Brian Kramer

Expatriate Blues

Suncoast Blues Society

By the time you are reading this, I will be in Boise, Idaho, studying Environmental Economics on a scholarship program for teachers. Instead of no column this issue, I thought members would enjoy reading an interview I did with an incredibly talented musician for La Hora del Blues, in Barcelona, Spain. Go to his website and give a listen, and I think you will understand why I wanted to share Brian Kramer with blues fans. Brian is currently on tour in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, if there are any blues groups in Boise, I'll be sure to stalk 'em. — Blues Stalker

BS: Brian, I know you grew up in Brooklyn. How did you get interested in a career in music and when did you start playing guitar? Did you receive any formal training?

BK: It's a funny thing, but I'm about to take a trip back to New York and do a few shows, where I will be re-united with the guy who I learned and got into this music thing with, oh... about 25-26 years ago. My childhood friend Jon Nilsen's dad worked for a record shop that also sold guitars and stuff. One day, I was hanging out at his house and his dad walked in with a whole bunch of cheap guitars because the store was over stocked. We got all excited and started bangin' around on them right away. I was 14 years old. So, we basically started teaching each other whatever we picked up here and there and jammed all the time, like around the clock! One day, we walked into this little used record shop in Brooklyn and both of us grabbed a handful of records and ran out of the store as fast as our feet could carry us... yeah, we sort of were naughty kids.

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The guy working there didn't even bother to chase us! Apparently we grabbed from the blues section, which, in those days (the late 70's disco era) you couldn't give away. When we got back home and checked out what we had lifted, there happened to be a Lightnin' Hopkins record along with, I think, John Mayall, the Blues Project and a few others. We gave a listen to some of the records thinking, "Yeah, this is OK." We could take it or leave it, but when we got to the Lightnin' record... That was it! I never experienced anything like it, and it just went right through me like a "Lightnin' bolt"! That was how it began: trying to get close to that feeling, and it's taking me my whole life!

BS: How did a guy from Brooklyn barely out of his teens meet Junior Wells and end up recording with artists like Junior and Mick Taylor?

BK: One of the records that I listened and jammed to religiously as a teen was Junior's Hoodoo Man with Buddy Guy. I loved that record! You have to understand how unusual it was at that time, a kid in Brooklyn in the late 70s listening to this music! I was playing with a drummer, named Mitch, who knew them both when he lived in Chicago. One day he called and said Buddy and Junior were in town, playing at the old Lone Star Cafe (now gone) and would I like to meet them? Mitch brought me to the dressing room, and Junior and Buddy greeted us both warmly. I was so nervous, but Junior, he made me feel real comfortable. Mick Taylor... He was part of the recording I did with Junior, (Brian Kramer and the Blues Masters feat. Junior Wells- Win Or Lose ' 89). The piano player I worked with, David Cohen (from Country Joe and the Fish) toured with Mick and got him involved with the session. I rarely saw him after that. Incredible player though!

BS: Tell me about your relationship with Junior, one of my favorite blues artists.

BK: Well, that show... at the Lone Star was two nights, so the second night I showed up with my Dobro. I think I was, like, 20 years old and had a lot of balls! Buddy really liked my guitar and started playin' "Catfish Blues" on it...But I really wanted to play something with Junior, so later on, just before they finished the last set, I snuck back up to the dressing room, took out my guitar and waited. The way they did their show back then was Junior would exit the stage first, then Buddy would exit and then the band would finish up the night. So I'm sitting there, like a skinny little kid, long hair, posed with my guitar and in walks Junior, drenched in sweat. He just stood there in the doorway for a moment, silent, looking me over. Then he walked in and said, "You wanna play sumthin? Whut key?" We played for a while with the other band members gradually coming in and cheering us on. It was enormous for me! That night we created a bond and over the next few years, whenever he came to town, I would hang out and they'd both give me all sorts of advice and guidance. Later on, when I was approached to do my first record I called up Junior and asked if he would play on it and without hesitation he said, "Just tell me where and when." If it weren't for Junior's kindness and generosity I would never have seen the possibility of pursuing a career in music. He told me as a young man that I had the right to express myself with the blues as much as anyone. Highly influential words from someone I idolized... I sure do miss him.

BS: In 2001, you recorded Two Gun Green with legendary bluesman Larry Johnson for Armadillo Records. How did you meet Larry and what was it like to work this great bluesman?

