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Bluesletter - Washington Blues Society

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4 • <strong>Washington</strong> <strong>Blues</strong> <strong>Society</strong><br />

A Talk with Charlie Musselwhite<br />

Interveiw by Kim Field<br />

At least they got a little taste of it before their time was up. And gosh,<br />

Magic Sam would really just be huge today. He’d be bigger than Buddy<br />

Guy. He was so warm and he would just connect with people. He just<br />

made you feel good with his music and personally, when you met him. He<br />

was a good guy. Everybody loved him. He was a great entertainer, hell of<br />

a good singer and guitar player. I wish he was still here.<br />

KF: It seems like a lot of gospel influences are coming out in your music<br />

KF: The critics are making a big deal out of the fact that the songs on<br />

your new CD, “One Night In America,” constitute a real mixed bag. That<br />

there’s a Johnny Cash song on there, that you’ve got blues luminaries like<br />

Robben Ford playing with you, as well as country picker Marty Stuart and<br />

“Saturday Night Live” lynchpin G.E. Stewart. This new CD isn’t really a<br />

departure for you in that sense, though, is it? You’ve always pushed the<br />

boundaries—on your first album you had Little Walter’s rhythm section<br />

and psychedelic rock guitarist Harvey Mandel.<br />

the last few years. Is the attraction that gospel is a bluesy music that is<br />

somewhat more tuneful, that offers more in the way of chord progressions,<br />

a different sound?<br />

CM: It’s just about the feeling. Gospel is loaded with feeling. It means a<br />

lot to me. If you’ve ever been to Memphis, you just turn on the radio<br />

and the dial is just loaded with gospel. A lot of those programs are live,<br />

or taped from the night before or something. You really get a good<br />

gospel hit growing up in Memphis, so it’s always been real special to me.<br />

CM: Usually I go in the studio with everything I want to<br />

do, but this was a different situation. I didn’t pick all<br />

KF: You grew up in Memphis, one of the great blues<br />

centers. Who did you see at a tender age?<br />

the songs. The album is what I would call a “producer’s<br />

CM: I saw Muddy in Memphis. And Chuck Berry, Bo<br />

project.” Randy Labbe came to me with this idea. At<br />

Diddley, and Jimmy Reed. Those are the only guys I<br />

first some of the tunes he had in mind I didn’t<br />

saw doing professional gigs in club situations. The rest<br />

particularly care for, but they grew on me after I<br />

of the players I heard were like street singers and<br />

listened to them for a while. Like “Trail of Tears.” First<br />

guys playing on the corner for tips or in their homes.<br />

time I heard that—well, I just didn’t relate to it<br />

People like Will Shade, who played with the Memphis<br />

initially, but it’s become a real strong tune for me in<br />

Jug Band, Furry Lewis and Gus Cannon. They all<br />

live shows lately. And that Los Lobos tune on the CD,<br />

recorded in the 1920s. I’d go hang out with them and<br />

“One Time One Night”—a friend of mine has been<br />

pass the jug around.<br />

trying to get me to do that for years. And I felt that it<br />

really fit with the rest of the ideas. And the songs that<br />

I wrote are actually re-recordings of tunes I’d done<br />

before, and the producer picked those.<br />

KF: I was knocked out by your guitar playing tonight.<br />

It’s so rare these days to hear someone play in that<br />

classic blues style. How long have you been playing the<br />

guitar on stage?<br />

KF: You’re one of the all-time road warriors. What’s the<br />

road like these days?<br />

CM: This is kind of a recent thing, although I was<br />

playing guitar back in Memphis. But when I got to<br />

CM: Well I’ll tell ya, a lot of people are having a hard<br />

Chicago there were tons of guitar players, but not<br />

time. I think 9/11 had a big impact. I was on the road right after that, many harp players. So my guitar playing sort of leveled off. I kept<br />

