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The Road to CukoRakko: Lamont Landers Band September 28, 2018 13:24

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Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen
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Photo by James Champion
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If you're a music lover in Alabama, you've more than likely heard about an amazing grassroots festival known as CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival. Founded in 2014, the festival has been held twice a year at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, AL. As we prepare for another unforgettable CukoRakko weekend on October 5th - 7th, we're sitting down and getting to know a few of the performers on the 2018 Fall Festival lineup. For our thirdinstallment, we caught up with Lamont Landers, front man of one of Alabama's hottest acts: Lamont Landers Band.  You can catch Lamont and company kicking things off on Saturday, October 6th. See below for the full interview, as well as video footage of the band performing their tune "Into the Fold."
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Lamont Landers Band got rolling back in 2014, correct? Tell me about how this thing came together. 
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Lamont: Yes sir. Back in 2014, most of us we're going to the University of Alabama. A mutual musician friend of Kevin (Canada) and mine had asked me if I would be cool with him putting a band together, and of course, I jumped at the chance. He got Kevin on a gig and since then, other members have came and gone, but Kevin was day one. Kevin knew our drummer Bowen (Robertson), and I met him out and about playing around Tuscaloosa.
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We stayed there for a couple of years; playing every bar in town, I moved to North Alabama...eventually landing in Huntsville. Kevin moved to Decatur. Bowen moved to Nashville. Somewhere along the way, we met the final piece of our band, the glue, the x factor: Jaraven Hill, our bass player. 
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I see you guys are from Decatur. North Alabama has certainly been known for it's musical roots. How much of an impact did the whole Shoals scene make on you as a young musician?
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Lamont: The Shoals had an indirect influence for sure. The music that came out of that area and the impact it had has resonated with me my entire life. It certainly made the dream of having an impact on the world through music, even while being from Alabama, seem entirely possible.
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The band recently made a big splash on 'Showtime at the Apollo'. How did you find yourselves in that position? What type of impact has this exposure given the band?
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Lamont: It was a surreal thing. It all happened through e-mails and stuff behind the scenes that led to us getting picked to be a part of it. It has provided us with some level of credibility, in the sense that if you can play the Apollo Theatre and walk away unscathed, then you can play just about anywhere in the world.
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We're living in a much different musical era these days. Things have changed quite a bit since we were kids. Tell me about the advantages and challenges this presents to a young, up-and-coming act.
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Lamont:  You're 100% right. Times have changed. I sometimes feel like I was born in the gap between generations as far as the music business is concerned. The advantages are: you have every tool at your disposal to try to make it, the business is decentralized, and if you can make it on your own, you hold all of the leverage.
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The disadvantage is that when everyone is making noise, literally and figuratively, it's hard to filter through that. There are no barriers to entry now. You don't have to be a musician to be a "musician." Sometimes all it takes are streams of consciousness or a slew of disingenuous Instagram posts and, you'll be lauded as some visionary.
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This was supposed to have a point, oh yeah, to the kids who are up and coming. Just stay true to yourself, play the game the way you want to play it, and if you make it you make it. If you don't, you can at least say you really lived life and had fun doing it.
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What's on the horizon for the band as you look towards closing out 2018?
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Lamont: The good stuff. We are finally releasing our debut album, by the end of November at the latest. We are extremely proud of it. It's been a labor of love, and I think displays our growth as a band over these last four years. 
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You'll be performing on Saturday, October 6th at CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival. What can attendees expect from you guys?
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LamontAttendees can expect some of the finest funk & soul music in Alabama, paired with a dash of tasteful musicianship. They should expect a good time. 
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Watch Lamont Landers Band perform "Into the Fold" here: 
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The Road to CukoRakko: Luke Quaranta of Toubab Krewe May 15, 2018 16:32

 

Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen

If you're a music lover in Alabama, you've more than likely heard about an amazing grassroots festival known as CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival. Founded in 2014, the festival has been held twice a year at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, AL. As this concept has continued to evolve each year, festival producers have decided to bring the spring festival to Birmingham's Avondale Brewing Company on Saturday, May 19th, while still having plans for a full-weekend festival in October.

The spring festival will now be known as CukoRakko Fam Jam, a one-day event held in the heart of Birmingham which features a wide variety of world class talent from across the country. As we prepare for another unforgettable CukoRakko experience, we're sitting down and getting to know a few of this year's performers. For our next installment, we caught up with Luke Quaranta, percussionist of Toubab Krewe. See below for the full interview and stay tuned for further coverage throughout the weekend.

Share this post directly from the Live & Listen Facebook page and tag a friend in the comments section for a chance to win a pair of tickets to CukoRakko Fam Jam. We will announce the winner on Friday, May 18th.



Some music cannot be found on a map or within iTunes categories. Some music is so original it seems snatched from the great, invisible substrata that runs below all human activity, a sound aching to be born without a flag or fixed allegiance – free, questing, overflowing with immediate, tangible life. This is the music of Toubab Krewe, the vibrant Asheville, NC-based instrumental powerhouse that creates a sonic Pangaea that lustily swirls together rock, African traditions, jam sensibilities, international folk strains and more.  While nearly impossible to put into any box, it takes only a few moments to realize in a very palpable way that one is face-to-face with a true original who recognizes no borders in a march towards a muscular, original, globally switched-on sound.   

Formed in 2005, Toubab Krewe has tenaciously honed their craft through relentless touring and a fierce dedication to carving out something they can truly call their own.  This is a band that actively draws inspiration from whatever source floats into their purview, something they've exhibited in their decade of heavy gigging, including regular appearances at major U.S. festivals like Bonnaroo, High Sierra, Wakarusa and New York City's Summer Stage, and abroad at such legendary gatherings as Festival In The Desert in Mali, The Shanghai World Music Festival, and The Festival of World Music in Sines, Portugal.  

