WEBVTT - Edgar Winter 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:04.600 Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:07.880 Studio on I Heart Radio. My name's Jordan Runtag, but 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:10.760 enough about me. My guest today is one of the 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:15.520 great innovators of popular music, blending blues, rock, jazz and funk, 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.520 and there his own unique creation. I suppose it's only 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.040 appropriate that one of his most enduring songs is named Frankenstein. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:26.320 Oral amalgamation is his specialty. He's a veteran of woodstock, 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.639 an early synth pioneer, and a master of many instruments. 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.680 In short, he's a rock and roll hero, and now 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.200 he's using his permidable talents to honor his own hero 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.000 older brother, Johnny Winter, the legendary acts man who died 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:43.879 in After years spent processing his grief, he's assembled an 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.919 electrifying new record called Brother Johnny Do, out April fifteen. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.040 It's less a tribute album and more of a musical biography, 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:54.880 charting the course of Johnny's life through seventeen songs. These 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:57.480 include covers of his old favorites like Johnny Be Good 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.440 and Highway sixty one Revisited, as well as he vamped 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.160 versions of his own songs like Self Destructive Blues and 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.440 of course rock and roll hu Chi Kou. There are 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.000 also new original tracks penned in his brother's memory. The 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.759 album includes an astonishing array of rock and roll heavy 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:13.920 hitters we've all turned out to play their best for 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.200 the late Texas Blues icon. Among them are Joe Walsh, 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:22.800 Ringo Star, Joe Bonamassa, Billy Gibbons, Steve Luthaker, Michael McDonald, Kebmo, 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.919 Derek Truck's and Taylor Hawkins, who died shortly after taping 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.920 this interview. More than just a deeply touching retrospective, it's 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.440 an album that truly rocks and I can't wait for 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.880 you to check it out. I'm so happy to welcome 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:48.680 Mr Edgar Winner. There was an interview you gave not 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:50.960 too long ago where you were asked to define the 0:01:51.040 --> 0:01:54.840 blues and you defined it as transforming suffering into joy 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:57.840 and I thought that was beautiful and that phrase stuck 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.080 with me as I was listening to brother John an 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:01.880 him and there's a lot of joy coming through on 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.760 these tracks, but obviously there's this, It's underscored by this, 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.400 this tremendous loss as well. What was it like for 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.720 you putting this record together? Was it cathartic for you. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:16.440 It was. Indeed, I spent years not making this record. 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.880 I was well. First of all, shortly after Johnny's death, Uh, 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.880 I had a number of requests, uh, you know, to 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.640 do a tribute album. I was just adamantly opposed to 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:37.760 doing it. I was devastated by Johnny's death, and uh, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.320 it just didn't feel like the right time, and and 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:46.640 it seemed like exploitation of Johnny's name. I just wasn't ready, 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.800 you know, to be honest, and uh, and it took. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:55.359 It took a number of years. But what started that 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.760 process with this tour that we did together, which we 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:04.359 had been scheduled to do. Johnny was in Europe at 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.160 the time of his death, and there was a thing 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.480 called the Rock and Blues Fest, and we were both 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:12.960 scheduled to appear with our respective bands and then there 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:17.480 would be jamming at the end. And I had just thought, well, 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.399 surely this is gonna be uh, this is gonna be canceled. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.360 But much to my surprise, the promoters wanted it to 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.880 go on as planned with me and my band as 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.760 the headliners. And I thought, oh, this is this is 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:35.760 this could be brutal, this could be very difficult and 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:42.000 highly emotional. And uh, the I'll never forget the first 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.560 night of that tour after I did Frankenstein, I did 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.080 Rock and Roll, who She Coup and Uh alive and 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:53.400 well and uh, I forget Johnny be Good three or 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.880 four of Johnny songs and dedicate the end of the 0:03:55.960 --> 0:04:01.360 of the set to my brother Johnny. And Uh there 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.840 was a great source of strength and comfort in playing 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.360 those songs, and everybody on that tour, well, there was 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.720 so much love and respect for Johnny, and everybody would 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.400 uh would get up to jam at the end, and 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.360 it sort of became a tradition. And it helped me 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:25.520 realize that that this wasn't simply a question of uh 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:31.440 making an album and people sensing a business opportunity. It 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:37.280 was Johnny's devoted fans that really wanted to see this happen, 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:42.120 and uh that that was the beginning of it. Uh. 