Chris Cain – Born to Play
by Matteo Bossi
A lot has happened since Chris Cain stunning debut album “Late Night City Blues” in 1987 and there is no doubt that through the years he has become one of the most respected and admired players on the scene, first of all by his peers. Still his most recent albums, all recorded at Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studio, are probably some of the best stuff he hes done in his career so far. And his winning streak goes on with the release of the new album “Good Intentions Gone Bad”, out now on Alligator. He seems to agree with us. “Thank you, yes, I feel the same…I don’t know why it is now, but it’s just seems so. And the one i did with Little Village was not supposed to be a record, It was just tunes that my papa liked, songs by Guitar Slim and so on…then Kid said “you should make it into a record.” So we did that and I’m very happy about how it came out. The last two records I did with Alligator I feel very good because it felt so good when we recorded it, I put a lot of love into it and Kid too. It makes me feel happy that other people liked it.
There are very personal songs on these records, especially on this upcoming one. I track like “Blues For My Dad” for example.
And you know I told Kid that was not for this record. I took my own demo recordings to him and when he heard that song he said “what is that?” Oh that is not for this record, it’s just a thing I wrote for my papa long time ago. He said “no, this is it!” I fought with this guy for hours, I said this is not for the record, you’re going to get me thrown out of this label…but he made a demo, we recorded the tune and I was wrong. I’m so happy he talked me into doing it, I’ve never made anything so personal before. Everytime he tells me something like that it’s a fact, the way he conducts the session at Greaseland it’s a really great experience, it’s easy and loose.
Everyone we talked to that has recorded at Greaseland feels part of a community, kinda like a musical family.
Oh it is unbelievable the things he’s doing there. Kid puts a lot of love into it, he’s doing extra things that he didn’t have to, just to make it sound as good as he could. He’s a beautiful person and he really knows what he’s doing. He’s fantastic with the machines and all that.
You and Tommy Castro who sings with you on “Thankful”, go way back.
Yes, I was trying to do a Sam & Dave kind of tune, with two gentlemen singing together…and I thought man wouldn’t it be great if Tomas would do this with me? But he’s always busy. We made a demo and Kid was singing that part and he he was singing the heck out of it. He asked Tomas and he said yes. It turned out a beautiful thing. We do go back a long way. And he’s always been a fantastic person. When he did blow up and things, nothing ever changed with him, I met him before he was Tommy Castro and he’s a great guy, I’m happy he’s on the record.
And you are both on the same label at the same time. You both recorded for Blind Pig before.
Yes that helped. He was in a couple of different bands before he came out with his first record as Tommy Castro and I went to Tower Records and there he was! I went to one of his gigs and I remember thinking “wow, he’s gonna be a Bruce Springsteen, he’s got a way of connecting with these folks…that’s a gift”. He just exploded. It was fantastic.
You went to college, which is something not many musicians did.
My parents said that would be messing with my playing, I played by ear and I I told them there are just a few things that I needed to get under my belt. I saw Robben Ford one time in trio and he told something to the guys and in twenty seconds they made like an instant arrangement, “what did he tell them?” That’s why I went to school, because I didn’t know how to communicate with these music talk things…It was good that I did this, I really enjoyed to practice there every day. I loved that.
You went on to teach guitar after college.
Yes, I had some students and then I had a class on improvisation at San Jose State and I did another jazz improvisation class on City College, a beginner kind of things, the techers started using me like and aid and it snowballed from that,, I did that for a long while, then I started travelling and I could not do it anymore, but I really liked it. It was a fantastic opportunity for me.
Your dad took you to blues gigs when you were just a kid, to see the likes of B.B. King or T-Bone Walker…
Yes, and I feel so lucky. My father never tried to force the music on me, he would just sit me in front of differen situations, bands and things, and he would just let me watch it and make up my own mind. I remember on Christmas night in 1965, he told me to put my suit on “where are we going?” i said. We went at the Fairground to see James Brown, he had just come out with “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”. He would take me to this kind of situations. My father being a gentleman of colour in a suit, people would think he was with the band so we could go backstage…I met a lot of people like that, at the Fillmore and things, Albert King and all the guys that I love…We started doing it when I was four years old, every time B.B. King or Ray Charles would come to San Jose Civic Auditorium we never missed a gig. We saw Fats Domino and a lot of other people. Even as a little kid I knew there was something about that guitar sound that was different from anything I had ever heard. And B.B. was beautiful he would talk to you as if you were a grown person, he would blow your mind. I got to see them in their prime. And my mama took me to see the Beatles on school day! My parents were great.
