James Harman retrospective with Rick Estrin and Nathan James

Rick Estrin and Nathan James join me on episode 131 for a retrospective on James Harman.

James ‘Icepick’ Harman was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1946. After moving between various locations, including Florida, New York, New Orleans and Chicago, he settled down in Southern California in the early 1970s where he established himself in the vibrant blues scene there.

Harman was a formidable song writer and had his own unique view on life which he delivered through his powerful singing voice. His harmonica playing was highly accomplished but he didn’t get too bogged down in the technicalities of the instrument, just playing it to great effect.

Harman released numerous albums under his own name from the 1970s to 2019, and also recorded with other artists, including three albums with ZZ Top.

Links:

Nathan James website: https://www.nathandjames.com/

James Harman appreciation: https://bluesjunctionproductions.com/an_appreciation_of_james_harman

Playing with ZZ Top: https://billygibbons.com/2016/10/james-harman-mystery-man-zz-top-band/

Videos:

James Harman Tribute Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf-z0fByTsM

James Harman interview from 2013: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkbDA4jpB_c

Grit Soup with Rick Estrin and Nathan James:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7x1BajhVfc

Albums on YouTube:

Thank You Baby: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_xc_lneR8c

Extra Napkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVwrq57PM-Q

Strictly Live in ’85: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR1OEhF6Hr0&list=PLSzXohOP-AmcgBdbKmj-DNYiP6CfPTGUY

Black and White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_0qUrM_XBw

Liquor Parking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9y1bydpCI

Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime album intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WhxC8Q1ro

Podcast website:
https://www.harmonicahappyhour.com

Donations:
If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):
https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GB

Spotify Playlist:
Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQ

Podcast sponsors:
This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS
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Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com

Chapters

• 1:33 Rick Estrin and Nathan James join me on this retrospective on James Harman
• 1:46 Rick is based in the west coast of the US and first knew of James in the 1970s, and they became friends when they spent time in Amsterdam together
• 2:32 Rick and James both write their own lyrics for blues songs
• 3:25 He was a true artist who made no concessions to anything and he should have been a household name
• 3:53 Nathan James played in the James Harman band from age 19, from 1998, playing in his band for 23 years
• 5:37 Nathan has also played with Kim Wilson, Billy Boy Arnold and Mark Hummel among others, and plays some harmonica on a rack
• 6:02 James called Nathan his favourite guitar player on various occasions and they connected well
• 6:42 James played on some of Nathan’s albums
• 7:09 His mother started teaching James piano at age four, and James found his father’s harmonicas under the seat of the piano stool
• 7:26 Used to play hammond organ in the first bands he was in but realised he wanted to get up to sing, play harmonica and dance
• 7:50 Also played some guitar and drums but when he started playing in bands he just sang and played harmonica
• 7:58 Sang in a church choir when younger, going from singing the church music to singing the devil’s music
• 8:16 First heard blues from local busker ‘Radio’ Johnson, and started playing with him
• 8:32 Nathan heard that James’ uncle was a famous Old Timey musician
• 9:03 James was very proud of his southern US heritage and his father was a police officer
• 9:42 He was an outlier, a unique and brilliant guy
• 10:06 First started getting into bands when moved to Panama City in Florida at age 16, deciding he wanted to be a performer after seeing Junior Parker playing in a black club
• 10:39 Part of the first generation of white blues players and probably took some harmonica lessons from Walter Horton
• 11:32 Moved around various cities, including Miami, New York, New Orleans and Chicago, where we went hoping to meet his idol Sonny Boy Williamson II
• 12:43 Played in various bands before joining the Icehouse Blues Band in Southern California, where he got the name ‘Icepick’ James
• 14:17 Rod Piazza was also playing around the same area, and The James Harman Band supported Canned Heat several times in the early 1970s
• 14:52 His band supported and backed big name blues players who were on tour
• 15:35 Recorded first nine early singles in 1964 and another album in 1972
• 15:57 In 1977 released formed the James Harman Band, and didn’t like to have ‘blues’ in the title, although was a blues player (with some R&B thrown in)
• 17:19 Blues was changing through the 1970s to be more rock based, which was far removed from what the James Harman Band played
• 18:31 Well known for bring through young musical talent, including Hollywood Fats and Kid Ramos (and Nathan James!)
• 19:06 Despite a bit of a hard reputation Nathan always got on well with him and never dictated what Nathan should play in the band
• 19:49 Very well known as a songwriter
• 20:47 BB King inspired him to find his own voice with the music
• 21:08 When young the black blues players said he was a boy with the voice of a man
• 21:21 More on his songwriting and observational skills
• 22:39 Groove was critical to the sound of the band and he would move to the rhythm of the song
• 23:38 Thank You Baby album released in 1983, probably his first proper release
• 24:03 Those Dangerous Gentleman album released in 1987, had the track Kiss of Fire which was used on the Oscar winning movie (Best Actress): The Accused
• 24:36 Released Extra Napkins in 1988, which won a WC Handy award, and saw him performing live Rick for the first time around then
• 25:58 Such a creative songwriter and one of Rick’s favourites: The Clown
• 28:45 Live albums, including Strictly Live in ’85 and his live performances often included singing off-the-cuff
• 30:01 The story of ‘grit soup’
• 31:54 Some strong albums released through the 1990s, including Black and White
• 32:44 Rick liked the album Do Not Disturb which had a theme of motels and being on the road
• 33:20 Held artistic control over all parts of his music
• 35:09 Harman wasn’t overly concerned with the technicalities of the harmonica, using it as a tool to serve the song
• 36:08 Rick thinks it’s more important to say something with your music than to just have technical skills
• 37:13 Listened to a lot of different music and drew inspiration from many different sources
• 37:41 William Clarke has a similar sound to Harman and was probably influenced by him
• 38:18 Played with ZZ Top, recording on three of their albums and was good friends with Billy Gibbons from that band
• 39:21 Billy Gibbons had wanted to record him but James resisted that
• 39:58 Played on some Kid Ramos albums in the early 2000s, including a great solo on the album Greasy Kids Stuff
• 41:14 Played on the 2013 album Remembering Little Walter, but didn’t play chromatic on Crazy Mixed Up World, but a solo tuned diatonic: Marine band soloist
• 41:56 May have received the Marine Band Soloist from Junior Wells, and Harman never played any chromatic (that Nathan can recall)
• 42:54 Played in Europe numerous times, often as a guest with other bands (including with the Swedish band Trickbag) due to economics
• 43:56 Nathan produced and played on the album Bonetime from 2015 and played on Fineprint from 2018
• 44:39 Nathan produced the album Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime, released posthumously from some live streamed performances
• 45:06 Shakedown’s Th’owdown album made with Belgian Shakedown Tim
• 45:30 Liquor Parking was the last Harman album released (2019) while he was still alive
• 46:17 James Harman passed away in May 2021
• 46:32 Nathan released recordings from livestreams done in the early part of the Covid pandemic, on the Didn’t We Have Some Fun Sometime album, where James was losing his voice due to illness
• 47:43 Had a few tours cancelled due to Covid
• 48:08 Rick’s 70th birthday party was last time he saw James and some other players
• 49:29 Was a true artist right up until the end and that came first above everything in his life
• 49:56 Won various awards through his career, including numerous WC Handy awards and was entered into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame
• 50:23 Played Hohner Marine bands
• 50:37 Mostly played in second position, but played some third and first too
• 51:48 Embouchre: Rick thinks he mostly puckered
• 51:57 Amps: liked to use vintage equipment, but later on started using a Quilter amp
• 52:24 When Rick first met him he used two Fender Vibroverbs with 15 inch speakers. And he removed the reverb
• 53:12 Used a graphic equaliser and understood frequencies
• 53:29 Spent some time working on re-coning amps
• 54:13 Liked an echo on the mic
• 54:49 Used a mic that was gifted to him by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons
• 55:29 Nathan still has the same band as that which played with James Harman, and they often reminisce about him
• 55:54 Rick recounts a story when he had broken ribs and Harman kept him laughing

