The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/20734
George Kilby Jr. How did you get your start in music? My earliest musical memory is listening to my uncle play Hank Williams songs in Alabama. At Princeton University, I led The George Dickel Band to New York’s leg- endary Lonestar Café, where we shared the stage with Albert King, Etta James and James Brown. While touring in support of my first EP, I met Pinetop Perkins in Chicago in 1985. Then, after a couple of years as busker in Paris, I lived in New Orleans. (Adapted from bio at www.georgekilbyjr.com) What inspires your songwriting? Songwriting is like moving, or getting a new hat; it comes when it needs to, and sometimes by accident. Who are your favorite artists? Hank Sr., and Mose Allison this week because I heard some of his stuff lately. Next week it will be George Breakfast and John Scarpulla (who I’m playing with at the Autumn Cafe). What is one of your favorite memories from playing a live show? That time that person in the back of the room actually listened to the words, and I saw the light go on in their eyes. Have you performed in Oneonta, and what are you looking forward to about the upcoming show at the Autumn Café? See previous question. Contributed George Breakfast How did you get your start in music? Singing as a young child ... everywhere. Starting around 8 years old, I first learned recorder; a couple of years later ukelele, then guitar, had piano lessons for a while as a teenager and performed at parties. First gigs in pubs in Cambridge, UK, at the age of 17, was involved in a couple of bands. Got fed up with too much drinking and not enough playing. Went to Paris and started busking; the next few years I played music for hours every day all over Europe in bars, clubs and on street corners. I wound up in New York in 1982. What inspires your songwriting? From a very early age, I always had tunes going through my head. In the ‘60s when I realized that artists I loved were writing their own material, I thought, “I can do that!,” and so I began doing so. Inspiration comes from all aspects of life. I’ll be playing one of my instruments and a melody and/or rhythm will start taking shape. I’ll keep singing ‘til a lyrical idea presents itself, then I’ll put the instrument down and concen- trate on the lyric, which is way the hardest part. Other times I’ll get a lyric idea and get that down before I even begin adding music. Contributed Who are your favorite artists? It’s a very long list. Here’s a short version: Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Reed, Charlie Parker, Woody Guthrie, Django Reinhardt, Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Joni Mitchell, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, ‘60s Motown, Steve Earle, Alison Krauss, Kate Rusby. What is one of your favorite memories from playing a live show? I have played a number of shows in an Immigration Detention Centre in England, where I currently live. I would always encour- age detainees to come up and perform music from their own country, and on one occasion a Nigerian, a Turk, a gentleman from Bangla- desh and a Brazilian performed a Bob Marley song together _ a truly uplifting moment. The power of music in action. Have you performed in Oneonta? What are you looking forward to about the upcoming show at the Autumn Café? I have never played in Oneonta. I am most looking forward to seeing my dear friend George Kilby Jr. and swapping songs with him and John Scarpulla, who I will be meeting for the first time. Songwriter circles are most enjoy- able occasions for us troubadour types. Dec. 2, 2010 O-Town Scene 19