11 Question 4....Sonny Boy Terry     

Q#1: what made your decide to have the recent Houston Harp Event?

SBT:I've produced several harmonica shows in the past with Gary Primich, Collard Greens and Gravy, Tommy Dar Dar, Walter Higgs and other local cats. This time for the Texas Harmonica Festival I wanted to do another with a nationally recognized player and include a clinic.

Harp players can learn a great from each other so it's not good to isolate yourself. Having never offered a clinic, I received an email about Hill Country Harmonica from author Roger Wood, who is acquainted with Adam Gussow through the blues/academic world. So Roger hooked Adam and I up. I wanted to do a show with harp players who I felt had good technique, wrote their own songs and were strong performers to draw more attention to Houston's great scene. I often refer to Houston as America's lost city of the blues because it has such a great history that goes unnoticed. I didn't want to rip Mark Hummel's concept calling it a BLUES HARP BLOWOUT or a rumble. Having Adam do a clinic would help set the bar a little higher and assist any harmonica player who seriously wanted to improve. It's not really too hard to play a little harmonica and I also love folk harmonica in it's rawest forms but if you front a band just playing harmonica, I have learned (often the hard way) how important it is to be a good musician. I wanted to bring that to light, challenge myself and others. Plus, I think I'm trying to prove my worth and creditability right now so I thought this would help get my name out there more after my band performed well at the IBCs in Memphis earlier year. I hope to have the blues industry see me as a down to earth pro so I can have a career beyond Texas' borders. I want to do some business with others around the country and it's important for me to build healthy candid relationships. I've seen it all - a lot of craziness so I do not want to go down the wrong path with my future in blues. So it was about that plus altruistic motives and some big picture issues to help put Houston on the map.

Q#2: Who were you biggest influences when you first started performing and why?

SBTWhen I started playing, I copied songs off all sorts of albums by adjusting the pitch control on a Technics turntable I had with a strobe on it. I just wanted to play. I first learned common American folk songs off tabs from books in the major scale tongue blocking like the little piece of paper shows you that comes with your first harmonica. Then I started copying rock and country rock records like J. Geils Band, The Stones, Led Zep, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Charlie McCoy, Willie Nelson, Doobie Brothers, or Molly Hatchet in order to play in a band from my hometown growing up in NW Ohio - music that was popular around that time. But I had realized early on all the great harp stuff was on blues records. I remember buying an album by Little Sonny out of Detroit when I first started playing with him backed by the Bar Kays. I also studied any Muddy Waters records I could get my hands on and his albums always had a different harp player on them from Paul Oscher, Mojo Bruford, Cary Bell, James Cotton, Henry Strong, Jerry Portnoy. Then Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, all the usual suspects. I was the only person digging on lowdown blues from where I was back then.

Of course, when I got to Houston in 1981 I saw Kim Wilson with the original Fabulous Thunderbirds and had an epiphany. They played Houston all the time packing the clubs. He was the greatest I ever saw and probably still my favorite. I woodshedded his licks 8-10 hours a day for several years. At some point I knew I needed to get my own style so I focused on the Houston guys like Juke Boy Bonner and Lighnin' Hopkins' cousin Billy Bizor. Gatemouth Brown didn't play harmonica but I borrow from his approach playing all the sub genres of blues and roots like western swing, zydeco, jump blues. But no matter what he played, it all came out sounding like blues. I knew Gatemouth personally from recording with him on a Johnny Copeland record and doing shows with him, so his talent has had a huge impact on me. I also love the Blasters and all sorts of roots rock with attitude.

Q#3: Who do you see on the scene now who you really admire?

SBTThe first person who pops in my head is John Nemeth because he sings so good and he is a great performer who has written some cool songs. James Harman is a fantastic bluesman who writes great songs. Rick Estrin is a great performer as well. I like Carlos Del Junto for a progressive harp player I think because he plays so damn pretty. I like Adam Gussow who is along those lines too. I can't say enough good things about Billy Branch. I'm a fan of a lot of harp players working on the scene today. I like Lynwood Slim too.

Q#4: What techniques are you wood shedding on that you wish you already had mastered?

SBTI had Howard Levy's DVD on modes and overblows and overbends out yesterday and guess what? I'm actually starting to get it a little bit. LOL. The point being is I am getting lots of calls for session work so I need to add more to my game. I notice if you go to a different region of the country, musicians can sometimes have a different approach. If an opportunity comes along, I don't want to be caught flatfooted. That said, my passion is American roots music and I am still a hardcore bluesman. Getting an authentic sound is an unyielding pursuit so it's not really about being a technically superior harp player. I also took up guitar 5 years ago and I use a neck rack like Slim Harpo, Dylan or Jimmy Reed. I'm working on doing a solo troubadour thang.

Q#5: Gear: who are you usng - harps, amps, etc

SBT  I prefer Marine Bands for the sound but the upper register reeds seem to stick more and more as the years go. I like the Marine Band Deluxe when I can afford them. I have a friend who sets my harps up here in Houston - Steve Schnieder. I have a tweed Fender bassman set up point to point. But I use a tweed Fender Blues Deville that has had the bias tweaked and has been recapped at least twice. I bought it 1996 and it looks really beat up because it now has over 3000 gigs on it. LOL. I think you'd have to deconstruct it to see what is wrong with it to make sound so cool. I don't always play specifically a Chicago style of harp so a bassman seems limited to me. I've actually been frustrated with my sound the past few years. I just added the Lone Wolf Blues digital delay pedal and the octave pedal. My tone seems rounder and fatter but also clearer so I now I am able to get up over a pretty rockin' band with a warm sound. Also I am not getting washed out on the high register. Randy Landry with Lone Wolf Blues, who I met at Hill Country Harmonica really fixed me up. See, an old dog can learn new tricks! I generally use an astatic vintage JT30 crystal mic most of the time. But I own an original 1950 green bullet - numbered and everything - with a controlled magnetic element in it. I tend to gravitate to it for studio work because it really cuts. It doesn't have a volume control on it though so I seldom use it live.