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Rick Estrin and Nathan James join me on episode 131 for a retrospective on James Harmon. James Icepick Harmon was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1946. After moving between various locations including Florida, New York, New Orleans and Chicago, he settled down in Southern California in the early 1970s where he established himself in the vibrant blues scene there. Harmon was a formidable songwriter and had his own unique view on life which he delivered through his powerful singing voice. His harmonica playing was highly accomplished but he didn't get too bogged down in the technicalities of the instrument, just playing it to great effect. Harmon released numerous albums under his own name from the 1970s to 2019, and also recorded with other artists, including three albums with ZZ Top. This podcast is sponsored by Zeidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.zeidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zeidel Harmonicas. Hello Nathan James and Rick Estrin and welcome to this episode on the James Horman.

SPEAKER_05: 1:30

Good to

SPEAKER_01: 1:32

be here. You know, I heard of James in the 70s.

SPEAKER_02: 1:57

But I'm in Northern California, so before we started touring with Little Charlie, then I had only heard of him. I guess I first saw him in the mid-'80s, so that's when I first saw him. When we really got to be friends was one time we were in Amsterdam together, and that's when we really hit it off, and we just... I don't know, I think we had shared some common traits in our sense of humor.

SPEAKER_01: 2:30

That's for sure. Well, you are quite similar from the point of view that you both write your own blues songs and see that as really important, right? So did you have that connection?

SPEAKER_02: 2:39

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially once we became friends, then I made it a point to investigate his music and then I was also a fan. I mean, when I first met him, I was like, wow, this guy he's got a great he's a great singer and a great entertainer but every time he came out with a record it was just like some you know he's one of them guys that that i would go wow shit why didn't i think of that you know

SPEAKER_04: 3:08

they remind me of i go And the more

SPEAKER_02: 3:26

I got to know him, I mean, he was a true artist, man. He made no concessions to anything, man. He had a vision for what he was going to do, and he was a genuine artist. And I always said from when I first got to know him, I always said, man, if the shit was fair, he'd be a household name. Totally.

SPEAKER_01: 3:49

So fantastic. So we'll get more into James shortly. So we'll come on to you, Nathan. So Nathan James, you played in the James Harmon band from the age of 19. So I think that was from like 1994. Is that right? 98. 98.

SPEAKER_02: 4:01

That's great, man. From 19. Boy, you didn't think you'd ever had a chance.

SPEAKER_05: 4:09

Yeah, I was. You were ruined. Yeah. He got what he wanted out of me. He molded me into what he wanted.

SPEAKER_01: 4:17

So you played in his band for 23 years then. So, I mean, we'll get on to his albums later, but what was the first album you played with him?

SPEAKER_05: 4:24

The first album that I recorded on with him was Lonesome Moon Trance.

SPEAKER_01: 4:30

Right, yeah, in 2003. Lonesome Moon Trance

UNKNOWN: 4:42

Ah!

SPEAKER_01: 4:46

You joined at a very young age, so were you around touring with him then? That was a big break for you, I take it.

SPEAKER_05: 4:52

Yeah, so I happened to go to school with a nice, same little hometown with a guitar player of his before me named Robbie Eason. Robbie was a couple of years older than me and Robbie's mother let him quit high school at 17 to go on the road with James. And so I thought, man, I want to do that too. I want to quit school and go on the road with James Harmon. When I heard that Robbie was leaving the band And so I asked my parents, you know, if I could do that, but they wouldn't let me, of course. So I had to wait till I was 19. And then he gave me the call because I was playing with a piano player by the name of Tom Mann that was playing with James off and on. Tom and Robbie Eason put in the word for me and got me the gig, basically.

SPEAKER_01: 5:37

So, Nathan, you've also played, you know, you've played with King Wilson and Billy Boy Arnold and Mark Hummel. And you also play some harmonica, I understand.

SPEAKER_05: 5:45

I don't know. consider it really playing but i just play on the rack you know and just just like to make an extra sound when i do my my solo thing

SPEAKER_01: 5:53

well that's great you know it definitely qualifies you to join the happy hour harmonica podcast you've got to play some harmonica so that's good to hear at least you know a little bit what you're talking about so yeah so i've seen some videos of james and numerous times he called you his favorite guitar player so he's definitely very complimentary about your guitar playing the fact that you could pick up country guitar playing as well and uh so yeah he obviously valued you in the band

SPEAKER_05: 6:15

yeah i was very fortunate for that we just kind of connected you know like what rick said we kind of connected on the same sense of humor and just inside stuff the stuff he liked the most it really made an impression on me and you know when i was a teenager and seeing basically harman a grown man cry sometimes listening while listening to music that moved him deeply it can make quite an impression on a young lad

SPEAKER_01: 6:42

yeah and he also played on on some of your albums as well didn't he yeah yeah Yeah,

SPEAKER_05: 6:46

he was always open for being a guest on a song or two. Now looking back, I should have had him a lot more on guest spots.

