Will Yip

Photo: Will Yip Instagram

News

Philly Producer/Engineer Will Yip Works Harder Than You

Facebook Twitter Email
Go inside Yip's journey making records, from his mom's basement all the way to Studio 4: “I’m very in the process, and I think that’s why artists trust me"
Brendan Menapace
GRAMMYs
May 24, 2019 - 12:29 pm

Will Yip just might be the hardest working man in the music business. You won’t see him on tour. You won’t see his name on a marquee. You might not ever see him at all, unless you venture into the subterranean Studio 4 in Conshohocken, Pa., just a few minutes outside of Philadelphia. That’s where he is for about 13 hours a day. The other hours he’s probably mixing at home - something he does to force himself to leave the studio at some point at least.

You’ve probably heard his work, though. If you’ve listened to any record even tangentially related to punk, hardcore, emo, indie rock and beyond within the last 10 years, you’ve more that likely listened to one of his albums. The likes of Circa Survive, The Menzingers, Turnstile and Title Fight have been going to Will for his studio knowledge, his unique way of bringing out the best of artists, his creative vision and his insane work ethic.

Yip is a co-owner of Studio 4, the studio he dreamed of working at as a teenager, and one of the most sought-after producers in rock music. Professionally speaking, he’s come a long way from the kid recording in his mom’s basement, the one who finessed his way into internships, and the one who cleaned out a back room to record bands on his own time. His first exposure to the recording world began by playing drums in a band when he was 12.

“I just love being in the studio,” Yip says. “I love building. I love the behind-the-scenes of putting together music and f***ing with stuff, and just messing with ideas and seeing it from the first note recorded to the final mix. That’s why I don’t tour. I just want to create all day.”

He started recording his friends’ bands in his mom’s basement in Northeast Philly. In high school, he helped out at a nearby studio, making a few bucks an hour, watching and learning as much as possible. When college rolled around, he faced a choice: Go to the Ivy League school and pursue the “comfortable” life his parents wanted for him, or go to the state school and study engineering, a much more uncertain path.

He decided on the latter, going to Temple University to study under Phil Nicolo, co-owner of Studio 4 and Yip’s eventual business partner, himself an adjunct professor at Temple. Yip’s parents, hard-working immigrants from China, were concerned as any parent would be, they always supported him and his passion. After all, he had it all mapped out.

“I said, ‘I’m going to get in with Phil,’” Yip says. He speaks fast and excitedly. “’I’m going to meet Phil, and somehow I’m going to work at Studio 4.’ That was my dream job.”

Yip had first heard of Studio 4 as the place responsible for some of his favorite albums from artists like Boys II Men, The Fugees and Lauryn Hill. Nicolo, a GRAMMY winner, had also worked with royalty like John Lennon and Bob Dylan over his decades-spanning career.

So, he knew he wanted to end up at Studio 4, but he also knew he had to get a little more experience under his belt before he took that shot. So he hit up a now-defunct studio in South Philly called Indre Recording.

“I remember just like it was yesterday - I was 18,” he said. “I emailed the studio manager, her name was Jennifer… and I said, ‘I’d love to intern. I’m this, this and this. I have skills in recording. I’ve done it for the last six years of my life.’ And she was just like, ‘No, we’re full.’ And that was it. It was harsh. It was real. It was the first time someone said no to me like that. Because I always thought I presented well, in terms of, like, what I could do. Free work ­­– who doesn’t want that?”

Yip is exceptionally friendly and nice, but he’s not the type to take a loss when he knows he can get the win. So, he took something he had previously recorded in the basement, along with $600 – just about every penny he had at the time – and bet on himself hard.

“So I brought $600 with me, and I said, ‘I want to book mastering time,’” Yip said. “For songs that were already mastered! I just wanted to get through the door, to talk to someone!”

He played the songs for an engineer there, and he was immediately impressed.

“He was working on them, and he goes, ‘Dude, this sounds really good, where was this recorded?’ Oh, my mom’s basement,” Yip says. “He’s like, ‘What? This sounds better than some of the stuff recorded in our big room.’”

That gig lead to recording sessions and live shows. As he continued to learn by doing, he found his opportunity to get in front of Nicolo as he originally planned when he picked Temple, this time with a little more experience under his belt.

