Mark May Interview by Abby Owen

(Houston, TX) The following is the first half of an interview with Mark May, original Blues Artist and leader of the long enduring, well-liked and much-respected Houston based Blues/Rock band called appropriately, Mark May Band.
In the Part One we will learn about Mark's humble beginnings and family bonds and inspiration. It will begin to explore Mark's musical history with an exclusive look into his close friendship with Dickey Betts and his ties with the Allman Brothers Band. In Part Two we will hear about the day Mark auditioned for The Allman Brothers Band, and his feelings at losing that prize to, in Mark's own humble words, "A fantastic guitarist", and then on to what he and the band are doing now, and his new release, "In Texas Live" with his current label 'Flyin Dog Records'. The CD is a rousing collection of live performances which spotlights the current band members, (L to R) Dan Cooper(bass), Paul Ramirez(guitar) and Clyde Dempsey(drums), in addition to former guitarists including Kirk McKim, Kenny Cordray, and Matt Johnson. This cd finally gives the people a taste of what the band's live show is all about, and you haven't witnessed Mark May Band unless you've seen them LIVE! And now for the story...

AO: You say your mother was a songwriter, and for those who didn’t know the song you wrote called ‘Joann’ was written for her. Do you think music has changed at all from your mother’s time, and if so in what way?

MM: In general, music is something that whether or not it changes styles, it’s really just your feelings about different subjects. I wrote that song ‘Joann’ about her, although many people don’t know it’s about her, because I wrote it in a style that…well, to make it a little slicker than a song a man wrote about his mother. I tried to make it sound more like a cool Blues song, but if you listen to the words you can figure it out. It says “I’m you’re man,” but really I was her boy.

AO: The man of the house.

MM: Well, I was a man when I wrote it, I wasn’t a kid. (laughs) But, uh…She grew up in Kentucky, and grew up with the influence of the Church and Bluegrass, mainly. Gospel, and bluegrass pretty much. So I got all the Rock influences and Blues from my brother Ken. He’s 12 years older than me, so quite a bit ahead of me in music and stuff.

AO: So he turned you on to it?

MM: Yeah. She [mom] turned me on to Country stuff like George Jones, Bill Monroe and all the Bluegrass stuff, and he [brother] turned me on to the Beatles and Hendrix. So I kinda got it from both sides. My uncle played fiddle and, like many Bluegrass guys, other things like mandolin, guitar and a bunch of different instruments. Banjo. He played with a lot of the big-time Bluegrass guys in Kentucky. A lot of his music influenced her. She liked that kind of stuff. And she liked people like George Jones, Lorretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette and later on Dolly Parton and Barbara Mandrell. Just whatever was popular. Some newer music, but a lot of the standards. I used to go stay with my aunt and uncle, because they lived close, and my aunt had a record collection. She had a BB King album “Live In Cook County Jail”. And she used to say, you learn to play like BB King and I’ll come see you play! She really liked BB King, and I sort of just latched on to that album. It was probably the first real Blues album that I listened to.
AO: I’ve heard other Blues artists mention that particular album as being his best.

MM: I think that one, and “Live At The Regal” is another real popular one. It’s a really cool album. Then of course Hendrix did a lot of stuff that was Blues. He grew up playing the circuit, and a lot of the stuff he did was just amplified Blues, through a Marshall and a Stratocaster, y’know? And all the stuff he played when he did King Curtis, all the different people he played with like Isley Bros, Little Richard. So that basically got me started doin that. I started playing a bit more Rock stuff. Whatever was popular back then, like Rick Derringer, Aerosmith, Pat Travers y’know…guitar player bands. We had a family band at one point. But that was later on. First we, my brother and I played a high school dance when I was like, in eighth grade. Just me and him. He played bass, I played guitar. He may have played guitar too. We played three songs. We played ‘Wild Thing’, ‘The Thrill Is Gone’, and ‘Come On Part One’. That was one of my first live gigs. We played around with a little band and we did a few gigs with a guy named Jack Willis, me and my brother. Then I got into a band called ‘Diamonds & Rust’, when I was about 16.

AO: This was in Ohio?