SPEAKER_01: 6:57

So we're getting into James' early life. So I understand his mother started teaching him piano at age four and he found some harmonicas in the piano store which belonged to his father and that's how he started playing harmonica. Do any of you guys know anything about that?

SPEAKER_05: 7:21

Yeah, I mean it's pretty much that and he would always talk about that from time to time. He grew up playing in like regional rhythm and blues bands. He used to play Hammond organ in his first bands that he was in before he was really even fronting and playing harmonica. But he realized that if he was playing harmonica and singing, he could get up from behind the piano or organ bench and move around. And he had quite some dance moves. So I think he knew what he was doing with that.

SPEAKER_01: 7:50

so yeah so he played some guitar and drums as well i think early on so he did he but he was just singing and playing harmonica was he main time when he was yeah yeah and he also sang sang in a local church choir when he was young so i think that's how he got his uh you know started singing yeah and he uh sort of singing he just basically transferred the singing in choir to singing blues

SPEAKER_05: 8:09

songs yeah yeah pretty much he went from as james would always say he went from singing the church music to singing the devil's music you know

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

So, yeah, I understand he sort of first heard blues from a local busker called Radio Johnson. He started playing with him, and that's how he, you know, when he started playing very early on. So, heard anything about that?

SPEAKER_05: 8:27

Probably here or there, you know. I heard of other names of people that, like his, like a relative was Riley Puckett or something like that, a famous folk singer that recorded, old-timey singer. But, yeah, he always had different stories. It was hard to keep track of them all. You're not allowed!

SPEAKER_04: 8:46

You know, he was

SPEAKER_02: 9:03

very proud of growing up in the South and being from Alabama. That was, I guess, a big part of his roots, and he would talk about how his dad was the chief of police or a sheriff or something.

SPEAKER_05: 9:18

Yeah, I remember that, going into a restaurant once in Anniston, Alabama, because he wanted to get us Brunswick stew, and on the wall was a picture of the police force, and his dad was in the picture on his motorcycle, like a motorcycle cop.

SPEAKER_01: 9:34

So having a father as a policeman, does that make you a low-abiding citizen or does it make you quite the opposite?

SPEAKER_05: 9:39

I know he was a hell-raiser, that's

SPEAKER_02: 9:41

for sure. He was kind of an outlier, period. Yeah. He wouldn't have fit in anywhere, man. He was a truly unique person, man. He could not help it. Yeah. A lot of people try to be different or something like that, man. He was just... He was a natural. He was naturally that way. And a brilliant guy, man. Very brilliant.

SPEAKER_01: 10:06

So getting into how he started playing music, I understand, well, he went to Panama City in Florida, I think in the early 60s. I think he went there with his family. And that's when he started playing. And he started attending black clubs to see black musicians playing. And I heard from him, he saw Junior Parker playing when he was 17. And that really inspired him to take up being a performer.

SPEAKER_05: 10:28

Yeah, for sure. He had lots of stories. have seen Junior Parker and Bobby Blue Bland and you know you'd say he was like one of the only white faces in the audience back then when it was kind of segregated audiences

SPEAKER_01: 10:39

so very much part of that you know first generation of white blues guys yeah who went and they were you know going into the black clubs and you know learning and he talks about mentoring from you know the great players in there and so that was a big part of his upbringing and getting the roots in the blues

SPEAKER_05: 10:55

yeah I think he took lessons from Walter Horton did you ever hear any of those stories Rick about him going to meet Walter Horton and having to bring him a bottle of liquors or Walter lived above a liquor store or something like that I

SPEAKER_02: 11:06

never heard that from James but I've heard the same story from Jerry Portnoy and this guy I knew that guy Joe Burson they would go visit Walter and they'd have to bring him a bottle and that would be what the price of a lesson which would consist of oh how do you do that oh I do it like this Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 11:32

So he moved around. He went to New York, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago. So do we know, was it in Chicago he was spending a lot of time with the blues players or was it in the various places and the clubs in those different cities or was it in Chicago?

SPEAKER_05: 11:45

From what I kind of remember, he went to Chicago and he was looking for Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 and he had just missed him. He got to see and hang out with Muddy Waters Band and some other people, but I think his real big idol was Sonny Boy No. 2 And he was told that Sonny Boy had just left Chicago and moved back home because he wasn't doing so well. It was kind of in his final years. Sonny Boy had moved back to like Helena or something like that. So he didn't get to see Sonny Boy, but he saw a lot of the other greats, you know, and hang out with them.

SPEAKER_01: 12:18

Right, yeah, and he does a Sonny Boy song on one of his albums, Sad To Be Alone.

SPEAKER_04: 12:24

MUSIC PLAYS

SPEAKER_01: 12:43

So he moved around in various places and then he went over to well he played in a few bands I think before he joined the ice house blues band so was this when he moved to california which uh i think he did that in the early 70s

SPEAKER_05: 12:58

yeah i can't remember like what bands he had at what timelines but that sounds about right i think the ice house blues band was formed in in la area i

SPEAKER_01: 13:09

think that's probably how he got his name ice pick james harman yeah his ice pick james and the ice house blues band was uh what was his first uh name i think without

SPEAKER_05: 13:18

yeah probably

SPEAKER_01: 13:19

do we know if there's any more story behind the ice or was it just the connection to the ice house? That's a

SPEAKER_05: 13:24

good question. I probably had heard it from him and I should have had a tape recorder for all those eight-hour van rides across the country. He could talk a long time. Yeah, he could. He told me he had a collection of ice picks. Yeah, yeah. People used to send them to him as fans would send those to him. If only we knew what happened to that collection of ice picks.

