| Show WEDN'ESDAY PLUS LVJ Lester 'Big Daddy' Kinsey Lives the Blues By Bob Kostanauk GARY Ind — He heard it called the -- devil's music" when he was a kid Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey knew better though "Blues is the most real thing in black history" chides Big Daddy He has made a name for himself playing it everywhere from Elks clubs and earthy roadhouses to Montreux and other European hot spots The former steelworker says he's led a rich life even without the first big record deal of his career which has come at the age of larger-than-lif- m n' better known" Although long respected in blues circles Big Daddy Kinsey doesn't have the national name recognition of genre stars like BB King Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker Unlike them he hasn't performed with white acts such as U2 Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt to broaden his fan base He also didn't have any of his music on records until 1985 "I don't think he's underrated" said manager Paul Koch "I think he's underexposed "He is starting now to have market value internationally I think what Big Daddy is gonna try to do is stay in that traditional old blues and preserve that" "semireKinsey's tirement" may be flying out the window with the PolyGram deal A blues original is being rediscovered "Usually that's the way it happens in blues" he laughed "You don't really get hot until you too old to enjoy it" BB King the sultan of guitar blues is happy to see that his friend's career has received a boost "I'm no critic" he said "but as a person and as a musician I think there are none any better He does what he do and he does it as well as anyone else There's only one as far as I'm concerned Big Daddy Kinsey" Brett Bonner a writer for Living Blues magazine terms Kinsey "a fatherly figure" on the Chicagoland blues scene who "has kind He eventually found time to play with a Gary group called the Soul Brothers and another local band Great Baby Boy and the Party-maker- his-se- quite hefty roadhouses of The Gary-arehis early days were a font for spillover music from the Chicago blues scene Known for gambling and operating illegally they were prime targets for police raids Big Daddy knew the feeling of being in the middle of one But greats like How lin' Wolf Muddy Waters Junior Wells and Memphis Slim still came and played In fact Kinsey recalls hearing the live music of How lin' Wolf wafting to the front steps of his Chase Street home Those roadhouses Kinsey happily recalled were places "Where we really used to let it all hang out back in the late '50s and early a lf '60s" "I must have been about 12 years old and I was very sheltered as a child My dad didn't allow me to go around those places too much I was playing guitar back then in the church "But I sneaked off" A friend who played the harmonica joined him "We sneaked off the night that Muddy was playing at this farmhouse on the next plantation from where I lived We were too young to go in but we just stood around out in the dark and peeped through the cracks That's when that blues bug hit me" Kinsey paid homage to his hero when he headlined a Muddy Waters tribute this summer at the renowned Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland It wasn't long before Kinsey's Ralph born in 1952 and Donald born in 1953 started playing music with their father "We were playing clubs as early as age 12" said Donald Kinsey sons now 40 Pop Kinsey and his boys came known as Big Daddy Kinsey and his Fabulous Sons "I wanted all boys you know I wanted to make my own band" said the Kinsey patriarch "That was my dream from childhood" Young Donald had taken to the guitar especially fast "By the time Donald was 6 years old he was playin' BB King" recalled Big Daddy "I mean he started playin' things that I couldn't play" The Kinseys landed their first key gig at an East Gary Ramada Inn Recounting how he snared the job Kinsey said "A friend of mine told me 'I haven't seen no black band out there yet You should come out and talk to the be- The master of ceremonies revved up the crowd: "We're gonna bring up the big man with the little-bittguitar — Mr Big Daddy Kinsey! Big Daddy! Big Daddy!" His rings shimmered but Kinsey was not animated or theatrical in front of the reverential European crowd The voice did the talking During "Mannish Boy" — a cut off of his new album — he growled and churned: man "I'm a man I'm a I'm a rollin' stone" He smiled a contented smile to himself as if he knew he had nailed the delivery y hoochie-coochi- full-grow- Colour the Allman Brothers Band and reggae legends Peter Tosh and Bob Marley Big Daddy and his sons have often performed as a team But now it's dad's turn to travel Dressed to the nines for the job interview Big Daddy borrowed his father's new Cadillac "to look good goin' out there" Not only did he get the Ramada job but Kinsey and his sons had become a touring act by the early '70s They were known in the South The family was making it Dad had not only put a guitar in Donald's hands at the age of 3 or 4 but also eventually showed him the seamier side of the music business "My dad was always a firm believer in knowing