Happy Hour Harmonica Podcast

Fabrizio Poggi interview

• Neil Warren • Season 1 • Episode 137

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Fabrizio Poggi joins me on episode 137. 

Fabrizio plays blues, folk and spiritual music. Hailing from near Milan, he took some time to find his way with the harmonica but since then he has performed at Carnegie Hall and been nominated for a Grammy.

His first band was Chicken Mambo who played New Orleans music on their early album releases.

Fabrizio traveled around the US where he made lots of friends and great strides with his musical development. 

This culminated with the making of an album in 2013 where the Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite make an appearance. Fabrizio then teamed-up with Guy Davis where their second album together, Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train, was nominated for a Grammy in 2018.

Links:

Website: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/

Biography: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/biography/

Discography: https://www.chickenmambo.com/eng/discography/

Juba Dance album with Guy Davis: https://guydavis.bandcamp.com/album/juba-dance

Videos:

Italian Folk Band: Fabrizio Poggi e Turututela Miniera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnhwOfCjrpU

Harpway 61 album song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx-Reyl3ZuI

Playing live at Carnegie Hall with Guy Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joe1mRWMLwc

TV appearance with Guy Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzlcccMDPFM

Fabrizio live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqHNcATQ3A


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
--------------------------------
Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.com



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Neil Warren:

Fabrizio Poggi joins me on episode 137. Fabrizio plays blues, folk and spiritual music. Hailing from near Milan, he took some time to find his way with the harmonica but since then has performed at Carnegie Hall and been nominated for a Grammy. His first band was Chicken Mambo who played New Orleans music on their early album releases. Fabrizio then travelled around the US where he made lots of friends and great strides with his musical development. This culminated with the making with an album in 2013 where the Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite make an appearance. Fabrizio then teamed up with Guy Davis where their second album together, Sonny and Brownie's Last Train, was nominated for a Grammy in 2018. This podcast is sponsored by Seidel Harmonicas. Visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seidel1847.com or on Facebook or Instagram at Seidel Harmonicas. Hello Fabrizio Poggi and welcome to the podcast.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Hello to you and all the listeners and thanks for having me.

Neil Warren:

Thanks for joining. So Fabrizio, you're Italian and you live just south of Milan, yeah?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, 45 minutes south of Milan.

Neil Warren:

Well, you're a singer, harmonica player and writer as well, yeah? Yeah. And mainly in the blues genre of the harmonica and singing?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Mainly on that, but I also think of myself to be also a folk musician or a roots musician. And I try to keep my mind pretty open. So blues, spirituals, folk music and beyond.

Neil Warren:

And does that include any Italian folk music?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Well, 25 years ago, I made a couple of CDs. and Italian Northern folk music. But just because it was a sort of duty for me, of commitment to save in some way my Italian roots. So I did a couple of CDs and I have a lot of fun. But then I came back to American music, which is my cup of tea.

Neil Warren:

So as well as playing blues, you play plenty of gospel music as well, don't you? That's strong in your repertoire.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, I prefer spiritual music because gospel to me... pretty modern. I like very much the old spirituals, the pre-war spirituals, so Blind Willie Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis, Elder Roman Wilson, and all that kind of stuff, Mississippi John Hurt.

Neil Warren:

So I understand you first got into the blues when you saw Paul Butterfield playing on the last waltz, playing Mystery Train.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, that was my blues epiphany for the blues and from that movie my life changed forever.

Neil Warren:

So how did you get hold of a copy of that in Italy?

Fabrizio Poggi:

