What have you been up to recently, in terms of both your recordings and live performances?
I could say that I am up the creek without a paddle but that would be an understatement. It’s more like I am tossed and adrift on the angry sea. As most of your readers know, work never ends these days if you’re an indie artist. One thing I try to do is procrastinate. Yes, you heard me correctly. It’s what the DIY guides often portray as the artist’s arch-enemy. Why do I do this when so many tasks await my attention? So I can walk down empty streets in the early morning and late evening taking deep breaths of fresh air and being part of the physical world. I enjoy the wonders of the natural world instead of sitting in front of another screen. It energizes and helps me maintain some kind of perspective when I return to what I am doing. And I am doing everything from writing to recording to playing, arranging, the wearing of myriad hats including artwork, social media, trying to figure out my ‘brand’(WTF), etc, etc. If you don’t love the art of music making it is probably best to forget it because the sheer joy of doing it, of creating is likely the only reward you will get. That being said live performances are back and can sometimes seem almost transcendent! I recently performed in my hometown at Ignition Music Garage, a wonderful venue in Goshen, Indiana and it was a great crowd.
Other than that I perform occasionally on Whidbey Island at smaller venues. I’m looking forward to the upcoming Little Big Festival this summer at the fairgrounds. Getting back to the question of recording, it goes on continuously. I just released the single ‘Orphan Blues’ along with a full video and some video shorts. I’ll talk about that more in the next question. I am at the mixing stage for my next album entitled ‘Rain Walking’. It is due for release when I return from India and the UK. Karen Lawrence, the great vocalist of Blue By Nature, joins me for vocals on a tribute track called ‘Where is Bob Marley’. The upcoming solo album is a spoonful of Americana from delta blues to ballads with an added twist of country.
Talk about a few of the most meaningful songs (to you) that you have recorded recently?
Orphan Blues is a simple slide guitar song that just appeared out of nowhere as if it were writing itself. That alone makes it special. A few months ago I went out in the garage and played a slide riff that just came out of nowhere and knocked my socks off. I immediately recorded it on my iPhone. That riff fostered the song Orphan Blues. A few days later, for some unknown reason, I began singing the folk spirituals ” Motherless Child” and “Motherless Children” to myself during my early morning walks on the mountain. I realized, “Hey, I’m a motherless child and an orphan” and “sometimes I feel a long way from home.” Drawing from the loving well of the Mother, this song arrived as a story to be told with me as the storyteller.
Wall of Dreams is the title song of my 2022 album. I started this song years ago but never finished it because I always heard the voice of Eric Troyer, who has sung on many hit records (including John Lennon), singing it with me like in our early band days. Finally, after returning from India 6 years ago, that happened and my dream came to fruition. Of course, we are both Beatle fans and I had hopes this song might in a humble way pay homage to their inspiring music.
Corporate Vandals from my second album Blue Chair Blues was recorded live in my upstairs room with two mics and a live video camera taping me singing solo with acoustic guitar in my blue chair. The topical lyric was written during covid times when things were very difficult. It seemed like everyone except the very wealthy was being squeezed and then covid hit and put us behind the 8 ball. Drug companies and oxycontin wreaked havoc on the rust belt and beyond. This song was penned bearing all these things in mind.
Taming the Wolf is the last song and comes in at just over 8 minutes long on the Blue Chair Blues album. The blues is heart and soul. It has powered my musical sojourn. It keeps on giving pleasure and sustenance. The song ‘Taming the Wolf’ is biographical in nature. It reflects my personal struggle of self-discovery and the challenges of controlling the mind and body. An enhanced version of the song appears on my third album Fortuna Redux. It departs from the solo acoustic guitar of the Blue Chair Blues album and presents a more band-like approach to the song. I like both versions as they represent in a nutshell my life’s bluesy journey of genre-hopping and improvisation.
You were once a member and co-founder of a successful blues-rock group, Blue By Nature. How
is the dynamic of being in a band, different from that of a solo artist, as you are now?
I can tell you right now there is nothing like being supported by a band. Yes, I play solo acoustic or acoustic-electric gigs, but even barely rehearsed a band makes a single flower bloom into a fragrant bouquet. Bands are very expensive and difficult to keep together now, and frankly, I don’t miss lugging all the equipment required to play a gig. Blue By Nature did not use roadies; we played all kinds of venues but always handled everything ourselves. Playing larger venues can be exhilarating but In a small intimate setting the opportunity of relating directly to the audience is different and the banter and storytelling more natural. The extemporaneous feel can be charming. When the unexpected happens: the broken string at the beginning of a song turns into a spontaneous event the audience might really enjoy. A lead gone wrong may turn into an opportunity to prove that ‘it’s all good’. At this point these days I prefer keeping it local and small.