“I took Phil’s class, and the first class, I went to him and said, ‘I want to work for you. I’ll work for free,’ Yip says. “He gets that a lot. He had a line of kids. But again, I knew I was going to kill it. And he was like, ‘Alright, just show up.’ He has an open-door policy, so I showed up. And I don’t think I’ve ever stopped showing up since.”

“Once out of 3 or 400 students, you have someone who’s got it,” Nicolo says. “I don’t want to have a huge ego, but he reminded me of me at Temple. Will was that guy. I could tell he was just really on top of the ball.”

Nicolo was working with Lauryn Hill at the time. Hill is an artist both he and Yip say has a tendency to “push” her colleagues. That “it” that Yip had was something Nicolo recognized as the mark of a truly talented producer who goes beyond just turning knobs, and it became prevalent while working with Hill.

“He became my right-hand man with Lauryn Hill,” Nicolo says. “Talk about going through the trenches. If you can keep up with that s***, man, you’re in… It’s the psychological side. Anyone can figure out where to put a hi-hat or mic an amp. But it’s hard to get an artist to appreciate what you do and get what they want when they’re not putting it in correct terms. That’s an engineer. And Will did that.”

It’s that unique ability to almost connect with his artists on a symbiotic level that makes him such a good engineer. He becomes a member of the band and a teammate.

“My goal is to read their minds, to get inside their minds and then work with them to create – not even just follow direction – but just create what that vision is, you know?” -Will Yip

“He gets the best out of you,” says Tom May, guitarist/vocalist of the Menzingers, who first worked with Yip for the band’s 2017 LP After the Party, and is working with him again for their next album due out this year. “The kind of stuff that you didn’t know was really going to be there in the first place. And he’s just so good at making an environment that’s conducive to creating with all egos to the side. It’s a wild thing.”

 

The way Yip puts it, he doesn’t want to create a “Will Yip record” or even a “Studio 4 record.” He wants to make the best record that band can make in that environment.

“I’m very in the process, and I think that’s why artists kind of trust me,” Yip says. “I always tell guys that I’ve recorded with a lot of producers before. I’ve recorded with so many engineers, and I’ve tried not to be everything that I hated in those experiences. I want someone that I can trust. And I know when you trust someone that’s manning this side of the board for you, and you trust someone saying, ‘Nah, man, that’s good,’ that’s the coolest thing. That’s the safest thing. It’s like trusting your partner.”

In a lot of ways, Yip is still the kid in his mom’s basement recording his friends. His highest aspirations are to work with people who inspire him, who are fun to be around and who make music he gets genuinely stoked on. As he puts it, he doesn’t want to “chase” anything, like a paycheck or prestige. Instead, he wants to create an environment of positivity, mutual respect and creativity. That’s why artists flock from all over the globe to work with him.

“You don’t meet that many people who are like Will,” May says. “I’ve never really worked with that many people like him. He’s just so excited and ready to go. He’s able to focus better than anyone that I’ve ever worked with on anything in my life, including any schooling, jobs, the music business, working on records, everything. I’ve never seen someone who’s able to maintain that type of attention span and attention to detail, as well as managing a roomful of personalities at the same time. It’s really kind of incredible.”

“He works constantly at the highest level, and that’s what it takes,” Nicolo says. “Of people who get into this industry, why are only 2 percent of us successful?  Because you have to have that mentality and that work ethic and the ability. It’s not all pushing the pencil. You gotta have the ability. He does, and he puts in the time.”

Today, Yip’s reputation is far greater than just a producer. He’s started two record labels so he can support artists he believes in, but who might be working with limited resources. On Wikipedia, he’s “veteran producer Will Yip.” On Pitchfork, he’s “influential producer Will Yip.” These are titles typically given to folks far older than Yip, a youthful 32.

But he is a veteran. It just didn’t take him long to get there. While some of his peers have been in the business for longer than he’s been alive, his breakneck pace has allowed him to create more albums than some people will make in a lifetime, some of them GRAMMY-nominated.

And he is influential, more than he thought he would be, and in ways beyond the walls of his studio or the words of music blogs.

“I was in L.A., and I was out there for a Tigers Jaw show,” he says. “I was just by the merch table talking to couple guys, and a couple guys came by to meet me, which is crazy. L.A. - the other side of the country. This Asian dude comes up to me and says, ‘Hey dude, I’m, like, shaking right now. I can’t believe you’re here.’ I wish I would’ve taken down his information or socials so I could hit him up. But he was like, ‘Dude, you’re the reason why I think I can be an engineer. No other engineers look like me or look like you. And for you to do all of my favorite bands, I think I can do it.’ I’m like … that f***ed me up.”

