1.Growing Up
I had the great fortune of growing up in a home filled with music. Neither of my parents were musicians, but they had a great passion for music and for records in particular. While other neighbourhood kids were outdoors playing, I would sit in my room for hours listening to my parents’ doo-wop, rock’n’roll and country 45s. As an adult, collecting and listening to vintage vinyl continues to be my favourite hobby and inspires my own music.
2.Inspirations
I grew up listening to the music of many different obscure mid-century artists within many different genres of music. Because of that, it would be very difficult to pick out even a handful of favourite musicians. But one album that I look back to as a turning point in my life was The Sun Sessions by Elvis Presley, which was released by RCA in the mid-’70s. I had heard and loved Elvis’ hit records before that, but hearing the music that he recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis for the first time really blew my mind. That album set me on the rockabilly path that I continue on today.
3.Your Band
I record and perform with my band as Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys. We first formed in 1988 as a group of friends from several different Southern California rockabilly bands, with the goal of developing a more authentic vintage sound. On this particular Australian tour I am performing as a guest vocalist with Los Straitjackets, a primarily instrumental outfit from Nashville, Tennessee.
4.The Music You Make
I started out as strictly a rockabilly performer in the early ’80s, but over the years I’ve grown to include R&B, jazz, honky-tonk, Western swing and even a touch of Jamaican rocksteady in the mix. On this tour with Los Straitjackets, I’ll be singing ’60s-inspired rock’n’roll. Our shows together are pretty hard-rocking and soulful, something like a garage R&B show in Mexico City in 1965.
5.Music, Right Here, Right Now
I find the music scene back home in the States to be pretty exciting. It seems to me that there is a greater awareness and appreciation for music from the last century and a lot of younger musicians are finding inspiration in these older sounds and creating their own music out of that. This will only be my second visit to Sydney, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the current music scene compares to what I’ve been experiencing lately in the US.
Big Sandy and Los Straitjackets play the Sydney Rock ‘N’ Roll & Alternative Market at Manning Bar onSunday March 15.
