HPI BLUES CHAT Presents
DELANEY BRAMLETT!

August 9, 1998
Part One:  The Chat Transcript

Part One:  The Chat Transcript

Hippielady: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Blues Chat, with our VERY special guest tonight, Delaney Bramlett! I’m your host, Beverly Howell. Thanks for joining us, this is gonna be a great one! Welcome to Blues Chat, Delaney, it's so great to have you with us!

DelaneyBramlett: (Delaney is fixing his hair to be ready to go on air! )

Hippielady: hehehe! Hope he puts on a tie. This is a FORMAL thang, after all!

DelaneyBramlett: I did! I also have a t-shirt on! hehe!

Hippielady: I'm betting the tie's around his head....all good ole hippies wear em that way...hehe! OK, Delaney, now that your hair’s combed, and you got on the tie, you with me?

DelaneyBramlett: Heck yeah! I'm nekkid, cept for the tshirt and tie. I'm just jokin' but it's hot enough here! hehe

Hippielady: hehe! Well, since this is the last Blues Chat tonight, we might as well host it nekked...I hear there's a nekked blues festival out there now, might as well be a nekked blues chat!

DelaneyBramlett:  hehe!

Hippielady: Delaney, we caught you at home tonight. Where’s home?

DelaneyBramlett: I live in a community called Shadow Hills, about 25 or 30 miles north of Hollywood, CA. It's horse country out here. I have horses and chickens and all that crap! I have the miniature Ponderosa Ranch here! I just got through mowin' two paddocks. I love my tractor! As a matter of fact I was singin' out there louder than the tractor! I just wrote another one on the tractor, called "I'm Outta Here"!

Hippielady: If you were cutting the grass, shouldn’t it be called "I Don’t Love You No Mow?"

DelaneyBramlett: hehehe! Well hell yeah, I'll put that sucker in there!

DelaneyBramlett: I cut two roses, one for each of you ladies - they're the sweetest smelling roses... I'm a rose FREAK, I have a beautiful rose garden!

Hippielady: Well, thats a first, we never got flowers from a chat guest before...thank you!

Hippielady: Hey Delaney, you have a lot of questions waiting from a lot of fans, you ready to get on with it?

DelaneyBramlett: Okay, Lay 'em on me!

MBlues: Albert King wouldn’t start a gig in LA without first asking the crowd if Mamo was there. Was "Mamo" his nickname for you?

DelaneyBramlett: No, that's my mom! Yeah, that's true, that's my mom. I have a studio here at my home that he'd rehearse at with musicians, sometimes he didn't know. Sometimes he'd use oddball musicians, but usually he'd use my band. My mom would make him Mississippi stew! So he fell in love with her, and wherever he played, he'd ask "Where's Mamo?" She has arthritis in her legs and she'd stand up slow and he'd say he wouldn't play a lick until Mamo stood up and showed him she was there! He's the Godfather of my youngest daughter, she's got so much talent it scares me to death - she frightens everybody - she's going to be a big star this year! I'm writing a song with her and wrote one with her a Billy Joel and I'm real proud of that!

GregMartin: This is Greg Martin, hello to you and Kim! Ruth, Erik and I look forward to hooking up with you, Kim, and Ed in November for another 'Kid's First' benefit. God willing, we want to have you down to the studio in Glasgow for a gospel/blues jam. Tell everyone about the Delaney & Bonnie English tour with Eric Clapton. At one point you had Eric, George Harrison, Dave Mason, and yourself on guitars! If I'm not mistaken, didn't Ginger Baker want to be in the band as well?

DelaneyBramlett: That's true! What happened was when Eric asked me if he could be in the band we came down and did the Royal Albert Hall, and the Beatles were all there, that's when I met them. George Harrison said since Eric is in the band and Dave is in the band, can I be too? So I said yes, and Ginger Baker got REALLY mad and asked why he couldn't be in the band, and he ended up getting real pissed off at me 'cause I had no where to put him! Ginger Baker was a TERRIFIC drummer but I already had two of 'em, so there was nothing I could do! I think he finally forgave me! hehe. And Hi to Greg - I love YOUR music too!