I actually went to a small movie theatre in a a small village close to my little town and there was this movie The Last Waltz but at the time I didn't know nothing or very few things about the band I went just because I saw there were some rock stars that I liked and I saw Bob Dylan Van Morrison Eric Clapton Dr. John and others and I was in this little small movie theater And there were really few people there maybe five or six people and i remember that when i when i saw muddy waters that was treated like the emperor of the world from my musical heroes of that time i said who's this man this old black guy everyone is treated like like a king then he started oh yeah and I jump on my seat and all the other people in the movie theater look at me. I was like the wolf in the cartoons, you know, with my mouth wide open and say, wow! And then a few minutes after, Paul Butterfield. I never heard a harmonica playing like that. It was something unbelievable, amazing. So I was hooked forever. The next day, I went to a store and asked for a harmonica to play the blues. And the clerk at the store said, I don't know nothing about the blues. This is an harmonica. And he gave me a blues harp harmonica. And he says, I don't know. Try this. But it took me six months to achieve a sound that... remind a blue note on that harmonica, because at the time there were no internet, there were no Google, YouTube, there were no books with information, and no one around me played the harmonica, so at a certain point I said to myself, oh, maybe I have the wrong instrument, maybe in Great Britain or in US they have other instruments, so I was almost close to quit. Then one night I met at a jam session a guitar player and he wrote me on a napkin at the bar desk some information about the second position. The next day I didn't learn to play harmonica, but I saw the light. because if nothing of that harmonica reminds the blues in any way, it was very hard. It took me probably six months to learn something that a kid today learns in one day.

Neil Warren:

So you didn't have many blues musicians around you to learn from?

Fabrizio Poggi:

They all played guitar, no one played harmonica. But probably at that time there was one harmonica player in Milan and one harmonica player in Rome that maybe they went to London to have some class, some information, but they were very secretive, I have to be honest. And they didn't want to share their secrets and anyway i i live very far from them but my passion was deep i was in some way obsessed i want to play blues harmonica

Neil Warren:

that's what we like to hear so how did you go about learning in those early days and i think were you around 20 years old this stage

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah yeah yeah i just tried to follow my my lps and try to repeat the licks i i heard but as you know i different keys and my turntable doesn't turn 33. So it was hard, but I keep on trying, keep on trying. Day after day, I discover one thing. Sometimes I just wake up in the middle of the night, maybe at 3 a.m., and I say, oh, probably... I know how I have to do to achieve that bend. And I was looking at the watch and said, oh, if I try to play my harmonica, my mother will not be very happy. So I have to wait eight in the morning or nine in the morning. But it was very forceful for my passion. But I kept straight. I was a steady rolling guy.

Unknown:

Thank you.

Neil Warren:

Sounds like you had a real passion and determination to learn. So at what point did you meet other musicians that start helping you with the blues? Or at what point did you start playing in bands?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yes, I started playing in bands. But I didn't have a lot of information since I went in the early 90s in the U.S., and there I discovered I was like a kid at Disneyland a lot of books a lot of explanations a lot of musicians playing blues harmonica so I improved a lot just like watching them just asking questions because I didn't have information not only about techniques but also the right record to buy it seems pretty weird telling today but Once that I discovered Port Butterfield, also in Milan or Rome, it was very, very, very hard at the end of the 70s to find something like that. And then Little Walter, Sonny Boy, Sonny Terry. But when I went to the U.S., I remember the first time I went to New Orleans with Angelina. I bought something like 100 CDs. 100 i have to buy an extra suitcase

Neil Warren:

and say that's a suitcase full

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah yeah yeah yeah it was it was another world before internet there was really another

Neil Warren:

world completely the scene you know the blues scene at least around uh you know in northern italy there wasn't a lot of much of a blue scene was there not

Fabrizio Poggi:

there was blues but not too much harmonica player there was guitar focused band no so they want to play british blues so what what we knew at the time in italy the only harmonica player was john male Because at the time, we have to thank the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and John Mayer and a few others to bring us the blues. If not, it was almost impossible. Then you discover, looking at the cover of a John Mayer LP, Eric Clapton LP, etc., you see Skip James. Ooh! I have to look for this Skip James or... But, of course, it was little by little by little. It's not like today you go on Spotify, blues harmonica. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

Neil Warren:

Yeah, in England where I grew up, there was like blues compilation albums released. So we could get these blues compilation. So they were a really good source for lots of people, especially in England, who got those when they were young. So you didn't have that type of blues compilation?

Fabrizio Poggi:

No, unfortunately not, because there were no market. Also, you have to think about the language barrier. Most of the people of my generation didn't speak English. Thank you. I didn't study English at the school. I always joke and tell that my English teacher was an owly wolf, so I have to apologize.