Chris Cain photo Marilyn Stringer
That made a lasting impression on you as a kid.
It was incredible! I saw things like that…one time it was B.B. King, Freddie King, Copperhead and Malo at Winterland, I was stading in front and B.B. King was playing “Guess Who” and tears were coming off his cheeks…I was a teenager and I wasn’t really surprised, I knew he played his ass off but it was mindblowing. It was the first time I saw somebody play his instrument and crying, that was his soul. When i saw that I was like “wow!” I’ve never seen anything like that again and probably I never wil.
Back then you were already seriously playing guitar.
Yes, I started when I was a freshman in high school. My brother got me an SG standard and I just started to play it. My papa had all the good records so I was all over these records, I was locked in my room all the time scratching up my records…everybody said this boy never comes out of his room! I felt if I was not prepared I would never want to get on a stand with other people. I saw pals of mine that played and they got up on a stand to sit in with people and they got crushed, you know what I mean. They were not ready to do it. I never wanted to be thrown out of the stage, I saw that happen.
After a while you felt ready to play?
Yes, when I started going to City College and meeting other musicians, some of the fellas that ended up being my first band, I decided “Ok, I’m going to try and have a band”. But at the same time I wanted to be invisible. I was in school and I met people that were likeminded and I was able to put a little group together. It was beautiful, I have great memories of that whole thing. I was just trying to find dates around San Jose where I lived and put out a record, then next thing I know we were playing in Belgium and all over. I was not really ready mentally for all that travelling, i did everything wrong that you can possibly do! Like stay up all night long screaming and drinking with people and then for the next festival you can’t sing, I did stupid stuff but then I grew up finally.
And you have “Still Drinking Straight Tequila” on the new album.
Yes, because Bruce said “Oh i wish you had recorded Drinking straight Tequila on Alligator and maybe you could do Still Drinking Staight Tequila or something like that”. So we made that up, it was funny, because I knew I wanted to have the elements that Drinking Straight Tequila had but I also didn’t want it to be the same kind of sounding tune…we had to find a way to make another thing.
Did you ever back up other artists with your band in the late Seventies/Early Eighties?
Oh yes, we used to play this club called JJ’s Blues Lounge in San Jose, we would play every Wednesday or Thursday and in the weekend, we got to back Albert King, Charles Brown…people that I really love…a great experience for me. That’s how I met Albert and we became friends. The club guys went to him and said “can this kid sit in?” He said no. But I didn’t want to sit in, I was just so happy to hear him play. Then we played our set and I could smell his pipe, he was standing by the stage, he liked us. And it turned into a beautiful thing. I never in a million years thought that Albert King would be my friend. But every time I’d go play in Memphis he would come to see me and one time he brought along Otis Clay. It was unreal, I had to pinch myself.
You were signed to Pat Ford’s label, Blue Rock’It.
Pat Ford really kept me in the conversation, he would let me put a record out every six or seven years. I love him for that. When I saw Robben I had been playing guitar and I had all my Peter Green, Mike Bloomfield and B.B. King stuff and I thought “ok the work is over I can just play”… then I saw Robben and I had never seen anybody play like this, chord voicing in a blues setting…I thought “oh my god!” He was definitely mindblowing…he had this big jazz guitar. And then when he started playing with the Yellowjackets I thought it was some of the greatest stuff I’ve ever heard. That’s why I ended up playing a 335, I wanted to get that sound…There’s been so many guitar players that have been beacon of hope in my life.
You’re still playing your 335 named Melba.
