Just another day on the radio

Downtown Palmer in the early morning is quiet. Sometimes too quiet. The speakers outside the station were playing some folk tunes. It sounded louder than normal thanks to a lack of anybody on the streets and sidewalk for as far as my eyes could see. I got out of my car and took in the scene. Alaska Street was beginning to wake up. Across the street from KVRF’s studio is the train depot, right next to us is Fireside Books. The sounds of lawn mowers and gas powered weed whackers being fired up began to pervade the immediate area. Those sounds began compete with our broadcast heard from the speaker mounted above the front door of our studio. The whole scene brought a smile to my face.Palmer was becoming alive before my eyes.

Grinning, I grabbed my clip board from the front seat and went into the station. Mike Chmielewski, KVRF’s station manager was waiting for me inside.Today was the day. If all went well I would be talking to blues great Jonny Lang. Lang is scheduled to appear on stage at the Alaska State Fair August 29th. Hence the interview, an opportunity to spread the word about this young musician’s talent and concert around to everyone in the Valley. This was Thursday, my day to man the station (KVRF 89.7 FM is an all volunteer community radio station) and put together my next episode of my show the “Downbeat”. I had the playlist for a “Tribute to Curtis Mayfield “along with my questions and notes for the upcoming interview tucked into my clip board.

Mike was testing out the new sound boards for their telephone functions prior to Jonny Lang’s call in. Everything must work or the interview was bust. So I ended up outside the studio with my cell phone in hand, calling in to the broadcast pod for sound check levels and quality of that sound. After about ten minutes we worked the bugs out. All new equipment has a bug or two that needs finding and correction.

It was just in time too as the hour for the phone in call arrived: 0945. And right on the second Steve Karas, Jonny Lang’s manager calls in. Mike is on the controls and starts the recording program. I sit down and adjust mic#3 to get the best sound from my voice. I admit to being a little nervous by now. This is the most famous person I ever interviewed in my life. In a short moment I was in my element doing the lead up and then we start the conversation and I’m talking to the young blues master himself, Jonny Lang.

He was on the road in the middle of his world tour calling from New Hampshire. That blew me away since my family used to have a cabin there, built by my great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. I chuckled as I told him that and he laughed with me. I was liking this young man with each second. We seem to have hit it off right from the get go.

I found out he got his first guitar at the age of 13. He cut his very first record (recorded at a private studio) at 14 and his first “real’ album, ‘Lie to Me’ at 15. That album would propel Lang to a nearly superstar status in 1997 when it went platinum and #1 on Billboards new artist charts. I asked him who were his influences growing up. He replied his parents, who were really into blues, R&B and Motown would play the records by artists of these music styles. He mentioned B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding and that he wanted to play and sing like them. We both agreed that Aretha rules and one could tell a song was being played by B.B. King in hearing the first three notes.

The biggest question I had for Jonny Lang was one that has been bugging me for years. Lang appears in the movie “Blues Brothers 2000” as a janitor at “Ed’s Love Exchange“. The scene centered around this telemarketing experiment and its two world famous owners Wilson Picket and Eddie Floyd. These guys are iconic pioneer blues and rock voices of the 50s and 60s, crossing the racial barriers of that era. They became a major influence on many musicians and bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, Chicago and, yes, the Blues Brothers themselves. Jonny was also one of them as well.

So in the scene Jonny Lang is singing along with Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd “634-5789” (Wilson Picket 1966), which is very cool indeed. Yet it was this young man’s voice that added magic to it all. It is very distinctive — a gravelly, husky wail that sounds years older than Lang and his mere 37. One is hard-pressed to tell the difference between the three of them in the soundtrack. Who are elders and who is the kid from Fargo, North Dakota?

It was one of my favorite scenes, besides Aretha doing a millennial version of her hit “Respect”, and the final jam session with B.B. King and crew and the Blues Brothers. So my question to this young blues master was this: What was it like to jam out with these two living legends? He chuckled at my descriptions of the movie’s scene. He said it was “awesome” just to be in the studio with Pickett and Floyd cutting that tune prior to doing the scene for the movie. He was, after all, just 17 years old. I was thrilled to have him answer my little question.

We went on about his style of playing guitar and his take on gospel, both of which earned Lang a Grammy in 2006 for best gospel album, “Turn Around”. I didn’t go into why he turned to religion, out of respect. He did have some issues with drugs and alcohol in his early days and found a way out off that dark path by converting to Christianity. His faith became inspiration for much of his music and sobriety.

By this time Mike was giving me the “wrap it up” signal so we ended with a laugh or two. I put down my clipboard as Mike pushed the drop call button, ending the phone call from Jonny. I was thrilled to have done it and was on cloud nine. I just interviewed Jonny Lang! Far out!

So when August 29th at the State Fair comes around and this young man steps up on stage guitar in hand, you will be in for a first class show played by a grade A+ Bluesman and his band. He will rock your world, I guarantee it.

Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after 21 plus years in service. He is a veteran of the war in Iraq. An independent columnist, Mr. Grota has written articles for the Mat-Su Frontiersman, Alaska Commons, Anchorage Press and the Alaska Dispatch News. Dan Grota is also the host of the “Downbeat” on KVRF 89.7 FM Radio Free Palmer. Mr. Grota resides in Wasilla.