The Billy Branch Interview

The Harmonica Interviews presents…

B I L L Y   B R A N C H

                                     am interview by Jeff Silverman

PROLOGUE: I met Billy Branch in the 70's in the West Village at a club called the 
                    Bottom Line. I'd heard of him through Living Blues, he'd just won 
                    a 'head cutting' blow down against Little Mac Simmons, whom, if   
                    you've had the good fortune to hear, you'd know was a masterful     
                    player.  My curiosity was piqued!  I dropped into the afore mentioned 
                    club to  hear Willie Dixon's Blues All Star's featuring Carey Bell on 
                    Harmonica. (the same band that I would later join on Memphis Slim's 
                    recommendation...!) To my surprise and delight Billy was there under 
                    the tutelage of these two great pioneers, I thought that he was the 
                    most fortunate young harp player on the planet!

                    The next day we got together at my pad on the lower east side (alphabet 
                    city to you old heads) where we ate, drank, traded licks and stories until 
                    late into the evening. He lived up to his hype as the young turk on the 
                    Chicago scene and then some! The next time I heard news of him was 
                    on Willie Dixon's latest record where he laid down some beautiful sounds 
                    in The Maestros latest masterpiece. Shortly after, he did a recording of a 
                    beautiful song called Prisoner of The Blues on Alligator, in the company 
                    of Lurrie Bell, Carlos Johnson, and I believe Freddie Dixon in an 
                    appellation called The Sons of the Blues. I'm not sure but I think he 
                    wrote it, it is one of my favorite songs of his. I always ask him for it when I 
                    have the opportunity to hear him live.  I hope that he will rerelease it, it is
                    in my opinion one of the classics of modern Blues. 

                    I could go on and on with accolades but I will resist in an effort to be 
                    succinct and to get to Billy's words, after all this is his interview!! let it 
                    suffice to say that Billy is and has been for many years a bulwark in the 
                    Blues community, a powerful player, carrier of the tradition and I'm proud 
                    to say a friend of mine. Hell, we even went to the same school together 
                    under the professorial hand of The Great Willie Dixon!! As Dixon would 
                    have said, "The Blues is Truth!"   Tell 'em about it Billy!!!             

 
                                                                                    -       Prologue written by Sugar Blue

H411: How are you Billy, what's happening?

BB: Fine Jeff, thank you.  We had a big Grammy fund raiser last night at Buddy Guy’s & everybody was there. We all performed, everybody donates their time.  I had my blues in schools kids.

H411: How many kids were there last night?

BB:  Ohhhh….about twelve…wonderful show with Buddy Guy, Sugar Blue – we played together, Otis Taylor…a whole bunch of folks, all night man!

H411: You and Sugar go back a long way, don’t you?

BB: Oh yeah…

H411: Billy, when I was doing some research for our interview I ran across a quote from a gentleman named Steven Sharp, who interviewed you back in 1997…right after Junior Wells had passed away…

BB:  Uh huh…

H411: …he wrote “…Billy Branch may well become the elder statesman of Blues Harp before long”.  That quote is around thirteen years old.  Do you feel like the elder statesman of blues harp now?

BB: Well, I am definitely NOT feeling like the new kid on the block anymore (laughing). But…in a way…I guess I am slowly realizing that might be an encroaching  reality (laughing more).  Although I really don’t think about it until people come up to me and say “I’ve been listening to you for 25 years”, or someone brings an old CD for me to sign…

H411 Do you look at it and think “I’m still that guy!”

BB: Yeah…

H411: You’ve obviously mentored with the greats; Junior Wells, James Cotton, Carey Bell, but who were some the lesser known influences on your playing.

BB:  I would always try to learn something from any Harp player…well….everybody.  I’ll tell you some of the guys that I used to see, like Big Leon Brooks who played in the Little Walter style, very good harp player…

H411: He put on a good show too yes?

BB: Oh yeah, Big Leon…Good Rockin’ Charles… One Armed John Wrencher (also known as Big John Wrencher)…Snookie Pryor, who is still fairly well known, though not as well known as Cotton and those guys.  Those are some that came to mind.   All those guys befriended me and for the most part, they were very warm and encouraging, me being as young as I was.  They generally embraced me.