Their globe-hopping propensity has made them an emerging headliner at their hometown's famous Orange Peel and a familiar face at similar venues throughout the country. Whether on their own or collaborating with luminaries like the Last Poets' Umar Bin Hassan or Uncle Earl's Rayna Gellert, Toubab Krewe has already earned the attention and respect of a broad musical community.   

Toubab carries echoes of African greats like Ali Farka Toure, Orchestra Baobab and Salif Keita, no doubt picked up during the group's travels to study and live in Guinea, Ivory Coast and Mali.  But what truly differentiates Toubab Krewe from other Statesiders inspired by African music is how they innovate on what they've learned instead of simply recreating tradition. Toubab Krewe carves out a new trail honoring the African originators they admire by making something alive and contemporary. 

Click Here: Purchase CukoRakko Fam Jam Tickets

Let’s start off with some general history on the band. You guys got started in Asheville back in 2005. How did this project come together?

Luke: We started in 2005, and we had actually been friends for a lot longer than that. The project really came together around our friendships formed at Warren Wilson College. A few of the guys had been friends well before that. Our kora/ngoni player Justin Perkins and our guitarist Drew Heller grew up together in Asheville; playing music for a number of years. Our original drummer, Teal Brown, also grew up with those guys since the middle school days. They had some bands throughout high school and college.

I met the guys during the college years, and we had all developed this mutual interest in West African music. I was a part of a drumming group on campus, and then I went to Guinea, West Africa to study music in 1999. Four of us in the group (at that time) went to Guinea and Ivory Coast to study in 2001. So, those were the roots of it all. The interest in West African music and traveling to West Africa. Drew and Justin actually took a trip to Bamako, Mali in 2004 for about four months, and it was when they returned from that trip that we started in the band in 2005. 

I think on that trip...their eyes were opened to not only all of the traditional music that we had been studying, but also more of the contemporary scene in Bamako. Bands playing clubs, mixing Western instrumentation and more modern instrumentation with the traditional music. They got a real sense that we could play a lot of the music that we had come to really love, but also in a style that was true to our American roots. 

It was a cool moment, man. We started the band in '05 and cut the first record in April of that year. I think we released it in June of that year and started hitting the road, playing festivals, and never really looking back. We ended up being on the road for like 10 years, up until 2014. We played through that year, and that's when we decided to take a bit of a break from the road. 

I'd say that was well deserved. As you said, the band mixes the musical styles of West Africa and America. It's quite unique to say the least. I read that "toubab" means "foreigner," and "krewe" is in reference to New Orleans. Would you say that there is much of a New Orleans influence?
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Luke: Yeah...I think so, man. A lot of Americana roots. A lot of roots in old time and string music from Western North Carolina. Especially because Drew and Justin grew up there; playing banjos, fiddles, and what not. We all have such an appreciation for New Orleans music. At the time, it really reflected what we were doing, which was experimenting in a style that had really deep roots. I think a lot of the same things have happened in New Orleans music. 
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People come here (New Orleans) from all over the world. There's a lot of music from the Caribbean and African traditions...which are kind of morphed into their own styles here in New Orleans. That's kind of what we felt like we were doing. Studying the music of West Africa, and then also mixing it with things we grew up with. Trying to create a fresh sound with an authentic voice of our own. So yeah, I think New Orleans has always been a big influence. 
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I would imagine that the rich, eclectic culture of Asheville served as a great environment for a young band. How vital has the Asheville culture been on the evolution of Toubab Krewe?
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Luke: Yeah, I know that it was a great place to grow up for Drew and Justin. There's so much amazing traditional music there. As we came up as a band, the city was growing quite a bit. I think there was a real openness to different styles of music in town. The feedback that we got and the following we developed early on was really special. Asheville was just a really supportive place. I think a lot of artists and more musicians were moving there at the time. It really was a great place for us to start out as a band. Experimenting with music and making it our own. 
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Sounds about right. So, as a percussionist, would you say that your setup and overall style is significantly different than that of a more traditional american band?
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Luke: Yeah, for me, it definitely is. I think it is also for Justin. We have the traditional instruments in the group...drums, bass, and guitar are obviously integrated at the root of most American bands. Justin playing the kora, the 21-string harp from West Africa, and also the 12-string kamel ngonia is obviously much different. For me, the traditional West African instruments that I integrated into the band were the djembe, dunun, sangban, kenkeni, and then there is this log drum called the kryn that I always use as a part of my setup. There is also this metal scraper from southern Mali called the karenye. 
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More recently, I've used the sangban and kenkeni on either side of the djembe...kind of like a conga setup. They're traditional West African drums, and everything that I've brought to the band is typically West African in nature and in terms of instrumentation. I guess my background has included a lot of music from Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Mali, so I've been bringing that language into the band, as well. 
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In that sense, I think what I bring is different than maybe a traditional percussionist in a contemporary American band. They might integrate more congas, bells, blocks, racks, timbales, and stuff like that. Those instruments are more indigenous to Cuban music and music from South America and the Caribbean. So yeah, my setup is pretty unique and specifically West African in nature.
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Watch Toubab Krewe's official video for "That Damn Squash" here:
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Very cool. So, back in March, the band released Stylo, the first studio album since 2010. How long had this material been in the works? 
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Luke: At the end of the run...towards the end of 2014, we were thinking it was probably a good idea to take some time off from the road. We went into the studio in Atlanta with the current roster, which includes Terrance Houston from New Orleans on drums and Justin Kimmel from Brooklyn on bass. Our good friend, Vic Stafford, had revived Southern Tracks Recording Studio in Decatur, GA. He had been doing some new projects from there. We went in for about ten days and cut the majority of the record in late 2014. It was a great session. A lot of the material came about from previous sessions...really just jammin' and flushing out ideas. Longer form jam sessions, which were recorded. 
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We would then go back and instill some of those ideas into tunes. Justin and Drew brought some original tunes to the table. There are some reworked traditional arrangements, which we had done quite a bit on previous records. We kind of sat on it for a couple of years and didn't touch it much until early 2017. Drew, Justin, and I got together over a number of sessions in Asheville and Brooklyn to edit, overdub, and mix the record. It was cool, because all of the material was from late 2014, when we were really tight as a band, touring consistently. 
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We might have been a little burnt out as well, so when we came back to it, we came back with really fresh ears. It was a fresh experience, and we took a creative license to the mixing and editing process. This allowed us to shape the record into the final product. It was a cool process. We were able to encapsulate two time periods of the band. I'm really happy with the way it came out. We had a really good time with it. 
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That's amazing. It seems like the response has been strong, and the album has gotten some great exposure. You mentioned the three to four year touring hiatus. How vital was that time off for the band, and how has the return treated you so far?
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Luke: I think it was really good timing for us. Drew had just started a family and had a young baby. He had time to really focus on his family. I took the opportunity to move to New Orleans in September of 2014. That was great for me. I really got to branch out and play music with a lot of different people here. I know Justin spent a lot of time in Miami and Asheville. I think it was really good timing and a nice reset for the band. It allowed us all to do a lot of playing in casual, different settings. 
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Playing on the road with one project for so many years...it's such an intense focus. I think that this gave us a chance to recharge and realign some life goals. We've been really psyched to be back at it. It was a lot of fun to get together to finish the album. The response from the road has been great. Catching up with fans that we haven't seen in several years. I think everything has been great. We've been having some really great shows. Digging into this new material has been really fun too. 
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I guess we did our first run back in the fall of 2017, which allowed us to 'warm up'. Then we dropped the record this spring, and we've been out for a number of dates in Colorado, the northeast, and southeast. This summer, we're obviously focusing on festivals. We had still been doing a few festivals and one-offs during 2015 and 2016, but we didn't really focus on getting back to the road until we were prepping the album. It's been great to get back out there and gauge the response with the new music. 
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I love hearing that. Before we wrap up, you guys are playing CukoRakko Fam Jam in Birmingham on Saturday. What would you tell your casual music fan who might be walking into their first Toubab Krewe experience?
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Luke: I would say that they can expect a dance party, for sure. A lot of the music is heavy dance music. Also, I think they can expect a merging a worlds and cultures. They may hear a style of music that they've never heard before. If they have heard West African music, they might be experiencing it through a different lens. I think whether folks want to be on their feet dancing, or just listening and deciphering the different influences, I think it works for both experiences. 