Yip’s only plan was to make music with his friends forever. Being a representative for kids who look like him wasn’t a torch he planned on carrying, and it took him a while to accept it, but now he’s embraced it. It’s not that he’s playing some Mr. Modest, it’s that he’s spent so much time in his studio world that he maybe didn’t notice how much the rest of he music world grew to respect him.

“I hate talking about myself. I hate it. It’s not what I do,” he says. “All this stuff and meeting this kid, I’m like, holy s*** man. There’s so many talented kids. What if I got too scared if I got bummed out or took whatever job offer, or went to Penn, which I could’ve went to instead of Temple, and just made money, worked in my brother’s firm—and he’s very successful and cool, but what if I did that instead? I was that close to that thought sometimes when things weren’t going the best, even though I knew I wanted to work in music. If letting that fear of not doing something because you don’t see other people that look like you doing it, that’s f***ing crushing, man.”

Philly Rapper Raj Haldar, A.K.A. Lushlife, On Going From Rapper To Children's Book Author

(L-R) Laurin Talese, Ebonie Smith, Donn T, Paris Cole
Photo: Lisa Lake/Getty Images

News

Music Makers & Execs Discuss Collaboration, Culture & The "Power In Femininity"

Facebook Twitter Email
The Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter brings together group of women of color for a frank discussion of co-writing, confidence, safety and culture in the music industry
Michael Butler
GRAMMYs
Mar 26, 2019 - 10:56 am

While the core components of what makes a great song may not have changed over the decades, the way music makers create certainly has. With technology allowing albums to be made on laptops, on smart phones, on tour busses and in bedrooms, songwriters and producers have become secluded in their creative process. While this trend unleashed remarkable self-contained creativity in some, it has left a void of in-person collaboration; however, that is finally changing.

Songwriting camps are popping up all over the industry as labels are revisiting the forgotten power of placing their most talented artists in a room together to create. Earlier this year, GRAMMY-nominated rapper J. Cole's Dreamville Records held a 10-day recording session featuring some of the most talented artists in hip-hop, and Def Jam hosted its firepower-packed rap camp, which Rolling Stone says, "May be a new—and cheaper—model for the record business."

The rising tide of writer retreats presents boundless new opportunity for artists, labels, content creators, producers, engineers, and more. The Recording Academy's Philadelphia Chapter recently explored the issue deeper at their exclusive event "Craft Session: Creative Collaboration."

From a member of one of Philly’s premier musical families to the co-manager of one of R&B’s rising stars, three women of color in the music business shared several gems that can help guide women and men looking to navigate enduring careers in the music business. To celebrate the recent International Women’s Day, Paris Cole, Ebonie Smith and Donn T shared some words of wisdom that they’ve learned in their musical journeys.

Moderated by recent Sarah Vaughn International Vocal Competition winner Laurin Talese, the conversation illustrated the value of collaboration in sustaining a healthy, innovative and thriving music industry. Here are a few crucial takeaways from the conversation in Philadelphia.

Collaboration Is Key

Paris Cole is a co-manager of Dreamville / Interscope songstress Ari Lennox and has learned the importance of being positive, cooperative and open-minded. "I’m always in a position where I have to collaborate," Cole says. "I always try to push through and kill with kindness, especially as a young person in my position. Ageism is definitely a real thing, so there are people that dismiss me when I’m speaking up for something. The collaboration part in the music industry is the most important piece."

"There’s So Much Power In Femininity."

Cole was one of a handful of women at J. Cole’s recent aforementioned Dreamville Recording Sessions. The nearly two-week sessions at Atlanta’s Tree Sound Studios exemplified the movement toward record labels bringing musicians together in one place to collaborate. "I was there for only three or four days," Cole said. "Ari [Lennox] is the only female signed to Dreamville. It was really just her, myself and Raeana Anaïs, J. Cole’s stylist. It was really inspiring because it was a lot of Black men doing some really cool things."

For Cole, the uniqueness of being able to share her energy as a woman was refreshing. "There were about 11 rooms going on and every room was filled with some of the most talented producers, rappers, songwriters," Cole said. "It was cool because they were appreciative of us just walking around the rooms and bringing our own energy. There’s so much power in femininity and they are really receptive to that over at Dreamville. The camp was amazing, but it was cool to be one of the few people there to witness that dynamic between all of those creatives."

