The Fabulous Thunderbird talks to Blues News.
[This interview was originally recorded for the Rock 93FM Blues Show, and was later published in the February 1994 Bluesletter]
Hi Kim welcome to the blues show.
Thank you very much!
Kim we've been playing your new album, Tigerman, it's an excellent album and it's only just on release in New Zealand, who plays on it with you?
Oh there's so many people, you know I have Junior Watson on guitar. I have Larry Taylor from Canned Heat on there, I've got a couple of guys from The Thunderbirds, I got Duke Robillard, Fran Christina, I got Preston Hubbard.
Pretty impressive sound you've got on there too, is this the start of a new solo career Kim?
Oh it's kinda always been there you know. I just haven't been able to spit it out. I've been signed to a major label and I haven't been able to stray away from that for several years, so I really started this project in 1984 and then I got signed to Epic so I couldn't do anything else.
Are you planning to do a new album as The Thunderbirds?
Yeah, I think we start recording in February.
Mm, right. We'll look forward to that one. Jimmy Vaughan still play with you?
No, no. not for about three or four years now.
What's Jimmy doing? Did you guys fall out or did you just have a change of line up?
He just really wanted to get off the road you know he wanted to er... the road is pretty tough and it can just get to you after a few years. He just wanted to get off the road and be more with his family.
Does it make much difference to your playing, the style of the guitar player or can anyone do it as long as they keep time and play the line?
Er, well I need somebody who can step out. You know I like that, I like listening to it and you know, right now, Junior Watson is really doing it for me. He's a killer guitar player and this kid Rusty [Zinn], he's really going to be something, he's already something you know, he's just really so far ahead of the game for his age, it's really incredible.
On your Tigerman album there's a couple of original tracks and you usually manage to write a few blues songs. I wonder how easy is it in the 1990's, nearly the 21st century to come up with something original. Can you still write an original blues song?
I think so you know. You just got to get weird with it, try to put a new twist on it. It's not something you can get too serious about. You've got to have fun and be yourself. If you be yourself it's gonna come out original.
I notice on a lot of those Robert Cray albums he seems to be writing about divorce, being unfaithful and so on which is a little bit different to the old blues songs. Are there any themes that are new in the 90's, in the blues, that are different to the stuff in the 30's?
Oh I don't think so, not too much politics. l think it's mostly sex, you know. I think it all has to do with sex really, possibly money, so I mean divorce and being unfaithful fall under the category pretty well!
Antones has got a little stable of female blues artists, and do you play with some of them sometimes?
Yes. I work with Sue Foley quite a bit. Of course I've worked with Lou Anne Barton. I've recorded with her. I've recorded with Sue. When Angela [Strehli] comes into town I usually do stuff with her too. Really all nice and talented women, really talented women.
Can a women sing the blues as good as a man, Kim?
Sure!
From this part of the world you seem to be the boss harmonica player in the US at the moment. You've got one or two close rivals, how did you first get into blues Kim?
Well I really got into it when I was about 17. I started going out to shows with my friends at highschool. I just picked up a harmonica one day and started playing it. A month later I had band. A year later I was playing with Eddie Taylor, so (laughs) I guess I was suited for it you know. At this stage in my life I really can't think of anything else I could do. I guess I found my direction early in life. I'm really happy about that.
There'll be quite a few listeners to this show who like the blues harmonica. Have you got any tips for them, anybody they should listen to?
You gotta really get it from the horse's mouth, that's Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, George 'Harmonica' Smith. My suggestion is you listen to every different style you can on the harmonica and try and get as many sounds as you can out of it.
Tell us about your tour because you've just come back from Europe, how many countries you have been to, how many shows have you done?
Well we did all northern Europe, we did Britain, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Germany, France, Belgium. We did 29 shows in 26 days.
A pretty hard schedule; the European audiences still like the blues, are they different to the US audience?
Yeah I think... even in the States you know there's a lot of states in the US but they're kind of like their own separate countries you know. When you go down to Louisiana no-one claps until the very end of the night. When you go to a place like Lafayette and places like that, everybody enjoys things a different way. Some are a little more conservative than others.
Kim, have you ever been to New Zealand?
I have been to New Zealand, as a matter of fact.
When were you here?
It's been quite a while ago now I think '87 was the last time. It's really a beautiful place, New Zealand, I really enjoyed it. I went out to that place, Piha, outside of Auckland. That was a nice little drive. We got to see quite a bit of the countryside. It's just a beautiful place really, I'd like to hang out there sometime.
When are the blues fans going to get to see you again?
I hope within the next couple of years! We were going to do a tour of New Zealand and Australia with the Thunderbirds, but I think now during that time we're going to be recording. That was going to be in February. Maybe later on in the year. I wanna come down when it's warm.
Kim, we hope you get out here sometime soon.
Take it easy!