Every show is different. The band prides itself on really allowing the music to move us and the crowd together. We want to take the whole experience to a new place that we might not have thought we'd get to. We're always open to seeing where the music takes us artistically, musically, and spiritually. I think it's going to be a great time. We haven't played in Birmingham too much, so I'm really looking forward to playing there in a nice, outdoor setting. 


The Road to CukoRakko: Tanner Brown of Steady Flow May 14, 2018 14:38

Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen

If you're a music lover in Alabama, you've more than likely heard about an amazing grassroots festival known as CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival. Founded in 2014, the festival has been held twice a year at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, AL. As this concept has continued to evolve each year, festival producers have decided to bring the spring festival to Birmingham's Avondale Brewing Company on Saturday, May 19th, while still having plans for a full-weekend festival in October.

The spring festival will now be known as CukoRakko Fam Jam, a one-day event held in the heart of Birmingham which features a wide variety of world class talent from across the country. As we prepare for another unforgettable CukoRakko experience, we're sitting down and getting to know a few of this year's performers. For our first installment, we caught up with Tanner Brown, lead guitarist of Steady Flow. See below for the full interview, and stay tuned for additional preview coverage in the near future.

From the Heart of the Midwest, Steady Flow brings a unique style of powerful funk music like you've never heard it before. Formed in 2012 by 18 year old, soul guitarist extraordinaire, Tanner Brown, and his older brother, Ky "Goonie-Mom" Brown on bass guitar, the group has now transformed into a six-piece funk-powerhouse, quickly claiming their spot as one of the best live acts around.

In Steady Flow's short existence, the group has taken on music festivals such as North Coast, Summer Camp, Phases of the Moon, and the list goes on. The band is constantly turning heads at every performance as their hard hitting Funk Rock compositions shake the room and force all audiences to dance, rage, & simply feel good.

Steady Flow released their first EP, "The Oneoff Sessions" in 2013, and their debut album, "Loud." in June 2015. The band released their newest full length album, "Do You Like That?" in April 2017! Do not miss a live show near you. Steady Flow is "The Future Of Funk."

Click Here: Purchase CukoRakko Fam Jam Tickets

Steady Flow came to life in 2012 and has since evolved into a six-piece power funk force. How did things begin, and when did you realize that this band had serious potential?

Tanner: When I was a junior in high school, I started to obsess over any type of music that made people’s asses shake.  Once I discovered The Meters and Funkadelic, I knew it was something I needed to be involved in. My brother and I have been playing music together since we were toddlers. When I was 12 and he was 15, we played in a cover band with our dad on vocals. So, we were always surrounded by music, and knew we we’re going to be in a band together. It was just a matter of time. Our shared interest of rock ’n roll and hip-hop converted to funk, and we started writing grooves.

I remember posting flyers up at our community college that said “Looking for horn players and keyboardist to join funk band.” That’s how I met Cody “The Sensei” Ward on sax. The rest is history. We just had fun playing together and when we performed live, it seemed to rub off on people. I think we realized our potential when we first headlined the coolest venue in our hometown, the Peoria Riverfront Landing and over 800 people showed up. We freaked out, big time.

