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My name is Nori Guthrie from the Woodson Research Center Fond Library at Rice University. I am interviewing Kenneth Bell, A K A little Joe Bell. Today is Thursday, August 22nd, 2019. Let's start with your father. Can you tell me about his early life? Well, you know,

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my father, um, it was ambitious about playing music when he was a little boy and they started out playing accordion, uh, with, uh, my grand with his father and, um, some, somehow he picked up a guitar. I don't know where he got it from yet. I

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never found that out, but he picked up a guitar and he, he, uh, fell in love with it and he began to play it and people like, well, man, this guy sounds pretty good on the guitar. And, uh, the way he got out, people started, uh,

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wanting him to, uh, come sit in and play in their band and, uh, finally he was able to, uh, get some, uh, what gigs if you will. And, uh, that led to him having some, um, oh, big guy, big name guys called him. Like, uh, like

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he told me, he said that he played, he auditioned for Little Little Richard. Uh I know that he and Greater Gaines saxophone player and now a saxophone player play together. And uh also kind of grew up in the same neighborhood. And uh last but not least

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what made him almost famous was the fact that he got a chance to play in the band with T Bone Walker and most people, especially the ones who are blues musicians, they are familiar with T Bone Walker. Can you tell me a little bit more about

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T Bone Walker? You know what he, like I said, T Bone Walker kind of, uh, heard my dad play and, and thought, look, look, this, this guy can play this guitar pretty good. So he would, uh, go out and sit in with him at, at first

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and he got better and better. And so T Bone Walker hired him as his, uh, second guitar player and you're in the title of Little T Bone Walker. And, um, for after a while, he felt like there wasn't enough money in the music business. So we

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got out of the business and went to work full time and, uh, from my understanding to take care of us, six kids and my mother and, uh, at that time, shortly after that these guys that he played with careers took off and unfortunately, it left them

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behind. And so they, they, they didn't, you know, he didn't get the attention and recognition I thought that he should have gotten. So, where was your father born? He was born in a little town called, um, Graywood, Texas. Um, some people may not know about it.

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Some might. It's just right outside of Crosby, Texas. Uh, Liberty Ames D and all those towns are within five miles apart. Something, something to that, to that effect. What did, um, what did his parents, uh, do for a living? Well, my grandmother, his, his mother and,

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and, and his dad, I think they, uh, work on farm. And, uh, my, my, uh, grandmother was a housekeeper and my grandpa was, I understand he was a farmer. When did, when did they re did the whole family relocate to Houston or did your dad just

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move to Houston later on? I said, did the whole family move to Houston or did your, did your, did your dad, my dad and my mom, they just felt like, you know, it wasn't enough, wasn't enough to do in Rawood Texas for them. And so they

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moved to Houston, which is where I was born about when did they move to Houston? Uh, they moved to Houston before and the kids were born. So I'm gonna say my brother was born in 1951. So they might have moved to Houston in four in 48

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49 1948 49. Where did they move to in the city? They moved to, uh, cash. A lot of people call it Fifth War and, uh, Garden. We saw pretty much Jenson Drive. How much? Pretty much the same, which is, in my opinion, was not the best

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place in the neighborhood and in the world, I mean, in Houston to move to, but it was, um, so they just, so I can understand his life a little bit better. So, was it after he moved to Houston that he started his music or was that

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about the time he kind of started to drift away from music? Yeah. No, he, he, uh, started the music in the little town called, oo. He had gotten kind of into the, uh, music. Um, well, before they moved to Houston and, uh, when he moved to

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Houston he, uh, we got pretty good at it and he would go to work and, uh, leave work and go to the gigs. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He, he, he leaves, he had, they had a place downtown where he worked in one of those buildings downtown

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back in the, in the fifties. They had a shower in the, in the, in the building and he could take a shower and bring a set of clothes and go and go to the gig later on that evening. So, um, what kind of jobs did he

