Freeman, Denny 2009-05-24
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Denny Freeman
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: May 24, 2009
Location:
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 03:11:36
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1:
Keith, Moved to Austin in 1972, Was really handsome, Wasn’t a rock star but looked like one, Long hair, Snake skin boots, Scarves and jungle gardenia fragrance, Fingernail polish, Bruce Bolden also looked to have that style, Had his own sense of style, Was a white American who turned into a Mexican, People went over his house a lot, Funny, Interesting, Everyone liked him, Started heroine in 1968, Met Keith in 1972, when he came to Austin, Was discrete about his heroine use, Lost the gig with the Thunderbirds before they appeared on MTV and he was really bitter about it, Keith was causing the Thunderbirds problems, Keith had a lot of devotees, Denny didn’t take sides, Bryan Jones was fired, Life wasn’t the same for Keith afterwards, Fired in 1985, Stopped being discrete once he was out of the band, Denny stopped visiting Keith because he didn’t want to be around the drugs, Keith had turned into an icon, Couldn’t help Keith, Keith didn’t think he needed help, Grew up around Mexicans in Houston, Mexicans liked the blues and Mexican music, Exposed to Mexican culture, Knew all the roots music, Liked country music, Knew about a lot of things, For Denny’s birthday he gave him a rainforest pygmy album, Denny only listened to it once, Never had a job, Didn’t go to college, Played with Angela in San Francisco, Wasn’t’ affected by the draft, Got out of high school in 1963, Always watching the latest National Geographic, If he acted up his mother would correct him, Meeting Keith, Denny moved to Austin in 1970, Grew up in Dallas, Born in 1944, Never been to Austin, Tried to avoid the military, Went to college, Graduated, Started playing music in a band at age 15, In college played weekends, Went to the University of North Texas, Met Keith because musicians know other musicians, Keith was a Brian Jones type character, Denny was surprised that Keith would want to hang out with him, Had a lot of things in common, Would call and complain about having to leave the house, Met Keith when he was 26, Denny Freeman music, Saw Hendrix and Crème, Had never been in a serious band, Jimmy was a known person, Came when he was playing rock and roll, Started playing blues, First storm for 6 months, Couldn’t get a gig, Played with Jimmy Vaughn, Played on the Eastside, Played at the Armadillo, Knew a lot of Lubbock people, Rodney knew Larry (Junior) from Lubbock, that’s how Denny met them, Jimmy fired him from the Storm, Heard a harmonica where he used to hear his guitar, Replaced by Lewis, Jimmy lost his bass player, Took Denny’s singer, Used Dallas boys to make another band because they wanted to play blues as well, They played one gig and the lead singer moved to Dallas, Angela, W.C, Band called Southern Feeling, More than a blues band, After a year Denny left the band along with Alex the bass player, The two got together with Paul to create a band but they couldn’t find a drummer, Stevie had moved to town, Stevie and Doyle and Drew Pennington played together, Band called the Night Crawlers, Paul Ray and the Cobras, Hard to create this band, Stevie and Doyle played with this band to get it started, Used Freddy Faroe, John Henry Alexander, In the first year they used about 3 different drummers, Rodney was the first drummer who wanted to be in the band, Paul and Alex Napier and Rodney, Every year they have a reunion at the continental club, Has been replaced by Derrick three times, Started the cobras in 1978, Antone’s opened up in 1975, Thunderbirds performed here, Playing in a band 20 years later, Mind-blowing, Thought he would never hear those guys, Only a handful of people that they backed up, Antone’s, 1976 Johnny Hooker, Walter Horton, Eddie Taylor, Keith, Andy Miller and Hubert, All went in different directions, By late 89, a lot of people had died and things had changed, Played at Antone’s for 15 years, In 1990 Stevie died, Jimmy left the Thunderbirds, Angela and Denny left Austin, Austin wasn’t a blues town, Thunderbirds, Record: Girls gone wild, People might not have like blues but they liked the Thunderbirds, Denny, Once he left Austin he still wanted to play blues, The Cobra’s, By the end of the 80s people started to not listen to blues at Antone’s, Didn’t want his identity to be a blues guy
Tape 1, Side 2:
Blues, If you play blues you can get a gig, Blues was a part of Stevie, Denny considered himself a kid, “Why did people want to hear him play”, Stevie touched more people than B.B. King did, Stevie was a legitimate air to blues, Couldn’t really hear blues on the radio, Didn’t play in blues clubs, The blues didn’t come back until the 90’s, Denny does not want to hear blues anymore because it has changed so much, Didn’t have blues cruisers in the Mediterranean, Currently blues is everywhere, Denny does not like the blues cruises, Like being trapped backstage for a week, Denny’s recordings, Never in a band with a lot of success, Thunderbirds were special, Cobra’s were popular but did not translate across the nation, Never really amounted to anything, Got frustrated, Started going to the studio to do recordings on his own, Made his own compositions, Wanted to put out his own album, 4 albums made, Small label of two people, Went out of business, In California he wanted to keep recording, Friend in Dallas was a one man record label, If he had the time and money he would put an album out each year, Albums, Blues cruise, Out of the blue, A tone for my sins 1997, Twang bang, Mark Goldberg played bass on this album (blondie’s drummer), Mike Thompson played keyboard, Play organ, piano and trombone, Amazing records: If it’s a hit it’s amazing, Bass player Cher Peterson, Jerry Angel played drums, Joe Sublet played saxophone, Denny and Joe started playing with Taj Mahal, Joe had lived in L.A before Denny, Started the Taj and recording before Denny, Guitar player Johnny Leichelle went on tour, Denny replaced Johnny in 1996, With Taj for six or seven years, Ended around 2003, Was offered a weekly gig when a new club was opened in Los Angeles, Had the gig whether he had a band or not, Spent most of the night hoping the band he had thrown together could remember the music, Got him on the road to having his own band, Never thought to make his own band, In the 60’s you were pretty much just in one band, Weren’t a lot of people, By the 80’s people had to hustle, Things were getting more expensive, Risky, People were getting older, People were reluctant to commit to a band without guarantee’s, Further into the 90’s more places were closing, things were getting tough, Technology was advancing, Most people download and don’t buy CD’s, You don’t really have to be able to play an instrument any more, James Brown funk records, Violent and awful music, Rappers, Hasn’t played under his own name a lot, Met a singer, Keith’s Demise, The change in blues music, 1987 Keith was never the same, Was kicked out of the band, (Female on tape) moved out, Physical addiction, Heroine wins, Pulled him under, Tried to quit, When (female on the tape moved out) it freaked Keith out, After the Thunderbirds there was no reason to be discrete, Sold his records, Didn’t have the love of music anymore, Denny, Dabbles in Jazz, Takes Jazz lessons, Is never going to be a Jazz guitar player, Taj had a lot of bands, Was in Los Angeles for 12 years, Was hired 8 years out of 12, Hustled for the remaining years, Had a gig where he played in between speakers, Doesn’t do private functions, Played with Angela, People would want his band to play at weddings, Started learning Bob Dylan songs, Jimmy always thought for himself, Jimmy and Keith never followed anybody, Flat top with fenders, Keith influenced a lot of people, The way he dressed, One in a million, Not a versatile player, John Blondell almost knows too much, What’s next for Denny, Doesn’t know how long the gig will last, Trapped in Dallas, Spend as much time where he lives now, Wants to do some recording
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