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.

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.

The esteemed, Mr. Musselwhite opened the show to thunderous applause, sat down and picked up his guitar… that’s right, not his legendary harmonica, but his guitar. He proceeded to explain although he was raised at the foot of Furry Lewis and Will Shade his six-string expectations were severely dampened upon his arrival in Chicago. After witnessing the skills of Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk and dozens of others, Charlie says he gladly returned to his love of the harmonica. The audience erupted in laughter.

Musselwhite’s solo set on guitar was amazingly stark, raw and beautiful. Charlie is one of the few remaining musicians that actually played and studied with the aforementioned guitarists along with Muddy and the Wolf and John Lee Hooker… his 500 new friends on this night seemed to be in full agreement. He would be called back later in the evening to play harp with the Blind Boys and again the house became electrified.

The Blind Boys of Alabama are truly legendary and have taken Gospel harmonies to unimaginable heights in the 84 years since their formation. Backed by a rock solid rhythm section, the current lineup includes Ricky McKinnie, Jimmy Carter, the Rev. Julius Love, Sterling Glass, Joey Williams, Paul Beasley, Peter Levin and Stephen Raynard Ladson.

The longest surviving member of the Blind Boys; Jimmy Carter now in his 90s, let me know “the
Blind Boys started at the Talledega Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Alabama. We all
went to school together and we had a glee club there. We picked out the five best voices and
formed the group.”

Do you remember your first performance? “Yes, we started off in schools and churches and little auditoriums and branched out.”

By branching out Mr. Carter means to say multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards, Five Grammies, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, appearances at the White House under three different administrations and a catalogue of music dating back more than seven decades.

Back when you started singing together, blues music and gospel music were different ends of the spectrum. But now the music gets everybody on their feet! “That’s because the blues crowd hadn’t really heard it. Gospel back in that time was really limited, the market for gospel wasn’t as good as it is now. People didn’t have a chance to hear it.”

After witnessing first hand, many of your shows over the years, I think we’re hearing you now! You play all types of venues, don’t you? “We do festivals, oh yeah, we do nightclubs, concerts.” (laughing) “It’s fantastic, and we were glad to do that. That’s what motivates us…the people!”

Do you remember when you first worked with Charlie Musselwhite? “Oh yeah, we cut a record with him. ‘Standing by the Bedside of a Neighbor’ we cut that with him. He requested that of us and we were glad to do it.”

Looking back, you’ve performed with so many different artists…”Well, the Soul Stirrers that was another popular quartet but now, people like Etta James and B.B. King.”

In the past few decades, that list of collaborators continues to diversify and grow; Jamey Johnson, Bela Fleck, Willie Nelson, Marc Cohn, David Lindley, Peter Gabriel, Ben Harper, Taj Mahal…it just doesn’t stop. . “That’s right, because when gospel first came out, like I said before, it was limited to mostly the black circuit. But now, the white people have discovered it and they love it. They love it and it’s a shame it took so long for them to hear it.”

I think you’re finally getting the recognition that you deserve. “Well, I think so. I’m proud of it. I don’t know whether we deserve it or not” (laughing) “but I’m glad we’re getting it anyway.” (laughing).

The show on this night was awe-inspiring, from ‘People Get Ready’ and their memorable
version of ‘Amazing Grace’ to the grand finale where Mr. Carter was shepherded off the stage
still singing, down into an overjoyed and enthusiastic crowd. Everyone in the concert hall was on
their feet, those nearest the elder statesman reaching out to brush his arm or pat his shoulder. It
was truly a collective embrace from everyone in attendance and an evening not soon forgotten.

The Blind Boys of Alabama are on tour right now so don’t miss the opportunity to get your spirits lifted. Check out their website Shows — Blind Boys of Alabama for performances in your area. And Charlie Musselwhite has a new solo project out as well. It’s called ‘Mississippi Son’ and it too, is other-worldly. Say Hallelujah!

The post Inspiring the World – The Blind Boys of Alabama With special guest – Charlie Musselwhite appeared first on Traveling Archive.

