A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Big George Jackson about his career as a blues singer & harp player. Listen to the interview of Big George Jackson and hear Big George Jackson songs on this podcast.
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Big George Jackson said he heard the blues while he was growing up from family members playing records. George’s dad played a little harmonica, which influenced George to play around with it a little while in his teens. It wasn’t until his mid twenties that he really started taking the harp seriously. Inspiration on playing the harp came from Sonny Boy Williamson, Walter Horton, Little Walter, Junior Parker, and Paul Butterfield. By his late twenties he was a sideman playing harp in several bands over the next seven or eight years. The first CD he made was with some friends in 1994 (Nothing Like The Rest) but this was not a blues CD. Big George finely started putting together his own blues bands, then around 1995 Big George put together the band he has now. They’ve put out three CDs on Black & Tan Records. He calls his style of blues traditional blues and tries to be really true to the spirit of the original music. Big George even said “When I write a song or do a song I have to actually ask myself is this a song I could have heard somebody like Muddy Waters doing or someone like Walter Horton or someone like Lazy Lester doing”. One of the songs on Southern In My Soul he found he was not in the traditional style so he had to change the song to be more traditional. A few years ago in Switzerland he met Lazy Lester, who asked Big George and his group to be his back up band for a few gigs. As a result the two of them have become good friends and still work together once in a while. Lazy Lester told Big George he should learn guitar. Big George has gotten so good he will be doing some of the guitar work on their next record.
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What drew me to Big George Jackson was his traditional style of blues with a very solid band as well as solid voice of Big George, plus great harp playing. These guys really work together to make the over all sound of the song the number one priority. Sonny Boy Williamson like others from the past have no depth (or high fidelity) in their music. I know this is not anyone’s fault. The recording equipment just was not that good then. For me it does take away from enjoying these records as much as I should. That’s one of the other things I really liked about The Big George Jackson Band. The songs were in a great traditional blues style, yet the sound quality was modern. To be honest I was confused when first hearing the songs. Was this an old or new blues artist I just discovered. As a Bob Dylan fan I love good stories in songs. The stories are good, plus he loves to tell stories before playing the song.
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The song “I’m A Big Man” starts off with a cool little talk about being big and something dumb someone says to him. There is good harp playing with a tight band. George said “Friday Evening” is about when he was young he would get paid on Friday then get all dressed up before going out on the town. There is very nice drum work that keeps this song running along. “Amtrek”, “St. Paul Girl” and “Big Shot” all tell good stories.
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I was very happy to hear their music is getting played on satellite radio. Their tours of Europe have done well also. Please call your local radio stations and request music by Big George Jackson. Don’t forget to go to Black & Tan Records as well as iTunes to bye CD’s by Big George Jackson. They’re working on a new CD that will probably be out around the end of the year (2008).
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Songs used in the podcast:
1. St. Paul Girl
2. Big Shot
3. Friday Evening
4. Amtrek
5. I’m A Big Man
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Harp Solo “The Daddy”
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Big George Jackson’s CD’s are all on Black & Tan Records
2003 - Southern In My Soul
2001 – Big Shot
1998 - Beggin Ain’t For Me
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Big George Jackson MySpace page
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George’s Record Co. is Black & Tan
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Thanks to Jan Mittendorp at Black & Tan records for setting up the interview and Big George Jackson for taking time to do the interview.
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It’s free to subscribe to the shows and it will be delivered to your computer when ever a new show comes out. See link in upper right corner.
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 044 - Big George Jackson – The Traditional Blues Sprit, Done Right [34:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Michael Burks about his new CD Iron Man. Listen to the interview of Michael Burks
and hear Michael Burks songs from Iron Man in this podcast .
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Michael said he remembers every Sunday night Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) would come over to his father’s house. In the basement they would be jamming with Michael’s dad playing bass guitar. Michael would be right in the middle of it all, watching what was going on. He also remembers playing in a juke joint when he was only six years old. As Michael was growing up he got to back up many blues artists when they would come through town. People like O.V. Wrigte, Little Milton, Raful Thomas, Freddie King and T. Bone Walker. While growing up Michael listened to Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, Rare Earth, Bar-Kays, Santana and ZZ Top. His dad made sure Michael learned how to play all kinds of music on the guitar so he would be able to get a job playing whatever was available. This probably led to Michael’s love of more than just blues or rock. He loves listening to funk, jazz, and country also. After hearing Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys, he was in his bedroom for hours and hours trying to learn the record. As you can imagine Michael has been working in many bands since those days. Eight years ago Michael’s big break came with being signed to Alligator Records. The first CD issued was Make It Rain followed in 2003 by I Smell Smoke. A very appropriate title not only for the music on any of his CD’s but also for his concerts. With titles like Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke I thought the new one would be called Backdraft or something to that affect. I was wrong though, the new CD is titled Iron Man, Michael’s nickname.