You released the debut EP, The Oneoff Sessions, in 2013 and followed with the debut album, Loud, in 2015. It's been just over a year since your second album, Do You Like That? How do you feel the band has progressed over these three releases?

Tanner:  Oh, wow. We’ve learned a lot. The first two releases, we had no idea what we were doing. Our last album Do You Like That? shows the band maturing quite a bit and getting a lot tighter. We went through some turnover with our lineup during the first two releases, so I feel like Do You Like That? is our first real album, you know?

Have any plans been made for your next studio release?

Tanner:  Absolutely. We’re putting out a new record this Summer. That’s all I can say right now.

Watch Steady Flow's music video for "Do You Like That?" here:

The touring schedule has clearly picked up as the band has grown in popularity. How valuable has this experience been for your growth, both individually and as a band?

Tanner:  Insanely valuable. For one, it’s a miracle if you can find a group of guys that are willing to drop everything and travel around the country playing music. It’s a tough living, no doubt; so many ups and downs.. But when you’re surrounded by great band mates, as well as fans that enjoy the music and atmosphere, nothing beats it. You learn a lot about each other when you’re confined to a van and hotel rooms every day. The funny part is, when we started the band, none of us would ever just “hang out.” Our personalities were way too different.. But now that we’ve been on the road so much, we’ve grown into this crazy family with hundreds of inside jokes, which by the way is the only way to get through a tour. Inside jokes. Stupid ones.

I'm always particularly intrigued by the song-writing mechanics within a predominantly instrumental band. How does Steady Flow go about creating new music?

Tanner:  It’s always changing. When I write, it’s very riff based. So, I’ll have a guitar riff that I’ll send to Cody (Ward) and say, “do whatever you want with this..” Everybody throws their ideas into the mix. Sometimes Cody will write a tune, 100% by himself, and bring it to us.  For me, I’m always thinking about drum patterns/grooves before I even think of melody, which might be uncommon. But I like finding beats/feels that we haven’t touched yet, and build from there, all while picturing a live show atmosphere. I went to so many shows growing up that when I write tunes, I’m thinking about being in the audience, and what I’d like to see and feel.

I feel like the jam/funk scene is as strong as it's ever been in 2018. You've had the chance to share the stage with some killer bands, both at festivals and clubs. What are a few of the highlights?

Tanner:  Last year, George Porter Jr. of The Meters sat in during our set at Peoria Blues & Heritage Festival. And like I said before, if it wasn’t for The Meters, there would be no Steady Flow. So that was a “Holy shit” moment for me. We played “Just Kissed My Baby” and I almost pissed myself. Other than that, we had Sammi Garret from Turkuaz sit in with us recently at one of our sold out shows in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They are one of the hottest funk bands on the scene right now so that was a fun moment. We’ve also been rocking with our homie, Boogie T, a sick emerging DJ from New Orleans and one of the coolest dudes i’ve ever met.. Flava Flav sat in on drums with us in Wisconsin. That was a trip.  I’m trying to get Action Bronson to sit in with us at Summer Camp in a few weeks, so hopefully I can report back and update this list of awesome-sauce.

You'll be playing as the sun sets at CukoRakko Fam Jam in Birmingham on Saturday. What can attendees expect from you guys?

Tanner:  All of us sweating our asses off. Giving it 110%. A lot of head banging and booty shakin’. Kicking off the festival season proper. See you there.

Click Here: Purchase CukoRakko Fam Jam Tickets


The Road To CukoRakko: An Interview With Captain Midnight September 30, 2016 12:43