Primer has been amazingly productive over the years; he’s recorded and toured with everyone from Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon to Junior Wells and James Cotton. I lost track of the number of albums he’s listed on at around 87 or 88. John just smiles at me “probably more than that.” From a sharecropping family to a legendary blues man, John Primer is the real deal so we started our conversation with his first instrument.

Is it true you made your first instrument…a diddley bow and what did you make it from?

“Yeah, I did. I used some wire that came out of my grandmama’s broom. A piece of wire from a broom or we’d burn up a car tire and get the wire outta’ there. That was the best one, the best one to make a diddley bow out of. But my uncle and cousin had one made up already and I learned from that and started making my own.”

Tell me about your first musical memories or when you first heard the blues?

“My grandma’s record collection is where I first heard the blues and stuff like that; it was from a record, yeah. We had 78s and 45s. I had a cousin that lived down the hill from me, she had a wind-up phonograph. So my cousin had it and I’d get up in a chair like this, so I could reach it and play it. I’d play Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. Get in that chair and wind it up and listen to it play those 78 records. Muddy Waters, ‘Can’t Be Satisfied’ John Lee Hooker…” (John breaks into song) ‘…my baby got somethin’ I sure do love…my baby got something.'”

Was the church a big influence on your music?

“Yeah, a lot of church music…gospel, yeah.”

You grew up working.

“I did, yeah. We couldn’t go to the fields until we got twelve years old, I started in the field then. But picking cotton and stuff wasn’t my…I never wanted to do that kinda’ stuff, I wanted to play guitar and be a musician. I didn’t think I could do good picking cotton or pullin’ corn; too rough for me. But I did it, yeah.”

‘Hard Times’ John Primer

Do you remember the first time you played on a guitar?

“Uh, I was about three or four years old. I had a cousin who had one, it was an acoustic guitar but I don’t remember what the name was, I was too little to know. I couldn’t read then, I was too young.” But you knew you wanted to play with it. “I wanted to play guitar, all my life I wanted to be a musician.”

Tell me a little about Chicago in 1963?

“I came to Chicago when I was eighteen years old. It was great! Music was everywhere, comin’ all out of people’s houses, bands playing and rehearsing in houses.”

You spent time on Maxwell Street?

“In 1963 I used to go down there all the time, every Sunday. I used to see a guy named One Arm John (Big John Wrencher) and you’d see Muddy Waters down there and John Lee Hooker. I just wasn’t familiar with all these guys because when I was in Mississippi, I was familiar with Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf and Lightnin’ Hopkins. You know Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup… all the old guys, Big Bill Broonzy.”

When you listen to John Primer’s blues, you hear influences from the Delta, there’s some funk and R&B as well. How do you get all these styles to flow through your music?

“I learned when I started to play guitar and I learned it when I came to Chicago. I could play the blues when I was down in Mississippi but when I came to Chicago I studied all types of music.”

Let’s talk a little about Pat Rushing and the Maintainers.

“Well that was the first band, yeah. It was a good thing; I had a friend that lived across the street and his dad used to be the road man for Elmore James, he was called Big Jim. I met some of those guys and we created a band later on. I remember when Elmore passed, they were getting ready to go do a show and he had a heart attack. They found him in his room, I think he was out of town, laying across his bed; he’d had a heart attack. So he was gone but I still knew his music from when I was in Mississippi. When I lived in Mississippi, I thought all those guys had passed away…Muddy Waters and all of them, Jimmy Reed (laughing) I didn’t know. When I got to Chicago I found they were all still alive.

See, when I grew up I came up with all that music. All the blues, the old-time blues they were creating it back then, everybody was playing it. That’s why I know so much old blues from way back. I’m just like an elephant; I don’t forget nothin’…I remember!”

The clubs and bars in Chicago in the 50s and 60s were pretty rowdy places to play.

