Maxine Kong Civic Media.
We are local music long distance call.
That is Tate and the double eight band James Earl Tate
and the double eight band.
The name of the album is called Keep in the Blues Alive.
That's a great song.
Hey Rocker, I want to remind people
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And Jimmy, I should mention,
you can also go to maxincradio.com, hit listen,
and you can find all of the ways to listen,
including the app.
Jimmy, we have many legends in our music scene here in Madison.
And tonight we have one in the studio with us.
In the late 60s, Nitty Gritty became known as
the best Midwest blues venue, not in Chicago,
and attracted the greats like Muddy Waters,
BB King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison.
Several musicians lived above the Nitty Gritty
and one of them being a young man from Mississippi,
James Earl Tate.
Let's go in.
In the perfect place, at the perfect time,
Tate became fast friends with Luther Allison,
and even toward the world as Luther's sound technician.
But probably better known for the hundreds of open jams
he has hosted at clubs like O.K.'s,
Carl, the King Club, Nuggleheads, and the Red Rooster.
James Earl Tate's story is a journey through Madison's
music scene passed right up to the present.
And Tate has always been here.
James Earl Tate is here with musical director and pianist,
Dennis Lynch, and also Dan Swadley.
Guys, the 008 band, welcome to maxincradio.
Thank you so much for having us there.
Now, we just had you have back a few months of back Tate,
so it's great to have you back in our studio.
And reading your bio, it was like a documentary
of the blue scene here in Madison,
and I was astounded to learn that you lived
in an apartment above the Nitty Gritty,
and everybody knows it has a birthday bar,
but not as a historic blues club.
Tell us a little bit about that blue scene in the Nitty Gritty
and you lived upstairs in these iconic blues players
were coming through town.
What was it like in Madison in the late 60s?
Well, at that time, Marsha Peer owned the place,
and he brought in a lot of blues legends that was wonderful.
And I got to meet Luther Allison there,
and I got to tour around the country with Luther Allison.
That was a fun time.
Me and Luther become fishing buddies,
and he was my fishing buddy.
What'd you guys catch?
Panfish, blue gills, lake prints, and crappies.
Where was the spot, Minona Bay?
Right, Minona Teres, yes.
Now, I saw that Luther, he liked to cook.
Do you like to do the slow-cooked fish?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Why do you slow-cooked fish?
Real easy.
Fish cooks pretty fast.
But it's slow-cooked, or it becomes jelly.
Where sometimes you can smoke them too.
Oh, yeah, yeah, there you go.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Now, I also read that you and Luther,
you know, you were touring the world with Luther
as a sound technician, but on your time off,
you would go find places to go fishing around the world.
You have to have a good memory about that.
Almost every town we go to, we would reach out
and quiz the people about where's the good place
to go fishing.
That was always on our mind.
Where's the good place to go fishing?
Yeah.
All over the state of Wisconsin,
parts from Michigan and Arbor, Michigan.
We used to play at Arbor quite well.
Used to play there a lot at Arbor, Michigan.
Oh, another university town.
Yes, sir.
Now, you and Luther, you were ambassadors of the blues,
ambassadors of the blues.
And you've hosted untold blues jams
with a who's who of musicians
that even include the funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield.
Oh, yeah.
What is it about the blues that drives this obsession?
What do you love about the blues?
Well, it taught me a lot.
It taught me everything I know about the blues.
Well, Luther Allison taught me areas.
I used to study when I was real young.
When I started working with Luther,
he got me over a stuttering
because I'm from Mississippi.
So I slurred my words and started a lot.
And he got me out of it by having me
to introduce him to the states.
And I was able to overcome it.
What was this repetition of doing it,
of announcing stuff on stage,
to get rid of the stutter or what?
Well, he told me if I would introduce him to the states,
I probably wouldn't be nervous.
And I started introducing him.
Here's Luther Allison, ladies and gentlemen,
I hope you enjoy him.
And I got started just from that.
There's another popular person
or a famous person in the world right now
that had a stuttering problem that kind of overcame it too.
What's his name?
Joe Biden or something like that?
You mean the president?
Yeah.
Well, good one, Jimmy.
My mind was pretty bad.
But I like Mr. Biden.
I really do.
I hope the haters out there don't hate me for saying that.
No, no, there's no haters here.
Well, I like Mr. Biden.
I think he's a wonderful man.
Now, tell us a little bit about Jammin with Clyde.
I mean, we play a lot of Clyde stuff
right here.
He was a good friend of Maxing Gradio.
But he played in your jam band a little bit.
Talk a little bit about that.
He played a lot.
He played a lot.
It was, Clyde was a wonderful person,
a good-hearted person.
And he would reach out to all the musicians.
And he played with a lot of musicians here in Madison.
And he played without the great defense syndrome.
Play with, well, he recorded with Paul Black.
And well, he played with a lot of the cats around here.
Yeah.
All the musicians in Madison know about Clyde's stuff
with Phil.
And then for you out there who don't know Clyde's
double field, he was the drummer for James Brown.
The world famous, funky drummer.
World famous, funky drummer.
He was a Madison resident for quite a few years
before he left the way.
I got a question here.
Did you play poker with him?
Yes.
How did that go for you?
Not very well.
Did you ever buy lottery tickets with Clyde?
No.
Okay.
All right.
I heard play, I wish I like poker.
I like playing poker.
I wish I could have played poker with Clyde at least once.
