A Conversation with NRBQ’s Terry Adams – HuffPost 7.20.11
Terry Adams: Hi Mike. Let me ask you, how did you like Keep This Love Goin’?
Mike Ragogna: What’s Keep This Love Goin’? (laughs) The album is fun, and with the single, I know exactly what you’re talking about in that song. When things start to fall apart, you’ve got to put some energy into it to make it work.
TA: That’s right, that’s what I think–what I know and believe. That’s why I’ve still got NRBQ going–because I wanna keep the love going, you know?
MR: This interview is going to be flooded with “so to speak”s, I can see it now. (laughs)
TA: So you’re in Iowa–where in Iowa?
MR: I live in Fairfield, Iowa, which is starting to get some recognition from artists and musicians who are starting to come through here. We have a few nice venues–The Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts, Café Paradiso, and a cool venue called The Beauty Shop.
TA: You know, I’ve known about Iowa for quite a while because back in, I don’t know, ’69 I guess, we bought a bus because the band got a call from Grinnell–the college out there–and we drove all the way there from Clinton Corners, New York, and back to play that school. It was fun. And the last time I was there–I don’t remember when, six or seven years ago–I had the best time looking at used records in the Goodwill thrift shops.
MR: I’m thankful for Goodwill shops, they’re where I get some of my finest 8-tracks.
TA: (laughs) You know, you can tell what a city’s like a lot of times when you’re looking through those records and you see the local records that were made and have been sitting there waiting for you. You can see what kind of music scene has been going around the last twenty or thirty years. I really like it.
MR: Okay, time to talk about NRBQ. When one listens to an NRBQ album, one hears all kind of influences and sounds. This album seems to be no exception–but how did you approach it differently from the others?
TA: Well, maybe there’s no difference in how we approached it. When it comes to the different styles that you hear–you know, it’s been so long for me that I don’t really recognize when we’re crossing into a different style. It probably is because of the way I used to listen to records as a teenager in Louisville. I listened to Duane Eddy and started ordering records out of Chicago, you know, all this stuff in the mid-’60s. It all just sort of made sense to me to keep the music coming in. So, in ’66 I’d say, my brother and I and a drummer named Charlie Craig started making home recordings with a Webcor tape recorder that I had. Different guys in the neighborhood would stop by. We were playing all kinds of music and recording it and one day–there were five of us there–my brother said, here they are, the new rhythm and blues quintet. So, I wrote “NRBQ” on the edge of the box, and from there, you know–just from being able to play what we wanted at home–it became something that I got more and more into. I met Steve Ferguson filling in for somebody in his band, and I invited him over. I said, “You know, let’s see what we can do.” It was great to have such a master–a great guy–on guitar. At some point, I said, “Wouldn’t you like to have a band that can do, and just does, whatever it wants to do?” I’ve seen that situation where you get fined for not wearing the boots that they told you to wear, or they say you can’t play this song because it’s too bluesy or too jazzy. I didn’t understand it because I’ve got passion for playing all kinds of music. So, that’s what Steve and I set out to do, and that’s why I say there’s not much difference from the first album to this new one. It’s still the same approach at music. Like I say, I don’t recognize any differences in styles really.
MR: You’re simply making “NRBQ” music.
TA: Yeah.
MR: You were also Terry Adams’ Rock & Roll Quartet for a while, right?
TA: We kind of stopped playing, oh, six or seven years ago. Some of the members, for various reasons, had seen enough and had enough and wanted to do other things in their lives. I didn’t want to stop–and I actually didn’t stop, I kept working. But I had to get new members, and it’s not exactly easy to find the right kind of musicians for NRBQ except when you open up and let things come to you–then I find it’s different. So, I’m not knocking on every door looking for somebody or auditioning anybody, but the spirit opens up. Somebody says the right thing and you feel that it’s right. That’s how I went about hiring Tom Ardolino back in the ’70s, just through knowing him and how he listened to records and all that. So, there was really not an audition, you understand what I mean?
MR: Yeah, I understand exactly what you mean–it was a natural fit.
TA: Yeah. So, I started playing with the current guys like maybe three years ago and I knew they were right. I just wanted some more road time and a new studio album. And that’s what we have, Keep This Love Goin’. So, I stopped using the name Rock & Roll Quartet and switched it back to NRBQ.
MR: What did it feel like when you guys were together again doing this new project?
TA: You know, it’s been always forward with these guys, every time we play. They’re fast with these new songs. We’ve already gone through more songs and don’t play them anymore, more than most bands maybe have in their whole life. I don’t know, it’s fast.
MR: It’s an interesting story considering the connection, so could you go into one of my favorite tracks on the album, “Boozoo and Leona?”
TA: You probably know Boozoo’s music, and I produced three albums for Boozoo Chavis and wrote a song for him–I don’t know when, in ’89 or something–called “Boozoo, That’s Who.” And I was sad to see when Boozoo died, in ’92 or something, and I stayed in touch with his wife Leona. We became great friends, and talked to each other regularly on the phone and so on. I got another call that Leona had passed, and so I wrote this song about Leona joining Boozoo in an afterlife romance and that’s what that is. It could be the first Zydeco record with a grand piano and no washboard.