“Yeah it was insane. They’d be fighting in there or they get drunk and some of the men would get jealous because some other man was talking to his woman. I remember when Little Walter played, he was a handsome dude and the women were crazy about him, so there’d be a fight even before the show was over. Little Walter was crazy.”

Snooky Pryor told me about a place called the ‘Bucket o’ Blood’ you ever play there?

“I remember that. There was a place called the ‘Bucket o’ Blood’ and we weren’t allowed to go in there. My friends…it was in Chicago and my buddies, you know I’d hear them talk about the Bucket o’ Blood and I knew where it was, but I was too afraid to go in there!” (laughing)

Tell us about your association with Sammy Lawhorn.

“I got the chance to play at Theresa’s Lounge with him. I didn’t know nothin’ about Sammy and I started working at Theresa’s in 1972 and Sammy was the guitar player ’cause Muddy had fired him. He fired him because he’d always go onstage and get drunk and be playing, you know? Muddy was frustrated and would say something to him and Sammy would cuss him. F you MF. And Muddy got tired of it, so he said it again a few times. Muddy pointed his finger at him and said, ‘you got one more time to say that to me.’ So, they were at a college playing, Sammy got drunk, drunk and Muddy looked down and Sammy had peed all over himself. Muddy was playing and just stopped! He told everybody, ‘Excuse Me!’ and Sammy was sitting on his amp playing and Muddy slapped him off the amp! POW! And the bouncers came in got Sammy by the foot and pulled him off the stage and he was fired. He played with Muddy for 15 years.

He’d get drunk at Theresa’s when I got down there, he’d get drunk and I’m a rhythm guitar player and that was the worst time. When he’d get drunk, I was so nervous and scared, what am I gonna do?”

What did you learn from that relationship?

“Oh man, I learned…7 years. He told me, ‘learn what I play, but you can’t be me.’ Learn what I play, but I won’t be here forever and you’ll be playing this. I started learning slide by listening to him.”

Theresa’s Lounge for seven years?

“Seven years, seven nights a week!”

With Junior Wells and Sammy Lawhorn, that’s crazy.

“Yeah, Junior Wells and Sammy Lawhorn. I’d just stay in the back and watch people drink and get drunk.” (laughing) “…drinking whiskey and stuff. I’ve never been a drinker and put myself through that. And when I did try it, it was a down for me and made me sluggish and I couldn’t play nothin’ right. Playing music for me was more important than drinking. You don’t have to get drunk to play music.”

You seem to always enjoy sharing your stage with others. Inviting people up to play with you and the band, it’s like mentoring in real time.

“It don’t bother me when other people come up and play. You know why? Because they can’t play what I play.” (Sammy Lawhorn 101) “And I can’t play what they play. So I don’t worry about it, let’ em go ahead…I like for them to shine. The better they play, the better I sound! Sammy Lawhorn told me, ‘look, don’t worry about what the next person is playing, ’cause I was playing rhythm. When someone comes up and starts playing that good lead and stuff, play that good rhythm and people are going to be paying attention to you. And they do, ‘how do you play rhythm like that? Hey, if you stand up there and play with all them drunk people for seven years…”

Junior Wells had a pretty wild reputation.

“I never had a problem playing behind Junior. Junior was very good to work with. When I met him they was playing in this club called ‘Peyton Place.’ Sam Goode took me down there, because he knew the band needed a guitar player. He introduced me on a break and he said, ‘when we go back, I’ll call you up.’ They went back to playing and they called me up. They were playing blues or whatever, I knew it anyway. I stayed and played with them all night. Junior told me, ‘Hey man, you sound great I like the way you play. I tell you what I got this gig down on 48th Street and Indiana called Theresa’s Lounge.’ I’d never heard of the place, ’cause I never went to the Southside. Junior said, ‘You meet me down there Sunday, I’m gonna’ be rehearsing ’cause I fixin’ to quit…’cause I’m tired of this shit.'” (laughing) ‘Three o’clock!’

