RJB: I had a great show in Phoenix.
"Bob Corritore and
" Dave Riley sat in. I had a great bassist from Alburquerque,
J.D. Sipe, and
Brian Fahey from The Paladains on drums. I hadn't played with him since a tour in Europe three or so years ago with
Mud Morganfield and
Taildragger.
Bman: Wow. That must have been a great show! Damn. I really wanted to see you. Are you coming back again this year?
RJB: I hope to be back in October.
Bman: Great! I should be good then. I don't think I have anything planned for October.
Last I heard you were in Europe with Aki Kumar . I love Europe. How did
the tour go? Where were you?
RJB: I left for Europe on Halloween, and got back at Christmas. The first two weeks of the tour were with Aki Kumar and our
West Coast Meets Chicago project. We hit Sweden (w/
Trickbag ), the Netherlands, and the
Bay Car Blues Festival in France and some FR club dates. Then Aki went home, and I went to Finland, Italy and Spain.
Bman: So you’ve been back on US soil for a while. What have you been up to?
Still touring or in the studio?
RJB: In January, I was in the Bay area the whole time. I played New Year's Eve with
Nick Gravenites and long time Elvin Bishop drummer
Gary Silva on drums. That was fun. In January, I cut material for a new Rockin Johnny Burgin CD,
Neoprene Fedora .
It'll be out by March 15. I had
Nancy Wright on it,
Vance Ehlers, June Core (the rhythm section on Greaseland), not to mention 3 zydeco songs I wrote with
Billy Williams on rub board and
Steve Willis (plays w Elvin) on accordion.
Kid Andersen and
Bob Welsh played guitars and pianos, and Aki was on it as well. He did two songs on vocal, and
Alabama Mike did two songs I wrote. Out of 16 tunes, I did three covers, a Johnny Littlejohn song, an LV Banks song, and a Little Joe Blue Song. And Aki did a song by Willie Williams, which makes 12 originals-- that's a record.
Bman: Outstanding! I love the stuff that comes out of
Greaseland and that lineup is top notch. I'm looking forward to see what you came up with.
I also heard that you caught up with Quique Gomez in Spain. Outstanding! I'm really looking forward to hearing it.
RJB: Quique is a good friend, I've worked with him in Spain and America many, many times. When Aki went home I caught up with him. I cut a cd's worth of stuff with Quique in Toledo. It'll come out in the summer. I'm glad we finally did a cd together.
RJB: Yes, I've known Mike since the Smoke Daddy days in the 90s. He wanted to do some sessions with Little Jerry Jones, Mary Lane, and Milwaukee Slim (and me!) so I acted as a liaison. We've done some nice shows together over the years. He's really keeping the blues alive in my book!
Bman: I really need to check that out! What else have you
got cooking as if that isn’t enough?
RJB: Right now I'm doing a three month tour that started in San Jose, then went to Phoenix, Alburquerque, Dallas, it's going to Houston, Clarksdale, Springfield, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, France, Russia, then flying back to Chicago and driving back to SF doing gigs in NE and Utah. Doing a session with
Jeremy Johnson in Minneapolis in March, he's a great engineer (he did RJ Mischo's latest cd) drummer and guitarist. I've always wanted to record with him.
Also doing a session on this trip with
Sugar Brown (Ken Kawashima) in Toronto. We're old college buddies and started out together with
Taildragger. He's a great player and songwriter.
Bman: Yeah, I like Sugar Brown's work. Lot of talent there.
RJB: I am doing a tour in Sweden in May with Aki and Trickbag. I'm doing the 10th anniversary Blues Fest after party at
Reggie's with special guests TBA in Chicago in June. Also I'm playing the Bluesfest with
Mary Lane. Playing
King Biscuit with
Taildragger in October and I'll be touring a lot to promote
Neoprene Fedora , as well and my release wtih Quique when it comes out.
Bman: Man. You are a busy guy. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Now I got to get some CD's and sit back and enjoy!
RJB: Thanks a lot Bman
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