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Iron Man is a versatile blues CD with slow, fast and hard rockin’ blues. The first song “Love Disease” starts with one drum beat, two chords, then Michael’s guitar starts to scream. From the very beginning the Iron Man is giving you a powerful assault. This was written before he was with Alligator Records. The song got rewritten for Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke but was never used. This time the rewrite must have been just what they wanted. “Love Disease” is definitely what I want, powerful playing by the band with lots of lead guitar work. The next song is about a relationship starting to break up. You get that “Strange Feeling” something is going on behind your back. Michael said the song was really just an excuse to play slide guitar. “Empty Promises” was one of the last songs written for this CD. While doing a sound check he was playing around with some chords then the words came to him. This is probably the most beautiful song on Iron Man. Between Michael’s slow lovely chord changes and Wayne Sharp’s nice organ accompaniment, the surprise comes with a strong stirring guitar solo. The solo is faster with more of a raw sound that makes a very nice contrast with the beautiful chords in the rest of the song. “Salty Tears”, “No More Crying”, and “Ashes in My Ashtray” are all upbeat songs with the later two being more blues. “Don’t Waste My Time” is about a friend of Michael’s who was dating a girl that he was serious about but the girl was not serious about this guy. She was just wasting his time. That’s something Michael Burks doesn’t do, waste your time. Like Albert King once told Michael, when you get up to play, play, and don’t go messing around. Sounds like Michael took Albert’s advice, with three CDs out he’s not wasted our time yet. This is a man that is well on his way to being one of the next great blues legends. “Quiet Little Town” is about his hometown that is a nice little place where everyone is friendly and knows his face. One little problem though, they know too much about what everyone else is up to, kind of like a Peyton Place. This is a great rocker that all the rock stations should be playing (please call yours). “Hard Come, Easy Go” is one song that is getting some well-deserved radio play. Tinsley Ellis who wrote this song for Michael’s CD did a really nice job. Our guitar solo of the week comes from this song although there were many great solos in just about every song this has been getting airplay so I went with this. “Icepick Through My Heart” is a good example of a song that has a lot of great guitar soloing in it. Michael said it’s kind of based on an Albert King song “As the Years Go Passing By”. When I listened to Albert’s song I could see very little if any similarity between the two. Albert’s is much slower and softer with other instruments kind of competing with Albert’s playing. I really love Albert King and this song of his but “Icepick Through My Heart” is much better. Michael really gives the guitar a work out on this song. It’s also the longest song on the CD, just under seven minutes. The next song is from the old Paul Rogers band Free. The song is “Fire and Water”. Michael’s version is much more powerful than Free’s. The last song “Changed Man” is a real rocker. If you like blues/blues rock with a lot of guitar playing this is the CD for you. I’ve talked to several people that seem to agree that if Michael keeps making CD’s like the last three he is well on his way to being one of the leading blues artists of the future. Even though Iron Man is the new CD Michael and Alligator Records is pushing right now Make It Rain and I Smell Smoke are both just as good. I have all three CD’s and there is not a bad song on any of the CDs.
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A few weeks ago I saw Michael Burks in St. Louis at BB’s Jazz, Blues, and Soups Not only was the ticket about the price of a beer at The Rolling Stones concert, I did not need binoculars or even my glasses to see the Iron Man on stage. Michael Burks and his band put on the best show I’ve seen since Buddy Guy two years ago. They played a two-hour set of powerful blistering blues rock. During his break he stood on stage autograghing CDs and talking to fans. Then he played two more hours of great blues rock including the very best version of “Hey Joe” I have ever heard. You have to see Michael Burks live. This is a must see band especially now while he is still playing smaller places. Some day you will have to pay a lot of money and need my binoculars.
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The songs played in the podcast:
Love Disease
Empty Promises
Don’t Waste My Time
Quiet Little Town
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Guitar solo of the week Hard Come, Easy Go
Thanks to Tinsley Ellis and Bruce Iglauer for letting me play this song.
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The Band is:
Michael Burks – guitar & vocals
Wayne Shaarp – organ & piano
Don Garrett - bass
Chuck “Popcorn” Louder – drums
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Michael Burks Website
Michael Burks MySpace page
Go to buy Michael Burks CD from Alligator Records
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Check out other great artist on Alligator Records like Smokin’ Joe Kubek & Bnois King, Eddy Clearwater, Janiva Magness, Roomful of Blues, and many many more.