So, I’m on the Westside and caught the L to 55th Street and caught a bus over to Indiana Street and caught another bus…at that time the Blackstone Rangers, they ruled the Southside. Their club was on 4801 So. Indiana and I got off the bus a block before because I didn’t quite know…and the bus didn’t stop there you had to go to 47 Street. I got off at 49th. And when that bus pulled off, man…Ohh! I was so afraid, when the bus pulled off, I pulled off, too! And when that bus got to 48th Street, I was at Theresa’s. I ran all the way there with my guitar! I wanted to play, you know?”

Did you ever run into Hubert Sumlin in those days?

“You know in seven years, I never saw Hubert, he was too famous with Howlin’ Wolf. He never came down there. But I played with Louis Myers and Dave Myers, the Four Aces, Fred Below all those guys. They come down there and play sometimes.”

Didn’t you play on Louis Myers last recordings?

“Right, sure did. It was good, it was tough because he was kinda’ sick, but it was good, man. I knew his music because they used to come in Theresa’s and sometimes him and Dave would play the whole night on a weekend. I learned a lot from them, I learned a lot from those guys, man. And they taught me a lot, showed me what to play and when to play it.”

You also played on James Cotton’s ‘Take Me Back’ album. (laughing)

“Aw man, James Cotton was something else, man. When he’d come back in town, that’s where he’d come; Theresa’s. And they’d hang out all night and be out until daylight…Whiskey and cocaine. I toured with him all over, Phoenix, Denver he was trip, man.”

How did your association with Willie Dixon’s All-Stars come about?

“I was playing at Theresa’s and Willie Dixon came down and I’d be singing all the Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters stuff. I was lookin’ who is this big guy sittin’ there? I didn’t know who he was. In 1979 he needed a guitar player to go to Mexico.” (Willie Dixon’s All-Stars) Primer in his best low growl Willie Dixon impression… ‘Hey, I like the way you play. You know my stuff and I need a guitar player to go to Mexico, you interested?’ I said Yeah! ‘Do you have a passport?’ I said no. ‘Tell you what, I’ll be by your house on Monday and we’ll go downtown and get you a passport. You got any money?’ I said no. A passport cost $80 bucks, man. ‘You can just pay me.’

That late 70s All-Stars tour had some talent.

“Koko Taylor, Muddy Waters, Big Bill Broonzy, the guy that had the guitar strings all tied up there.” (laughing) “Larry Davis. That’s when Muddy heard me play…with them. Before they came up to play, Muddy and Dixon were back there talking and Muddy ask him (Primer in his best Muddy impression) ‘who-who’s that young man…playing that guitar…up there?’ (Primer does Dixon’s growl) ‘That’s John Primer…he works down at Theresa’s.’ Muddy responded, ‘That man sure knows my music.’ So, in 1980 when Muddy’s band quit, he called Willie Dixon and asked for me.”

You worked with Muddy till he passed?

“Yeah, about two and a half years.”

From listening to Muddy when you were a child, then getting that call to come play with him…I just can’t imagine.

“It was my dream; I had a dream when I was in Mississippi at about 14 years old about playing in Muddy’s band. So my dream came true. I was jumping for joy when they came down there and got me. Mojo Buford came down there.” Primer in his best Mojo impression… ‘Muddy needs a guitar player, he sent me down to ask you, did you want to join the group?’ “What? Man, I jumped for joy. Lovie Lee playing piano, Jessie Clayton was the first guy to play drums, but he didn’t want to go out of town, he didn’t want to leave his wife. So I took Lovie Lee and we went and got ‘Killer’ Ray Allison and a guy named Rick Kreher. Rick is playing on my latest CD, ‘Hard Times.’ The last guitar players to play with Muddy Waters was him and I. So, I gotta’ chance to play with Muddy, man. I was full of joy; I didn’t even go to sleep that night, waiting for Mojo to come get me.”

Then came the Holt’s…

“Magic Slim! It was right on time for me ’cause Slim was another guy like Muddy; workin’ hard, a workin’ man and workin’ all the time. Thirteen years.”