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:44.920 And the people I really want to acknowledge, first of all, 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.320 my wife, Monique, my lovely wife of forty two years 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.360 uh uh and we have our first anniversary coming up 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:57.960 this month. Congratulations, No, thank you, not that for rock 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:03.839 and Roller, true yeah, Uh, and uh I trust she's 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:10.240 such an intuitive heart, sooner giving person. I think, uh, 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:16.200 musicians are pretty self absorbed in general, and that that 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:20.640 was uh the case with me for many years. But 0:05:20.800 --> 0:05:27.120 I trust her intuition more than my analytical thinking and 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:31.560 reasoning about it. And she said, well, of course, from 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.279 everything I've ever heard you say, Johnny is your all 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.080 time musical hero and if it weren't for him, you 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.800 wouldn't be where you are today. So you you know, 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:46.359 you owe that to that, that acknowledgement to yourself and 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:51.000 uh uh to Johnny and to the world. And that 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.560 made perfect sense to me. And so uh then the 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.960 next thing that occurred was I met Bruce Corto, who 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.760 was uh the president of Quarto Valley Records, which is 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:10.840 a small custom label, and uh he honestly and sincerely 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.320 he loves Johnny. He wanted to bring that music to 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.400 the world for all the right reasons, and he said, agrew, 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.719 you can have as long as you want and do 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.719 it exactly however you want. You know, may have opinions 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:28.560 from time to time, but uh, this is this is 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.440 up to you. So uh I knew he was the 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.080 right person to make the album. And thirdly, and finally, 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:42.240 I want to thank Ross Hogarth the engineer, mixer and producer. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:47.560 It was really a co creation. And Ross Uh I 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.960 worked with on my last album, Rebel Road. UH and 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:56.200 Uh when we completed that project, I said, in my 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:58.640 mind and heart, I'm never gonna work with with another 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.680 UH mixer other than Moss. He was just the greatest 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:08.880 and he was just Uh he as I said, loves 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.080 Johnny as much as I do, and it's as familiar 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:17.520 with his material. And Uh, I hadn't realized the extent 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.000 to which Ross was going to become involved. I just 0:07:21.240 --> 0:07:27.040 had him as the engineer mixer, but we really ended 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:31.120 up it's really a co created album. And he suggested 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.520 so many people. Uh brought so many great people into 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.480 the project. Uh Phil Lex for example, he plays with 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.800 bon Jovi, who I knew who he was, but I 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:48.600 was not that familiar with his playing. People like David Grissom, 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:54.640 who fellow Texan and great guitarists. Uh. He also suggested 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.160 John McPhee to do the slide on on Highway sixty 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:00.400 one when we were trying to think of of UH 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:05.320 fly people. Uh, Doyle bram Hall, Uh, you know, to 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:09.320 do the acoustic uh the version of when you've got 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:12.920 a good friend, which uh Johnny always had one of 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:18.600 those those beautiful old style Delta acoustic songs. So thank 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.680 you Ross and the there you have it. That's that's 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.320 how it all be game and all again right here 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.400 in in Winterland, my little home studio. But I did 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.040 all the keyboard parts here at home, and here's my 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.960 sixty seven and I sang all the vocals on and uh, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.120 you know it. I honestly I had thought that it. 