MM: Yeah, in Ohio. Columbus & Newark. The Diamonds & Rust Band was kind of a strange band. The guy who was the lead singer was an Elvis impersonator. We did an Elvis show, but we also did a lot of the Rock stuff that was popular at the time. Rolling Stones' ‘Some Girls’, ‘My Sharona’, just whatever was popular y’know?

AO: Two bands for the price of one.

MM: Yeah. He had a good voice. It wasn’t real high, so we picked out stuff he could sing. We all had outfits we wore. It was a cool band I guess. Then I got into a County/Rock band called ‘McCoy’. We did a lot of Southern Rock stuff. Stuff like 'Willin' by Little Feat, stuff by The Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, but it was like a real Southern kind of sound…acoustic guitars, eventhough we weren’t really an acoustic band. The lead singer was Ron Ferguson and his brother played bass…Randy. It was a pretty cool band. We were the house band at some club out in Newark called ‘The Stein’. Then it was after that when we started our family thing. We did a lot of Country stuff. To back up though, it was about that time that I played some with my brother, when he moved out to California, and I went out too for about 6 – 8 months and played with a guy named Tony Vice, in a County band. "Tony Vice and the Hollywood Cowboys".

AO: This was in Southern California?

MM: Uh huh. It was right when I graduated from High School, in Los Angeles. We lived right in Hollywood, on Hollywood Blvd. We played some gigs out there. You know most Country bands do Rock too, obviously, these days. I didn’t stay out there a real long time though. I came back when my brother moved back, and we did the ‘May Family Band’ thing. Then he moved to Texas, and then I moved to Texas.

AO: It was your brother's idea?

MM: Well, it was his wife Cheryl’s…she’s from here. She wanted to move back and he came down, and then I followed not too long after, and I’ve been here ever since. When I came down here I played in some Country bands, me and my brother played in some bands, then he kind of stopped playing, and I was still doing these Country bands. Then I started doing this Hard Rock thing. It [the band] had two different names. First it was called ‘Dactyl’ like Pteradactyl, then we changed it to ‘Mirror’. We had a really good lead singer, and he could sing all the really high stuff, Hard Rock stuff like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Bon Jovi…even Queensryche and stuff like that. We just played local clubs, never really went anywhere, then he moved off to Sacremento because Tesla’s manager liked him. So, I think it was about that time that I started hosting the ‘Monday Night Blues Jam’ in a place in Seabrook TX called ‘The Crew's Quarters’.

AO: Yeah, I have read that in your Bio.

MM: Yeah. That was when, we were doing a lot of Blues and Blues/Rock down there, and I realised that I felt really comfortable playing it, and people liked the way I played it, and then a buddy turned me on to Albert Collins. He gave me an Albert Collins tape, and I really liked it. That was when I got really hooked on the whole Blues thing, at that point. On the side, while doing the Country band, I started putting together…at first I just started putting Blues songs into the sets while we were still doing Country and nobody minded if you did a little Stevie Ray Vaughan or T-Bone Shuffle as long as you played mostly what they liked. So that’s when I got the bug for it and finally put a Blues Band together in, I guess it was 1991 or ’92…me and Dan [Cooper]. We just had a four piece band with Danny Goza & Dave Nevling the harp player. We put together the album, ‘Call On The Blues’, featuring special guests Joe Guitar Hughes and Eric Demmer (sax))and we put it out on cassette tape locally, sent it out to some record companies, and I got a bite back from Johnny Phillips from Icehouse [Records], and he re-mixed it.

AO: So you had basically already done the album before getting ‘Icehouse’ on board?

