You`ve done a lot of recent travels and you`re finishing up a CD. Tell me
about all of that.
about all of that.
“Well, it`s just funny, how all things work out. Last spring, I felt kind of stagnated and I wasn`t going much of a place playing with my own band. So, I agreed to join a ZZ Top tribute band. Once again, the promise of travel and money, which like I`ve already stated, never works out the way it should. I had a few good times playing the music and stuff like that. Over all, it was just a bad experience musically for me. I`d always been totally content early in my career to stand up there and play Stevie Ray all night long and it didn`t bother me. I was totally happy doing that. Later on in my career, I was happy to stand up there and play BB King all night long and it wouldn`t bother me. But, I was in this band where the type of guitar I played, the amplifier I played, the clothes I wore, my actions on stage, the way I sang, the songs I played, I had to do exactly like somebody else. Exactly the way they did it and there was no room for personal interpretation. I felt like I was in a prison musically. The one thing that came out of it, that helped me out, was the fact that I wanted to do my own music. I wanted to stand up there and play my own songs the way I wrote, do my show and do what I wanted to do.”
“Then, the Jamaica deal came up. I went to Jamaica last September with Roy and Lynn. They got this idea to do this blues jams in Jamaica and have the trip pay for itself. Anyway, I ended up doing that in September. Then in September, still, I was talking to Guthrie and he was about to go to England to play with Eddie Martin. So I put it to Malcolm and he ended up hooking me up with Chris Lomas, a bass player over there. He had some guys, some connections, and booked me some gigs. I went over there and played four gigs and had a great time. Then I went back to Alaska for the first time since New Year`s Eve, 2000, to play at an old club I used to play at a lot. And now I`m doing that again in April and going back to England in May. I`m doing like twelve gigs or something like that this time.”
Tell me about your CD.
“Well, about a year ago, I met Jeff Stone. I was playing at J&J`s with Johnny Mack and this guy walks in the door with this long trench coat. He`s got that Chicago look about him anyway. When we went on break, I walked up to him and introduced myself because I saw him signing the list. I said, “You going to play?” He said, in that Chicago voice, “Yeah, I`m a harp player.” So, anyway, he got up and played and we were all blown away by his harp playing. He was real tasteful and very courteous. Jeff comes to town about once a month on business and every time, if I had a gig, he`d play with me. We knew where the jams were and we`d go play together. We became friends and he started telling me about what he wanted to do and start a record company. He already had a name and it was going to be Bluestone Productions. Anyway, we started talking about doing projects together last summer. That`s about the time of the ZZ Top deal and I was ready to do my own music and put out a new record. I left out the fact that after the last time I left Dallas and went to Alaska I did a record, self titled Paul Byrd and the Escalators. But that was `98. So, it`s about time for another record. Well, anyway, we went into the studio in December and did the first recording on Bluestone Records and went out in January to LA, where Jeff lives, to master it. A friend of his was going to master it, but we ended up not getting together with him for one reason or the other. As fate would have it, the people at the graphics place did a lot of work with Capitol Records. They said, “Well, man, you aught to get it done at Capitol.” When they mentioned it to begin with back in December when we were recording it, we were hesitant, because we wanted to be there to have control over it. We didn`t want to send it off to somebody and get it back and go, “What happened to my record?” But it turned out not to be that way at all. Me and Jeff took the mixes over there ourselves. The folks at Capitol were very personable and super nice and we were sitting right there in the room the whole time the guys were doing the mastering on the record. They did just a fabulous job on it and I`m very proud of it. Now we are waiting on some art work and having our first CD release party on my birthday. March the 29th, 2003, at J&J Blues Bar.”
Do you have anything you want to say about the CD?
“Buy it! Everybody run out and buy it! (laughs) Every artist, no matter who you are, you go into the studio and you record a CD, six months later it seems like you can be playing the songs completely different. They come into their own, or what ever, or you wish you`d done this different. But, you know, hind sight is 20/20, and I know what to do different on the next record and stuff like that. But, for what we did and what we had to work with, and the way we went about things, the record really turned out great. I`m really happy with it. I`m really proud of it. I think it`s a good sounding record and it could stand up next to anybody`s record, production wise. It`s a good sounding record. This is what I do have to say about the songs on it: It`s not just Texas blues, it`s got some of the Memphis sounding stuff and it`s got some of the Chicago sounding stuff, it`s got some of the Texas sounding stuff and it`s got just acoustic and harmonica on a song, you know, old Muddy Waters tune. And then you turn right around and there`s Lattimore R&B funk tune, from the '70`s, and everything in between. It`s got a little bit of everything on it.”
You got some coverage on KNON Radio.