Believe In Yourself

Ebonie Smith is a producer and engineer for Atlantic Records and has worked with artists like Kelly Clarkson and Janelle Monaé. Individuality and being herself as a woman is as important to Smith as any of the many technical skills she uses regularly in the studio.

"I think my specialized skill set is informed by who I am," Smith said. "I’ve developed a number of skills that allow me to engineer, produce, play the instruments, program, etc. But it’s not just me being able to do those things because there are lots of people who can do those things. It’s me that I should be bringing and my unique perspective on all of those unique tasks I can do should be formulated into one offering. That is my individuality, my unique perspective, my compassion and more so than anything, operating with grace."

A lover of music history, Smith looks at the foundations of the record business to help inspire her workflow. "For me, it’s thinking about the overarching concept of what it means to be in the record business and creating records," Smith said. "A friend said to me recently, ‘You use such antiquated language. Nobody [says] records anymore.’ I said that I like that language because a record is just that: A documentation of a special moment. Doesn’t matter if it’s a vinyl or tape or mp3, we’re creating a record in time, a moment, a timestamp. It’s that energy that I’m operating with. When I think about the greatest movements in record history, one of them started here [with] Philadelphia International. Gamble and Huff, that’s how they operate. That’s what created the Philadelphia sound. That’s what we want."

 

Singer, songwriter and label owner Donn T mission is clear: "To see women and young girls fully become who they are beyond age, beyond race. There are no limitations."

Having worked in the music business since the age of nine, Donn T is a proponent for walking confidently in who you are. "I’m a visionary, I’m inventive, I’m a unicorn," she said. "Centering yourself and knowing yourself in every moment and being unapologetic [is important]. I think what grew up in me was this advocate for justice and seeing that in the lives of women and young girls. If we can honor a Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones in his 70s and 80s, we need to have those equivalents in women. We need to not just applaud children and teens coming into the industry, we need to be applauding women in their 50s and 60s who are creatives because creativity doesn’t die. It is my mission to change the face of what that looks like and encourage others."

Safety First

As someone that spends a great deal of her time in the studio, Smith is aware of the perils that come with studio culture and warns against them. "Studio culture can still be a very tricky space for young women in particular," Smith said. "Spaces typically aren’t safe or conducive for young girls to be hanging out in isolated rooms or basements with men twice their age. Studio culture can be very dangerous for girls. If you’re working with women in the studio or working late, make sure we get into our cars, help us clean up. Don’t just leave. Ask, ‘Are you okay? How are you getting home?’

Smith also wants people to be aware that your personal space and security are more important than any perceived advantage in the industry. "For women, if it’s a question of your body, always say no," Smith said. "If it’s a question of your safety, always say no. I don’t care how early it is in your career. Very early in my career, I was working in the studio, some guys came in that had guns and I wanted to work in that studio. They were paying me. But after that session they could never pay me enough. It doesn’t matter if I’m a great engineer if I’m dead. Same is true with other physical things. The answer is 'no.' That’s not how you become a better engineer or artist. It has nothing to do with your craft. If that’s a part of your job then it’s 'no.'"

Men: Be An Ally

Donn T is a firm believer that while it is important for women to protect themselves in the music business, men can stand up as allies in solidarity. "We need the men that are like-minded to be allies," Donn T said. "We all know that there is one conversation that happens in a room when men and women are together and another that happens when men are in a room together. Be consistent because you are that change. It’s the people in the secret rooms that will make a difference. For the men, it’s important to take the interest you have in being [at this event] to go into these rooms and be brave. It’s something as women and men that we’re learning how to do. We have to take a risk and feel the fear."

Report: How Music Creates Jobs, Drives Tourism, Improves Wellness & More

Giles Martin

Photo: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

News

Giles Martin On 'Rocketman,' Elton John, Reinventing "Tiny Dancer" & More

Facebook Twitter Email
The GRAMMY-winning producer details the process of creating the soundtrack to the new Elton John biopic including working with star of the film Taron Egerton, recording John in the studio and creating new versions of timeless classics
Bonnie Stiernberg
GRAMMYs
Jun 7, 2019 - 11:43 am

Giles Martin is no stranger to the pressure of reimagining timeless classics. The GRAMMY winner and son of Beatles producer George Martin has remixed and rearranged the Fab Four's work a number of times throughout his career—perhaps most notably for Cirque du Soleil's production of Love. But that pressure to get it right and do the original recordings justice never disappears when he dives into a beloved artist's catalog, especially when the artist is Elton John.

