Boyd Small


Boyd, before he left for Amsterdam...  One day, he'll return to Oregon (we hope...)

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CBA Hall of Fame Bluesman Boyd Small

Article Reprint from the April 1995 BluesNotes  
Article by: Rick Hall   

    Boyd Small has been an integral part of the Portland Blues scene for a long time. He's known around town as one of the "best" drummers as well as one of the "finest" vocalists local Blues has to offer. He is certainly a "special" talent, well schooled in his endeavor. That schooling has come via some formal education, but more evident is his self taught lessons through his vast experiences in his chosen music career.

    Boyd is a real gentleman and a very interesting person, knowledgeable, but not impertinent. He is very dedicated to his profession, wanting to make his music evolve while continuing to entertain. Boyd has just recently put together a new band to do just that. It's called The Boyd Small Big Blues Band. I recently had a chance to talk with Boyd and he had a lot to say about who he is, how he got here, and what the new band is all about.

    The first thing I wondered is just how big is this "Big Blues Band?"  Boyd responded, "6 pieces, but we're working on maybe adding some piano to the sound shortly. We've got Jim Wallace on harmonica, guitar and vocals. On lead guitar, from Salem, is Gary Burford. Playing bass is Dan Davis, he's on upright and electric bass both. We have two horn players, Rob Gilfeather on trumpet and Les Gray playing saxophone, both formerly with a local band called Perfect 10. Dan was also formerly with Perfect 10. Then you've got me on drums and vocals."

    This is quite a step up for Boyd coming off his last group, the Terraplanes. The Terraplanes were a popular Portland trio for about six or seven years, which most recently featured Boyd on drums and vocals, Andy Strange on bass, harmonica and vocals, and Cory Wheeler on guitar. Andy's with the Blubinos now and Cory's with the D.K. Stewart Band (Chris Miller, now working out of Austin, Texas and Henry Cooper, from The Duffy Bishop Band, both played guitar with the Terraplanes at one time). The "Big Blues" in the new band's name most certainly refers to the sound they produce, something the Terraplanes couldn't achieve in their three piece format.

    Boyd Small is an accomplished songwriter. I asked him about the material for the new ensemble. "Basically we're doin' a lot of the original stuff I did with the Terraplanes. I've been workin' on the charts for the guys with new arrangements for both the originals and covers. I'm workin' on new stuff, too. The sound is "Rootsy," kinda with a Rock edge."

    There are very few drummers in Blues (or in music in general) who sing and play at the same time. Even less who can do it well. Boyd is gifted at doing this. I asked him how he does it. "I started singin' before I started playing drums and I started playing drums when I was 7.  I wasn't singin' Blues, but my folks would have me sing for the relatives on holidays and stuff. I'd sing with my older sister, we'd do harmonies, she's really talented, a good singer. She doesn't do it anymore. I really never thought that you weren't supposed to sing and play drums at the same time. I just did it!"

    Boyd cut his teeth musically in the Drum and Bugle Corps. "I was in the Drum and Bugle Corps for about five years (pre high school and early high school years). I really learned to drum when I was involved with that. I learned a lot about horns there, too, which is helping me do the charts for the horns in the new band. It was not only a lot of fun, but became a way of life. It was a lot of militaristic marching and playing pointed towards competition - totally involved! It has grown into a very "artsy" thing today, still with competition as the focus, though. I learned so much about drumming, I developed my chops through the Drum and Bugle Corps. I later did some teaching (drums) in the Corps.

    One of the first steady paying gigs I had was in a Country band. Wow, what an education I got there. Every Saturday night at the Eagles Lodge in Salem. I'd play drums with Paul Lohse in The Four Plus One Band. Being in this band really drilled into me the "minimalistic" approach to playing the drums - the "less is more approach." They taught me how to phrase, to use dynamics to go with the flow of the song and to actually play the song and not just be a drum part going along with it. They really taught me a lot of musicianship. Country and Blues are a lot alike, especially older stuff, and we did all that great old Country stuff.

