Chicago Blues Hall of Famer Paul Filipowiscz back with new album on Max Ink Radio

I'm here with Jane and Jane. You have a very special guest in the studio today. Tell us

what's going on. Yes, I'm officially on the other side of the big blast wall. Once again,

I'm in the giant director chair and rockers in the teeny tiny little, I'm stuck producers,

chair. I can control room. I can crush them between my two fingers. But we've got someone really

cool here tonight. Having fronted his band for over 50 years and releasing at least 10 albums

in that same time span, Paul Filippowitz is a blues man with quite the history. He was inducted

into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame and continues to play shows all around Wisconsin. Here to talk

about his latest recording and upcoming gigs among other things, is longtime friend of the studio

Paul Filippowitz. Paul, welcome to Maxing Radio. Hi, Jane. It's great to be here. And so I've heard

this is your first time in the new studio. What do you think of it? I think it's really beautiful.

It's really beautiful. I like the view. I know it's my favorite part about it too. I think it's the

best view in the whole area. Must be. Now, before we get started, I know I've told you that my family

is from the North suburbs of Chicago. And I just want to know, Rosadis, Gierdano's, or Luma Lnadis.

Luma Lnadis. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I would say too. Yeah, it looks like we're on the same team.

Good answer. Okay, first question. Self-taught blues musician. How on earth do you do that?

You'll listen. Keep your mouth shut. Pay attention. You learn entirely by ear?

Yeah, I did. Just experimenting, trying to get out what I want to hear in my head onto my guitar.

How old were you when you first started playing guitar? You know, I was wondering about that.

I've been playing with a guitar since I was about eight years old. I had an actual guitar.

And but I couldn't actually play music on it. I mean, I could play songs, but I couldn't play music

and create things until I was about 17 or 18 years old. You mean you couldn't improvise?

I played the saxophone and I was in that spot for a really, really long time too, so I

totally get it. Like, who were your biggest blues influences growing up in Chicago when blues

was everywhere? Well, all the big guys, the first guys were Muddy Water, what Muddy Water is

Hall and Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson, the guy that the last song is about, because Sonny Boy

was the first guy heard on the radio and it just knocked me out playing because my dad played

harmonica, but Sonny, you know, I never heard blues harmonica before that. I was about 67 years old

when that happened. Did you ever get to see any of those guys? I got to see Muddy Water's in Hall

and Wolf and never Sonny Boy. All right. So what ended up bringing you here to Madison? Well,

my folks, we moved to Wisconsin in 1965. So, um, and I graduated out of high school in Fort

Atkinson and I started, I just started bumming around after that and around, when I'm trying to

think around, while I'm not in 1971, I started settling down a little bit and living over in Milwaukee

and playing over there and then I ended up landing over here somewhere. I can't remember how that

happened. Yeah. I remember reading that you were friends with Luther Allison. Yeah, absolutely.

I lived. It was a great guy. Mm-hmm. And what convinced you that the Madison music scene was it

and this is where you wanted to be? Well, you know, because it was. Yeah, you know, I come to town now

and stuff. I only lived 20 miles out of town, but I come to town. And you know, there used to be

live bands every night of the week. There was at least, you know, there was Red Rocks on

State. There was at least five places on State Street that had live music. Uh, you know, there's

just played the church key and the nitty-gritty. There was there was live music every place

unbelievable, you know, and plus we'd get gigs playing the frat houses. Just, uh, everybody

was playing music and there was a good deal of blues playing with guys like Luther Allison,

who was like world-class blues guitar player. His band worked out of this. He worked his band out of

Madison. So it was a great environment and a Clyde's double field moved to town and so he just

took all the musicians in town and elevated them all through a different stratosphere. It was a

great time to be around here. Yeah. Was the Madison blues festival thing when you were getting

started here? It was that later. I'm trying to get a time. I was, I was playing here, but that

was a different thing. There's two different Madison blues festivals and then there's the Madison

blues picnic and there was a bunch of different things that they had to fight in over the names.

And so, you know, it's just like any worlds. You know, Paul, one person that used to play around

at the same time over at the crystal corner often, right? You would see Paul Black. Absolutely.

And the Flipkings. Right. Where did the Flip Park go? Did you have anything to do with that?

Well, that's a whole nother weird story. If you want to hear it. So Billy McDump Duffy was Black

he's brother-in-law and his drummer buddy is also my drummer too at the time. And so they're,

you know, and I was playing at the crystal too. And, you know, so it's just, so Billy McDump

he said they were going to name him in black. He had it up for either. They were, yeah,

they were going to be the twisting Egyptians. But then they found out that somebody else had that name.

So then they flipped the coin on Paul Black and the Flipkings or the flip tops. And so it came up

with Flipkings. So that's the story that I, oh man. Yeah. Yeah. Rip Paul Black. So just about.

