Middle-Age Blues - The Ups and Downs of Chris Cain

This is a short excerpt of an interview for Blues Access magazine in 1997, right before the release of Unscheduled Flight. To read the rest of the article, find the link at the bottom of this page to go to the Blues Access website.

What moment in your life brought about your pursuit of music?
Seeing BB King and the rest of the guys we would go see at the Civic Auditorium. Going through my parents albums also was key. My mother was eclectic but most of out albums were blues. BB, Ray Charles and Charles Brown were the big three, with Sonny Boy and Muddy also. When My dad cut the lawn he’d move p.a. speakers out doors and crank Muddy at 12 while doing yard work. (Chuckle)...

When did you start playing guitar?
My dad showed me “Baby, Please Don’t Go” in the key of E. Then I got records and started copying. My dad had a guitar. He plays a little bit. A little piano, too. Both my parents had tons of records. I got to hear Muddy, Sonny Boy, Leadbelly, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Elmore James, lots of that kind of stuff. We never missed B.B. [King] or Ray Charles when they came to town—we would always be there. Johnny Otis, too. *

Your first album took the blues community by surprise, describe that.
JJ’s Blues Club. I borrowed some money to make it so I could get some gigs around town. I figured that if it were an album instead of a tape, club owners might not throw it away, like they sometimes do tapes. A cat threw some money at me, and a friend layed a fourtrack Fostex on me. I had only three tune. The fostex was a Godsend. With that I was able to write the rest of the tunes and it was great. People dug it. The next thing the band was in Belgium. I was just hoping to get a gig at J.J.‘s

What happened with singing? Where did that voice come from?
It just came out. I had some cold ones, and I got real comfortable, and this big old noise came out of me. I was listening to Jimmy Witherspoon and Joe Turner and B.B. I didn’t really develop it—it just came out. I just went with it. People say, “I don’t really expect that kind of sound to come out of you.” I kind of like that, too. That’s been a good thing.

Read the rest of this interview at the Blues Access website

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