Press enter after choosing selection

Interview with Bobby "Blue" Bland

Interview with Bobby "Blue" Bland image Interview with Bobby "Blue" Bland image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
July
Year
1976
OCR Text

Interview with Bobby "Blue" Bland

"Two Steps From The Blues"

By Edwenna Edwards and Frank Bach

Born Robert Calvin Bland in 1931 in Rosemark, Tennessee, Bobby "Blue" Band spent his adolescent years in Memphis, a hot bed of blues activity during the 40's. Bobby hung out with the musicians, got a job as a valet for the legendary B.B. King, and worked briefly as a drummer for vocalist Roscoe Gordon ("Do The Chicken"). As a vocalist himself, Bobby joined Gordon, saxophonist Billy Duncan, B.B. King, Little Junior Parker, and piano master Johnny Ace in the historic Beale Streeters Band.

In 1954, after a stint in the Army, Bland signed with Don Robey's Texas-based Duke label, then in the process of acquirinq several classic R&B artists including Little Richard and the late great Johnny Ace. Under the direction of producer Joe Scott, Bland cut an incredible series of major hit records on Duke -- "Farther Up the Road, " "I'll Take Care of You," "Pity the Fool," "Turn on Your Love Light," "Stormy Monday," "Two Steps from the Blues," "St. James Infirmary," "That's the Way Love Is," "Save Your Love For Me," & "I Smell Trouble," "Cry, Cry, Cry," and "Call on Me," just to name a few.

In 1973 Robey sold Duke to ABC Records, and Bland has continued to record for ABC since then, with new material and a new producer, the pop-oriented Steve Barri.

Last month the SUN's Edwennna Edwards and Frank Bach caught Bobby backstage between sets at Phelps' Lounge and talked to him about his musical career, past, present, and future:

SUN: What was the kind of thing you were listening to when you got started singing and recording?

BLAND: Well, Roy Brown, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone (Walker), you know, Spoon (Jimmy Witherspoon), Wynonie Harris, all the good blues singers. I had a choice, actually a variety to listen to, you know, and I got a lot of good ideas from all of them. But B (B.B. King) was my idol, you know, when I first started. Then I began listening to Roy Brown, and then I entered the Air Force and got an ear on T-Bone and started listening to his stuff, and that's where I got "Stormy Monday" from.

SUN: So you wanted to be a blues man from the beginning ...

BLAND: Not really. You know, I've always loved music, from out in the country, when I did church music all the time. And I tried a little group we had for awhile, but it didn't work. Spirituals were kind of hard to get a hit with at that time, so the best thing to do was to get into the blues field if you wanted to get out here and get recognized. So I really didn't know, except that I wanted to sing, you know -- l didn't know it was going to turn out like this! But I'm very proud that it did.

SUN: How did your association with Duke Records come about?

BLAND: Well, actually Robey had his methods ... We had amateur shows on Wednesday nights there at the Palace Theatre, and I got discovered there on the Rufus and Barnes show.

SUN: How has your material been chosen?

BLAND: Well, I'll tell you what, actually, I won't do a thing that's not B.B. King-reIated. I did some mediocre stuff, but normally I pick my own material. I've been fortunate enough to find good writers, you know, who have that vein that I kind of reIate to, and that can come up with a good lyric. You know, I like to tell a good story.

SUN: When the change went down, when ABC took over Duke Records, how did that I affect you? Were Joe Scott and Don Robey phased out?

BLAND: Well, yeah, they were completely out of contract then, Scott and Robey, and it kinda left me open, so I had to marry another sound. So Steve (Barri) and I, well, he thought it was the biggest thing in the world lo cut Bobby Bland, and it just so happened I was very comfortable with him as soon as we met. He was asking me everything, you know, so it really surprised me, and we work really good together.

SUN: You have a new album coming out?

BLAND: Yeah, it should be out now. We just finished it with B.B. a couple of months ago -- another one together at The Grove. And we got some of the old standards in, I'm very happy about that: Louis Jordan's stuff, you know. And I think it should be really good.

SUN: Any solo things?

BLAND: Well, yeah, actually I've got a single out now called "It Ain't the Real Thing." I'll have another record out the 17th of July, an Lp, but I don't actually know what the title is going to be.

SUN: How is it that you're here at Phelps' just about every holiday?

BLAND: Oh, I'll tell you what, Eddie Phelps and I have been friends for many years from Paris, Tennessee before he went into business and what have you. So, it's kinda

continued on page 16

Bobby "Blue" Bland

continued from page 9

like we were pulling for one another as you get up the ladder, and so he made a promise. He said, "I'll own a club one of these days," and so I said, "I'll play for you every holiday." Just like that, you know, that's all, no contract or anything like that. But I love playing here. Phelps and I were real good friends.

SUN: Well, Detroit is all the better for it, believe me.

BLAND: Detroit has been very, very lovely to me since '59. I was fresh blues then at The 20 Grand when it first opened up.

SUN: Where's your home?

BLAND: Tennessee. I stay here in Detroit, but my wife and I are trying to cross over to Memphis. I live there out on Dungeontown Road and my wife don't like the country, you know, and I've headed her out there several times. It's just gotta grow into her. We'll go, I hope so anyway.

SUN: Does ABC plan to re-issue any of your older material?

BLAND: Well, I would imagine so -- after you get a big hit they'd normally go back to some of the things that really didn't get the proper play. Take for instance the Lp Dreamer, which I thought was a heavy Lp. It didn't get the proper attention, you know, because ABC was doing some switching and some dealing and "what have you's" so it kind of got caught in the middle of all that. So I would think if I got a good one to go, some of that stuff would be reissued, and some of the stuff I did several years back, say in the '60's.

SUN: Are you fond of that material?

BLAND: Nowadays, I would say so. It has a better story, and it tells the real everyday thing of a black man's life ... whatever his surroundings are. I would say there were better lyrics then, better meaning. Because everyone's writing lyrics now and it doesn't take anyone to go into the men's room and come out with a song, you know, a tune. The stuff I was doing then had a better story. But, you know, after being in the business so long and things don't really break for you ... it kind of takes something out of you.

SUN: How long have you actually been in the music business?

BLAND: About 25 years, something like that. It kind of takes a lot out of you, because you know you 're qualified, but something happens down through the traveling and stuff ... it didn't mature. But everything has its time and perhaps, maybe a lot of the things I look back on now, I wouldn't have been able to do if I had been pushed so fast. But now I'm seasoned enough to be president! (Laughter.) So, I think it's about time -- I'm ready now. And I'm glad that the opportunity for wider exposure is still alive.

SUN: Do you enjoy the work, the traveling ...

BLAND: Well, I'll tell you, I love it all because this is my whole life, really. I wouldn't want to do anything else.