Post by AlanB on Mar 6, 2014 6:24:20 GMT -5
Regarding Jim's LF posting elsewhere here's an interview from Melody Maker, 24 May 1969, p.10.
A Name To Be Reckoned With: Max Jones Talks To Lowell Fulson
LOWELL FULSON has been a name to be reckoned with in blues circles ever since he began recording some 23 years ago. Oddly, though, people have never been sure how to spell it.
Most of his records say "Fulson" on the label, but some have read "Lowell Fulson". Even the promoters of his present tour have been billing him as Fulsom ,and in the MM the other week he was in rival club ads under both spellings on the same page.
Blues Records, the discography of post-war blues lists him, safely enough, as "Lowell Fulson (or Lowell Fulsom)."So when I visited him last week I asked to get the name straight before proceeding further.
Correct
"Yes, I've seen it spelt several different ways in my time," he said. "With the 'n' is correct. It's my born name, just Lowell Fulson. That's the complete thing.
"I always used my real name, never did adopt a stage one. Of course I never did no underground recording, I guess that's why."
In fact, Fulson did all his early recording for the Big Town and Swing Time labels on the West Coast. Later he cuts sides for Aladdin, then (in '54) signed with Chess-Checker.
Today he is under contract to Stan Lewis of Jewel Records, Texas Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. He played me his new single on the label - "Letter Home" and "Lady In The Rain" - and said he thought it had commercial appeal. The girl behind the bar agreed, and asked where she could buy it.
"I cut enough sides for them to make an album, but it's not out yet Among others, I cut six sides in Dallas. slow blues mostly. And I have a few things coming out for Stan with a 12-string guitar."
I looked surprised, and Fulson admitted It was his first venture on the 12 stringer.
"I've always used Gibson boxes, and now I have this DL5. Then recently I bought this Borg 12-string instrument. Well, it sounds different and I wanted to do something a little different.
"It gave me a bit of trouble at first - you know, you've really got to play it - but wouldn’t give up on it. When I wanted to record on it, they said: 'You can't play blues on that thing.'
"I said that if you were a guitar player you could play blues on anything. And when they heard it they said to go ahead."
Fulson spent part of his youth travelling in Texas, serving an apprenticeship in the group which accompanied the then popular blues singer, Texas Alexander. He told me that this was a decisive point in his career.
"If it hadn’t been for him I guess I wouldn't have ever sung the blues. I played country music before I learned blues. Well, my first experience was with Dan Wright's String Band, and that wasn't no blues band.
"It was a ten-piece band and really it played jazz and dance tunes. If they played a blues it would be a well known tune like 'St Louis Blues,' nothing like I heard with Texas Alexander.
"You know, I just admired that man. When I met him I called myself pretty polished by then on guitar. The year with him taught me how to really play the blues.
"He was a man who could walk into this bar and start singing, with no accompaniment whatever, and capture everyone's attention. You'd have to listen. He had a deep voice, kind of hoarse all the time. I never heard another quite like it.
"Lightnin' Hopkins reminds me quite a bit of him, they're cousins you know, but Alexander's voice was deeper better. And a funny thing was, he barely opened his mouth. Yet the tone he got, man, I never heard anything better."
Toured
And what was Texas Alexander like as a man.
"Same thing. He was a real soft, easy man. He was a little guy, you know, and he spoke real soft. I never saw him open his mouth wide. You had to get up real close to him to hear what he was saying. " We toured for about a year, Texas and me, and it was a good year for me. I learned about the blues from him. We'd wait for harvest and then go into the towns, you know, and play for the farm workers."
Lowell Fulson has played with many different groups, but his preference is for bands with two or three horns.
"I used to work with two guitars with my brother, Martin, who passed in 1960. Yeah, he played second guitar with me, but he could sing and play lead guitar.
"He could play beautiful lead, he was more polished than I was. But he wouldn't do it, just worked with me. He was the quiet type, I was always noisy, and he thought I had the force to do it in public.
"He didn't want to go on stage though he was a ladies' man, pretty sharp and cool. He had a lot of ladies, man. Often when I thought they'd be coming to me they'd be reaching over me to get at him.
"After he died I got sort of discouraged and quit for a while. Rock-and-roll had stepped on the blues pretty hard. But I moved back to California, where I'd started, and made a few records for Checker in 1960.
"After that I quit. But my manager, Fats Washington, he said to me 'Why don't you cut a few? I got a label.' So I did 'Baby ' and 'Stop And Think' for his label, Movin', and got a little noisy.
"So then Kent label came after Fats until they got me. And we kept on with them till we got 'Black Nights' and then 'Tramp.' Then people started calling me.
"They were both important records for me. 'Tramp' kind of set me with the rock-and-roll and dance fans - introduced me to the kids, you might say - and 'Black Nights' brought me back with the blues fans.
"For my personal taste, I like any band with horns, a full group that is. I don't mind recording with just a rhythm section. but when you're performing I think the horns give a little more taste to It.
Mellow
"Just rhythm works the lead guitar too hard. I like a full background not a blasting outfit, you know, but something full and mellow"
So far as Britain is concerned, Lowell feels very contented.
"It's one of the great thrills," he says. "I always wanted to come to London but I didn't like to fly. Well I do all the time now. I have to in order to make the dates, but this journey was the longest I've been in the air.
"Recently I had an engagement which caused me to fly from Los Angeles to Alaska and it was beautiful. So I thought that if I could make a five and a half hour trip I could make it to England. Here I am, and so far it's been wonderful.
