDonald’s commercial. “I ended up doing the McDonalds commercial, I was in Milwaukee doing the play ‘Low Down Dirty Blues’ and I got a phone call that McDonald’s wanted me. It’s one thing to be in L.A. or San Diego I would have a studio to record. Thank God for the sound crew at the theater, the guys were so amazing they built me a sound booth with great microphones and I just went in and recorded five demos of (Sugaray sings) BaDaBaBaBaa and the last one, BaDaBahBahBaa! And I’ll be darned, they sent me a check. And they’ve been using that for like 10 years now. But that BaDaBaBaBaa…that was me. And it paid well!” (laughing) “Those commercials, we call it mailbox money. You go to the mailbox and Whoa! I wasn’t expecting that! That’s great!” (laughing)

Your shows are always different, the songs, the conversation between songs, it’s the entire Sugaray experience. “Well you notice what I do, first of all…no set list! The second is I don’t like segueing music, from one song right into the next song. I believe in that pause, I use that pause. I want to tell people what that song is about and I also want to engage the audience because there’s more than one way to entertain. So I’m going to tell jokes, I’m going to tell serious stories and we’re going to sing great music. So when it’s over and done with, sometimes people sitting back there are going, ‘man, what just happened?’ because you have such a range of emotion, you’re laughing at this joke but you realize this song is about something serious…but you’re Entertained! And the name of the job is…Entertainment!” I have a problem sometime with some blues musicians who’ve gotten so lost in; I need these strings, I need this amp, I’ve got to look like this, gotta’ have on the bowling shirt, certain hair and I’ve got to look like I’m serious about playin’ this music. I’ve walked up to people and said, listen you understand this music comes from slavery days and you had one day off. Do you understand that very rarely did any bluesman from Son House to Robert Johnson, none of them played slow blues? They’d have been hung. People look at me like, ‘what do you mean?’ We’ve been working in the field picking cotton for six days, we got one day off and I don’t want to hear no slow blues. This is huck-a-buckin’ I want to stand next to a woman; I want to drink and yell and scream at the moon. There’s nothing wrong with a slow blues, I just believe if you’re going to play a slow blues in a ninety minute set, you do it once in a night. This music was always about having a good time, some people take that as it means pain, and no it was exorcising that pain and enjoying themselves.”

Willie Dixon use to say it was a form of communication. “That’s why the old blues guys come up to me and call me a field hollerer. I’m not a crooner; I’m a field hollerer because I would be that guy whose voice is big enough at the plantation that I’d be yellin’ out the cadence as we sing it. It’s just weird when you go through time that some of those nuances get lost and lose what it’s really about.”

It’s like field hollers were really the first internet. “Yeah, they really were the first tele-communication.” (laughing) “No doubt.”

The post Sugaray Rayford: Big Man – Bigger Heart appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Let’s start with the early years…did you sing around the house when you were young? “I would sing around the house a lot. People assume that I grew up singing in church, but my family didn’t go to church very much. My mom had her own beliefs and the church wasn’t the way for her, but we were raised to believe in God. And my grandmamma and great-grandmamma and grandfather all lived in the same house. My three sisters and me, my mom and my dad lived there for a minute before they got divorced, so we had a little dysfunction there growing up as a child.”

Always Detroit? “Born and raised in the city of Detroit and I listened to a lot of music coming up because that was my peace. Whenever I felt like I needed some peace of mind I would go and put on the record player. The record player gave me my peace; I’d go to the record player and put on my favorite, the Supremes or the Temptations because at that time Motown was happenin’ and that’s what I was listening to and that’s what my mom and dad were listening to at the time. Or anything from Nancy Wilson or Etta James, but as a child my main influence coming up as a singer, Phyllis Hyman was the one I listened to. Everybody assumes it would have been blues but it was Phyllis Hyman that motivated me to sing.”

Did jazz play any part as far as influences? “I would say a little bit but I always thought at the time that blues and jazz were my mom and dad’s music, so I always wanted to listen to the Top 40. Coming up in Detroit in the late 70s and 80s we were listening to the Dramatics, a great Detroit band and a lot of other Detroit acts that made it national (the Spinners, DeBarge) and I listened to a lot of that, too.”

Let’s talk a little about you recording career. “I think at the age of 22…and I had been in a group with my girls called, ‘Chanteuse’ and we were just trying to be heard. It’s hard to get people to listen and it’s hard to get gigs. We never had regular gigs; we’d make our own gigs and go home with $50 to split up. I ended up going to a jam session with an established band there and somebody told them I could sing. They got me up on stage, and at the time they were doing old blues and soul music that I had been listening to with my mom and dad and that I knew. They said, ‘we don’t do Top 40, we do soul and blues. Do you do that?’ I go, Okay…yeah!” (laughing) “I did one blues song with them and I became a blues singer after that, because they asked me to join the band. They were called the Chisel Brothers. I was with them for awhile and started getting a name in the city of Detroit as a blues singer. Then everybody wanted to have the powerful blues singer voice that they’d been hearing about.”

When did you get involved with the band, Big Chief? “Big Chief was an alternative rock band that came out in the nineties, ’95 or ’96 time period. They were signed to Sub Pop Records, the label based in Seattle. They came to me and said, ‘we want your voice.’ And you know at that time there was always a soulful voice wailing over the rock songs. You know, Boy George had ‘Church of the Poison Mind’ with that soulful voice. When someone wanted a soulful voice wailing on their records in the 90s, I was the one to get the call in Detroit. So when Big Chief called me, the label liked me so much, they said, ‘we want to do a record with you.’ I had been with the Chisel Brothers for about ten years by then, so I had to make a big decision. It was like stepping out on faith because I had been loyal to these guys for so long, but I wanted to do something…different. I wanted to step out. So I decided to do this record with Big Chief. I still wasn’t used to doing my own thing because I was a person that just showed up and did what they told me to do. I sang…I wasn’t in charge of my checks; I wasn’t in charge of anything. I would just show up and sing. Basically, when I stepped out on faith and decided to do that thing with Sub Pop, I got my own career.”

How did that impact your direction? “When I did the Sub Pop gig, it did not make me a lot of money because they didn’t know what to do with me. I’m a blues singer who sings rock!” (laughing) “It was a grunge label! They didn’t know what to do with me. And I had just started writing, so when they signed me and I told them I wasn’t a writer. About three months in they said, ‘Look, we’re about to drop you if you don’t start writing. At the time I was in a tumultuous relationship that I just couldn’t seem to get out of, so I started writing songs about it. It motivated me to write, so then I became a songwriter. The album is called ‘Sunday Morning Music.’

You’ve worked with so many people and in so many genres. Your versatility has really worked for you. Let’s start with working with Bob Seger? “Yeah, I’m on some tracks with Bob and I actually got to do some live performances on television with him.”

Kim Wilson? “Yes Kim Wilson. He’s on MY album!” Thornetta giggles. “I called Kim, I got his number like years ago and I said whenever I record my album…because there’s a span of 20 years between ‘Sunday Morning Music’ and ‘Honest Woman.’ Both of those were original music. A 20-year span of hoping and praying some label would sign me. And it didn’t happen. In between that I recorded a ‘live’ CD of cover tunes. But I’d managed to keep working because of my fan base and people like you, who just want to see me perform. Thank you for keeping me working.

I told myself when I met Kim Wilson, when I record my next record I’m going to get him on that album. So I wrote the song ‘I Gotta’ Sang the Blues’ I called him and left a message, I said Kim, I’d love you to be on my record and I didn’t hear back from him. I scheduled the date that I knew he was coming to the area to play; it was about an hour from Detroit. So I set the recording date anyway, talked to the studio and told them what time I was going to do it. And the night before his gig in the Detroit area, he calls me. He says, ‘what’s this thing you want me to do?'” (laughing) “And it was late at night, like two in the morning.” (laughing) “Oh, I just want you play harp on it and I’ll come and get you and bring you back to your gig and I’ll pay you some money. So, I paid him good. While I’m at home preparing to go get him, I’m singing my song and I realize the second verse would sound good with him on it, so I color-coded the lyrics and when my husband and I went to pick him up and passed him the lyrics and said what do you think about singing this?” (laughing) “And he read it and we listened to it, it was about an hour between where we were and the studio and he said, ‘Oh, I’ll give it a try!’ So he’s on my record, singing also. You got to hear it, it’s great! It was one take and it was nominated for a Blues Music Award.”