SPEAKER_01: 13:50

Right. I can't imagine there's that much ice in southern california though it's probably not the coldest place so then he sort of based himself in southern california right

SPEAKER_05: 13:58

he stayed out here because the weather was good that's what he always said otherwise he didn't like it down here he said he always had gulf coast blood and uh he preferred it in the gulf coast but it you know because it was warmer but it was just too intense out there so

SPEAKER_01: 14:13

he went to wear the the weather suit in his clothes so yeah so in southern california there was a there was a good blues scene uh you know and rob piazza i think was was active then and he was another band i understood when he first went there he sort of opened for canned heat for for quite a few shows through the through the early 70s i don't know if that was part of him you know becoming established

SPEAKER_05: 14:33

yeah i'm not sure i'm sure it probably was one part of everything that added up with him you know but he already had his own personality so that probably was real quickly he was friends with all those guys he had lots of stories of hanging and hell raising with like the can't heat guys and

SPEAKER_01: 14:52

apparently he was he was based in some clubs in in southern california and he used to support the sort of traveling blues act so they're you know like the big blues names would come through and he'd either back them up or would support them with his

SPEAKER_05: 15:04

band

SPEAKER_01: 15:04

so

SPEAKER_05: 15:05

yeah yeah i mean it just did like big joe turner and uh all kinds of names even t-bone walker would come out and i don't know if he backed up t-bone walker T-Bone, but T-Bone and Freddie King were always there and would sit in, stuff like that. There's some photos that James, I have a bunch of photos from James somewhere that I helped him scan, so I probably have some of T-Bone sitting in with him and Freddie King and Big Joe Turner. Big Joe Turner was one of his biggest influences and idols.

SPEAKER_01: 15:35

I think he first made some nine singles in 1964. This was in Atlanta, Georgia. So yeah, he said he made another album in 72. Then in 1977, he formed the James Harmon band, which evolved from the Icehouse Blues band, as I understand it. So, again, watching him, he said that he didn't like to have blues in the title. He liked to keep that out.

SPEAKER_05: 16:11

Well, I mean, it can just be... I don't know, Rick, blues spelled with...

SPEAKER_02: 16:18

It could be a stigma, you know, as a way to keep... Especially nowadays. Yeah, well, even then, I mean, because the connotation to people that aren't actual into blues already would be, oh, that's some sad, miserable stuff, you know? And really, it's uplifting stuff. So, you know, even sad blues is... cathartic you know but so so rather than having people prejudge you like that you just you give it a name that doesn't have the word blues in it yeah

SPEAKER_01: 16:57

yeah but i mean he was mainly a blues player i mean or did he do it because he did play some of the genres as well and he didn't want to be just tagged as just being blue

SPEAKER_02: 17:04

and i mean he he was a blues player i mean as far as this harmonica playing that's a as far as i know that's all i ever heard play and uh you know he had some songs that were you know maybe a lean towards R&B and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_05: 17:19

Because, I mean, even by the 70s, you know, blues kind of became so different from what his influences were and what he wanted to create that what became popular is a blues band. Yeah,

SPEAKER_02: 17:33

there's that too. Yeah, yeah. You didn't want to be associated with that stuff, man, because it really, blues... increasingly became basically 70s rock

SPEAKER_05: 17:44

yeah exactly kind of like with the same thing that happened with country music and disco and all that so it's kind of i could totally relate to why he wouldn't want to use that in the title

SPEAKER_01: 18:31

great and he's well known for bringing through young musical talent a bit like yourself Nathan of course but we've already touched on that but you know he's brought through like Hollywood Farts and Kid Ramos and his early band and some other players who you know went on and did very well for themselves so that's something so talking about yourself again Nathan he obviously brought you in as a young age that was he was keen to nurture that young talent

SPEAKER_05: 18:53

yeah no it was it was a great opportunity for me it was priceless you know looking back on it I don't regret not going to college or getting an education whatsoever because that was my education. You couldn't pay for that.

SPEAKER_01: 19:06

What was he like as a band leader then?

SPEAKER_05: 19:07

Oh, to me, he was great. I'd heard stories that he was difficult with people, but I think it was just how you connected with him, and I was just lucky that it was an easy connection. He never directed me... almost never directed me with telling me what to play or not play you know once in a while he would have suggestions like say yeah you know make you make your solo make make sure you people know when your solo is is starting and tell a conversation in your solo you know make sure and basically let me know when make it real clear when your solo is coming to an end so i can come back in singing you know that was the extent of anything he ever told me on what to play or how to play

SPEAKER_01: 19:47

obviously we're this is a harmonica podcast so we're focusing that way very well known as a songwriter and you know as a big part of his sound right so again rick obviously you were very well known as a writing blues songs yourself contemporary blues songs i know he was very much you know about you know bringing blues song modern blues songs and not just you know playing the old blues songs

SPEAKER_02: 20:06

he would had his own voice he was he was really an artist you know he was not at all like some people that just cover you know blues songs that that wasn't what he was about

SPEAKER_04: 20:19

send me a fax or just telephone find me a groove give me a hand show me the spot i will make a stand come on don't be so unkind come on It actually

SPEAKER_05: 20:47

goes back to even like B.B. King. He used to tell the story. He toured once opening for B.B. or probably several times. And B.B. gave him the advice. He said, sing your own songs. And so that kind of resonated with him when he probably was already kind of moving towards that.

SPEAKER_01: 21:03

Yeah. And well, there's a few great quotes as well. And something said about him. Apparently when he was singing in the black clubs when he was young, he they said he was the boy who sang like a man. So he always had that big, strong, powerful voice with his blues looks. Something else he says, a quote from him, stories about the human condition told through blues songs was how he sort of saw his songwriting.

SPEAKER_05: 21:28

Yeah, he would consider them little short stories on different situations that he would come up with or he would overhear. He was very observant. He was like the true artist that anywhere we would go from, you know, stopping at a truck stop or something on the road or he would sit there in his hotel with the door open and people walking by and he would hear little snippets of conversations and then he would be inspired to write something

SPEAKER_01: 21:55

right he'd walk around with a pencil and notebook in his hand then

SPEAKER_05: 21:59

he had this amazing ability to multitask because we'd be riding in the van all day and listening to all this great music on CDs you know CD era of all of our favorite old music and he would be listening to that stuff but at the same time he'd be humming a melody of his own song his own tune in the back and I'd see him writing stuff down and I don't know if he was being inspired by what we're listening to but I think that he he had like two different things going on at one time it was pretty amazing

SPEAKER_01: 22:29

yeah and a great quote from him which which is a song is like a woman's dress it's got to be long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep you interested

SPEAKER_05: 22:36

that's very true he always said that

SPEAKER_01: 22:39

but another thing he was really keen on was it was the groove and you hear him talk about the groove a lot and you know really critical to his sound yeah so well

SPEAKER_05: 22:47

oh yeah

UNKNOWN: 22:50

so

SPEAKER_05: 23:04

rhythm just flowed in his body movements like it was so easy to follow him when he would count in songs he wouldn't even have to you could tell if it was going to be a shuffle or a straight beat just by the way he would move his body counting it in it was great and sometimes if he didn't have the right band members with them and they didn't follow that right i could feel it with him that something wasn't right

SPEAKER_01: 23:29

Like you said, he was a good dancer. The dancing was a big part of his act then, yeah?