    I was involved with the stage band in high school (in Salem). It was a Big Band, horns and all. In the summer we'd do The Oregon Territorial Jazz Band. The first time I got to sing and play drums at the same time before a large audience was in that stage band. I did a version of Chuck Berry's, "Johnny B. Goode". It was pretty fun!

    When I got out of high school I went to the University of Oregon in Eugene and studied percussion. I was involved in a Jazz band at the time. This was around '78, '79 and '80. When I dropped out of college I started playing in a lounge group in Eugene. There was just me singin' and doin' vocals and a keyboard player, Stan Davis. When there was no one there to watch us, which was often, we pretty much got to do whatever we wanted. I started bringin' in Blues tunes. I had some friends that were turning me on to the Blues, Henry Cooper to name one. Jim Wallace was playing down there at the time. There was Bill Rhoades and Curtis Salgado playing with Robert Cray. All these guys playing Blues in the clubs around town had a major affect on me.

    Henry (Cooper) was in a band called the Explorers. I wanted to get into that band, but they broke up. I became good friends with Henry. Henry and I formed a band called The Milkmen. We were doin' kinda Roots and Blues oriented tunes. Henry was the real Blues guy in the band. A guy by the name of Randy Haynes was the "rocker" in the band. Randy was the guy who wrote the lyrics to "Hoosier Twister" on the first Terraplanes recording, "Live At The Golden Garter".

    We reformed the group into the Falcons. That band consisted of John Barley, Andy Strange, Henry Cooper and myself. We got a call one day to back up Screamin' Jay Hawkins at the Pine Street Theater in Portland. That gig was in 1986. Hawkins really dug us. We ended up becoming Hawkins' band. We opened for him and played as his back-up band. We played all over the West Coast. We even went to Europe with him in 1987. He was much bigger over there than here. It was pretty exciting! When we got back from Europe we were scheduled to go to Australia with him, but Hawkins canceled because of a dispute with the promoter over there. We became somewhat disheartened with Screamin' Jay and weren't lookin' forward to goin' back down to play California with him, so we parted ways. I really wanted the Falcons to be doin' their own thing. Screamin' Jay ended up on an up-swing a year later. He was in a movie and on The Arsenio Hall Show, but I was happy we stepped off when we did."

    In 1988 Boyd, along with Andy Strange and Henry Cooper formed the Terraplanes. One of the first places they started playing was Tuesday nights at The Belmont Inn on Portland's Eastside. Boyd continues, "Jimmy Cochran was in the band for a short time, he fit in nicely. What a fine guitar player he was. He came out of that Eugene scene and later played with Jimmy Lloyd Rea & The Switchmasters.  After Jimmy left, Chris Miller of The Rockin' Razorbacks fame (a monster, well followed, local "Roots Rock" trio) started hangin' out with the band. Henry wanted to get Chris Miller to join the band. Interestingly enough at that time, I wanted to get Cory Wheeler to join the band. Chris won out and was added. Later, Henry went off to the Bahamas for a while. We started to take off as a three piece around that time. When Henry got back things just didn't come together for his return to the Terraplanes and he ended up moving to Seattle. It turned out to be a good move for him. Of course, he's one of the guitar players in The Duffy Bishop Band, a band that's real hot right now."

    After a couple of years with the Terraplanes, Chris Miller left to pursue other avenues musically. Cory Wheeler who had been playing with local Blues Shouter, Mel Solomon, then stepped into the lead guitar spot with the Terraplanes. Chris had not only handled lead guitar, but also shared the vocals with Boyd. With Cory handling only the guitar work, the band was off with a new itinerary which focused on Boyd's vocals and song writing skiffs. Andy was called upon to sing an occasional vocal tune and he honed his song writing skills also. Boyd tells us, "We really jelled when Cory came aboard. His style fit in so well, he really got a chance to showcase his talent. We did record a studio album in the Fall of '93. We recorded that in two days, really fast and hard. I think we did something like twenty-eight tracks. It came out all right. With the new band we're doin' all the tunes from the recording that I wrote. That was one reason for the change. I wanted to do the tunes and the arrangements the way I originally heard them in my head and that was with horns. We just couldn't do that with the three piece. They're there and they have a unique quality to them as a three piece, but I heard more to them. However, Terry Robb did a fabulous job producing that recording, the sound was great!  After several years I think the Terraplanes eventually just plateaued."