Talk a little about Bonnie Raitt and Katie Webster. “That was in 1992 and Bonnie had just won all of those Grammy’s for ‘Nick of Time.’ I was in my 30’s; and in your 30’s you’re thinking you’re getting old! I’m getting old in this business, starting off too late, you know? But here’s Bonnie in her 40’s and winning all these awards and she was a major influence for me and keeping this going. And then I get the call to open up for her at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. I’m backstage sharing a dressing room with Katie Webster because she was on tour with Bonnie and we were back there just whoopin’ and hollerin’ it up. And I just loved Miss Katie, she was a beautiful spirit. And here comes Bonnie, ‘Ooo girl, what’s you got on? I’m gonna’ have to go change my clothes!'” (laughing) “Cause I had beaded up this vest by hand and she liked it so much; she went back and put her bedazzled vest on. Then at the encore for her show, I was not expecting it but she asked me to come up, ‘C’mon up Thornetta’ and she asked me to sing with her. So I’m on stage with Katie Webster and Bonnie Raitt…it was surreal.”

How did your music get on the hit television show, the Sopranos? “‘Sunday Morning Music.’ I didn’t even know what the Soprano’s was, because I didn’t have HBO. I though the Sopranos was a show about some singers.” (laughing) “It wasn’t! I didn’t have HBO so I didn’t know. And this guy calls me, ‘you know I’m one of the producers of the show for HBO called the Sopranos and I was wondering if I could use one of your songs?’ And I’m like, sure. And when he told me how much I was getting, I was like…Yeah!” (laughing) “Then I went and looked it up and it was a mobster situation, it was the Isabella episode, where they were trying to whack him.”

You mentioned the ‘live’ album of cover tunes. “That was one of the things that kept me going after I did Sub Pop and didn’t know what I was going to do. I did a jam session in downtown Detroit at the club called the Music Menu and it kept me going for about five or six years.”

You covered some wonderful songs on that recording. Big Maybelle, Percy Mayfield, Etta James. How did you decide what songs to cover on that project? “There were friends of mine that performed with me, one major guy, Leonard King who would always introduce songs to me and I’d end up doing them in my shows. And I did them for so long, so many years my girlfriend Sue said, ‘We need to record this.’ It was a party every Wednesday in downtown Detroit. The room was busting at the seams every Wednesday, so we decided to record one night and it was magical.”

Let’s talk about the music you write, what inspires you? “For me, what I go through. I ask God to speak through me and it’s an inspiration. I’m hoping that it uplifts people and that people can relate to it, helps them feel better or if they’re going through something they understand they’re not the only one going through it. And they can find a way out of it.”

Talk a little about your song, ‘I Believe.’ “I believe everything’s going to be alright. We’ve been through so much, you know? That’s one of those songs I believe God gave me as a message to persevere. We’re all here. So many of us did not make it to this point in the last couple of years, so if you’re here you’ve got to do something with this life, you’ve got to make it better. You’ve got to make the planet better.”

Am I Just a Shadow? “Do you like that song? Mostly men like that song. Luis Resto (Eminem) played keys on that and Luis Resto is the guy that produced the music from 8 Mile. I thought I was going to be able to afford him but after he finished playing on it he goes, ‘Don’t worry about it; I think I did that to somebody!’ (laughing) “Wow! So he played on my record for free!” (laughing)

Your band plays everything; the versatility from an a cappella Bill Withers ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ to the Allman Bros. ‘Whipping Post?’ “I love that song! Nobody expects me to do it, so that’s why I like doing it. What is she doing? Whaaa…!?”

You knew Alberta Adams, didn’t you? “Alberta Adams was the original Detroit’s ‘Queen of the Blues’ and she was one of my mentor’s. I called her ‘Mama’ and my girlfriend Nikki and I were there one of the last days she was alive, right before Christmas. She passed away on Christmas. She’ll always be in my heart.”

You’ve gone global; the French honored you a few years ago with the La Academie du Jazz Award for your album ‘Honest Woman.’ “There was a 20-year span between both of those original albums, because I was waiting for somebody to do it for me. I said, by the time I’m 50 this and that is going to be happening. I turned 50 and it wasn’t happening. Then I realized I was waiting on good things I already have. All I need to do is step out on faith and make it happen. I turned 50 and went into the studio; I recorded the first five songs with some great Detroit musicians. I started having ideas on who I wanted to play on it, like Kim Wilson. And before I knew it the record was done, on my own dime. I got inspired by the young people that are doing it these days. You don’t need a record label to do that, put yourself out. It might take a long time, one song at a time. But just start doing it. And that’s what happened with ‘Honest Woman.’

And weren’t you just in Australia at the Sydney Opera House? “I performed with a performance artist named Taylor Mac. He has a show called the Bark of Millions and we’re going to be out this way in L.A. in February. The Bark of Millions is a fabulous show and it pays tribute to the LBGT community historians, people nobody knew about and all the songs are about certain people throughout the history of the world who were LBGT. I sing about Wilbur ‘Little Axe’ Broadnax who was actually a woman and nobody knew. He performed songs with an all-male gospel group. And there are a couple of other singers that I perform.”

Thornetta Davis is one hell-of-a-dynamic and inspirational singer\songwriter. If you ever get the chance to see her perform live, take my advice and do it. It’s an evening you won’t soon forget.

The post Thornetta Davis: Detroit’s Queen of the Blues appeared first on Traveling Archive.

When we had the opportunity to sit and talk, Johnny was soft-spoken and gracious when he reflected on his experiences and musical friendships. It was almost the polar opposite of his raucous, guitar-shredding stage presence. There are so many layers to this Rock n’ Roll legend, so we started our conversation with those early, formative years. “I was born in San Francisco and grew up in Redwood City until about 1958.” Johnny says. “I was about eight years old when we moved to Daly City. It used to be all farms; even when I grew up there was a pig farm. Colma is right next to Daly City and it was known for its cemeteries and the Christian Brothers Dairy, mainly farms and a lot of florists.”

I read your family was very musical, especially accordion music. How did you become a Rock n’ Roll guitar player? “My lack of being able to read music.” Johnny smiles. “I was faking it for awhile but my dad and uncle were very well known accordion players at that time. Accordion was a very big deal back then, the 30s, 40s and 50s! A long story short, my accordion music teacher caught me faking it, I’d take the music home and my father would play it and I would listen to him and play it back. As the music became more complicated I would miss the value of some of the notes then my teacher realized I’d been fooling him. He got angry. So, I saw a guitar in the studio and asked my dad if I could try that…and that was it!”

Were there garage bands growing up? “We actually were starting to play and being hired so we rehearsed in my mom’s garage. I joined the union at thirteen and I was playing the accordion and the guitar. My buddy’s father was the treasurer in the union. He said you guys might as well join the union. We were underage so he said, ‘I’ll grandfather you in. You’ll need a note from your parents.'”

So what type of venues were you playing? “Oh, the Masonic Temples, Jewish clubs, Moose Lodges and a lot of Teen Clubs and Community Centers, they all had dances and activities on the weekends. So, we were always playing and making good money.”

You started on guitar, but you also played the bass. Tell us about the band, Day Blindness. “That was the band I started playing bass for. Then we changed the name to Fox. They already had one LP out under the name Day Blindness and they turned into a rock trio, so I took over the lead vocals.”

The 1960s in the Bay area was about to become the center of a world-wide musical revolution. “Fox was a good band and we worked a lot in that scene. Our guitar player (Gary Pihl) went on to play with Boston and Sammy Hagar. It was a good band and we played at the Fillmore, Bill Graham really liked us. In fact, he remembered when I started playing with Elvin, he remembered that band. We (Fox) ended up going to Hawaii on a one-way ticket, we found out later it was the Korean mob that brought us over there. Then we were kind of stuck in Hawaii, which sounds wonderful but it’s not really because there’s only so many places to play…and we had to play under their blanket. We played a concert and met John Selby, who was producing Quicksilver and he asked us how we got there and we told him. He told one of the road guys to go get a truck, put our equipment in it and go over to our house and get all our stuff. So he took us under his wing, we were black-balled from all the clubs, but we were able to play concerts. So we made a living doing that. A friend of mine worked for Janis Joplin and when Janis came over there, we all met and that’s how we got off the island. It was through Janis.”