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Photo by Butch Worrell
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Our latest segment, "The Road to CukoRakko," consists of a series of interviews leading up to CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival this weekend at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, AL.  We're continuing this segment by sitting down with Captain Midnight himself (aka Josh Cooker), who will be playing the late night set on Saturday, as well as a special tribute set on Sunday afternoon.  The Captain Midnight Band was born in New Orleans, LA in 2002 and relocated to East Nashville following Hurricane Katrina.  While various lineups have continued the band's legacy through 2002, The Captain has managed to solidify this band as a mainstay in the Southeast.  Get to know this wildly entertaining band and prepare yourself for what will certainly be two of the most discussed sets of the weekend.
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The Captain Midnight Band is scheduled to play the late night set on Saturday, October 8th under the pavilion at CukoRakko.  They will also play a special "Dead set" on Sunday at 1:00 PM on the main stage. Share this post from Live & Listen's Facebook page and tag a friend in the comments for a chance to win two weekend passes to the festival.
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Photo by Scott Shrader
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You started The Captain Midnight Band in New Orleans back in 2002.  Lets talk a little bit about your history down there.  What comes to mind when thinking back to your NOLA days?
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Midnight:  I was originally involved with a bigger band called Cronk, and the band was basically a supergroup of nobodies.  It was some of the guys that were in the band All That, a guy from Kermit Ruffin's band, a guy from Walter "Wolfman" Washington's band, UNO jazz guys who were sick of the doing the same old thing...oh, and me.  I had just moved down there, and bascially, we had this band where everyone was writing and singing.  I was writing a lot, and I wanted to do my songs, but there wasn't enough stage time to handle the amount of stuff I was writing.
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So, I started a side project that allowed me to focus on playing my stuff.  I was fortunate enough to enlist most of the people in that band.  When Cronk was playing, everyone would sing and write.  We would take turns, and I would maybe do three songs a night.  I was trying to create an outlet to play the rest of my material that the band couldn't accommodate.  I had the best people available to do it.  I played with some really heavy cats down there.  That's really where I really developed my style. Before I got down there, I was basically a rock player.  Playing with horn players and jazz guys, you learn a whole new way to approach things. 
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One of the many things that originally intrigued me about your band is the phrase "waterbed rock and roll."  I've definitely never heard that description before, but somehow it seems perfect for your music.  How did you guys end up coming up with this?
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Midnight: That's a good question.  So, this friend of mine and I used to joke around about country music in the late 70's...like Mickey Gilley, Razzy Bailey, and some of those guys.  We used to call it "waterbed country," because it was like, (sings) "Lookin' for love in all the wrong places!"  It was country music with over processed drums and almost a sleazy vibe to it.  Waterbed country was just how we described it, almost as a put-down.  So, when I started doing my solo band, people would talk about how we go through all the extra trouble of the costumery, the stage show, and some even thought it was a little sleazy.  I told them, "It's kind of like a waterbed.  There's motion. You go through a lot more trouble to set it up, but the pay off is a lot better down the road."  
There's also that implication that something is going to be done on that waterbed.  Something dirty and worth it. It's not just going to sit there.  It's also moving, you know?  It is a pain in the ass to set up.  Things can go wrong, but like a waterbed, if you want to go through the trouble, the payoff is grand. 
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Watch Captain Midnight Band perform "Common Law Hussy" here:
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Anyone who sees you play will quickly realize that there is a heavy influence from The Dead.  The first time I saw you guys, you busted out "Help On The Way" and "Dark Star."  How did you get turned on to the Dead, and how much of an influence has Jerry and Bobby's guitar playing had on you?
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Midnight:  Man...this could be an entire chapter.  I'm 43-years-old, so when I was an impressionable kid, that was in the hey day of the LA metal scene: Ratt, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osborne...and I'm not talking about the latter day stuff when it got real soft.  I'm talking about 1983 and 1984, before it become a huge pop thing.  As I got older, I started getting more into classic rock and my parents' records.  I was also simultaneously getting frustrated with creative output of some of the bands that were softening and kind of losing their edge to money and success. The Dead really piqued my interest.  Like a lot of people, I had my older brother's copy of Long Strange Trip, and the songs were just so different and weird to me.  Also, I didn't have a lot of friends who were listening to it yet, so I kind of got it into it by accident.  I stumbled upon it. 
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I was always intrigued with the fact that you can't go anywhere on the planet without seeing a "stealie" or some dancing skeletons or bears.  That was kind of always in my face, especially growing up in Oxford (MS) and going to Ole Miss.  Musically, I just found it to be so interesting, and I still do  There is so much of it, and it wasn't like anything that I'd been listening to.  I loved the idea later that you can go on stage, take a chance, and it may not work, but the audience was more excited about you taking that chance and it not working out than playing the same shit every night.  You know?  That really, really appealed to me.
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When I started seeing the Dead in the 90's, I saw a couple of hot Jerry shows, but a lot of the time, it would be Phil or Bobby that was really picking up the slack.  I don't want to say they were overcompensating, but when maybe Garcia was struggling a little bit, I would always gravitate towards Phil and Weir.  I would pay a lot of attention to how they operated.  That really gave me a great basis for when I moved to New Orleans and started playing with these horn guys, too. Phil and Bobby don't play like normal bass or guitar players. They used to get a lot of shit for it, too. Seems like folks are coming around though.  They really developed their own style based on what the band became and evolved into. My stuff is more structured, I think, but I love to take the GD approach when we're jamming on the improv sections.
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That was a big turn on for me.  Obviously, I love the poetry of Barlow, Hunter, and Phil's guy Petersen. Those guys are amazing.  I think the lyrical content is every bit as vital as the music.  Not a lot is discussed about that in musical realms.  What sealed the deal for me was seeing something that doesn't rely on pandering to anyone.  They were basically up there doing whatever they wanted to.  There is an unexpected thrill to it.  Some of those long breaks on "Bird Song," obviously "Dark Star," and songs like that really appeal to me.  Even just using different tones for songs that are played kind of straight.  I felt like it was limitless, and that's what I wanted to do in music as well. That's what I do in my life, too, come to think of it.
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Photo by Sundaze Media
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I would totally agree with that.  There's never been anyone like them, and there never will be again.  I was lucky to stumble onto them accidentally as well, largely in part to older siblings.  I got my first Dead album when I was nine or ten years old.  Their music is inspiring on another level.
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Midnight:  And as your picking up these CDs, the cool thing is that you meet other Deadheads who insist on giving you tapes.  "This CD is cool kid, but let me give you a sleeve of tapes."  I was working at this record store in Oxford, and my boss was an old Deadhead.  My other boss was a slightly younger Deadhead.  These guys would just lay these cassette tapes on me.  Back then, you had to know somebody to get that music.  There was no internet.  When someone gives you a sleeve of tapes from Barton Hall, Harper College, and Kezar Stadium, listening is all you're going to do (laughs).  Holy shit!  It was like gold, and it still is to me.  I still have a cassette player hooked up in my basement, and I have about 25% of my original tapes.  I lost most of them in Katrina.  I still throw those on.  Most of them sound like shit, but the music is there (laughs).
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That's priceless.  So, you mentioned Katrina.  I wanted to hear more about how you ultimately landed in Nashville.  I'm assuming this was shortly after Katrina?
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Midnight:  Oh yeah.  I bought a house in New Orleans in the Spring of 2005, and on September 1st, it has four feet of water in it.  A bunch of New Orleans people all moved to East Nashville, because they all worked in production.  My roommate was a tech for the Radiators.  My brother and a lot of us moved up here.  We wanted to stay in the south and didn't want to have to deal with snow.  Nashville was still a pretty small city back then.  It was very comparable to New Orleans, in terms of size.  We realized that we could probably do even more here.  We could stretch out and tour in places that we couldn't before.  You could go to Asheville, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Chicago.  If you're in New Orleans, and you're not on a major label, you're either going to Florida, Texas, or Jackson, MS (laughs).
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Listen to "Witch's Tit" by Captain Midnight Band here:
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That makes sense.  Nashville is definitely a much more centrally located spot.
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Midnight:  Yeah...Katrina is what got me to Nashville.  I stayed at my folks' house in Oxford for about 10 months.  I had some insurance money, and I could have moved anywhere.  Then I blew the insurance money going to Hawaii to visit Lil Rae Rae, who is now our keyboard player and lives in Nashville with me.  So, it was a good investment (laughs).  Of course, you still can't get seafood here, but they're trying.
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I guess there are plenty of places having it shipped next-day, but you can't replicate the New Orleans cuisine.
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Midnight: Totally.  Getting it and cooking it properly are two entirely different things (laughs). Its actually getting a lot better. I'm probably bitching about too much. Nashville is cool. It ain't New Orleans.
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That's for sure.  So, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the Captain Midnight catalog.  First and foremost, we have to start with "Shady Box."  I am convinced that the right music video could turn that song into an international hit.  It has an explosive sound, and it makes people move.  The story line intrigues me even more.  Can you elaborate on that particular tune?
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Midnight:  Well, I have to confess, a lot of the songs that I write...there is a basis there.  I don't know how printable this is, but sometimes you have a song idea.  You have lyrics, and you have have a concept.  Sometimes something happens to you, and you want to write a song about it.  That's normally the case.  Something occurs, and you start writing it.  Regarding "Shady Box," I had that solo section that does all of the modulations.  I had been fooling around with that for years...the guitar solo.  I knew that I wanted to put it somewhere.  I knew it was a little "heady."  So at some point, I decided that I wanted to put it in the middle of a dance song and really fuck everything up, you know?  It's got kind of a jam/rock/dance thing going on.  After "waterbed rock and roll," we describe our music sometimes as "rock/jam/R&B."  I think that song is really a flagship for that.  
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As far as coming up with it lyrically, no shit, I was sitting on my couch with my dog.  I had eaten a bunch of mushrooms, and my girlfriend was out of town.  Those lyrics were almost entirely stream of consciousness.  So, sometimes you come up with a story that makes sense, and other times, you get these words that sound like that they need to be there.  I'd hate to make up some story about it being an elaborate thing, but the reality is that it's kind of syllables to go to a dance beat.  They just kind of came out on a psychedelic excursion on the couch with my dog.  I'd look at him and just play something.  When you're a litter "heightened" and there are animals around, you can get a vibe if they like it or not (laughs).  So, if you like how that one came out, you can thank Klaus for that one, because we was sitting there wagging his tail and giving me a thumbs up on most of it.  
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Listen to "Shady Box" by Captain Midnight Band here:
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That song has some really great one-liners.  "Hope I didn't disappoint ya.  Baby I just wanted to anoint ya" might be my favorite.  It makes me laugh everytime.
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Midnight:  (laughs) Thanks man!  That's the thing about that song.  It's just a collection of one liners, really.  I mean, "Beat the bible, holy roll.  Midnight Band 'bout to shave your soul."  I mean, there is no place for that in society, but it fits in that song.  Maybe there is, but for me, that was one that came to me in like 10-minutes.  That was after having the actual music for probably 10 years though.  
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I've noticed that there is a little bit of a common theme in your music.  There is the fun, energetic, dance groove to it, mixed with catchy lyrics with just the right amount of humor to it.  I'm talking about "Witch's Tit," "LaToya," "Jug of Wine"... I love listening to those songs.  They make me laugh for all of the right reasons.  
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Midnight:  Well thanks man.  I never set out to be wacky, you know?  You write what you know.  I like to have fun. I like to laugh. And I like strong R&B grooves.  
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Defintely.  "Jug of Wine" is another one that gets me every time.  It's a totally different vibe than the other tunes I mentioned, but damn, that is a funny song too.  
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Midnight:  That's an old one, man.  I wrote that song in like 1992, before I moved to New Orleans.  A lot of that stuff that I wrote with my old band in Oxford carried over.  "Witch's Tit" is from 1996.  A lot of these songs are really old, and many of them have been around more than half of my life.  Even though not that many people know them, they're a huge part of who I am.  I'll find myself on stage at SummerFest singing "Jug of Wine" in front of a ton of people, and it will just hit me like, "I can't believe that I'm saying this at age 43."  How many people are gonna be hip to the  Barney Miller Night Court musical reference in the center of it?  I'm glad you dig it though.  I try to make it real.  If you're mentioning songs like "Jug of Wine" that you really dig, then stuff like "Shady Box," you're dealing with about 20 year bookends of music.  That's crazy.  I'm really pleased to hear that you like the old stuff and the new stuff.  
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Listen to "Jug of Wine" by Captain Midnight Band here:
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You know how to kick off a song and get someone intrigued man.  With "Jug of Wine," those opening lines are epic.  "Well, the sun is getting hot, but you're girlfriend's even hotter."  That's incredible.  After seeing you guys that night, I kept hearing "Shady Box" and "Jug of Wine" in my head, and thanks to Spotify and Facebook, I was able to instantly connect.  
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Midnight:  That's so cool, because if you can hear our stuff live, it translates over, and you go home and listen to it...what more can a person ask for?
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It's funny how things work out sometimes man.  So, in terms of CukoRakko next weekend, you guys are scheduled for two sets: late night on Saturday and a day set on Sunday.
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Midnight:  For the late night set, we're really going to peacock around and put our best original feet forward.  We're playing with some great bands, and we're going to keep the dance vibe going.  The late night spot is a heavy responsibility.  We're going to play stuff that you can dance to, stuff that you can freak out to, and stuff that you can pump your fist to.  That's what we're trying to do.  I've talked with a couple of the Backup Planet dudes, as well as Kaitlin from Maradeen, and we may even take a segment to do a big collaboration for a song or two.  We're all friends, and we all like each others bands for the same reasons. 
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For Sunday, we've been asked to do a Dead set, which we are very excited about.  Sunday will be all Grateful Dead a la Captain Midnight Band.  I believe everyone is doing a Dead set on Sunday, from what I hear.  I hope that the bands communicate though.  People ask us to do it, and we love doing it. We did Jerry Day in Atlanta this year, and we also did a show with Dark Star Orchestra.  I hope the bands  get together on who's playing what.  The last thing we need is three Franklin's Towers to make you just hate the whole idea.  
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I like to mix it up, and I like diversity.  Being a mostly original band, we focus mostly on writing our own stuff.  We have a small, but ferocious Dead catalog. Like you mentioned earlier, "Help On The Way" > "Slipknot" takes a lot of work.  "Terrapin" takes a lot of work.  We've learned a lot of songs that we hope a lot of other bands aren't going to try to jump on, but you never know.  A Dead cover band should have 100 tunes in their pocket, if they're going to bill themselves as that.  If they don't, they should start learning them.
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A band like us, we're playing our own songs 90% of the time, so we can't just go and learn 50 Dead covers.  Maybe by the end of the Captain Midnight Band, we'll have 100 down.  So, we're excited about the Dead set on Sunday.  Hopefully, no repeats.  Saturday will be a late night, Captain Midnight buffet.
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Good lord.  I can't wait. 
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The Road To CukoRakko: The Reunion of Mama's Love September 15, 2016 12:25