SPEAKER_05: 23:32

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he could hold his own with James Brown, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01: 23:38

And then, so he had an album called Thank You Baby, released in 1983. I think that's probably seen as his first main release.

UNKNOWN: 23:45

Thank You Baby

SPEAKER_01: 24:03

And then in 1987, he had Those Dangerous Gentlemen. And from that, he had the song Kiss of Fire, which is used on the Accused soundtrack, which I understand won an Oscar for Best Picture. So he had a song on an Oscar-winning film.

SPEAKER_05: 24:17

Yeah, I guess so. I've heard that too. Kiss

SPEAKER_04: 24:19

of Fire

SPEAKER_01: 24:33

So you were getting to know him around this time as well yourself, Rick. So into the late 80s, he released the album Extra Napkins, 1988, which won him several WC Handy Awards. So were you aware of him at this time, Rick?

SPEAKER_02: 24:47

That's when I first became aware of him. And I can remember, I think the first time I saw him was... uh at the belly up we were on a bill with him with little charlie and and i just remember that just being a killer band man yeah you know it was stephen hodges and hollywood fats wasn't there anymore but it was kid and

SPEAKER_05: 25:10

willie jay probably

SPEAKER_02: 25:12

willie willie was there yeah willie jay campbell They were just a killer band, a great performance. I mean, you know, full energy, like you said, dancing and singing his ass off. And I remember Deep Bill and Junior Watson was on the bill as well with somebody. And he told me, you know, I had never seen James before. And he told me, he goes, oh, Harmon's voice is bothering him tonight, you know. But to me, he was a killer. You know, but later on, I heard him. when it wasn't bothering him. He was just... Like I said, man, if shit was fair, man, he'd have been a household name. He was just great, man. And he was such a... As a songwriter, man, he was such a creative guy, man. And he would just... And it all felt so natural. And it was... Because it was natural, you know. But I can remember just... Speaking for myself, you know, when he was around around that scene and I can remember there used to be a club that we played. in Pittsburgh, California called The Decade and it was an off-night gig and usually it was a long drive prior to that and we would get there to load in and I'd be worn out. I think it was like a Sunday night so we'd been working, working, working. I'd be looking forward to maybe a day off on Monday and they had the greatest jukebox in there, man, and I would sit down when we were done loading in and I would to sit down at the bar drink a Diet Coke, man, and play the jukebox. And they had on there, they had, believe it or not, they had the Swan Silvertones doing Savior Pass Me Not. And they had The Clown by James. And I would play those two songs every time when I would just sit there. And I'd just feel great, man. And I don't know if you know that song, The Clown. It's just, I think it's just bass and piano.

UNKNOWN: 27:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 27:22

and he's talking about If your good love kills me, baby, keep my body hanging around. Have me stuffed with cotton. You know, sit me in the corner in a chair and I'll just be, keep my body hanging around. Have me stuffed with cotton and paint my face up like a clown. Eddie's talking about, sit me in a chair and I'll watch you with your new man. Watch you doing all those horrible things you used to do to me and stuff. I mean, how do you think of shit like that,

SPEAKER_04: 27:52

you know? That's

SPEAKER_02: 28:10

the thing, as a songwriter I think I'm pretty good and I think I've gotten lucky with some stuff where I think I've got some pretty great stuff too but that's one of the primary reasons why I just love the guy, man. His mind, man, was just... And it was so much fun to show him something that I knew he would dig, you know? Show him something I came up with that I knew he would appreciate, because everybody don't appreciate it in the same way, man. And I was just a total fan of it.

SPEAKER_01: 28:45

He had a few live albums out, which I think, you know, are capturing really well. There's the Strictly Live in 85...

UNKNOWN: 28:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 29:05

And then they released one after he died, I think, from a show in 1992 as well. So, yeah, some strong live albums to hear him from as well. And, you know, did he, were his live shows, you know, was that where he really shone?

SPEAKER_05: 29:19

Yeah, I mean, in my era with Harmon, the live stuff, because, you know, unfortunately we didn't ever get to record as much as I would have liked to. I mean, we did a fair amount of recording for sure, but live, it was just so natural for him and like singing stuff off the cuff, you know. he would have these little ideas that I think he would write down while we'd be driving in the van and then he would just pull them out all of a sudden at each gig each night you know and my favorite times was when people like Rick would come out to see us and hang out with James and James would really put on his A game when Rick would come around and just seeing the joy you guys would have together man it's like it was just priceless there's a couple clips on YouTube that I put up myself actually when I had carried a video camera with us of you sitting in with us with James and it's just It's next level stuff. Grit soup. Grit soup. I could tell a little story on that. We were on our way to a gig in Northern California and we went to a Denny's, which is not usually the greatest eating experience. And they ordered grits. I think it was James and Tempo, the percussionist. And it took them forever to get the food out. And then it finally comes out and it's like this really watery grits. And they were so offended by it because we not only had to wait all this time to get the damn food but it comes out and it's just it was horrible so that he was talking about it all day long saying man those grits were so messed up those that was like soup man and then we get to the gig and rick was there in the parking lot shows up and then James couldn't help but sing about it.

SPEAKER_02: 30:58

I was sitting there at the time, and he just started singing. Nobody knew what he was going to do, and he started singing. But he had been complaining about it verbally before, you know. And he started singing about Grit Soup, man, and I'm trying to play, and I can't stop laughing, man. It was just great, especially, too, because, man, I had been miserable all day. And I knew James was playing up there, and it was about 30 miles from me. And I thought, oh, man, I don't feel like going. But I'm so miserable. I'm going to go up there, man. And he just could always make me feel better, man. He could always lift my spirits,

SPEAKER_04: 31:40

man. So

SPEAKER_01: 31:55

through the 90s, I think he released some really great albums. So the first album I was aware of him was Black and White, which I think is a really brilliant album. It's got some great songs on it. It is a good one. Which I really liked, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 32:05

That is

SPEAKER_01: 32:05

a good one. The Four Questions.

SPEAKER_04: 32:11

Where in the world are we gonna meet? So I can put my hands all on you, girl Mmm, cause your good love's so hot and sweet

SPEAKER_01: 32:41

So he had some great albums through the 90s.

SPEAKER_02: 32:43

Another one from them that I really dug was Do Not Disturb. The whole theme. And the whole theme of motels. And if you were a road musician then, it was like, man, you could so identify with all that stuff, man.