H411:  Rick Estrin, and I am paraphrasing,  said in his video that he was “lucky if anyone would give him a straight answers and was more often offered wrong answers” on how to play.  Did you ever encounter that kind of hostility?

BB:  Not so much.  I’ll tell you, it’s true enough you had to prove yourself and pay them dues. It wasn’t as easy as walking right up…appearing on the scene…and people would say “come right in”!  It wasn’t like that at all most of the time. 

My best friend at the University of IL was Junior Well’s step son, Lucius, who played a little harp himself.  He took me down to Theresa’s which was one of the first blues clubs I used to go to, to meet Junior. Remember, Theresa’s was Junior’s home base!  Well,as the saying goes, if looks could kill, (laughing) I would have been dead at 20!  Junior said “why you bringing this cat down here Lucius, I’m trying to teach YOU!” (Laughing).

There was never really a case that you learned anything by the guys explaining things to you, you just had to be there, listening, watching and absorbing

It may very well have Rick Estrin through whom I first become aware of tongue blocking. When I first came on the scene, Rick and Jerry Portnoy had been on the scene for a few years. Jerry hadn’t started playing with Muddy then…but I remember those guys kinda’ laughing at me and saying “this guy can’t play nothing man!” Rick and I have a good laugh about that now.  I saw him at the BMA’s…

H411:  He’s a real nice guy…

BB: Rick’s cool man.  We go back…I remember him when I was first on the scene.  I vaugely remember first hearing Rick doing that tongue blocking and thinking “Man, what is that sound?” When he was doing octaves….he may have been one of the first guys I picked up that from, I remember asking him “Man, what IS that, how do you do that?” (laughing).

H411:  Speaking of Rick, and for that matter Junior Wells, referencing a comment you made at Hill Country Harmonica where you said “the blues harp is about doing more with less”…Junior was a master of understatement in his playing, I mean, he could play a lifetime in 3 notes…

BB:  Well Yeah.  Big Walter could do that too.  You see, Big Walter had such a huge tone.  I learned a lot from him.  Although Carey Bell was probably my strongest live influence as I was around him so much being that his son was a founding member of the Son’s of Blues.  I also spend a quite a bit of time around Big Walter.  I listen to some of my earlier recordings… especially one with Willie Dixon “Mighty Earthquake and Hurricane”, Matthew Escoole said “man you sound so much like Big Walter on that recording”.  I listen to different live recording, and I can tell who I was hanging around with the most with (laughing) during that period, because that’s who my sound would often reflect.

You know that I did that Chicago Blues Living History.  Well, we’re getting ready to record the next installment.  I am going to do a Junior tune.  Though I don’t plan on copying him note for note, I want capture of the essence of the Junior style.  You never hear anybody playing Junior Wells…think about it…it is a deceptively simple, deceptively complex, it’s precise. Which again goes to everybody’s style: It’s uniquely their own.

Little Walter is the most copied of all blues harp players, which I can understand why, because of how dynamic he was, because it was so jazzy and vibrant and fresh…it has a lot of appeal.  To some degree, the sound can be imitated, it can be almost reproduced, with the use of the right amp and right microphone…to some degree.  But with Junior….can’t do it…you can’t do because he had all those little idiosyncrasies,

H411: It always fit…

BB:  Yeah, a lot of people didn’t know, Junior was playing out of one lung…

H411: …which explains a lot about his style.

BB: Yeah, you listen to early Junior’s stuff, he sounded a little like Little Walter too.  If you listen to some of it…they rereleased these recordings …what was it called? ...anyway, Junior had a lot of subtlies and a lot of tone techniques happening.  As I said in my workshop, the three main things are Tone, Phrasing and Execution to be successful

H411: Referencing the three main things, for new players, what is the big missing ingredient you see most often?

BB: Well, just experience and exposure.  That was a major factor in my development.  Being around Junior or Cotton or Big Walter or Carey Bell and those other guys that I mentioned.  I could go any day of the week and see these guys play.  Ultimately that effected my development…a major factor in my development!  Not only them, there were a lot of young white players…Rick, Jerry Portnoy, there was Jim Liban in town with his band Short Stuff from Milwaukie, they was a lot of local guys…Guy Bradbury, Dime Store Fred. All these guys were pretty good…some better than others.  They could hold their own.  Illinois Slim…quite a few.  When you’re able to be exposed to it, the level is raised.  Frankly, that opportunity is not as available anymore - to really understand how a harp is supposed to work in a band.  Because all those great were there…there was a level  of play you had to work up to,  in order to get to play.