"I'd like to come over here for three months. I'm trying to introduce Lowell Fulson to the kids in England."
A Name To Be Reckoned With: Max Jones Talks To Lowell Fulson
LOWELL FULSON has been a name to be reckoned with in blues circles ever since he began recording some 23 years ago. Oddly, though, people have never been sure how to spell it.
Most of his records say "Fulson" on the label, but some have read "Lowell Fulson". Even the promoters of his present tour have been billing him as Fulsom ,and in the MM the other week he was in rival club ads under both spellings on the same page.
Blues Records, the discography of post-war blues lists him, safely enough, as "Lowell Fulson (or Lowell Fulsom)."So when I visited him last week I asked to get the name straight before proceeding further.
Correct
"Yes, I've seen it spelt several different ways in my time," he said. "With the 'n' is correct. It's my born name, just Lowell Fulson. That's the complete thing.
"I always used my real name, never did adopt a stage one. Of course I never did no underground recording, I guess that's why."
In fact, Fulson did all his early recording for the Big Town and Swing Time labels on the West Coast. Later he cuts sides for Aladdin, then (in '54) signed with Chess-Checker.
Today he is under contract to Stan Lewis of Jewel Records, Texas Street, Shreveport, Louisiana. He played me his new single on the label - "Letter Home" and "Lady In The Rain" - and said he thought it had commercial appeal. The girl behind the bar agreed, and asked where she could buy it.
"I cut enough sides for them to make an album, but it's not out yet Among others, I cut six sides in Dallas. slow blues mostly. And I have a few things coming out for Stan with a 12-string guitar."
I looked surprised, and Fulson admitted It was his first venture on the 12 stringer.
"I've always used Gibson boxes, and now I have this DL5. Then recently I bought this Borg 12-string instrument. Well, it sounds different and I wanted to do something a little different.
"It gave me a bit of trouble at first - you know, you've really got to play it - but wouldn’t give up on it. When I wanted to record on it, they said: 'You can't play blues on that thing.'
"I said that if you were a guitar player you could play blues on anything. And when they heard it they said to go ahead."
Fulson spent part of his youth travelling in Texas, serving an apprenticeship in the group which accompanied the then popular blues singer, Texas Alexander. He told me that this was a decisive point in his career.
"If it hadn’t been for him I guess I wouldn't have ever sung the blues. I played country music before I learned blues. Well, my first experience was with Dan Wright's String Band, and that wasn't no blues band.
"It was a ten-piece band and really it played jazz and dance tunes. If they played a blues it would be a well known tune like 'St Louis Blues,' nothing like I heard with Texas Alexander.
"You know, I just admired that man. When I met him I called myself pretty polished by then on guitar. The year with him taught me how to really play the blues.
"He was a man who could walk into this bar and start singing, with no accompaniment whatever, and capture everyone's attention. You'd have to listen. He had a deep voice, kind of hoarse all the time. I never heard another quite like it.
"Lightnin' Hopkins reminds me quite a bit of him, they're cousins you know, but Alexander's voice was deeper better. And a funny thing was, he barely opened his mouth. Yet the tone he got, man, I never heard anything better."
Toured
And what was Texas Alexander like as a man.
"Same thing. He was a real soft, easy man. He was a little guy, you know, and he spoke real soft. I never saw him open his mouth wide. You had to get up real close to him to hear what he was saying. " We toured for about a year, Texas and me, and it was a good year for me. I learned about the blues from him. We'd wait for harvest and then go into the towns, you know, and play for the farm workers."
Lowell Fulson has played with many different groups, but his preference is for bands with two or three horns.
"I used to work with two guitars with my brother, Martin, who passed in 1960. Yeah, he played second guitar with me, but he could sing and play lead guitar.
"He could play beautiful lead, he was more polished than I was. But he wouldn't do it, just worked with me. He was the quiet type, I was always noisy, and he thought I had the force to do it in public.
"He didn't want to go on stage though he was a ladies' man, pretty sharp and cool. He had a lot of ladies, man. Often when I thought they'd be coming to me they'd be reaching over me to get at him.
"After he died I got sort of discouraged and quit for a while. Rock-and-roll had stepped on the blues pretty hard. But I moved back to California, where I'd started, and made a few records for Checker in 1960.
"After that I quit. But my manager, Fats Washington, he said to me 'Why don't you cut a few? I got a label.' So I did 'Baby ' and 'Stop And Think' for his label, Movin', and got a little noisy.
"So then Kent label came after Fats until they got me. And we kept on with them till we got 'Black Nights' and then 'Tramp.' Then people started calling me.
"They were both important records for me. 'Tramp' kind of set me with the rock-and-roll and dance fans - introduced me to the kids, you might say - and 'Black Nights' brought me back with the blues fans.
"For my personal taste, I like any band with horns, a full group that is. I don't mind recording with just a rhythm section. but when you're performing I think the horns give a little more taste to It.
Mellow
"Just rhythm works the lead guitar too hard. I like a full background not a blasting outfit, you know, but something full and mellow"
So far as Britain is concerned, Lowell feels very contented.
"It's one of the great thrills," he says. "I always wanted to come to London but I didn't like to fly. Well I do all the time now. I have to in order to make the dates, but this journey was the longest I've been in the air.
"Recently I had an engagement which caused me to fly from Los Angeles to Alaska and it was beautiful. So I thought that if I could make a five and a half hour trip I could make it to England. Here I am, and so far it's been wonderful.
"I'd like to come over here for three months. I'm trying to introduce Lowell Fulson to the kids in England."