Neil Warren:

They've taught you well. They've taught you well. That's good to hear. So what's the blues scene like in Italian now, then? Much improved?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Oh, yeah. The young generation speaks great English. They study at school. Sometimes you can listen to them. They don't have an Italian accent. accent in their singing it's another world the blues singing is alive and well there are a lot of people playing the blues always complaining of course because this is not the music but this is all over the world they say but this happened but there are great bands great musicians great harmonica players and I'm happy And I hope that I was an inspiration for most of the Italian players of nowadays, because me and other guys, we were pioneers in some way. Is

Neil Warren:

there one particular city where the blues is, you know, especially big in Italy? Say people are going on holiday to Italy, where might they go to see some good blues?

Fabrizio Poggi:

I think that especially in summer, there are a lot of blues festivals from north to south, from big city to small city. So you have to be lucky to be there when they have the blues festival. Unfortunately, a lot of music Music clubs are closing in the last year because of various problems. But in summertime, you can listen to the blues pretty often on the lakes or on the sea. But from Sardinia to the Alps, you know, all across the little booths.

Neil Warren:

So let's get on to your career then. So your first main band, I think, was... Chicken Mambo, yeah, and that's a sort of long-running band you've been in. Yes. So you released your first album, I think, with them in 1993, Mississippi Moon.

Speaker 03:

Yeah.

Neil Warren:

Where was that band based? Was that... around where you live now or

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah yeah it was a was a band of people uh living around me in my area and and we were pretty green because with a rock blues band we wanted hardly to play new orleans music that is all about piano about brass bands about accordions But we fell in love with New Orleans music, and we wanted to play New Orleans music with just a harmonica, a bass, a drum, and a guitar. We were nuts. Missy Bumun, I have a lot of affection for that record, but it is very, very rough.

Neil Warren:

You've got a song on there called Creole Queen, so that's sort of New Orleans.

Unknown:

Yeah.

Fabrizio Poggi:

The first time that Angeline and I went to the States, we went to New Orleans, and we went to the Jazz and Heritage Festival. And there was another Disneyland, because all the American roots music was there, from B.B. King to Allman Brothers Band, from Neville Brothers to Clifton Chenier, from Irma Thomas to you name it. And I was in love with a Louisiana player called Zachary Richard, who was huge there in Louisiana and in Canada. So I fell in love with that kind of music.

Neil Warren:

And so you had another album with them, Under the Southern Sky. So is that a similar theme?

Fabrizio Poggi:

We were trying to improve on that album. But honestly, Neil, we were really frustrated because all our first records, doesn't sound like the records that we have at home. So every time we finish a CD, go home, listen and say, oh, it sucks. Really.

Neil Warren:

So were they self-produced albums or did you have a record label?

Fabrizio Poggi:

No, no, self-produced. But of course, the studio, when we were recording those records, was a studio for Italian pop music. So our records sound like Madonna singing the blues.

Neil Warren:

You toured the U.S. between, what, 1998 and 2002, right? I guess you went backwards and forwards between Italy and U.S., and you sort of did a long tour across the U.S. over four years.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah. First, it was a sort of pilgrimage to the sacred sites of American music, so we went... to New Orleans, Memphis, Mississippi, Chicago, Nashville, and so on. And then I started to make friends over there. So, connection, I had the chance to jam with American musicians, and it was another way to improve. It's the best way when you play with musicians better than you, you become better.

Neil Warren:

So, did you go with the whole chicken man bar band or were you just traveling with your wife in the

Fabrizio Poggi:

beginning i i traveled with just just me and my wife then i took with me the guitar player and tried to play some little gig that my american friends found to me some local bars and and you join and and roadhouses it was not until 2010 that i had my full italian band in the states

Neil Warren:

during part of this tour you were recorded an album in the States, didn't you? Was this the Another World? Is that the first? Yeah, yeah, it was the first time.

