Brian Kramer

Ken Bell went to Sweden with Tony Sweet of Armadillo Records, in January, to see American Brian Kramer who has settled there. Brian talked to Ken in the Stampen Blues Bar, Stockholm. Photo: Ken Bell

How did you first become involved in the blues scene?
My introduction to the blues was a little bit accidental. When I was a teenager in Brooklyn, me and my buddy were about 13 or 14 years old and Brooklyn, as you are probably aware, has a little bit of a reputation and we had a little bit of a seedy upbringing. Anyway, we went into this local used record shop, and what we were gonna do is, basically, as a dare, lift a couple of records, stick 'em under the jacket and run out. Well, I wasn't looking and I just grabbed from the bin that was just closest to the door. When we got home, we looked at what we got, and apparently we'd grabbed from the blues bin. This is like in the late 70's and used blues records were everywhere but not really selling well. Some of the records in the pile were Lightning Hopkins and John Mayall but the thing was, when I put the Lightning Hopkins record on there was this striking music that I was completely unfamiliar with. We were into the rock and learning how to play guitar, and myself and my buddy just decided we had to figure that stuff out.

You're now resident in Stockholm. What led you there, and of all the places, why Stockholm?
Well, I had put out a record, the first album that I did in 1988 on a small label with Junior Wells who had collaborated with me and Mick Taylor from the Stones, some real heavy hitters. I was a youngster, and got my first opportunity to tour in Scandinavia, as someone who had known about the recording invited me to go, and this was about 89 or 90. At the same time, I had just met a young Swedish woman in New York on holiday. When I went over to Sweden to do the tour, we ended up staying together and she showed me the sights and then I came back to New York and she visited me. Then I did another tour, and we did that for a few years. Originally, it started as a musical thing, but then we created a relationship and it continued in Sweden. Both of us married and lived in New
York together for six years but when the music scene in Manhattan started to diminish, we decided to explore coming to Sweden. You have of course, spent two years on the road with Eric Bibb. Have you any more work planned with Eric, or are you simply going to do your own thing from here on in? Eric is a captivating performer, I learned so much from working with him and we had great times, but I think that I'm gonna be doing pretty much my own thing from here on in.

Can we talk about your new album No Regrets? It is also the title of the first track of the album. How accurate are the lyrics of that track, have you really no regrets?
Well, I wrote that song very recently, actually when I turned forty and it sounds a bit like I was being a bit reflective on my life. What happened was that I looked back and realised that we all make mistakes when trying to figure out how to walk down these roads or whatever, but yeah, I can honestly say that I have no regrets. Of course, I'll probably make more mistakes along the way, but I'm learning from each situation.

The album contains 11 original tracks. Nine of them have been penned by yourself, and two by Mats (Qwarfordt). Do you never co-write anything together?
Well, you know, I write a lot and Mats writes also, and it's more like Mats just comes to the forum and he says "I've just written this new song", and we'll work out the arrangements pretty quickly, but it's clearly a Mats Qwarfordt song and he knows just what he wants. I write on like a monthly basis and it's the same sorta thing, songs come to me constantly. A lot of them don't make the grade though. I write about a dozen for every one, if I'm lucky.

Which is your favourite track on the album, and why?
My personal favourite, actually I was telling the producer Kevin Thorpe just yesterday, is a song called 'Every Little Bit Counts' and I love that track. Although all of them are special to me, everything that I enjoy about our music comes
together on that song.

What do you regard as the best moment of your career so far?
Well, one great experience, one of the best moments I've had, would be working with Junior Wells on the first record. Junior was a friend and when I got the record deal, I asked Junior if he would be a part of it, and he agreed without hesitation. So when we were in the studio, and it's still very close to me, we did an acoustic track together and I was playing an old 1930's National guitar and we started playing in an old Robert Johnson style feeling. I felt like he was guiding me and at that moment I felt a deep exchange that we had connected musically, and I still try to get close to that feeling to this day.

And what was your lowest point?
I t was probably being in a small New York bar doing a duo gig and this was about fifteen years ago. All of a sudden a crowd of about fifty came in, a businessman's party, and all along they were just screaming for me to do James Taylor songs all night long. I think that I just said something into the microphone like "I have a feeling that there's a guy way across town that's doing James Taylor songs to a whole bunch of blues fans that just don't want to hear James Taylor songs right now".

Your music has been described as being music that makes people happy with no depression blues to be found. Where do you get your inspiration from, and have you never written anything a little Leonard Cohen-ish?
Leonard Cohen I admire, but I don't write anything like that specifically. My wife inspired me many years ago because she heard the songs when I was doing a lot of the older blues and she identified to me that these weren't my experiences, you know guys that were taking a pistol and shooting their women, although they are old songs that I admire very much. She said "You know, you're a happily married guy and why can't you write songs that show you enjoy what you do"? And this rang true to me and from that moment I started relating more closely to my experiences. Added to that, I'm a practitioner of Eastern philosophy of the Buddhist school and that inspires me because the philosophy of Buddhism is to turn suffering into joy.

You are obviously a very busy man. In addition to gigging, you produce, you attend workshops and benefit concerts. How do you spend any spare time away from the music scene?
It's really boring. Just sitting at home with my wife and kids just watching a video. Honestly. Nothing exciting there folks!

Any plans to tour the UK with the Couch Lizards in the near future?
I believe so. I believe that Armadillo Records are working on that as we speak.

Finally, you are predominantly known as a National Steel slide guitarist. Have you never felt like picking up something like a Strat and just lettin' rip?
Well, you know I have been a Strat player for many years from the start but I made a conscious choice a few years ago to lay the electric guitar down. I just realised that I wanted to keep my focus on that instrument (National Steel). Every instrument that you pick up has so many layers and I've always felt that I could strike a balance between playing electric and playing the resonator guitars, but when I made the choice to just stick with one for a while I've actually been able to enjoy the instrument much more. I still, you know, pick up a Strat every once in a while. Sometimes when I'm doing acoustic I'll play a solo on it like it's a Strat and it'll turns their heads and they'll say "Hey, where did that come from"?
Thanks Brian and good luck with the new album.
For information on Brian Kramer visit his website at www.briankramerblues.com.