MistyBlue: Did you record with Ike and Tina Turner?

DelaneyBramlett: I recorded the last two albums that they did together, Ike asked me to come down and help them. They had a contract with United Artists they were trying to get out of. Ike asked me to come down, they had a deadline and so I played bass and guitar and I wrote the horn lines. A song called Jo Jo, and a bunch more. I can't remember now! I arranged the whole thing and didn't get credit for ANY of it, as far as I know! In fact, Jerry Wexler said that he sent me a bill for $10,000. I said "Wait, I got paid?" He said no, Ike sent you a BILL! hehe!

DelaneyBramlett: Tina did a trio with me and Donny called Sound of the City - she had to sneak into the studio because she was already a little afraid of Ike. Ike come to my house several times after that, but I didn't feel real comfortable about that, he scared my family a bit because he seemed to be high on drugs some, so I sort of shined him on. He needed money so I gave him some money, but next I knew, he was in jail. He was a very talented man. He wasn't near as cruel as people make him out to be, by the way.

eMBlues: Your daughter Bekka is making quite a name for herself in the music business! I know she's done some work with Jonny Lang and Delbert McClinton, who else has she worked with? You must be really proud of her!

DelaneyBramlett: I certainly am! She's also done an album with Vince Gill - several albums. She did a complete tour with him. I went to see her as a matter of fact, and it was just absolutely wonderful! She's also with a group called The Zoo, which is Mick Fleetwood's other band, and with Fleetwood Mac. She's appeared with several artists, Travis Tritt, I don't even know half of 'em! She is VERY talented, to me the most talented female in the business. Course I might be a little biased! She'll be here on Tuesday! (proud papa grin!) She is in preparations for doing her own album, that's why she's coming to LA to work with a new producer. This producer used to produce 'Prince' and Billy Joel, and now he's producing her! Hopefully he'll do a great job with her - I'm just praying for that!

MrTupelo: What made you and Eric Clapton "click"; I know you produced and co-wrote or wrote most of the songs on his first solo effort.

DelaneyBramlett: Well actually, what happened was, according to him, I guess you can read his statements about it. He heard my music and thought it was exciting - stuff he'd never heard before. When we were the opening act for Blind Faith - he and Ginger Baker, Stevie Winwood, everybody says that I broke up the band, Blind Faith, but that's not true! Eric asked if he could play with us because he wanted to learn what we played - Mississippi Gospel blues, he didn't know. But Hendix told him it was just "Spiritual'. Then Eric moved into my house and we were writing and playing, and at the same time I was hanging out with one of the greatest saxophonists, and one of my best friends, King Curtis. It's pretty confusin', idn't it? hehe.

DelaneyBramlett: So Eric just said he wanted to learn this music and he wanted to learn to sing like me... I said why don't you cut an album? I told him he had a pretty good voice, and if you don't use it, God'll take it away from you! So I talked to the record company and I produced his first album! We got to be good friends, but we drifted apart over the years. The friendship, though, is still intact!

Hippielady: You mentioned Jimi Hendrix, Delaney. Didn’t he play with you for a brief time?

DelaneyBramlett: Yes. Would you like me to elaborate?

Hippielady: Yes, how did that happen?

DelaneyBramlett: Here's what happened, I had a guitar player that played on the first album that was released, Accept No Substitutes. He left the band to go with Kris Kristofferson. I was warming up at the Palladium, and getting ready for a tour. I didn't have a guitar player so I told 'em we would do the gig, and we got there and I was downstairs, and we had to do the gig. Everybody was getting a little high - people did that then.

Hippielady: Really? (hehe!)