Fabrizio Poggi:

But because we have a lot of dubs, we were asking ourselves, we musicians in Chicken Mambo, who's the fault? Is Italian sound engineer's fault or our fault? Not sounding... in any way like the american and also the british recording so we discovered that default was in the middle as always as always

Neil Warren:

so this first album you recorded was that done uh again was that a self-produced one

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah it was a self-produced so we have to save a lot of money from the geeks from a couple of years we did every one of us as a day job so it was not really a problem we were playing just Fridays, Saturdays and we saved all the money to produce because at the time for a full band to go overseas to record an album was in an economic way very hard but we saved money and we were Ah. Pretty satisfied, but I didn't record a blues record. I just wanted to pay homage to the singer-songwriter that I grew up when I was a teenager in Italy and I have this cassette deck in my car. So Jackson Brown, Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, you know. So I went to Texas and I said, I want to do... something like that and I did and I was quite satisfied it was a great experience because we learned a lot of things not only in studio or on stage but also backstage people with us were very generous a lot of good advices that were very helpful I discovered also another amazing thing that all the heroes of my youthness folk singer-songwriter blues were simple people approachable people that I even can ask them to sit with me live or for a studio session and it was just unbelievable because I thought that all the people that play blues and And B.O. was like stars. It was not easy to reach for them. And that was something that also made me better, not only as a musician, but also as a human being.

Neil Warren:

Yeah, well, clearly you've made friends, a lot of friends in the US. We'll get on to that shortly. So first of all, you made an album called Songs for Angelina, and that is your wife. And of course, Angelina's been helping set up this interview too. So hello, Angelina, and thanks to her. So the last podcast episode was a Sonny Boy Williamson 2 tribute I

Fabrizio Poggi:

heard that. Very interesting. Angelina and I, we were adopted by Sonny Payne. I don't know how it's happened, but he loved us. And one year, he invited us to stay at his home for the King Biscuit Time Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas. And it was pretty beautiful. Because I remember I was chatting with James Cotton and another... great people, Delbert McClint or Bobby Rush in the backstage and was... And I remember the first time that we were at the King Biscuit time, it was really amazing. And because... He asked pretty often the guests, the visitors, if they are musicians, want to play something during the program. So it was, I remember this mic and I was thinking, oh, maybe this is the mic where Sonny Boy Williamson II was playing through. So, wow.

Neil Warren:

Great. So you've been there to the King Visit time, which is a nice connection to the last podcast episode. And then again, you're talking about you making uh the many friends you you have fabricio so you made an album called um spirit of mercy in uh 2013 with the chicken mambo band and you played spiritual songs and on this charlie musselwhite appears and the blind boys of alabama

Speaker 03:

yeah

Neil Warren:

yeah

Fabrizio Poggi:

I had the privilege to feel blessed because, really, I shared the stage with most of my heroes, as you say, like the Blind Boys of Alabama, Charlie Maxwell, Guy Davis, Marshall Ball, Ron Hurd, Kim Wills, John Hammond, Sonny Landreth, Garth Atwell of the band, and Eric Bibb, and much more. And most of them were really heroes of my life. of my youth. And still they are. When I was 16, I was in my little room in this little town in northern Italy, listening to their records. I didn't imagine that one day I would play with them. So I feel really blessed. For me, there are not enough words to explain how moving it was to me to play with these people. I still have goosebumps just talking about that. It was amazing. great artists and often wonderful human beings. Having the opportunity to sing with the legendary Blind Boys of Alabama was one of my highest musical privileges in my life.

Neil Warren:

So how did this come about then, this album with the Blind Boys of Alabama and Charlie Musselwhite?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Well, once I have the Blind Boys, I just ask Charlie, say, I already have the Blind Boys of Alabama. Oh, so you have two. So Charlie was really nice and still is a close friend also nowadays. And then the Blind Boys, we just asked the manager, that was one of my dreams, and then they asked it. for their fee, and I said, well, that's okay, but this is the fee of the war records I can afford. Then I met them in Germany, and they knew me, and now I was how Angelina was, so they decided to record me for a very special prize.