No, you don't.
The truth hurts, man.
It does.
Tate, you know, you have recently recorded
at Soundgarden Studios with Ken Kepler.
And tell us a little bit about the recording
and the upcoming release.
It's called Keeping the Blues Alive.
That's my mission in life is to help keep the blues alive,
help all of the young people that want to be involved
with live blues.
So my mission in life is to help keep the blues alive.
If you, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Matter of fact, there's a loose,
loose the adolescent term, keeping the blues alive.
Keeping the blues alive.
If you had one piece of advice for the younger generation
to keep the blues alive, what would that piece of advice be?
I'd say find something that's you good
and stick with it.
If it's the blues, if it's skateboarding,
if it's riding a bike, but don't drink and drive.
Or a skateboard and drive.
I've never really pictured skateboarding and blues together,
but I guess you can be a blues guy
and skateboard down the road.
I think so.
Do you do skateboard?
No, no, no.
Just wondering, I walk real slow.
I'm getting old.
So I walk real slow.
Well, now let's get back to the album,
keeping the blues alive.
There's quite a few local talented people
in this band that's on this album.
Yes, there he is.
There's Kenny Kepler on drums, Bob Geiger on guitar,
Dennis Lynch on keys and Dan Swadley on bass,
Dan Resnick on sax.
Jimmy was surprised to find out that Paul Flippowitz
is playing some guitar on this album.
Yeah, that's a, Paul is a good friend of mine.
And I love his playing.
Chicago blues, Hall of Famer.
Oh, man, he's something.
I love Paul Flipp, Paul's been my friend
by as long as Luther Alston was my friend.
Paul Flipp, I love Paul Flipp.
Now, you also have Jason Schultz on trombone.
Anna Pernell on trumpet.
Oh, that is something.
And we know her.
She's really, we love her.
And Arnold Gonzalez on conga, excuse me,
with singer Sherry Davis, Christine Hasmaloi,
and Beverly Jean Lewis.
That's an all-star cast.
Well, Kenny, Kenny come up with those people.
So I know she, I've been knowing Sherry Davis for a long time.
Sherry's a good friend of mine.
I know Beverly Jean.
And we really appreciate them being on the, you know,
we have help with those to get that thing out.
Now, where are we able to find the album?
Pretty much right now.
Thursday nights at the Red Rooster.
Well, Thursday nights at the Red Rooster.
So that brings up a whole another issue,
which is every second and fourth Thursday
at the Red Rooster, Tates, has an open jam, Tates Blues Jam.
And now a special one is coming up on January 11th,
that is going to be your birthday celebration as well.
That's correct.
Happy birthday.
Thank you so much.
All right, well, you know, I think this is pretty darn cool.
Can you guys tell us a little bit
about your partner in the album
and how long have you been jamming with Tate and his Blues Jam?
Say your name first, too, please.
Hi, this is Dennis.
Hey, been with Tates for about 13 years now.
We started at the Duckel, Don Saloon,
and now it's the Red Rooster.
And about right during the pandemic,
we heard that Red Rooster was going to open,
so we put the band back together.
Wow, decided we needed to record Tate,
because he's never been recorded in the studio before.
So after several illnesses on lots of our parts,
we took about a year or so, but we got it done.
So nice.
We were good at finishing.
And Dennis, you play key, right?
The keyboard player.
Yeah.
Where else have you played around in Madison?
Oh, I've been playing lots.
I used to play with the blue olives.
Oh, yeah.
I played with, I played with, uh, boy, let me think here.
I played with Iggy Ray.
Iggy Ray Vicious.
Oh, Iggy Ray.
Yeah.
I bet a lot of bands over there.
We know Iggy.
I played a lot of country gigs.
I played with Denny Dean in the old days.
Oh, boy.
So you've been around.
That's awesome, man.
Dan Swaldi here.
Yes, Dan.
I'm more than anybody.
Dan, tell us your story.
Here, bassist.
Who's you played with here?
Oh, god.
I've played along with Speedtrap or, uh, Rochelle,
the Red Hot Rattlers.
Oh, yeah.
Actually played guitar with that band, uh,
quite a few others ricking the Spitfires and tones.
A lot of different groups in Madison.
Nice, nice.
Well, Ed is just a classic band that you have.
Tate, uh, every second and fourth Thursday at the Red Rooster,
we can go open jam, stay in India, play.
And everybody is welcome.
If you play a, if you are a good musician, come on by.
There you go.
I'm a musician.
I'm a musician.
You don't have to be good.
Just stop on by.
Yes.
Yes.
Tate will make the call.
You'll tell you whether you're going on stage.
You have to have it in your heart.
Thank you.
That's the only request.
Have it in your heart.
Yes.
All right.
Keeping the blues alive, um, let's see.
You have, we have one more song, right?
We do.
What does it come?
We have, uh, uh, uh, last two dollars,
which I want to know about this song.
Cause tell us about this song.
We've all had the last two dollars in our pocket, Tate.
And I always see don't ever lose your last two dollars.
It's, that song is by the late great Johnny Taylor,
with a blues singer.
It's called my last two dollars.
And it's awesome.
James Earl Tate is a pleasure to see you once again
in our studios.
Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you so much for having me, sir.
Appreciate you.
Appreciate you guys as well.
Thank you for coming in.
Let's do some James Earl Tate right now.
This song is called Last Two Dollars
is Max Inc. on Civic Media.