MM: Pretty much, I mean they did a few things to it. When we re-mixed it they added some things like hand clapping and rhythm guitars, but mostly it was just re-mixed. They released it in 1995 on ‘Icehouse Records’ label out of Memphis. And Johnny is the nephew of Sam Phillips that had ‘Sun Records’. He’s got a pretty big distribution company called 'Select-O-Hits' up in Memphis. So he already had a distribution company to distribute his own records which was convenient for him, but he also got hooked up with a Rap label ‘Priority’, because he was distributing a lot of their stuff for them, and they made some kind of deal where they would use all of Priority’s distribution to distribute his Blues label. So we were all over in the stores right away, which was a good break for us, because it’s hard to get Blues records into the stores, but if you have a big name like ‘Priority Records’ on your side, its like an almost automatic thing where you can get stuff in. So that was a pretty good break for us. We did two CDs with them, ‘Call On The Blues’ and ‘Telephone Road’. Billy Wells and Greg Grubbs joined the band for the second CD which also featured special guests Larry McCray, Eric Demmer (Clarence Gatemouth Brown), Alan Haynes, Memphis Horns & Travis Doyle. Then we went to more of a two-guitar format, instead of a harmonica-guitar, and did the Blues/Rock thing.

AO: *Note* - In 1999 May was dubbed 'Houston Press' Local Musician of the Year.

MM: We have had some extremely gifted guitar players. Some of them include Kenny Cordray,(co-wrote ‘Francine’ recorded by ZZ Top), Matt Johnson, John Calderon (Al Jarreau) & Kirk McKim (Pat Travers Band). We’ve gone through about ten different guitar players. Dan’s been the bass player the whole time, and we’ve probably had about 3 - 4 drummers thoughout the band. After ‘Telephone Road’ we struck up a relationship with Jim Gayle, a local guy, who had managed a Bluegrass band and had got them on ‘Austin City Limits’. He took guitar lessons from me. He was an Oil & Gas guy, and he decided to start a record label and started managing us. In 2003 we came out with ‘Dollmaker’ with him, featuring guitarist/vocalist John Zuliger "JZ", along with special guests Dickey Betts, Jr. Ortiz and Skip Nallia.
In between that time, actually about the same time as ‘Telephone Road’ came out, we were playing down in Sarasota FL, and I had a couple of friends who would come see us religiously when we were in that area, and this one guy owned a golf shop with his dad, and Dickey Betts from the Allman Brothers Band started to shop there, and they got to be friends, going out to lunch, playing golf together, and he kept telling Dickey he wanted him to hear our CD, and finally gave Dickey a copy of it. Dickey just threw it in the glovebox of his Lexus and never really listened to it, until he got tired of Jimmy bugging him about it, so he finally put it in so he’d leave him alone…and he really liked it. He liked the fact that I played a lot like Albert Collins, and he thought my voice sounded a lot like Freddie King’s which is hard to believe, but y’know, I’m glad he thought that. So he decided he wanted to try and help us out. He didn’t listen to a lot of new music. He listened to John Coltrain, Charlie Parker, Billy Joe Shaver… y’know people like that, that he admired…some Jazz guys. So we just kinda lucked out that he liked it, and then he asked us if we’d like to do some dates with the Allman Brothers! I couldn’t believe it. It was just out of nowhere. He wanted to see us play live first, so we went out to Sarasota and played at the ‘Five-O-Clock’ club, and Dickey came out and watched us. So the places [cities] where they didn’t need extra support, where they didn’t need help to draw a big crowd or places where they were sold out already, they put us on as the opener for the ampitheater tour in 1997, and we probably did about fifteen dates with them.

Continued in Part Two...
Look for my next posting, Saturday March 13th for the rest of the scoop!
But in the meantime, you can check out the Live CD at DigStation, for the previous CDs check out the Amazon.com offers Mark May Store, and if you just want to give a listen, check out the streaming previous songs, shows & news at ReverbNation/markmayband or for more photos and blogs try MySpace.com/markmay01.

Copyright © 2010 Abby Owen. All Rights Reserved.
Photos courtesy of Mark May Band, Abby Owen, Brian Smith Copyright © 2010
All Rights Reserved.

AUSTIN: Seth Walker Interview by Abby Owen

Tuesday, 11/24/2009 – Texas Blues writer Abby Owen interviewed Seth Walker of Austin, TX for American Blues News.

Seth just finished up a weekend of shows. He played Antone’s in Austin TX on Friday night, and followed up with House of Blues in Houston TX on Saturday.


