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<\/p>\nDo an internet search on Johnny Tucker, and you won’t find a lot of information that predates the release of Seven Day Blues<\/i>, his new album on Highjohn Records. But Tucker is a veteran bluesman with a long and colorful back story. His musical journey brought him up close and personal with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the \u201cFive\u201d Royales, Johnny Otis and Phillip Walker, and took him all over the globe. After decades of literally taking a back seat to other artists, in 2006 Tucker embarked on a recording career of his own. Seven Day Blues<\/i> is his second solo album.<\/p>\n
Purposefully ignoring modern ideas about how to make an album, Tucker and producer Big Jon Atkinson cut Seven Day Blues<\/i> live in the studio \u2013 using analog tape and vintage recording gear \u2013 with Tucker making the songs up as he went along. \u201cI’ve got some pride in that, man,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cBecause I did it freestyle, y’know? I didn’t come in there with no sheet of papers or nothin’.\u201d In fact Tucker says that when he met up with the players for his studio sessions \u2013 various combinations including Anderson, Kid Ramos and Scot Smart on guitar, drummers Marty Dodson and Malachi Johnson, Troy Sandon on bass and harmonica plus a select few others \u2013 he gave them only the simplest of directions. \u201cPut it in ‘G,’ and here’s the count, y’all,\u201d he told his side men. \u201cWe took it from there; didn’t have no practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Johnny Tucker is clearly a man who believes that music is at its best when it’s captured in the moment. \u201cI just told ’em, ‘This is the speed right here,’\u201d he says. His extensive background as a touring drummer meant that he knew how to set the tempo and rhythm with a few hand claps; it was up to the players to pick up his cues and run with them. \u201cI told ’em, ‘Listen, y’all. We can’t do it but one time. So you got to get it right this one time.’\u201d Tucker laughs and admits that his approach in the studio is not only about spontaneity. \u201cBecause when I go back through it again, I been forgot the words that I said at the beginning! I get all turned around, and everybody’s tryin’ to get me: ‘What word did you say?’ And I say, ‘We’re going to do it. One. Time.’\u201d<\/p>\n
In light of Tucker’s methods, there’s a surprising amount of variety within the fifteen original tracks on Seven Day Blues<\/i>. There are shuffles, slow blues, fast numbers. \u201cWhatever timing that I counted out, that’s what they played,\u201dTucker says, beaming. \u201cIt was perfect.\u201d And in nearly every single case, the first take of a song was the only take.<\/p>\n
Tucker had the time of his life recording Seven Day Blues<\/i>, and developed an instant rapport with the musicians on the session. \u201cThe drummer that we had there said, ‘Baby, you must’ve played drums!’\u201d Tucker recalls. \u201cAnd I said, ‘Yes, that’s what I did all my life!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnny Tucker was born near Fresno, California (some sources cite Modesto) on October 17, 1945. The bio on his label’s website calls him the tenth child of nineteen siblings; he says sixteen (\u201ceight boys and eight girls\u201d). Either way, with that many, it’s easy to lose count. \u201cAnd we all went into music,\u201d he says.\u201d His own introduction to playing music came courtesy of one of his older brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were kids, we used to go out in the field and pick cotton,\u201d Tucker says, telling the tale for what must be the hundredth time. \u201cAnd by the time we get home, we\u2019re so tired and tuckered out.\u201d On foggy mornings, Tucker and his siblings would set some old tires alight, in the belief that the fumes would dissipate the mist. \u201cWe can’t pick the cotton when it’s wet, because then it weighs too much,\u201d he explains. \u201cWet cotton in a sack is going to weigh twice as much as when it’s dry. <\/b>So we had to stand around the fire until the fog comes down a little bit, it gets a little warmer, and the cotton gets dry.\u201d<\/p>\n
On one such morning, the tires were almost completely consumed. All that was left was some metal wire from the steel belts inside the tires. Seeing that wire gave Tucker’s brother an idea. \u201cHe went and got a board. He got a hammer, some nails and a Pet milk can, too. Back in the day those cans were so soft you could just squeeze them with your hand and they would just crumple up,\u201d he says. \u201cThen he put three nails in one end of the board, and three nails at the other end. And he took that Pet milk can, empty, and put it up under them strings that he had cut off and put on that wire.\u201d By sliding the can back and forth under the taut wires, Tucker’s brother could get a tone that he liked. \u201cYou know, doot-doot-doot; like that. He’d tune it to where he wanted it at, and then he’d do the next one, and before you know it he’d be done tuned all of them, all of the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
So now Tucker and his siblings had a primitive, homemade guitar. Tucker’s brother-in-law thought some percussion would be good, too. And he noticed young Johnny’s interest in that direction. \u201cI’d be beating on old pots,\u201d Tucker recalls with a laugh. \u201cHe liked my sister, so he said, ‘I’ll get you some drums.’\u201d Tucker says it took him three full days to put the pieces together. \u201cIt wasn’t a full [kit] to set up, but I didn’t know where everything went,\u201d he says. But once he assembled the drums, he put on Lowell Fulson’s \u201cReconsider Baby.\u201d (Tucker refers to the song as \u201cSo Long,\u201d by the words that open the tune.) \u201cAnd I learned how to play that song with my drums,\u201d Tucker says. \u201cI played it every day until I learned how to play it just like the record.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker honed his drumming craft, but he was a singer too. And he had the moves. \u201cI listened to a lot of James Brown; I used to imitate him all the time,\u201d he says. \u201cYou know: one leg slide across the floor, doing ‘Please, Please, Please’ and all them songs. That’s how I got on the road with Phillip Walker.\u201d<\/p>\n