As the musical director of John's new biopic, Rocketman, Martin was given free rein to interpret the legendary singer's work as he saw fit. John remained hands-off throughout the whole process, entrusting Martin and star Taron Egerton with the task of telling his story through the music.

"It was huge pressure," Martin says with a laugh. "It's a bit like you've got a top chef and they give you a bunch of ingredients and go, 'I completely trust you to make an amazing meal,' and you go, 'Oh, right, okay.' At the same time, I guess it's better than the other way around. It's better than someone saying 'I don't trust you at all.' I was delighted when he actually liked it by the end."

The endorsement from John came this past January in the form of an unexpected phone call from an L.A. number Martin didn't recognize.

"Elton doesn't have a mobile, so I haven't got a number saved for him," he explains. "He was like 'Giles? This is Elton John.' And I don't think I'd spoken to Elton at all for about four months, and I was like 'Oh god.' I always think I'm gonna get fired for some reason. But he goes, 'I've listened to the music, and I love it. I just wanted to phone you and tell you I've been watching the rushes, and I think what you've done is an amazing job, and I just wanted to say thank you very much, and I've phoned Taron as well.' And I think I nearly cried. It was a relief. Because you know, it is his music, and it's his life, and you just want to make sure that you do right by him. But you have to change things around because it has to suit the film."

Those changes instantly noticeable in the movie, whether they come in the form of John's family performing "I Want Love" to illustrate his troubled childhood, a slowed-down "Crocodile Rock" intro during his star-making set at the Troubadour or a version of "Rocketman" that draws inspiration from Pink Floyd's "Great Gig in the Sky" during a scene that begins with John underwater in a pool and follows him all the way to his Dodger Stadium performance. But the change Martin struggled with the most was his decision to swap "Tiny Dancer"'s iconic piano intro for guitar.

"I did a lot of iterations of 'Tiny Dancer,'" he says. "'Tiny Dancer' was the one that I kept on changing. I did [at one point] have the piano starting, and do you know what? It didn't suit the mood. It was a really tough thing because it comes from a very quiet place, 'Tiny Dancer' in the movie. And it's at Mama Cass's party, and it's sort of quite folky, and I did it on 12-string acoustic guitar and that was a bit too strong. I then tried the piano because I really missed the piano riff. You know, who am I to get rid of that iconic riff? And I ended up with just doing it on acoustic guitar, and it worked better for the scene. It seemed to drift in better."

"In all honesty, it's as simple as you watch the movie and listen to the song, you think, "Does this sound too like, 'Here comes the song!'?" he continues. "Sometimes you need that, but in that moment in the movie, I didn't. It's funny, you can have strings—people don't mind having strings coming from anywhere, but if you're using a piano, you kind of want to see it [onscreen] to a certain degree. So that was the reason why. It didn't feel right having the piano starting it."

Despite those changes, several of the songs on the soundtrack remain deeply rooted in the source material—"Your Song" even features harpist Skaila Kanga, who played on John's original recording of the hit song half a century ago.

"Not on purpose, she's just the best harp player there is," Martin clarifies with a laugh. "She's great. She's brilliant. I mean, she's the harp player I get for all the sessions. There's a couple songs in the movie where we did takedowns of the originals, and 'Your Song' was one of them. And I forgot there was harp on it. And so I said, 'Oh god, there's harp, I better get a harpist in.' So we phoned up Skaila, and she goes, 'I played on the original of this.' We transcribed the part from the record, and she went and checked it because she'd done the original part. She was at the Royal Academy of Music with Elton when they were 15 or so, so she's known Elton that long...It was pretty amazing. I didn't realize that 'Your Song' was in 1969. So this is 50 years on that she's playing the same song."

Martin and Egerton were careful to match John's phrasing on the songs they were attempting to do loyal recreations of—as Martin notes, "Elton has the most amazing phrasing"—but they were careful to avoid mimicking him too closely, instead allowing Egerton to put his own spin on the tracks.

"I didn't really want him doing an impersonation of Elton," Martin explains. "Just because he's using his voice in the film. He's doing Elton's voice to a certain degree, but it's more of an interpretation than it is an imitation. Because it's gotta have the right soul. It's gotta have the right feel. You have to sing from within your heart. You can't sing from someone else's heart. And for me, that's why Taron's performance in the movie is really good, because he does that. It comes from within himself. He interprets Elton in the right way as opposed to just being a pastiche."

