Randy McAllister - Macallè Blues

Main menu:

News & Revues

Interviews...
Macallè Blues meets Randy McAllister

courtesy of Randy McAllister

Drummer, harp player, singer and original songwriter, East Texas bluesman Randy McAllister boasts an outstanding career and a bunch of excellent records. We've had a little talk after the issue of his last, beautiful cd Fistful of Gumption. What follows is the conversation he has granted (thanks to Frank Roszak) to Macallè Blues.

Macallè Blues: Although your career spans almost over a quarter of century, I confess that if it wasn’t for other kind of sources, for example American and foreign blues magazines and internet too, I’d have had very few occasions to read and know about you here in Italy. So, I would take this chance to sum up something about your beginning: when did you start playin’ and which are the bluesmen or the musicians that have inspired you the most back then?

Randy McAllister: I started on drums when I was around 6. I was influenced by my father, who also played drums. I bought my first kit when I was 12, with $40 I made mowing lawns. My parents put some extra insulation in my bedroom to sound proof it and let me have at it. My dads record collection is how I first became interested in blues. This was also around 12 years of age. My biggest influences during this time were Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Little Walter, Freddie King and B.B. King. As I got older and continued to explore, my influences became more diverse. Percy Mayfield, Earl King, The Staple Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Eugene Record (The Chi-Lites), Leiber and Stoller, Papa Lightfoot, Johnny Ace, John Fogerty, Bobby Womack, Clarence”Gatemouth” Brown and Lonnie Brooks, were some of the big influences on me.

MB: You started recording here in Europe, in England to be exact, by the end of the 90s. At the time, you recorded three records for JSP label. How did you get in touch with them and why they were interested in you, in your opinion. I mean, your first records were not the typical JSP kind of recording, but I remember at that time other young and original artists such as Larry Garner or Tutu Jones were in too. So, do you think JSP was looking for something a bit different and fresh maybe?

RMA: I didn’t get in touch with JSP on my own. My friend, Andrew “Jr. Boy “ Jones, sent them a demo on my behalf. Andrew and I had become friends in the early – mid 90’s, through the course of working together. Andrew was already signed to JSP and had mentioned me to John Steadman, the owner. John evetually signed me to the label. Andrew recorded on and produced my first cd with the label. Yes I do think JSP was looking for something different or fresh, and Andrew was helping John do some scouting.

MB: You are a drummer, a singer and a harp player too. That’s not very usual indeed. Considering you are a very strong singer, one may think that harp should be the right instrument to alternate with the voice while you remain firmly seated in the time-keepin’ zone instead. Is that because you love so much drumming or is there some other artistic reason?

RMA: There was a time when I was leading the band from up front, singing and playing harmonica. I went to my current format of being behind the kit, about 14 or 15 years ago. I did this for a few different reasons. At times it was difficult to find drummers that had the right kind of feel or approach. There were economic and travel concerns also. Money goes a lot further the smaller your band gets and traveling becomes a little easier when you have less personalities to deal with. I also liked the challenge. I taught myself to play harmonica while playing drums. So we have the flexibility of scaling down to a three piece and sounding bigger than what we are. And yes, it’s also because I just love playing.

MB: Two things you just said in your previous answer focused my attention. The first is about drummers. I do believe there are a lot of good drummers around, but I also do believe it could be difficult to find the one that’s got the right feel, as you said, expecially for your music which is very rhythmic and pulsating I may say. Also, the fact of being you a drummer with the clear idea of how the kit has to sound in your music may induct you to be higly demanding from other possible drummers. The second is about “sounding bigger than we are” and that’s true, that’s how you often sound; like a sonic wall. And that’s amazing considering you’re a 3/4-piece-band. Also, the fact that you play drums and harp together, set you really apart.