Your first recording under your own name was with Michael Frank in the 90s, ‘Stuff You Got to Watch.’

“He was the first guy who came to me to record me. I was doing stuff with ‘Wolf Records’ people coming from Europe to record me. But ‘Stuff You Got to Watch’ was my first American record…with Michael.”

There are so many people that you’ve played with, but the Stones with Muddy at the Checkerboard Lounge…that’s just wildness.

“That one video, it helped me out, a lot.” John remembers. “People didn’t really recognize me too much when I was playing with Willie Dixon but when I got with Muddy Waters; it really put the icing on the cake for me. The thing I learned from Willie Dixon was how to write blues.”

Primer’s latest release, ‘Hard Times’ is a testament to that. John wrote all thirteen songs on the new record. “All originals.” he smiles. “I wrote everything on there, except one song. My daughter has one on there.” The new project also debut’s John’s daughter, Aliya Primer. “She’s seventeen years old and she can sing.” He beams. “We used to take her on tour with us everywhere…she was two or three years old and traveling around.”

Discography, I lost track after about 87 albums. You are a prolific session player. You’ve been featured on or have performed on 87 recordings? That’s incredible in itself.

“Probably more than that.” John grins. “That’s just where I lost count. I did all the Wolf stuff, all the guys that had been forgotten and they got them and took them in the studio and recorded them.”

(Authors note: Wolf Records is out of Vienna, Austria and what’s really fascinating about the label and probably why they are still so popular; it was started by blues music fans with an appreciation of all things blues; from the early originators to the contemporary Chicago blues sound.)

You played with Magic Slim on a Tribute album to ‘Hound Dog’ Taylor.

“That guy was amazing. He had like six fingers on each hand. He cut one of them off…or tried to cut it off.”

No…why? Why would he do that?

John just shakes his head “guess it just got in his way of playin’!” Bluesmen, you gotta’ love ’em!

From your perspective, as a long-standing participant and knowing so many of the younger players coming up, how do you feel about the state of the blues today?

“To me, I’m loving it and it’s looking good.” And if I ask you about your own musical direction? “I’m not going to change the state of the blues; I’m going to keep it real…the original sound and keeping it as close to the original stuff that I learned and I don’t try to change it. Everything you see me playing on stage is going to be real close to the original stuff. All I need is a four-piece band, maybe a keyboard. I would always have a harmonica in my band. I would not have a band without a harmonica player.”

Speaking of playing on stage and harp players, you’re on the road now with Bob Corritore, what’s that like?

“Bob is great to work with, he ain’t gonna’ fuss atcha’!” (laughing) “But he’s a hard working man and he’s gonna’ make you do it right!”

You have a new album out, ‘Hard Times’ that you’re touring behind. You’ve been nominated for Grammy’s twice, you’ve received not one, but two Lifetime Achievement Awards and you’re in the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. What’s left to accomplish?

“Well, I’m just going to keep on pushing, keep on trying. I’m doing what I love to do, so if I don’t get it, I ain’t going to sweat it, I’m going to keep on doing it, till I get it.”

You always look like you’re having fun on stage, does music keep you young?

“No, my wife keeps me young!” (laughing) “She keeps me in good health and everything.”

As you look down the road do you see a future with blues in it?

“Well, I hope people will pay more attention to the blues, just to see what it’s all about. There’s not many people around now playing the real stuff. You can put whatever you want into the blues and I say this all the time, you cannot change the blues. You can add rock and roll players and call it blues. It’s not the real blues, but I like what they do and I’ve got nothing against it because… they’re keeping the blues alive! So I give them the respect.”

Last Call, describe John Primer’s blues.

“It’s the traditional blues, the way it was played, the way it was made. That’s the way I play it. I don’t try to change it. Not just blues, but all music has got to have a feeling. You don’t get up there for the hell of it or to just show off. If you don’t have the feeling of it, you just can’t do it. My feelings come from hard times and hard living and that’s the way I play…from my heart.”

Amen.

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