H411: Do you find many new harp players, though having technical expertise, have not really learned to stay in the pocket, to know their place in the band.

BB: To a degree, yes.  There IS a harp revolution of sorts going on.  When Blue and I played…and we talked last night…for better or worse, he’s the one that started that shit (laughing). Blue was THE innovator.  Without Blue there wouldn’t be a John Popper or Jason Ricci, these guys that play with very fast technique.  To his credit, and I will say this about him…we have had a friendship and a healthy rivalry over the years and I give credit where credit is due...you’re not going to play with The Rolling Stones or Willie Dixon or Prince if you can’t play, it’s as simple as that…

H411  Because they can afford the best.

BB: That’s right! You ain’t gonna’ get that spot if you can’t play.  I know some will have a different view, but that’s his interpretation.  Ultimately you want your own style.  Everyone has their own view on what they like or how much they like, but you can’t take away that he plays his own style. AND it’s not a style that’s easily duplicated.

H411:  At my level of playing, when I listen to Sugar, I literally have to resist putting my harps in my closet every time I hear him play, he plays at such a high level.

BB: (Laughing) For me, the harmonica is the probably the most individual instrument that there is…so many ways to play it, so many techniques by it being an extention of the body, I mean you breath to play it. My style is a result of my musical roots…R & B and soul as much as blues.  I’m as comfortable playing The Temptations or Reggea as I am playing blues.  I go for the soul. I go to get the most feeling, you know, what is the right feeling….even though there isn’t only one right feeling. 

Take a song like Juke, on the take that was released…the version that became the hit…every note was in the right place, there wasn’t a note that shouldn’t have been there.

H411: It’s interesting that every great artist or group has their own Juke: Led Zeppelin has Stairway to Heaven, the Rolling Stones have several examples, the Beatles have several where it just came out perfect…where the emotion was conveyed perfectly.

BB: Yes

H411:  It’s a moment of grace, isn't it plus it’s good for the genre, it opens the eyes of people who may not have paid attention to the harp before…to pay attention.

BB: Sure!

H411: If you were talking to a beginning harp player who wanted to knock out the blues on the chromatic, what would you tell them to do, or where to start?

BB:  “I’m Ready”!

H411: Why “I’m Ready”?

BB: It’s the most recognized and acessable blues song recorded with the Chromatic, the most well known song, the most popular and…at least during the chorus…it’s simple (Billy starts humming the chorus) it navigates you and gives you a basic – NOT a complete - tour of playing blues on the chromatic.  Now the solo, that’s a whole other animal.

H411: For the chromatic, aside from bending, what are the differences in the basics one should to learn on the chromatic, as opposed to the diatonic, to play blues?

BB:   I didn’t learn by playing scales, I learned by watching and listening and practicing and experimenting.  Going back to “I’m Ready” you need to learn octaves as well so by learning that one song you will accomplish multiple goals.

411: There seems to be a revolution in gear, I mean, when you started your choices were limited yes?…

BB: Mmm Hmmm

H411: Now there are multiple manufacturers producing high quality gear. What are you seeing that you find revolutionary, if it applies?

BB:  That multiple companies are showing up,  it’s a welcome break through. There is also artist input now.  We’ve been out here for all those years with no input and that’s what was missing.  You would buy your harp, and you couldn’t return it if it was defective.  I mean, they (the music stores) had those hokey bellows tool that would supposably test your harp before you bought it…c’mon man…but then you found out right there at the store that the 9 hole – after blowing it -  was bad and there was nothing you could do.   Thankfully, we have alternatives.  Plus harps are so cost prohibitive now, you have guys who reconstitute them,,,

H411: Like Deak Harp?

BB: …like Deak and they sound great!  Deak’s a good cat!

H411: Mics and Amps, your gear of choice lately.

