Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and others. They all, each and every one, cast their shadow upon me.
Crawdaddy!: When did you first hear a blues recording and how?
Baby Gramps: KRAB radio came about in ’62, a kind of underground radio station. The likes of Tom Robbins, Jean Shepherd (of A Christmas Story fame)… Captain Crunch, the “phone phreak” [John T. Draper, a onetime radio wave and phone line pirate] would call up. In the early ’60s I heard my first country blues, Pink Anderson (’20s blues). Later, Pink Floyd was named after this medicine show performer, as most of your readers know.
Crawdaddy!: What was the first record you bought? Do you have all your original records?
Baby Gramps: Ray Charles was the first album I bought in 1960, but before this I got my older sister’s 45s and R&B album collection, Ernie K-Doe,