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have when he, um, when he was doing both music and working? I'm sorry, you said, what kind of jobs did he have? So, you said he was working? Downtown. So, what kind of, what job was he working at? Downtown? He was working at, um, Patty Royal

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Better for oil. Uh, if I'm not mistaken, it still, it still exists. Today is 2019. It still, it still exists. And, uh, he was the, uh, he was the janitor and, you know, is, uh, it was well known for fashion, women, fashion clothes and they sold

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men clothes. But he was getting my, my sisters their school clothes from his jobs. He was the janitor there. Ok. Ok. All right. So he would, so we would go into Royal. He bring his, I assume he bring his nice clothes with him and his work,

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go to work in his work clothes and bring his dress clothes to work and change clothes and, and work and go to the gig from work. Um, what were some of the places where he played? You know, he played at places like, you know, you have

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to be close to 72. Remember some of these places he played at a place called the, um, the, um, Whispering Pine Club. Lisa, El Dorado, uh, matinee to name a few. And that's the only ones I can think of. Did you ever go into any of

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those clubs? And I go, yeah, I, matter of fact, I was, uh, you know, I had the same ambitions, he had ambition he had when I was a kid I was like, you know, I, I like the music, you know, and, uh, they would take me

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to the shows with them and they would call me little Jo Bell as well. And I would, uh, play a little guitar and a little, and a little bass and from that point, they would play some Giant Brown and I, I had to be about 11

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years old. I would do the Giant Brown on the, on the, on the floor and people would throw a lot of change on the floor. And so I made a little money for, well, the gig, the gig was only paying like $6 a night. My dad

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was making $6. They had a cigar box that you put 35 cents in the cigar box. And I used to wonder, how do you know, you put 35 cents in the box because they didn't really look at the money. They just 35 cents. You drop it

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in a little slide in the cigar box. And I was making 10 $12 during the Jane Brown because the people would throw money on the stage on, on the floor. The floor was kind of shiny and slippery and I would slide and do things on the,

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uh, on the dance floor. And, uh, that's, that's, that was my take when, when I was a little, when I was a little kid with, with the, with the guys in the band. Did you enjoy doing that or did you, it has, it had a positive

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effect. I'm like, man, these people, these people are clapping and, and, and, and excited about what I'm doing and you know, like I'm just trying to make lunch money. Ok. Yeah, that's really cute. So you um so you started to go in there around 11 and

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you would do that? Did you go to him to his gigs when you were younger than that or did you, did you go with him to gigs when you were younger? Like younger than 11? Yeah. But he, he, he would take me if it wasn't, if

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it wasn't school day most of the time. But it is on the holiday, uh, during the, uh, the, uh, spring break, uh, during the weekend. But if it was on school, they know, I didn't know I had to be sleep by eight o'clock for school the

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next day. And then, um, when did you start to want to play the guitar? Well, you know, I played guitar and, uh, I kind of didn't like it. I wanted to do some other things for, for a while and my early twenties and probably late twenties

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and early thirties. I played the guitar and, uh, from what I could tell guys wasn't doing too well financially. So I got into the insurance business and did pretty good selling insurance when I got into the, when I got serious with the music business is when

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my dad be start, start to become ill and couldn't play. And I'm like, well, somebody's got to pick up the torch if he can't play. And so I feel like I need to try to get him to go ahead and, uh, teach me this stuff because,

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you know, we know we never know when we're, we're gonna, we're gonna leave here. So, by him being getting ill, I'm like, man, if something happened to my dad and I don't want none of, none of the kids don't have his music. I'll be ashamed. So,

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uh I picked up the guitar and uh, probably unlike a lot of other musicians, I had the, I had the, um, the uh luxury if you will of getting someone to teach me who had something to do with the, with, with, with, with the start of

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this, this blues thing. My dad was playing blues back when it all, when it was in its early stages. So I got that. And, uh, also I feel like, well, you know, I need to, uh, continued in this family tradition. And so I played the guitar

