Chris Carlson

Photo by Greg Johnson

"My ultimate goal is to know everything that I can about the music that I play."

    "I was born in a tar-paper shack in the Mississippi Delta," guitarist Chris Carlson stated stone-faced as we began our interview. "Nah! Not really," he broke out laughing. "I bet you get a lot of people who say that." It was a eccentric moment sitting across from one another at the dining room table of the Northeast Portland home Chris shares with his musical and life partner, Duffy Bishop. And it was a prophecy of how the afternoon would proceed, full of laughs and fond memories.

    Chris was actually born in New Jersey. His father worked as an ad-man, which led to the family occasionally moving to different parts of the country. In the first few years of his life, Chris' family had relocated to Chicago and Philadelphia before settling in Nashville for a stretch.

    Music was always present in the Carlson household. His parents had good taste in music, collecting albums that spanned a wide variety of genres, from Jazz and Broadway show-tunes to Odetta and Harry Belafonte. As a young child, Chris remembers being fascinated by Peggy Lee, but like everybody else in the early 1960s, it was the arrival of The Beatles that truly floored him.

    "The first Rock & Roll thing that I remember hearing on the radio was 'I like bread and butter'," Chris sang in a high falsetto. "It was two guys (The Newbeats, "Bread And Butter" 1964), with one singing like a woman. It just scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. I ran anytime I heard the record."

    Living in Nashville also exposed Chris to the fluent Country & Western scene in the city. One of the advertising accounts that Chris' father had was with Redman Chewing Tobacco. Many of the city's performers had their own live television shows that broadcast on Saturday afternoons. Redman was a frequent sponsor and Chris' father allowed him to tag along to watch as he would set up a small table at the side of the stage. He wrote ad material for musicians such as Porter Wagoner, who between songs would sit at the table and pitch the product: "When I'm not singing, I chew Redman Tobacco."

    Nashville's Country scene was captivating for the young Chris Carlson. The musicians he described as "gnarly old guys wearing strange costumes" gave off a spooky feeling, but they were also appealing at the same time.

    Among other musical inspirations that Chris found within his own family were through his Uncle Sonny's taste for Jazz. He exposed Chris to the ground-breaking music of classic Jazzmen such as Thelonius Monk and Cannonball Adderley. But, perhaps more than anyone else, it was his older brother George who offered Chris the greatest source of influence.

    George attended college and when he returned home for visits, he always brought back an armful of new LPs. The brothers shared a room at night and would play the albums while they lay in bed: artists like John Hammond, Son House and James Brown. And Robert Johnson.

    "I was 8 or 9 years old at the time," recalls Chris. "The Monkees were big then and that was what I was used to hearing. So, when he'd put on something like 'Hellhound On My Trail,' I was cowering under the covers! It floored me. I'd never heard anything like this before. It immediately grabbed me, but scared the hell out of me at the same time."

    The first instrument Chris learned to play was the piano. He took lessons at Catholic school in first through third grades. He remembers the nuns would whack him on the hands with a ruler whenever he made a mistake, telling him, "Okay Chris, now try it again." "No! Don't make me!" Chris reflects sarcastically, "It was a truly traumatic experience that really puts the love of music in you."

    The family relocated again to Jacksonville, Florida. The albums his brother would bring on his visits then were starting to lean on heavier guitar sounds with works by Cream and Jimi Hendrix. George played guitar himself and he showed Chris how to make chords. The desire to learn the instrument grew and Chris approached his parents and asked if he could take lessons. His father told him that he would also like to learn to play. So the two of them started taking lessons from famed Jazz guitarist Robert Conti. His father loved music and he really tried, but he never had the right feel for it. He was pleased with his son's progress, however. Both of his parents supported Chris' musical decisions; something that continues to this day.

    Around the time he was 15, Chris began working in local bands. Living in Jacksonville, it was an unwritten expectation that you knew how to play the music of local favorites such as The Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. If the audience called for a Skynyrd song, you had better know it or face being beaten up. He joined a band named Flyte, who played a lot of horn-fueled covers of bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago. Chris was the second guitarist, playing behind a guy named Dave Hlubek. Hlubek was truly a Southern rocker who played through a large Marshall stack. It was a bit too loud for Flyte's horn section, so they fired him from the group. Hlubek in turn formed his own band, Molly Hatchet.

    In 1977, Chris made the move across the country to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. Running out of money after his sophomore year, he started working with friends playing music on the streets. They played a "gut-bucket" style with Chris on a wash-tub bass made with a broom handle and clothesline. Their venues consisted of the Pike Place Market and theater lines.

    "This was before multiplexes," he explains, "so movie lines used to stretch around the block. We'd play for about 15 people and then say, 'Well, we have to go on to our next engagement,' and we'd move down the line about 20 feet. For a bunch of hippies, we did okay."

    This group eventually progressed into an electric band calling themselves Jammin' Salmon and they started picking up gigs in clubs. They were a real loose band, known for playing long jams. They knew that they weren't the best band in the world, but they had fun and felt that the audiences enjoyed them, too.

