Jimmie eats world: Jimmie Vaughn will headline at this year’s New York State Blues Festival. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO
You’ll be able to check out the subsequent progress of both acts this weekend during the New York State Blues Festival. The Fabulous Thunderbirds will play on Saturday, July 12, 9:30 p.m., while Vaughan will perform with Lou Ann Barton on Sunday, July 13, 9:30 p.m.
Although the Salt City crossroads of
these two former band mates within the same festival will be a worthy
footnote for fans, don’t expect much collaboration between them. “Jimmy
Vaughan’s on that show?” Wilson asks during a phone
conversation on the band’s tour bus. “Oh, I won’t be there, no.” Wilson
admits there’s been some contact between them over the years: “A little
bit. Not much. But yeah, that’s unfortunate {that we’re not playing on
the same day}. I wish we were on the same day, that would be fantastic!”
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Wilson further comments, “Really, it’s not any kind of
competition thing. I love what I’m doing right now. It’s really not an
issue, none of that stuff anymore, because I’m just happy with what
I’ve got. I’m really interested in cultivating that. The past is the
past for a reason.”
That past has led to a new lineup for the band, including guitarists Johnny Moeller and Mike Keller, bassist Randy Bermudes and drummer Jay Moeller, brother of Johnny, as well as Wilson on the mike. That roll call is at the exclusion of guitarists Nick Curran and Kirk Fletcher, two players who have parted ways with Wilson.
“Sometimes things just don’t work out,” Wilson explains.
“They’re both really great players, but you’ve got to have
cohesiveness, and I think Nick is better off fronting his own band. And
they all went in different directions musically. Nick went into this
punk thing, and that wasn’t really what I was in to, so it had to end.
Kirk wanted to be more. . . I’m not sure what he wanted to be. Some of
these guys quit, some of these guys didn’t quit. Some guys quit and a
couple years later they want their job back!”
However, Wilson is planning a new release with the
Thunderbirds next spring; it’ll be the group’s 12th studio album, and
he couldn’t be happier with the way things are going. “I’m overjoyed to
have these guys, I have to tell you,” Wilson gushes. “At this stage in
my career, it’s so pleasant to have the best band I’ve ever had. I’ve
never really had everybody on the same page like this.”
Wilson likens the new music he has been writing to a more
rhythm’n’blues-based sound, citing contemporary musicians as sources of
inspiration for his new numbers. “I’ve always leaned on the
rhythm’n’blues stuff. I’ve just never been able to accomplish it in the
past,” Wilson says. “I like what people like James Hunter are doing,
and these younger kids: Amy Winehouse, Duffy and people like that. I’m
not crazy about some of their records sonically, but I like the
approach. I like that these retro soul people are more complete.
They’re real players, real singers. They can give a performance.”
At this year’s Blues Fest, you’ll likely get a sample of
the roots-centric philosophy that Wilson says he continues to advance.
“You’re not getting that deep stuff like you used to get in the old
days {now}, like when Muddy Waters was still alive. It’s very important
to hang on to tradition as well, because without that you’ve got
nothing.”