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and so they would call and they would ask for my dad. He said, no, I can't play. My hands are, my hands are not working like they used to. And so they would ask for Joe Bell. And uh he would say I was able to send

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my son and he could play a little bit, just show him what you need him to do and he, and he, he, he'll do it. So they start calling and say, you know what Joe Bell don't play, speaking to my dad, but he signed to a

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place. And so they used to call and ask rather Nixon for me by my name which is Kenneth. They asked for is little Jo Bell there. I tell him we got, we, we got a gig tonight. We, we like for him to do this gig with

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us tonight. And so I would go do gigs like that. How old were you when you started to, to do that? To kind of learn his craft? Well, you know, when I really got serious with music, to be honest with you professionally was probably, I was

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probably about 30 31 32. And that's when I really got serious, but I could play a little bit but just getting sitting down and practicing day and night, day and night and having your next next door neighbor, knock on your door and say, hey, listen, you,

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you, you, you in my sleep, turn that music down, practice and practicing, practicing because I knew if I was gonna get this music, I had to put a lot of time into it because they did it back in the days. I don't know why they do

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it today. But back then those guys, lot of practice, practice, practice, practice. Can you show me something that, that your father taught you how to do. Yeah, woman, you must be crazy. You don't know what you wanna do, woman.

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You must be crazy. So you talked about your father getting hurt? Did he have like arthritis in his hands or did he get injured on the job that, you know, when you use your hands for a manual label, it

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has a tendency to destroy your fingers and you know, you can't, you can't quite get move the, the, the friction, the movement that you want out of your hands. So you lose the ability to play as well as you used to. Did you in a sense,

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you sold insurance. So you never really had that experience as your dad did. You didn't have to worry about your hands. No, no, no. I try to stay away from the jobs that, that would destroy your fingers. Ok. All right. So, can you tell me, you

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told me a little bit about your early life? So you were born in Houston? He said, and then you would go around with your dad and did the insurance. So, um, let's see, what were some of the first, um, places that you played? You know, I

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played at, uh, a lot of places around town that were just, uh, fly by night here today and gone tomorrow and, you know, a lot of the names, you know, um, um, and you know, that's where you get your experience from. You don't make a lot

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of money. You play, play these club, you play these clubs that's not real, really, not into the live entertainment, but they give you a gig because they want to try it, see how it works. And, uh, they've tried other things and nothing works. So they close

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up. I've played a lot of those but you have to do, that's what they call it in the music business, paying your dues, You have to do that to get to the, to the places where the other guys playing that, that's, that's doing a lot better.

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Do you? And it doesn't, do you remember any of the names of those places? Because anything that you remember is stuff that we uh and uh club Morocco, which is a lot of, from where I live, I played at a place called B and Bs on,

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uh on, uh on street. I played at a couple of places on, I, I don't recall the name of them and uh uh he's played a lot of, um, uh the places in the backyard and, but I, but I did play at a church called Metropolitan

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for about 10 years. You played that for about 10 years? Well, how was that a different ex, it was that a different experience than playing in a club? You know, during that time, I had developed a skill of being able to play a song that you

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don't, you, you, you've never played before but you can play it because of your connection to other songs that's familiar. And the people that I was playing with was, uh, playing songs out of a music book. They could read the music. So they would tell each

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other, uh, the, the, the, um, the keyboard player would tell the organist go to play such and such. They wouldn't tell me because I couldn't read the, the, the music of the book, but I could play it by ear. So they, they left, they left me,

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uh, uh when the song started to play according to what I hear. And I did pretty good at that. Yeah, a lot of the songs that I play a lot of the songs we used to rehearse too. A lot of the songs are, we would rehearse

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before we played it on Sundays. But for, for the times that they did a song that we didn't rehearse on, I had to just play what I felt. So, would you see your role as kind of sometimes providing a flourish to the song? Like, kind of