You were able to leave the islands and go back home, because of Janis Joplin? “Yeah, she called her promoter and said if we didn’t open for Big Brother they wouldn’t go. So we did four shows with Big Brother and then came back. But Quicksilver at that time…those guys were fantastic!”

At this point of the interview, we both went off on a tangent…’ooooohhh, have another HIT of Fresh Air!’ “I still think of that song, once in awhile.” Johnny smiles, then adds. “Cipollina’s amp rig was fantastic, with the horns on top, he was such a great guitar player.”

Did you get to hang with Janis a little? “I knew Janis pretty well, but it was only about a year when she passed, though. My friend worked for her and he was mentioned in some books about her. We’d go to lunch or over to her house a lot. That’s where I met Nick Gravenites, so I’ve known Nick from those days. Also another guy who came back from Hawaii with us who worked for Fox as a roadie was Jim Green. I had mentioned to Jim when he went back to Georgia that we were looking for another singer and that’s how Mickey Thomas was found.”

Our mutual friend, Charlie Musselwhite used to speak highly of Janis and how sweet she was as a person. “She was very, very sweet and a lot of people misrepresent that. That really bothers me to this day to hear something disparaging about her. She was a very, very nice person, she was troubled is all, but she would give the shirt off her back if you needed it. I remember after Monterey she was talking about her new band, the Full Tilt Boogie Band about how she loved Otis Redding’s style and she changed her dance moves and her singing after seeing Otis. You have to think now, if they both had survived and what if they’d done stuff together. Oh, and after that lunch we switched cars and raced back to her house. I drove her Porsche and she drove my dad’s Karmann Ghia.”

You played with a band called Gideon and Power. “Gideon was really interesting and I wish more people knew about him and there was more out there about him. He was a gospel singer that turned regular Baptist Gospel into a club act. We were still doing the old gospel tunes that you would hear in church, but he would have raps in between that would explain different things. The music was fantastic and at one point he had a coffin, a small coffin we would haul around in the back of my truck or on the road. He would tell people during the song, ‘Give Me my Flowers while I Live’ and he’d have people come up and look in the coffin. There were flowers on the casket and they’d look in…there was a mirror in there. It was his way of telling everyone how much you love them, while you’re here.”

Talk a little about Wumper’s Old Man on Grant in San Francisco? And didn’t Paul Butterfield used to come in there and jam with you? “I didn’t actually know Paul that well, but we did know each other. He and Elvin were pretty tight. But concerning Wumpers…that was Perry Welsh. (Perry and the Pumpers) Perry used to play with Elvin and was Elvin’s road manager and he played harmonica and sang. Perry was a true character in the purest sense, there was stuff he did that was historical. He had a house; he and his wife split up, so myself and the bass player, Fly Brooks who passed in 2010, we moved in with Perry and started this band. Perry and I had tried to start ‘Perry and the Pumpers’ previously and couldn’t get it together. The original bass player for Perry and the Pumpers, Johnny Ace, went back to New York.

So we started messing around learning some blues stuff and I moved back to guitar, Perry talked me into doing that. I’d still been playing bass with Gideon and Luther Tucker. Luther found out I played guitar, so Luther had me playing guitar, too. Perry played harp and was a great singer and he knew all the cool blues stuff so we were really one of the first blues bands out of that area, because most people were focused on rock. It was 1971. We started playing and Perry bought this big metro van we called the Pumpermobile. The name pumper came from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, there was a song called ‘I’m an old pipeliner and I lay my line all day’…pumping oil. And we would drive that old metro van around all hours of the night creating holy hell all around North Beach and playing in all those clubs. The club Wumper’s, the owner really liked us and Perry talked him into letting us play every weekend and we usually filled the place on Friday and Saturday. Then people like Elvin started coming in and when Butterfield was in town, Paul would come in. And Luther would come in all the time, so it got to be a place where people who loved blues started coming. Word got out and it was all about the music. Right down the block was the Orphanage and the North Beach Revival that had Mike Finnigan and his band playing. You could walk to all these clubs and sit in. That was my university. Later on when I got in Elvin’s band, that’s what we’d do. That went on for about a year before Elvin took me and the bass player Fly, and the rest you already know.”

Before we get away from it, Luther Tucker was one of the sweetest guys. “Luther was phenomenal and such a nice guy. One time we were rehearsing at his house and Sunnyland Slim was playing piano and Luther goes ‘let me buy you lunch.’ He was living in Hunter’s Point at the time and we walked up to this BBQ place. He didn’t talk much but he asked me, ‘when we get back, would you fire my band for me?’ I looked at him in shock, I’m 21 years old and he wants me to fire his band. But that’s the way Luther was, he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Elvin loved Luther and years later I kind of noticed similarities that Elvin picked up from Luther and I learned a lot of rhythm guitar playing from Luther.”

Blues music seems to have that personal connection, handed down or shared with fellow musicians more than any other music. “I hate to say it, but it’s gone now because things change. Now, young people learn about the blues from the internet and there’s so much out there, they forget to go back to the roots. Back then, as a young man I learned to shut up and listen and watch and that’s kind of gone now. Things have changed; I can’t say in a bad way, they have just changed so things will be different in the future.”

You’ve said that some of your influences on guitar were players like Chet Atkins and Steve Cropper. “I think Steve Cropper because when I was growing up and that was the type of music I was listening to…all the stuff from Stax-Volt and he was the king of rhythm guitar. I was listening to all the guitar players. Freddie King was playing instrumentals before he started singing because that’s what sold. Luther was a big influence – first hand. Chet Atkins, I couldn’t play jazz or any of his stuff, but I loved the way he played and I would listen to him and watch him on TV. Elvin, of course was a learning experience because of what we listened to and what we put together at that time. I did a session with Cropper in 1980, I think it was with Mickey Thomas for MCA it was quite an experience because the tables were turned. He played lead on that session and I played rhythm, so it was very interesting.”

You start touring with Elvin Bishop; things must have really changed in your musical career? “The first band was a 5-piece band before Mickey, that band really had something going on. Then we added Mickey as a background singer through my connection with Gideon. And he took over a lot of the leads, and after ‘Fooled Around’ hit things changed our position on the totem pole, so-to-speak. Everything got larger, our road crew, lighting and it was quite the experience for a 24-year old.”

Elvin Bishop Band ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love’ (1975)

Must have been like riding a rocket. What was it like for you? “There are some blank areas!” (laughing) “Suprisingly, when I read Keith Richards book, he said he remembered everything. Well I don’t remember everything but I remember quite a bit. I left Elvin’s band in ’78 but I still played with him. It got a little fuzzy in the 80s because I was playing with Norton Buffalo. But I never noticed until I got sober, just how close I was with Elvin, he was like a big brother to me, so when I quit the band he took it personally more so than some of the other people that left the band, so we had some odd dynamics until the 90s, but I just talked to him yesterday.” Johnny smiles. “Things have changed.”

That’s good to hear. Talk about your time with Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts. “Working with Norton was quite an experience because when I left Elvin, we were on the road constantly; 300 days a year almost and playing more shows than that. When I went on the road with Norton it was more vans and RV’s and shared rooms, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. Norton was such a great guy. Norton would go on the road with Steve Miller and when he would come off, he would subsidize some of his tours. That’s how much he loved playing with the Knockouts. The band had different names; the Commandos…we changed the name on every tour.” (laughing) “One tour was called ‘Driven to Extinction’ and when we were halfway through the tour, someone noticed extinction was spelled wrong.” (laughing) “Those tour badges are now collector’s items. It was great touring with him and we were playing constantly, six nights a week.”