BB:  (laughing) What I’m using is more of a matter of convenience here in Chicago, because I use a Peavey special 130, which is a solid state amp, and I use the electro-voice mic, which is unconventional in terms of what most guys use, as I don’t get much distortion.  Sometime I regret not having more distortion, but mostly it works fine for me in the Chicago clubs: It’s portable enough & it’s got a good sound. I don’t want lug a lug a heavy 90 lbs amp around, However in the studio, I may want something more gritty.  Often in the studio’s they have an old amp or a variety of choices.

H411:  You usually go wireless now when performing?

BB: Yes, except my wireless is broken, however that functions as a pre-amp, so I do get some distortion when I use it.

H411: You did a tour with Mark Hummel, any more work coming up…the blow outs or the like?

BB: We had a real nice one with Lee Oskar, 10 dates last year?

H411: Yes, I saw that tour at Sellersville last year.  Wonderful show…You, Mark Hummel, Lee Oskar and Willie “Big Eye” Smith.  

BB: Yeah!

H411:  So what’s next for you? 

BB: Hopefully my band will be coming out with an album soon….it’s been years…I still do a fair amount of session work, but haven’t done anything recently with Billy Branch and the Son’s of Blues…

H411:  You going to hit the road afterwards?

BB: Hopefully…hopefully.  I don’t know if my guys are up for 3000, 4000 miles in a van on the road anymore.  But you know, we do need to get out of Chicago more as a unit.  I got a kick ass band!

H411:  How has the blues harp scene changed of the last 15 to 20 years? As obvious as it sounds, what’s new from where it was back then?

BB:   The guys have died…that’s the most obvious change.  I mean Junior’s gone, Carey Bell’s gone, Big Walter’s gone, Snookie Pryor’s gone. Mad Dog Lester, Paul DeLay, Norton Buffalo are all gone.  I tease Willie "Big Eye" (Smith) when I tell him “man, as long as I’ve been in the trenches in the Chicago scene – and James Cotton’s moved out of Chicago -  I outta’ have a good shot pretty soon (of being at the top), and now you’re ass is blowin’ harp again and you’re pushing me back to the end of the line” (laughing).

H411: Any new talent, people we haven’t heard of, people we should keep our eyes on...

BB: Steve Bell, Carey’s son would be good, but unfortunately he’s fallen under some unfortunate circumstances and isn’t able to play with us right now.  There’s Russ Green here in Chicago, he used to be Sugar Blue’s star pupil, and a guy named Omar (Coleman), here in Chicago as well, who has some potential if he can stay focused.  Those are the ones I’m aware of and that I’ve been able to check out over the years. 

H411: I was recently at the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and I saw a live band…young kids…and one was playing harp.  It’s nice to see the continuity. 

Ok…going back to gear, the Manji (Billy Branch is an official endorser of the Suzuki Manji), how do you find it?

BB:  It’s good, it’s easy to play. It’s got high quality and good tone.  You don’t have to exert a lot of breath to play it, very little air leakage, which is a main feature harp players look for.  It’s pretty tight. It’s been working fine and I highly recommend it. 

H411:  We had a lot of great feedback about you from Hill Country Harmonica.  I just wanted to personally thank you, it was great!

BB:  Aw man thanks!  I had a ball.  That’s why I was telling you and Adam (Gussow) “Sign me up for next year”. It was a lot of fun man.  What I liked about it was everybody was just there….there was no bad vibes, no jealousy, everybody came to learn and share.

H411: That’s the vibe we tried to create, I’m pleased it was so obvious.  So…Billy… what else is happening or coming up?

BB: The Living Chicago History, which was up for a Grammy and a BMA, which we won neither of (laughing) we’re supporting that and we will also be recording another edition with some surprise guests!

H411:  We had also spoken earlier about Billy Boy Arnold.

BB:   Billy Boy is a wealth of historical information, he lived through all of it.  This cat he likes to tell the stories.  He knows the history.

H411:  Well Billy, that about wraps it up.  Thank you so much for taking time to chat with me.

BB :  Right on Jeff, you’re welcome man! Tell Adam I said “hey” when you talk to him.







  
 This interview was conducted VIA the phone on June 9, 
  2010.  This interview is copyrighted and my not be   
  duplicated in any form or medium without the written
  consent of Harmonica411.com. Harmonica411 and 
  harmonica411,com are registered tradmarks of
  harmonica 411. Pictures of Billy Branch
  on the home page is coutesy of Wikipedia.