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adding a little bit of extra and interpreting? Well, most musicians they do, they do add, you know, um, you know, that's another phase that you get into when you learn music rather than just playing the song, uh straight. If you will, then people would add a

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little of their own personalized touch to it. Yeah. So what would you say were some of your favorite places to play? Well, my, some of my favorite places to play was, um, I played at the, um Chicago Blues festival. I, I did that one year. A

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friend of mine moved to Chicago that we're living here. We played together, he moved to Chicago and he called me and says, hey, Joe, I'm gonna do this thing in, in, in the Chicago blues festival. He says, uh sure, I would like to have you come

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out and play with us. And so I did that the blues festival. I enjoyed that. Um You have a place in town that's for me with a lot of the, uh the better musicians that play a lot better than some of the others. Call it the

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big easy I play there. Uh The hideaway, um, and its, um, and to name a few and, uh, we play out some of some of the other venues that they don't always have a band on a regular basis. These, these places I just named, they play

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music on a regular basis, seven nights a week. But there are some other places that play on every 23 months, you know, here and here and there. Um, to go back to some of those places that you talked about, going with your father to like, um,

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I think you mentioned that the El Dorado Ballroom, uh club matinee. I think you, yeah. Could you describe those places? What were they like on the inside, you know, those places, you know, they have some pictures here and here and they have people look up, people

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have some of the grandkids have kept after the, the people who were here because all the people who are doing that here that during that time they, they are all gone. But when you go into those places, you know, there, it would be, everybody's having a

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good time. They're enjoying themselves, very friendly, but there's always one or two people in there. That's right to know. And so you just look around and you'll find that person, but the bar, the, the, the, uh, owner or the bartender would escort them out the door.

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And other, other than that, it would be fine is, so, did these places have kind of big stages? Small stages? Um, were they, uh, kind of like an intimate space where they had, no, they had a medium size stage and, but the people would dance close

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to the stage and then, and then, and, uh, they would get a little happy and then, and get on the stage. But as long as they didn't get too far carried away, the people didn't, didn't mind. And when I met you originally, it was at the

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Silver Slipper. Is that a place that you play at? Every once in a while, every once in a while? Uh, they call me because I go there. You know, it's not, it's not far from where I live at. So every Saturday night it's a live band

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there and I'm making my business. But as a musician, if there's a live band and if you're not playing somewhere you probably gonna be there. So, my take is if I'm not playing, then I'm there. So I'm there on Saturdays their plan and I'm familiar with

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it, you know, because, uh, a lot of bands I'm not, I hope I'm not giving up any secrets. But a lot of bands play 80% of the same show just about every week, it might change 20% of it, but 80% of the show is the same.

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So by me being there quite often on a regular basis, I could, I'm hearing these songs. So they're like, hey Joe, can you, can you sit there with us tonight or our bass player? Can't, can't make it tonight and because I've been there, I never heard

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these songs and pretty much have for me ride myself with the show then, then, then I can do it. So without a lot of rehearsal because a lot of times you don't have time for rehearsal. If, um, if you got time, if a guy says, well,

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I'm gonna be, I'm not gonna be there this week. You're not, you're not gonna be there this week, then you're called to practice. But if something happened at the spur of a moment, then there's no practice. You gotta come in and start playing. Yeah. Do you

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find that to be something that's kind of hard of being able to just jump into a group, you know, it is hard. It's hard for the simple reason. If you're not, if you're not, if you've never been exposed to that, that is hard. The scariest, hard.

