Big Al Blake Interview

Al Blake, born as Alan Blake Eliel, shot into the world January 16, 1945 on a marine corps base near Klamath Falls, Oregon. While later growing up during the early 50s in Oklahoma, the Blues began tugging at his heart under the influence of his black nanny Ruby Anderson. She used to pack him over to the other side of the tracks where her small house sat nestled near Oklahoma City. Down the street from Ruby's house was a small general store where a hi-fi, with a large outdoor speaker, loudly played the Deep Southern Blues while people listened and danced there on a daily basis.

Fascinated by this music, Al Blake began collecting all the great Blues recordings he could find. But finally just listening to all this musical magic was not enough and over time he began seeking out these living artists as mentors and with each personal experience of being able to watch their body language as he listened, both his understanding of them and his empathy blazed his own musical fires to higher and higher levels.

Today Al Blake still walks the paths of those early mentors with a near-sacred need to preserve their tradition and avoid selling out to the aberrations of so many modern Blues-makers. His music is slowly evolving to the status of legend. Blake has said, "If the kind of Blues I'm so passionate about playing was a 4-legged mammal, it would be on the top of the endangered species list. It's that rare." People now consider Blake with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Blues and its players to be one of the most serious students of this genre. His extraordinary vision and unique talents as a vocalist, harmonica player, guitar player, writer and producer have led him to create some of the deepest and purest Blues of the post-modern era.

Along with "Rock This House," the seminal recording by the Hollywood Fats Band, released in 1979, Blake has also recorded these collections with fellow members of the Hollywood Blue Flames: "Mr. Blake's Blues," and "Dr. Blake's Magic Soul Elixir." Since 2004 they have had three releases on the Delta Groove music label. Two of these being nominated for the Prestigious Blues Music Award by the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation. Soul Sanctuary (2004) – Best Comeback Album of the Year. Road to Rio - 2 CD set, The Hollywood Blue Flames/ Larger Than Life Vol 1 The Hollywood Fats Band Live 1980 (2006) Best Historical Album of the Year which went to #1 on the Living Blues radio charts in the first two weeks of its release. Their latest, 2 CD set Deep in America, The Hollywood Blue Flames / Larger Than Life Vol 2 The Hollywood Fats Band Live 1980(2010) was on the Living Blues charts for 4 months with a peak position of #1. This interview was conducted at School of the Blues in San Jose, CA in July of 2014.

Videos Include:
Growing Up in Oklahoma and Record Collecting (Al Blake Interview)
Moving to California (Al Blake Interview)
Formation of Hollywood Fats Band (Al Blake Interview)
Harmonica Mentors (Al Blake Interview)
Blues Harp Lesson Experiences (Al Blake Interview)
Hollywood Fats Band & Recording (Al Blake Interview)
Hollywood Fats Band Record Release & Death of Fats (Al Blake Interview)
Accompaniment Playing, John Lee Williamson & Little Walter (Al Blake Interview)
Approach to Improvising (Al Blake Interview)
Approach to Tongue Blocking (Al Blake Interview)
Bending (Al Blake Interview)
Recommendation on Obscure Players (Al Blake Interview)
Position Playing (Al Blake Interview)
How Guitar Influences Al’s Playing (Al Blake Interview)
What Al Likes to Hear in Other Blues Harp Players, Part 1 (Al Blake Interview)
What Al Likes to Hear in Other Blues Harp Players, Part 2 (Al Blake Interview)
Al’s Equipment (Al Blake Interview)
Recording Acoustic Harp (Al Blake Interview)
Newest Recordings and Closing (Al Blake Interview)