You played with Commander Cody, George Frayne. “I played guitar with Commander Cody. That was fun; he was a good friend of Norton’s because Norton played with him. George was great and he was my guest a few years back at Gator by the Bay. When I lived in Stinson Beach, George lived there, so we would close down the Sand Dollar the only bar and restaurant in town. We used to laugh about it because both of us said the only thing we could get is asphalt burns on our knees on the way home because we lived so close. George was great, a great player, great songwriter, a great sense of humor and a great artist.”

Another name from that era, Jerry Garcia. “He used to come by because he really dug Elvin and they were really close from the Haight days. There are pictures online, but he would come by and jam.”

Another chunk of your musical life was with the Capricorn label. And that included Charlie Daniels, Bonnie Bramlett, Dixie Dregs, Marshall Tucker…“Toy (Caldwell) especially, when we were on the road together every night after the show we ended up in my room. He roomed with his brother Tommy, but we’d end up in my room playing guitar till four in the morning, laughing and drinking and all that good stuff. On days off we’d go fishing and he took me hunting…Toy was a good cat.” But that label (Capricorn) Gregg (Allman) was the main person that started the ball rolling for Jimmy Carter’s run for president. But we all did benefit shows to put Jimmy in office. He was a fantastic person and I met him numerous times…truly, one of the greatest humanitarians of all time.”

How did you end up playing with Van Morrison? “That was an odd thing; we were playing the television show ‘Midnight Special’ and Van showed up and didn’t know he had to have a band, so we learned the song ‘Domino’ in about 20 minutes and pulled it off. It’s on Youtube and it sounds damn good, you know?”

Elvin Bishop Band backing Van Morrison on the Midnight Special

Again, your ability to hear something and play it back is just incredible. “I think it’s just something you’re blessed with. It’s a blessing and a curse. Ed Fletcher who worked for Van and later on went to work with the Doobie Brothers, taught me the guitar part really quick, because he played guitar. Years later I jammed at Humphries with the Doobies and I sat in and did ‘Listen to the Music’ and we’re getting ready to go on stage. Ed asked me, remember that part and I said I’m a little rusty and he showed me again…then said, this is the second time I’ve showed you a part! We laughed about it.”

Do you know Greg Douglass who lives here in Southern California? “We just did a project together with John Avila from Oingo Boingo. It’s ongoing but Mark Langford who owns Rock and Roll San Diego, took 200-year old Irish poems and put them to music. It’s kind of rock-based, but it’s really good. It hasn’t been mixed and mastered yet, and it’s still untitled…”

In 2014 you released ‘Lions and Thieves’ and Albert Lee played on that. “Yeah, Albert came in. It was interesting because I was trying to get Don Peake from the Wrecking Crew to produce it. He played with the Everly Brothers and he was the first white person to play with Ray Charles, an incredible guy and a beautiful person. I wanted him to produce it but I just didn’t have the budget. He introduced me to Albert some years back and I wanted him to play on a couple of songs, so we went up to Don’s studio and we recorded Albert up there and he was just incredible as everyone knows.”

Where did the title come from? “I was at the opera, Salome. King Herod was berating Salome about her love interest. And he says ‘I saw him lounging under the palm trees in the desert with the lions and thieves.’ And I thought that is such a cool line and when thinking about it later, you know meeting Jimmy Carter but I was also friends with the president of the Hell’s Angels. Lions and Thieves…that connection; from good people and people that were considered bad but had treated me really well, and were very good people in their own sense. There are two songs on that album that are about cheating death, because I have. But like Elvin says, ‘Quit complaining, we beat the odds!'”

You were a constant at the Record Plant in Sausalito, another hub for musical excellence. Who were some of the players you ran into? “Just about everybody!” (laughing) “I used to play pinball with Buddy Miles, that’s how I met Buddy. He was holding court at a club down in Santa Cruz and I would go down and play with him a bunch. And Bob Johnston, he produced Bob Dylan, he was doing some production there, so I started playing guitar on a lot of his stuff. I lived maybe a half mile away from the Plant, so I was always there.”

Stephen Stills? “Yeah, I used to see Stephen there. It’s funny because the stories I have about Stephen are more about partying than anything else.” (laughing) “He’d come by to see Elvin and he’d come backstage or we’d go up to his room and take our guitars.”

You talked about some current recording projects, any other musical endeavors looking down the road? “I’m getting ready to record in January up in Greaseland with Kid Andersen. It’ll be called the ‘Gates of Redemption’ and Elvin will definitely be on it.”

Your road is truly incredible, playing with some of the most notable artists of a generation. And growing up so close to ground zero; the right place at the right time. “You know Elvin says that on the ‘Blues Rolls On.’ He says once again I was at the right place at the right time. I always tell everyone, its talent of course and how hard you work, but it all comes down to being in the right place at the right time…and sometimes the wrong place at the right time. It just so happens at that moment in music history that whole area is where it was happening. I’m sure other cities had their little scene, but at that time it was the epicenter. Even when I joined Elvin’s band, every night we’d play guitar then jump in a cab and go to maybe five or six clubs a night and sit in. Then we’d go to Berkeley and do the same thing. Winterland we played so much, the Carousel; I never played the Avalon but our drummer lived in the basement and we used to rehearse there so all those places were home to us and everyone was so generous and worked together.”

Most definitely…another place and another time.

The post Johnny V: You’ll Need a Note From Your Parents appeared first on Traveling Archive.

When you grow up in a family where your father is known as Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf, the chances are pretty good that you may end up as a bluesman. If you come of age on Chicago’s Southside and your band is forced to practice in the basement laundry room of the projects, you may end up as a bluesman. But when childhood memories include your dad taking you by the hand into some of the Windy City’s most legendary bars and you witness B.B. King live for the first time at the Burning Spear on State Street, damn you have to be a bluesman!

That’s exactly what happened to Michael Stone; you and I know him better as Stoney B. The twist and turns of his musical road, including four years in Army khakis, have taken him from the streets and bars of Chicago through a maze of clubs and juke joints across the entire South. Over a decade of that period he honed his performance and entertainment skills around the Big Easy. Those years of dedication would pay off with an invite to the New Orleans Jazz Festival. It would take Hurricane Katrina to force him to leave and with a short stop in Texas, Stoney B would eventually find his way to the West Coast and San Diego. And that’s where we caught up with him.

Let’s start with your childhood, born in Chicago…when did you realize who your father was and what he did for a living? “First of all.” Stoney says. “My father was the friend of a guy named Earnest Stone and they were good friends. Earnest Stone was with my mother and they broke up. When Earnest left, my father and mother got to be friends and I was the first product of that. My father, Lil Howlin’ Wolf (Jessie Sanders) has five kids by my mother, and I’m the first one. My mother had four girls and when she met my father, I was my mother’s first son. My mother and father broke up when I was eleven years old. We were living in Chicago; in the projects on the Southside of Chicago.”

Did you ever have the chance to meet Howlin’ Wolf? “I didn’t know Chester Burnett, ‘the Howlin’ Wolf’ and it’s in question, whether or not my father was Howlin’ Wolf’s illegitimate son. When Howlin’ Wolf left Mississippi and went to Chicago, my father followed him and the word I got through family is that when my father went to Chicago, Howlin’ Wolf didn’t want him because Wolf had his family with him. You see my father sounded, vocally just like Howlin’ Wolf! Let me tell you, my dad and Howlin’ Wolf had the same kind of vocal chords and it wasn’t a put-on that was my dad’s natural voice. I don’t know if Chester Burnett is my biological grandfather, all I know is they were close. Back in Mississippi they went down to juke joints and my father would follow him when he could.”

“Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, B.B. King and Muddy Waters were my main influences. You even say their names and I lose my mind.” — Stoney B.

