Blues-Grass Musician Big Joe Bone Talks about his Album, Playing at Scrumpstock and Music in general


Conversations with the music acts performing at Scrumpstock (Exmouth Rugby Club, 15-17 May, 2015).

Please introduce yourself to our readers?

I'm Danny Wilson (aka "Big Joe Bone"). I'm a solo blues, roots and bluegrass musician. I sing and play harmonicas, banjos, guitars & stomp box.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

I'm having a "Joy Division" and "The Smiths" phase at the moment. I mainly listen to music in the car travelling to and from gigs, so I tend to listen to anything but blues, roots and bluegrass, otherwise I find myself trying to sound like whoever I've been listening to that day, rather than just playing like me.....if that makes sense?

Who have you been most excited to work with?

Bob Log III .....he's a bonkers one man band from the U.S. who plays great hard driving, distorted slide guitar, foot-drums and a few strange effects pedals. He does the whole gig dressed in boots, a sparkly "Elvis-esque" jumpsuit and a U.S. airforce helmet with a blacked out visor and an old bakelite telephone inserted in the front as a microphone.....so nobody gets to see what he actually looks like. Look him up! :-)

How was it for you?

It was great! A brilliant audience interactive one-man show.....at one point during a guitar solo, he made his way through the crowd right to the back where I was stood on a table (the only way to see over the crowd) and he just played at me for a while. It was a weird feeling as it made me more self conscious than when I was playing the support gig to the same crowd.....but it was a really nice thing for him to do. He was a great guy to meet off-stage too.....and my friends are all so jealous that I've seen his face!  

What was your weirdest or funniest musical moment in your career so far?

I played an afternoon gig at The Great Dorset Chilli Festival in 2013 where a couple of kids (about 5 years old?) decided to get on stage and march up and down during my set.....not sure why?, but within about a minute the stage was packed with lots more kids, and they were all doing a conga/march in time to my songs. It felt great, because the stage was bouncing in perfect time to what I was playing. No idea how none of my gear got knocked over or how none of them tripped over my cables, but it was definitely both weird and funny. 

Successes to date?

One success only.....I get to do this for a living.

What are your songs about?

A made-up bloke called "Big Joe Bone", getting old, my mate "Red" who got me into banjos, my perfect woman, being lazy, traffic wardens, drinking and fighting, growing Cannabis, signing on for benefits in South Wales....anything that comes to mind, really.

Who would you most like to meet and why?

Charlie Parr and John Hammond Jr. .....they're both roots musicians from the U.S. Both these guys have had a huge influence on my playing and it'd be nice to tell them so.

How and why did you come up with the title of your album?

I just wanted something that would give a good idea of what was on the album (energetic blues and bluegrass music) so "Blues-Grass Kicks Ass!" made sense to me.

Please tell any stories behind any of your songs?

No sub-text in my songs, really.....they all tend to pretty much tell whatever story is behind them.

What are you up to next?

This is my busiest year for gigs so far, and hopefully I'll be recording my next 10 songs in the winter too.

Where can we find out more about your music?

All you need to know about me is at bigjoebone.com There's also a "links" page there, where you'll find a lot of the musicians that led me to want to play this kind of music.

His album is on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/blues-grass-kicks-ass/id848602397

His Faceboook page: https://www.facebook.com/BigJoeBone?fref=ts

Here's what the press have said about his album: http://www.bigjoebone.com/#!reviews/c1t4p

See Big Joe Bone live at Scrumpstock: http:/www.scrumpstock.co.uk

April 20, 2015 7:14am ET by Sweet Sound PR   Comments (0)

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