something about the music business" said e self-penne- "Good Mornin' Mississippi" Kin- true to Muddy Waters: "I recorded it in the tradition of the late one" Plucking the guitar strings with solo ar - -- ' Despite the renaissance that has come with his current record deal Big Daddy has no plans to leave Gary where his three sons also reside Unlike the Jacksons — Gary's other famous musical clan — the Kinseys have not moved to a "I love Gary As a whole Gary's been good to me" said the Kinsey family patriarch eager to give something back to the city by helping to develop its young musical talent He has some time for that Lester Kinsey's comfortable lifestyle does not hinge on selling a lot of solo albums He is financially set noting he and his boys have made $6000 to $7000 for a mere 55 minutes of work He has a large red brick house on Gary's south side a FAX machine in the dining room prized cars and a television commercial for an insurance firm Despite his age Kinsey is still busy touring following up large-scal- e spring and summer tours in e Japan and Europe with in appearances Michigan and Ohio closer-tohom- RtA 111 1141111"1"1111011E10- 3 - - :11' 1V - 0 b vil i1 b 0 iftlt? 11:10'"7'" 4' 11:1:i: 4 ji0 T LA4ai God-give- n A 10J14L4g' - e 1 VI-- )' m 27" -' t'I''' L ' : L 147 't i1 - 1:: AII 4 ( i 1 - ?6 'Al 1: 'I ' S 10-- 6 - —"I 1 - ' - Credit c - ! i -- 1 i '1i1 114 N'z'c l 1 l'-- sl '' t 4 :i4 'j l 1 tt I a'ai'q14111 1114 ' ' - ''t ": Ilion 'olt ''' r 11" ? 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I : ItED PRIC P1 44 ilit 'Mt ' q 47 ' 4tet41'44: scheduled h """4171111fiOrder k ' h d full-lengt- n Its t - 0 Illa 4 '11 "hard-edge- -- t - 1 - 8-4 I - -- CGS' : INVENTOR 1 full-lengt- 11111111111141101r1Wialll'IiliVililliii4MILIIIIIIIIP" 721'40110111" ' 4 lif ER44itr i 0" 0 il one-perso- mecca warm-weath- - -- - : Al Auto D- "If this doesn't formally end the phenomena then nothing will" House said The release is mainly for fun That's what they still have at CZ where the staff works in and jeans on desks band stickers with plastered and such pronouncements as "I Hate Your Band" and "I Buy Music for Minors" House who with his nearly buzzed hair shorts and blue sneakers looks like he could be getting ready to go onstage with his former band Skin Yard runs a loose but extremely busy shop The label which 212 years ago consisted of House and a staff using one computer one phone and a fax machine now has 10 employees six computers on a network and two or three releases each month The label still signs mostly Northwest bands but is now considering bands in New York Chicago and San Francisco House said "We'd like to think we're cementing a solid place for ourselves in indie (independent music label) America" House said "We're getting respect from a lot of people out there in the scene" The label had its beginnings in 1986 with a release called "Deep Six" featuring the first recordings by Skin Yard Green River The Melvins Malfunkshun and Soundgarden That's a fair chunk of Seattle scene history on one release Malfunkshun's lead singer Andrew Wood went on to sing for with his three sons He doesn't regret waiting t i songs singer-saxophoni- tot le e full-fledg- d sey stressed he was being son: "This could easily happen if you don't know somethin' about your business" Once the Kinsey clan was established as a musical force Big Dadwork bedy's daytime came expendable By the early '70s it was history His wife of 47 years Christine had suggested the change The Kinsey family's first recording came as backup musicians to Eddie Silvers: Dad was on the harmonica Donald on guitar Ralph on drums Bass player Kenneth the youngest son wasn't in on the session which took place some 25 years ago It took until 1985 for Big Daddy Kinsey to release his very own record — "Bad Situation" an album of Kinsey family songs done teen-ag- e blue-coll- Mother Love Bone before his death and Mother Love Bones members went on to form the hugely successful Pearl Jam Green River was a seminal band early in the scene The Melvins have been credited with inventing grunge on a whim by deciding to slow their hardcore punk set down about 10 notches and going with it Soundgarden of course has gone platinum and made wads of grungy money House kept CZ going mainly as a hobby and actually worked for independent Seattle label Sub Pop for a few years until he decided to concentrate full time on CZ in February 1991 The label has released more than 70 singles El's and releases since "Deep Six- - focusing on what House calls pop" lie releases says most can be expected to sell 7000 to 15000 copies with 20000 the upper limit "Our biggest group at the moment is 7 Year Bitch- whose last release "Sick Env" is selling well House said The label suffered a big loss in June when Gits singer Alia Zapata was strangled by an unknown assailant The group had just finished its second CZ release and was scheduled for several dates in the Rock For Choice tour with 7 Year Bitch and Hammerbox "Everything was pretty much falling into place for them the week it all happened" House said CZ has several releases PRESS WRITER SEA'rTLE (AP) — Daniel House says ifs time for