Blues musician Patrick Recob has played with lots of touring bands, and recorded with some of them, over the last 25 years. And, for nearly a decade, he was the bassist for Lee McBee and The Confessors.
Last month marked the release of Recob's debut solo album. Fish Fry host Chuck Haddix talked to Recob about the new release called Perpetual Luau:
CHUCK HADDIX: "Well, how did the luau theme come in?"
PATRICK RECOB: "I am a fan of 1950s Beatnik exotica. I just love music, and there's just something about the vibe of the exotica, lounge, Tiki vibe of the 1950s — Martin Denny, Les Baxter, [Juan Garcia] Esquivel, the Bachelor Pad, and all that kind of lounge music.
"And Lisa, my wife, and I, we were married on the island of Maui. And to have that wonderful experience, it just really touched my soul. Being at a luau, it's something that's just more fine than just a regular party. And, so the motto, the slogan on the record is: to some life's a party, to others, it's a perpetual luau.
"I've just always felt that a luau, that idea is just five or six degrees higher than just something that's just normal and just standard. And it's also about just staying in that state of bliss perpetual."
HADDIX: "Looking back, what point did you decide to take the path that led you here? That you said, 'I want to be a blues musician'?"
RECOB: "Well, I've always loved music. And I recall about the age of 13, 12, that I wanted to do this. And my mother has a different take on it. She claims I was listening to music, and trying to do music already at the age of 3. And there's never been a time in my life, where I've never, I don't ever remember music not being a part of my life.
"There was a gentleman in Topeka, Kansas, by the name of Bud Dingman [who] had a record shop called World Records. Bud was a blues musician himself. And that's where I first got to hear Little Walter, and Sonny Boy Williamson, and Willy Dixon, in his shop. It was very affordable to buy these records. And it's just something that spoke to my soul immediately.
"Like I said, I listened to all kinds of different music. But one day, it's just, the music spoke to me and said, you're going to be a blues musician. And next thing I know, that's exactly what has happened over the course of the last 30 years. I was a very young age, I was just starting high school when all that happened."
HADDIX: "And, you know, Patrick, you had to make the transition from sideman to bandleader when Lee McBee passed [in 2014 at 63]. How did you make that transition?"
RECOB: "I'm going to tell you something, man, Lee McBee not only was one of the greatest people that ever walked the planet, he was one of the most supportive people, he was one of the most encouraging people.
"He realized that I had a love for singing and that I always had a knack for performing. So he would have me choose a couple of songs and then he'd help me, whether I was pitchy or not doing it right, he was crafting me into something. And then it got to the point where his health issues started taking him away from the gigs ... He just said, 'I can't make it to the gig.' And next thing I know, I'm fronting the band. And when he passed away, I really had to step up to the plate.
"And the guys were very encouraging. So it's just kind of been a gradual thing that's just all of a sudden led us to where we are now."
Fish Fry host Chuck Haddix's extended interview with Patrick Recob is archived in the first hour of the May 27, 2017 episode of the Fish Fry.
Patrick Recob and The Confessors perform most Sundays at 6 p.m. at B.B.'s Lawnside BBQ, 1205 E. 85th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64131. 816-822-7427. For more information about upcoming performances, check his website.
Laura Spencer is an arts reporter at KCUR 89.3. You can reach her on Twitter at @lauraspencer.