Neil Warren:

Nice. And what about Charlie Musselwhite? How did he get involved?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, as I told you, Once that I had the Blind Boys, Charlie is a close friend of the Blind Boys of Alabama, so once that I had them recorded, I sent a musical file to Charlie management and said, I know that they are friends, so maybe Charlie would like, I don't know, I'm just praying, but maybe he would like to be part of this dream come true. And it was great. But Charlie, you is really a legend as a man and not only as a musician.

Jason Ricci:

Hey, what's happening, y'all? Jason Ritchie from Blue Moon Harmonicas, and I'm here to tell you that Blue Moon Harmonicas are the way. You can customize them yourself, or you can get Tom to do them. The website is a rabbit hole. We're talking about custom combs, custom cover plates, throwbacks, refurbished pre-wars, double reed plates, anything you can imagine, aluminum, ABS, plastic, phenolic resin, wood, any kind of comb you want, any In 2012,

Neil Warren:

just a year before then, you released an album called Harpway 61, so a nice harmonica title. So this was released by the Blues Foundation, and you're playing various of the, you know, the various blues harmonica great songs. So, you know, you're doing Tootwiler, which is the tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson again. That's a place where he was buried, of course. We talked about that on the last podcast episode.

Unknown:

...

Speaker 06:

Yeah, so

Neil Warren:

you're doing the various tribute songs to, you know, the sort of harmonica greats on here, yeah?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yes, I just wanted to give back something... to the blues musician that made me in some way achieve most of my dreams. It was just a gift. I made the record and I gave to the Blues Foundation to raise money to help blues musicians. And so I decided to do a sort of tribute to the great harmonica players. I didn't want to emulate every harmonica player. Also to inspire young musicians to dig into harmonica greats world

Neil Warren:

I mentioned Guy Davis a few times. So he's become a real musical partner of yours. So you did your first album with him in 2013, Juba Dance. Yeah. Which was a real success. It was number one on the Roots Music charts. And then it was also nominated for a Blues Award for Acoustic Albums.

Speaker 04:

Because if you do, you'll never see it again.

Unknown:

Yeah.

Neil Warren:

you give me no money? How did this come about with Guy Davis?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Well, I just met Guy in a blues festival here in Italy in 2007. And when we met at this festival, between us was born almost immediately a deep friendship based not only on mutual respect, but also about the passion that we both have for the acoustic folk blues over the years we found ourselves like as they say in US brothers from another mother we grew up and we live in two different worlds but in some way sometimes I think that we grew up together without knowing it and this is something amazing this is the great miracle of music and the blues, to be able to feel a brotherhood with someone that seems, and I underline the word seems, seems pretty different from you, but you know what I mean.

Neil Warren:

So, well, you got a great partnership with Guy Davison. So you released another album in 2017, which is Sonny and Brownie's Last Train. Obviously, Sonny Terry there. And so this was nominated for a Grammy in 2018.

Fabrizio Poggi:

That's something really unexpected. Guy didn't want to make that album. I said, Angelina, my wife, Guy, think that it's a great idea to remind people who were Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, because Angelina think they are a little bit forgotten. But Guy said, no, no, I don't think that the world needs Solitario Brown and McGee. And I said, Guy, you live in New York. I live with my wife. So understand me. We have to do it. So we were on the road together. And in one day, we recorded the whole album.

Unknown:

¶¶

Speaker 04:

Don't want to know we

Fabrizio Poggi:

have just one take for so so it took me six months to edit something to make it shine and really we didn't expect then but was nominated for the Grammys so it was something unbelievable if you if you remember that I'm just a shy guy from a small town in northern

Neil Warren:

Italy was that the that the Rolling Stones won the Grammy in the same category.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah. For me, challenging the Rolling Stones at the Madison Square Garden in New York was like challenging my dad. Because if we're not from the Rolling Stones, no Fabrizio at all.

Neil Warren:

Did you go to the ceremony?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah,

Neil Warren:

of course.