    A couple of years went by while he worked with Jammin' Salmon when Chris received a phone call from one of his old Flyte band-mates. Tom LeGrand was working with a Top 40 band named Astral in the Midwest that was doing pretty good. Astral had the promise of an extended gig in Iowa, but they needed a new guitar player. So, with little money, Chris flew to Terre Haute, Indiana in the middle of February during blizzard conditions to join the band. They practiced for a couple of weeks, then made the trek to Cherokee, Iowa and their intended month-long gig. It lasted three nights before Astral was fired.

    They returned to Terre Haute and eventually changed their name to The LeGrand Band. Working the Indiana lounge circuit, Chris feels, helped his career. Playing Top 40 material forced him to learn new songs constantly to keep up with the times. But after spending two years in Indiana, he had had enough and moved back to Seattle.

    He rejoined his friends from Jammin' Salmon, who were now playing Motown and R&B tunes under the name of Cool Ray & The Shades. In 1983, the band decided to add a singer to the group, so they held auditions. After a couple of days of listening to several people, Duffy Bishop came in to try out. It was obvious that she was the best vocalist they could ever hope for, so Duffy became a member of Cool Ray & The Shades. The band obtained a steady Monday night gig at a little deli named Matzo Mama's that lasted for nine months and developed quite a following. The crowds were going nuts for Duffy.

    Chris and Duffy were approached by saxophonist John Lee, who convinced them to form their own band. Recruiting drummer Todd Zimberg and bassist Keith Lowe, they called themselves Duffy Bishop & The Rhythm Dogs. Over the next eight years, The Rhythm Dogs became one of the most popular bands in Seattle. They released two recordings; the first was a short-run cassette-only offering titled Dogs Run Cheap; the second, On A Journey, was released on vinyl, something that really appealed to the group at the time as a sign of success.

    Duffy began working in a play called Janis, which was based on the life of singer Janis Joplin. Chris was the musical director, alongside former Big Brother & The Holding Company guitarist Sam Andrew. The play was a success, but it was also noteworthy for the amount of national controversy it created when Joplin's sister attempted to sue the company for illegal use of her sister's name. It was a case that went in favor of the play, as it is not illegal to use a public figure's name in a work of art.

    While the play was making its run, Chris and Sam Andrew also started working together in a short-lived band called Queens of Denial. It was a very strange band with the two guitarists trading off lead work. They covered songs by Bob Dylan and The Band, while also performing some psychedelic material and original tunes. Queens of Denial were all over the board, which probably didn't help their efforts. Chris describes the band as being "kind of un-hirable."

    A second play was written by Chris and his friend Carl Sander entitled A Simple Love Story With Guitar Outlaws. It featured Rob Morgan from the Seattle group The Squirrels, Orville Johnson and Lily Wilde, with The Rhythm Dogs as the stage band. And of course, Duffy Bishop played the lead role as a timber heiress who falls in love with an environmentalist played by Morgan. Chris calls Guitar Outlaws a "Tavern Opera." It was performed at the East Lake Zoo Tavern in Seattle and has proven to be a cult success. Over the years, the play went through three different incarnations and a "Guitar Outlaws Christmas Reunion Show" is still held annually.

    In 1992 The Rhythm Dogs officially broke up, leaving the path open for the formation of the Duffy Bishop Band. Though they did not consider themselves a Blues band, the group decided to make the music a heavier part of their repertoire. Master slide guitarist Henry Cooper joined the band, which also consisted of bass player Keith Lowe and drummer Dave Jette. The Duffy Bishop Band started to expand their work regionally, playing throughout the Northwest and into California, developing quite a fan base.

    About a year later, Portland's Burnside Records took notice of the band and brought them into the studio. These sessions became the first Duffy Bishop Band album, Bottled Oddities, and featured strong songwriting by Chris, especially noteworthy being "Chord With Me Henry" and "Bath Of Love," which have become live show trademarks for the band.

Photo by Carrol Carpena

    "I love playing guitar," notes Chris, "but my true love is songwriting. It's something that I've done ever since I was a kid and I think that I've gotten better over time. I like all kinds of music and I like bringing those influences to the Blues. It's like a river. It's just ever-changing as it should be. I may have never picked cotton in the Mississippi Delta, but I've had my experiences in pain and joy. The Blues is about your experiences and everybody has a right to their own. Hopefully, there's many songs left in me to write."

    The album's regional success and the Duffy Bishop Band's steady following of fans helped to secure their first appearance at Portland's famed Waterfront Blues Festival in 1994, an event Chris feels is the best of its kind to be found anywhere. The Duffy Bishop Band has been a regular feature at the event almost every year since. Relocating the band's homebase to Portland, a second album was released on Burnside in 1996, called Back To The Bone. It was another regional best-seller, but was also the last appearance for original band members Keith Lowe and Henry Cooper.