All right, P buddy. Eleven years ago now, 2015, you were inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.

Like, what was that night like for you? I was. Tell us a story. It was mind numbingly cool. I,

that was like October 7th, I think it was. And about a month before that,

somebody called me from New York City and said, are you Paul Flipkings? I said, yeah.

Says, well, do you want to be inducted into Chicago Blues Hall of Fame?

Sure. And I said, are you talking to me?

So it was, it was, it was, it was, it was very humbling. And I said, well,

can you make it to blah, blah, blah to buddy guys on Sunday, the 8th, 7th, or 8th, whatever it was?

So I got to go and hang out. But I play, still play a buddy. Is that played a buddy at the time?

I mean, I still play there occasionally. And so I got to go there and hang out. And there was all

these top-notch musicians that I knew half of them that, then I've worked with them that I got

to hang around and, and getting the recognition, getting that recognition made me realize that,

you know, all this stuff that I'm doing banging around on all these clubs and all this stuff is,

is for a reason. And that's to perpetuate this music that I love.

Yeah. Was there anybody we'd recognize in your class?

Sam Lee, if anybody ever heard of Sam Lee, well, great drummer. He was with Paul Butterfield and

Seagull Schwarck. Yeah.

Taildrager, who was, was a great, great blue singer. Martin Lang, a harmonica player, played with

Taildrager, and he's the guy who played harp on the last cut. Who else? So there's a bunch of

cats. Those are the, oh, the guy, Kinsey, the guy who played blues and then played Reggae,

played with the... Big Daddy? No, not Big Daddy. Not the Kinsey report, wait a minute.

No, the guy who played Reggae guitar with the, with the guy's down in Jamaica too.

Okay. Yeah. It's all right. You'll remember as soon as you leave. Yeah, right. So Paul, you've got,

you've got a new album out at least in 2025, a new album came out and it's called Breakwater.

Breakwater. Tell me about what inspired this album and how you recorded it?

Well, I recorded it with the guy I've been doing my, I think I've done my last four or five albums

with what inspired the album. Well, you know, I write songs. Like I was telling Rock I wrote a song today

and I write songs and I like to try and record my music when I feel it and when it's fresh

because I move on and I write some more songs and I keep... So I try and document what I'm doing

every along the way. And so in Breakwater, it's an instrumental that's kind of, it's when you hear it

three to one, away we go. You can keep going. I was just telling you a three minutes.

Okay. Well, when you hear it, it's got that feel. It's a little different than your average blues

you wouldn't think it's, if you heard it, it's more of a, in a Peter Green zone.

Oh yeah, I think I love that early Fleetwood Mac. Yeah, from that zone, yeah.

And I know after you leave at this studio, you still have a couple gigs coming up in April,

Saturday, April 25th at Orson's in Kudahi in Thursday, April 30th. Yeah. Oh, Kudahate, whatever.

I don't get around too much in Wisconsin. There's rural areas, but Kudahate and Thursday, April 30th

at Cafe Coda. And I know it looks like you have kind of a monthly residency at Cafe Coda.

We've been doing that for a while and it's very interesting. Great club. I don't know if you've

ever been there, but have you ever been in that club rocker? Oh yeah, of course. And I poke my head

in there for some of the jazz stuff when I'm known. Tony Castiniate is playing in there sometimes

and stuff. Yeah. And and Hanna John, who was the proprietor guy, great guy, great musician.

So great sax player. Yeah. And you know what? I think you were talking about Michael Stone,

the guitar player who played down in Jamaica and stuff. Okay. He passed recently in 2023.

Uh-huh. Okay. So where can we find more about Paul Flippwood's online and where can we listen?

We can go to Paul Flippwoods.com. Oh, you better smell it. Yeah. Yeah, smell it. Paul is easy.

Yeah. Flippwoods is the hard part. Yeah. And it's F-I-L-I-P-O-W-I-C-Z.com.

Everybody got all that? So just Paul, just get flippin' there. Paul flippin'. It's start,

it'll come up. Yeah. So. Not a stuff. And where can we hear some of your music?

That's streaming. It's on, it's on distro kid now. And a lot of the older stuff is on,

yeah, I can't remember. It's, but it's a Spotify, all the regular places. I got a Spotify channel

and all that stuff. Yeah. Thank you, Paul, for coming in. I know you've been a show,

friend of the show for a long time. It's great to see you in the new studio. And we really

appreciate having you here. Nice meeting you, Jay. We've got another song for you coming up

before the end of the hour. Another one of Paul's. It's called Lefty Phillips. Lefty Phillips,

okay. You're listening to Maxing Radio. We are local music. Shop local, eat local, listen local.

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