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And you're looking around at the audience and they're looking at you and it's like, you know, you and up mysterious place because the audience is like this, this guy would have somebody's not on somebody, they don't know how to play, but they know what they hear

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is good or bad. So you're looking around and saying, well, something is not right. And the guy is trying to kind of camouflaged, trying to keep yourself from being exposed. And if you, you know, that's a, that's a horrible feeling. But what happens is once you've

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been exposed to that, which I have been. So it's not, it's, there's no big deal. It, it becomes no big deal. If someone kicks off a song and you tell them, I don't know the song but they're gonna play their way. And so they're saying, and

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so many words they're saying, well, look, we're gonna play this song and we're gonna get by with three pieces which meaning you're not gonna be playing because you don't know it. Oh, we're gonna get by with you trying to play the song. Uh, you, you make

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the call so, you know, you, you've been exposed to it, you try, you, you, you, you do something and most of it, most of it is similar and most of the songs that they play, you know, very seldom a song comes up that you don't know,

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everybody knows the same songs. Maybe also the way the songs are constructed, it makes it easy even if you don't know the song because some submit it for me with other songs. I mean, you got, uh, songs, uh, when you're playing the blues, you know, they

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don't, they don't tell you the name of the song, they tell you the type of music they want. So there's no song to, to, I mean, to guide you is music. Play me a shuffle ng, I play me shuffle and C A shuffle is a shuffle.

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And so whatever song you gonna singing doesn't matter. You want a shuffle or play me a slow blues, a slow blues is a slow blues and C or G. And so you just play the slow blues but you got people that don't know no better and

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say, well, what, what's the name of the zone? You know, if you, if you, if you, if you, if you, uh, um, uh, po polished, uh, with, I mean, you know, you won't, you don't ask that you just playing me slow blues and we kick, we

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count it off, we play slow blues. So there's a shuffle, there's a slow blues what else is something, what's a, what's another type of song that someone will tell you to play her style? Oh, you know, well, if you, if they saying, uh, we're gonna play

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up, we're gonna play up. Oh, a song we just play it. We're gonna just, we're gonna, we're gonna play it in the key of a, just stay on the one. Just stay on the one. There's no, there's no change in it. All you gotta do is

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stay on the one. Shouldn't have to tell you anything else. Stay on one means just stay on the key of a and don't move, you know, and the song comes out, right? You've never heard the song before? I never heard the song before. Well, just the

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only one. Can you play me an example of a shuffle? 02, 1239. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's, he's just the original. I mean, you know, he, when, when you

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speak of blues, when you say original, it does not come from who you are and how you play it become it comes from how are you, how do you express this? How do you express this through your guitar and your songs and that don't, it don't

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get no better than lighting. And he's just gifted with that. It's just born with that. This guy can make a one guitar and a drum sound better than some guy with a 5, 10 piece band. Could do that. Listen to him right now. And it's just

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amazing because when he plays the guitar and when he sings, the feeling of being in a, in of being in the cotton field or being on the farm, all that comes out is, is playing and singing all that comes out and that's what it's all about.

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It's about the hard times and when you're singing the blues is about the, the, the hard times that you've been through, I've been through that made you want to sit in the corner and cry, one cave made. Now you can do that. Everybody can sit in

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the car in the, in the corner and cry and we get the same feeling. Everybody can't play it on the guitar. See that that's, you know, people can play the, play the blues but they can't, the, the expression is not, you get the same notes. Everything

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could be the exact same, but the expression and you know what, they haven't been able to put their fingers on it. It does not come from the amplifier, it does not come from the guitar. It comes from how you see, I can turn the guitar, I

00:33:25.739 - 00:33:41.780

can turn all those knobs. Those knobs don't express what I feel. It comes through your fingers. If you got the right feeling that you can express yourself, it comes through your fingers so they can't invent nothing to replace that. See, the thing about it is they

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got sy synthesizes and all this stuff that you could put on a guitar and it could make the guitars do a lot of stuff that you can't make it do. But the truth of the matter is it, it'll get you by, it'll make people think you're

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doing this and doing that. But when you hear the real blues, there's nothing you can do about it. But, but, but accept it. So when you hear Lightnin Hopkins and these other guys playing and some of these other guys playing who live today, then there's no,

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there's no comparison. These guys, these, these guys are, they've been heartbroken. I mean, I mean, really heartbroken and they survived that and they, they're expressing this and when you, when you've been through that, you know, a lot of other people have too but to pick up

