The Felonius Smith Trio joins KGNU’s Greg Schultz for a studio session, sharing their passion for blues and old-timey music. They perform a couple of tunes, including a Grateful Dead-inspired original and a Tampa Red classic. Felonius discusses his musical influences, his love for improvisation, and his 35-year journey with blues music. Felonius Smith Trio will perform at the Mapleton Hill Porchfest on September 22! (Interview date: 8/9/2024)
Greg Schultz: Okay, I have Felonius Smith in here, hiding over there behind that National guitar. Felonius Smith and Steve Sheldon are in the studio to do some music. They have a show tomorrow night at City Star Brewery, and we’ll talk about that on the other side. Thanks for coming in, guys.
Felonius Smith: Thank you so much for having us, Greg.
Greg Schultz: Definitely. Give us a couple tunes. We’ll come back and then chat a little bit.
Felonius Smith: That sounds great. We’re going to start with a tune that I wrote quite a few years ago. It’s actually based on a Grateful Dead song, or at least the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song. Grateful Dead used to rework old jug band songs. One of the ones they used to do was “The Minglewood Blues”. And when they rearranged it and recorded it, they called it “The All New Minglewood Blues”. And so in that tradition, this is called “The All New Dupree’s Diamond Blues”.
Greg Schultz: All right. Thanks so much.
You guys want to give us another one?
Felonius Smith: Sure. Let’s do an old Tampa Red song. This is from the 1930s, when he was recording on the Bluebird label. Tampa Red was quite a colorful character of the old blues and he actually sold more blues 78’s than any other artist in history. He had a lot of good crossover appeal with White audiences and Black audiences. He played a shiny National guitar, so I like that very much. This is his song, “You Missed a Good Man”.
Greg Schultz: Oh, heck yes, man. I dig that. My buddy from Austin, Texas, just texted me and said that sounded good. So the airwaves are reaching, at least out to central Texas anyways. Far and wide and high and low. Yeah, folks, Felonius Smith in here, and this is some great live music. Love doing this. I appreciate you guys coming down. Steve, thanks for coming in. So how long have you been playing those things?
Felonius Smith: Oh, almost 35 years.
Greg Schultz: 35 years? You don’t look a day over 40. That’s some real soulful playing there, man. It must be great just playing with the guys.
Felonius Smith: It is so much fun. This kind of music has a lot of room for improvisation, and just looking at each other and giving a nod and listening to each other and playing it. I love this old stuff. My Felonius Smith trio, we play mostly music from the 1920’s, 1930’s. I was turned on to this kind of music by people like David Bromberg and Hot Tuna. I wouldn’t have known about some of this great old blues guitar stuff from the scratchy 78’s era if it wasn’t for people like that, who opened my eyes to it and showed me how cool this music is.
Greg Schultz: Yeah, he opened my eyes, too. And I’ve been a fan since high school. I’m not a young guy anymore. Not that old, but anyways. He paved the way for that. He was friends with Reverend Gary Davis. I remember, in exchange for guitar lessons, he skipped classes at Columbia and would lead Gary Davis around Manhattan in exchange for guitar lessons and dropped out of school. So that’s a good person to blame.
Felonius Smith: That is. Definitely.
Greg Schultz: You play a sweet slide there. I really appreciate that, and that harmonica just fits. It’s right there, man. It’s right in the glove.
Felonius Smith: I also want to just take a brief moment to give a shout out to KGNU. I’ve been supporting KGNU for a long time, for many years, and KGNU has been supporting me and my local performances for very many years. I can always especially count on some really inspiring music on Friday mornings, where I know I’m gonna hear some good slide guitar and some good roots music. So I just hope everyone out there listening will support this radio station to keep it going.
Greg Schultz: Oh, we appreciate it. Folks like you are part of the reason why we’re still here. Bringing in live music, for me, is beyond a rare treat. I get to see professional musicians within two arm’s lengths away and then I get to shake my head and go, oh, I better, pay attention here. I got to get back to doing my thing. It’s fun for me. And we love having the local folks on. The Colorado folks are what we focus on, but it’s great to let people know how much great music we have in this state.
Felonius Smith: Exactly.
Greg Schultz: You guys are just a testament to that. Appreciate you coming in and I hope Meredith is listening and appreciating it. I’m sure she is.
Talk about your show. You got something going on tomorrow night.
Felonius Smith: Yeah, tomorrow night. It’s my trio, Felonius Smith Trio, and it features Scott Johnson on upright bass and also sousaphone. Our great harmonica player here, Steve, and myself, are gonna play some of that good old timey stuff. Some good blues, a little bit of old jazz. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. It’s at City Star Brewing in Berthoud, tomorrow night, August 10. The music starts at 6:00 p.m. They have a great little courtyard out back where we’re gonna be playing. It’s always a great time there, and that’s my favorite beer of the front range right there at City Star Brewing.
Greg Schultz: It’s a great little place. I’ve been there many times to hear music, and I live in Longmont, so it’s right up the road, ten minutes from me.
Felonius Smith: I have a sweet spot in my heart for Berthoud, because that’s where we recorded our second album, called Before That Rooster Crows.
Greg Schultz: That’s a great place. Folks can get out and see you tomorrow night at 6pm.
Felonius Smith: Yeah. We’re also going to be playing in September at BOCO Cider which is in North Boulder. And then there’s the great Boulder tradition of the Mapleton Porchfest. We’re gonna be on a porch on Maxwell Avenue at, I think, 2:00 p.m. for the Mapleton Hill Porchfest, which is always such a hoot. I love that event.
Greg Schultz: We broadcast live from there. I’ve been on air one time, I think, and been down there a couple times. What a cool thing to do, to walk around that beautiful neighborhood and all these different homes on the porch. There’s all kinds of different music, jazz, blues, country, rock, you name it. It’s so kid friendly. Get the kids out to listen to music. Get ’em introduced to different types of stuff. And it’s free.
Felonius Smith: It certainly is. It’s a great event.
Greg Schultz: If I’m in town, I’m gonna go for sure. Listen, it’s been great having you guys in here. I’d like you guys to take us out with another tune. Tell us where we can find all things Felonius Smith. Let the folks know.
Felonius Smith: Mostly it’s through our website, feloniussmith.com. You can find some of our music on Spotify. We’ve got a Facebook page, Felonius Smith Trio. You can always email me through the website. I’d love to stay in touch with you or you can get on our email list and all that kind of stuff.
Greg Schultz: That’s fantastic. It’s nice, you’re old school, even with the website. I love that. That used to be all there was, right? Just email me, I’ll get back to you. That’s a beautiful thing.
Okay folks, thanks for listening in. Felonius Smith and his trio, tomorrow night at the City Star Brewery, in Berthoud at 6:00 p.m. Thanks, Steve, for coming in and blowing that harp, and Jeff, thanks for coming by, and it’s great to have you on KGNU.
What are you gonna take us out with?
Felonius Smith: I’m going to take you out with a song by Bukka White called “Fixin’ to Die”.