RMA: It can be difficult to find the right drummer but more importantly I generally liked the creative aspect of singing and playing harmonica from behind the kit. It was especially challenging to play a melody on harmonica while playing drums. It also changes how you approach singing and playing harmonica when you are doing it from behind the kit. Not in a good or bad way, just a different way. When I’m playing drums and harmonica at the same time, I have the ability to know what’s coming as far as accents, punches and other dynamics. I can do things “off the cuff” and make it sound planned because I’m playing both instruments.

MB: Now, let’s talk a bit about songwriting. You are such a prolific and original songwriter too. You records are made almost of just your own compositions which are often witty, smart and humorous too ( You Ain’t Barbie, I Ain’t Ken; Bullets For Breakfast; Ain’t Like The Movies and the list could go on and on and on...). So, what did inspire you to start writing?

RM: I appreciated the art of a well crafted song from very early on and it was always my goal to be a good writer. I am always fascinated with putting the pieces of a song together and hearing the final product. I was also a pretty reserved kid and writing was a good form of expression for me. Once I decided I was going to make music my career it was going to be on the strength of my songs or not at all.

MB: And you won the bet, really. You know how to tell a story with that same wit and grace which is a typical aspect of the great blues songwriters.

RMA: Thank you for the compliment. I’m fortunate to have had a lot of good teachers to draw from. Even though some of them just took the form of listening to a record.

MB: It is pretty clear that there are a lot of different influences in your music: Texas blues, of course, but also a bit of soul, country, rock even zydeco too. Who loves hanging a label over everything would may file your music under Americana. But if you had to describe it with your words, how would you call it?

RMA: I’m a blues man first. I do infuse a lot of what I do with the genres you mentioned, sometimes it’s more, sometimes less, that’s by design. As a guy trying to pay the bills playing blues in 2017, or the last 30 years for that matter, you have to find ways to enable you to take care of your family. I realized early on I wanted to follow the blue print of guys like Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Lonnie Brooks and Freddie King. They incorporated different genres into their blues because they liked different flavors of music and it gave them the ability to play for a wider, more eclectic audience, in order to make a living. I write in a way that represents the musical environment I was raised in and try to use those influences to the best of my ability. Music was never just a hobby for me.

courtesy of Randy McAllister

I’ve been fortunate to make a 30 year career out playing my own music on my own terms partly because of just trying to adapt to a changing world. I’m an East Texas bluesman who leans heavily on soul and other flavors of roots when the mood of the song or situation strike me. Until tomorrow, when I’m an East Texas Bluesman who leans heavily on zydeco and other flavors of roots when the mood of the song or situation strike me.

MB: Let’s get to the present. Your last record, Fistful Of Gumption sounds like a step forward, the mature, natural evolution of what has come before of it. As usual, it is full of personal self-penned songs, but musically speaking, it shows something more: the presence of the fiddle, which gives some kind of Country feel throughout and the use of rhythm changes. Are you heading to new directions?

RMA: I know that some will use a country reference when they hear the fiddle. However, that’s not how it’s intended. The fiddle player is a young, talented girl named Maya Van Nuys. She had been touring with me for about 3 years and wanted to be a part of a cd, as she should have because she had been doing everything else except recording. I wrote the majority of the songs to accommodate a fiddle. Aside from her solos, she’s doing rhythm parts that are similar to a second guitar part. Her playing is very bluesy and soulful. I also wanted to play up the swampier side of my East Texas roots. Not headed in any new direction. That was just the direction of that particular cd.

courtesy of Randy McAllister

MB: In this last issue you pay homage to Earl King with a marvelous cover version of Time For The Sun To Rise taken from his Sexual Telepathy album, followed by your original, Country flavored, gospel tinged Ride To Get Right, which is a tribute to both Otis Redding and Earl King although musically speaking it seems curiously a bit far from away from them: were they other two sources of inspiration?

RMA: The idea of that song was to pay tribute to two of my influences by recalling some of the memories I had of listening to them while driving back and forth from Texas to Louisiana. The feel of the song was just meant to be a fun play on the Louisiana influence of my East Texas upbringing.