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a guitar and express the way you're feeling inside on a guitar is just, you just can't, you can't, you can't uh match it, you can't, you can't match. And that's what the blues is about. You know, you can hit all the notes you want. But if

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those notes don't have no feeling in them, you're just wasting your time. Is your father, one of those that was from the generation that could really translate that feeling into my father. That's my father. You know, I, I often think about him now because, you know,

00:35:00.770 - 00:35:19.649

I feel bad about me telling him I don't wanna play that man. You know, that's terrible. I, I grew up where my dad, 80% of the records and music in my house was T Walker. We had about 20% of other musicians but everything played in my

00:35:19.659 - 00:35:35.060

house was T Bone Walker and it just, it, it just killed me. No, after he got older and I got older people start telling you, hey, man, this, this T Walker guys, man, you know. No, you can't touch him. You can't touch it. And I'm like,

00:35:35.070 - 00:35:48.919

what my dad been trying to tell me this all these years and I didn't, I didn't realize it, but just prior to his death, I said, wait a minute, hold up, dad, hold on. I mean, you got time to show me some of this stuff because

00:35:48.929 - 00:36:02.330

he could play it. He could play the blues, you know, he can play the blues. I got people that tell me right now they say, hey, Joe, man, they say he was pretty tough back in the fifties and sixties. I'm like, no, I wasn't, that wasn't

00:36:02.340 - 00:36:17.939

me, man. I wasn't even born. 00, that was my dad. Oh, what was your dad? Because people, people talk to him now but they don't talk to him like I think they ought to talk, talk about him, talk about him like, you know, you got Texas.

00:36:17.949 - 00:36:34.000

Johnny Brown mentioned him before he passed away. Oh, I got this thing about uh I was in third war before Lightnin Hopkins died. Some, well, you know what happened to live over there and I knocked on his door and you can I help you? Young man?

00:36:34.010 - 00:36:46.929

I said, yeah, man, my name is Joe Bill. Joe Bell. Yeah, I know. But that's my dad. Oh, man. Really? I said, yeah, man. I said, can you, can you play with or something? He said, man, I'll be glad to sit on the porch and he

00:36:46.939 - 00:37:01.580

sure he played a little stuff and it just, it brought tears to my eyes. Yeah. But those guys, they're not around them more and we're trying to, we're trying to keep it going for them. And sometimes we're not doing a good job. I mean, you know,

00:37:01.590 - 00:37:18.320

we gotta stop because they love the audience, they love, they love you, they love the audience. The, the reason they did this is for you. Now, if you're not doing this, if we're not doing this for you, then we're missing the boat. We're supposed to be

00:37:18.330 - 00:37:31.060

doing this for you and we're supposed to give you the best we can for whatever you pay. If it's a dollar, if it's $10 it's $1000 we're supposed to give you the bed because just because you don't pay for the dollar, don't mean we don't give

00:37:31.070 - 00:37:48.510

you the bed, you always give, give your best. And besides, it may not help with a dollar. But anyway, that's my take on the blues So this kind of, since you've talked about your dad, can you tell me how you honor your father's memory through your

00:37:48.520 - 00:38:16.409

performances through the way I played. Now, the way I play guitar now is, is it for, is, uh, basically for my appreciation for what he did, not only for, for me, but you had to be here to know what he did for the audience when he

00:38:16.419 - 00:38:37.570

went out and played. I'll tell you, I'll tell you how um much love you have for playing music for the audience because he always told me you're not praying for you. If you're praying for you, get out of the business, you're praying for the audience. When

00:38:37.580 - 00:38:57.350

you go out there, your appearance is, is for the audience. So he was shy of shoes. Please. I'll step on his shoes. It was just almost, you know, not, no, don't, please don't take no when he, when he, because he would take his time to shine

00:38:57.360 - 00:39:19.969

his own shoes. When he got the shoes. If they were sitting here, I would walk probably about 10 ft around the other way cause I didn't wanna step on his shoes. But I play, I play, I play guitar to honor what he not, not so much