SPEAKER_04: 33:06

like

SPEAKER_02: 33:21

i said he was a real artist man and he had total artistic control from uh over everything not just the sound of the the record but you know like me i mean i've been on alligator all this time and so it's a negotiation always you know how this stuff's gonna be presented and you know generally and especially the last few years it's been totally cool but but james had total artistic control over the the the the packaging the artwork the every little thing man i can remember when he had this one album on cannonball records in the spine of the cd he had a little bb yeah inserted in there i mean he he was just all about detail and he had a vision for what he was going to do and it was going to be that way

SPEAKER_00: 34:29

Hey, everybody, you're listening to Neil Warren's Harmonica Happy Hour podcast, sponsored by Tom Halcheck and Blue Moon Harmonicas out of Clearwater, Florida, the best in custom harmonicas, custom harmonica parts, and more. Check them out, www.bluemoonharmonicas.com.

SPEAKER_01: 34:48

So, I mean, on that album, Do Not Disturb, he plays a harmonica instrumental called Wake Up Call.

UNKNOWN: 34:55

Do Not Disturb

SPEAKER_01: 35:01

So what about his harmonica playing? We talked a lot about his character and his songs, but how important was his harmonica playing to his act?

SPEAKER_05: 35:18

it was him that you could tell it was him just from the first measure of hearing the harmonica

SPEAKER_02: 35:23

yeah he he's a musical guy and a very very musical guy and very creative musically and he never and this would probably come out Sounding wrong, Nathan will know what I mean. He didn't give a shit about the harmonica. It

SPEAKER_03: 35:41

was a tool.

SPEAKER_02: 35:42

It was a tool, you know? He was just artistic with it, man. He was using it to create. There are people that try hard to develop technique, and all that stuff just happened naturally with him. You know, it's not like he didn't have technique, but it was... The harmonica was... Strictly, the purpose of it was to be in the service of the song.

SPEAKER_03: 36:08

Yeah,

SPEAKER_02: 36:09

exactly. And I appreciate that, man. You know, I appreciate that. It's much more interesting to me than hearing someone that's got insane skills, but they're not saying much.

SPEAKER_03: 36:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 36:24

You know, I came up listening to... Jimmy Reed was the first harmonic player I heard. I mean, you know, technique-wise, he... It was pretty minimal, but he was saying something. Saying something, exactly. Yeah. And that's what James cared about, saying something, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 36:45

No, absolutely. And I've seen an interview when he's with you, I think, Nathan, and he's talking about the harmonica in that sort of way. Like you say, he's using it as a tool and he didn't. Yeah, so yeah, he definitely, yeah. But, you know, he certainly did some good harmonica work. Oh, hell yeah.

UNKNOWN: 37:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 37:13

You know, he listened to so much music that rubbed off on me that I'm forever grateful for, you know, from outside of blues, you know, from all the great gospel music to jazz. He was heavily into classic jazz, old country music. I think a lot of that music that he heard, listened to, subconsciously came out in his harmonica playing. You know, the horn players he would listen to, Lester Young, all the guys who... without him trying to, it would just come out.

SPEAKER_01: 37:41

When I was listening, particularly to those 90s albums, like on the Two Sides to Every Story album, there's definitely a sound of William Clarke about him as well. It's like he sings quite like him as well, and he's got, like you say, he's got the saxophones in the band, and he's got that real swinging West Coast thing.

SPEAKER_04: 37:54

¶¶¶¶ well

SPEAKER_05: 38:08

william clark was hugely influenced by james i think

SPEAKER_01: 38:12

right so it's either way around yeah yeah

SPEAKER_05: 38:13

yeah definitely

SPEAKER_01: 38:14

yeah because obviously james was before him yeah so but then it also uh another big thing he did which um probably brought him some exposure he played with zz top yeah and he appeared on i think for three of their albums i think

SPEAKER_05: 38:37

Yeah, that was one of his best friends was Billy Gibbons up until the very end. They met each other at a record store, I think in the 70s. And they were friends for many years. And Billy would come out and see us all the time whenever we would play in Texas or anywhere that Billy was.

SPEAKER_01: 38:54

I remember him

SPEAKER_05: 39:10

telling

SPEAKER_02: 39:21

me way back that you know billy gibbons had wanted to record him and use like drum machines and all the kind of stuff that they were using I guess you know the kind of studio techniques that they were using and they were gonna he was trying to tell them oh man you know you could be huge if you just do this and all that and he didn't want no part of it I mean it was his friend but he dug you know he was appreciative of them and everything

SPEAKER_01: 39:53

he wanted his own sound though as you said earlier on he knew what he wanted

SPEAKER_02: 39:57

yeah

SPEAKER_01: 39:58

and then through the sort of 2000 he played with ZZ Top and then he played with a few he played on a few of Kid Ramos's albums

SPEAKER_02: 40:04

there was a Ramos album that had a bunch of different harmonica players on it called Greasy Kid Stuff and there was a bunch of people on there and some people that were everybody on there was great I thought and Paul DeLay was on there he had a couple great songs on there James had a couple great songs on there and James played this one song Low Down Woman about this woman drinking cleaning fluid and he played one 12-bar solo. That was the coolest harmonica on the whole album. And there was everybody. Rod was on there. Everybody was on there, man. That was... The one 12-bar solo that James played on that one song was just killer, man. You know, minimalist and just the coolest.

SPEAKER_01: 41:14

And he played on the 2013 Remembering Little Walter album, which had a lot of harmonica players on, so he did a couple of songs on there. Yeah, that was a live album. He plays Crazy Mixed Up World, which was played by Little Walter on chromatic, but he plays some diatonic and then some chromatic. Did you hear him playing a lot of chromatic?

SPEAKER_05: 41:30

He didn't have a chromatic, actually. Really? you would know what this was it was some it's called a marine band soloist

SPEAKER_01: 41:37

yeah oh was it

SPEAKER_04: 41:38

okay

SPEAKER_05: 41:53

From what I remember, the story was he got one of those from Junior Wells, I think. Junior Wells gave him one that he had. Maybe I'm wrong about which harmonica that Junior gave him. But yeah, he never played a chromatic with the button on it that I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01: 42:12

So he played this soloist in sort of third position, did he, to get that chromatic sound then?

SPEAKER_02: 42:17

The soloist was tuned exactly like a soloist was a 12-hole thing that was about the same scale in size as a marine band, but the tonal layout was just like a chromatic. However, it had no button. So if you're playing blues in third position on a chromatic the way Little Walter normally did and stuff like that, this has the same tonal layout as a chromatic. It's just smaller and has no button.