You said your mother and father broke up when you were young? “My father left when I was eleven and it was about two years later when I got into music because of my upstairs neighbor. We lived on the thirteenth floor and my friend Derek, lived on the fourteenth floor. His father was into gospel music and had bought him a bass guitar. I’m sitting at home and I hear this boom, boom, booma, boom coming through the walls and I go upstairs to find out what’s going on. Derek had a bass guitar and I was really infatuated with it. I was thirteen and said let me try it. It was the first musical instrument I had ever tried to play in my life. I would go up to his house everyday…let me play on that bass. After a couple of months, Derek’s dad said let me buy Derek a guitar and let Michael Stone play the bass and that’s what he did. One thing led to another and we learned to play by ear. Everything that Derek learned, I learned. We practiced it. The first song I learned to play was ‘Get Ready’ by the Temptations. You couldn’t tell me shit! I knew how to play that!” (laughing)

Any special memories stand out from that first band? “When Derek and I were learning about music, Derek on guitar and me on bass and my next door neighbor, Gregory Hunter turned out to be our drummer. We were called the 4947 Laundry Room Band. We were kids, 14 or 15 years old and our parents loved that we were interested in music but nobody wanted us in their house.” (laughing) “You all go on down to the laundry room in the middle of the building where the elevators were. And later on my brother, Larry started singing and he had a fine voice. We entered a music contest at the Regal Theater in Chicago and one of our competitors was the Jackson 5. Michael Jackson sang ‘Who’s Lovin’ You’ and boy the women just went crazy. Joe Jackson really pressured them, they had to dress, they had steps, they had the music lined up and they were professional. We were amateurs. I mean, they just came and blew everybody else away…three times in a row. During that time we were known as the Rayshons and we had these little purple and red outfits that Derek’s father had gotten for us. I remember one night when Jermaine Jackson showed up and something was wrong with his amp and he borrowed mine. At that time I had no idea that these guys out of Indiana would go on to be world famous.”

Did your father ever take you to meet some of his musical friends? “I remember the first time my dad took me to see B.B. King at the Burning Spear club on State Street in Chicago. He got me in because everyone knew he was Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf. He started taking me out to Silvio’s and Theresa’s and people got to know me before they knew I even played music.”

Your father lived a good portion of his life in Memphis? “He was still doing shows but he had touches of Alzheimer’s and my dad would talk to anybody, he was friendly like that and everybody knew him. At his funeral, all of the kids one-by-one would get up say something and thank people for coming. I loved my dad and that was the first time I admitted to myself that I wanted to be just like him. I never said that before, I’m looking at him in his casket; the music, the personality and the character, everything that he was…was inside of me.”

He played with Jimmy Reed, Little Junior Parker…“Koko Taylor, the list is endless. Billy Branch, Sugar Blue, everybody in Chicago.”

It’s little wonder why your sound is so diverse. You play Delta and Chicago style blues, but there are traces of R&B, Soul and even Gospel in your current sets. “It was fed into my ears and remember I’ve never had a music lesson in my life. Blues and Gospel music has a feeling to it. It’s an emotional real thing. You either feel it or you don’t. My favorite number one Gospel group is the Mighty Clouds of Joy. I used to go right across the street to the DuSable Auditorium when I was living in the projects; the DuSable High School was directly across the street. And on Sundays they had the Gospel show and at the time I think it was $1.25 to get in. And I would go listen to the Gospel music, sometimes they would have the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Jackson Southernaires and all these groups traveling out of Memphis and Mississippi.”

Let’s talk about influences outside of the family. “Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, B.B. King and Muddy Waters were my main influences. You even say their names and I lose my mind. They got that beat and the music goes right along with it. You don’t even know your feet are moving. The blues will grab you.” (laughing) “The last two times B.B. came out to San Diego, I got to open for him at Humphrey’s main stage.”

Had you met him before? “When I was living in Atlanta, B.B. was playing somewhere downtown and I was playing at a blues club called Blind Willie’s in Virginia Highlands. I went to the show and when it was over and everybody was leaving, I walked up toward the stage and the security guy was there. I said look here my man can I go back and see B.B. and he said I can’t let anybody back. I went in my wallet and got one of my business cards and put a twenty dollar bill with it. Do me a favor and just tell B.B. Little Wolf’s son is here to see him. He said stay right there and he went in the back. In two minutes he came back and said follow me. I went in the dressing room and B.B. was in there with a couple of women and when I came in he said, ‘Who is your Daddy?’ I said Lil’ Howlin’ Wolf. He said, ‘Oh man!’ And another thing I was told to say hi to you from somebody in Leland, Mississippi. And when I said Leland, Mississippi B.B. sat straight up and asked, ‘Who said to say hi?’ I said, ‘Lil Bill.’ And he clapped his hands and smiled. (Alex ‘Lil’ Bill’ Wallace) taught B.B. how to play. Lil’ Bill was a used car salesman in Leland, Mississippi and when I was living in the Delta area I knew him; I got to play in the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival twice.”

Music has been such a big part of your life, how did your military service affect that? “I played bass from the time I was thirteen until I was twenty and then I went into the Army. In the Army I bought a guitar. I took my second military pay check and bought a Fender Stratocaster guitar. I taught my little brother Lonnie how to play the bass. When I came out of the Army, Lonnie was better on the bass than I was. I sat on the edge of my bed trying to figure out what to do with them bottom two strings.” (laughing) “The bass has four strings and a guitar has six. No amplifier but I could hear it and put things together, little by little and when I got out of the Army after four years, I went back to Chicago with a guitar and they were laughing at me…until they started listening to me. All of the blues music my dad influenced me with coming up, stayed with me.”

“I’ve been on the stage since I was fifteen years old, but I didn’t actually start singing and fronting a band until after I came out of the Army. When I was a bass player in Chicago, I wasn’t singing I was just playing bass. That’s why they were laughing at me when I came out of the Army because I got a guitar and I’m singing. Then when people came out to see…just who the hell is Stoney B blues? One year after I got out of the Army, I formed the first Stoney B blues band. We played from 1979 to 1986. At the same time, I was playing behind so many musicians in Chicago, it wasn’t even funny. I could sing, open up the show, play guitar, and MC. I was with Queen Sylvia Embry. She was a bass player out of the church and she could sing like an angel. Johnny ‘Guitar’ Embry was her husband and they broke up and got back together, broke up and got back together. One of the bands was Johnny ‘Guitar’ Embry and the Blues Kings and Sylvia saw me playing with him one time. Then when she found out I could play bass and guitar…AND sing, she pulled me aside. So, I was playing with Queen Sylvia and Johnny’s Blues Kings and some months I only had four days off. I was playing music every damn night. My own band played every Monday at Lee’s Unleaded Blues with Buddy Scott and the Rib Tips. He started me off at the club’s Blue Monday party.”

It would be a fan who recorded one of those ‘party nights’ that Stoney says, turned him around. “I did not like what I heard because I was drinkin’ and smokin’ weed. I thought I was feeling my own, like King Kong higher than a MF’er. My singing wasn’t clear, my guitar playing was sloppy. So, I quit! No drinking and performing.”

Did you play around Chicago with your dad? “I didn’t play with my dad much. All together, I maybe performed with my dad just three times. My dad had his own band and they were all seasoned musicians. Musically, my father was my biggest influence because he took me from the beginning until he passed away. I looked up to my dad and admired him.”

Some of those Chicago clubs are still considered legendary. “Kingston Mines, B.L.U.E.S. Yeah, I played at Wise Fools, Biddy Mulligan’s…” Did you play at Silvio’s? “No, but my dad did, my dad played Silvio’s a lot. And there was Theresa’s. Junior Wells gave me a harp one time. It was a C harp and I’ll never forget it. And I tried to play it and it made my lips sore and I never put another harmonica to my mouth again. And Junior Wells used to call me, ‘Lil’ MF’er!’ (laughing) “Junior would walk around saying, ‘Where’s that Lil’ MF’er at?’ (laughing) “I admired Junior Wells so much. First of all, he was one of the sharpest dressers and he’d always sit at the end of the bar, by himself. He got to liking me because I respected him. He was so much older than me. Junior Wells and Buddy Guy knew my dad very well.”