 
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Our latest segment, "The Road to CukoRakko," consists of a series of interviews leading up to CukoRakko Music & Arts Festival this weekend at Horse Pens 40 in Steele, AL.  We're kicking off the segment by taking a look into a special reunion set from one of our favorite bands of the past, Mama's Love.  Mama's Love was born in Athens, Georgia in 2007 and took the southeast by storm for many years.  While various lineups continued the band's legacy through 2014, the core lineup will perform at CukoRakko for the first time since December of 2011.  We recently sat down with Thomas Galloway (guitar/vocals) and Whit Murray (lead guitar/vocals) to relive some of the old memories and see what we can expect at Horse Pens 40 next month.
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Mama's Love is scheduled to play on Friday, October 7th at 8:15 on the Main Stage at CukoRakko.  Share this post from Live & Listen's Facebook page and tag a friend in the comments for a chance to win two weekend passes to the festival.
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-Interview by Jordan Kirkland: Live & Listen
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Let's start off by talking a little bit about the beginning of Mama's Love back in Athens, GA.
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Thomas:  The band formed back in 2007 in Athens, Ga.  Most of us were in school there at the time.  I had been playing with William Boyd (keyboards) since high school, as well as Patrick Atwater, the original bassist.  So, there was already some chemistry going. Boyd looped in his cousin Ben Torbert who became the original drummer.  Then we hooked up with Taylor Knox, the original guitarist, who had played with some of us in another project called The Shady Boys.  We went through a few names while playing together and eventually became Mama's Love. Pretty soon after, we recorded our first studio album Willow Street Sessions, and we played around Athens and the southeast from 2007-2009 with that initial lineup.  