SPEAKER_01: 42:52

Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah, thanks. Yeah. And then he also played in Europe quite a lot. And he played, for example, with Trickbag in Sweden. He's got quite a big band in Sweden. He played around with them and appeared on a couple of their albums as well.

UNKNOWN: 43:05

Yeah. Ooh.

SPEAKER_01: 43:16

He went across to Europe quite a lot, didn't

SPEAKER_05: 43:19

he? Yeah, yeah, because people always wanted to book him as their guest, kind of in his later years, you know, when the whole music scene was kind of, basically kind of falling apart, you know. It was very rare that James got to bring his whole band to Europe by the time that, the real heyday of when I was playing with him, just because that's how economics kind of changed, you know. So he was often...

SPEAKER_01: 43:42

Did you

SPEAKER_05: 43:43

get to come across

SPEAKER_01: 43:44

to Europe with him? Oh

SPEAKER_05: 43:45

yeah, yeah, I did several times but more often than not it would either be just me and James with the different bands or James on his own with different bands backing him up

SPEAKER_01: 43:56

yeah and so the albums from sort of 2015 onwards these are the ones that you're on Nathan right so Bone Time was in 2015 you're on this album

SPEAKER_05: 44:06

yeah I recorded a lot of that and mixed it and mastered it for him

SPEAKER_01: 44:10

yeah great and then Fine Print as well in 2018 and That's another one that you're on, yeah?

UNKNOWN: 44:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 44:32

So is this another one you produced?

SPEAKER_05: 44:35

Well, I mean, he would get the producing credit for that. The one that I produced was after he passed away, the last one that came out. Didn't we have some fun sometimes? James had such a vision as we all know that he was the one that really was producing his own stuff of course

SPEAKER_01: 45:06

There's also Shakedown's Throwdown This was produced in Belgium with a Belgian player called Shakedown Tim, so yeah, so he did that one across in Europe. And then Liquor Parking, I think that's the last album that was released while he was alive, is that right?

SPEAKER_05: 45:35

It could be, yeah, that was one that Big John did. Are you on Liquor Parking? No, I'm not on that one actually, because he did all that with Big John. Several of my band cohorts are on that, Troy and Marty, I believe. I had something to do with that, with helping to master the CD somehow, or arrange the songs and i can't remember what it was but but yeah that was all big john doing that it's a great one it's really james in his natural habitat for sure so

SPEAKER_01: 46:17

so i mean sadly he died in uh in may 2021 so sort of yeah four years ago now he was 74 years old i mean did you know him right up to that time and

SPEAKER_05: 46:27

well yeah it was it was sad because we you know he had the esophagus cancer and yeah he lost his voice pretty quickly as you can hear on some of the songs on that last release um that were really just live stream recordings because this was the live stream era the pandemic era is uh you know we were only able to do live stream for performances for a little period there. Luckily, I recorded those real well, like multi-tracks, so they could be mixed down and used as a high-quality release. Little did I know that would be his last performances.

SPEAKER_01: 47:03

Was this on the Didn't We Have Some Fun, these recordings you're

SPEAKER_05: 47:06

talking about? Yeah, there's quite a few of that album that is from just live stream performances that coincidentally happened to be the first time he was singing all these songs, you know, It's almost as a rehearsal in a way, but he pulled it off so well. It's an honest performance, and he had his words down.

SPEAKER_01: 47:40

I mean another thing he's known that he carried on touring and playing right up into the sort of up until nearly the time he died right so he was still playing then as you were saying he was playing when he was sort of losing his voice and things towards the end yeah

SPEAKER_05: 47:53

yeah I mean he had a couple tours unfortunately cancelled because of the pandemic even right before he died you know he was really bummed about but maybe it was for the better because his health probably wouldn't have allowed him to travel overseas

SPEAKER_02: 48:07

you

SPEAKER_05: 48:08

know

SPEAKER_02: 48:08

It was just very sad to me to see him, you know, lose his voice like that. And he was also pretty miserable. Even prior to that in 2019... I played near San Diego on my birthday, and James came, and I had a few, you know, just some of my friends. It was my 70th birthday, and I had just a bunch of people there. So Paul Osher, who died the next year also, and Kim Wilson, who's still alive, he was there, and little Charlie, who died the next year, he was there. Never thought that'd be the last time I'd see those guys, man, you know. you know, all people I dearly love for different reasons, just unique people, which is one of the greatest things about this life, man. Totally. The people you meet, man, and the people you get to know, just delightful, brilliant people, man, that are, you know, outside thinkers, you know, and blackout individuals that are just so beautiful, man. And James, at that time, he was... It was just sad, you know. I don't know that he even knew about the cancer yet, but he wasn't happy.

SPEAKER_05: 49:29

He was a true artist up until the very end, you know. You hear the stereotype in a way, some of the greatest artists were kind of down and out, and he kind of was in that, because his art was like the first priority of anything in his life.

SPEAKER_02: 49:44

Yeah. He was uncompromising. I mean, I know I said that before, and was using other words, but he was... He was going to do it the way he knew it was right for him.

SPEAKER_01: 49:56

So he did win various awards through his career. He won various WC Handy Awards. He's got his Oscar for the soundtrack. I don't know if you received anything from that, but he's certainly a prodigy. He's also in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. So is that somebody he was proud of being from Alabama?

SPEAKER_05: 50:13

Yeah, I'm sure he was. Hopefully they'll put a statue up someday in Anniston, Alabama. That would be cool.

SPEAKER_01: 50:20

So we'll get on now and talk about the gear he used. Harmonica-wise, I think certainly earlier on he played... Marine bands, have we seen any change on that as he got through his career?

SPEAKER_05: 50:32

It was always marine bands from what I've seen up until the very end. Did

SPEAKER_01: 50:37

he play much in other positions? We talked about him probably playing some third position on that solo tuned harmonica we talked about. Did we hear him playing many other harmonica positions?

SPEAKER_05: 50:48

I think he would, without knowing what position he was in, he would just play what sounded right and it would be really unorthodox, you know, a couple tunes.

SPEAKER_01: 50:58

Yeah, so as you were saying earlier on, Rick, he wasn't so concerned with the technicalities. No,

SPEAKER_02: 51:02

no, but I heard him, you didn't hear him play other than cross position, you didn't hear him play anything else often, but on that soloist, he would play third position, and then occasionally I would hear him play first position. Yeah. Because he wasn't one of these guys that was like, I'm going to see what all the things I can possibly do with a harmonica. That's not what I'm about either. I don't... I really understand James. He cared about saying something. He didn't even like to be referred to as a harmonica player. Yeah, for sure. Right? Right? Yeah. But I did hear him play first position a couple of times.