The most surreal moment for Martin, who was in the studio with John and his father in 1997 when they recorded "Candle in the Wind" after Princess Diana's funeral, was watching the singer join forces with Egerton for "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," the new song that plays over Rocketman's end credits.

"It was funny having Taron and Elton in the studios because I'd spent a year working with Taron doing Elton, and then I had Elton," he says. "It was kind of strange for both of us...With myself and Taron, we have a close work relationship, we really dig in and he works really hard at getting it right, and Elton just goes and does it in one take. And then I started recording Taron and he goes, 'Is this gonna take long?' I said to Elton, 'Give him a break. He only sang it once.' He goes, 'Well, I only sang it once.' I said, 'Yeah, but you've been doing it for longer than he has.'" He laughs. "But the good thing about Elton is he's so open-minded about it. He really is. He's open for any ideas. He just loves music. That's what he thinks about, and that's what makes my life easier."

That love of music is abundantly clear in John's work—and in Rocketman—and it ultimately led to the soundtrack ballooning from the 13 songs originally called for in the script to the 26 that made the final cut. ("I think I ended up doing three times more work than I thought I was going to on this movie," Martin says with a laugh.)

"We realized that having music that wasn't Elton's in the film didn't make any sense, and we ended up using more and more songs as background," he explains. "We realized that the more music of his we had in the movie, the more we got of his life."

Out In Entertainment: Powerful Conversations On Representation, Intersectionality & Action

Micheal Ledbetter

Photo: Courtesy of The Blues Foundation

News

Blues Music Awards Celebrate The Late Michael Ledbetter & Much More In Memphis

Facebook Twitter Email
The 40th annual Blues Foundation event saw touching tributes, spontaneous moments and electrifying performances
Mark Jordan
GRAMMYs
May 14, 2019 - 10:53 am

The blues music community gathered at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tenn., on May 9 to recognize excellence in the genre. It was at the 40th anniversary of the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards, a milestone the marking of which ordinarily would have dominated the evening. But this year’s ceremony took on an appropriately bittersweet — if no less joyous — tone, with the big winner on the night being a rising young blues vocalist whose career was tragically cut short.

May 14, 2019 – 10:48 am

Go Backstage At The Blues Music Awards

Michael Ledbetter, a distant relative of the early 20th century folk blues great Lead Belly, died in January at age 33 from complications from epilepsy. On this night the blues community honored the opera-trained vocalist and guitarist with his first individual BMA wins, including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award.

“There’s a lot of people who knew Mike as a great entertainer but his family knew him as a great person and lot of people here tonight have come and said the same thing,” said Ledbetter’s sister Ginger Burroughs, who accepted the award along with their parents and Ledbetter’s partner Kathy Cahoon.

Ledbetter also won best vocalist. His group with guitarist Monster Mike Welch, the Welch-Ledbetter Connection, took home best band.

Ledbetter was on the minds of other winners, many of whom who paid tribute to the Illinois native from the stage, most notably his band mate Welch, who won best guitarist, and traditional male artist winner Nick Moss, with whom Ledbetter started his blues career nearly a decade ago.

“We all miss Mike every day, but I feel like I got a little angel looking over me,” Moss said backstage. “When Mike won that first award, I looked up and said, hey man, got a little bit more in the tank for me.”

Moss almost missed accepting his award; he had been in the lobby looking for his wife’s cell phone and had stopped at the bar when someone came up and told him his name had been called. It was the kind of spontaneous moment that has come to typify this award show over four decades.

“This is one of my favorite events,” said actor, radio host, and member of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers the E Street Band Steven Van Zandt, who returned for the second year to host this year’s awards. “The fact that it’s so crazy. It’s very loose, it’s very spontaneous, and there’s nothing quite like it. But I enjoy that. I enjoy the fact that things are changing constantly and improvising. It’s like the blues.”

Among the night’s other winners were such well-known no shows as Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, who won best blues-rock album for his solo effort Big Bad Blues, as well as Grammy winners Buddy Guy and Ben Harper. Joining them were such blues circuit stars as Shemekia Copeland, who took home two awards, Kenny Neal and Eric Gales, all of whom were present to accept their awards.