Knox left the band towards the end of '09 to pursue another career so we were searching for a new guitarist.  We had played with Whit's band, Perfect Colour, out of Raleigh, and he was friends with Knox and all of us.  I think Whit was in a position to make moves to Athens, and he was interested in making it work.  So, he came on board in 2009.  We also changed things up with Bo Nicholson as our new bassist around that time of transition. Patrick went on to study Jazz bass in Colorado.  Soon after, we went to Southern Tracks Studio in Atlanta and recorded the self-titled EP with Tom Tapley.  We toured in support of that for a while, and eventually followed that up with a full length LP with John Keane in 2011 called, The Great Divide.  

We toured around the southeast pretty heavily during that time.  I guess soon after The Great Divide, different factors cause the band to dissolve.  I was still living in Athens, and after some soul searching, I had the opportunity to get another really talented group of players together to keep the music going.  We recorded the single, "Beyond the Divide" with Keane and we actually have a shelved album "Stone Farm Redemption" that I hope will see the light of day at some point.  That lineup toured heavily between 2012-2014 and we still occasionally play a few shows from time to time

Listen to "Wake Up Woes" by Mama's Love here:

Very cool.  So Whit, as you guys were saying, it was right around 2009 when everyone was finishing school, and you ultimately came on board.  How did that come about in your eyes, and what drew you in to make the move down to Athens and take on this new venture?
 
Whit:  I think it was a football tailgate in 2007 when I first saw ML. I was down in Athens, and my one of my good friends from home was living with (Taylor) Knox.  I would visit Athens all the time from University of South Carolina, and I would stay with them. Knox and I would always play guitars, and he told me he was playing with his new band at the tailgate the next day and that I should sit in on a song.  I remember it was "Mama Lay Your Hair Down."  G Blues! He was telling me about Thomas, and how he had written all of these songs.  He kept raving about how Ben was the best drummer he had ever played with, too.  So, I met all of them and sat in.  Then, the following summer, I worked at a summer camp with (Patrick) Atwater, and they had just recorded Willow Street Sessions.  He played me the album and it was so good, especially compared to anything that anyone I knew was doing. Not many of our peers were writing their own music at the time. So, we got to be friends and they'd always let me sit in when I came to town and vice versa. 
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When I graduated from college in 2008, I moved home and nobody my age could get a job because of the crash. So I put a band together and really put my energy into that. Raleigh has a pretty cool, smaller music scene but I knew I'd have to move to a mecca if I really wanted to get involved and Athens at the time was buzzing. It was always in the back of my minds towards the end of college, then when I heard Taylor had left the band and they asked me to fill in temporarily, I went down for a week and checked it out. They had the open room all ready and the shows we played were so much fun, I just kind of stayed... for 2 and a half years. We toured and practiced a heavily and made two albums. It was a blast!  
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Mama's Love - Athens, GA - 2008
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So, like you said, you had about two-and-a-half years of consistent touring and playing a lot of music together.  You guys obviously got to play a lot of new cities and different venues.  When you look back on that time, what are some of the memories that stand out the most?
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Thomas: One of my favorites was going out west for the first time. Seeing and feeling the landscape change as you get further out. We got to open up for Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead) and Keller Williams.  Actually, that was in Driggs, Idaho, and some Jackson Hole shows.  We did some Colorado and Texas dates too.

