I went on vacation, I got tired of every place I would go, from one side of America to the other, doors closing in my face. So, I went on vacation just so I could find an agent. I said, “If I can`t find an agent here in America, I`m going.” I bought two tickets. One to Tokyo, one to Paris. Somebody is going to get me an agent and let me do what I was born to do. When I got there, I picked up the phone and called the agency. They told me the guy was out of town and he`d be back the next day. So, my second day in Paris, not only was I signed to an agent, but I was signed to a club that night. We met up at 3:00 and by 9:00 that night I was at the club. I had already signed to the agency. I had my guitar, played them my R&B tapes, played them my blues. I recorded a lot of stuff on Bridges label, my label out of Houston. I recorded every style I played, my blues, my R&B, my gospel and I had my guitar, I sat there and played some songs and he said, “Hey, we are ready to put you to work, if you are ready to work.” That`s what I was there to do. That night he sent me to Maxwell Café. It`s Maxwell Café now. It was Quai du Blues in Paris, in Neuilly. I went up there and met the owner of the club. He was late, as always. He had a girl, a singer from Chicago singing there. Thompson, Gloria Thompson, it was. She was playing there and her husband was on drums. So they decided to let me sit in on the mid-section of the show and then bring Gloria back on for her last set. I did the three songs and, ain`t looked back since. He hired me as the house musician at the club. I was the opening act for every act he brought in from Chicago.
I still had to go back to Houston and do the three shows with BB King in St. Louis, Chicago and Seattle. Then we did an extra show in Houston. I left and we`ve been working, as we work things grow. More and more people hear. When I first came to Paris, it was like a hundred people, then a hundred told another hundred people. So the next time we were on stage there was two hundred. It just grows like that by word of mouth. They actually support the music and everything. It has just been growing from that point on. Within that time I moved to England because the bass player was Big Joe Turner who played bass for BB King, also. He hired me at the same time to be the lead singer of his band, Big Joe Turner and Memphis Blues Caravan. He`s from Memphis, Tennessee, but he`s living in London because he married an English lady. We were working around England and when I`d go out, everyone thought I was Joe Turner because I`m the lead vocalist, I`m the lead guy. Joe never did say anything. So, the band was Joe Turner and Memphis Blues Caravan featuring, Eugene Hideaway Bridges. Everything I was doing for a year and a half was under Joe Turner`s name, so I really wasn`t making a mark. In one sense I was making my mark by growing the people as they were coming in and as they knew more about who I was as a singer. They didn`t know if I was Joe, or the bass player was Joe or what. They kept calling me Joe.
I worked with him about a year and a half and I formed my band in England and we went rolling. I signed to Blueside, where Born To Be Blue album came out. We toured that album and shortly the record company folded. I ended up signing up with Armadillo, who at the time was my best friend. I used to go and hang out with him at the farm. He was a dairy farmer. He used to put music events on, he booked acts out on the farm or out at the airport. Or different places he was working. He was also a pilot.
What is his name?
His name is Tony Sweet. He is in charge of Armadillo Music now. Armadillo Music was a promotion company but now it`s Armadillo Music, the record company as well as being my promoter and manager. He signed me. I didn`t need the song and dance that he was going to go through because he was my best friend. I trust him. He`s a great guy. So, our first album on Armadillo Music was A Man Without A Home.
Because, traveling from one country to another every week and every day, at least every week, you live out of a suitcase. You don`t stay at home all the time. You`re a man without a country, a man without a home. You feel at home. When you walk into these places, you walk into France, they treat you as though you are the king of the world. You just feel at home although it`s not your home. You forget, “Hey, tomorrow, I have to leave here.” You try to get settled into that town, but you know you have another town tomorrow, or in a couple of days. Or you`ve got to leave in the morning and fly to another country. You get the same welcome. It`s like, wow, you are never home, you`re always on the road. It`s worth it. You live off the work you`ve done, of who you are. Not the fact that you may be able to do this or you may be able to deliver this you, I can talk about the things that you have gone through, your ups and downs. Your good days, your bad days. Songs like, “My take home pay won`t take me home.” (Take Home Pay) People can relate to that. I`m not going to sing about I`m going to give you a moon and give you the stars. I can`t give you that. Even if I could give it to you, you know, somebody will come out and say, “Where`s the sun, where`s the stars. Well, Eugene just gave them to Judy.” It`s just impossible. You`ve got to relate to the reality of this. That`s where I try to keep my music, my songs, my song writing; the reality of it. The pain that you would feel when your love is lost. The joy that you feel when you meet someone that`s wonderful. You call them up and as soon as you hang up the phone, you just want to call them up again. People can relate to that, whether you are in America, whether you are in Tokyo, whether you`re in Slovenia. No matter where you are, people can relate to emotion, deliver the blues or what ever. But you do and they appreciate that, and you grow from that. They learn a lot from your music and your music touches their souls. You enhance their lives. So you are at home in every country you go to. You may go to three countries this week and you feel like you have three different homes but they`re not your home. You just come into that reality, you`re a man without a country. A man without a home. Because next week you`re in another country. It`s not like you go there and come back home to Houston, kick up your feet for a few months and then go back over there for another couple of days and come back to Houston. You`re always on the go, you`re always moving from one place to another. And that`s exactly what I`ve been asking for ever since I was four years old. To be able to do this, to write a song that can enhance someone`s life, can touch their spirit, touch their soul. They fall in love with that song whether it`s talking about them, talking about me or talking about love lost, love gained. That is preference people by being there. If I hang around that. That`s what my music is all about. Relating to people through emotion; sharing my personal experiences; talking about my ups and downs and no matter how down I get, I`ve got the strength to hold on and I give you strength. You say, “Hey, I believe I`m going to hold on, too.” “If you can go through that, it gives me hope that I can hold on, too.” Or, “ I`m going to share the joy that you felt. You kind of make me think about the joyful times that I`ve had in my life.” That`s what my song writing is all about.