I caught up with him the following Tuesday at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck in Houston, TX, which by the way, had its name, albeit a different spelling, LONG before Maggie Smith’s character in Harry Potter.

Abby: So how was the show at House of Blues?
Seth: Oh it was great! I was with Ruthie… y’know Ruthie Foster?

Abby: I have heard of her.
Seth: Oh, you should, she’s fantastic. A fantastic soul. She’s a gospel, blues singer, soul singer. She’s a natural, y’know…from church. She’s fantastic. So I played Friday night with her, Friday at Antoine’s in Austin, Saturday at House of Blues in Houston. So yeah, a good weekend. Back in Houston.

Abby: So, tonight you’re doing a solo gig I take it. It’s not the full band?


Seth: No. We’re doing a songwriter’s thing, with Lisa Morales & Troy Campbell. Just a little songwriter…kind of swap. A song swap.

Abby: Just comfortable and low key I guess.
Seth: Yes. A ‘living room set’.

Abby: Well, let me just fire off the first question here then.
Seth: Okay.

Abby: How does the music come from you and find it's way into a song? Is it the lyric, a great melody? What tends to fuel your…creativity?
Seth: Spark something? Forever it used to be a melody. I’d always work off melodies. Driving down the road I’d hear a melody and sing ‘em into my phone or something. But as of late it’s been words. It’s just been reading.

Abby: The lyrics then?
Seth: Reading and lyrics, because that is really…I just love that. I love connecting with a lyric. It’s a very powerful thing, and it’s a challenging thing. So as of late, after working with Gary Nicholson who produced my last album, he’s the word man. He is...”You’re not going anywhere unless we get the words right”. And that’s a whole mode that I’m moving more towards.

Abby: Because you’re a storyteller. You’re telling a story.
Seth: It is a story, and it’s important. It’s not just about the singing and the playing. It’s the hat trick.

Abby: Who’s been the greatest influence on you musically, [musical style], than any other recording artist?
Seth: The influences range from Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, B B King, Tom Waits, Dylan, Guy Clark, John Prine, the great singers like Anita Oday, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald…

Abby: Is there one that you can just zero in on?
Seth: Ray Charles.

Abby: Ray Charles?
Seth: Without a doubt. I think he was just a complete inspiration to me in every way.

Abby: I can understand that.
Seth: I don’t think there are many people who can’t. He was a storyteller.

Abby: Did you ever meet him?
Seth: I opened up for him, but I didn’t get a chance to meet him. I have a poster that says Ray Charles, then all these other acts, and my name is right on the bottom!

Abby: Awesome! That you have that poster!
Seth: It is pretty cool. Pretty cool. I’ll take it!

Abby: What do you feel is your strongest point as an artist?
Seth: That is an interesting question. I think it’s…well, something I aspire to do is to break down the wall between myself and the listener and allow them in.

Abby: Make a connection?
Seth: Make a connection, and allow them in. Because a lot of times there’s…it’s easy to put a wall between it. And knocking down that thing can really, y’know it’s a reciprocal thing. It can really move both parties involved if it’s achieved.

Abby: I know exactly what you mean. I know other artists that have difficulty with that.
Seth: Yeah, you got to open yourself up, and it’s a vulnerable state. You have to just trust.

Abby: What would you like to improve upon as an artist?
Seth: Aw, man. It’s never-ending. I want to be a better singer. I want to be a better songwriter... Definitely. It’s a craft.

Abby: So you’d pick songwriting if it were one thing?
Seth: Well, they’re all pretty close to the top. They all sort of work in concert. For me, singing, performing, songwriting…and the whole thing. The presentation of this music, y’know how it’s presented. Everything, to answer your question.

Abby: Tell us about your newest CD.



Seth: The CD "Leap Of Faith" came out in March of 2009, and was recorded in Nashville. It was produced by Gary Nicholson who is a Grammy Award winner, a producer and a great writer, and now a dear friend. We met through a mutual friend who’s a radio promoter out of Nashville named Al Moss. When we met it was just a kindred thing we had, and one of those situations where I’m relaxed with Gary, but I’m also ‘On Pointe’ with Gary. That’s the perfect combination with any one you work with, with any relationship you have. When you can be yourself, but want to be better. It was natural. We have the same sensibilities, and the same sense of humor. He’s a world class person. First it was merely songwriting collaboration, but then we were like, hey man; we need to do a damn record! So that’s how it spawned, and here we are. He co-wrote about eight of the songs, out of the eleven, with me. It’s been good.