    Boyd now turns his full attention to this new phase of his professional career in music. "I feel with the new band I have more control over the music we put out and what the songs are like. This is closer to what I have intended all along."

    The Boyd Small Big Blues Band will mainly perform on weekends. I want it to be a "special thing" to come see The Big Blues Band on the weekends. The stuff I do weeknights will comprise showcases or jams. I'm doin' one night a week as part of The Lloyd Jones Trio when Lloyd's in town. That's a lot of fun. There's Lloyd on his vintage Silvertone guitar, Janice Scroggins on keyboards and I'm on drums. Both Lloyd and I sing. Man, the three of us are psychic, we read each other so well - the chemistry's just right! Lately, we've been doing that gig at The Moosehead Tavern on Wednesday nights."

    Boyd Small is not only a CBA "Muddy Award" winner for "Best Blues Drummer", he's a CBA "Hall Of Fame" inductee for winning that award three years in a row ('91, '92 and '93). He finished 2nd, in a very tight membership vote, to Jeff Minnieweather last year. Being a "Hall of Fame" Bluesman, I asked Boyd who his influences were in Blues music. "Henry Cooper turned me on to the Blues more than anyone else, along with Jim Wallace. They both turned me on to T-Bone Walker and all the great harp players, (James) Cotton , Big Walter, Little Walter, and the likes. Henry had lots of recordings of great Blues people I'd never heard before. He gave me an education. It was exciting to me. I noticed it was something I'd already been doin' for years. My older brother had given me this little riff that I'd been playing on the guitar since I was young and I'd been writing stuff to go with that riff all along. It was the Blues. I found I really fit well with the Blues. It had been what I had been searching for for a long time."

    Boyd tends to pick some of the more obscure Blues cover tunes to do when he does a cover. He always adds his own signature to any song he does, however. He tends to pick up-tempo and jump style stuff to cover, something with a "hook" to it. "Yea, I like that style. I like to keep the show exciting and up-beat and by choosing those numbers it's exciting for me that way! I Like Magic Sam's songs a lot for that and also Dave Bartholomew."

    Boyd's a first-class vocalist as well as a tremendous drummer. "I've always sang. Until The Milkmen, I considered my role that of a back-up singer, to do harmonies with the other vocalists. I started singin' a lot of leads on Little Richard and Eddy Cochran tunes with The Milkmen. When Chris Miller came into the Terraplanes he really helped me to identify my own style. He "hipped" me to Magic Sam, Little Johnny Taylor and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. Chris was great for puffing out the obscure stuff. It's a rule for me to do things other people aren't doin' and to make them my own. If I do a cover, I like rip it apart, throw the pieces up, see where they land, rearrange them for me. My vocal chops have been developed through osmosis, I guess. I do enjoy singing a lot!"

    I know the West Coast Bluesman, the late Troyce Key meant a lot to Boyd. He talked to me about him. "Troyce had so much style and charisma, he was always positive, always had a good attitude. He had more class than half the West Coast has. Musically he wasn't a fabulous guitar player and he wasn't a fabulous singer. He was a fabulous person and a showman. He taught me that you need to identify to yourself who you are and what you want to sound like. When you find that, then you're on the right track. Some players are searching, vying to cover other people and sound different by doing that. I think that I've really come down to what I consider my sound and when I do covers of other people I do my own arrangements and my own twists and sound like me! I got that from Troyce. It doesn't matter what your bag is, just identify it and do it well!! What he did for me, especially, was his acceptance of us (The Terraplanes) and his support for us and how much he liked our music and the stuff I'd written. For someone established in the business, a club owner in Pakland, California, ("Handy Award" winning Eli's Mile Hi Club) like Troyce, to accept what you're doin' and to be as supportive as he was, was the greatest gift I could have gotten. It energized me to keep playin' away at it. The opportunity we had to play his club in Oakland in 1991 meant a lot!  Just to have his nod that what I was doin' was O.K. made me sure I was on the right track. I still use a line I got off Troyce. At the end of every set I say, "Hello Jukebox." It's something he used to do and it's my way of keeping his memory alive.

