Anson Funderburgh – May 8th at Hangar On the Hudson [Interview]

Anson Funderburgh – May 8th at Hangar On the Hudson – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: When I was looking into you, I saw that you mentioned a lot of it’s all about dancing, uh, that you grew up in a family that listen to music and dance. Um, how much is your love of dance influenced like when you go out to play blues?

AF: Well, you know, when I was starting to play in nightclubs, there was a dance called the Push. That existed around the Texas area. It looks a lot like the Shag from the Carolinas. Not sure if you’ve heard of any of those dances. And both of those look a little like swing dancing from the West Coast. It’s a sort of a combination of the jitterbug and the Lindy hop. In the push, the couple dances in the slot and the only person that sort of leaves the slot is the man. And you know, they spin the girls and pull them through their legs and get fancy with it or not, but you know, we played. All the songs for the Push, most of them were like shuffles, like honky tonk and Linda Lou by Ray Sharp and Freddie King; that’s Kansas City. Those kinds of things. Any kind of Jimmy Reed song, if there are about 120 beats a minute. Which is a sort of a perfect shuffle.

RRX: When you see people dancing when you’re playing, I mean, is it something that you’re aware of or is it just something that you know is probably happening but you’re too, you know, you’re too focused on what you’re doing?

AF: Well, no, I mean, I like looking out there and watching people dance. I’ve been seeing it ever since I was 15-16 years old. Like I said, the bands that I’ve played in, you really sort of had to know honky tonk, you had to know the hideaway, you had to know Jimmy Reed songs, you had to know Linda Lou. Because, The Push club, you know, there’s a club called the Push Club; not a nightclub, but a dance club. There’s a dance club where people dance the shag in Fort Worth, they had the Fort Worth Push Club. In Dallas, they had the Dallas Push Club. In Houston, they had the Houston whip. These are all like underground dance organizations. So I played for a lot of that kind of stuff. When I got my first guitar, the people that I bought the guitar from gave me a box of 45s, and they must have been push dancers because, It had honky tonk and it had Freddie King’s Hideaway. It had, it had Albert Collins, Snow Cone part two. I mean, and all those things were Kansas City; bright lights, big city, so these people must have danced.

RRX: People start playing guitar and the playing is the hardest part, but then they get to the point where they’re touring and everything except the playing is the hardest part. Um, how’s the, how’s, how’s been, uh, uh, how is, uh, being on the road for most of your life affected your musical like Zen? I guess that might be the word to put it.

AF: I think it affects everyone. The older you get, the more it affects it. And even when I was leading my own band, it seemed like that. You were the person that was doing the interviews, you were the person booking the band or promoting the band, you were the one getting people from point A to point B. The plan was the fun part and that was the work part is getting from point A to point B. And then there’s all the stuff that’s in between or outside or however you wanna look at it. You know, looking at a blank calendar going, ‘man, I don’t have any work. I need to, I need, and, and you got 4 or 5 guys looking at you going, man, rent’s due and the lights are fixed to go off… it can keep you up a little bit at night sometimes. So jumping in and out of a van, it’s a little bit more of a challenge. I still love it. I love to work, I love to play. If you’re gonna play, you gotta travel. I mean, I don’t know of anything that just kind of has it right. You know, where you’re not travelling.

RRX: You’ve raised money and you’ve otherwise been involved with the heart fund, which, from what I’ve read, uh, it helps people that have been falling on hard times. Um, can you tell us a little bit about that fund and how you came across the organization?

AF: It’s part of the BMA Awards, The Blues Music Association. This foundation. It helps if somebody falls on hard times, needs a bill paid, and sick and can’t do it. You know, they’ll pay the bill for you. They were a huge help during COVID for a lot of musicians, myself included. So was the Music Cares from the Grammys association. They might buy a headstone for someone that had passed, they might, you know, pay a hospital bill for someone that was sick, you know, all, both of those foundation: The Heart Fund and Music Cares

RRX: What would you tell a future guitar player, a future musician or a guitar player coming into the world as you see it now compared to the way it’s been for so long, you know.

AF: You know, it’s changed a lot, and things are different. You know, I think that if you really love music and you really want to play music, you need to enjoy it and it has to be something that you have to do and it can’t just be for money. You may make a living, and you might make more money than you’ll never know what to do with. And you may not be able to make a living at all playing it. So it has to be something that’s worth you doing. You almost do it because you got to. I love music and it’s been with me my entire life and I certainly wouldn’t want to ever discourage somebody from playing music. But it’s just not an easy thing to. You’re not gonna hang a guitar on your neck and make millions of dollars. It’s not an easy success story,

One of my favorite recordings that I listen to every time I’m walking around and I wanna feel music is Stevie Ray Vaughan, performing “Texas Flood” Live at the El Macombo. Was he as good as people say, about his character?

Yes, he was, I just said he was a wonderful guy, never met a stranger. He’s one of the kindest, most approachable people that I’ve known. I mean, I knew him back in the 70s and when I lived in Austin and, I don’t know. Yeah, I mean, he just what a sweet man he was.

RRX: You’ve been producing records, which after being on the other end of the booth must be interesting. What was helpful from all your years being on the other side of the booth? What was helpful when you decided to start producing records?

AF: Well, I’m not as nervous when I’m trying to play guitar. I mean, because I’m not playing guitar, and that somebody else’s job. If I’m producing something, even though I do play on some of the things that I produced, I’m not saying that I’ve solely did it, but I mean, I, you know, the, like the Rounder Records, I produced those records, “Change in My Pocket.” Hammond and I produced all those Black Top Records. I mean, we mix it, we record them, add this or repair that.

Anson Funderburgh will be performing at Hangar on the Hudson in Troy on Thursday, May 18th.

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