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.360 I knew it was gonna be emotional, and I thought 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.959 it might be difficult, and uh there was a lot 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.840 of laughter and some tears along the way, but it 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:59.160 really did turn out to be a joyous experience. Uh 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:04.959 so that's the beginning, so uh far away with more questions. Oh, 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.520 I mean, it's it comes across as such a celebration 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.000 and just the structure the album so cool because these 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.400 songs chart the course of Johnny's life in the sense 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:17.120 it's like a musical biography. And for anyone who loves music, 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.120 you kind of you love playing that game with yourself 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.040 of sort of tracing songs back to the beginning to 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.439 find out, you know what the songs were the first 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.120 got you hooked on music. What was the process like 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:28.840 for you of choosing the songs that you were going 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:33.320 to include on this album? Uh, it was very interesting. 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.160 The first question in my mind was should I do 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.440 a straight ahead blues record, a traditional blues record and 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:46.760 just pay tribute to the great legacy that Johnny left 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:53.280 the world, or should it be uh more personal dedication 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:57.240 from me to my brother based on my own particular 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:02.880 personal favorite and Uh, I decided it it should be 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:09.319 a balance of both. And uh, you know Johnny. Johnny 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:18.200 always encouraged me, uh two follow my heart uh with music, 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:25.800 and I love uh jazz and classical as well as 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:31.360 blues and country and rock and all pretty much all style. 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:36.800 I think, Uh, when it came to selecting the songs, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.640 I feel like Johnny had more depth and scope than 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.920 a lot of people realize. And his first love obviously 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.440 was the blues, and his authenticity as a as a 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:54.240 blues player, particularly his slide guitar, was the thing that 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:59.280 most impressed me. Uh, I think unparalleled. I don't. I 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:04.720 can't think anybody who really, I mean, our musical tastes 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.520 were somewhat different, but when it came to selecting the songs, 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.839 I thought, well, There are obvious songs that people associate 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.960 with Johnny, the songs like Still Alive and Well and 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:21.680 rock and Roll Whuchi Ku that are just uh absolute 0:11:21.840 --> 0:11:26.120 songs that you you couldn't imagine doing an album without those. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.600 And then there are all of those songs that Johnny 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:35.640 became associated with uh over the year, sounds like uh 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.880 like Jumping Jack Flash that he played with Johnny Winter 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.080 and which I thought was just a great rock band, 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.600 and uh Highway sixty one. He he loved Dylan, he 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:51.320 loved the Stones, and UH I didn't Uh, I couldn't 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:56.400 imagine leaving those out. And then there were songs like 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:02.760 uh more obscure songs. It's not like Stranger, for example, 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:07.760 which I think is a beautiful ballad and very uncharacteristic 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:12.680 of the style that Johnny usually writes in, and it 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:18.880 reveals a sensitive, vulnerable side that that you don't usually 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:25.600 see uh in in Johnny. And uh uh then you know, 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:31.000 uh self destructive blues. Uh was always my favorite Johnny 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.800 shuffle and he he loved shuffles, and you know, he 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.160 did a lot of the traditional blues shuffles. But I 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.880 love that one because it has a great sense of 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:45.960 humor and it's it's uh, you know, to to talk about. Uh, 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:49.280 that's what the blues is. It's telling your story. And 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:52.000 to write that song self destructive Blues, it was just 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.560 so cool to me. It's got a great a great 0:12:55.559 --> 0:13:01.679 real just always one of my favorites. Uh. Then Uh, 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:05.400 I had to do john and My on tears. Uh 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:11.640 was the most emotional song on on the album. Uh 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.120 for me. Uh, I had always felt like Johnny did 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:18.920 that song especially for me at the time. It was 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:24.960 on his first uh CBS album and he knew how 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:30.280 much I loved Ray Charles. Ray Charles was was my inspiration. 