Abby: How did you come up with the title “Leap Of Faith”?
Seth: That was actually one of the last additions to the album. It was actually a song he wrote. I didn’t write that song. Glen Clark and Gary Nicholson wrote that song. We went over lots of titles, but it was a leap of faith for me. It really was. It was the first time I had done a record not on my own terms, out of my comfort zone. I had done all of my previous records my own way. I went to Nashville, and had a new group of musicians, new producer, new bag of songs collaborating with a different writer that I’d never worked with, and lots of y’know…it was an investment emotionally & financially to do it, and so I thought that would be a good title.

Abby: It works. That’s great.
Seth: And it’s a great song that they wrote.

Abby: You’ve recorded many of your songs in the studio. How much of what you do in the studio works out? Do you throw some of it away?
Seth: Sure. Sure. There are some. For instance on the Leap of Faith record we had about…probably 14 or 15 tunes that we thought were contenders, that we actually cut. There were other contenders that we didn’t cut, but 14 or 15 that we actually cut. And then we just kind of look at them to see if the performance is there, or the strength of the song is going to carry it, to be on the record. So, yeah. There are a couple of lonesome little straggler songs that never saw the light of day. But I enjoy working in the studio. It’s a different thing obviously than live. It’s a controlled environment, and you have lots of options. It’s wide open. It’s a very creative process and I enjoy it. But there’s something to be said for live performance. I mean the energy that you get back from an audience.

Abby: Do you have any plans to do a live CD coming up?
Seth: It’s something I…it’s on deck. I don’t know when. I don’t know if it’s going to be next record, but it’s something I’ll do in the next couple of records.

Abby: Did you work closely with the sound engineers?
Seth: On the record? Oh Yeah. Yeah, we cut it in Nashville. But yeah, that’s the way it always goes. There’s always a few that never quite make it. But maybe we’ll re-visit them the next time around. It’s also that the songs have to go together, in theme too, y’know?

Abby: Yeah. It has to make sense.
Seth: Yeah. It’s an album. They need to flow together. And that’s one of the things, when they go to the cutting block, that’s some of the reasons why they don’t make it.

Abby: What is your favorite song on the album?
Seth: I like ‘At Least I Got a Song’. It’s one that just kind of spilled out of this y’know…

Abby: I like that one. I think that is my favorite.
Seth: Yeah, it’s one of those that you just …y’know

Abby: Yeah, you can relate to it.
Seth: Garrett actually wrote a song called ‘Some Days The Song Writes You, and Some Days You Write the Songs’, and that was one that wrote us.

Abby: Wow. Gives you chills.
Seth: Yeah.

Abby: What song posed the biggest challenge?
Seth: That one. It took the most work. The concept came quick, but it’s a complex chord progression, and we had to kind of figure out what’s the best way to get around it. It took about three or four days to finally nail it down, about how we wanted to present it. That was the most challenging one for sure.

Abby: So, not so much the singing, but the playing of the song?
Seth: Well the singing was tough too, because that song actually reaches a new range for me that is… on the bridge it goes real high for me where I never sang in that register, so we had to work on that as well.

Abby: Do genre considerations come in to play when you write a song?
Seth: Yeah, y’know. To an extent. I mean I’m fully aware of the genre that I’m in. I like all genres of music. I really do. Being this is my 6th album I’ve been able to explore the different platforms, and I know this is what suits me the best. This style. But yes, that does play a factor, but it’s really all about a concept. A concept to a feeling is what inspires me. I’ll get an idea of how a tune could sprout y’know? A lot of times it comes…having a cup of coffee…

Abby: Through experiences.
Seth: Through experiences. Shoot, there’s been plenty of that! But sometimes it comes through a phrase. Through a passing phrase, or if you’ve read a book and there was a phrase in it, like I read a lot of Jack Kerouac, y’know? Obscure writers…well, not obscure but…


Abby: Edgy?
Seth: Edgy, with a little twist on a word, and that *snaps fingers* usually gets it going.

