VIEW HIGHLIGHTS and EXCERPTS From My May 2000, IN DEPTH INTERVIEW With AUSTIN CITY LIMITS PRODUCER TERRY LICKONA Discussing.....DOYLE BRAMHALL II!!!!.......
To celebrate.....Doyle Bramhall II's....Current, Ongoing, Spring and Summer, 2009 Arc Angels Reunion Tour both here in the US, and also with the Arc Angels opening for Eric Clapton's Spring 2009 UK Tour, including almost a 2 week night stand at London's Royal Albert Hall, with upcoming NEW Arc Angels Live and Studio CD and DVD Releases, (Editor's note and at the time I posted and wrote this, Doyle's at THAT time, Friday, January 9, 2009 headlining, solo, performance at Antones Nightclub in Austin, Texas, USA), I am posting selected highlights and excerpts discussing Doyle Bramhall II, from my extensive, May, 2000, In Depth Interview, (Published as a 2 Part Cover Story in the September 2000 and October 2000 Issues of "Vintage Guitar Magazine"), with Terry Lickona, Producer of the PBS, Internationally Televised, Prestigious, live music showcase TV Series, Austin City Limits, which was conducted to honor and celebrate at that time, the 25th Anniversary of Austin City Limits.
BELOW, Terry and I discuss, DOYLE BRAMHALL II!!
At The END, is a quote from DOYLE, also from May 2000, on behalf of my interview with Terry covering ACL, regarding and discussing when Doyle performed on Austin City Limits in 1999 and its creative influence on him as an artist.
From: "Austin City Limits® Celebrating 25 Years of Legendary Guitarists"
by Arlene R. Weiss
© Copyright June 5, 2000 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright January 7, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright May 12, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
AW: Three amazing youthful Blues prodigies, Jonny Lang....Doyle Bramhall II....and Kenny Wayne Shepherd have all brought their talents to your show. What do you think that talents this young bring to the show’s live forum and in their performances---as opposed to seasoned veterans who, while the veterans have the talent, they still have had many more years to both endure and enjoy both the prices and the rewards of the music business and performing live? Do you find a certain freshness and exuberant innocence to youthful performers such as these three?
TL: Absolutely. I think there's something about watching an artist, especially a guitar player who is still learning their art, still learning how to create music, and growing and evolving, practically day by day. And there's a certain rawness to their style. At the same time, there's that innocence, exuberance; that's a great way to refer to it.
TL: Yes, and it's also a part of documenting history. How people like Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd play when they're in their teens….where Doyle, who I think is in his 30's. Then, hopefully, they're able to come back and do the show five or ten years from now and we're able to capture their musical growth. To have it all on tape, in our library, rather than just waiting until they're older and more seasoned veterans.
AW: I think with music, when artists have a certain celebration, love, and passion for their music, and that is extended to the audience, and the audience is in love withwhat the artists are doing….and they give that back….it's like this constant flow that goes back and forth, a continuous circle.
TL: And it's especially true with a hometown guitarist like Eric Johnson or Stevie Ray Vaughan or Doyle Bramhall II. But it also works the same way with these bands like Little Feat, The Allman Brothers, and more recently, Lynyrd Skynyrd, when they came through to do the show. It just drives the crowd wild, especially when there are two or three guitarists going at the same time on stage, as is the case with these three bands.
AW: You've featured unbelievable Blues artists on Austin City Limits over the years; Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Doyle Bramhall II. Each one of them is quite a bit older or younger than one another, and also is from another, completely different generation, yet throughout each of their artistic careers, each one of them have often performed live together or co-headlined on the same bill at many internationally prestigious live venues, such as Robert Cray, Doyle Bramhall II, and Buddy Guy who all have often shared the same stage. Can you elaborate on the succession of these different generations performing with and honoring one another, of the joy that the older generation attains in passing the torch of this great traditional style of playing and form of music onto a young Blues guitar player who loves this style of music to keep it alive, and the joy they all attain in giving that back to the audience?