“I`m excited about that. I love KNON because it takes people like that, and like yourself, to support musicians like myself. Because it`s like in any eco system, everybody is after the same thing. Everybody is trying to survive and it takes everybody working together that makes everything happen. Hopefully this 'Year of the Blues` thing that Congress is trying to do will bring some awareness and give the blues a shot in the arm that it needs to come out and be more accepted a little more mainstream than it has been. It`s always been sort of an underground. It will always be there. But, without people like KNON, yourself and Southwest Blues, it wouldn`t continue to happen.”
“I`m looking forward to getting out on the road, making this happen for real, and to get my music out there.”
UPDATE:
Congratulations to Paul and Michelle who got married in October 2005.
“Then, the Jamaica deal came up. I went to Jamaica last September with Roy and Lynn. They got this idea to do this blues jams in Jamaica and have the trip pay for itself. Anyway, I ended up doing that in September. Then in September, still, I was talking to Guthrie and he was about to go to England to play with Eddie Martin. So I put it to Malcolm and he ended up hooking me up with Chris Lomas, a bass player over there. He had some guys, some connections, and booked me some gigs. I went over there and played four gigs and had a great time. Then I went back to Alaska for the first time since New Year`s Eve, 2000, to play at an old club I used to play at a lot. And now I`m doing that again in April and going back to England in May. I`m doing like twelve gigs or something like that this time.”
Tell me about your CD.
“Well, about a year ago, I met Jeff Stone. I was playing at J&J`s with Johnny Mack and this guy walks in the door with this long trench coat. He`s got that Chicago look about him anyway. When we went on break, I walked up to him and introduced myself because I saw him signing the list. I said, “You going to play?” He said, in that Chicago voice, “Yeah, I`m a harp player.” So, anyway, he got up and played and we were all blown away by his harp playing. He was real tasteful and very courteous. Jeff comes to town about once a month on business and every time, if I had a gig, he`d play with me. We knew where the jams were and we`d go play together. We became friends and he started telling me about what he wanted to do and start a record company. He already had a name and it was going to be Bluestone Productions. Anyway, we started talking about doing projects together last summer. That`s about the time of the ZZ Top deal and I was ready to do my own music and put out a new record. I left out the fact that after the last time I left Dallas and went to Alaska I did a record, self titled Paul Byrd and the Escalators. But that was `98. So, it`s about time for another record. Well, anyway, we went into the studio in December and did the first recording on Bluestone Records and went out in January to LA, where Jeff lives, to master it. A friend of his was going to master it, but we ended up not getting together with him for one reason or the other. As fate would have it, the people at the graphics place did a lot of work with Capitol Records. They said, “Well, man, you aught to get it done at Capitol.” When they mentioned it to begin with back in December when we were recording it, we were hesitant, because we wanted to be there to have control over it. We didn`t want to send it off to somebody and get it back and go, “What happened to my record?” But it turned out not to be that way at all. Me and Jeff took the mixes over there ourselves. The folks at Capitol were very personable and super nice and we were sitting right there in the room the whole time the guys were doing the mastering on the record. They did just a fabulous job on it and I`m very proud of it. Now we are waiting on some art work and having our first CD release party on my birthday. March the 29th, 2003, at J&J Blues Bar.”
Do you have anything you want to say about the CD?
“Buy it! Everybody run out and buy it! (laughs) Every artist, no matter who you are, you go into the studio and you record a CD, six months later it seems like you can be playing the songs completely different. They come into their own, or what ever, or you wish you`d done this different. But, you know, hind sight is 20/20, and I know what to do different on the next record and stuff like that. But, for what we did and what we had to work with, and the way we went about things, the record really turned out great. I`m really happy with it. I`m really proud of it. I think it`s a good sounding record and it could stand up next to anybody`s record, production wise. It`s a good sounding record. This is what I do have to say about the songs on it: It`s not just Texas blues, it`s got some of the Memphis sounding stuff and it`s got some of the Chicago sounding stuff, it`s got some of the Texas sounding stuff and it`s got just acoustic and harmonica on a song, you know, old Muddy Waters tune. And then you turn right around and there`s Lattimore R&B funk tune, from the '70`s, and everything in between. It`s got a little bit of everything on it.”
You got some coverage on KNON Radio.
“I`m excited about that. I love KNON because it takes people like that, and like yourself, to support musicians like myself. Because it`s like in any eco system, everybody is after the same thing. Everybody is trying to survive and it takes everybody working together that makes everything happen. Hopefully this 'Year of the Blues` thing that Congress is trying to do will bring some awareness and give the blues a shot in the arm that it needs to come out and be more accepted a little more mainstream than it has been. It`s always been sort of an underground. It will always be there. But, without people like KNON, yourself and Southwest Blues, it wouldn`t continue to happen.”
“I`m looking forward to getting out on the road, making this happen for real, and to get my music out there.”
UPDATE:
Congratulations to Paul and Michelle who got married in October 2005.