Name three of the best live shows you have ever performed, as either part of Blue By Nature or
solo, and tell why you chose these?
Blue by Nature at:
- Lake Alice Trading Company in Riverside, California was a large club venue with a crowd that loved the band, the music, the performance, and incredibly the sets of all original songs we played. We’d been together around 5 years and I wanted to remember this fantastic tight band. I got a hold of friend and renowned producer Jack Douglas of Aerosmith, John Lennon, and Cheap Trick fame and asked if he would do a live remote recording, Even though we couldn’t really afford him he worked it out and got the Record Plant mobile studio truck. The house was packed. The show went off great and turned into the double CD release called ‘Live at the Lake’. It is still streaming, selling, and a source of inspiration and accomplishment.
- B.B. King’s Blues Club – City Walk Universal City, Hollywood, CA (around 1995) This was a premier venue for live music and at the time doing very well. Blue By Nature was given one day a month. The band considered it an honor to play there and everything was pro from the stage to the sound to the smart dressing rooms and good food. It was the night of our Blue to the Bone album release party. When we came off stage after the first set, the place started to buzz with rumors that BB himself, who was attending some function at Universal City might drop in. We finished our 20 minute break and went on stage for the second set. Half way through, the ‘King of the Blues’ walked in the door. As I was looking in that direction for cues and to keep eye contact with band members, I saw him with scarf and overcoat come on to the dance floor. He took a seat reserved at a special table and we finished our set. As he was busy, we didn’t rush the table to speak with him but acknowledged his presence with a smile and a wave and I believe he waved back as we went upstairs to the dressing room. Of course, we were concerned that maybe he didn’t like the music, but all of us noted that he was tapping his fingers in time, smiling and appeared to be enjoying the show. The next thing we knew, he walked into our dressing room, smiling and saying hello to all of us and began shaking hands with everyone. It was wonderful, a feeling I can never forget. He was dressed high class in a silver grey tailored suit looking very sharp. He then took a moment to talk to all of us: “Now I especially came up here to meet you all, because you may see me get up and leave during the next set and I don’t want you to think that it is because I don’t like the music. I’d like to stay but I have a business meeting to attend here in Universal City. So keep on playing and don’t be worried.” After pictures were taken, he smiled, wished us well and walked out the door along with the few men who had come with him. The room was filled with the sweetness of his kindness and humility. That was part of his legend, his greatness. It was a moment to be remembered. There is a YouTube video of Blue by Nature ‘Blue to the Bone’ at BB Kings with special guests the Memphis Horns and the original band: Karen Lawrence-vocals, Rick Dufay (formerly with Aerosmith) on guitar, Dan Potruch drums, Charlie Diaz on bass guitar and myself on second guitar. As Solo Artist: The Unbroken Circle: Sold out shows at Ignition Music Garage in my hometown Goshen, IN. When I walked into Ignition Music Garage for the first time, I was wonderstruck! I thought, “Am I time traveling or what? The heart and soul of rock n’ roll is here in my own hometown?! What a terrific venue.” Nostalgia stopped me in my tracks and I just gazed at the surroundings and felt the ‘music’ of the place. Staring down at me from its hallowed walls were the greats, the legends who had filled life with a momentum that powered generations. Racks of vintage vinyl filled the floor and overflowed onto the brick walls as did the spirit of those writers, musicians, and artists who made them. Smiling in admiration I whispered to myself, “This is a museum of the music and artists that have propelled me on a long hard journey through life. A massive collective energy of creativity is honored and immortalized here.” As Paul McCartney sang, “the long and winding road that leads to your door”, my road had come full circle back to my beginnings. But vive la difference! How can it be? As the owner at that time noted in his reflection on old timers filling up the place on Oct 6, 2017, it is the completion of a 50 year cycle. The sold out crowd that night left me in awe. Trying to understand the power of music is like trying to understand God. She just must be experienced. And so it was that I walked into Ignition Music Garage after years in India to ‘pickup my guitar and play just like yesterday” and experience the Unbroken Circle. At long last there is a real live music venue in Goshen to experience everything from national acts to the local music scene and community special events as well. May support for live music be ever-increasing, flourish, and prosper.
Let’s peek ahead a few years, where do you see your career going, any surprises you’d care to
share?
Had I been a younger man I would have anticipated dream gigs, touring, bringing happiness and some pleasure to people and an abundant number of fans who would enjoy purchasing my music and play it with fondness. I don’t see this in the years to come. Times have changed. Social media has become an accepted tool for indie artists and I learn as I go. These days I stay local, encourage local musicians and live pretty much day to day enjoying what comes my way. This does not mean I am an “eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die” kind of person. Who can say what tomorrow may bring; usually, some surprise. As I say in my song ‘You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know’, ‘we might all be swept away’. Who knows…but I can predict for sure, music will go on!