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:35.280 And uh, Johnny loved the old Delta blues, the people 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.040 like like Lightning Hopkins and Alan Wolfe and Muddy of 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:43.000 course uh, and I gravitated more towards the urban style 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.920 of blues, people like Ray Charles and Bobby Blue Bland 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:51.280 and and uh uh O t bone Walker, guys like 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:58.080 that of BB King. Uh. And he asked me, and 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:02.240 it was so surprised me because he said, Edgar, can 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.760 you know, just write out the horn charts just like 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:09.280 Ray did it and played the piano and uh, he said, 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.400 I just want to do it that way just like 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.280 Ray did it. There's not even any guitar on it, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:21.040 but I always felt like like he did it for 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:23.920 me because he he wanted me to be able to 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:28.000 express something on that album in the style that he 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.360 knew I loved. So when it came time for me 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:38.560 to do that song on this album, UH, I felt 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.920 like like I was singing it back to him the 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.000 way he sang it to me so many years ago 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.280 when he was so young and alive. And not only 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.040 to him, but to my mother and father who have 0:14:51.160 --> 0:14:55.800 passed on, and all the past members of bands that 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:59.120 that I've had the honor to share the stage with, 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.240 the last surviving member of the Ugar Winner group, Dan 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:08.880 Hartman and Ronny Mancho's Chapra uh are all gone, Jerry Lacrosse, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.680 the lead singer in White Trash. But you know, I've 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:16.480 really broke down doing that song, uh, but got through 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:22.640 it and uh and he talked about was it cathartic? Absolutely? 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:28.000 And and uh I after doing that it was a 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:37.000 very uh uh transcendent, freeing, sort of uh purifying experience 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:42.000 h that I felt, you know, after after having done 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.840 that song. Uh. And I should mention there are two 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.280 songs on the album that I wrote, one of them 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:53.560 being Lone Star Blues, which features Kebmo and uh uh 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:57.640 the last one on the album end of the Line. 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:01.000 That's one of my favorite tracks on there. Oh my gosh, 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:05.600 it's an amazing song. Thank you Jordan's uh. One of 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.600 the things that that I that I wanted to express 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.480 that that I doubt most people are aware of. But 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.800 one of the main differences between Johnny and I growing 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.600 up was that he had that dream, He had that 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.080 drive and the determination. As far back as I can remember, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:27.440 he wanted he was gonna be a star. He watched 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:31.000 Bandstand and he read all of magazines. He had a 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.360 huge record collection. He knew everybody that played on on 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.560 every song, and he was Johnny Cool, Daddy Winner with 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:41.440 the Coomfadur and the Shawnny and the Jammers, Johnny and 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.280 the Jammers. And I was like the Cliot tip that 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:49.160 played all the instruments. And I never wanted to be famous. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.520 I never dreamed of being famous. Uh. The point being 0:16:52.720 --> 0:17:00.200 that that Johnny had this this dream, and he having 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.880 worked all his life to attain this, when he finally 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:12.560 achieved it and had uh seemingly everything, recognition, fame, adoring fans. Uh. 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:17.000 It wasn't what he expected. And I remember him saying, Neddar, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:19.560 I never thought it would be like this. It's like, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.120 I feel so isolated and alone. I don't know who 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:28.320 to talk to and who to trust. It was like 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:33.680 one of those be careful what you wish for, uh scenarios, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:40.639 and UH for me it was it was. Uh. He 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.720 went through a difficult period and uh, you know that 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:50.240 that disillusionment he resolved. Uh. I think after he went 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:55.879 through the whole rock era with Johnny Winter, and he 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.000 had basically he loved the blues, but and he and 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:03.880 he's a great player, and he was always encouraged by 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.560 management and the record companies to go more in our 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.879 rock direction. Uh. Yet his heart was always with the blues. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:15.639 And after that period he rededicated himself to the blues. 