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Thanks to Bruce Iglauer for setting up this interview and Michael Burks for taking time from one of his few days off the road to talk.
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It’s free to subscribe to the shows and it will be delivered to your computer when ever a new show comes out. See link in upper right corner.
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 043 - Michael Burks – Iron Man Is One of this Years Best Blues/Rock CDs [36:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com did a phone interview with Craig Erickson
about new CD Big Highway. Excerpts of the interview are also in the podcast along with songs from Big Highway.
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Craig Erickson grew up in a very musical family. His mother taught piano and his father gave music lessons while running his own music store. Craig managed the record department when he was in his early teens. His father would let Craig borrow a guitar and amp to practice on from the store. Craig started playing guitar when he was around 12 years old. Throughout high school Craig was in a lot of different cover bands. After high school he moved to Iowa City. When Craig was not doing his own gigs he was going out to hear a lot of Chicago bands as they came through the college town. Hearing what a lot of different bands sounded like inspired him.
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Every summer he’d go to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) This was a real eye opener for him. Getting to speak to professional musicians like Steve Vai, record producer, publisher Mike Varney as well as Guitar Magazine editor John Stix. All these people had an influence on Craig by giving him encouragement, asking to hear demos, then giving feedback on what they heard along with suggestions on other things to try. Finally, Craig started going out to California to work on different projects. On one of the projects Craig worked on was with Glenn Hughes who had been in Trapeze as well as replacing Roger Glover in Deep Purple from1974 to 1976. Glenn Hughes was putting Trapeze back together for a tour and asked Craig to join as second guitarist. So from 1991 to 1994 Craig got to play on the stages of the world as a Trapeze artist so to speak. Craig was chosen to be on a tribute to Albert King’s CD called “Fit For A King”. In 1996 Craig got to play on a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan CD called “Hats Off To Stevie Ray”. Then in 1998 he was in a Tommy Bolin tribute concert with Glenn Hughes.
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Big Highway is the newest CD by Craig Erickson. This CD gave Craig a chance to go back to his roots. While the songs are pretty hard rock there is a very nice dreamy element to some of the songs. The best example is the song “Midnight Light”. Starting off with a rhythm similar to something Jimi Hendrix would use. A lot of little guitar riffs are shooting around in the background. The chorus Craig sings with a little higher voice is also similar to what Jimi would do. Every time this song plays I feel like floating through the sky at midnight looking at all the stars in kind of a dreamy state. “Miracle” sounds like it’s right off of an early Robin Trower record. If you want to hear the proper use of a wah-wah pedal this is it. Craig Erickson makes you long for the days of heartfelt music, not just how fast can you play but you do really have something worth playing. The title track “Big Highway” is about having to go back on the road for another tour, this time a tour in Europe. The sound of the song is big and open just like you are on a big highway with a large landscape around you. The guitar solo of the week is from the song “River Keep A Rollin’”. Craig said he sometimes likes to take a little trip, get a hotel room, meet the local folks, and fish for songs. This song was caught on the banks of the Mississippi River. As you might have guessed it was a keeper. When I was reading about Craig a lot of people talked about how he is this hard rock guitar shredder. What got me was not hard rock shredding but the slower songs. This was like when everyone talked about how fast of a guitar player Alvin Lee of Ten Years After was. Unfortunately they really missed out on his brilliance with the heart felt slower song. Craig may not agree with me on this but when he does things like “Miracle”, “In the Sky”, and “Midnight Light” he is creating something more inspiring. If you like the harder side of Craig it’s heard in songs like “For Your Love” or the nod to Tommy Bolin in the all out guitar ripping “Stratus”. Big Highway has a wide selection of styles to check out so just sit back and enjoy Craig Erickson on his Big Highway.
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The songs played in the podcast are:
Big Highway
For Your Love
Miracle
Midnight Light
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Guitar solo of the week is River Keeps On Rollin’
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Craig also has a new CD out called Castle Blues that is a full on electric CD like Gary Moore.
However, it is only available in France & maybe Europe. You may be able to find it on the internet.
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The Members of the band are:
Craig Erickson – guitar & vocals
Fred “Fingers” Benson – bass
Jeremy Ackley - drums
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Craig Erickson Website
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Craig Erickson MySpace
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To buy Craig Erickson CD from CD Baby Website
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Check out what artists are on Grooveyard Records
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Thanks to Craig Erickson for taking the time out of his very busy week to do this interview.
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It’s free to subscribe to the shows and it will be delivered to your computer when ever a new one comes out. See link in upper right corner.
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 042 - Craig Erickson – Gives A Nod To Tommy Bolin, Robin Trower & Jimi Hendrix [34:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download