Abby: You’re predominantly a guitarist, but many have said it’s your voice that they enjoy the most. I would be one of those…
Seth: Alright. I’ll take it.

Abby: Do you prefer the job of guitarist or vocalist?
Seth: Definitely Vocalist. I mean, I’m an accompanying guitar player, and I enjoy playing it and I can do it, but the voice? I feel like I have my own unique…my own little way of doing it whatever that’s worth, but I enjoy that… breathing a lyric, y’know? Singing a lyric and breathing it…it’s like y’know…

Abby: So you feel that’s your creativity, more than the playing?
Seth: Well, it’s all together, because it’s all one thing. Getting back to the question earlier that relates to some of the other questions you had about recording…I have to sing and play at the same time. I’ve been doing it for so long, or playing live gigs for so long…

Abby: So, you mean in the studio when your recording vocals, you’re playing?
Seth: On ‘Leap of Faith’ I’m playing guitar on all that, and singing it. It’s the only way I know how, because they’re all connected. Like walking. You got to use both legs to walk. Of course there are sometimes when I use over-dubbing on the vocals where I didn’t nail it, y’know? Singing is very therapeutic. It’s the thing that connects. I’m never going to be another B B King or T-Bone Walker, y’know? They got that right the first time. And that’s where I stand on that.

Abby: Do you prefer acoustic to electric?
Seth: I’ve always played electric. I have an Archtop electric guitar that’s an old cool box that I’ve played for years, but as of late I’ve been doing a lot of solo shows like I’m doing tonight and I play acoustic guitar, and I’m really starting to enjoy that acoustic…it’s great for solo, because you can get that sort of percussive thing, but for the most part, to answer your question, my experience has been with my Archtop electric guitar.

Abby: So you’d say that that is your favorite? I know it’s a hard decision.
Seth: If I had to choose, I’d go with that.

Abby: How many guitars do you have?
Seth: I have one, two, three, four. I have two acoustic, and two electrics. It’s a good number.

Abby: Yeah. Gives you a little choice.
Seth: I’ll take it.

Abby: Do you play any other instruments?
Seth: I play cello. I grew up on the cello. I’ve played cello since I was four to sixteen. Both my parents were classical musicians.

Abby: Oh? Well, that helps.
Seth: Yeah. They’re classical musicians. I grew up in North Carolina, with music all around me.

Abby: Yeah. Brothers & sisters?
Seth: I have a sister, but I grew up on a Quaker commune actually. I don’t know if you read that in the bio. Yeah. I grew up with another family. My folks and another couple met early on and decided to build this house together, so we lived as one… communal program. Nine of us. Pretty interesting, I mean definitely, definitely unique.

Abby: Do your parents enjoy your music?
Seth: Yes. They’re my number one fans for sure. They’re unbelievably great, talented people.



Abby: There was a lot of music in that house, I would imagine.
Seth: The other family was not that…they weren’t musicians at all but Jim, my other kind of ‘quasi-dad’ loved Texas country music. He loved Willie and Jerry Jeff Walker and Gary P Nunn and Jimmy Buffet and all these guys… Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt. So that music was kind of instilled in me from a young age, and I didn’t realize what an impact it had made on me until much later in life, because I was into classical mode, and I was being a kid, being a teenager, runnin’ around drinkin’ Busch Light out of a can, y’know. Then as I started to get…especially when I came to Texas, I was like…[shoot]…

Abby: Yeah! A good fit. Part of your make-up.
Seth: It’s kind of like my DNA, yeah.

Abby: Well, I have to ask this, because I think it’s one of the first things that someone notices about your music, and that is that you have such an authentic blues sound, and it makes me want to ask you…how does that happen with a young guy…
Seth: ...a white guy?