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:20.600 And I feel resolved that in in his mind. The 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:25.359 last the last time I saw him, I remember having 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:31.119 that specific feeling is he seemed at peace, as though, uh, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.320 you know, all all of that was behind him, and 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:38.280 I think he came to appreciate everything that he had 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.280 done throughout his career. But in the song Long Star Blues, 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.679 I tried to write that in that particular voice, the 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:53.000 way Johnny felt at that time. And uh, and when 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:58.359 Kebmo decided to to do the song, which now here's 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:01.840 another example of how, of course I didn't know keV 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.960 Moo and Ross did the taj Moo album with Taj 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.879 Mahal and so they had worked together, and uh he 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.000 uh put us in touch and just set up a hello, 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.879 get acquainted call and I and I told Kevo about 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.800 the song and he said, yeah, that's uh let me 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.760 let me hear it, you know. And all I had 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:29.560 on it was a sort of a simulated slide guitar 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.760 that I played on the keyboard and a vocal and 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.639 Kebmo completely tore it down and started over and he 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.280 put all all the instruments on. But when I heard 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.840 him sing that, when he sang the courses, uh, it 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:52.520 it like when I wrote it. It was just in 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.560 in that voice, that voice of the young Johnny that 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.080 was confused and disillusioned. But when Kevmo made it to 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.760 duet and he had come in sound like the long 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:10.040 Stome blues, it just introduced this note of compassion. He 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.760 sort of became like the old wise blues man. That 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.280 was like saying uh, that was empathizing and saying, yeah, 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.200 you know it can it can get tough, but it's 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:23.919 gonna be all right. And I thought that was just 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:28.520 so beautiful. And then after I heard him every time, 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.640 every time he came in, it was like the whole 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:35.359 thing came to life. And I wasn't where I was 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.960 born in Boumart, you know, in this Johnny style, and 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:46.040 then that sounded just completely, uh, completely wrong, and so 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.840 I redid my vocal in more of of that sort 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:55.960 of uh, with more warmth and more of heartfelt storytelling thing. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:20:59.840 And you know, thank you keV Moo for for doing that. 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:05.000 He completely transformed that song into something ready beautiful. So 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:22.520 there you hadn't you mentioned Johnny's roots, like I love 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.119 that you opened the album with Meantown blues. I just 0:21:25.119 --> 0:21:27.119 think it's such a perfect opener because it's such an 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:30.000 amazing fusion of the Delta blues he loved. But then 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:32.040 everything knew that he brought to it and brought to 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.080 that style too. I thought that was such a cool 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.600 jumping off point for the rest of the record. Thank you, 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.520 thank you. You know we I had no idea how 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:43.760 it was gonna come out. I selected a lot more 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.439 songs than we ended up using. I didn't know for 0:21:46.560 --> 0:21:50.080 sure what was going to end up on and off, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:57.679 and uh, I didn't select songs with the idea of 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.120 a particular artist in mind. I didn't want anybody to 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:06.800 do a song that they didn't passionately believe in and 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.280 want to sing. And I would usually give everybody at 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.480 least four or five, you know, three or four or 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:20.960 five choices. Uh. And many times like uh, when I asked, uh, 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:26.800 Joe Bonamasa now uh, Uh Ross knew show really well 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:30.040 and I played shows with Joe and we'd talked in passing. 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:32.640 But I was reading a list of songs. And when 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:36.000 I said self destructive blues, Wow, you're really gonna do 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:39.480 self destructive? That was the first Johnny song I ever learned. 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:41.760 And I played that with my band. That's the one 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.879 I wanted, you know, that's the one I want to do. 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:49.160 And uh, same thing with Warren Haynes. When I as 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:51.920 soon as I said memory pain, you you can stop 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:55.560 right there. That's that's the Johnny song for for me. 0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:01.320 And you know it was Uh. I didn't want to 0:23:01.359 --> 0:23:03.800 make a sound alike album, and I never I never 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:08.400 asked anybody to, you know, to try to play like Johnny. 