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A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview Chris Vachon of Roomful of Blues about their new CD Raisin’ A Ruckus. Listen to the Podcast to hear the interview and music of Roomful of Blues.

Duke Robillard and AL Copley started Roomful of Blues back in 1967. Even though both have long since left the band, Roomful of Blues still carries on. With around fifty personnel changes over the past forty years and fourteen records, lucky for us they just can’t stop. Chris Vachon came into the group around 1991. The first record he appears on is the 1994 Dance All Night.
Chris started out listening to his sister’s records featuring people like Johnny Cash and Roger Miller. When he was around seven the Beatles hit the scene and that really sparked his interest in music. He start playing guitar as a result of The Beatles. Then when he was around twelve he heard B.B. King’s Live at the Regal. He realized the blues is really what he liked. He kept learning more about the blues while continuing to play his guitar. For several years he tried getting into Roomful of Blues and in 1991 his dream came true. He is now one of the members that have been in the band the longest. Chris is one of those rare guitarist that can be part of the band without having to be out front. He feels his part is no more important than anyone else’s. He likes having a lot of different people in the band that can do solos because it takes some of the pressure off of him. Over the years Roomful of Blues has moved from a blues band with a brass section to more of a big band, jump, and swing sound.

Roomful of Blues Raisin’ A Ruckus is the newest cd by the band. This record is a fun upbeat swing collection of songs. This is not one of my favorite styles of music but when I hear Roomful of Blues play these songs I just fall in love with it. These guys can take the big band sound and put a lot of power behind it. These guys really rock. From the first song you start hopping and that big smile comes on your face. This is music to have fun to, you just can’t help it. Starting with “Every Dog Has Its Day” and “Lower on Your List of Priorities” the CD kicks off with the full band giving it’s all. Mark Earley’s song “Talkin’ To You Eye To Eye” has a good arrangement with some nice change ups. “Big Mamou” is more of a fifties rock sound with some great sax playing. Bet this is a song everyone joins in on when played live. The keyboardist, Travis Colby, wrote “Round It Down”. The lyrics are about how you think your going to get paid a certain amount but round it down because it probably will be less. Chris does a cool guitar solo in it too. “I Would Be A Sinner” is the first song you get to catch your breath on. “Black Night” is a slow blues song with very little brass. It’s easy to see what kind of music “Boogie Woogie Country Girl” is by the title. As you would expect there is some good piano playing from Travis Colby. For me, “Solid Jam” is one of the best songs on Raisin’ A Ruckus. The song is very solid and Dave Howard’s vocals really work good on this. Chris uses a wah wah pedal on his guitar that is great. He seemed a little apologetic about using it but is takes what would be a good song and makes it great. “Sweet Petite” is a neat swing song.

Track 11 “While I Can” is a duet with Dave Howard and Bethie Vachon (Chris’s wife). Dave is doing a good job singing on this CD but bringing in a female singer gives a real nice change in sound. Hopefully on their next CD she will sing two or three songs. This may sound strange but this song has kind of a country sound to it. Every time I hear the opening lines of “Raisin’ A Ruckus” it reminds me of Ethel Waters singing “Having a Heat Wave”. It’s just the opening line that is similiar but it really gets me into the song. “Raisin’ A Ruckus” is a really cool instrumental that Chris felt had kind of a gypsy sound to it. He also said they play this song almost every night. “Life Has Been Good” is about the day Chris and Bethie got married. This is a very beautiful, old time jazzy, slow, dance song. They really captured the feeling of being at a wedding reception, perhaps in the 40’s. It is a wonderful song.
The song “New Orleans” you may remember from The Blues Brothers 2000 movie. I went wild as soon as I heard “New Orleans”. It was on one of the very first records I ever bought which was Paul Revere & the Raiders 1966 LP Just Like Us. This is a great song no matter who records it. Chris said they have played this song almost every night as an encore since 1991 when he joined the band. Needless to say they’ve really got this song down. Actually Roomful of Blues has every song down really good. There are 8 originals and 6 covers on Raisin’ A Ruckus. Since I’m not very familiar with swing or big band music I can’t give you much of a comparison between their version and the originals. What I would like you to know is this was a really enjoyable CD for me to listen to. If you’re like me you may only want a few CDs of this style of music and Roomful of Blues’ Raisin’ A Ruckus is definantly one to include in your collectiont. Most of the songs are very upbeat, fun songs I was able to get into very quickly. If you already like this kind of music you will love this CD as well as their last two widely acclaimed CD’s on Alligator Records. Roomful of Blues is on tour right now so be sure to go to Alligator Records website to see if they are coming to a stage near you. You can be sure I’ll be there when they come to St. Louis for one of my new favorite bands.

Songs played in the podcast:
1. Round It Down
2. Solid Jam
3. Raisin’ A Ruckus
4. Life Has Been Good

Clips of “Lower On Your List of Priorities” and “While I Can”

2008 Raisin’ a Ruckus – 2005 Standing Room Only – 2003 That’s Right

Roomful of Blues Website

Roomful of Blues MySpace

Buy Roomful of Blues’ CD at their website

Buy Roomful of Blues’ CD at Alligator Records Website

Check out other Alligator recording artists like Eddy Clearwater, Michael Burks, & Smokin’ Joe Kubek. New CD’s by JJ Grey & MOFRO and Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials. Check out who is coming to a stage near you.

Thanks to Chris Vachon for taking time from his very busy day to do this interview.

Thanks to Bruce Iglauer at Alligator Records for all his help setting this up.

Thanks to James McGee at Blues in the Night podcast for more great blues & letting me know there was a problem with my feed.

Thanks to Dave Jackson at the School of Podcast for fixing my web feed.

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark