Nov. 29, 2023

Dennis Gruenling interview

Dennis Gruenling interview

Dennis Gruenling joins me on episode 99. Dennis is originally from the New York area, where he began his love affair with record collecting, listening to a wide range of music, from country to rhythm and blues and beyond before it all came together when he heard his first harmonica on the great Harp Attack album. Dennis cut his teeth with the support of local harp players before releasing his first album, Jump Time, featuring the jump swing style of his early output. On this, and ...

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Season 1 Diatonic Harmonica Chromatic Blues

Dennis Gruenling joins me on episode 99.

Dennis is originally from the New York area, where he  began his love affair with record collecting, listening to a wide range of music, from country to rhythm and blues and beyond before it all came together when he heard his first harmonica on the great Harp Attack album. 

Dennis cut his teeth with the support of local harp players before releasing his first album, Jump Time, featuring the jump swing style of his early output. On this, and subsequent albums, Dennis was a trailblazer in making extensive use of amplified low tuned harmonicas. Dennis has gone on to make some great albums across the jump and Chicago blues genres, and currently plays with the Nick Moss band.

From an early age Dennis has been renovating vintage microphones, and is now one of the leading providers of vintage mics and amps in the world, via his BadAssHarmonicas website, as well as a huge collection of webinars on all things harmonica.

Links:
Dennis Gruenling websites:
https://badassharmonica.com/
https://www.dennisgruenling.co

Nick Moss band:
https://badassharmonica.com/pages/nick-moss-band

Webinars / Membership:
https://badassharmonica.com/collections/memberships

Gear used by Dennis:
https://www.dennisgruenling.com/gear

Bands In Town page:
https://www.bandsintown.com/a/14484438-dennis-gruenling-badass-harmonica

Tip Dennis:
https://badassharmonica.com/collections/tips-thank-you

Videos:
YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@DennisGruenling

Playing Rocker with the Nick Moss band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=29&v=2EswyXuWwz


Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

or sign-up to a monthly subscription to the podcast:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/995536/support

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram

Support the show

01:30 - Dennis is originally from the New York / New Jersey area. Now living in Los Angeles

01:51 - Parents influence on Dennis’ music tastes, from country to rhythm and blues, but blues was the common denominator

03:01 - Influence of early saxophone on approach to playing harmonica

03:10 - Played a little trumpet in grade school, but only wanted to make it growl

03:30 - Had lessons for a year or two on trumpet, but gave it up after that, and played some saxophone

03:59 - Started playing harmonica age 17 after a close family friend bought Dennis a harmonica

04:49 - Friend asked for the Harp Attack album in exchange for the harmonica

06:07 - Dropped out of high school to pursue his love of music and the harmonica

06:47 - Started playing at jam sessions around New York, meeting some local players, including Deak Harp, Big Nancy, Trip Henderson and Steve Guyger

08:09 - Dennis drew on a lot of influences beyond the classic blues players,

08:33 - Realised quickly that he had to learn the fundamentals from the harmonica greats, so spent a lot of time studying them

09:00 - Moved to New Orleans for a while, where he spent hours practising and learning harmonica pieces

11:04 - Surprised to hear Dennis is introverted, especially with all his friends in the harmonica community

11:27 - Dennis is a sharp dresser, and the importance of image, and feels like himself when on stage

13:19 - Moved back to New York area after time in New Orleans and started getting gigs and doing some harmonica teaching

14:25 - Importance of absorbing as many harmonica recordings (and other music) as part of your learning

15:48 - Influence of George Smith, Rod Piazza and William Clarke on Dennis’s own great chromatic blues playing

16:27 - Dennis now plays with Rod Piazza

17:18 - Tips on playing blues on chromatic

18:21 - Moved to Los Angeles around 2016-7, partly because of the great music scene there, and he loves the west coast swing style

19:11 - First album released under own name was called Jump Time, released 1999, recording all but one of the songs in one day

20:55 - Dennis was a forerunner in the use of amplified low tuned harmonicas

22:32 - How to get the best out of the low tuned harps, including turning the bass down on them when amplified

23:39 - Getting to grips with the difficulty of bending the low tuned harps, practise bending them!

24:48 - Up All Night is second album where focus is on Chicago blues style

26:01 - Second album was with a different band than Jump Time

26:38 - That’s Right album with Jump Time, more jazzy than the first one due to presence of his friend on clarinet

27:44 - Tribute To Little Walter album, released in 2008, the first official one since George Smith released one in 1968 (the year Little Walter died)

28:56 - Dennis knew all the Little Walter material after learning it years prior

29:41 - Picked Little Walter songs that weren’t so well known for the album

30:31 - Other plays on the Little Walter tribute album are Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin and Steve Guyger, and where they recorded

32:00 - Played in a band with Doug Deming for nine years

32:29 - Current band is with Nick Moss, who was the guitar player in the Kim Wilson band

34:21 - Released three albums with the Nick Moss band, all on Alligator records

35:10 - The High Cost Of Low Living was first album with the Nick Moss band

35:27 - Nick is the main singer with the band, although Dennis does some singing too

35:58 - Dennis first recorded himself singing on his 2016 Ready Or Not album, after being reluctant to do so earlier in his career

37:35 - Get Your Back Into It is latest album, released with Nick Moss band in 2023

37:51 - Doesn’t use any effects when playing harmonica

38:36 - Uses more small amps on the latest album

39:40 - Recorded some albums with Peter Karp

39:58 - Dennis has been performing with Road Piazza recently

41:13 - Dennis is very active with his social media output

41:58 - Just returned from playing on a Blues Cruise

42:27 - Dennis has done a lot of 1-on-1 teaching, but focuses on releasing his webinars now, which focus on different elements of practise

44:54 - Dennis had a blues radio show in New York for fifteen years

46:06 - Has won SPAH Harmonica player of the year and the Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist - Harmonica, both in 2019

46:21 - Ten minute question

47:33 - Dennis probably has the best gear in the world via his BadAssHarmonica business: where does he get it all from?

47:59 - When Dennis first started playing he bought a duff mic and decided to do it himself from that point, and how his business grew from his fascination with the amplified harmonica sound

49:59 - How Dennis believes in the durability of crystal mics

51:06 - Crystals have higher highs, and lower lows

52:03 - Dennis only sells vintage crystals

53:04 - Is a Hohner endorser and his photo was used on the Hohner Crossover box

53:53 - Had some harps customised from Joe Filisko and Richard Sleigh, but mainly plays them straight out the box now

54:20 - Overblows: uses them as and when they fit the needs of the song

55:28 - Sells a wide variety of vintage amps, but uses the HarpKing as main big amp, and smaller amps mainly for recording (Gibsons and Premiers from the 1950s)

56:51 - All gear is available to buy through Dennis’s BadAssHarmonica website

57:44 - Bands In Town website lists upcoming gigs

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.302
Dennis Greenling joins me on episode 99.

00:00:02.762 --> 00:00:16.260
Dennis is originally from the New York area, where he began his love affair with record collecting, listening to a wide range of music from country to rhythm and blues and beyond before it all came together when he heard his first harmonica on the great Harp Attack album.

00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:24.829
Dennis cut his teeth with the support of local harp players before releasing his first album, Jump Time, featuring the jump-swing style of his early output.

00:00:25.309 --> 00:00:43.414
On this and subsequent albums, Dennis was a trailblazer in making extensive use of ample Thank you for watching.

00:00:52.033 --> 00:00:54.578
This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas.

00:00:54.978 --> 00:01:04.313
Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas.

00:01:20.353 --> 00:01:26.840
Hello, Dennis Grundling, and welcome to the podcast.

00:01:27.820 --> 00:01:28.841
Hey, how you doing, Neil?

00:01:28.861 --> 00:01:29.602
Thanks for having me here.

00:01:30.424 --> 00:01:32.105
Absolute pleasure to get you on at last.

00:01:32.186 --> 00:01:39.412
So you're talking to us from Los Angeles now, but I believe you grew up around the New Jersey, New York area, did you?

00:01:40.212 --> 00:01:48.902
Yes, born and raised in New Jersey, about a half hour outside of New York City, and about an hour also the other way outside of Philadelphia area.

00:01:49.697 --> 00:02:00.191
So I understand in your early life, your parents were an influence on the sort of music that you liked, and that kind of got you into R&B, and that's quite an influence on your music output, isn't it?

00:02:01.292 --> 00:02:03.935
It has, you know, kind of in an indirect way.

00:02:04.676 --> 00:02:12.224
Nobody in my family was a musician, really, but there was always records being played and music being played.

00:02:12.930 --> 00:02:16.978
My father, big traditional country Western music fan.

00:02:17.718 --> 00:02:23.971
All I remember my mom listened to was oldies, kind of 50s stuff, and even some swing stuff here and there.

00:02:23.991 --> 00:02:25.533
I mean, I love that stuff.

00:02:25.554 --> 00:02:32.046
I remember listening to Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and all the traditional country artists when I was younger and oldies.

00:02:32.326 --> 00:02:34.532
I mean, Fats Domino and all that stuff.

00:02:34.611 --> 00:02:43.002
I had no idea that That was rhythm and blues, and I had no idea how much blues was in the old school country music, but I'm sure we'll come up in conversation.

00:02:43.043 --> 00:02:53.276
As the years went by and I discovered blues through a close friend of the family, I realized this is like the common denominator in all the stuff that I loved.

00:02:54.176 --> 00:03:00.985
As I became a teen and started listening to my own rock and roll stuff, that was still the common denominator of what I really loved.

00:03:01.506 --> 00:03:05.890
Yeah, and in that music you were listening to at a young age, was there quite a lot of saxophone in there?

00:03:05.911 --> 00:03:07.932
Because that's clearly had an influence in your playing.

00:03:08.533 --> 00:03:08.753
In the

00:03:08.973 --> 00:03:10.094
oldies, yes.

00:03:10.556 --> 00:03:17.223
And I played a little trumpet in grade school, but I didn't really learn much musically on the trumpet.

00:03:17.483 --> 00:03:23.990
And I loved it, but the only thing I did and the only thing I wanted to do was sit around the house and try to make that thing growl.

00:03:24.431 --> 00:03:27.294
Even at that young age, I was that sound crazy.

00:03:27.521 --> 00:03:28.342
just grabbed me.

00:03:29.264 --> 00:03:29.343
Yeah.

00:03:29.364 --> 00:03:33.528
So did you have sort of, did you have formal lessons and you needed sort of grades on your trumpet?

00:03:33.908 --> 00:03:39.014
For about a year or two, I took some, you know, mainly just some lessons and coaching in school.

00:03:39.134 --> 00:03:46.543
And when they wanted to get me more serious and transfer me to trombone, which, which I do love now, but I wasn't interested in the trombone back then.

00:03:46.703 --> 00:03:47.663
I want to play trumpet.

00:03:47.704 --> 00:03:55.012
So I just kind of, kind of stopped playing years later after I started playing harmonic, I did pick up saxophone, which I love clearly.

00:03:55.051 --> 00:03:59.377
But once I picked up the harp, It just kind of felt like my thing.

00:03:59.997 --> 00:04:00.217
Yeah.

00:04:00.397 --> 00:04:02.401
Oh, and what age were you when you picked up the harp then?

00:04:02.700 --> 00:04:05.724
Well, I was, I guess maybe about 17 or so.

00:04:05.745 --> 00:04:07.326
A close friend.

00:04:07.366 --> 00:04:11.211
My mom's an only child, but we have other kind of family members.

00:04:11.231 --> 00:04:12.995
They're not blood relatives, but they're really close.

00:04:13.055 --> 00:04:14.195
They're family to us.

00:04:14.377 --> 00:04:22.435
And one of them in the family is a big fan of blues, early rock and roll, early country music, honky tonk stuff.

00:04:22.475 --> 00:04:25.060
And he plays a little guitar and played a little harmonica.

00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:28.524
And we were always kind of friendly at family gatherings and stuff.

00:04:28.706 --> 00:04:30.848
And he used to talk to me about the music.

00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:34.233
I never knew much about that stuff, but I was, you know, we both loved music.

00:04:34.694 --> 00:04:39.523
And he asked me one year if I wanted a harmonica for Christmas that year coming up.

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And I said, sure.

00:04:40.223 --> 00:04:44.069
I thought it was cool because I always loved, I was always into music no matter what.

00:04:44.545 --> 00:04:45.706
I just thought, that's cool, whatever.

00:04:45.747 --> 00:04:47.028
I'll have something to take around.

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Maybe I'll learn a few songs or whatever on it.

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Of course, there was a catch.

00:04:50.891 --> 00:04:53.894
In exchange, he asked for that Harp Attack album on Alligator Records.

00:04:54.033 --> 00:04:59.478
It had just come out on Alligator with James Cotton and Junior Wells and Carrie Bell and Billy Branch.

00:04:59.838 --> 00:05:02.682
I was a record collector back then.

00:05:02.701 --> 00:05:04.423
It was just mostly rock and roll stuff.

00:05:04.963 --> 00:05:07.786
I knew how to get a hold and order that album.

00:05:07.906 --> 00:05:11.608
I remember calling the record shop that I would go to, and I ordered it.

00:05:12.069 --> 00:05:15.853
We met each other around the holidays, and we exchanged gifts And I'm looking at this harmonica.

00:05:15.894 --> 00:05:17.136
And I'm looking at the album I gave him.

00:05:17.196 --> 00:05:20.261
I said, well, let me hear that record, because you just gave me a harp.

00:05:20.721 --> 00:05:22.023
I want to hear these guys play.

00:05:22.062 --> 00:05:27.692
And I'll never forget, as soon as I put that needle on at that family gathering, we were at a family house.

00:05:27.711 --> 00:05:28.632
And they had a turntable.

00:05:28.793 --> 00:05:32.598
And I'll just never forget when I first heard the first few notes of the first song.

00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:41.752
And it was just like, this is that musical quality that I love so much about all the music I love, whether it was rock and roll or country or big band or oldies.

00:05:42.338 --> 00:05:43.119
It was that quality.

00:05:43.158 --> 00:05:43.879
I didn't realize it was

00:05:43.961 --> 00:05:44.822
called blues.

00:05:46.163 --> 00:05:47.005
A great album.

00:05:47.086 --> 00:05:48.988
I got it myself when it first came out.

00:05:49.009 --> 00:05:51.312
And Down Home Blues was that first song, wasn't it?

00:05:51.432 --> 00:05:52.954
And they're all playing on that one, aren't they?

00:05:52.975 --> 00:05:54.757
And that's a really great one to start with, yeah.

00:06:03.812 --> 00:06:05.555
And

00:06:05.615 --> 00:06:08.038
so this was a quick entry into harmonica.

00:06:08.059 --> 00:06:09.422
I believe you sort of...

00:06:09.826 --> 00:06:14.190
dropped out of high school to pursue your love of playing the harmonica and blues shortly after that, did you?

00:06:14.730 --> 00:06:15.552
Basically, yeah.

00:06:15.672 --> 00:06:20.137
Me and the school, public school system, we just did not get along that well.

00:06:20.377 --> 00:06:25.903
I'm not keen on following rules and doing things the way people tell me to do them.

00:06:26.744 --> 00:06:30.548
So I just did not click with the system.

00:06:31.028 --> 00:06:33.831
I wasn't really flunking, but I just wasn't going to classes.

00:06:33.911 --> 00:06:36.134
Instead of going to gym, I was going to physics.

00:06:36.214 --> 00:06:39.298
And instead of going to a lot of my other classes, I was going to the radio station.

00:06:39.778 --> 00:06:43.041
No regrets, so you made the right choice, I think.

00:06:43.543 --> 00:06:45.464
No regrets at all.

00:06:46.185 --> 00:06:47.987
Fantastic, yeah, fantastic.

00:06:48.007 --> 00:06:56.497
And then you quickly, well, I think you started playing around the jam sessions around New York, around where you live at least, and you were getting into it quite soon and getting gigs early on, were you?

00:06:56.918 --> 00:06:58.821
I started going to the jams early on.

00:06:58.961 --> 00:07:01.144
I met some local players.

00:07:01.524 --> 00:07:05.910
Dee Karp was actually the first local player I met who was also in New Jersey way back then.

00:07:09.665 --> 00:07:19.858
A lot of people know me.

00:07:19.898 --> 00:07:24.663
He's down in Clarkston, Mississippi now doing custom harps for years, but we know each other from way back when.

00:07:25.204 --> 00:07:31.331
Big Nancy, who has passed now, but she played a lot in the area and also including with Sonny Rhodes.

00:07:31.971 --> 00:07:36.517
She was a tremendous help and just a supporter and encourager way back then.

00:07:37.089 --> 00:07:48.971
Trip Henderson in New York City, who was also kind of an encourager and supporter, as well as not long after I got started, I met Steve Geiger, who to this day is one of my closest friends and one of my favorite players as well.

00:07:49.351 --> 00:07:54.923
I would go to the jams, but normally I'm shy and more introverted by nature.

00:07:54.942 --> 00:07:56.144
I wouldn't even bring my harps.

00:07:56.565 --> 00:07:58.810
I would go to the jams and just kind of check out the scene.

00:07:59.137 --> 00:08:05.245
and maybe see if there was somebody I thought I was compatible with and then maybe talk to them and maybe bring harps next week.

00:08:05.346 --> 00:08:07.728
I wasn't keen on following the spotlight.

00:08:07.809 --> 00:08:08.810
I was keen on the music.

00:08:09.471 --> 00:08:12.033
So we'll get into the sort of music that you've released.

00:08:12.113 --> 00:08:15.177
And again, it's quite influenced by jump and swing and things.

00:08:15.237 --> 00:08:16.839
So what were you playing at this early stage?

00:08:16.860 --> 00:08:21.745
Were you sort of really into the classic blues harmonica or were you more trying to play that kind of jump swing stuff?

00:08:22.286 --> 00:08:23.367
Honestly, all of it.

00:08:23.988 --> 00:08:33.421
I was as much influenced by Charlie Christian music and Lester Young as I was by Little Walter and George Smith and James Cotton.

00:08:33.681 --> 00:08:38.849
But I realized quickly, I really need to kind of know how to operate the harp and build a blues vocabulary.

00:08:39.409 --> 00:08:42.114
So I really studied on harp, the Chicago stuff.

00:08:42.634 --> 00:08:44.496
I just dove into it headfirst.

00:08:44.937 --> 00:08:47.881
And I kind of had tunnel vision for a little while, really studying that stuff.

00:08:47.942 --> 00:09:00.398
But all the while, I was still kind of working out some horn stuff and Charlie Christian stuff and early, you know, kind of swing jazz blues kind of stuff, even at that early in my development because I just loved that music and I loved that way of playing.

00:09:00.758 --> 00:09:02.099
So in your studying, what were you doing?

00:09:02.119 --> 00:09:03.399
Were you transcribing stuff?

00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:06.182
Well, there was a period I moved to New Orleans.

00:09:07.102 --> 00:09:10.667
My girlfriend at the time got an internship there and she didn't want to go without me.

00:09:10.726 --> 00:09:11.827
I was like, New Orleans, great.

00:09:11.908 --> 00:09:17.091
One of the, you know, homes of, you know, blues and jazz and all that stuff and such a rich cultural history there.

00:09:17.533 --> 00:09:19.153
So of course I wanted to go and I did that.

00:09:19.494 --> 00:09:22.216
And at the time I was learning some things note for note.

00:09:22.256 --> 00:10:03.200
I had learned some big Walter, especially little Walter stuff and some george smith and james cotton with some various things here and there and when i got down there you know i was this young long-haired yankee from the north and you know it was kind of hard to make friends down there especially being new and not from the area i did meet johnny sansone who was great i met rockin jake down there who was great and we're we're all kind of friends still to this day but it was hard to kind of quickly befriend musicians especially being this younger dude from out of town so i kind of got frustrated quickly and i basically locked myself in the apartment for most of that time and just learned songs note for note every single day.

00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:06.143
I mean, I was basically practicing 10, 12 hours a day.

00:10:06.182 --> 00:10:10.447
And when I mean I was learning things note for day, I would write out for myself.

00:10:10.648 --> 00:10:14.711
I didn't write them where other people can read them, but I wrote them out and I tabbed stuff out for myself.

00:10:15.091 --> 00:10:24.022
Every single day, I learned one or two pieces, whether it was an instrumental from Little Walter or a solo from James Cotton or this thing from Rod Piazza or anything.

00:10:24.302 --> 00:10:44.179
But every single day, I learned one or two solos or instrumentals and this was for months and months and it made a big difference in my playing and obviously in my hearing and all that stuff but I was just I wanted to come back home with something to show from being down in New Orleans even though all that all I was being done was just me by myself

00:10:45.881 --> 00:10:51.986
yeah definitely and I think you're right absolutely it's essential to do that isn't it to work through and just learn those solos write them down so yeah

00:10:54.809 --> 00:10:54.909
music

00:11:04.129 --> 00:11:08.900
It's interesting you're saying that you're such a shy introverted type, Dennis, which I'm definitely surprised to hear.

00:11:08.941 --> 00:11:12.568
And also, you've definitely got a lot of friends in the harmonic community.

00:11:12.609 --> 00:11:13.792
A lot of people have mentioned you.

00:11:13.812 --> 00:11:16.258
I think you're really well respected and you built that up.

00:11:16.938 --> 00:11:18.042
You know, it's

00:11:18.121 --> 00:11:18.363
funny.

00:11:18.764 --> 00:11:19.585
People do seem...

00:11:20.001 --> 00:11:26.013
surprised i think when i tell them that but i prefer to let my music and maybe perhaps my clothes do the talking

00:11:27.755 --> 00:11:41.501
i was going to mention your clothes so that's a good time now so you're definitely a sharp dresser you've got this kind of snake skin suit she got rings you know you got that you say the long ponytail of her definitely looks very important right you feel that's uh your presence on stage is uh it's part of that yeah

00:11:41.601 --> 00:11:42.304
Well, I think it is.

00:11:42.325 --> 00:11:48.365
And you know, it was funny when I first started performing in public, I was just awkward because of my introverted nature.

00:11:48.385 --> 00:11:50.072
To me, it was all about the music.

00:11:50.111 --> 00:11:51.256
Who cares what you look like?

00:11:51.297 --> 00:11:53.705
It doesn't matter because it's about the music.

00:11:54.081 --> 00:11:54.822
you know, period.

00:11:55.163 --> 00:12:10.600
When I would go watch people, I noticed that I would be bored and kind of not as interested when I saw people who looked like they didn't want to be on stage and it looked like they just kind of walked out of their living room practicing and, you know, ripped up jeans and t-shirt from their couch.

00:12:11.221 --> 00:12:21.432
And, you know, I realized it does make a difference because people are going, at least not the jams, when I was doing my own gigs or gigs with other bands, you know, and I was getting paid.

00:12:21.773 --> 00:12:26.222
You know, people were paying or spending at least time to watch you and listen to you.

00:12:26.243 --> 00:12:28.245
They're not just sitting home listening to a record of you.

00:12:28.265 --> 00:12:29.347
They're watching you as well.

00:12:29.408 --> 00:12:34.534
And I realized I was not into people who did not at least look like they wanted

00:12:34.554 --> 00:12:35.056
to be there.

00:12:35.416 --> 00:12:37.038
So did you practice your stagecraft?

00:12:37.119 --> 00:12:37.980
Is that part of it?

00:12:38.421 --> 00:12:48.715
Not necessarily practice it, but I just kind of slowly allowed myself to be more of myself on stage as I got more comfortable on stage.

00:12:49.076 --> 00:12:53.748
Yeah, because you quite, you know, you move a lot, you move, you know, you move well, you look like you say you're into it, right?

00:12:53.788 --> 00:12:55.893
And that definitely comes across when you're playing.

00:12:56.225 --> 00:12:56.566
Thanks.

00:12:56.746 --> 00:12:56.826
And

00:12:57.047 --> 00:13:04.296
that's, yeah, I mean, none of that obviously is planned, but it's just like over the years, I'm just a lot more comfortable being me on stage.

00:13:04.355 --> 00:13:07.460
So what you see is, I mean, I didn't like craft a stage persona.

00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.485
I am on 100% myself when I'm on stage.

00:13:11.684 --> 00:13:18.493
I mean, I feel most myself when I'm on stage making music more than even just kind of sitting around the house, making breakfast or doing whatever.

00:13:18.533 --> 00:13:19.575
Right.

00:13:19.595 --> 00:13:23.519
So after New Orleans, did you go back up to the Northeast of the US for a while?

00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:24.299
Yeah.

00:13:24.660 --> 00:13:24.821
Yeah.

00:13:24.860 --> 00:13:25.461
So what happened then?

00:13:25.953 --> 00:13:32.639
Even when I was in New Orleans, I remember, you know, Deke and a few other friends I knew on the scene, because I was all self-taught.

00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.682
And I remember Deke even calling up to me, you know, oh, you know, can you teach this guy?

00:13:36.722 --> 00:13:37.624
Can you teach that guy?

00:13:37.663 --> 00:13:38.985
I don't know how to teach this guy.

00:13:39.044 --> 00:13:41.668
And I started teaching students long distance.

00:13:41.707 --> 00:13:45.850
And when I got back home, and I had only been playing, you know, less than two years then.

00:13:45.890 --> 00:13:51.096
And I was already teaching other players just because I've learned so much on my own.

00:13:51.115 --> 00:13:53.097
I did start going to the jams more.

00:13:53.158 --> 00:13:58.442
And not long after I got back, I started playing with a couple local bands on a pretty regular basis.

00:13:59.163 --> 00:14:00.725
It took over my life.

00:14:00.765 --> 00:14:16.706
Every weekend, no exaggeration, I would go record shopping to find whatever I could, blues, harmonica, jump, swing, rock and roll, or always 40s, 50s stuff, and just learn as much as I could and try to learn stuff each week and get better on the bandstand.

00:14:17.186 --> 00:14:24.753
You know, and then eventually, after performing for years with other bands, I kind of started to form my own groups eventually.

00:14:25.232 --> 00:14:27.475
Yeah, I think that's another really important aspect, isn't it?

00:14:27.514 --> 00:14:29.297
The fact that, you know, you're a record collector, right?

00:14:29.317 --> 00:14:33.240
You listen to lots of stuff, including lots of harmonica, obviously, but also other stuff.

00:14:33.820 --> 00:14:34.421
Silk it all up.

00:14:34.880 --> 00:14:40.405
That is not only an important part, that is a huge part and one of the most important parts.

00:14:40.745 --> 00:14:48.173
That is, I think, the biggest thing that separates players who kind of just get to that intermediate level and players who get to a higher level.

00:14:48.373 --> 00:14:49.394
Gotta listen.

00:14:49.514 --> 00:14:51.777
And it's gotta be active, focused listening.

00:14:52.177 --> 00:14:58.744
Because not only are you learning when you're listening, but you're changing how you think and how you hear the music the more you listen.

00:14:59.024 --> 00:15:00.326
It's crazy nowadays, too.

00:15:01.167 --> 00:15:03.669
When I started listening, I was buying things on vinyl.

00:15:03.809 --> 00:15:07.293
Now, of course, that's come full circle now where people are buying vinyl and printing vinyl again.

00:15:07.333 --> 00:15:39.327
But I learned mainly by listening over and over to records or cassettes and just figuring out the stuff by ear, tracking down recordings where I knew the personnel And these days, it's gone so far from that where I can recommend songs to students or other players, and they don't even know how to find that song because even though it may be out there on social media or streaming somewhere, it's very hard to find specific recordings because things have been released and re-released, and there's no notes about what session it is or who the musicians are.

00:15:39.528 --> 00:15:47.056
And I'm kind of glad that I came up learning this stuff from the recordings that I bought because I learned so much more about the players and the history.

00:15:47.056 --> 00:15:48.298
And

00:15:48.337 --> 00:15:52.364
one of those players, which of many that I know you've listened to, is George Smith.

00:15:52.864 --> 00:15:57.770
And you're a fantastic blues chromatic player, definitely one of the best chromatic blues players.

00:15:58.111 --> 00:16:14.235
Is that something you initially picked up from George?

00:16:14.995 --> 00:16:16.197
Yes, via...

00:16:16.610 --> 00:16:19.270
Rod Piazza, and then William Clark.

00:16:19.745 --> 00:16:19.966
Yeah.

00:16:20.005 --> 00:16:27.072
Now, so I had the first blues radio show I ever heard, I think was Niles France outside of the Philadelphia area.

00:16:27.312 --> 00:16:34.619
And it was right around the time that Rod Piazza's Blues in the Dark album came out and they played that Too Late Brother, the Little Walter song he does on that album.

00:16:34.839 --> 00:16:36.120
And, you know, and I immediately heard that.

00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:42.306
And I had been hearing about George Smith just from reading liner notes and reading about blues.

00:16:42.365 --> 00:16:51.374
I never really heard him, but I was able to see Rod like within my first six months or so of getting into this music because they played his music and I said, oh, yeah, he's coming to so-and-so.

00:16:51.933 --> 00:16:54.777
You know, it was within, you know, two hours driving distance.

00:16:54.836 --> 00:16:56.258
So I was like, man, I got to check this out.

00:16:56.758 --> 00:16:59.860
After witnessing him and a few months after that, seeing William Clark.

00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.884
And then, of course, these few months I was tracking down George Smith albums.

00:17:04.265 --> 00:17:10.750
It all kind of happened in a very short period where I heard all three of those guys who had a huge influence on me, especially Chromatic.

00:17:10.851 --> 00:17:13.834
I mean, it all goes back to George for that particular style.

00:17:14.314 --> 00:17:18.298
But Rod and William Clark really had a big influence as well early on.

00:17:18.594 --> 00:17:21.420
I mean, so what about any quick tips on playing the blues?

00:17:22.040 --> 00:17:28.855
I would offer the same advice as I would if somebody were to ask me, how do I how can I play like jump swing blues on the diatonic?

00:17:29.297 --> 00:17:35.108
The first thing I would recommend is learn some blues and technique basics first.

00:17:35.554 --> 00:17:37.236
whether it's diatonic or chromatic.

00:17:37.796 --> 00:17:41.940
A lot of people will say, oh, it's easy, just pick up the chromatic and you can't play a wrong note.

00:17:42.340 --> 00:17:49.567
But I think a lot of people just kind of get away with kind of fumbling around on the chromatic breathing and chords and just kind of finding the notes here and there.

00:17:49.708 --> 00:17:55.173
But playing something a little more up-tempo, a little more swinging, obviously is a different thing.

00:17:55.192 --> 00:18:04.241
And I would say, just like I did on my diatonic, learn basics, learn maybe a little music theory, a little bit of where you're going musically on the instrument.

00:18:04.642 --> 00:18:09.810
And these are all things I just taught myself through listening and experimenting and practicing and trial and error.

00:18:09.851 --> 00:18:16.942
You just take baby steps with your technique, just like you take baby steps with understanding what you're doing musically on the harp.

00:18:17.443 --> 00:18:20.549
And then all those steps add up if you're consistent with it.

00:18:21.026 --> 00:18:24.172
So, and then you moved across to the West Coast, to Los Angeles.

00:18:24.192 --> 00:18:25.715
At what point did you do that?

00:18:26.115 --> 00:18:26.718
Well, you know, I've

00:18:27.097 --> 00:18:30.766
always wanted to move out to the LA area for a really long time.

00:18:30.786 --> 00:18:33.391
And it almost happened a couple of times, but it just never lined up.

00:18:33.530 --> 00:18:36.597
So it did happen about six, seven years ago.

00:18:36.961 --> 00:18:39.124
You know, one of the reasons is there is a great scene here.

00:18:39.163 --> 00:18:48.811
Now, it's not what it used to be years ago, but there's still a good concentration of great players and great music fans out here for this kind of stuff I love.

00:18:49.212 --> 00:18:54.676
You know, listen to your music, you know, it might almost describe you as a kind of West Coast swing player.

00:18:54.857 --> 00:18:59.161
Is that something that drew you there or were you already playing that style before you went there?

00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:00.722
Oh, yeah, I was already playing.

00:19:00.803 --> 00:19:06.928
Even when I was living in New Jersey, some people thought I was from the West Coast because they had that, you know, George Swing.

00:19:06.928 --> 00:19:24.694
kind of swinging blues approach on chromatic and diatonic the first album I did under my own name was with a jump blues band I had jump time and we played a lot of jump blues and you know that's not obviously the Chicago type of thing but I just was recording stuff that I like to play

00:19:25.175 --> 00:19:34.470
so let's talk about that album then so that was recorded in 98 released in 99 it was called jump time with your band so what sort of age were you when you released this one

00:19:34.786 --> 00:19:53.054
26 i want to say somewhere around there when i think i when i recorded and it was released we recorded the whole album in one day except for one song which is kind of crazy all live takes and yeah i mean it was i was doing it myself so i had extremely limited budget

00:19:53.755 --> 00:20:16.153
oh that's great good effort because there's some pretty sophisticated stuff on there so you've done well to knock that out in a day for sure thanks Was that something you'd been gigging for quite a while before?

00:20:16.193 --> 00:20:18.699
So were you guys really up to speed with the songs?

00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:20.321
Well, to be honest, no.

00:20:20.705 --> 00:20:24.950
That was not a band I was regularly working with that much.

00:20:25.309 --> 00:20:30.453
It was kind of like a super, like an all-star band of local players that I liked to play with.

00:20:31.174 --> 00:20:32.375
We have performed together.

00:20:32.395 --> 00:20:37.279
I mean, I had sheets in just my handwritten sheets of like, you know, here's the intro.

00:20:37.560 --> 00:20:42.625
We do, you know, vocal here, chorus, you know, a harmonica solo here, another verse here.

00:20:42.644 --> 00:20:54.461
I had kind of just like those kind of minimalist lead sheets for this, you know, but there weren't songs like we just kind of banged out doing on the gigs because we didn't really really do that many gigs before the recording.

00:20:55.182 --> 00:21:01.916
So one thing you do on here, and you've certainly done throughout the rest of your recording career, is play a lot of low-tuned harps, which is really interesting.

00:21:01.936 --> 00:21:09.374
I think I read that you were one of the first guys to use one of the low-tuned harps before this became in vogue.

00:21:11.105 --> 00:21:12.247
Yeah, a

00:21:20.958 --> 00:21:27.906
lot of people have told me, and I guess in some ways I probably have influenced that a lot, you know, in the bigger picture, because, I mean, you couldn't get them.

00:21:27.946 --> 00:21:33.034
They weren't readily available, really, for most people or for anybody back then.

00:21:33.054 --> 00:21:39.301
I had to get custom-made 10-hole diatonic low-tune harps from Joe Felisco and Richard Slay.

00:21:39.905 --> 00:21:54.134
And just because I'm a big fan, in case you didn't know, of that amplified harmonica sound, of all the different textures and nuances and overtones that you can get, you know, and the shadings you can get when playing amplified.

00:21:54.154 --> 00:21:58.784
And the lower tuned harps, I think, are even more fascinating when played that way.

00:21:58.824 --> 00:22:01.249
But I never really heard anybody use them that way.

00:22:01.730 --> 00:22:09.849
And I think it was just my love of saxophone, especially trombone, which I grew to appreciate as I got older, and baritone sax and tenor sax.

00:22:10.210 --> 00:22:16.526
And I just found that there was these really cool sounds that I loved when you can amplify low-tuned harps.

00:22:16.685 --> 00:22:19.933
And the only ones you can get were really those 12 or 14-hole harps.

00:22:20.066 --> 00:22:25.891
harps from Hohner that weren't great and they weren't great for cupping with a mic because they were so big too.

00:22:26.471 --> 00:22:30.335
Yeah and of course later on the Thunderbirds came out and they became more popular.

00:22:30.474 --> 00:22:31.776
Yeah that was years before that.

00:22:32.416 --> 00:22:50.737
Yeah I mean it's really interesting because listening to you and I've listened to quite a lot and playing along with some of your songs with the low-tuned harp you know like you say you've really turned me back on to them because I own a lot a few low-tuned harps and a bit like oh they're not very responsive they're a bit quiet you know I always thought they're a bit quiet in a live setting but like you say amplified I'm listening thinking you Yeah, he's great.

00:22:50.757 --> 00:22:51.784
You know, they're sounding great.

00:22:51.805 --> 00:22:55.792
You know, you've really turned me on to the fact that I'm actually going to try and get those low tuned harps out some more.

00:22:56.226 --> 00:22:56.685
Awesome.

00:22:57.166 --> 00:22:58.268
It's a sound that I love.

00:22:58.567 --> 00:23:01.471
Playing live though, you know, it's obviously different with a band.

00:23:01.490 --> 00:23:03.192
You got to be prepared for different things.

00:23:03.231 --> 00:23:19.445
You know, it's one thing to have your chops and all that stuff musically, but then in the band setting, like in particular with the low tuned harps, you want to make sure you're not setting the bass too high on your amplifier and then get too muffled of a sound because the notes are low to begin with.

00:23:19.566 --> 00:23:22.087
It helps you actually to have a little bit of a brighter sound.

00:23:22.169 --> 00:23:24.430
So those low notes will cut through a little bit.

00:23:24.750 --> 00:23:27.576
Like if you listen to any old song, with baritone sax.

00:23:27.977 --> 00:23:31.766
If they're too muffled and muddy, there's no articulation, there's no clarity.

00:23:31.826 --> 00:23:36.979
But when you hear it's a brighter sound, a more reedy sound on that baritone, it really cuts through

00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:37.601
and you can hear it

00:23:37.661 --> 00:23:37.842
better.

00:23:38.145 --> 00:23:39.027
That's a really good tip.

00:23:39.047 --> 00:23:39.166
Yeah.

00:23:39.186 --> 00:23:42.670
And the other thing which I always thought about the low tunes is they're quite hard to bend, right?

00:23:42.710 --> 00:23:44.111
Those low notes are hard to bend.

00:23:44.151 --> 00:23:50.517
So is that something that you have kind of worked around a little bit or you've just kind of got them, you know, you've set them up so they're better to bend or?

00:23:50.557 --> 00:23:53.618
It's just hours and hours of practice.

00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:54.279
Yeah.

00:23:54.299 --> 00:24:21.297
I had a conversation with a student not long ago about bending really high and bending really low and they're both very difficult, you know, but the lower you go, it seems impossible because you have to go so deep in the back of your airstream and your throat to close off and constrict that airflow to bend the note at some point it just becomes physically impossible but you can build up your chops to get a little lower and lower with your comfort zone but if you don't keep up the chops you kind of lose it

00:24:21.798 --> 00:24:21.938
yeah

00:24:22.117 --> 00:24:29.332
you know you're not playing them and bending them on a regular basis it's going to be difficult So how low do you go on your low tuned harps?

00:24:29.893 --> 00:24:34.876
I don't use them as much once in a while because I play a little less jump blues, especially with the Nick Moss band now.

00:24:34.916 --> 00:24:46.027
But, you know, I mean, I have a, you know, double low Fs that I recorded with and I've bent, you know, on the low B flats and the low A flats on recordings and on the gigs back then quite a bit.

00:24:46.666 --> 00:24:51.050
So then moving on, I think your second album is it, which is the Up All Night album from 2000.

00:24:51.612 --> 00:24:53.313
So this is a Chicago blues album.

00:24:53.333 --> 00:24:56.115
So you've gone, like you say, you studied all the classic blues.

00:24:56.155 --> 00:25:00.365
So then you were keen on getting a chicago blues album on it's a great chicago blues album as well

00:25:12.258 --> 00:25:20.593
Well, you know, part of the reason I did that was because I got so much feedback with my first album.

00:25:20.834 --> 00:25:25.923
I got some good feedback on the first album, but I also got some feedback from players like, oh, you know, he's not playing real blues.

00:25:26.022 --> 00:25:29.008
And I'm like, well, I studied the Chicago stuff actually first.

00:25:29.328 --> 00:25:33.336
So I want to kind of put out something that was more like traditional blues harmonica.

00:25:33.656 --> 00:25:36.321
Of course, I love that style as well so much.

00:25:36.738 --> 00:25:37.499
But it's funny, isn't it?

00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:43.307
Like you say, you did the great jump swing stuff in the first album, but like you said, people almost want to hear what they know, right?

00:25:43.326 --> 00:25:47.211
And they want to hear that kind of traditional sounding Amplified Blues harmonica instead.

00:25:47.271 --> 00:25:47.833
Right.

00:25:48.012 --> 00:25:48.854
Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

00:25:49.193 --> 00:25:51.457
On that first album, I did Overblows.

00:25:51.557 --> 00:26:00.409
I played 12th position, but I think a lot of people just didn't even understand what I was doing or why I was doing it or, you know, just maybe they couldn't relate to it.

00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:00.869
I don't know.

00:26:01.218 --> 00:26:05.064
So that's with a different band then, obviously, than the Jump Time band.

00:26:05.284 --> 00:26:09.329
Yeah, and around that time, I was kind of working and booking both bands.

00:26:09.410 --> 00:26:17.942
I had a band that did more straight-ahead blues, and then I had Jump Time that had piano and sax, and sometimes even no guitar for a little while when I had Jump Time.

00:26:17.962 --> 00:26:20.126
It was piano, sax, harp, bass, drums.

00:26:20.467 --> 00:26:23.811
It was kind of nice to have no guitar in that lineup for a bit.

00:26:25.057 --> 00:26:26.819
Definitely nice to have no guitar sometimes.

00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:27.961
There's enough guitar in the world.

00:26:28.843 --> 00:26:30.644
And then you did another album with Jump Time.

00:26:30.684 --> 00:26:33.288
That's right, which I think more is a more sort of jazz album.

00:26:33.548 --> 00:26:35.991
A little bit more so than the first Jump Time album.

00:26:36.112 --> 00:26:45.202
And I was so tickled to have a good friend of mine who was an influence and just a hero of mine, clarinet player Kenny DeVern on there.

00:26:57.185 --> 00:27:01.872
Just to have that done made it worth it to do that album.

00:27:02.532 --> 00:27:10.284
And a good song on there, Mississippi Sax is on there, which is obviously another name for the harmonica, which you're trading solos with a saxophone on.

00:27:10.304 --> 00:27:10.545
So...

00:27:27.586 --> 00:27:29.048
That's an old 50s tune.

00:27:29.108 --> 00:27:30.852
I think it was Roy Montrell, I believe.

00:27:30.932 --> 00:27:38.527
And it's a mellow saxophone, but I figured it kind of made sense to kind of mix up the lyrics a little bit to make it fit what I was doing with the harp.

00:27:38.988 --> 00:27:40.672
I got a good response from that one.

00:27:40.731 --> 00:27:42.555
It was just a cool tune that I like to play, though.

00:27:42.575 --> 00:27:43.917
It was just a great sounding song.

00:27:44.450 --> 00:27:50.680
And then skipping ahead a little bit, in 2008, you released your tribute to Little Walter album, I Just Keep Loving Him.

00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:54.086
Great, great title after the Little Walter song, I Just Keep Loving Her.

00:27:54.405 --> 00:27:54.727
Thank you.

00:27:55.146 --> 00:27:58.311
So yeah, obviously you were bigly into Little Walter, right, to do this one.

00:27:58.353 --> 00:27:59.595
So what started this off?

00:27:59.634 --> 00:28:01.297
And obviously you got some great players.

00:28:01.317 --> 00:28:05.324
You got Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, Steve Geiger, and Rusty Zinn playing on here with you.

00:28:05.904 --> 00:28:08.249
Yeah, that was kind of like a dream project of mine.

00:28:08.269 --> 00:28:08.930
I had somebody...

00:28:09.281 --> 00:28:11.625
A friend who was kind of willing to go in.

00:28:11.664 --> 00:28:15.851
I had a string of projects kind of ready to go, and this was the first one, obviously.

00:28:15.871 --> 00:28:21.398
And I was kind of baffled that nobody really officially released a tribute album to Little Walter.

00:28:21.679 --> 00:28:31.333
Obviously, not only the most important and influential blues harp player in history, but he was just an influential musician in blues and R&B and even across other genres.

00:28:31.653 --> 00:28:37.141
So nobody really did a tribute since George Smith did one the year that Little Walter passed.

00:28:47.266 --> 00:28:49.048
I think it was called Blues with a Feeling.

00:28:49.068 --> 00:28:53.215
It has since been released on CD with one or two bonus tracks.

00:28:53.596 --> 00:28:55.921
It was George Smith's first full-length album.

00:28:56.301 --> 00:28:59.467
So what did you do then about researching Little Walter?

00:28:59.487 --> 00:29:04.715
Did you particularly work on making sure you were playing like Little Walter?

00:29:04.736 --> 00:29:05.557
How did you approach it?

00:29:05.877 --> 00:29:12.289
Well, I had learned just about every Little Walter instrumental and solo that he recorded.

00:29:12.705 --> 00:29:13.906
I mean, years prior.

00:29:14.287 --> 00:29:18.151
I just had to refresh my memory of some of that stuff.

00:29:18.471 --> 00:29:21.333
When I was learning this stuff, there was no social media or YouTube.

00:29:21.374 --> 00:29:31.061
It's not like people knew that I know this stuff because I wasn't posting videos of myself learning roller coaster and learning juke and learning off the wall and learning this muddy water solo.

00:29:31.422 --> 00:29:33.743
But yeah, I learned all of those things.

00:29:34.265 --> 00:29:44.115
So I just kind of had to get back in that mindset and listen a lot more to it and just kind of refresh my chops and pick the players and pick songs Yeah, exactly.

00:29:44.134 --> 00:29:46.960
I was going to make

00:29:47.741 --> 00:29:48.804
that point.

00:29:48.824 --> 00:29:55.517
You chose songs which were, you know, on the real big hits, you know, you didn't play Duke and Off the Wall, you know, you chose slightly less well-known ones.

00:29:55.758 --> 00:29:55.837
Yeah.

00:29:55.938 --> 00:29:58.520
Yeah, and some very much less known ones.

00:29:58.540 --> 00:30:06.632
As a musician, I appreciate that kind of thing because I love juking off the wall, but do we really need another version of juking off the wall?

00:30:07.393 --> 00:30:07.472
Yeah.

00:30:07.492 --> 00:30:13.260
It's nicer and more interesting to have other stuff because he had such a great recorded output.

00:30:13.361 --> 00:30:19.169
I mean, everything he did was great, so why not dig deeper and pick things that are a little lesser

00:30:19.209 --> 00:30:25.917
known?

00:30:28.001 --> 00:30:28.766
Bye.

00:30:31.394 --> 00:30:38.961
And so some of the other players, obviously you got Kim Wilson on there, a legend of the blues harmonica and, you know, and Rick Hester and Steve Geiger said, so how did you get the other guys?

00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:40.102
Was it easy to get them on board?

00:30:40.162 --> 00:30:42.804
And did you all come together and record in the same location?

00:30:43.223 --> 00:30:46.707
Well, yeah, I did one recording session on the East coast.

00:30:47.167 --> 00:30:48.709
One day was with my jump time band.

00:30:48.749 --> 00:30:54.773
And the other, the other one I think was just without the horn with myself and the band and with Steve Geiger, who's, who's on the East coast.

00:30:54.894 --> 00:31:01.359
And I did a recording session on the West coast at Graceland really before it was Kit Anderson's Graceland studios.

00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:05.805
him and Bob were there, but it wasn't really officially Greaseland at that time.

00:31:05.825 --> 00:31:13.752
And I had Kim and Rick and Rusty there, Marty on drums and Bob, obviously playing piano and guitar and some of that stuff.

00:31:14.013 --> 00:31:14.814
I knew those guys.

00:31:14.834 --> 00:31:20.641
I knew Kim and Rick just from being fans of them for years and doing microphone work for them for years.

00:31:21.300 --> 00:31:24.444
And me and Rusty were longtime buddies by then.

00:31:24.964 --> 00:31:29.009
So yeah, I was kind of friends with all these guys and me and Steve Geiger have been friends forever.

00:31:29.130 --> 00:31:52.847
So it was mostly just people I knew the hardest thing i think was figuring out dates to do it and songs to choose from And I basically let people choose their songs.

00:31:52.928 --> 00:31:56.531
I just told them I didn't want to do the typical little Walter covers.

00:31:57.051 --> 00:32:00.955
Moving on then, so you played with sort of two main outfits following that time.

00:32:00.976 --> 00:32:05.401
So you played with Doug Deming for about nine years, and you released various albums with him.

00:32:05.961 --> 00:32:07.323
Falling Through the Cracks, 2009.

00:32:08.344 --> 00:32:09.825
Rocking All Day is a good album.

00:32:09.865 --> 00:32:13.388
That's with Doug as well, isn't it?

00:32:13.528 --> 00:32:13.989
Yep, yep.

00:32:14.028 --> 00:32:16.491
Nice third position instrumental picked out.

00:32:19.682 --> 00:32:33.944
And then your current band, which you're playing with, is with Nick Moss, as you mentioned.

00:32:33.964 --> 00:32:36.730
So you've been playing with him since 2016, yeah?

00:32:37.026 --> 00:32:37.385
Right.

00:32:37.566 --> 00:32:37.767
Yeah.

00:32:37.886 --> 00:32:45.973
And I've known me and Nick have known each other for a really long time too, but we just never played together officially until then, like 2016, 2017.

00:32:46.814 --> 00:32:50.156
And quickly thereafter, things just kind of started happening.

00:32:50.417 --> 00:32:55.961
We have similar musical visions, at least with the traditional Chicago style blues approach.

00:32:56.442 --> 00:32:59.846
I definitely have more leanings towards the swing and the jump blues thing.

00:33:00.145 --> 00:33:02.748
You know, he does some jump stuff and he's such a great player.

00:33:02.788 --> 00:33:05.871
He can really kind of do all of that stuff without even thinking about it.

00:33:06.250 --> 00:33:10.776
We just really met with a lot of similar turf with a traditional Chicago

00:33:10.976 --> 00:33:13.538
blues kind of thing because we love a lot of that stuff.

00:33:13.838 --> 00:33:16.221
And Nick Moss was the guitar player in the Kim Wilson band.

00:33:16.501 --> 00:33:19.365
Yes, I first met him back then when he was with Kim.

00:33:19.384 --> 00:33:27.933
Sure, at the Spa Harmonica convention I kind of was pushing for them to hire Kim and I first met Nick when he was there backing Kim up, yeah.

00:33:28.255 --> 00:33:32.880
So did you steal Kim Wilson's guitar player,

00:33:32.900 --> 00:33:33.019
Dennis?

00:33:33.039 --> 00:33:34.000
No, I was not.

00:33:34.040 --> 00:34:11.166
I remember from that, and we didn't really know each other back then but me and Nick met not long after when he had released his first album when I was working on my first album and he came to East Coast and I helped him get a few shows and we quickly became friends but I remember at the time there was this big threatening looking guitar player and he was having a problem with his guitar so one of the guitar cables on stage was not working right so I was like this dude's not going to be happy so I went and I just I found an extra guitar cable that I had and I gave it to him while the gig was on because I didn't think that this dude was the kind of guy that you wanted upset That's it.

00:34:11.393 --> 00:34:16.557
So we'd be friends after that, you know, and I'd pass through Chicago and we would do gigs together once in a while.

00:34:16.659 --> 00:34:20.782
But the partnership musically just felt right and just kind of happened when it happened.

00:34:21.161 --> 00:34:21.382
Great.

00:34:21.402 --> 00:34:24.766
And I think you've released three albums with the Nick Moss band, is that it?

00:34:24.826 --> 00:34:25.025
Yes.

00:34:25.306 --> 00:34:27.487
All on the renowned Alligator Records.

00:34:27.547 --> 00:34:29.329
So that's quite a coop to be on with them.

00:34:29.369 --> 00:34:30.811
What's it like being with Alligator Records?

00:34:31.231 --> 00:34:31.451
Well,

00:34:31.490 --> 00:34:39.679
that obviously was a big thing for both of us because Alligator is, you know, the biggest independent blues label anywhere.

00:34:39.898 --> 00:35:09.054
And they've released so many great recordings including the first blues album that i ever heard and bruce does such a great job with what he does and he's been around doing it for a long time and he really knows what he's doing and it's kind of a goal because we both knew bruce and i've been talking to him over the past decades but when we joined forces it felt right he seemed to dig it and it was just it made a lot of sense and he was interested so we were you know super grateful that that worked out and we just put out the third one a couple months ago

00:35:09.346 --> 00:35:10.487
Sure, yeah, we're getting to that one.

00:35:10.507 --> 00:35:14.233
But your first one, The High Cost of Low Living, a good start in 2018.

00:35:14.253 --> 00:35:29.981
And so are you the main singer with the Nick Moss band?

00:35:30.422 --> 00:35:31.382
Nick is, actually.

00:35:31.423 --> 00:35:34.849
Nick is the main singer and main songwriter, although...

00:35:35.362 --> 00:35:40.628
We will collaborate on writing sometimes with particular songs of his.

00:35:41.268 --> 00:35:44.873
I'll have some suggestions or ideas and he will do the same with mine.

00:35:44.893 --> 00:35:51.302
And I usually write to and sing to on each of these albums that I write for myself to sing.

00:35:51.322 --> 00:35:56.387
It's more organic where things will happen in the studio and it takes this direction.

00:35:56.467 --> 00:35:58.010
So then let's go this direction.

00:35:58.338 --> 00:35:58.818
I think, were you

00:35:58.878 --> 00:36:01.603
singing on your first few albums or did that come later?

00:36:01.963 --> 00:36:02.724
That came later.

00:36:02.784 --> 00:36:06.869
I was the first, my most recent one, which is the Ready or Not album.

00:36:07.090 --> 00:36:10.474
The last one that I did under my own name was the first one where I really sang.

00:36:10.514 --> 00:36:13.018
I sang one song on the Rockin' All Day album.

00:36:13.298 --> 00:36:16.603
But Ready or Not, I wrote everything and I sang everything.

00:36:16.724 --> 00:36:19.047
And I just figured it was just time for me to start

00:36:21.731 --> 00:36:22.793
doing

00:36:23.534 --> 00:36:23.614
that.

00:36:25.985 --> 00:36:30.074
because

00:36:30.134 --> 00:36:47.949
i wrote a lot even from my first album but i just was never comfortable singing in front of people and part again it goes back to that introverted nature i'm not really you know not the most comfortable in the spotlight i love making music and performing But it took me a while to kind of talk myself into doing it on the bandstand.

00:36:48.590 --> 00:36:52.563
Yeah, it's a topic I touch on a lot on here about singing, you know, as a harmonica player.

00:36:52.603 --> 00:36:58.782
So did you feel that you needed to do that to be more of a front man or is it, you know, more a case of you just felt ready to sing?

00:36:59.233 --> 00:37:32.925
yeah i just felt like it was time to do it you know i mean for decades people would be telling me to do it you know i was also really writing a lot more i went through a period where i was you know working with doug demming and working with you know other players like dave gross and peter carp on the road and kind of putting my own musical vision on the back burner for a bit when i was on the road with other people and when i started working the latter part of me working with doug on the road i was writing a lot more and that's how that ready or not thing came about and i you know i just they were my songs and i kind of liked them quite a bit and i figured you know well how long am i going to wait to

00:37:32.985 --> 00:37:33.085
do

00:37:33.166 --> 00:37:33.347
this

00:37:35.731 --> 00:37:52.778
and as you mentioned there you've got your latest album out get your back into it which was just uh released this year so uh yeah what about this i mean you know there seems to be a different sound you're getting a little bit you seem to be using more effects on this album maybe is that is that true to say no i mean i don't really use any

00:37:52.838 --> 00:37:53.179
effects

00:37:53.519 --> 00:37:53.619
when

00:37:53.679 --> 00:37:56.403
i record really You know, as far as the harp,

00:37:56.443 --> 00:37:56.543
you

00:37:56.563 --> 00:37:56.724
mean?

00:37:57.184 --> 00:38:00.088
Yeah, I just noticed it's a bit more distorted and sort of hard driving.

00:38:00.128 --> 00:38:01.251
Maybe it's the amps you're using.

00:38:01.490 --> 00:38:02.773
Yeah, it's just the amps.

00:38:14.989 --> 00:38:15.070
Yeah.

00:38:16.737 --> 00:38:23.746
I basically try to do the same thing as, you know, because I deal with equipment too, and I love my mics and amps and all that stuff.

00:38:23.766 --> 00:38:27.972
But when I'm recording, I go straight from my mic into the amp.

00:38:27.992 --> 00:38:28.793
There's no pedals.

00:38:28.914 --> 00:38:31.016
There's no volume control on my microphones.

00:38:31.157 --> 00:38:31.498
Nothing.

00:38:31.657 --> 00:38:33.480
Straight from mic into the amp.

00:38:33.740 --> 00:38:36.483
It's just a matter of amp choice and how it's recorded.

00:38:36.965 --> 00:38:46.577
There were a few more than the usual amount of songs on this latest album where I know Nick preferred the sound of a smaller amp just really cranked up.

00:38:46.818 --> 00:38:58.771
Which I like, but in some cases also a little goes a long way because you do get a less tonal range and texture range with a smaller amp, but definitely is a little more in your face than aggressive.

00:38:59.211 --> 00:39:06.559
And you also do a sort of Mexican song on this, Bones Cantina, which is sort of like a Caracha, sort of is quoted in there.

00:39:06.579 --> 00:39:07.820
It's a bit of Mexican stuff.

00:39:12.045 --> 00:39:12.126
Yeah.

00:39:17.186 --> 00:39:17.534
Thank you.

00:39:20.961 --> 00:39:24.005
Yeah, and that's dedicated to a friend of Nick's.

00:39:24.585 --> 00:39:36.458
Obviously, he wanted me to kind of go a little bit in that Big Walter vein because obviously Big Walter recorded, you know, and played La Cucaracha live as tons of bootlegs of that stuff as well.

00:39:36.498 --> 00:39:38.219
So I felt like I wanted to go into that

00:39:38.440 --> 00:39:39.300
bag a little bit.

00:39:39.782 --> 00:39:41.623
And someone else you've recorded with is Peter Karp.

00:39:41.664 --> 00:39:45.507
You've done a few albums where you're the sort of guest on Monica Play on these albums.

00:39:45.527 --> 00:39:45.728
Yeah.

00:39:47.309 --> 00:39:47.389
Yeah.

00:39:57.889 --> 00:40:03.333
And you mentioned Rod Piazza early on, so I think it helped Rod get back out playing and stuff recently, haven't you?

00:40:03.956 --> 00:40:10.545
I wouldn't say he stopped, but he definitely slowed down his touring thing before the pandemic happened.

00:40:11.065 --> 00:40:14.387
Him and Honey and the band have been doing it for so long.

00:40:14.427 --> 00:40:16.809
I mean, they've been road warriors for decades.

00:40:17.891 --> 00:40:24.496
So she kind of retired and kind of came back out a little bit while during the pandemic we started doing some other shows again when things started picking up again.

00:40:24.516 --> 00:40:31.143
He doesn't really tour that much or do fly-ins much anymore, mainly some bigger shows around the Southern California area.

00:40:31.523 --> 00:40:40.652
I'm more than happy to do it with him, and he knows that because he was a big influence on me when I was younger, and he remembers seeing me all those years ago, you know, just following him around up and down the East Coast.

00:40:41.032 --> 00:40:46.340
We just did a show together a week ago where I sat in with him at the Battle of the Blues Harps in Long Beach.

00:40:46.780 --> 00:40:51.065
And he plays as good now as he did, you know, when I first saw him, you know, 30 years ago.

00:40:51.126 --> 00:40:51.567
It's crazy.

00:40:52.047 --> 00:40:52.648
Oh, fantastic.

00:40:52.668 --> 00:40:53.088
Well, great.

00:40:53.248 --> 00:40:55.070
Well, it must be such an honor to play with you.

00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:57.054
I'm a big fan.

00:41:08.833 --> 00:41:10.554
So yeah, so that's your recording career.

00:41:10.576 --> 00:41:12.677
So we'll get on to some of the many other things that you do.

00:41:12.797 --> 00:41:14.798
So you've got lots of content.

00:41:14.918 --> 00:41:18.202
You've got a very active YouTube channel where you're getting lots of things out.

00:41:18.222 --> 00:41:21.105
You're kind of like Microphone Mondays and Tuesdays.

00:41:21.184 --> 00:41:26.148
So you've got a very active YouTube channel and social media and keeping your business promoted and everything.

00:41:26.509 --> 00:41:27.190
I try to.

00:41:27.210 --> 00:41:51.719
I juggle all these things basically by myself, whether it's booking my traveling and taking care of keeping up with the band and the dates on the road with fixing the microphone and amplifiers and doing my social media posts and videos and photos and all that stuff so i juggle you know any given day i'll juggle all these different things for 12 hours and i'll find time to eat and sleep at some point

00:41:53.320 --> 00:42:01.331
it's a job in itself doing all that stuff but you're doing a great job you've got a good presence and uh yeah you also you've just returned from um playing on a blues cruise haven't you

00:42:01.813 --> 00:42:06.603
yes and i must say it was it was probably my favorite the favorite of mine that I've done.

00:42:06.643 --> 00:42:09.369
I've done a number of blues cruises now, definitely my favorite.

00:42:09.849 --> 00:42:21.871
Aside from being with the band and being able to perform on there and Rick Estrin and being there and everything, who's an old time pal of mine, there was a lot of great younger artists on there who were really good.

00:42:22.012 --> 00:42:26.501
And it was just so great to see that and be around that and to play with some of them and just hear them.

00:42:26.561 --> 00:42:27.202
It was really cool.

00:42:27.938 --> 00:42:33.003
And when you mentioned teaching, so you do do teaching, you know, it's available on your website.

00:42:33.043 --> 00:42:37.668
You've got slots to book up, although you're looking quite busy on your teaching schedule on your website.

00:42:37.708 --> 00:42:39.871
So you're still available for teaching, are you?

00:42:40.211 --> 00:42:45.157
These days, I'm not so much available for private one-on-one lessons.

00:42:45.338 --> 00:42:50.824
I've been doing them, you know, for so long, and especially during the pandemic, I was doing them all the time.

00:42:51.264 --> 00:42:59.023
You know, I did almost 100 webinars now, and what I've been doing now is I have just membership content on my website.

00:42:59.063 --> 00:43:02.427
And each month I load up different content.

00:43:02.527 --> 00:43:06.369
And it's not just kind of random, you know, here's a webinar of this and here's a track of this.

00:43:06.971 --> 00:43:11.894
It's curated and I do it with purpose, focusing on the different types of practice.

00:43:12.255 --> 00:43:19.722
You know, like if you want to get better at harmonica or really anything for that matter, you don't want to just practice one way and one aspect of it.

00:43:19.862 --> 00:43:23.425
You know, I present webinars and video lessons for the students.

00:43:23.644 --> 00:43:25.407
I have jam tracks to jam along with.

00:43:25.907 --> 00:43:32.173
I have performance videos to watch and I also have playlists and my old radio show to listen to.

00:43:32.353 --> 00:43:35.501
You got to balance these things when you're listening and when you're learning.

00:43:35.521 --> 00:43:42.740
It's so important to do these different types of focused practice when you're learning this stuff and it helps you so much.

00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:43.983
So basically, I've been...

00:43:44.865 --> 00:43:54.065
building different membership content each month and throwing it out there for my students, which really cost them way less than taking private lessons with me.

00:43:54.244 --> 00:43:59.414
And you get all month to study materials that, you know, you wouldn't be able to get in one hour with me anyway.

00:43:59.896 --> 00:44:00.418
Exactly that.

00:44:00.617 --> 00:44:02.300
And as you say, you cover lots of topics.

00:44:02.541 --> 00:44:05.922
It's very much based on sort of tuition and how to play.

00:44:05.983 --> 00:44:06.563
Yeah.

00:44:06.724 --> 00:44:08.025
And the webinars are all different.

00:44:08.045 --> 00:44:22.818
You know, I've done webinars, you know, more than half of them are with a featured guest, you know, whether it's Rob Piazza or Kim Wilson or Rick Estrin or Joe Felisco, or, you know, we'll go through their playing, their advice, their career, things that they've learned along the way.

00:44:22.978 --> 00:44:37.914
And I've done also a lot of insightful, more educational webinars on techniques or how to practice better or blues scale stuff or diving into like little Walter style or James cotton style and jump blues versus Chicago blues.

00:44:38.275 --> 00:44:41.483
So there's a wide variety of different things to focus on.

00:44:41.523 --> 00:44:46.153
And I keep it to just a few specific things each month so you don't get overloaded.

00:44:46.657 --> 00:44:47.659
Again, the link will be on there.

00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:52.083
You can find it on your website and everything for the webinars that you've got available.

00:44:52.163 --> 00:44:53.164
So that's great stuff.

00:44:53.224 --> 00:44:55.945
So you mentioned you had a radio show.

00:44:56.065 --> 00:44:58.108
This was in the New York area, wasn't it?

00:44:58.188 --> 00:44:59.829
So what sort of radio show was that?

00:45:00.289 --> 00:45:04.313
Yeah, so for close to 15 years, I had a blues radio show.

00:45:04.472 --> 00:45:06.835
And it was in Teaneck, New Jersey and WFDU.

00:45:07.235 --> 00:45:09.637
It was the New York City metro area radio.

00:45:10.338 --> 00:45:18.250
Mainly, it was a blues show, but I played everything from some late 30s, early 40s jump blues and blues.

00:45:18.657 --> 00:45:25.244
based jazz stuff to 50s and 60s blues and R&B vocal group stuff.

00:45:25.264 --> 00:45:30.969
A lot of Chicago blues, a lot of jump blues, but I kind of just played basically records from my collection.

00:45:32.690 --> 00:45:39.436
I did promote newer stuff that came out from artists who were on the scene and touring, of course, you know, because you got to do that too.

00:45:39.456 --> 00:45:48.344
I think one of the reasons why I got such a big fan base when I was doing that radio show was I was just playing not the normal stuff because I have a huge record collection and I would just...

00:45:48.623 --> 00:46:01.878
a you know anything from really 40s jump blues that nobody heard of to you know a 60s kind of jazz organ trio that may have inspired you know somebody to Rick Estrin or somebody to play this record and you know all kinds of stuff like that

00:46:02.318 --> 00:46:19.157
again showing the importance right of that wide listening that you've that you've done yeah I'm talking about awards you've won various awards on harmonica you've won the spa harmonica player of the year in 2019 and also same year the blues music award for best instrumentalist harmonica so yeah you got some some awards there for your harmonic playing.

00:46:19.177 --> 00:46:19.737
Well done for that.

00:46:19.998 --> 00:46:20.358
Thank you.

00:46:20.458 --> 00:46:20.639
Thank

00:46:20.918 --> 00:46:20.978
you.

00:46:20.998 --> 00:46:23.661
The question I ask each time, Dennis, is a 10-minute question.

00:46:23.702 --> 00:46:30.271
You've already sort of answered this a little bit earlier on with advice on the chromatic playing, but if you had 10 minutes to practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

00:46:30.670 --> 00:46:38.922
If I had 10 minutes to practice, I would probably spend five minutes listening and five minutes playing.

00:46:39.233 --> 00:46:47.989
You know, whether trying to improvise or just kind of trying to duplicate something new if I was learning something new.

00:46:48.429 --> 00:46:54.521
And when I go through this with students, I tell people, you got five or 15 minutes a day or you have three hours a day.

00:46:54.581 --> 00:46:57.246
Either way, you can still learn a lot and progress a lot.

00:46:57.306 --> 00:46:59.230
It's all about how and what you practice.

00:46:59.585 --> 00:47:04.554
And the most important thing is you practice what is level appropriate for you.

00:47:04.574 --> 00:47:16.251
That sometimes is hard for players and or students to figure out what do I want to do that's within my grasp, maybe not too far ahead of me, but not something that I already know where I'm not learning at all.

00:47:16.552 --> 00:47:19.476
And that I think is the key that helps people learn so much.

00:47:19.536 --> 00:47:21.572
And I've always tried to Keep that too.

00:47:21.632 --> 00:47:26.666
I always have my sights a little bit ahead of where I am with what I'm learning and practicing.

00:47:26.706 --> 00:47:29.333
So I'm just reaching, you know, a few steps ahead.

00:47:29.353 --> 00:47:30.757
That's the most important thing, really.

00:47:31.074 --> 00:47:33.155
So we'll get into the last section now and talk about gear.

00:47:33.275 --> 00:47:36.800
So, well, so Dennis, you probably have the best gear in the world, right?

00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:39.222
So this is going to be an interesting conversation with you.

00:47:39.322 --> 00:47:44.489
So you've got, you sell mics and amps very famously around the world.

00:47:44.548 --> 00:47:49.554
And I bought one of your microphones and a fine microphone it is too.

00:47:49.673 --> 00:47:52.077
So the first question is, where do you get all this stuff?

00:47:53.938 --> 00:47:55.400
I've heard that question a few times.

00:47:57.041 --> 00:48:04.458
I'll tell the story and it's not that long, but when I first started playing, You know, I was kind of hurt about all these ecstatic mics and crystal mics and everything.

00:48:04.980 --> 00:48:12.010
I'd saved some money and I bought one from a local player and it was utter garbage, for lack of a better term.

00:48:12.050 --> 00:48:18.780
And I was so upset because, you know, I spent more money on it than I had and than I should have.

00:48:19.422 --> 00:48:21.824
And it really did not work well at all.

00:48:22.306 --> 00:48:29.710
So since I was, you know, I'd recently dropped out of high school, I was like, I'm just going to find my own microphones, you know, forget this guy.

00:48:29.791 --> 00:48:31.657
And, you know, I'm not going to buy any more mics from people.

00:48:31.969 --> 00:48:38.615
But the very first flea market I went to, I found an Aesthetic JT30 on one of the first tables I stopped at for$5.

00:48:38.775 --> 00:48:43.800
And I was like, man, you know, of course it never happened again like that.

00:48:44.440 --> 00:48:48.123
But I took that as a sign that I, you know, I need to kind of look into this.

00:48:48.244 --> 00:48:54.409
And I eventually found some microphones that worked and started repairing them and working on them for myself, basically.

00:48:54.489 --> 00:49:01.936
And then when other players heard I was doing that, I would get asked to do repairs and then I would, you know, start finding more and come back.

00:49:01.936 --> 00:49:06.902
collecting them and building them for other local players that I knew or friends of mine who played.

00:49:06.943 --> 00:49:09.686
This is kind of before eBay was a big thing, really.

00:49:09.726 --> 00:49:12.570
As the years were going by, I was like, ah, this one's really cool.

00:49:12.610 --> 00:49:16.795
I'm going to hold on to that one because that's got a different model number or this one has a different element.

00:49:16.835 --> 00:49:17.878
I'll just put that one aside.

00:49:18.458 --> 00:49:20.862
It turned into this crazy obsession.

00:49:21.217 --> 00:49:27.507
that I have now, and in no small part, because I just am fascinated with the amplified harp sound.

00:49:27.668 --> 00:49:32.797
You know, when I first heard Sad Hours, still my favorite Little Walter song and still the first one I learned.

00:49:44.481 --> 00:49:52.581
Just fascinated with the sounds and the tones and the textures that you can get amplified, which is why I still love collecting and playing through this gear.

00:49:53.378 --> 00:49:54.099
Yeah, absolutely.

00:49:54.139 --> 00:49:57.121
Well, it's great to go to someone who's so knowledgeable about it to buy it.

00:49:57.161 --> 00:49:58.782
So definitely recommended.

00:49:59.043 --> 00:50:05.708
But on the last podcast interview, we talked about the green bullet and interviewed Michael from Shure.

00:50:05.748 --> 00:50:06.909
And we also had James Waldron on.

00:50:07.130 --> 00:50:09.271
And we talked about crystals on there.

00:50:09.291 --> 00:50:16.438
And so I just give you the chance to sort of represent your view here because James wasn't so enamored by crystals.

00:50:16.478 --> 00:50:19.981
He thought, you know, a lot of them didn't last and, you know, they weren't very durable and things.

00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:22.762
But he did mention you and say, obviously, you sell a lot of crystals.

00:50:22.804 --> 00:50:28.855
So, you know what would you say about crystals in their defense and obviously they get great bright clear crystal tone yes

00:50:29.255 --> 00:50:48.750
I'll say a couple things in their defense one I've been performing now over 30 years I have never had a crystal microphone go bad on me and all my and that's including touring I tour worldwide only with crystal microphones and I take them with me I have not had one go bad on me as I'm traveling or performing on the road.

00:50:49.110 --> 00:50:57.300
Another thing to keep in mind is I also work with a lot of pro players, and I would say 90% to 95% of those players ask for crystals.

00:50:57.840 --> 00:51:10.713
And the only other thing I will say, which is a personal thing for me, but I've noticed just from going through so much equipment and so many microphones for all these years, is crystals and ceramics, to a certain point, their impedance is almost like infinity.

00:51:10.813 --> 00:51:14.077
So they have higher highs and lower lows.

00:51:14.561 --> 00:51:16.447
than other types of elements.

00:51:16.547 --> 00:51:20.878
You know, when we talk in harp, you're talking about like the green bullet, the CMs and the CRs and all that stuff.

00:51:21.179 --> 00:51:24.788
But a good crystal will have higher highs and lower lows than that.

00:51:24.989 --> 00:51:28.498
And a little more what I refer to as dimension and texture.

00:51:28.865 --> 00:51:42.597
It's almost more 3D compared to a CM, like a green bullet type of element, which are great, and those green bullets are very durable, but there's something different that you get with a crystal that you just do not get with a magnetic type of element.

00:51:42.978 --> 00:51:45.219
Yeah, and you do sell CMs and CIs as well, right?

00:51:45.300 --> 00:51:49.483
I do, sure, and it's not like I don't like them, but they're like my second favorite.

00:51:50.925 --> 00:51:56.889
So the mic I bought off you was a crystal, and I bought it specifically because I wanted a crystal that I knew would work, right?

00:51:56.929 --> 00:52:11.900
So I bought it from you, and it's lasted and i've had it for a few years now and it's still sounding great and doesn't seem to have lost anything but i mean are you using the sort of new old stock crystal or do you try and find the old crystals or you know what do you normally use and sell i all vintage

00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:41.090
stuff and there have been really no good crystal elements for the purposes of our of a good bullet harmonica mic made for several decades so they're all either going to be vintage and used or vintage new old stock most of the american ones are the ones that are usually the most robust sounding and the ones you can find the most of but you know a lot of times you find them they haven't worked not because they just always fail but because they are more fragile and a lot of times They weren't used by harp players taking care of them.

00:52:41.130 --> 00:52:52.293
They were just used as a PA mic in the grocery store in 1947, or they were used as a ham radio mic for years, and it was just sitting in the sun in this guy's shack for years.

00:52:52.713 --> 00:52:57.824
So a lot of them, they are more fragile, but if you take care of them, they can last decades and decades.

00:52:57.923 --> 00:53:00.929
I still have some here from the 40s and 50s that sound amazing.

00:53:01.090 --> 00:53:16.911
oh definitely i say i love mine so yeah so great so that's something my extent so we'll move on just talk about your other gears so you're uh you're definitely a honer player and in fact you've got your picture on the crossover box so uh you're an endorser for honer and uh you play the thunderbirds and the and the the honer chromatics as well yeah

00:53:17.072 --> 00:53:30.306
for sure yeah and and that me getting on the box was kind of a surprise to me and i was working and i still do work behind the scenes with honer because i love their harps i didn't you know, endorse them because I wanted to get some kind of deal or anything.

00:53:30.567 --> 00:53:32.568
Basically from day one, I started playing them.

00:53:32.608 --> 00:53:36.974
I experimented when I was younger and I still get other harps given to me from time to time.

00:53:37.034 --> 00:53:49.869
And I never really play anything or I'm happy with anything aside from the honer, especially in the Marine band style, whether it's the classic Marine band, which I still play some of those out of the box or the Marine band deluxe, or especially the crossovers and the Thunderbirds.

00:53:50.250 --> 00:53:53.253
To me, nothing sounds and plays and feels like them.

00:53:53.601 --> 00:53:53.822
Yeah.

00:53:53.842 --> 00:53:53.922
And

00:53:53.942 --> 00:53:55.664
do you have them customized or do them yourself?

00:53:56.003 --> 00:53:59.427
Lately, most of them I play straight out of the box.

00:53:59.786 --> 00:54:04.952
For a long time, I had, was playing them customized from Joe Felisco and Richard Slay.

00:54:05.092 --> 00:54:08.074
And I still have a lot of those custom harps that they do upkeep.

00:54:08.275 --> 00:54:14.679
And, you know, I mean, some of these are even from like the late nineties, early two thousands, and they still just kind of upkeep them.

00:54:15.001 --> 00:54:16.842
When I get new ones, I play them straight out of the box.

00:54:17.061 --> 00:54:18.384
They're so much better these days, aren't they?

00:54:18.403 --> 00:54:19.804
The quality is great nowadays.

00:54:19.985 --> 00:54:20.304
Really?

00:54:20.344 --> 00:54:22.847
So you mentioned overblows earlier and you say you're playing overblows.

00:54:22.887 --> 00:54:25.132
So, you know, what, What extent do you use overblows?

00:54:25.152 --> 00:54:28.018
Is it the odd notes or are you quite extensive with them?

00:54:28.418 --> 00:54:28.639
Well,

00:54:29.061 --> 00:54:31.425
to what extent do you use a bent note?

00:54:31.947 --> 00:54:36.137
For me, my answer would be I use it when I want to use that note.

00:54:36.418 --> 00:54:41.204
And that's going to just depend on the musical setting and the context that I'm playing in.

00:54:41.284 --> 00:54:45.030
If I'm playing straight ahead Chicago blues, I'm not going to use much of them really.

00:54:45.391 --> 00:54:49.577
You know, I may use the six overblow and some people may not notice, but they'll hear a bluesy note.

00:54:49.838 --> 00:55:05.320
But if I'm playing more jump swing kind of stuff, I'll use more of them because stylistically I'm going to want more, a few of those quote unquote missing notes to do some more intricate lines or lines using some of these chromatic, you know, notes that are missing in the, in the scale.

00:55:05.581 --> 00:55:05.661
Yeah.

00:55:05.793 --> 00:55:09.898
So my approach and my philosophy is to play musically.

00:55:09.938 --> 00:55:11.478
I can do tongue trills.

00:55:11.539 --> 00:55:20.306
I can basically do all these tongue blocking techniques, but some gigs may go by and you don't hear one or two techniques at all because it's just not fitting for the style or the song.

00:55:20.567 --> 00:55:22.929
I view bends and overbends the same way.

00:55:23.028 --> 00:55:27.612
I mean, there would be no reason that I see to use them unless you want that note that's missing.

00:55:27.972 --> 00:55:32.577
So amplifiers is another thing that you sell a lot of and you sell some beautiful looking amplifiers.

00:55:32.737 --> 00:55:40.045
But I mean, I was reading it saying that your preferred amp is the Harp King, which is the amp that Rob Piazza uses, and this was kind of designed for him.

00:55:40.065 --> 00:55:44.588
So is that your favorite amp, or you've got so many amps, you just kind of choose one of the many that you have?

00:55:44.909 --> 00:55:45.990
Well, that's my favorite amp

00:55:46.030 --> 00:55:55.260
to tour with, because it's the most versatile amp and the most reliable amp I feel on the road to use in a variety of different settings.

00:55:55.420 --> 00:56:04.610
So I can play a huge festival and even a small club with a Harp King, get the sound I want, get the tone I want, and have it respond the way I want.

00:56:05.090 --> 00:56:08.914
And it really, really really, there's no other amp that I've played where you can do that.

00:56:09.275 --> 00:56:12.639
I mean, there are other devices and pedals you can use to help other amps.

00:56:12.699 --> 00:56:19.266
I, you know, I have a basement reissue that I really love a lot, you know, but I only use it in certain rooms that I know it's going to work the best in.

00:56:19.527 --> 00:56:23.710
And as far as vintage amps, I mean, I absolutely love the sound of the vintage amps.

00:56:23.771 --> 00:56:31.760
And when I record, I only use vintage amps, but a lot of them aren't quite loud enough, especially on a bigger club or a bigger stage to use.

00:56:31.840 --> 00:56:41.373
So I don't, you know, and I don't tour with them and throw them in the back of the van, obviously, But I record strictly with a lot of the vintage amps, especially the small, medium-sized amps.

00:56:41.730 --> 00:56:50.378
amps you know i mean i love especially you know some of the gibsons and the premieres from the 50s or some of my favorites but you know on a gig it's just not going to cut it

00:56:50.538 --> 00:57:21.851
it's great so you also have you know with all the gear that you sell you know tremendous business you've got there you you've got your website which is badass harmonicas right so that's where everyone can go and find your mics and amps and all the other wonderful you sell cables like megami cables that are sort of specially set up for the harmonica mics and you sell all sorts of merchandise t-shirts jam tracks and rings and things it rings with harmonica it's quite fancy one of those actually and um yeah so you've got great stuff is that your main website now the badass one or your dennis grunling one or you know you sort of go in between the two still

00:57:22.010 --> 00:57:41.581
i'd say yeah i mean the badass harmonica.com is the main one i do have dennisgruling.com it's just kind of a gives a little history on me and all that kind of stuff but i mainly keep up with the badass harmonica one on a regular basis just because when i'm not on the road you know um fixing gear and selling gear and updating my webinars and all that stuff.

00:57:41.760 --> 00:57:44.005
So there's a lot more there for sure.

00:57:44.266 --> 00:57:48.012
And you also got, there's also a bands in town site that you've got where you could, people can see all your gigs.

00:57:48.032 --> 00:57:50.576
You've got plenty of gigs coming up in December, so people can check you out.

00:57:50.596 --> 00:57:52.059
Whereabouts are you playing in December?

00:57:52.498 --> 00:57:52.719
Yeah.

00:57:52.739 --> 00:57:54.302
In a few days, we're going back East.

00:57:54.342 --> 00:57:56.186
So we're playing in Wheeling, West Virginia.

00:57:56.246 --> 00:57:58.248
We're playing in Delaware.

00:57:58.309 --> 00:58:09.222
We're playing Asbury Park, New Jersey, up in New York state near Rochester and Syracuse and you know, outside the Boston area and then, then Pyrmont, New York at the turning point.

00:58:09.302 --> 00:58:14.375
So a lot of kind of my old hangs and other places up in upstate New York for this run.

00:58:14.456 --> 00:58:20.108
So it'll be a little colder than I would be at home, but it'd be good to see a lot of old friends and a lot of the clubs that I love out there.

00:58:20.911 --> 00:58:21.391
Definitely.

00:58:21.411 --> 00:58:21.552
Yeah.

00:58:21.612 --> 00:58:24.333
So, uh, people should definitely go and check you out playing.

00:58:24.353 --> 00:58:28.320
And of course, if they want any gear, you've got a tremendous selection on your website.

00:58:28.340 --> 00:58:32.367
So people can go and check that out and get themselves a nice Christmas present as well, maybe.

00:58:32.407 --> 00:58:34.851
So you could probably even deliver it out East, right?

00:58:35.932 --> 00:58:37.775
I have that out before, yes.

00:58:38.637 --> 00:58:38.777
Yeah.

00:58:39.478 --> 00:58:41.782
So it's been great to speak to you today, Dennis.

00:58:41.802 --> 00:58:43.945
So thanks so much for joining me, Dennis Grinling.

00:58:44.206 --> 00:58:45.608
Thank you so much for having me, Neil.

00:58:45.648 --> 00:58:46.429
Really appreciate it.

00:58:47.458 --> 00:58:50.181
Once again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast.

00:58:50.460 --> 00:59:00.333
Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zydle Harmonicas.

00:59:01.054 --> 00:59:02.454
Thanks to Dennis for joining me today.

00:59:02.474 --> 00:59:14.909
A tremendous player, and if you want some of the coolest harmonica gear available, then his badass harmonica website is hard to beat, as well as his great webinars where he deep dives into a wide range of playing techniques and all things harmonica.

00:59:15.393 --> 00:59:19.458
You can also tip Dennis to help support his obsessive devotion to the harmonica.

00:59:19.940 --> 00:59:21.382
The link is on the podcast page.

00:59:21.902 --> 00:59:23.284
Thanks to you all for listening again.

00:59:23.324 --> 00:59:28.650
Episode 100 is up next, and we'll be out in time for Christmas, so be sure to check that one out.

00:59:29.452 --> 00:59:33.918
I'll leave you now with Dennis playing with the Nick Moss Band, cutting the monkey's tail.

00:59:40.365 --> 00:59:40.445
Yeah!