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This Week in BluesWax:
Carl Weathersby
- In the E-zine:
BluesWax is Sittin' In With Carl Weathersby. Check out what this
Bluesman is up to after the release of his latest album, Hold On.
- On the News
Page: Grammy Nominations Are In; Keeping The Blues Alive Award Winners
Announced; A Holiday Gift From Buddy & Hopkins; Theresa Andersson In Film;
Ray Charles News; Byron Bay Festival Changes Hands; Koko Taylor Receives Award;
Concord Records Acquires Fantasy; New Ann Rabson CD; Bonnaroo Is Back;
Alligator Announces Double Release In January; Bandana Blues News; Simply The
Blues Festival Lineup Announced; Freedom Blues Festival News; Sierra Blues
Holiday Party; Jake LaBotz Release; Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout News;
and more!
- On the Photo
Page: Carl Weathersby Live!
- On the Blues
Bytes page: Nominations are now open! Be sure to get your nominations
in for the BluesWax Artist and Album of the Year awards. Nominations open
today so get your vote in now. And, of course, the latest from our favorite
Bluesmen wannabes, Buddy & Hopkins.
- On the Blues
Beat page: The Blues Foundation has announced the winners of the
Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) awards. Check out who has been honored with this
prestigious award.
- Under BluesWax
Picks: Gary Miller reviews Carl Weathersby's Hold On; Art
Tipaldi reviews the various artist compilation Lightning In A Bottle;
Beardo reviews the various artist compilation New Guitar Summit and
Larry Taylor's They Were In This House; plus reviews of James Blood
Ulmer's Blues & Grass and Junior Brown's Down Home Chrome.
- One
Year Ago Today In BluesWax: BluesWax was "Sittin' In With
Nick Curran, Part Two." Check out what this Handy Award winner was up to a
year ago.
- Don't forget to play the Blues Trivia
Game: Remember, everyone who plays is in the drawing for the prize!
This week's prize: the CD Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
by Paul Rodgers, courtesy of our friends at Eagle Records. Play today!
BluesWax Sittin' In With
Carl Weathersby
By Gary W. Miller
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Carl Weathersby
Photo by Jen Taylor of vividpix.com
This interview took place over a long period of time. It
started in Tampa Bay at the 2004 Tampa Bay Blues Festival in April. Then, when
I was asked to photograph Carl for his new CD's cover, I again met with him. We
ended up rooming together and rapping about the Blues until late. Real late.
Recently, I spoke with Carl again. It's interesting what all has happened to
this man and his trip in the Blues.
Gary Miller for BluesWax: Hi, Carl. It's nice to
meet you. Tell our readers about your early days and about learning to play
guitar.
Carl Weathersby: All of my father's brothers played
music. My grandfather's sister had a farm and he taught Willie Dixon how
to play bass. There was always music around and I learned to play Blues. But
then I moved to Gary, Indiana. About that time, Motown was real popular so I
learned how to play that. Music was changing and being a guitar player there
really wasn't any way to really express yourself unless you played Blues.
Playing with Hip Hop groups wasn't really doing it, so I came back to the Blues
so that I could express the way I feel.
BW: Tell us about Albert King.
CW: Well, if you listen to the Blues guitar players
today, about ninety percent of what they are playing is Albert King. He was a
six-foot-six man, but he was taller than that because of the song he had, you
know. He had an attack plan. He always told me that if the building wasn't on
fire there wasn't any need to launch a thousand notes. Save some of it for
later. That was one of the best things I started to learn and he told me that
personally.
BW: That was because you played with Albert for a
period.
CW: Actually, Albert lived in Gary, Indiana. My
father and Albert worked together. My father was a diesel mechanic and Albert
used to operate bulldozers. They were buddies. Back in the '60s people put out
45s. You didn't know who your favorite artist was unless they were super well
known, like B.B. King or the Temptations. But Albert King would
do concerts and clubs every day. Everybody knew who Albert King was.
I was playing guitar and I was trying to learn
"Crosscut Saw." I was playing it for my father and I told him that I
think I got this song down. There was this big guy standing there and he was
listening to me play it. I told my Daddy, "I think I got it." Albert
was standing there and he said, "That ain't the way I played that song,
boy." He took my guitar and turned it over and played it. I couldn't put
that together - what do you mean the way you played it? I said, "You're
Albert King?" He said that he was. There were no photos of the artist on a
45, so I didn't know it was him. They called him Albert or Bill. That was a
real big thing for me at that time. Once I got out of the Army he asked me to
play with him. I played about three or four months with him. Then I would go
away. Then I would come back and play on and off. He always needed a guitar
player so I worked with him on and off.
BW: What was it like recording in Nashville on this new
album?
CW: It was real different. Richard Waters put
it together. The amount of real musicians walking around in Nashville who
aren't complete morons is amazing. There are some really great musicians and
they're really decent people. And meeting Johnny Neel was great. He is
the real deal. And I couldn't believe the kind of respect those guys have for
one another. As a Blues musician I couldn't believe the kind of cooperation. If
you know the right people all kinds of things can happen.
BW: What was the session like?
CW: We all worked real close together. Johnny Neel
had an idea and we turned that into a song. We did a couple of Burton Gaar tunes.
But Burton told me, "When I did it, nobody heard it." Richard Waters
came up with an idea and it turned into a song. My cousin and Chris Kent had
some ideas that turned into a song. And this was just a matter of a few days
down there.
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Carl Weathersby's Hold On
Click Cover For More Info
BW: That's how it is in Nashville. Those musicians there
are really good friends and work great together. There's no hostility and they
love playing together. Was it fun working with Johnny Neel?
CW: He came up to me and said, "I been having
this rhythm nagging at me for the past thirty minutes. I'm gonna play it for
you and see what you think of it." Well, we made it up to the bridge. He
said, "What do you think of it?" I said, "Hell, we gonna make a
record!" It's called "My Love Is Too Far Gone." We played that
one time and one time only. We had solid players - no big I's and little you's.
I don't regret going to Nashville and doing this album. And I've regretted
going some places and doing things.
BW: Do you think this CD will open up some new avenues
for you?
CW: Yes, there isn't anybody telling me, "Do
this and don't do that." Some people like to label me and think I can only
do this, but not that. I think this album will surprise them. The creative
juices were flowing, man. It was good. On the song, "Hold On," Michael
McDaniel played all the horns. That's the name of the album. This album
sounds better in the rough mix than anything I think I've done. Johnny Neel is
a living example of that. "We're here to make music, man! All those gold
records on my wall don't mean nothing. It's the next one I'm looking for."
I haven't been around guys like that and it means a lot to me.
BW: Thanks a whole bunch, Carl. It's been a pleasure.
Gary Miller is a contributing editor at BluesWax.
Gary may be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED].