00:39:19.979 - 00:39:38.719

for you but to honor what he told me to do. And he said, always play your best. I, I try to do that to play your best. I always play, play with a feeling and and, and uh I told the guy not long ago, I said,

00:39:38.729 - 00:39:58.260

uh, so, um, what's your name, man? He says, Scott, a friend of mines. I live in Chicago now. I said, man, why did, why did you learn to play a guitar like that? Hey, what you mean, man? I said, man, you play with a feeling, you

00:39:58.270 - 00:40:11.770

know, I'm, I'm not, I don't see a lot of that these days. I mean, there's some out there but, but there's a lot of guys out there but, and the guy says, no, no, no, no, no. So he plays something for me and I said, no,

00:40:11.780 - 00:40:23.949

no, no, no, go back and play what? You played a few, you know, just a few minutes ago play that again. He played it and I'm like, man, that's, that's a feeling. Now, I say any time you want to get a feeling out of what you're

00:40:23.959 - 00:40:40.429

doing, go back and play that and then they go back and try to play what you're trying to play. So you've kind of, you've already kind of talked to me about how the, you know, a lot of the blues generation has passed away. I'm here in

00:40:40.439 - 00:41:00.350

Houston. Um, and you kind of, it seems like you, you feel that maybe the feeling of the blues doesn't always come through out there playing. But are there some things that you do feel that have been passed on to the new generation? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I

00:41:00.360 - 00:41:30.199

feel, I feel, uh, I feel like, um, that the, the, the, the ones that passing is gone left a, a legacy and we, and we, and we, and we, and, and the guys that play blues now, which is quite a few are trying to make sure

00:41:30.209 - 00:41:50.709

that it, it, it, it continues the problem with that is that I don't see enough young kids playing the blues. No, I'm not saying the blues is, is what you, you playing it, it's just like I said, you know, if they don't pick the guitar up

00:41:50.719 - 00:42:06.550

and start playing, you're not gonna be able to see it live anymore. You, the only way you gotta be able to see it is through some kind of technology and that would, that's not good. So, iii I, uh I recommend that these kids start trying to

00:42:06.560 - 00:42:19.909

play the blues now, whether they want to make a living with it or not. I don't know, maybe, maybe not. But I think being able to play the blues should be, you know, and I, and I try to teach some of the kids about playing the

00:42:19.919 - 00:42:40.270

blues but, you know, they, they, they just like we, I am like you are with me anyway, with kids. We feel like that was uh something that, you know, we could do 20 or 40 years later. Uh, you, you know, you don't want to wait that

00:42:40.280 - 00:42:57.870

long besides, you know, these guys who left who played the blues back then, started at an early age. And so, you know, pretty soon it's gonna be. No, no, no, no. I mean, rock and roll, I mean, I see kids playing the rock and roll. I

00:42:57.879 - 00:43:12.120

see all the, this technology they're using and all that. See that. But now I don't see any, anybody playing the blues. I mean, I do but very, very, that's what I say. I don't, it's so few to, it almost look like it's nobody. So you feel

00:43:12.129 - 00:43:28.189

like it's, it might get lost. It might lie wise, like things gonna get lost if they don't play the best, you know. You know, because, you know, it's not, it's, it's not as easy as you might think. Well, I'll pick up the good time, play the

00:43:28.199 - 00:43:59.050

blues in any time. It's not that easy. My dad used to sing at the piano and the piano was given to my mom through, my mom was a, uh, housekeeper and it was given to her through one of her, how people that she and it was

00:43:59.060 - 00:44:11.219

in pretty good shape when we got it, you know? But my, my dad and my mom, we didn't have a lot of money. So he would play it and he couldn't play piano well, very well. But he could play a lot of notes and he play

00:44:11.229 - 00:44:25.229

a lot of notes. You gonna hear some of them wrong, some of them. Right. They could play guitar play the blues. He just couldn't beat him. But he would play and his mom and dad had passed but they were, the pitches were sitting right in front