Q#6: Who are you listening to lately?

SBT  The reissue Little Walter box set. Incredible. Little Willie Anderson - people mistake him for Big Walter at first I notice. Juke Boy Bonner is sorta like my muse. After doing the Texas Harmonica Fest, I am pretty wrapped around Adam Gussow. I borrow a lot of my phrasing from Tenor players so I am enjoying Smiley Lewis, whose music always has great sax solos in it.

Q#7: What are the 5 big mistakes beginners make?

SBT  First, as a part time harmonica teacher, I can say not learning how to play first position melodies with some technique is bad ju ju. They want to jump right into blues not knowing tongue blocking, working on their rhythm, splitting octaves and playing chord/melody will apply down the road. Learning how to play clear whole notes without bending will help differentiate the notes once you do move up learning to bend.

Second, young players need to put that harmonica deeper in their mouth even if they just pucker. They get a hissing sound on the two draw I notice a lot of the time - and that is your root note so that's no good. You can't put the top and bottom of your lips on the comb like you are kissing your niece. My lips cover half the harmonica going back on the cover plate at least. You will get a clearer, richer note or a browner tone.

Third, like Rick Estrin says, listen actively. Don't put on a record and play all over the music the whole time. Take time to sit back and focus on the whole sound. It's an ensemble and you need to get into the rhythm and the arrangement.

Fourth, if you just starting out, don't believe it too much when your friends or loved ones tell you how good you sound when you get up on stage at a blues jam after playing six months. Unless you played another instrument and have performed on stage a lot or you a prodigy genius savant, you probably don't really know what you doing. Certainly, it's a first step but if you aren't realistic, as time goes on, good musicians will laugh at you behind your back. Learning how to play some simple pieces well from Jimmy Reed or Slim Harpo can go a long way.

Fifth, is trust your intelligence and common sense. I have lots of students who are intimidated having never played music before. These are smart successful people. It's important to get into a step by step process at learning most anything. Trust your mind and trust the process. A great deal of this is ear training but it is also about developing your muscle memory like typing or driving a car. That means if you want to play, it will require lots of practice to get that wiring inside of you set up. In a sense, at some point, thinking gets in the way of playing. That means repetition, repetition, repetition. The magic comes from putting in the time. Have a little faith and use discipline to achieve your goals. It also helps to visualize yourself actually doing what you hope to accomplish. That's very powerful.

Q#8: Do you enjoy song writing and what do you find most laborious about it?

SBT  Songwriting is challenging. I've heard it said, the first line comes from God and the rest of it is work. If you are writing serious lyrics, it's essential to vulnerable and bare your soul. That's not so easy. Learning guitar is helping me map out songs but then I have to bring them to my band or to a producer. I study great songwriters a lot. At home, I tend to tap on the kitchen table and write lyrics until I get something resembling a song.

For my next album I hope to get a producer to help me flesh a few things out with my arrangements. Artistically, I tend to want my work to sound like where I come from, which is Houston and the gulf coast. We are a multi-cultural city with zydeco, blues, swing up town, lowdown, roots rockin music scene and that essentially has forced me - helps me find my own voice. We are between Mexico and Louisiana so our sound has that feel to it. A lot of those styles in Houston weren't created with a harmonica in mind like say Chicago or Mississippi blues. I had to learn to marry the blues harp to the those styles if I wanted a gig playing for someone like Joe Guitar Hughes. So when I do write, I try my best apply my own personal experiences over my own regional landscape. Those west coast or Chicago cats can kick my butt so it's better to develop my own thing.

Q#9: Any new albums coming soon?

SBT  I'm doing a lot of session work lately - or at least a lot for me. I plan on starting a new album this fall. Hopefully I can get it done by Christmas so I can book some dates to tour with in 2011.

Q#10: What do you like most about the Houston Music Scene?

SBT  The best thing about the Houston music scene is how accessible all the legendary black blues guys are and have been for me the past 30 years. I have always been able to hang out, jam and learn directly from guys like Jimmy T-99 Nelson, Joe Guitar Hughes, Grady Gaines, Pete Mayes, Texas Johnny Brown, Peppermint Harris, and so many others it would hard to imagine for others if they didn't live here. Coming to a big city, this was my dream - to learn at the feet of the masters. I would have had that opportunity in Chicago, LA or NY in the 80s or 90s. So that is what I got here in Houston - opportunity. I cannot tell you how much that means to me. I feel blessed to be apart of this tradition in an authentic way.

Q#11:  what is your favorite city to perform in and why?

SBT  Houston, of course. But Johnny Copeland, who grew up here but moved to NY in the 70s said Houston is a great place to learn the blues but hell playing them here. I love Austin too because there some really savvy pros up there and serious music lovers. I want to play for real blues lovers. Nothing worse than dealing with indifference towards toward the blues. I've gigged a lot of places but I am trying to branch out. Maybe a hot new record will me accomplish that. I want to play NY City, bring a great Texas band and do my thing hoping they like it.

 
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