    A new band, the short-lived Palace of Culture, came about with their departures. Backed by the horn section of Bryan Dickerson and Jon Goforth, it was a fresh approach and featured challenging arrangements. Lasting for little more than a year, The Palace of Culture was captured in performance at Portland's Key Largo on a limited edition CD titled The Queen's Own Bootleg. To this day, it is one of Chris' favorite releases of the work he has done with Duffy.

    "There is nothing like live performance," Chris says. "The sound quality varies from song to song and there's different amounts of reverb, effects and things. But that's secondary to the feel and energy.

    "It was recorded the day after popular Portland Blues vocalist Paulette Davis had died. The loss kind of charged everybody up. I'm glad that we got it down."

    A benefit show in Paulette's honor was held not long afterward at the Cascade Tavern in Vancouver. This event marked the first time that Chris worked with keyboardist Dover Weinberg, who would later become a key member of the revived Duffy Bishop Band and the bandleader of his own Dover Weinberg Quartet, of which Chris is a regular member.

    In 1999, the Duffy Bishop Band returned to the studio. They brought with them a feeling for the music of Memphis and its horn-backed R&B flavor. The resulting album, Fly The Rocket, again showcased Chris' songwriting abilities with numbers such as "Change Your Address" and "Blues Lullaby." The album garnered a good deal of critical acclaim, and requests for the band to appear at venues stretching outside of the Northwest began to come in. Unfortunately, Duffy Bishop had taken on a role in a new play in Seattle, titled Teatro ZinZanni. Her commitment at the time may have missed some key promotion, but the album continues to do well and the band still receives many offers to tour. Over the past three years since its release, the Duffy Bishop Band has appeared in festivals such as the famed Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas and at a handful of events in Norway.

    While Duffy was occupied with Teatro, Chris joined up with the Dover Weinberg Quartet for a series of jam sessions at It's A Beautiful Pizza, which continued for more than two years. The music they played was a wide blend of various material covering Blues and Jazz, and the shows were simply a fun time. Dover also became a regular member of the Duffy Bishop Band, and has shared Chris' light-heartedness and humor on stage.

    "When I think something is funny, I'll put it into the show. Sometimes I think that the rest of the band would like me to shut up, but then you have Dover in there, and he'll go, 'Hello sports fans! If you play a sport, go right ahead.' We can't help ourselves. We can probably get treatment for it or something. I'm sure there's a 12-step program we can enroll in."

    Chris has also spent time sitting in with many other artists in the area. For the past four years, he has worked with Chris Mayther and more recently, he has been filling time playing behind Margo Tufo. Other people he's joined on-stage include a who's-who of Portland's Blues scene: Lloyd Jones, Ellen Whyte, Paul deLay, Richard Day-Reynolds and The X-Angels, to name but a few. There is no lack of opportunities for Chris to play, keeping his time well-occupied.

    And it's not just the local musicians who have sought Chris out. For six years he has filled the guitar position for pianist Mitch Woods anytime he tours through the Northwest. "He's a funny guy, fun to hang around with," Chris remarks. "He definitely knows those piano styles!" Other artists Chris has played behind include Bobby Day, Tracy Nelson, Rod Price and Big Jay McNeely.

    "Working with McNeely, that was a dream! He appeared to be this frail, old man, with his foot in a cast," remembers Chris. "But he got out his sax, blew just one note and I found myself going, 'Jesus Christ!' He just had this sound, it was other-worldly, you know. Nothing frail there!"

    One of the highlights in Chris' career was producing Ennis In Theory's album Take Me Home. Fond memories onstage also include the time that the Duffy Bishop Band opened for Little Feat at Bumbershoot before 20,000 in the Seattle Coliseum. Also, having David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos join the band onstage for a jam.

    "But my favorite memories are those when everything is gelling onstage," Chris explains, "when you just reach those points where it's all working well. You look into the crowd and it could be for 20 people or 20,000, but it's just happening. If I could get more of those moments, the better."

    The Duffy Bishop Band has also been active putting together new material for a future recording. With Dover returning at the keyboards, Phil Haxton on bass and drummer Don Schultz, it may be the strongest lineup in the history of the band. When asked if the album will have the same flavor as previous Duffy Bishop Band albums, Chris replied, "No, it'll be new, but I ain't telling! Actually, we've been working with background harmonies. With all of us singing. We have four people in the band now that can sing and it's a gas! I love doing that."

    Recently, while digging through his garage, Chris found the original master tapes of The Rhythm Dogs' two releases. He retrieved them just in time, as they had already begun the process of disintegration. Sending them to Los Angeles, the tapes were salvaged and it is Chris' hope that these early recordings may be re-released, perhaps as a Best of The Rhythm Dogs collection.

    Overall, with everything that Chris Carlson has going on, it's amazing he has any time to spend by himself. But he wouldn't have it any other way.

    "I'm pretty happy with the way things are going now," Chris states. "I've been busy, which is great! I'd like to have the opportunity to play a lot, with a lot of different people. My ultimate goal is to know everything I can about the music that I play. That probably won't ever happen, but it sure is fun trying to get there."

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