You had a chance to work with Son Thomas and Roosevelt ‘Booba’ Barnes? “Son Thomas I met and played with and I had the chance to talk with him a little bit, but Son Thomas was one of the older guys. And another guy named T-Model Ford…and Roosevelt ‘Booba’ Barnes. When I left Chicago in 1986, I went to Greenville, Mississippi. I was living in a little motel right outside of town and a cab driver told me, I see you’ve got a guitar. You know they play the blues down on Nelson Street. I waited till Friday night and the cabbie took me down to Nelson Street to Roosevelt ‘Booba’ Barnes’ Playboy Club. I walked in carrying a guitar and Booba had a bass player, a drummer and some other guy who could play guitar a little bit and Booba said, ‘I’m gonna’ get you to come up and play a couple of songs.’ You know, to see if I was worth a damn. So I got up and played and people liked it. Booba asked me, ‘what’s your story?’ I said look man, I just got in town I’m stayin’ in a hotel out by the highway and I’ve got no place to stay, no money and no job. He said, ‘Well man, I could use you in my band.’ He was living in the back of the club, so I was sleeping on the pool table!” (laughing) “I was playing with Booba for a couple of months and sleeping on the pool table and I’d help him at night when the club closed, cleaning up and emptying the trash, mopping the floor. Right down the street was a place called the ‘Flowing Fountain’ and that was Little Milton’s hangout. The guy who owned the ‘Flowing Fountain’ was named Perry Payton and he was a mortician, he had his own funeral home business.”

Your music and most blues is based on storytelling…are you a storyteller? “When my dad was singing and playing the blues in the house, he’d be singing and playing like it was real. Even though it was nothing but a song, I was young and impressionable and I’m learning and you can have me believing anything if you know how to do it. And the blues, every song that I sing, when I sing it, I put myself into that song. I’m going to try and make you believe. Whatever I sing, I want you to believe me. You can feel me better if you believe me and I like that connection. That’s why I love playing for the senior citizens over at St. Paul’s…they’re not drinking, they’re not dancing, they’re sitting there listening. They tell me, ‘Oh, I was so into what you were doing, I listened to every syllable that came out of your mouth; I listened to you!’ No distractions. You know that meant a lot to me.”

The early 90s you find your way to New Orleans and you meet a blues guy by the name of Bryan Lee. “Bryan Lee! That’s my boy! Blind Bryan Lee, man he was playing the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. One of the first nights I got there, I was walking down the street and I heard the blues and I walked up and looked in this place and Bryan Lee was up there playing. I didn’t know at the time he was blind. About six or seven month later I was opening up for Bryan Lee at the Old Absinthe Bar. When I first got to New Orleans I was a street musician. I’d been ripped off and didn’t have a guitar, but someone gave me one but it didn’t have any strings. I took that guitar and right off of Jackson Square on St. Peters Street, I got up on the wall and with no strings on this guitar I put my tip box out and told people I can play any song you name. How can they tell if I’m right or wrong, I didn’t have any strings on the damn thing? It was like I was a comedy act out there.”

Stoney demonstrates and sings ‘My baby left me’ and strums an invisible guitar without strings. ‘I got the blues, pretty baby.’ “And people just stopped they’d never seen anything like that before. Even other musicians were wondering what the hell is going on? Here’s this black man down there with a guitar and no strings on it and there’s a damn crowd around him and a half a box of money. What is the world coming to?” (laughing)

After establishing yourself in New Orleans what were some of the clubs you played in? “The first club I performed in on Bourbon Street was called, The Funky Pirate. I also played the Famous Door, the R&B Club, Tropical Isle…”

I’m amazed at the number of clubs and bars you’ve played all over the South, From Blind Willie’s in Atlanta to the Mean Woman’s Grill in Lubbock. “Man, I done played so many of them Chitlin’ Circuit juke joints and I’m talking about the real juke joints, down in Mississippi, I played Clancy’s in South Carolina, Spartanburg and people were comin’ up in there, man. People were comin’ from other clubs to come to Clancy’s to see this black guy playing the blues. It was full on the inside and people lined up outside with people looking in the windows.”

You also played the Jazz Fest in 2008. “Yeah, I can’t remember the year but me and Grandpa played there.”

Talk a little about Grandpa Elliott (Elliott Small). “Grandpa was the leader of an a cappella group in New Orleans and every now and then would pass me when I was playing in Jackson Square. I had Chili Groove on the tub bass, you know the No.#2 foot tub? He had a string in the middle of it and connected to a pole. He would hit that string and pull on it and change the tone. When we started playing together Grandpa and I were with each other almost every day for 12 years and we never once practiced or rehearsed…and every year we played at the Washington Parish fair, we were small stage specialists. There was never a better harmonica player; he was the best in town, period. There was no harmonica player in New Orleans better than Grandpa. Smoky Greenwell was No. #2. The first time Grandpa and I played together all I had to do was tell Grandpa what key the song was in. And he would know which harp to get. When we started playing, I had perfect vision and Grandpa had perfect vision. Slowly, glaucoma took his vision away and Grandpa went blind. Now here I am with glaucoma…man, I went through nine months of depression.”

Stoney B and Grandpa Elliott

You were evacuated out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and eventually made your way out to San Diego. You put together your own blues festival; tell us how the Blues Summit came to be? “The Blues Summit was a gathering of blues musicians, performers and blues lovers. If you like the blues, this was your event. First of all, I wanted it to be free and I wanted it to feature all the blues musicians in this area. The origins are from when I used to run the blues jam at a place called, Hennessey’s Speakeasy at Fourth and Market. And on Monday’s blues musicians had a place to come out and play.”

You’ve been very active with a number of charitable events in Southern California. “My wife is involved with the Blues Society and the Blues in the Schools programs along with the Blues Summer Camps. I got to play in the Blues in the Schools program with Michele Lundeen and Fuzzy Rankins. We’d do presentations explaining to the students what the blues were about and where they came from and how they originated. I was proud to be a part of that because I fit right in. I could speak the language they could understand.”

You’ve also worked with the Doors of Change, a program designed around homeless kids in Southern California. “In Ocean Beach there was a church organization that had us teaching homeless kids how to play music. I was teaching blues to the kids and after they came, I think it was six times, that would gift the kids a guitar. I loved that, man. And I worked with Rachelle Danto. Just a few weeks back I ran into a young person who said, ‘you don’t remember me, but you showed me the Jimmy Reed style.’ When he said the Jimmy Reed style…I knew that was at the church!”

You’re playing a lot, who’s playing with the Stoney B Blues band now? “Paul Carlomagno is my drummer and Joe Torres plays guitar. We have Pat Kelley on keyboards and Karl Dring on harmonica, guitar and bass.”

What’s next for Stoney B Blues? “I’m going in to the woodshed and I might have to disconnect from everything for a few weeks until I get through writing and putting together my next CD. There’s a lot of music that’s original…that’s still in my head. I’ve promoted everything I’ve ever done. I’ve never had a manager or agent; you see growing up in Chicago you couldn’t trust the damn booking agents and managers because they had a bad reputation for ripping people off. I just do it myself.”

You’ve lived a lifetime of blues, do you have a ‘most memorable’ moment or experience? “I was coming off the stage after a performance and a lady about 70ish, came and stood right in front of me. I stopped and put down my guitar and amplifier and she reached out and grabbed my hand and said, ‘I want to tell you something.’ She said, ‘You are my B.B. King!’ I looked at her and didn’t really understand. She said, ‘I don’t have much money, and when B.B. King comes to town I can’t afford to go see him. But I’ve seen you a number of times and I can get that same feeling.’ She said, ‘B.B. is my number one to listen to, and that I was the next best thing.’ The whole time she was holding my hand and she said she just want to tell me that. Then she just turned around and walked away. And for the first time somebody said something to me that I didn’t have an immediate response to. She said it with all sincerity, from the heart. I didn’t have a response; it was like my vocal chords couldn’t hook up, and so I just watched her walk away. And that meant so much to me. I wish I could find that lady and speak with her; it was such an intimate thing.”

Any last calls, any other stories that led you to where you are now? “Do you know I was the first attendee at Muddy Waters funeral? When Muddy had his funeral in Chicago on South Park, its called King Drive now, I only lived a block and a half from the funeral home. When they opened the door at the funeral home I was standing there, by myself. When they pulled the door open and I went in, Muddy’s casket was already open and in the front. I walked up to it and looked down on Muddy. You know how he used to have his hair processed, they had Muddy looking good. I stood there and said, ‘Muddy, one thing for sure I’m going to keep on playing the blues until I join you.’ And when I was walking out there was a line of people walking in…”

Stoney B is a man of his word. He and his band play regularly in and around Southern California so get out and enjoy the show. Check out his website, StoneyBBlues.com for dates and times near you.