TL: I think in Blues music, at least in Blues guitar, more than perhaps any other popular form of American music there is more of that inheritance of style from one generation to another and the influence seems to be more present through the generations. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan, for example, grew up listening to people like Albert King, B.B. King, and Albert Collins and that influence is very obvious in their own style. And Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Doyle Bramhall II, and people like that are picking up that style through Stevie Ray and Jimmie….and so the influence continues to flow. Eric Clapton is another classic example of that. Eric Clapton has influenced so many guitar players himself, and yet he is really only a funnel for all of the older, legendary Blues guitar players who came before him.
AW: With most others styles of music, a lot of people don't look at the musical history that came before. They think it's just this generation. But with the Blues….even when you see Interviews with Clapton and The Rolling Stones, especially, Keith Richards, they always talk about Robert Johnson, McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters), and Blind Lemon Jefferson….and artists like that were around back in the 1920's and 1930's.
TL: Yes. Think about how Clapton and other artists went back to the earliest recordings of artists long since gone. But, there does seem to be more respect among Blues guitar players for their predecessors, for earlier generations going back to the beginning. And I think that's great, that that continues to this day, right on up to the new crop of Blues guitarists in their teens.
AW: With Doyle Bramhall II, do you think that the music industry has pinned an awful lot of pressure as well as hopes on him, to pick up this mantle from people like Stevie Ray?
TL: I think so. I think there's a lot of pressure on artists today in general. Not only Blues guitarists, but any up and coming artist. There's so much competition out there. The dynamics have changed. Except for Austin, there aren't a lot or there aren't as many live music venues in other cities around the country. The radio station's formats have become so tight, not only pop, but country, you name it, any format. Even though there are many radio stations, it seems like fewer radio stations are willing to experiment and play younger, up and coming artists. The record labels are cutting back on their artists' rosters. It makes it so much harder for a young musician. I know the pressure is tremendous on somebody like Doyle. He's had a lot of great breaks. The fact that Doyle Bramhall II is represented by the same Management as Sheryl Crow, is a tremendous opportunity for somebody like him. His record company has put a lot of promotion behind him. But these days, if a record company doesn't see results right after….(Editor's note, fact check..this particular statement by Terry reflected the professional business circumstances of Doyle Bramhall II as of May 2000)....
AW: Instantly….They don't follow and develop you for twenty years like a Paul Simon, or take chances like they did with him after he left Art Garfunkle. They didn't just say, "Oh no, the formula's broken now." Instead, they stayed with him and then he successfully went on to do many other creative things, including World music with "Graceland ".
TL: Right. If your first record doesn't sell, you might not get a second chance.
AW: That's it. And I think that's terrible, because people need to be developed over the long haul and an artist….They forget the key word here, being...artist. Most people in the music business; that's just it. They look at it as a business, but a business is when you're creating a widget or a product. An artist, well they need to make money, that's the business part of it, but they're still….there is no bottom line….They're an artist, and they need time.
TL: Your're absolutely right.
AW: Is there a special sense of pride, satisfaction, and joy in that, knowing that you can help launch the music careers of so many wonderful artists?
TL: Arlene, there's a special sense of pride in just about everything we do. At the end of the day, or at the end of the night, after a show's finished….you know, working on a Public Television series in Austin certainly is not the most lucrative way to make a living for any of us. We could have long ago, gone off and found work in commercial television or somewhere where we could make a lot more money. But the rewards that we get from doing our show, working with the caliber of artists ranging from the legends like B.B. King and Ray Charles, to the new kids like Jonny Lang and Doyle Bramhall II, and helping to discover people like Lyle Lovett and Nancy Griffith….and to give them the stage, a National stage where they can be seen by millions of people, gives us a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction in what we do. And that extends right down to the entire staff, everybody who works on the show seems to feel that same sense, that pride in what we do. Being able to live and work in Austin just adds to it. We're the big fish in the small pond here, whereas if we worked in Nashville or Los Angeles , we'd be one of many, many people who do the same thing.
"It was an honor to be a part of Austin City Limits and following in the footsteps of some of my influences and heroes."
Doyle Bramhall II
© Copyright June 5, 2000 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright January 7, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved
© Copyright May 12, 2009 by Arlene R. Weiss-All Rights Reserved