grunge rock to die He's sick of seeing New York designers rip off the working-clas- s boots and flannel affected by pioneer Seattle grunge musicians He's sick of reading and hearing about grunge and running into people who think the only music corning out of Seattle is low loud and raw "It's time to nail the final nail in the coffin" the head of CZ Records said touting the new CZ release "Grunge Lite" a collection of Muzak-stylcovers of popular grunge elder Kinsey warned his The Cabrera By Luis ASSOCIATED max" manager" n Introducing the s He blew a mean harp and was even billed as Slim Harpo for a while although he was actually known the mainstream There's no debating that Lester "Big Daddy" Kinsey sure looks like the blues: A weathered but affable persona forged by the fertile Mississippi farmland of his priority" ral communities and play Friday and Saturday night fish fries" said Kinsey "Wasn't making that much money: He was gettin' through the years" Ironically the three sons Kinsey weaned on traditional blues and steered toward music — collectively known as the Kinsey Report — have eclipsed his career in many ways They've already released more major-labe- l albums and have — collectively or individually — performed with the Rolling Stones Aerosmith Living "I Am the Blues" which showcases some of his songwriting is already out in Europe boasting a cavalcade of blues standouts who wanted to back up Kinsey such as Buddy Guy James Cotton Billy Branch Sugar Blue and Pinetop Perkins There's also Kinsey's ringing slide guitar a talent spawned from his childhood days The son of a strict Pentecostal minister Kinsey got his first guitar — a Sears model costing $3 or $4 — at the age of 6 He had a homemade one even before that His father though believed a guitar was meant for church music not blues "He was just like the other older people — he said the blues was devil's music and stuff like that" recalled Kinsey in an interview at his home "My dad didn't give me the freedom that I gave my children as far as gettin' on out there — exercising my talent "If he had turned me loose I would have been the best blues guitar player ever lived because everything I heard I could play I never went to school for it but it was just a gift But he I out me of it stayed out of kept music until my wife started having babies "If he had let me loose I would have been either dead or one of the greatest bluesmen that ever lived" he laughed "I'm good on the guitar but being a lead guitar player for somebody else I'm not into that I play strictly Big Daddy "I think my voice is my biggest asset right now but like I said I have forgotten more about guitar playin' than the average guy ever he confirmed "but it just never was my thing I wasn't happy Music has always been my top Big Daddy's style was inspired by the best: the late Muddy Waters a blues trailblazer who did farmwork near Pleasant Grove Miss the boyhood home of Kinsey "He used to come out in the ru- self-impos- of missed "I -made good money out The Seattle Grunge Rock Coffin detailing the time his father took him to see bluesmanigtaarist Jimmy Reed — a heartbreaking example of a noted musician on the skids -It was just him and a drummer" recalled Donald "Jimmy Reed wasn't able to buy himself a pack of cigarettes He was just down down down on his luck He hadn't taken care of himself plus he had been ripped off to the Donald there- ing" e came I Kinsey brought the Delta blues to Gary when he moved north as a teen-age- r He remembers the exact date he started working in the steel mills: Jan 3 1944 Born and raised in the rustic Mississippi Delta Kinsey has been known to talk with an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips spinning out a catalog of old blues stories in a deep croaky voice "It's a very traditional sort of Delta blues voice" said Bill Gilmore of Chicago's MALES Etc a club which has showcased Kinsey and his boys "It's a type of voice a lot of people try to do Unless you were from the South and are of a certain age you just don't sound like that There are a lot of younger guys who try to fake — try to achieve — that sort of voice "It's just unfortunately vanish- "I mean the blues has been good to me already" said Gary's very own musical giant "I haven't been no place yet that people hadn't heard of me you know" Still Kinsey concedes that the deal with Poly Gram — which kicks off with October's US release of "I Am the Blues" — will be "beneficial as far as get-ti- high-profil- Where the blues and from" stuck" 66 five-albu- his chunky fingers Kinsey wailed "Good mornin' Mississippi You raised me in your arms Well you know Ill never forget it boyhood and the roasting steel mills of Gary 14 here he later worked e nickKinsey's name matches his bulk He got it in Gary "That started as a result of me working with my children" he said "1 think we was playin at the old Elks on 21st and Broadway Somebody hollered up on stage one night 'Hey big daddy!' I don't know who it was but it NEWSPAPERS KNIGHT-RIDDE- Time to Drive the Final Nall Into (next to Albertson's In Cottonwood Square) 0 OGDEN i 1( 399-392- 8 i 4066 Riverdale Road(next to- Blockbuster) - listottr' |