The post Stoney B Blues – ‘Like Father, like Son’ appeared first on Traveling Archive.

RJ Mischo has been dropping blues records and discs since the 90s and his latest is out right now. The new release was captured ‘live’ in Studio late, last year at Suprovox Analog Recording in Karkkila, Finland. That certainly comes as no surprise when you consider RJ’s popularity and fan base in Scandinavia and throughout Europe is just as wide-ranging as it is across the U.S.

RJ Mischo and the Tomi Leino Trio

Mischo’s style of play has that rich, Chicago blues tone with an uptempo West Coast swing. It’s the type of music that forces you to get up and get on your feet. And what’s really interesting, you can almost hear his influences in his playing. From ‘Mojo’ Buford and Lynwood Slim to Rod Piazza and Kim Wilson; Mischo’s sound has that feel of the familiar but with added bends and phrasing that create the unexpected. How does that even happen? “I’m a very spontaneous musician,” RJ says. “And I work with so many pick up bands, that all shows are one of a kind, I can’t repeat myself even if I try.”

The new CD has 12 tracks, eleven of which are Mischo originals and one track ‘She Got Next to Me’ in homage to the late Sonny Boy Williamson II. “The one Sonny Boy cover has no real significance.” RJ shares. “Other than Sonny Boy is one of my major influences and I usually cut at least one of his tunes on every CD project.” That tradition continues even if you are recording in Finland. “What happened here is after we cut all my originals, then we just jammed out for some tunes off the cuff and that one made it, but actually I had no plan in advance to do that tune.”

The Blues are truly a universal language and RJ reinforces this by putting together a very tight and extremely talented rhythm section. “The Finnish band on this CD is the Tomi Leino Trio, I’ve known and have toured in Europe many times so we have great chemistry, we have never rehearsed…and those guys can play! I love ’em! The band includes Tomi Leino and Jonne Kulluvaara on guitars, Jaska Prepula on bass and Mikko Peltola on drums.

Whether you like shuffles, slow blues or uptempo boogies; ‘In Finland’ offers up a little taste for everyone. RJ Mischo is without a doubt a performance artist and that is the best way to experience his blues. ‘In Finland’ captured ‘live’ as it happened, is a strong second. Enjoy.

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Earlier this year, I had the distinct pleasure of witnessing the West Coast swing of the Lurrie Bell and Jason Ricci tour. With the celebrated rhythm section of Rena Beavers on drums and Paul Loranger on bass, the bands cruise through the Southwest was both fast and furious. With stops in San Diego, Los Angeles and Arizona this All-Star lineup provided a blues experience unlike any other.

I don’t use the term All-Star lightly; Lurrie grew up in a family of blues players and has played guitar with everybody from Billy Branch and Willie Dixon to Charlie Musselwhite and Koko Taylor. Jason Ricci has lived and worked with some of the legendary Mississippi hill country players including the Burnside and Kimbrough families and he now fronts his own band; the Bad Kind. Rena Beavers who is just as comfortable in the jazz realm as he is with the blues, has now drummed his way around the globe with Coco Montoya, Johnny Burgin and Debbie Davies. Bassist Paul Loranger has been laying down the bottom end for decades with players like Eric Sardinas, Popa Chubby and Southern California’s own; Candye Kane.

When we sat down to talk, I was curious just how a young harp player (Ricci) from the Northeast ends up touring with a guitar player (Bell) from a legendary Chicago blues family. So we started by looking back. “I grew up in Maine and I got into harmonica at a young age, about four or something.” Ricci says. “And around 13 or 14 I got serious so my mother took me to see Cotton and Musselwhite and that stuff had an effect on me. When I was about 15 or 16, 17 there was a lot of problems at home so I was on my own. I’m staying with friends, homeless shelters and all that kind of stuff. But my mother and father had a divorce agreement that he had to pay for college and he had the money, right? I ended up going off to Boise, Idaho to study wildlife management. I found a blues club out there and fell under the tutelage of Ken Harris, the Hammond B3 organ player from Boston from Paulie’s (Loranger) neck o’ the woods. He knew a lot of the people in Maine that I had been playing with; Per Hanson who was with Ronnie Earl and D.W. Gill and a lot of the players in Maine that had been around Boston. So I started playing in that club and that’s how I got interested in playing blues for money.”

Definitely advanced level musicianship classes, that had to create other opportunities? “I did get offered a job with Sam Lay.” Jason recalls. “I didn’t take the job and the reason being the harmonica player in Sam Lay’s band was a tremendous influence on me and they were going to fire him and replace him with me. Even at 17 years old I knew that wasn’t cool and plus, my mother would have been pissed if I had quit college, even though she knew who Sam Lay was. But that put the bug in my head that this could happen for me. So I moved to Memphis to be around another harmonica player named Pat Ramsey and I got a job at an Italian restaurant, not thinking I was going to be a big blues star or superstar, but thinking that might happen. From there I met David Kimbrough and Kenny Kimbrough and Dwayne Burnside. I was playing on the street in Memphis and already had a pretty bad drug problem which had me on the street. They took me down and brought me to the country where I was kind of safe from that. So I played with Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and their kids for a little over a year in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Senatobia, Potts Camp all these little juke joints out in the middle of nowhere. I was not only the only white boy in the band or in the club, but the only white boy for miles most of the time.” (laughing) “They didn’t even call me Jason; they just called me…white!” (laughing) “I was just white! Anyway, I found another gig in Jackson, and I started playing under my own name and playing with other bands, too. From there I found New Orleans and went on a tour down there, I ended up getting a job and then I went to jail for a year down in Florida, got out and played in Florida a little while and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to take a job with a New Orleans band that was living, touring and operating out of Nashville.”

Lurrie, your father Carey Bell blew harmonica for a host of Chicago blues legends; Robert Nighthawk, Honeyboy Edwards, Muddy, Lovie Lee…looking back do you remember the first time you picked up a guitar? “I was at my dad’s house,” Lurrie says. “In the basement of his house and he’d have all these damn blues musicians from the South rehearsing and they was playing the blues, man. I was a little youngster, you know? And they had a guitar layin’ down in the basement and I think it was my father’s guitar. And while they was rehearsing, I picked the guitar up and I tried to play along with the band and I found that it came natural to me. I had an ear for it and I got it in my head that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to learn how to play well enough that I can play with my dad. And I did.”

Jason, do you remember the first time you played with or heard Lurrie play?

“I spent 10 years in Nashville and started my own band in the early 2000s. It was during that time I did my first show with Lurrie, he won’t remember this but it was in San Jose. We had a festival in San Jose, I was like skinny and 130-some pounds…I had been 12 years sober but was on the decline, a relapse. I was trying to keep it together, but I couldn’t. But I met Lurrie and we had a great gig that day…he was one of the most emotional players I’ve ever played with and I fell in love with this man’s guitar playing that day. I didn’t think we’d ever do anything because I was sort of a modern cat and he was a traditional cat and I had my own thing going. But all these years later, I got a call from Amberley and she said would you be interested in doing a couple of gigs with Lurrie. So we did a duo thing at the Prairie Dog Blues Festival in Wisconsin, and I had two gigs at that festival. I had just finished a record with Altered Five which is a great band and then Lurrie and I did a duo thing and it felt good. I really relate to Lurrie as a person, not just as an artist but somebody that’s overcome a lot, like we all are really. But just to play with him again was beautiful. That turned into a tour. Pauly called me up and suggested me to Amberley and she said, yeah we had him on a couple of dates…and here I am.”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Lurrie adds. “when I met you and we played, I was with my lady friend, Claudia Harris. I want you to check this dude out, she liked you. I said you ain’t bullshittin’ he can blow his ass off. I didn’t know we were going to work together. I didn’t know that at first, but I’m glad that happened.”