Yes! It seems it’s that’s the only one that I know ho to play, I’ve had other guitars that I’ve taken to my gigs…and I can’t play them, I don’t even hit the strings. But Melba is different. And funny things happened. One time I was on a Blues Cruise and Los Lobos was there and the guitar player David Hidalgo came and he watched my set and he was really into it. The next day I’m on the ship, coming out of an elevator with the guitar in my hand, he comes in the elevator, looks at me and goes “Is that Melba?” And I said yes. That he knew Melba, it was just…wow!
You and Jim Pugh are also longtime friends.
I was just lucky, Jimmy Pugh let me make that record on Little Village which was important to me. Larry Taylor played on that record! A ton of fun to make, a love letter to my papa. The fact that it came out and people dug it. Kid is very selfless, that’s why my records sound the way they do.
How did your songwriting change since the Eighties?
Oh it did change, my first record I was almost writing down exactly what happened in my life. Some girlfriend thing…I changed names, you know, but basically it was everything that was happening. Then I though, you know it should not be like a diary of my personal stuff, let me just write some general things that I like, stuff that other people may have experienced…So that’s when I started changing. My first record I would make the music and then just listen to it for two or three weeks to figure out what the words to this music would say. I feel now it’s come full circle, this record I wrote things that ring a bell with other people, I think, everybody can understand.
You toured extensively for a while then you didn’t?
Yes, I had a vehicle and then I didn’t have it, so for a long period I was just barely playing locally. was surprised that I was able to keep the band together with the few gigs I had at the time. It’s just the way it was. When Susan Tyler came into my life and started helping me with my booking she really made my world more normal. It wasn’t. I’m already kind of quirky, she made me more in the flow with the world, if not I’d probably still be in my room playing guitar for myself.
I’ve read that got in touch with Alligator many years ago and Bruce was not that interested, but now you’re on the second album for the label.
It’s funny, I was doing a gig with Guy King at the Chicago Blues Festival, I’m backstage getting ready to go on and I see Mr Bruce Iglauer over there and I’m going “oh man he’s coming here”. He does and he sayd something like “I know we got off to a wrong foot”, “I was kid then” I say. We start talking and he goes “it’s great the way you and Guy can play together…” Next thing I know he’s interested in this recording I was making, “Raisin’ Cain”, which I was going to put out on my own label. But they wanted it. Those guys coming to my life it was so great. It blew my mind. During the pandemic my money was running out and they fund me for thousands of dollars. I’ve never had this kind of support, they’ve been so great, I told them I’d walk through a burning building for you guys!
Chtis Cain photo Jim Mills
You’ve come to Italy quite a lot, playing with Luca Giordano and his band.
Italy has been the first place I ever went overseas where people invited me to come and be with them. I would go to Finland and Norway but it was different. In Italy everybody that I met there was incredible, I love the food and the people…it’s a love affair I have with Italy. I was doing a guitar seminar in Chicago as a kind of teacher, Luca came and he said “do you want to come to Italy?” And I’m like yeah, yeah, people say that all the time. And then two weeks later he called me and said “we’re gonna do this festival”, he wasn’t kidding! He’s another guy that’s a beautiful person in my life, he’s a great guitar player and he makes this thing so that I can go to Italy and play and it’s so great, the people are so kind and appreciative.
What do you think about young musicians like D.K. Harrell that Kid recorded last year at Greaseland?
I think this is fantastic! When I heard D.K. and some of these young fellas I though it was the gretest thing in the world, because up to this point there was not a lot of fellas of color that were playing this straight ahead blues thing, they always rock it out, I don’t know why. Man, if I hear “Hey Joe” one more time I’m gonna lose my mind. When I heard D.K. Harrell I was like “are you kiddin’ me?” He’s like a Seventies B.B. King, I can call what he loves and it makes me happy. And D.K. is a sweetheart of a person, he plays with joy. My papa used to say to me “if you feel it play it, if you don’t feel it don’t do it.” That’s how I always approach it. And there’s a bunch of guys like Sean McDonald, Jontavious Willis, Stephen Hull…I think that’s great that all of a sudden they’re doing this now. When I went to Memphis and they were all sitting at one table and I went to get myself and Susan some beverage. Then she said those guys really know guitar stuff and they know your thing and they dig you! I had no idea.