DelaneyBramlett: I looked up and saw this black figure walking in with a guitar slung over his shoulder. He said to me, "Delaney, I heard you don't have a guitar player tonight." I said "Jimi, is that you?" And it was! That was the height of his career and he said he'd play with me 'til we found a guitar player! He said not to worry, he knew all our songs, he knew we liked twin guitars, he knew Duane's part, and this was before I met Eric. He plugged into a twin reverb which is what I use too, and he started playing and it was the hottest show you ever heard! You could see people pointing, saying "Naaaah, that ain't him!" and pretty soon they're goin' "THAT'S HIM!!!" He played with us for three weeks and then we found Dave Mason, and after Dave we had Eric!

DelaneyBramlett: That's how that came about! He was a good friend. And by the way, he didn't have to play all that distortion stuff, he played it straight! You'd have thought that was Duane Allman up there with me!

bigdog: Hey Delaney, who has been your favorite musician to work with?

DelaneyBramlett: My favorite musician to work with. That's really hard. (smelling the roses again)  It's between Duane Allman and uh… Boy, that's really hard. I would have to say it's between Duane Allman, Thumbs Carlisle, and maybe…My God... um... (deep sigh)... I worked with a piano player, I loved him so much... David. He don't go by his full name, but he's on the album. His real name is David Scott Cohen, but he goes by David Scott!

DelaneyBramlett: I'm gonna pick him over Leon Russell, that's funny, huh? But that's a fact. And the reason I do that is because the man is so multi, multi, multi talented, and he has a brain that'll go from hillbilly to jazz, and he has a jazz album out now! He's one of those boys (and I call him a boy 'cause he's younger than me). I'd like to tell the fans it's people they wanna hear, but that's where it lays, so I can't!

Hippielady: And of course, Greg Martin (KY Headhunters) ... since he's reading this, right Delaney? hehe!

DelaneyBramlett: Right, of COURSE, Greg Martin! By the way, he IS really GREAT!

Hippielady: Yes, he sure is.

Duck: How long have you been playing?

DelaneyBramlett: Good Lord, since I was 7 years old. Would you like me to elaborate on that shit or not? hehe. You want me to? Okay. I walked around with a stick of stove wood, and I was making up songs when I was 7 years old. Oh, I'm lying, I was 8. And Santy Claus brought me a guitar for Christmas - the best guitar ever! Then I won a contest - from Purnell's Fried Chicken, and I got to appear on TV with Slim someone! hehe. I was 10 years old. It was Slim Rhoades and Dusty Rhoades. He was a clown! So that's how I started!

DelaneyBramlett: I wrote the song that started Clint Eastwood on bein' a superstar - Searchin' for Somewhere. The guy that was on Rawhide come up to me and heard me and asked if I wrote, and he said write a song for this guy - he's gonna be a superstar! They were doing a great campaign for Clint Eastwood, and y'know what, it's the WOOOOORST song! Sounds like a guy sittin' by a cactus bush, and it's terrible! But I tell you what, it's a classic, the only album he ever put out! That song made me a grand total of $4.57!

GregMartin: How did you meet Duane Allman? I read in a book that the 'Blues' jams you did on the back porch should have been taped and was some of the best music Duane ever made.

Hippielady: I think Jerry Wexler's been quoted as saying something along those lines, too!

DelaneyBramlett: Well, that was in Jerry Wexler's book, what you're saying. What he said was that the best music that Duane ever played was on his back porch with me. The way I met him was I was doing an album and my guitar chops wasn't up to par for what I wanted to do on that album - that's all I ever do anymore is slide, but at that point I didn't think I was up to it.

HippieLady:  We had some technical difficulties, due to weather, our typist, Madeline, lost her computer connection with us...but, we WILL continue this chat with Delaney via phone, and address your questions to him at that time, so be sure to check back to our library in a day or two!

Hippielady: I’m your host Beverly Howell, goodnight from HPI Blues Chat.