Let’s talk a little about this tour on the West Coast. You’ve got Rena Beavers on drums and bassist Paul Loranger which is a monster rhythm section.

“Like Jason” Paul says, “I’ve always had a deep respect for Lurrie. I’ve spent most of my life playing traditional blues or blues rock and I was actually out with Candye Kane at a festival and I saw him there…and Jason and I have been friends forever. We’ve known each other probably over 20 years.”
Jason smiles and nods “He’s been here for me through thick and thin. Pauly’s always been a friend and this is actually, weirdly enough the first time we’ve worked together.”

Paul adds. “I’m working with Anthony Geraci right now but I started with Eric Sardinas and I was with him a long time, I toured with Candye Kane and Popa Chubby and also worked with Paul Nelson, who helped get Johnny (Winter) back on his feet. But currently I’m working with Anthony Geraci. We were at a festival in Transylvania, believe it or not and it was Anthony and Lurrie together and afterwards, Amberley his manager, asked to join him on some tours and I’m really happy about it.”

Rena, I saw you playing with Coco Montoya a year or so ago. “I’ve worked with Coco Montoya going on eleven years but as far as the blues realm, I started when I moved to Nashville in the mid-90s, I played double bass enough to be dangerous to myself and other people.” (laughing) “Then I landed a gig playing with Little Milton the last two years he was alive.”

Lurrie looks surprised. “…with Little Milton? I didn’t know that. I went down South with Little Milton for awhile, played rhythm guitar with him. It was my job to open up the show and call Milton up. That was a long time ago.”

Lurrie if you would, talk a little about playing with Koko Taylor… “Man, it was incredible because when it comes to female blues singers Koko got me! When she and her husband asked me would I want to work with her, they came down to Junior Wells’ club in the basement (Theresa’s) in Chicago, Illinois. I started working with Koko and we went to Europe and Africa together. I had some great times with Koko Taylor as her second rhythm guitar player. We played together about seven years.”

You also played with Willie Dixon. “Willie Dixon, you know Willie Dixon don’t bring too many people to his gigs and call ’em up on stage unless they’re blues entertainers from the same neck of the woods. My father was playing with Willie Dixon at the time blowing harmonica and I went to one of the shows and before I know it the old man called me up on stage. And I said oh shit, he wants me to play!” (laughing) “With Willie Dixon!!! Buster Benton was Willie Dixon’s lead guitar player called me up and said you can use my guitar. I said I’ve got to play some blues now ’cause the old man is watching. It went alright, I played a couple of numbers and that was that. When they called me up to play guitar with Willie Dixon, I haven’t quit playing since then!” (laughing)

On this limited tour with just the four of you, talk a little about your musical collaboration. It’s not just straight blues; you all seem to contribute your own unique skills and talents during the set. “This was our first gig with Rena.” Jason says. “We didn’t even have a rehearsal!” Rena just smiles. “I told Pauly last night, basically I know enough of the vocabulary and I’m constantly learning but with these guys you sit back, call the tune, know what it’s supposed to be…then hang on!” (laughing) “Just hang on and help propel them.”

Lurrie says, “When it comes time to play my music when I’m playing lead guitar and singing, these guys know how to follow me, you know? This guy here” (he nods toward Rena) “he’s got a solid rhythm on the kit back there and my main man here on the bass guitar.” (grins at Paul) “We go way back!” (laughing) “And of course Mr. Jason Ricci, he’s one of the baddest cats I’ve ever heard play harmonica. You know I was taught by ear, I didn’t go to school to read chords and stuff like that.”

Lurrie, if you had to name someone who had the most influence on your style of guitar playing? “B.B. King!” he says without hesitating. “When it comes down to the blues…that’s right!” Did the church have any influence on your direction? “I used to live in Macon, Mississippi with some of my dad’s people and also in Alabama; I had an older sister down there. We used to go to church all the time and listen to gospel music, quartets and choirs and before I knew it I had joined the church and started playing guitar and they used to pay me for that. They’d raise a collection for me, but eventually I moved back up North.”

After this quicky tour, will you guys all go back to your regular bands and projects? Jason, what’s the latest on the Bad Kind? “Well, we’ve got a new guitar player that we hired last year. Brent Johnson. I’ve been after Brent forever, for a long time I had two guitar players because I like that sound. I like when a guitar player can play and has chords behind him. Brent was behind Bryan Lee for 15 some odd years, the only person to never be fired from Bryan Lee’s band. It made him very insecure because he’s the only one who never got fired. It’s like a badge of honor in New Orleans if you’ve been fired from Bryan Lee’s band.” (laughing) “He did 15 years and never got the badge, you know?” (laughing) “And like Lurrie, he’s a very emotional player. He’s in-the-moment with no pre-conceived notions about what should be and that reinvigorated me. I did a record with New Orleans pianist Joe Krown who was with Gatemouth Brown for 14 years and with Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington. Walter loved Lurrie and Lurrie was one of the few people that Walter lent his guitar to during Jazz Fest. I played Jazz Fest with Walter just last year and just recently we christened the Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington Memorial Park. There will never be another one like him. Joe Krown was the pianist for him and many other people too. One of the most famous pianists in New Orleans who can play all the Professor Longhair stuff plus, he’s also a Hammond B-3 organ player. We put together an organ trio and we recorded the very first ever organ trio with harmonica as lead. We’re doing all Grant Green numbers, Jimmy Smith, Crusaders…stuff like that. That’s what I did throughout most of the pandemic. I just stuck around town playing soul jazz and jazz funk and a little bit of blues with Joe Krown and Walter. The Bad Kind was ready to go and Mike Zito called me up and asked if I would be interested in doing a record with him. We just finished it at Dockside Studios, Joe Krown is on it, Joanna Connor is on the record and we definitely want to get Lurrie on the next one.”

Lurrie says, “I’ll be around!” (laughing)

Jason, I can’t let you go without asking you about playing with Big Bad Smitty. “Big Bad Smitty was a blues singer and guitar player originally from Mississippi but made his name in Saint Louis. I met him in Mississippi, I didn’t know who he was and he wanted to sit in and I said no, and he came back with a Living Blues magazine cover from 1981with him on it! And I said okay.” (laughing) “He got up and he sang Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and he sounded just like both of them. I found out he had a HighTone release with Hubert Sumlin on it (Cold Blood) so we put together a band and backed him up. He lived with me for a little while and then decided to go back to Saint Louis and that was that. He passed just a short while later. When I met Smitty, he had no legs. He had lost his legs to diabetes. He was a gruff, abrasive, rough and vulgar person.” (laughing)

Jason, you also teach music online. “I’m trying to educate cats, especially harmonica players…so they can play music, not just blues but music in general.” Lurrie adds “without music there’d be nothing to look forward to everyday you get up in the morning, see the sunrise. What’s you gonna’ look forward to if you can’t hear no music? Something’s gonna’ go wrong somewhere.”

Paul, could you share a story or two about working with Popa Chubby. “Popa and I have known each other for a long time, almost like Jason who I’ve known for almost twenty years. We came up together, dating back to my time with Eric Sardinas; we played a lot of shows together and got to be friends. And working with Candye Kane, because they were dear friends and both Popa and Candye were on the peripheral of the mainstream blues players and they were both okay with that. I’ve been living out here in the Long Beach area for almost 30 years. But Popa Chubby, he’s one of those guys that plays with a lot of heart, man. I mean he gets up there, he has his own style and he’s a really good songwriter. He’s got some very pertinent songs and I really enjoy my time with him. I learned from him.”

Rena, tell me about working with Coco Montoya. “Oh, he can take that guitar from a gentle whisper to one of the biggest roars and even though he’s blues-based he draws inspiration from all types of music.”

It seems this band does the same thing. I’ve got to say Thank you to Amberley Stokes for making this interview happen. And a special thanks to my good friend, Rosalea Schiavone of Wicked Harem Booking & Productions for the opportunity. And a special Thank You to the band, you keep the music and especially blues music alive for all of us.

The post When the Blues Come to Town! Lurrie Bell and Jason Ricci with Rena Beavers and Paul Loranger appeared first on Traveling Archive.