Shinetop & Hudspeth Page 3 - Kansas City Blues Society

K C B l u e s N e w s
Player Profile: A Sit-Down with Patrick Recob
By A. Alexander Harrison
Between a carefully concealed background in British rock, an
early affinity for punk music, a
childhood spent in the far away
barren land of Topeka, and wild
escapades – both past and present
– with the likes of Lee McBee,
Kate and Nick Moss, Badfinger,
The Nighthawks, and countless
other well-known acts, It’s fair to
say that Patrick Recob is the closest
thing the Kansas City blues
community has to the Dos Equis
guy.
Prompted by a chance (sort of)
meeting in Denver, Colorado, I
took it upon myself to learn
Mr. Recob’s story and make
sure everyone else heard it, Photography by Samantha Whitehead
too. On Sunday, August
12 th , 2012, I sat down with
Patrick at BB’s Lawnside BBQ and listened as he told his story.
Like many musicians, Patrick began learning music, in part, to
help deal with his undiagnosed, but suspected Attention Deficit
Disorder. Though you’ll rarely see him pick up anything with
more than four strings, Mr. Recob tried his hand at every instrument
he could get his hands on, which leads to a very early,
nearly comprehensive understanding of the way music works.
This, coupled with a ninety-degree learning curve, leads a gentleman
by the name of Bud Dingman, a social worker turned
record store owner, to take a liking to Recob. When Patrick entered
World Records, Mr. Dingman’s establishment in Topeka,
he was given free run of the place, selecting and listening to any
record that struck his fancy. This, taken into consideration with
the fact that the Recob household was filled with everything from
old country, classical, opera, folk and early rock, makes it easy
to see how Patrick developed into such a well-rounded musician
with rock-solid timing and massive instrumental – as well as vocal
– chops.
Though the music of Willie Dixon, Little Walter and Muddy Waters
was tattooed prison-style onto Patrick’s brain very early on,
he experimented with every type of music he could, playing in
punk, rock, blues and country bands, and even took a fantastic
year-and-a-half stand with John McNally and his Motown outfit.
Recob’s moment of truth came when he first heard a record
called Soul Searchin’ by Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters. This
was all it took for Patrick to hear the “voice in his head” that so
many musicians are familiar with, telling him that he was going to
be a blues bass player. At the pleasure of every blues fan on the
planet, Recob listened to that voice.
Since before he was legally allowed to enter the venues where
Lee McBee performed, Patrick Recob had the overwhelming
desire to play bass for the man. The music of Mike Morgan and
the Crawl featuring Lee McBee is, in Recob’s own words, “Just
as important to me as the White Album or Abbey Road.” Since
the early 90s, he’d wanted to play with Lee. In 2005, Patrick Recob
finally got that opportunity.
Since then, he’s been the bassist for Lee McBee and the Confessors.
This band is one of the best no-nonsense blues outfits
in the country, and it isn’t difficult to tell why. Their seven-year
stand playing Sunday nights at BB’s is a hallmark of the Kansas
City blues community. Incidentally, they were the first blues band
I ever had the chance to see. If you haven’t seen Patrick and
Lee do their thing, you’re going to put this magazine down, and
you aren’t going to pick it back up until you have.
Though Patrick considers himself to be living out his dream, and
states rather firmly that he is – first and foremost – Lee McBee’s
bassist, he isn’t afraid to branch out. His current side-project, the
Magic Sam tribute he’s involved in with Kate Moss, is a point of
professional pride for Recob. He’s also alluded to a new album
by the Confessors, a year and a half in the making, which is very
close to completion.
Following Patrick’s thirty-seven minute monologue over the
question of his musical heritage, I asked him to participate in
some tech talk with a fellow gear head. Recob is a man of
simple tastes, and he sticks to what he likes. He plays
Fender Precision basses with flat wound strings through
either Ampeg or Fender amps, most currently a Fender TV
special. Though he speculates that admission of the following
would likely get him shot in certain circles, he is an avid fan of
Rickenbacker Basses. The gentleman also plays a 1948 Kay
upright bass with a Fishman preamp. Good standup bassists are
few and far between, but Recob fits the bill perfectly. There’s no
fitting closure for
Mr. Recob’s
story, since he’s
still quite alive. It
should suffice to
say that if you
haven’t seen him
play, get out and
see him. If you
have seen him
play, go out and
see him again
because he and
the Confessors
put on a great
show and the tip
jar isn’t going to fill itself.
Patrick Recob’s Suggested Listening:
SONGS
Let It Be – The Beatles
Moonlight Sonata – Ludwig Van Beethoven
SONGWRITERS
Willie Dixon
John Lennon Paul McCartney
Magic Sam
Photography
by Samantha
Whithead
10 E-mail us at KCBLUESSOCIETY@GMX.COM KCBLUESSOCIETY.ORG