Fabrizio Poggi:

And it was something. I always tell people, say, what do you remember of the ceremony and all the stuff around? They say, it was like, you know when you go on a roller coaster, no? Up, down, up, down. Then when you get off the roller coaster, you are a little dizzy. I'm lucky. I have the picture. If not, it's still a little difficult for me to believe that because it was... I was so amazed that at a certain point I had an harmonica in my pocket and I started to play my harmonica on the red carpet and all the security guards went to me and said, you are not supposed to do that! No one is playing the harmonica on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards! I said, well, I'm not from here... Neil was great I still have goosebumps because yeah it's quite a thing and something really unexpected at all I'm really honest if okay for Guy Davis it was my past part too but if one of my friends came in my room and said you know Fabrizio one day you will challenge the Rolling Stones for a Grammy I would have told him to my friend don't tease me It will never happen. You want to be so mean to me.

Speaker 04:

So

Neil Warren:

you carry on playing with Guy Davis and he recorded on an album with you again with Basement Blues, yeah? So I think he just did just one song on there with you.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Basement Blues is a sort of my archive. So I have live recordings with Guy. You

Speaker 04:

better watch out all you people A little red rooster on the ground Fabrizio, tell them about that rooster

Fabrizio Poggi:

and also songs that didn't went on the official records. But I had a lot of records. So, because Bassman Blues was born because Angelina, my wife, one day asked to me, Fabrizio, when you do your own Bassman tapes? So I said, oh, I can have my Bassman Blues, get into the light, some old recordings. So that album was new and old recording, putting two together and I was pretty satisfied I

Neil Warren:

don't know Fabrizio if it was Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones inspired you I think Angelina had a more important influence on your career by the sounds of things

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah she is for me is more than a wife she is the person that I hope I wish all the people to meet in your life to meet an Angelina or an Angelino when you are lost in your life sometimes it happens bring you back home. Angelina helped me a lot to come out of a black hole when I had fallen a few years ago. I had a severe depression and she was always close to me in my project. She really is my little angel and my dream catcher. I was really lucky.

Neil Warren:

So your latest album released in 2024 is Healing Blues. Yeah. So again, you know, spiritual numbers on here and on some blues as well so yeah this is uh came out last year yeah

Fabrizio Poggi:

in some way it's a follow of a best man blues because in some way it continued my research in my archives and i also had some songs recorded for the occasion And then I made this deep friendship about spiritual music with Cher White, who is the back singer, with Eric Clapton. And also with Cher, I discovered that she was my sister from another mystery. ¶¶

Speaker 05:

I want Jesus to

Fabrizio Poggi:

walk with me the same coin so we came to collaborate together and she sang three songs actually on the record and she sings really like an angel

Neil Warren:

So you've also played at Carnegie Hall in New York with Guy Davis and also with Buddy Guy, I think, in the same...

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, Walter Trout. There was a lot of great people. Eric Barden was there and a lot of great musicians. The Carnegie Hall was something incredible. But just the acoustic of the room. When the people... are clapping hands. It's something special. I remember a guy and me were playing a song and I had a solo in the middle of the song. And at the end of my harmonica solo, people started to clap. And the sound of the clapping hands was so big, so huge, etc., that moved me back from the microphone. I had to walk a couple of steps to make me close again to the sound. It was amazing. When you enter to the Carnegie Hall and you see the Hall of Fame of the people who are playing there, you wanted to walk away. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Unknown:

Ha ha ha!

Fabrizio Poggi:

You want to run from this and say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm too scared to play here.

Neil Warren:

So as well as all your playing, you've written four books. There's one which is about the stories and legends of the blues, and there's ones about blues harmonica and blues harmonica players. Yeah. And then last year, Believe, which is a sort of biography about you, yeah?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah. A female journalist wrote to me. She chose the title. The complete title is Believe Conversation with Fabrizio. but she could be my daughter because I'm 67 and she's 32 but the beauty that from the very beginning she discovered that I really believe in my dreams she choose that title and we didn't want to change it because I didn't have any expectation but I went beyond my biggest dreams so it is beautiful it is something that makes sometimes to think that life is beautiful and I feel blessed for that

Neil Warren:

been blessed some more. You've won various awards, one of which is a Honour Lifetime Award. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Fabrizio Poggi:

At the Honour, at that time, people thought that, as I told you some minutes ago, I was in some way an inspiration in Italy for blues players, harmonica players, in general, talking in general. So, they wanted to give me an award. Also, to my work, I go to the school I go to the student and say, look at me, now I'm a pretty old man, but you are young people, no? So believe in your dreams. Maybe you will not achieve fully your dreams, but just the journey towards your dreams will be amazing. You will meet some people that will change your life together and probably those people will tell you some words that you will cherish deep down in your hearts for the rest of your life. And this is something important. I think that musicians have the duty to pass the torch for the instrument, for music. It's something that we have to do. And I felt really committed. And the owner understood that at that time, and I was happy.