Beside the guitar you learned to play saxophone and piano, does that make you a different guitar player too?
I think it does…once I went to school I realized the chord changes are crucial, the maps, it really helped me a lot. I feel I have a better grasp on how I get together with my ensemble, how to communicate with the fellas in the band to tell them what you want to hear. Playing the piano and the saxophone helped my musicianship all around, just to understand more, to know how to make a little demo quickly, if it’s gonna be a tune or just a waste of time…But I didn’t know that this was going to happen. I just loved Ray Charles and the piano and the saxophone too…
In the liner notes of your Little Village album Pugh cited Smith Dobson as an influence.
Oh yes, Dobson was a great cat! I did some gigs with him and he put me in deep water that I felt I got no business to appear with this guy. When he passed away I could not believe it. Until I got the funeral I could digest that…He was doing all these gigs and he fell asleep at the wheel on his way home, it was horrible. He was such a sweetheart of a man and a great musician. When jazz guys would come to San Jose to play Smith Dobson would be in the trio that was going to back up Richie Cole, Eddie Jefferson or whoever it was, he was the guy who could do that. That was just awesome. He worked very hard, three gigs in a day and teaching…If was driving I’d be dead, you know this late night drive, at three o’clock in the morning…
Chris Cain Varese 2018 ph Matteo Bossi
What about Charles Brown? He was another of your heroes and he was able to make a comeback in the Nineties.
Oh man, that was fantastic! In my house Ray Charles, Otis Spann and Charles Brown were the three pianist that my parents loved the most. The fact that my band backed Charles Brown twice and my parents came to see that…when I was a little kid and I heard his record “Black Night” I was “whoa, that thing has a sound, a mood”. Charles Brown as a pianist was fantastic player and he had great stories, he was a wonderful person. Then Danny Caron, the guitar player, started playing with him and he really took care of him and make sure the music was what it was supposed to be for Brown. That was the best band he had since the Blazers, Ruth Davies, Clifford Solomon, Danny…they had love and care for Charles.
What was it like for your parents to see you become not just an accomplished musician but a friend to some of those artists they listened to a lot?
I think I was so proud and they were so thrilled. These are the guys that my papa turned me to. In my life those are moments I will cherisch till I don’t breathe anymore. When these gentlemen would take take their time, not just say hi and leave…B.B. King asked me for my pick and he doesn’t have to do that, that’s how nice he is. Just because that the way he is. I feel very lucky, I got to talk to these gentlemen, I saw amazing stuff…the first time I saw Albert King T-Bone Walker was there, he called T-Bone up on stage and they did “Stormy Monday” together. We had no idea T-Bone was there at Fillmore West, my papa goes to talk to T-Bone and he gave my dad his phone number and address and he said, “if you come to Los Angeles call me and we’ll get together”. We didn’t travel that much and then he passed away, but that was incredible. When my brother came home from Vietnam he brought all these jazz records and so I would listen to them in my room, I got into jazz…I just loved it.
B.B. was fan of jazz too.
Oh my God yes and you know there is another way to read music the Schillinger system and it’s kind of graph papers, it’s twenty times harder than reading notes. And one time I saw B.B., he was a little tired, he had this Schillinger charts everywhere…Reading notes it’s like a pool party compared to this. That’s the kind of person he was.
Is there anything that you do when you’re preparing an album?
Mainly I listen to music…If I’m getting ready to write some stuff, I might go listen to people to play this particular kind of things. When I did the Little Village record I was checking the Ray Charles records very carefully to see how the band was playing in an ensemble. I wanted to get that kind of feeling. That’s the only way I can only get to that, to create something in that kind of vernacular. You got to start building from this thing you got…if you dig it out it’s in there, see if you could make a little demo or something in my studio. Then i put the idea in the jar. If I’m not making a record I do like to listen to stuff and see how they do that sound on this particular tune…things like that, it keeps my brain working. As opposed to wait until an idea comes out. No matter how much you’re trying to be prepared there is always something you didn’t prepare for, that shakes you up. But I love the chase.
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