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When the ice storms struck his home state of Arkansas in late December, guitarist Sleepy LaBeef fared better than many of his Razorback neighbors. "We kept our power," he said. "But I missed it all. I was on the road touring in New England." Across a career spanning 6 decades, the road has been a constant for the husky-voiced LaBeef, who moved every few years early in his career. "I went from Houston to Nashville following record labels, and also lived in New England for several years," he recalled. But when I'd get sent from Boston to L.A. on tour, I'd be away from home a long time. I figured, 'Arkansas is where I'm from, and it's centrally-located.' Now that I've moved back, it makes it a whole lot easier to spend time at home between tour legs."
But contrary to many perceptions, LaBeef isn't strictly a roadhouse warrior. "I've also worked a lot of big festivals," he said. "We played at the Blues to Bop festival in Logano, Switzerland - with attendance of 250,000 per day. And we played in Barcelona under a tent for 40,000 - with another 40,000 outside the tent." Those large festivals actually give LaBeef the luxury of playing smaller venues at other times. "At the big festivals, they pay is there, and you can feel the electricity from a big audience. But you don't get to know anyone but the promoters. Club shows are more intimate - you can make friends and mix a little."
With a career that's transcended many musical fads, LaBeef doesn't make much out of the "Americana" categorization of his and other roots music. "I'm not trying to fit in any new fads," he said. "I've been there many times before." He does, however, retain the spirit of diversity that Americana envelops. "I grew up in Smackover, Arkansas, just before television, and I can still remember the radio station call letters from across the region: WSM, WLAC, WCKY, KVOO - There was western swing, Louisiana Cajun music, Chicago blues, bluegrass from Cincinnati. I could hear a Hank Williams record followed by a Howlin' Wolf record, and it didn't make a dime's difference to me. It was music from the heart, and I could enjoy them all." Although he regularly runs through each of these genres in concert, LaBeef does admit a favorite, though. "Artists like Sister Rosetta Tharpe (whose "Strange Things Happening" LaBeef covered in 1994), Mahalia Jackson, and Martha Carson - the 'Big Beat Gospel.'" While the days of 50,000-watt clear channel AM radio broadcasts of regional music are a thing of the past, LaBeef observed that a new mechanism is at work spreading music. "On the Internet, you can find just about all that's ever been put out."
After several years of recording with Rounder Records, LaBeef struck out with a smaller label, M.C., for his latest studio session, Tomorrow Never Comes. "They were very enthusiastic about the project," he said. "We got some special help with Maria Muldaur on a couple tracks. And I also got the top slap bass player from the West Coast and the top precision bass player from Nashville." But he hasn't completely left the Rounder fold. "They're good people, and still friends. They also still have a lot of stuff I've recorded and they'll be putting a new album (Rockabilly Blues) out in late January."
On tour, LaBeef admitted that past experiments with younger players did not always go well. His past few tours through Wisconsin have featured more polished veterans backing him, and that will continue for this and other future tours. "I need to get some players who are between 30 and, say, 38 or 40. They're more settled in and dependable. The ones that are single and 22," he chuckled, "they're sometimes a problem." |