Unknown:

Bye. Bye.

Neil Warren:

And you've also been honoured by the President of the Italian Republic for a Knight of Merit for Artistic Merit in Italy, eh?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Oh yes, that was another thing I didn't expect. If you think about that, an harmonica player playing mostly blues music, blues and spiritual music, became Knights of Merit of the Italian Republic in Italy. It's like to challenge the Rolling Stones at the Mendicino Square Garden, something that don't happen very, very often. And this president, Sergio Mattarella, is on his second term. He's so good that they tell you, because you usually, after seven years, we change the president. It's the law. But he was so good and so great that we wanted him for more seven years.

Neil Warren:

So you went, so it was a big ceremony with lots of nice Italian dress and a nice, was it in a sort of nice Italian building and all these,

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Neil Warren:

yeah. Beautiful, yeah.

Fabrizio Poggi:

All the package. Yeah. And Angelina were, as always, in tears. Because, of course, when they award me, And everybody knows it. Most of the people know that I divide, I share my award with Angelina. To me, it's really natural.

Neil Warren:

So a question I ask each time, Fabrizio, is a 10-minute question. If you had 10 minutes to practice, what would you spend those 10 minutes doing?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Well, as I always tell to younger musicians, the key word when you put your harmonica in your mouth is honesty. If you are true to yourself, people will feel it. And don't ever try to be someone else. Don't try to pretend to be someone else. And people will appreciate it very much. So when you practice, try to get out your soul and show to the people at the show your soul when you perform. And this is something that always wins. And if If you play from the heart, of course, shed in your woods, you will overcome every little problem about your playing, about your going on the road to play music. So it doesn't matter the lick you practice, the scale you practice, but put all yourself in your music, and people, I promise, will love it. Bye.

Neil Warren:

So we'll get on to the last section now and talk about gear. So given the fact that you were given a Hohner Lifetime Award, clearly you play Hohner harmonicas and you're actually a Hohner endorser.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Yeah, not my only favorite model, but the model that I play most is Special 20, Hohner Special 20, because I think that is my favorite choice. But of course, I also play Marine Band, Golden Melody, but mostly Special 20. And I always think that it's not the harmonica is the player.

Neil Warren:

Always. Do you do any customisation to your harmonicas or have anyone customise them for you?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Sometimes I ask of some professional tuner to have a special tuning like Dele Oscar, Melody Maker, you know what I mean. But not a real customisation. I really try to have my harmonica ready out of the box as they say, no? And I don't use any gear. When I discovered that I can sing and play my harmonica just through a microphone, I sold all my aesthetic microphones and my amplifier, and practically I always play acoustic. But you know, Neil, there is something that I always felt. It's like the electric guitar. There are people that can play electric guitar and acoustic guitar. There are people that are better when they play electric or better when they play acoustic. The same of myself. I remember that most of the congratulations that I had in the past when I played harmonica is when I play acoustic. So I thought to myself, maybe it's the acoustic way where I can express myself in a better way. So I went that way and I don't regret nothing.

Neil Warren:

Well, of course, the album you got nominated for the Grammy was, of course, a kind of acoustic album, wasn't it, with Guy Davis? is too so it goes to

Speaker 03:

show

Fabrizio Poggi:

And that was an attribute to Sonny Terry's. I don't think that Sonny Terry never played through an amplifier. Well,

Neil Warren:

on the Sonny Terry retrospective I did, we did talk about that, and he did do it a little bit. There's only a small amount, but yes, he is recording a little bit with an amplifier, but not very

Fabrizio Poggi:

much. I didn't know that.