SPEAKER_01: 51:48

So do we know if he was a tongue blocker or a puckerer with his embouchure?

SPEAKER_02: 51:53

I think he mostly puckered. That's what it sounds like to me.

SPEAKER_01: 51:57

And amp-wise, I've read something here that he always insisted in recording sessions at least that he would use sort of old old school tube microphones and amps and he was really into all the sort of vintage tape and using the old stuff

SPEAKER_02: 52:09

he knew sounds man and i can remember i mean towards the end he used a quilter and tried to use that as uh and he you know found some way to get a sound that he like was okay with through that but when i first met him he had the most killer setup man he had a uh it was The cabinet was custom-made, and it was some vibroverb head, I think, with 115. Right? Is that correct?

SPEAKER_05: 52:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 52:42

One 15-inch speaker?

SPEAKER_05: 52:44

Yeah, that was his main rig for many years, was two vibroverbs, and one of them he bought brand new himself from a music store in 1963, I believe. The rare brownface Fender vibroverb, which was the first Fender amp with reverb, but of course he took the reverb pan out. He liked the sound of the 15-inch speaker of a Tweed Pro amp, so he kind of combined that Yeah, with the vibroverb.

SPEAKER_02: 53:12

And it also had a graphic equalizer. But he was very precise about what he liked and how to get it. Yeah,

SPEAKER_05: 53:22

he knew frequencies and stuff like that. He knew how to dial into the sound of a room. He

SPEAKER_02: 53:28

used to know how to re-cone. Yeah. He used to work and he would wrap, what do you call that even? I don't know, wrapping the coils or the wires around. Yeah. When you read, you know, rebuilding speakers, basically.

SPEAKER_05: 53:45

Yeah, he'd actually had a side job for a period working at orange county speaker and so he he did record a couple speakers for me on in much later years that he still knew how to do that and had the parts to do it

SPEAKER_01: 53:59

right yeah so he was quite into his gear then as you say he's working uh you know sort of doing repairs and or whatever setup so yeah

SPEAKER_02: 54:05

in particular ways though yeah in particular ways in other ways he didn't give a shit about exactly

SPEAKER_05: 54:13

he liked to have an echo on the mic Usually at all times, you would have a little echo pedal. Or in a rack at the time when he had the rack with the EQ on it, he had like a rack... echo unit that was a big part of his sound was some kind of echo with the harmonica

SPEAKER_01: 54:29

well and do we know anything about what microphones he used was he particular about those

SPEAKER_02: 54:32

he had great sounding mics he was particular about that sitting in with them and i can remember what time years and years ago going wow james man that's a killer mic and he goes yeah why would i have one that sounded you know wasn't you know

SPEAKER_05: 54:49

One of the main mics that he used for many years at the end was a gift from Billy Gibbons, and it was probably a JC-30 or whatever, inside of a custom-carved wood shell thing.

SPEAKER_02: 55:04

Yeah, and that mic sounded great, too. I remember using that and going, damn, man, that sounds killer.

SPEAKER_01: 55:12

Nice. Was that one of the Greg Heumann ones? One of the custom wood ones? Could have been a

SPEAKER_02: 55:17

Greg Heumann shell. I don't know. But probably the element was from Billy Gibbons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 55:24

well we're just sort of wrapping up then and just about you know any final words on James Harmon and obviously Nathan you still got the same band you still got Troy Sando who played with the band as well yep

SPEAKER_05: 55:35

yeah I still use Troy and Marty whenever I can and we just the longer as time goes on the more we love reminiscing about James you know and like just the smile and the snicker will get on our face when we say something like well Harmon would have done this or said that or Harmon would have hated this shit yeah

SPEAKER_02: 55:54

I just have, you know, just such fond memories of the guy, man. I can remember one time, this was back in the days, man, when we used to work like 300-something nights a year, and you're part of a band, so if I don't work, nobody works. So I had gotten in a car wreck, and we were going on the road two days later, and I had broken my ribs. So I got to sing and play the harmonica with broken ribs. Wow. And I would wrap myself up in H Bandage so the first date was some festival in the Midwest and we were playing like under a freeway and I remember it was James and Gary Primich and little Charlie, you know, and it was great to see him. But I can remember just like trying to hit a note and just would buckle my knees. I was in so much pain. And James called me the next morning. He called me at the hotel and we were talking just, you know, just so happy to see each other. But he knew I was, you know, I was telling him about this car wreck. And so he probably would have been the same if I wasn't injured. But I felt like because I was injured, he just wanted to try to make me laugh as much as he could, man. He was cracking me up, man. He was asking me where we were going the next day, and we were going to Des Moines to play at this place called Connie's Lounge. And Connie was like tugboat Annie, and her husband was like this guy that had a... a voice like Tiny Tim, and it was Connie and Larry, and I said where we were going, and James started just going off on a thing going, Connie. He goes, man. He goes, I remember when Bill Graham went down in the plane crash, in the helicopter crash, and I was wondering, oh my God, what's going to happen now? What's going to happen to the music business? And then it hit me. I couldn't stop laughing and it was killing me and I think that aspect of it was uh gave him a little added impetus to just keep going and man it was so it was hilarious man

SPEAKER_01: 58:19

certainly sounds like one in a million a unique guy yeah

SPEAKER_02: 58:21

Absolutely unique.

SPEAKER_01: 58:23

So thanks so much, guys, for joining me and sharing your memories and great stories, Rick, about James Harmon and reminisces. Great to talk about him. Thanks for joining.

SPEAKER_05: 58:32

Thank you. Yeah, thanks for having us. It's easy to talk about James. Once

SPEAKER_01: 58:37

again, thanks to Zydle for sponsoring the podcast. Be sure to check out their great range of harmonicas and products at www.zydle1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Zydle Harmonicas. Thanks again to Rick and Nathan and for sharing their memories and good times with the great James Horman. There aren't many of Horman's albums on Spotify, but there are plenty on YouTube. There's links to some of these on the podcast page. I'll sign out now with James Icepick Horman playing over one of his irresistible grooves. This is the second voyage of Noah's Ark, Crickets and Frogs, from the Black and

SPEAKER_04: 59:18

White album. We'll be right back.