Presenters at the show included Grammy nominees Maria Muldaur, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement recipient Steve Cropper, whose Memphis soul band Booker T. & the MGs was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall of Fame the night before in a ceremony co-hosted by GRAMMY winner Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

May 13, 2019 – 5:13 pm

Kenny Wayne Shepherd At The Blues Music Awards

A nearly five-hour long affair, the BMAs were studded with dazzling performances, including an all-star set featuring Copeland, Tony Braunagel, Scot Sunderland, and Kid Anderson, a powerful song featuring best blues/rock artist Gales playing dazzling acoustic guitar and a barn-burning finale with the Reverend Peyton’s Big Band backing saxophonist Mindi Abair, Flemons, Cropper, and Van Zandt in a rendition of “Shake Your Moneymaker,” an Elmore James classic that was also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame this year.

COMPLETE LIST OF 2019 BLUES MUSIC AWARDS WINNERS:

Acoustic Album
Journeys to the Heart of the Blues, Joe Louis Walker/Bruce Katz/Giles Robson

Acoustic Artist
Rory Block

Album of the Year
America's Child, Shemekia Copeland

B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year
Michael Ledbetter

Band of the Year
Welch-Ledbetter Connection

Best Emerging Artist Album
Free, Amanda Fish

Blues Rock Album
The Big Bad Blues, Billy F. Gibbons

Blues Rock Artist
Eric Gales

Contemporary Blues Album
America's Child, Shemekia Copeland

Contemporary Blues Female Artist
Danielle Nicole

Contemporary Blues Male Artist
Kenny Neal

Instrumentalist-Bass
Danielle Nicole

Instrumentalist-Drums
Cedric Burnside

Instrumentalist-Guitar
Monster Mike Welch

Instrumentalist-Harmonica
Dennis Gruenling

Instrumentalist-Horn
Vanessa Collier

Instrumentalist-Pinetop Perkins Piano Player
Marcia Ball

Instrumentalist-Vocals
Michael Ledbetter

Song of the Year
"No Mercy In This Land," written By Ben Harper and performed by Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite

Soul Blues Album
I'm Still Around, Johnny Rawls

Soul Blues Female Artist
Annika Chambers

Soul Blues Male Artist
Sugaray Rayford

Traditional Blues Album
The Blues is Alive and Well, Buddy Guy

Traditional Blues Female Artist
Ruthie Foster

Traditional Blues Male Artist
Nick Moss

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Talks Career Beginnings At The Blues Music Awards

George Benson

Photo: Tabatha Fireman/Redferns

News

George Benson Talks Tribute Album To Chuck Berry & Fats Domino: "The Songs are Still Ripe"

Facebook Twitter Email
The guitar great discusses his latest project honoring two of rock ‘n roll’s founding fathers by digging into their deep cuts
Morgan Enos
GRAMMYs
Apr 23, 2019 - 5:10 pm

When Provogue Records asked GRAMMY winner George Benson to record a covers album of Chuck Berry and Fats Domino, he enthusiastically jumped into what could have been a tired set of oldies -- and recorded a fresh romp through the origins of rock ‘n roll.

Not that the singer, songwriter and guitarist hadn’t tackled standards before. His body of work is filled with renditions of the Beatles, Miles Davis, Sam Cooke, and dozens more; his last album, 2013’s Inspiration, paid tribute to Nat King Cole.

Berry and Domino are a heady pair to pay tribute to, but Benson’s masterful touch makes it look like a breeze. Their outsized personalities made them early rock icons -- and much like Benson himself, they transcended musical lines of race, color and genre. And to him, the songs still have “poetic value” in 2019.

“They’re talking about the basics of life,” Benson says with a hint of awe. “Things that people come in contact with every day. And they put those lyrics together in a genius way.”

Berry and Domino are Rock ‘n Roll 101 at this point -- but as he dug deep, Benson found plenty of surprises. Producer Kevin Shirley suggested Berry’s “Havana Moon”; Benson had never previously heard the song. “It sounded very strange to me,” he admitted. “Like something Harry Belafonte would sing.” He let out an irresistible laugh. “But every woman who heard that song loved it!”

His covers of Domino, too, display an affection for the foundations of rock. When the record company asked him to tackle his “Walking to New Orleans,” his ears pricked up; he knew that would be the title.

“It gives them a little hint of what they’re going to be listening to,” he says. “It’s going to have a blues tint.” If you want a fun, breezy crash-course on how that blues sound shaped early rock, Walking to New Orleans is your trusty guide.