Neil Warren:

Yeah, yeah, check it out.

Fabrizio Poggi:

I will check it,

Neil Warren:

yeah. But yeah, absolutely, he was an acoustic player, 99% of the time. So do you play any other harmonicas besides diatonics?

Fabrizio Poggi:

When I was doing my traditionally Northern Italy folk music, I played some tremolos harmonica and some bass harmonica and some chromatic harmonica. But just for the sound, I didn't really study all those instruments. I made a friendship also at that time with Brandon Power, because I was pretty interested about his Irish style of the chromatic. So I asked him some questions about playing folk music with the chromatic, but then I came back to the

Neil Warren:

diatonic. Do you play any overblows or No.

Fabrizio Poggi:

When the overblows came out, I was too old to learn. I was too old and too lazy. So to me, I said, well, when I learned all of the bending that I think I need, I said, well, I'm done. Then Howard Levy went out with the overblows and said, oh, no, Howard. Howard is not for me. But I like them, but no, it's... I'm too lazy to... And think how much time it took me just to learn a bending, probably one year, because you have to bend the note. I can see on a guitar how you can bend the note. On an harmonica, if someone not explain you, you have to be lucky. So one day I've been lucky, I said... Maybe this is a band. But now I had to remind myself how I had achieved that. And it was another story.

Neil Warren:

What about your embouchure? Do you tongue block or pucker or anything else?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Of course, in the beginning, I was a lip blocking man. And I discovered tongue blocking later when I went to US, etc. And now I mix both and I use, but I am mostly a lip blocking. But for chords, octaves or some special licks, I use also tongue blocking and It depends what I need. And

Neil Warren:

obviously you mentioned there that you don't really use amps. You play like clean through a PA. But microphone-wise, are you using a vocal mic like an SM58 or anything particular for your mic? Yeah,

Fabrizio Poggi:

yeah. SM58 is my favorite choice. And I always ask to the sound engineer to find a good compromise between my vocals and between... the sound of the harmonica, and usually they did a great job, and I'm really happy with that.

Unknown:

That's what I got

Neil Warren:

And any effects on your microphone, any reverb or even anything like that?

Fabrizio Poggi:

Of course, I like reverb, but usually it's a reverb that sounds natural with vocals. and with harmonica. Of course, in studio, sometimes I add a little more reverb or delay on the harmonica, because there I have two different channels, one for my voice and one for my harmonica, so I can also add something to every instrument's voice and harmonica, but not other things. Sometimes when I play with other bands, bands or I do some studio session I play acoustic and then the producer decide to put my harmonica through an amplifier put an overdrive or some distortion and I'm happy with that I always say Feel free to do everything you want with my harmonica. The important is that it sounds good to you. And most of the time it sounds good also to me. And so I'm happy.

Neil Warren:

So just final question then, Fabrizio, just about your future plans. What have you got coming up through the rest of this year and anything beyond? I

Fabrizio Poggi:

have my latest CD, Healing Blues, out and I want to promote it together with the book. I have in the end of the year, beginning of the next year, some tour in Belgium, Holland and something like that. and Angelina knows better than me I will have a busy summer here in Italy and I try to stay in good health and keep on playing my harmonica as good as I can so as I said I feel lucky because as you know the harmonica is a very physical instrument so you have to be in a very good health so I pray every day my personal Jesus

Neil Warren:

So thanks so much, and it's been lovely to speak to you today, Fabrizio Poggi.

Fabrizio Poggi:

Oh, thanks to you for having me, and please keep on spreading the harmonica sound. You are doing a great job, and you

Neil Warren:

should be proud of it. Thank you, Fabrizio. Once 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. What a pleasure it was to speak with Fabrizio today. Such a nice and humble guy. You can see how he has made friends wherever he has been. And thanks to Fabrizio's wife Angelina for the help in organising the interview. Fabrizio is certainly lucky to have her. Also thanks to Ben Carruthers and Philip Jackson for the donations to the podcast. I'll sign out now with another clip from Fabrizio's Harpway 61 album. This is the title track, Harpway 61.

Unknown:

Harpway 61 Bye.