    Troyce's good friend, West Coast Bluesman, J. J. Malone was and still is a supporter of what I'm doing. I know he genuinely liked the Terraplanes. I got one of the tunes for the Terraplanes studio recording from J. J. "The Dance Goes On" is his. He'd never recorded it. He did it one night with us at The Belmont Inn in '91. 1 loved it! He and Troyce came up to play The Waterfront Blues Festival that summer. I didn't remember all the words (two years later when we were in the studio recording), so I called him up. I've got him on tape singin' that song over the phone. J. J.'s a killer vocalist and a good guitar player. He's even a better keyboard man. Troyce always liked his keyboard work. Troyce Key and J. J. Malone were very positive influences on me, no doubt!"

    Boyd really wanted to expand on the players in his new band. "Jim Wallace contributes fabulous harp work. He was one of the guys I auditioned for back in Eugene. His band was The Cyclones back then, a real good band. He's surrounded himself in the Blues and has more Blues records and is more studied in Blues than anybody I know in town with the exceptions of maybe Curtis Salgado or Bill Rhoades. Les Gray is a saxophone player to be dealt with. When he gets up there to play he puts his all into it. I'm so pleased to have him in the band. He just goes up there and shines. Les sings well, too, and we're gonna be usin' that a lot. Our bass guy, Dan Davis plays stand-up and is just 'locking in' so well. Gary Burford is a smokin' guitar player that has been underrated for years and has never had a chance to really shine the way he can. He's a showman. Rob Gilfeather is a trumpet player that's played with just about everybody in town. He's a really good soloing trumpet player in the Blues which is fairly rare actually. It's a tough instrument to play."

    "I am so lucky to have these guys come and join my band! The way everything's come together, I just feel blessed because it couldn't of happened better for me. They're all 100% into it and really excited about it!"

    "One thing I want to mention, too, is my 'Blues Showcase' that I host. I started doing it at Belmont's a long time ago. It's moved around some. I'm doing it in Salem right now on Sunday nights at The Westside Station and it's goin' 'gang-busters'! We're going to start doing it in Portland again (if all goes well) on some Thursdays at Bojangles. The Showcases where we have the 'core' band (less the horns and sometimes including the harp) and each week a 'special' guest. The Showcase is not only for local guest artists, it's there for out of town talent who may be laid over in Portland. It gives them a place to gig on that off night and slip right into a ready-made band. The Showcase is a real 'special' thing! It's quite unique and full of surprises - nothin' but fun!! Even though we study the guests material and style before hand, it's informal and lots of new and exciting things arise."

    "Tuesday's at Belmont's is the 'open jam'. This isn't some exclusive jam, its open to all. If someone's inexperienced or a beginning player, I put them with someone who's experienced. I'm a strong backer of Blues jams, because that's where a lot of the new players 'cut their teeth'. Some of the jams don't like to let inexperienced players come up and play because they're afraid of them playin' bad music, but if you plan it right and put a new guy in with some of the more experienced players you always have a good entertainment value and give players a chance to learn the Blues. T'here's really no other way to do it without gettin' out there and playin' right on stage!"

    Boyd Small is an entertainer, a Blues entertainer of the highest caliber. He's certainly an intelligent and most fascinating person. Let's support him and his endeavors in "keeping the Blues alive". Check the Calendar Page of this issue of BluesNotes for one of his gigs and get out to catch him live. Best wishes to Boyd for the success of the new Boyd Small Big Blues Band.

© 1995 Cascade Blues Association