I still had to go back to Houston and do the three shows with BB King in St. Louis, Chicago and Seattle. Then we did an extra show in Houston. I left and we`ve been working, as we work things grow. More and more people hear. When I first came to Paris, it was like a hundred people, then a hundred told another hundred people. So the next time we were on stage there was two hundred. It just grows like that by word of mouth. They actually support the music and everything. It has just been growing from that point on. Within that time I moved to England because the bass player was Big Joe Turner who played bass for BB King, also. He hired me at the same time to be the lead singer of his band, Big Joe Turner and Memphis Blues Caravan. He`s from Memphis, Tennessee, but he`s living in London because he married an English lady. We were working around England and when I`d go out, everyone thought I was Joe Turner because I`m the lead vocalist, I`m the lead guy. Joe never did say anything. So, the band was Joe Turner and Memphis Blues Caravan featuring, Eugene Hideaway Bridges. Everything I was doing for a year and a half was under Joe Turner`s name, so I really wasn`t making a mark. In one sense I was making my mark by growing the people as they were coming in and as they knew more about who I was as a singer. They didn`t know if I was Joe, or the bass player was Joe or what. They kept calling me Joe.
I worked with him about a year and a half and I formed my band in England and we went rolling. I signed to Blueside, where Born To Be Blue album came out. We toured that album and shortly the record company folded. I ended up signing up with Armadillo, who at the time was my best friend. I used to go and hang out with him at the farm. He was a dairy farmer. He used to put music events on, he booked acts out on the farm or out at the airport. Or different places he was working. He was also a pilot.
What is his name?
His name is Tony Sweet. He is in charge of Armadillo Music now. Armadillo Music was a promotion company but now it`s Armadillo Music, the record company as well as being my promoter and manager. He signed me. I didn`t need the song and dance that he was going to go through because he was my best friend. I trust him. He`s a great guy. So, our first album on Armadillo Music was A Man Without A Home.
Because, traveling from one country to another every week and every day, at least every week, you live out of a suitcase. You don`t stay at home all the time. You`re a man without a country, a man without a home. You feel at home. When you walk into these places, you walk into France, they treat you as though you are the king of the world. You just feel at home although it`s not your home. You forget, “Hey, tomorrow, I have to leave here.” You try to get settled into that town, but you know you have another town tomorrow, or in a couple of days. Or you`ve got to leave in the morning and fly to another country. You get the same welcome. It`s like, wow, you are never home, you`re always on the road. It`s worth it. You live off the work you`ve done, of who you are. Not the fact that you may be able to do this or you may be able to deliver this you, I can talk about the things that you have gone through, your ups and downs. Your good days, your bad days. Songs like, “My take home pay won`t take me home.” (Take Home Pay) People can relate to that. I`m not going to sing about I`m going to give you a moon and give you the stars. I can`t give you that. Even if I could give it to you, you know, somebody will come out and say, “Where`s the sun, where`s the stars. Well, Eugene just gave them to Judy.” It`s just impossible. You`ve got to relate to the reality of this. That`s where I try to keep my music, my songs, my song writing; the reality of it. The pain that you would feel when your love is lost. The joy that you feel when you meet someone that`s wonderful. You call them up and as soon as you hang up the phone, you just want to call them up again. People can relate to that, whether you are in America, whether you are in Tokyo, whether you`re in Slovenia. No matter where you are, people can relate to emotion, deliver the blues or what ever. But you do and they appreciate that, and you grow from that. They learn a lot from your music and your music touches their souls. You enhance their lives. So you are at home in every country you go to. You may go to three countries this week and you feel like you have three different homes but they`re not your home. You just come into that reality, you`re a man without a country. A man without a home. Because next week you`re in another country. It`s not like you go there and come back home to Houston, kick up your feet for a few months and then go back over there for another couple of days and come back to Houston. You`re always on the go, you`re always moving from one place to another. And that`s exactly what I`ve been asking for ever since I was four years old. To be able to do this, to write a song that can enhance someone`s life, can touch their spirit, touch their soul. They fall in love with that song whether it`s talking about them, talking about me or talking about love lost, love gained. That is preference people by being there. If I hang around that. That`s what my music is all about. Relating to people through emotion; sharing my personal experiences; talking about my ups and downs and no matter how down I get, I`ve got the strength to hold on and I give you strength. You say, “Hey, I believe I`m going to hold on, too.” “If you can go through that, it gives me hope that I can hold on, too.” Or, “ I`m going to share the joy that you felt. You kind of make me think about the joyful times that I`ve had in my life.” That`s what my song writing is all about.