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BK: Oh jeeze, I could write a book on this subject alone... Where do I start? OK first of all Larry was also a big part of my maturity and growth as a young man trying to express myself with this music that has no "real" part of my heritage and family upbringing. But it's certainly not the first time a nice Jewish boy would find solace deep in the Delta... I saw Larry regularly at the now historic and long gone Dan Lynch's Bar on the lower east side of Manhattan. Bobby Radcliff, the Holmes Brothers and Joan Osborne were among the many local acts that played and hung around regularly. If you were lucky, you could also catch folks like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Winter, and others popping in to jam at that time. Larry was the only acoustic act. When I first saw him, as a teen, I had never experienced so much music and sounds coming off one guy! He sounded like a whole damn orchestra, with the bass strings poppin' and the treble strings slidin' and this percussive thing goin' on through it all... and that voice! I bought, borrowed or stole his records and studied every note to the best of my ability. I even did a few of his tunes when developing my own set back then. After I did the recording with Junior and gigs in New York were starting to get better, I got a call from a friend who said that Larry Johnson, who was away in Italy for about 6 years, was coming back and needed a place to stay. I offered to help as I knew someone who rented out a room once in a while. I went to meet with Larry, who I have never actually spoken to before, and I told him if he would like, he could be involved in some of the shows I had booked until he got something going on. He was pleased that I asked and eager to get back on the scene in NYC. Before the first show, at Tramps I believe, he asked if I would like to join him for a couple of songs. So we're in the dressing room and Larry's rubbing his chin going "Hmm, now what can we do that will work?" when I start suggesting and picking songs from his repertoire, "What? How do you know that?" He was a bit surprised but when we started playing, it was simply amazing! We played together all the time for years after that! One writer wrote that we sounded like one man with 20 fingers, that's how close we got musically. Larry has a reputation for being a pretty moody guy and it can be extreme, but I have always felt that if he really didn't want to keep company with me he wouldn't, so I felt honored. I remember he once told me, "Brian, there are three reasons why I like to have you around, one, you're good company, two, you make good conversation and three, you never ask me to show you what to play on the guitar." Well, that was more encouragement than I ever got from my own father. We lost contact for a few years after I moved to Sweden, then the Bibb tours came up, but after that when I was fishing around for some festival gigs, a promoter who had just read a Living Blues article asked if I ever heard of Larry Johnson because he sure would like to get him to Sweden. I think you can figure out what happened from there? Anyway, he told his record company (Armadillo) to get hold of me for his next recording, which is Two Gun Green. It's a unique CD, very different than what's out there, I'm really proud to have been a part of it!

BS: Busy, busy, guy.... In 2002, in collaboration with Armadillo Records, you released the CD Everybody's Story. Tell us about this disc, I love it!

BK: Thank you, you're my new best friend! Yeah, I guess it seems like it's busy when it's all lumped together. Well this lumps together too! The recording session for Everybody's Story was already booked while we were in England recording Larry's CD. So within a week of returning home from an intense, life-changing experience with Mr. Johnson, we were back in the studio cutting a new CD! I actually planned it that way because I thought we would all be in great form from playing together through that experience; I should have considered that we would all be emotionally exhausted also... The musicians on this recording, my band the Couch Lizards are just the best! (Mats Q.- Harp, Christer L.- Guitar/Mandolin, PA Urlander- Upright Bass, Jim O'Leary- Drums) Not only because they know their instruments and the idiom but because they are just great people. For years they have supported my style and vision of what I want to communicate and we have developed into a really joyful group. We all wanted to do a recording that captured our natural interactions, so it was done mostly live with just a few little decorative bits added after and only if needed. I'm satisfied with the result. Tony Sweet at Armadillo music (UK) has been very helpful with making it partly available through his label and is trying to get us booked for some events in the summer. He really digs our band!

BS: How did you get to Sweden from New York? You have permanent residency there now, correct?

BK: Yes, Sweden is now home base for me and the family. It's another one of those "funny" stories that makes you believe in a higher power...In 1990 I was jamming with some buddies in Washington Square Park in NY, it was the summer and very hot. A guy approached me and told me he really liked my picking and that he tours around Scandinavia with different blues units and asked if I would like to go. We exchanged numbers. Then a week later I met a cute, European girl in the same park, same spot and I asked her out. After a week of romance it turns out that she is actually from Sweden (I thought I heard her say Switzerland, duh...) so I arranged to go play in Scandinavia with that guy for four months, stayed with this girl, Annika, while there, and she eventually became my wife. We both moved to New York together to live and start a family. After five years we decided to have our second child in Sweden and spend a year there to see if things were better than the extremely sad, dustbowl condition of the NY music scene. As you can probably tell, it was.

BS: How is the Scandinavian blues scene different from the USA?

BK: Well... We're really talking apples and oranges here. I used to compare and it just drove me nuts... I mean, they really appreciate the blues here, and I try to keep that healthy and alive in my own way within the scene. The venues tend to be more reliable and the people in general. But in the US, well... the blues is "ours" so the overall effect has become a bit .. .jaded. It's so protected and pampered and a bit 'elite.' When the music hits folks' ears here, they just respond and move to it. There's a natural instinctive appreciation that is what the music is supposed to be about, not shrouded in "Legendary-isms." That may be just my opinion though....

BS: The U.S. Congress has just designated 2003 as the "Year of the Blues." What would you like to see happen in the blues world this year? What can we all do to promote this great music form?

BK: Year of the blues? I've just designated this as my 25th year of the blues. Well it's great that it's getting the recognition it deserves. The music business has not exactly been fair to this great, multidimensional musical form, which has given countless births to an industry that reaps billions in revenue. The simple answer from me is radio. More daily roots & blues related programs, on major stations that support, gives exposure and creates opportunity to the many variations of blues and developing artists. If young people are given the choice and information, they'll tell the difference right away and respond. I see it happen all the time here. People are hungry for music with true meaning that represents what they are feeling and experiencing right now, substance! That's why the blues will never die, that's why Congress can make such a designation. So, if the music industry can give a little more back, many more folks will have a fair chance to enjoy the evolution of the blues, rather than being continually force fed the latest regurgitated pop. But realistically... that's not gonna happen... The folks who turn the big wheels are about profit not substance. So let's just keep doin' the one on one boogie!
BS: Thanks Brian, for being my blues brother and sharing your incredible talent with us all.

For more information about Brian Kramer, his music and touring schedule, visit www.briankramerblues.com. Mention that the Blues Stalker sent ya' and get $2.00 off any BK CD purchased on-line. — Monte Adkison

Monte teaches high school in Ocala, FL. E-mail her at and then go to her new website at www.bluesstalker.com. It's full of pictures of those who've been stalked!!