Here Benson talks more about about his musical roots, the challenges of covering Berry and Domino and how he balances his music career with being a family man of faith.

What made you want to honor Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in 2019?

The record company are the ones who inspired this record. They’re the ones who made the request for me to do this music. I thought it was strange at first, but after a while, I said, “You know, what a great idea!”

Because these were two icons who crossed over in a day when that was almost impossible. They crossed over in a big way, because they were two very, very strong personalities and their music was highly unique.

These two composers and musicians already had their hands on the vibe. Just to bring that forward is already a big reason why the record is successful so far. I think that’s the main thing. That people think you meant to play this record. You lose that vibe, I think you’ve lost them.

The lyrics to the songs were ripe for the time, and they’re still ripe. Because they’re talking about the basics of life. Things that people come in contact with every day. Their trials and tribulations. And in a genius way, they put those lyrics together. These guys were poets, you know? The stories have a poetic value, and they translate and communicate very well.

Oct 25, 2017 – 2:20 pm

Recording Academy Remembers Fats Domino

What inspired you to cut this music in Nashville?

In Nashville, they wouldn’t question what you were doing. You wouldn’t have to make up things like you would in L.A. They know me too well. They know what I can do. And they would want to be on something different in L.A. In Nashville, they never ask one question, except “What are we playing next? What key is it in?” That’s about it.

There’s a crackly energy between you and the players. Were you trying to let your hair down and play some rock ‘n roll this time?

No, that was another decision on the record company’s part. They had heard me in that context. I couldn’t until it came back to me, because I used to play a lot of that type of music way back in the day, in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

We had to play a little bit of everything and listen to a little bit of everything, because that was what was on the radio and on the jukebox. I kind of filed that into a bag that I had gone through. I thought that was the end of it!

Do you remember the first time you heard Fats and Chuck? Did you ever come in contact with those guys?

Only once. I came into contact with Chuck Berry at a music store in L.A. I was doing a video interview and he was in there buying some strings or guitar picks or something like that. I went over and I said, “Mr. Berry, my name is George Benson.”  He turned around and shook my hand. “Yeah. Hi.” And then he went right back to what he was doing.

I had to quickly think of something to say. I asked, “Mr. Berry, in my show, I do the duck walk. Do you mind that I do the duck walk in my show?” And he turned around very quickly and said, “Can you?” And then he went right back to buying his guitar picks and his strings. That was the end of that.

Fats Domino, I had the offer to join his band many years ago. I think I was about 16, 17 years old, maybe. One of the guys who was working with him saw me playing somewhere and said, “Man, how’d you like to go on the road?” I never liked that idea, because I never saw anyone on the road who had anything. They all looked like they were tattered and broken-down.

So I said, “No, I never thought about going on the road.” And then he said, “Well, how would you like to gig with Fats Domino?” And I said, “Wow, that’s too heavy for me. I’m not that good a player. No, I couldn’t.” So I didn’t take the gig.

You picked some deeper Chuck Berry cuts, like “Nadine” and “Havana Moon.” Were you trying to honor his more lyrical side?

That might have been the conscious choice by the producer and the record company executive. I think they made a good choice of tunes. I had never heard “Havana Moon” before. It sounded very strange to me. Like a song that maybe Harry Belafonte would do. I didn’t think it particularly meant that much, but every woman who heard that song loved it. So they made good choices!

The title track is a poignant version of Fats’ “Walking to New Orleans.” What struck you about that song?

They had a name for the album. I can’t remember what it was. But when it came around to me, I said, “No, the obvious to me is Walking to New Orleans.” It gives them a little hint about what they’re going to be listening to. It’s going to have a blues tint to it and some very basic ideas. I thought that worked better. And they loved the idea. So that’s what we named it.

You’re a family man and a longtime member of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Is music still a big part of your daily life in both respects?

Keeping the balance was, is, difficult. Trying to get to the meetings when I was home. We put in our time every month. In forty years, I missed maybe one or two months, because I was out on the road. But yeah, music in my house every day. I practice almost every day, because it’s been the best way for me to keep abreast of things.

I learn something from every project. But music moves around a lot. You can’t depend on something you did 40 years ago. You’ve gotta keep coming up with something. They’ve already got those albums on their shelves. To try to keep new ideas going forward has been the challenge. We’ve been very successful at that.

Herbie Hancock & Kamasi Washington Announce Joint Tour