Abby: No, a young guy that couldn’t have had that many troubles in your life, but you’ve tapped in to that feeling of the blues. How do you explain that?
Seth: Well, uh…when I first started playing the guitar, when I first picked up the guitar in college a bluesy sound was always what…it was a natural thing for me. Like, to bend a string. With a cello…you don’t bend strings with a cello. It’s a very Caucasian proposition…in a good way! I love classical music. It’s beautiful. But with the guitar I was like…you could y’know, bend the string. And I was like, whoa! I just loved that feeling. I don’t know, I just connected with that thread, and I just went with it, and of course plenty of… plenty of mistakes along the way to inspire many blues songs. I’ve made…a couple. Just a few. It’s not something that I have to manufacture or fabricate.

Abby: It just comes out.
Seth: It just comes out. I don’t feel like I’m an imposter with it.

Abby: I don’t get that feeling either. It just seems so natural. Like you’ve really tapped into something that’s real.
Seth: That’s why I continue to do it. I mean I think I would know. My heart and soul would know...it would tell me…You know buddy? I know you like the blues, and I know it’s cool, but you probably shouldn’t go there.

Abby: If you weren’t singing the blues what would you be doing?
Seth: I’d either be writing…creative writing, or painting. That’s two things that I do on the side. I have paintings here tonight actually that I did on the side.

I went to art school at East Carolina University, studying graphic art and creative drawing. I like that, but I really love to write too. Creative writing is one of my favorite things to do. I have a blog on my web-site you can read that’s kind of…

Abby: I’ll have to read that!
Seth: Yeah, it shows that side y’know...its fun. I’m no pro at it but I really enjoy that. So, I’d be a starving writer…

Abby: So what’s next for you?
Seth: …sleeping on your couch. (laughs)



Abby: (laughing) Besides sleeping on my couch, what’s next for you?
Seth: What’s next for me? Spending a lot more time in Nashville.

Abby: Sounds like a good plan.
Seth: Kind of basing my hub there. It’s going to be a kind of hub for me, and touring out of there. And writing…I’ll be doing a new record in the next year, at some point. And continuing the press of touring. The full court press, which is always on…y’know?

Abby: Yeah, work.

Seth: Yeah, busting rocks with that, and I enjoy that. But I’ve been doing a lot of solo work, which is a new thing for me, and I really enjoy that. It’s become a necessity out on the road because it is so tough. It’s tight. I mean, it’s tight. So, solo’s been a vehicle for me to do, and I’ll be doing more of that. I’ll be doing band stuff of course as well, but I’m keeping my options open.

Abby: Last question.
Seth: Yep.

Abby: What would you like your audience to know about you that hasn’t been said?
Seth: That hasn’t been said? Well, I really am humbled to do it. I really am. I mean I really have to stop and think, because when I start to moan, I have to remind myself that I’ve been given the gift to play music and sing and to move, to create positive energy and affect peoples’ lives. I say that’s a beautiful gift, and I’m humbled to do it.

Abby: Good answer!



Seth: Cool!

To wind up my visit with Seth Walker, I would just like to say that he really was a very humble and pleasant person to meet, and I wish him all the success he deserves.

I also can’t help but think that Seth’s most valued predecessor, Mr Charles is up there in the ‘great gig in the sky’ looking down on young Mr Walker (for surely in heaven, Ray Charles can see), and soaking in the music of this bright talent so dedicated to keeping Blues music alive, and doing it very well I might add. What’s that Mr Charles? What’s that...”I’ll take it” he says, and smiles like only Ray could.

Copyright © 2009 - Abby Owen. All Rights Reserved
Interview Photos: Copyright © 2009 - Brian Smith. All Rights Reserved.
Photo from 'October Biscuit Tour 2009': Copyright © 2009 - Seth Walker.
Opening Photo by Kaysie Dorsey (Pixel Peach): Copyright © 2009 - Pixel Peach. All Rights Reserved.

Guest Writing: Robert Cray Interview by our guest Don Vecchio

After waiting for Robert Cray to return from a tour in Japan, I finally got a call so we could talk.

Robert Cray:Hi Don. This is Robert Cray.

Don Vecchio:Hi Robert. Welcome back to the States. How did the Blues go in Japan?

RC: Thanks. The Blues are always welcomed with open arms in Japan.