MR: Got another song’s story?
TA: Well, let me think about that. There’s a song called “In Every Dream” that, for some reason, every time I turn on my espresso machine, the motor hums and I can’t resist and I sing along with the motor. I started singing Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto in Bb Minor” with it one day, and for some reason, it turned into this country, rockabilly feel in my head. I love to get an idea like that, and instead of just talking about it or laughing about it, actually see it through.
MR: There was a collection on NRBQ a while back, and I wanted to ask, how do you do that? That has to be an impossible thing to do, and how do you even sequence something like that?
TA: Well, in that case, credit has to go to Gary Stewart at Rhino Records. He really wanted to feature more of the pop side of the band. He had a purpose there, and we went along with it. Other times with sequencing, it’s just like calling a set onstage. I don’t really have a plan, it’s just whatever feel right next and what I think people need.
MR: I think that idea–that it just has to flow–has escaped a lot of people who are working with compilations over the years. The focus seems to be more chronological as opposed to musical.
TA: I have that problem with jazz re-issues, where everybody wants to release things like complete trio sessions. It’s nice that it exists that way, but do you actually want to hear it that way? I mean, you might want to hear the trio thing, the quartet thing, a solo piece, a live piece, and something else. If you really want to entertain yourself as an artist, you don’t really want to hear every take in a row or the complete anything. It’s a library archivist’s kind of thinking that doesn’t pay off as well for a listener.
MR: Yeah, when you hear the second or third or fourth take of something, you can’t help but get burnt out on that song.
TA: Right, and I’m not saying those other takes shouldn’t come out somewhere, but I would put take three at the end of the disk and take one as the second track, say. I don’t actually want to have them in a row.
MR: Two of my favorite jazz artists are Miles Davis and Coltrane, and it especially happens all the time on their “complete” releases.
TA: The first John Coltrane album I ever owned was Ole. Do you have that one?
MR: Oh yeah, beautiful.
TA: My favorite track is “Dahomey Dance.” And that’s my favorite Eric Dolphy solo. So anyway, there you go–you had to mention Coltrane, didn’t you?
MR: (laughs) Of course, you’re a Dolphy fan.
TA: Yes, I am.
MR: What other jazz artists tickle you?
TA: Oh, so many. You know, I love jazz music and I’ve played with Roswell Rudd may times, and Marshall Allen. Other members of the Sun Ra Arkestra have played with NRBQ, by the way, and I think that the second member of the Sun Ra Arkestra besides Sun Ra was a guy named “Pat” Patrick who I think is from your neighborhood, in the Davenport area. I’ve had many friends and good times because I was a fan of Sun Ra so far back–back to ’65. I was at his apartment in ’67, and he gave me a record of 45 that they had made called “Rocket Number 9,” and he said, “This is especially for you.” I really took that to heart. And I reformed the NRBQ that we had in ’66–we took a break in ’67–on the strength of that song. It’s on our first album.
MR: Terry, this is a long run for NRBQ. How do you feel about the fact that you have this much catalog and that you’re musical icons?
TA: Well, it feeds on itself. That’s one of the reasons why I’m still doing it, as opposed to folding in 2004. I could have just said, “Well, that’s it.” I’ve had people talk to me and about my legacy like I peaked in the ’80s, and I always am so offended like that. Like, “Is my life over?” I don’t have any reason to look back and say “I’ll never be that good again” or “I’m done” or “I should retire the name of the band.” You know, I’m the guy who started the band and I’m the one who came up with most of the ideas and the direction of the band and designed the concept. I’m not going to stop for anybody. The longevity is what keeps the band young and the music new. The current band has command of all the songs–you could say “catalog” or whatever it is that we’ve had in the past–but I don’t necessarily use it. I mean, once in a while, I’ll pull out one of them and it sounds great, but it’s about keeping going–keep the love going now, you know?
MR: “I’ve already painted that painting, thank you.”
TA: (laughs) Yeah, that’s it.
MR: What advice do you have for new artists?
TA: Well, I think that new artists–the good ones–are in music for the right reasons in the first place. Along the way, you’ll run into people who got into music for, you know, maybe not the best of reasons. So, if you’re in it for the right reasons and you have no other choice, then the advice is stick with it. Stick with your beliefs and don’t be compromising. NRBQ could play the best rockabilly if we wanted to, but it’s not a good idea to suggest to me that we just get in on the rockabilly craze or whatever, you know what I mean? I don’t know–I’m just trying to say, do what you believe in–what you actually believe in.
MR: And what are NRBQ’s immediate plans?
TA: In September, we’re going to Scandinavia. At the end of August, we’ve booked Nashville, Louisville, and Chicago.
MR: Obviously, you’re going to keep this live thing going. You just can’t help yourself can you.
TA: (laughs) No. You’ve got to come out and see the new band, and see what’s happening. It’s unbelievable.
MR: Thank you for the invite, Terry. Let’s do this again.
TA: Okay Michael, it’s been good to be here.
MR: Thanks, all the best.
Transcribed by Claire Wellin