00:44:25.239 - 00:44:53.010

of him. It was saying, uh, uh, I was born the real one in a little, oh, the, the whole life. It's been a long, a long time coming. But I know change is gonna come. Oh, it's been too hot. Now. He was saying that song I

00:44:53.020 - 00:45:15.649

remember and some other songs and then all of a sudden he would stop, people stop playing and it's just quiet. It's quiet. Just sitting there and then, uh I enjoy it. I turn around, I was red. I was soaking wet and looking at his mom and

00:45:15.659 - 00:45:40.989

dad, he just came to a complete stop and just sit there on the piano because he had a beer. He had a beer, he had a beer. But after that intermission, I know intermission, I mission and after that about 15, 30 minutes and then go back

00:45:41.000 - 00:46:03.969

to playing. He was saying, uh uh bump it up. I got a warmer way over time. She's good to me. She's good to me. I got a warmer way over time. She's good to me. And it turned out my mom was in the audience and, and

00:46:03.979 - 00:46:28.080

he turned around, she sleep, she laying out of sleep on the couch and he turned around mom. Well, you heard that? Yeah, you like that? Yeah, I got a woman way over time. She's good to me. She's good to me. He was saying, uh I got,

00:46:28.090 - 00:46:53.100

I got a big feet. She's she, but she's my, she's my baby and I love her just saying I love her because I love her because is her name? What makes your big hair so hot? I love you. You used to do all that. It sounds

00:46:53.110 - 00:47:07.500

like he was, he was that he, he love to entertain. Well, no, this was after he got out the music, his hand messed up. But he had that piano and on the weekends because he, after the Sunday, about six o'clock, everything closed down. I gotta, I

00:47:07.510 - 00:47:23.750

gotta go to work and he wouldn't, he would all ready. I mean, he's ready for supper and she gave everything in ice box. It's the whole thing. Everyone else is in there. That is, but the six o'clock is through. But, but from Friday sometime Thursday all

00:47:23.760 - 00:47:47.679

the way up to six o'clock, Sunday, the piano and, uh, uh, ain't nobody here but us chickens ain't nobody here at all with chicken is trying to rest and you bust in and as I said, tomorrow is a busy day. We got worms and scratch and

00:47:47.689 - 00:48:05.629

eggs to LA. I remember all that stuff. I used to play that one for my daughter. You know what I'm saying? Now we talking, we're talking about songs that were made in the thirties. You know what I mean, now, I mean, people can touch them kind

00:48:05.639 - 00:48:21.080

of song. No, they're, they're fun though. They're a lot of fun but not only that they were, they were, they were songs that had a lot of reality to them. And like I said, if you, if you, if you, uh, play the blues got play with

00:48:21.090 - 00:48:35.639

a feeling and, or sing songs that's got some lyrics in it, that's got real blues lyrics, you know, and you know, these guys have gotten away from a lot of that stuff. You know, it's, it's a shame. It's a real serious song like that. So when

00:48:35.649 - 00:48:53.570

people play Caledonian walking with my baby, she got great big feet. She's lonely and lanky. She had no need, but she's my baby and I love her just to say, I love that woman because Cardona is a name and he says the man go pop. I

00:48:53.679 - 00:49:09.770

pick your head big head so hard, you know, you just can't, you can't match those songs if you play them now, people like, why is he singing? I never heard that before. That's kind of stuff. I grew up on. Matter of fact, this interview might help

00:49:09.780 - 00:49:28.489

me kind of guide me back in that same direction. That was to say, thank you so much for coming out and for doing the interview. I really appreciate it. Thank you for playing and you find out, find out not quite as quiet as I, as I've

00:49:28.500 - 00:49:38.389

seen to be this guy. This guy might be too saturated with the blues. No, not at all. Not at all. You did an awesome job. You did. Awesome. Thank you.