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:14.600 I just wanted great artists doing songs that they really 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:18.960 wanted to do as a tribute to Johnny. And I 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:23.080 mentioned before like if I had done it just entirely 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:25.560 as a straight ahead blues album, I don't think Johnny 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:30.399 would have liked that. Uh. I think he would have said, well, 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:33.359 you know, why are you suddenly, like, you know, trying 0:23:33.440 --> 0:23:39.919 to play everything in my exact style? That's not you. Uh. 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:44.880 And uh, Like I think all all of these artists 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:53.520 brought something special uh and really offered heartfelt performances that 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:56.159 were honest. And I don't think you can you you know, 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.960 you can't expect any more than that. But uh, I 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:05.439 think Joe Bonamasa, out of all the guitarists, he seemed 0:24:05.480 --> 0:24:10.000 to channel Johnny in a way to get inside uh 0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:17.480 Johnny's style. Johnny had this sort of relentless uh excitement 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:20.919 uh in his playing. I used to call him the 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:27.040 cultrane of of blues row. Wow. Yeah, that's an incredible Yeah, 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:32.840 I love that. What what that means? I'm familiar with Coltrane, 0:24:33.080 --> 0:24:36.840 but Coltrane could extend himself as a soloist and there 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:44.600 was it was this uh unending inventive stream of consciousness. Uh, 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:47.760 you know, one idea after another. Most people would play 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:52.840 four or five courses. He could play twenty and uh, 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:55.920 that's the way Johnny was when it came to rock 0:24:56.000 --> 0:25:00.439 and roll jamming like uh, and you know that was 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:03.680 another thing. I thought, well, maybe I'm maybe I'm making 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:06.760 too much of a musician's album because there there are 0:25:06.800 --> 0:25:10.199 a lot of long, extended solos and that can be 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:15.359 self indulgent on on the part of musicians. Uh, but 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:20.399 I just can't. I can't help it. I this to me, 0:25:20.520 --> 0:25:22.960 this album sounds like albums that were made in the 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:26.520 seventies when there were groups like Cream and they those 0:25:26.600 --> 0:25:30.240 guys they came to play, We're gonna play and that's 0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:34.000 the way Johnny was. And it wouldn't it wouldn't. That's 0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:37.600 what Johnny did. And so of course there's gonna be 0:25:38.200 --> 0:25:43.520 a lot of that on there. But Joe, Uh, it 0:25:43.560 --> 0:25:48.040 was just amazing in that sense. On Meantown Blues, I 0:25:48.119 --> 0:25:51.879 didn't know if he could do the slide like that 0:25:51.920 --> 0:25:54.120 when I heard him play, When I heard him play 0:25:54.160 --> 0:25:58.760 Self Destructive Blues, I was just floored. I couldn't when 0:25:58.760 --> 0:26:00.840 he walked in and he had said, he, yeah, I 0:26:00.920 --> 0:26:05.520 knew the song and and it that one was just 0:26:05.520 --> 0:26:08.720 just easy. He just walked in and did it. And 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:11.680 when he started to play, I just closed my eyes. 0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:13.560 It was just like Johnny was in the room. I 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:17.520 couldn't believe it. And then when I when it came 0:26:17.600 --> 0:26:21.040 time to try to find somebody to do Mean Town, 0:26:21.320 --> 0:26:23.920 I always thought that was gonna be the hardest song 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:28.480 to duplicate. And like you said, when I heard that song, 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:31.000 I think, wow, what is this. It's sort of like 0:26:31.080 --> 0:26:38.120 this electric boogie, uh delta blues fusion thing. I've never 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:41.600 heard anything like it before. Uh, nor do I think 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:46.640 anyone else had. But uh, that sort of became the template. 0:26:47.080 --> 0:26:50.720 I loved Johnny's early writing because that was what he 0:26:50.840 --> 0:26:54.040 was so cool with, taking all of these old traditional 0:26:54.160 --> 0:26:58.639 blues riffs and then presenting them like in uh, in 0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:02.640 an electric kind of format. You know that Uh made 0:27:02.640 --> 0:27:08.920 it like a completely different kind of thing. Uh. And man, Joe, 0:27:09.640 --> 0:27:12.520 uh he told me, he said, when I asked him 0:27:12.520 --> 0:27:15.320 to do it, he said, well, that will be a challenge, 0:27:15.480 --> 0:27:18.439 and uh he he took a while. He said, you know, 0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:22.840 give me a couple of weeks. And and uh man 0:27:24.040 --> 0:27:29.000 once again we we that one was was not as 0:27:29.400 --> 0:27:35.399 uh as naturally easy. Uh. We had to work. I 0:27:35.480 --> 0:27:37.680 remember in the beginning, in the middle of that session 0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:42.320 he said, there is something about it. He actually stopped 0:27:42.320 --> 0:27:46.000 the session, went out and bought a thumb pick Johnny 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:49.560 played with. He said, there's just doesn't have the weight. 0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:54.520 It doesn't have this Johnny, there's something missing and he 0:27:54.560 --> 0:27:57.920 said maybe maybe, and he had never played with a 0:27:58.000 --> 0:28:02.640 thumb pick before. Uh and uh. And by the time 0:28:02.680 --> 0:28:07.240 he finished that, it was just unbelievable, and we decided 0:28:07.280 --> 0:28:12.320 to I. I just think it epitomizes uh Johnny who 0:28:12.400 --> 0:28:15.400 he was at that particular time, and you know, in 0:28:15.480 --> 0:28:19.400 his early early career, and it's the person perfect fusion 0:28:19.680 --> 0:28:25.840 of that old traditional blues with with something uh completely different, uh, 0:28:26.040 --> 0:28:31.040