Whit: Yeah, I would say the same.  I think that run was about three weeks.  That was our first real tour.  We were typically doing two to four nights a week before that.  Going out west and playing for three weeks when we were fresh out of college was really cool.  We got to go to a lot of places we'd never been and probably haven't been to since.
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Thomas:  That was fun, and you would think being younger and on the road would be easier to do personally, but I almost feel like it's gotten easier with age.  I guess we're just more accustomed to it at this point?
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Whit: There's some conditioning to it, but we were just a lot younger.  We were probably partying a little harder than we can now (laughs).
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Thomas:  One of the really great memories I have was one night at the Georgia Theatre.  Knox was still playing at the time, but we had Whit sit in on "Catch a Feelin".  Almost a passing of the guitar pick foreshadowing moment, although none of us knew it at the time. It was pretty packed out, and we had a bunch of balloons drop during the peak of that song.  That was pretty fun.
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Whit: Oh yeah...that was so cool. The old Theatre, before the fire. 
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Was there any special occasion for the balloon drop that night?
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Thomas: We were just trying to do something cool and different, so we blew up a bunch of balloons ourselves.  They were stored at our house, and we snuck them into the theatre that night, and Big Mike our manager dropped them off the balcony at the right moment.
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Thomas Galloway: ATHFest 2013
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What else would you say was unique about both of your stints with the band?
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Whit: I would say what really stands out to me was how close we all were.  We were such good friends. For instance, if I had to partner off for lunch with someone, it didn't really matter who it was.  Individually, we were all just really tight.  In hindsight, that made the band special.  We got to hop around college towns from night to night and pretend to be rock stars (laughs).
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Thomas:  I would say the same.  We were very fortunate to have found each other.  It wasn't just like, "We're going to start a band.  Where can we find good musicians?"  I feel like, when I look back at it now, Mama's Love is just a big brotherhood of outstanding musicians and people. That's what it was always about.  We recently got to play again at Torbert's wedding, and it was very easy to get back up there and do it.  It felt really natural, you know?
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Whit: It's cool, because I've had a lot of people come up to me and say "Hey, you played our college formal" or some of my favorite memories were going to see you guys play, or something along those lines.  We played a lot of frat gigs back then.  Thomas and I pulled up to Hampden-Sydney last year, and these guys were blaring a Mama's Love album that we recorded 6-7 years ago.  There's a poster at Washington & Lee from a show we played there in 2009 and it's still there! Having people come up and realizing that our music is still being passed down is really cool.
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Listen to "Ragtime Rug" by Mama's Love here:
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Yeah I can imagine that you hear a lot of those stories.  Mama's Love played a major role in so many people's college experience.  I can certainly attest to that.  If you were at Auburn University from 2007-2009 and Mama's Love was in town, you made sure you were there.  If you had a test the next day, you got a doctor's note. 
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Thomas: Another experience from that lineup that really sticks out was one of our band retreats.  We all went up to Atlantic Beach for about a week.  We stayed at Bo's family beach house.  Most of that time was spent in the basement working on new music.  The rest of the time was spent on the beach just having a lot of fun.  
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Whit:  The band house was together for 3 years and it was everyday, you know. Not just playing music but trying to hone our vision and grow our business. I'd always wanted an experience like that and have really fond memories of that period. 
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Whit Murray of Mama's Love
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So, as you were saying, you guys got to return to the stage just a few weeks ago at Ben's wedding at Lake Burton.  That's a nice precursor to this reunion set coming up at CukoRakko in a few weeks.  What is it like for you guys to have this opportunity, and how do you go about preparing for a set at this point?
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Thomas:  Well, we've already been talking a lot about the set.  We're all working on re-familiarizing ourselves with certain songs again.  What's nice about it is that Whit and I are here in Nashville, so we can get together and work on the material.  Boyd and Torbert are in Atlanta, so they can get together. Bo might be the wild card (laughs) but I trust he'll kill it.  I hope we can find the time to get at least one full rehearsal in as a band, but like I was saying, everything was really easy when we just recently played together.  It was almost like time had not passed.
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Whit:  It's so engrained, you know.  It's been a while, but it's in there somewhere.  For it to be able to resurface is just really cool.  You don't full remember until it happens though. One thing about this that is really cool is that it's pretty much been five years since we played a show.  We were all at Taylor's wedding last December, and that was the first time that all of us have had a chance to hang out together since the last time we played.  We kind of just let this thing happen with the CukoRakko opportunity coming up.  We knew that we would do something like this again, but we wanted to let it happen organically.  When the time's right, it's right.  The wedding was such a cool precursor, because we haven't had a chance to play in such a long time. It's really cool how it's all unfolded.  
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Watch Mama's Love perform "Long Willie Jackson" > "Catch a Feelin" at Ben Torbert's wedding reception on August 20th, 2016 here:
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