DV: Really? I had heard a bit but had no idea. Has it been that way for a while or has it been recent?

RC: Oh, for many years. I first played in Japan in the early 80’s with John Lee Hooker. There was a huge line of people with old John Lee albums to be signed.

DV: That’s incredible. I know you have a bittersweet story about Johnny Guitar Watson while you were performing in Japan.

RC: Yes, I was scheduled along with him at the Japan Blues Carnival (1996). I met him on the elevator and was excited. Later that night, he died on stage. It was such a tragedy.

DV: I’m sorry to hear that. He was a great talent and a good person, I’m sure. Speaking of great talents, I was watching an incredible video on youtube. The longer it went, the more amazed I was. It was listed as “Let the Good Times Roll” BB King and Albert King. I started watching. One by one comes- Junior Wells, you, Dr. John, Etta James, KoKo Taylor, Ry Cooder, Willie Dixon! WOW! Where and when was that filmed? How did they assemble all that talent on one stage?



RC: Oh, yeah. That was the Grammy Awards back in the late 80’s. There was that wild sax player, too.

DV: Big Jay McNeely-he was crawling backwards on the stage while playing.

RC: That’s it exactly! (laughs)

DV: You know you all sounded like you’d been playing together for years. How can you all do that with short practice time?

RC: It’s easy. You practice for an afternoon and you’re so scared you’ll be the one who screws up. You play the best you possibly can (laughs). The hardest part was that Ry Cooder and I tried to adjust to the way Albert King tunes his guitar. It was different and a little difficult.

DV:Robert, You have a pretty unique style on guitar and your music, itself. I really can’t look at any performer and say, “That’s where Robert Cray got his style.” Who were your influences?

RC: Well, that’s tough to pinpoint. My father was in the Army in Germany. That’s where I first got into music. We listened to Armed Forces radio. There was a mix: my dad liked Sara Vaughan and Ray Charles; my mother liked the singers like Sam Cooke and the Dixie Hummingbirds. It was from 1961-1963. I played the piano back then. After that, we moved back to Washington State. I quit the piano and picked up the guitar. I wanted to be a Beatle.

DV: (laughing) I think we all did back then.

RC:True, but then I listened and played Jimi Hendrix. He was from the area. The following year we moved to Newport News, Virginia and then I joined my first band. We played Hendrix and other rock. Then we moved back to Washington and got together with friend, Bobby Murray, who later played guitar for Etta James on tour. We played together through school. We were introduced to the music of Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Albert King, Albert Collins and more. That’s where the blues influence kicked in. In 1974, I formed the Robert Cray Band.



DV: So, it’s tough to pinpoint one person as your main influence?

RC: Well, if I had to pick one person, I’d say Albert Collins. Love his great style on guitar.

DV: Good choice, I love the Iceman.

DV: Do you prefer playing before a live audience, where it’s possible for errors, faulty equipment and tired from touring…or playing in a studio where you can take your time and perfect your music?

RC: Oh, live for sure. Live is where it’s at! Even if you’re worn from the road, once you get on stage you get and adrenalin rush. You have no idea where it comes from but it’s there; even three hours after you’re done, you still are trying to wind down. (laughs)

DV: That’s great. I think it’s easy to tell the bands who love playing for an audience. I’ve seen it.

RC: Oh, yes. I have too. As far as the studio…”you’ll never attain perfection.” So just go out and play the best you can!

DV: One more interesting item-I understand you had your big screen debut in Animal House.

RC: Oh yes, I was the bass player in Otis Day and the Knights .They were filming that near where I lived.

DV:Thank you, Robert. I can’t wait to see you perform.

RC: Thank you, we’re looking forward to it.

Don Vecchio

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Thanks for a great interview, Don! Our guest writer today is Don Vecchio, who is the Vice President of my local blues society, Blues Society of Western Pennysylvania. His past accomplishments as co-editor of his college newspaper are paying off, as he is a major contributor for the BSWPA publication. You can catch all the great things happening in Pittsburgh at their website: www.bswpa.org

Copyright © 2009 Don Vecchio. All Rights Reserved.



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