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LL: Let’s talk about your new release “Satisfied” on the VizzTone label. You refer to the music as
“Classic Blues Woman”. What does that mean for you and how did you express that through this
work?

GA: As I mentioned earlier, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee turned me on to the blues – blues
forms. But in the '60s, I heard Nina Simone whisper over her piano introduction to ‘Sugar in My
Bowl’, “Bessie Smith, y'all.” Yes, Nina led me to Bessie. Once I discovered her, I discovered Ma
Rainey and Ida Cox and Sippie
Wallace and Lucille Bogan and
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Alberta Hunter and Ethel Waters
and on and on!! Oh, be still my heart!
These were the original black
feminists! The storytellers, the
advice givers, the comediennes, the
role models, the wild women who
brought so much musical creativity
to their delivery!! They were who I
would have been had I lived back
then.

They hold the mirror for me today.

I also see myself as a griot. Drawn
from West African tradition, I try to
keep our history, the history of
black people – black women in
particular – in the United States, in
my lifetime, alive in songs, telling stories, delivering truth as I see it. For sure, my truth is
subjective, but no one has my eyes, but me.

LL: Please tell about the folks who participated and contributed to the making of “Satisfied”.

GA: Thank you for asking. I made note about two incredible musicians that I have worked with
since 2004 on the insert. Roddy Barnes is a pianist extraordinaire! He can play most any style,but
he can really play classic blues. I ask you to listen to ‘Jelly Bean Blues’. On Ma Rainey's recording,
Louis Armstrong is on cornet and there's a banjo player. Roddy sings Louis' part and, in those
passages, plays the banjo part in his right hand. Or to hear him really boogie, listen to our version
of ‘The Dirty Dozens’. Jeff Covert, the studio engineer who first recorded “Neo-Classic Blues”
has been on just about every recording I've done. What a blessing to have an engineer
who plays lead electric and acoustic guitar, bass, drums, banjo – whatever! And all are first-rate.

The other day I listened to “Satisfied” and just listened to his drumming. I was blown away. After
all these years, his work still moves me to tears. You ever cry just listening to trap drums? I was
so full to think that this man has disciplined his life in such a way to accomplish such goodness
on every instrument.

I could talk about every musician on every song. I'll just single out one more: Resa Gibbs. She,too,
has graced many projects for me. On “Satisfied”, you can hear her creative fills on ‘Hetero Twinges’
and on the outro of ‘Nothing's Changed’ you can hear her recreate the pain of families being torn
apart in 2018. On ‘3 Hour Shoes’, Resa becomes the choir's soprano with an extra dose of vibrato.
Though not on this CD, Resa gives the prayer call on “The Griot's” ‘FMG’ (female genital
mutilation). While her natural voice is incredible, the creative nuances are almost
other-worldly.