and I noticed that the further east I went, the more the club owners playing guitar for my own enjoyment. My wife Henrietta kept bugging<br />

were complaining that people just weren’t going out.<br />

me: “You know, people would like to hear that.” It was time to do it for<br />

KF: You’ve always had a good eye for fresh young talent. Who are some<br />

other people, too, I guess.<br />

of the younger players out there now who you’ve been really impressed KF: It’s great to hear you play solo and in a duo setting with Rusty. It’s<br />

with?”<br />

pretty low overhead without the band, too, isn’t it?<br />

CM: Well, of course there’s Rusty Zinn, who’s playing with me on this CM: Oh, yeah. It’s great working with Rusty. The two of us, just traveling<br />

trip. He’s in his early thirties, which seems awful young to me. The light. Rusty is a hell of a player and a great singer, too. It’s a lot of fun<br />

guitarist in my band these days, Kirk Flettcher, is a phenomenal guitar working with him.<br />

player who hasn’t’ even hit thirty yet. And he’s a young black man who is<br />

playing blues. How many young black guys even give a hoot about the<br />

blues? So that’s refreshing. And another guy in my band, Bob Welch, is a<br />

fine piano player and guitar player. These guys all play with taste. And<br />

I’m kinda playing rock and roll, and they’re playing straight-ahead blues,<br />

and that’s great.<br />

KF: You had the good fortune of coming up in the early and mid-1960s<br />

when the A line—Muddy, the Wolf, Lightnin- Hopkins—were all still going<br />

strong. You had personal relationships with a lot of those guys. You were<br />

in the right place at the right time…<br />

KF: Well, as a fan it seems that your career is hitting on all cylinders<br />

these days. You’re put out some outstanding recordings on a regular basis<br />

and your touring schedule is more packed than ever.<br />

CM: It just seems to keep coming in. I’m not under contract to any label,<br />

but that’s the way I want it. I don’t want to be under contract. Just do<br />

one record at a time, and if something works out with a label, well,<br />

we’ll talk about doing another one. There’s no reason to sign a contract.<br />

KF: You were really badly injured in an automobile accident in Mexico a<br />

couple of years ago.<br />

CM: Yeah, I didn’t even know it at the time.<br />

KF: When you look back at that cast of characters, is there a person or<br />

two who you really miss?<br />

CM: I almost died. I got T-boned—hit broadside—by a semi. Broke every<br />

rib on one side. I had twelve broken ribs altogether. And I almost lost my<br />

spleen and one of my kidneys. One whole side of my body was just black<br />

and purple. I remember in the hospital when they told me I was still in a<br />

CM: Oh, all of them. Muddy. Wolf. Sonny Boy. I think if Little Walter had life-and-death situation. I said, “You’re kiddin’ me.” I knew I was<br />

lived he would have gotten his chops back together. He was going<br />

leaving. It turned out to be the nicest stay I’ve ever had in a hospital.<br />

through some real hard times with alcohol, and the alcohol was actually The best food. Nobody spoke any English except one doctor, so my<br />

giving him mental problems like really low self-esteem, those kind of Spanish got real good. I was even able to joke with them in Spanish. It<br />

things. I think he would have really re-blossomed, if that’s the way to happened on December 13<br />

put it. And guys like Lightnin’ and Big Joe Williams—I reallyh miss them.<br />

th . And on the 30th While we had Charlie Musselwhite pinned down at<br />

the Kit Cat Theater for <strong>Washington</strong> <strong>Blues</strong> <strong>Society</strong> Best<br />

of he <strong>Blues</strong> event, we sic’d local blues harp wizard,<br />

Kim Field on him for an exclusive interview. Kim got<br />

the goods, and we hereby present our interview with<br />

Memphis Charlie. Thanks Kim and thanks Charlie!<br />

photo by the Sheriff<br />

I left to do a gig. They said,<br />

“No, no, you’ve got to stay at least another week,” and I said, “Naw, I

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