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While I was there my debut album was released back in Sacramento and I had a couple of
boxes of CDs sent to me. They put one into the hotel juke box and someone gave it to
somebody at Radio Caroline, which was a pirate radio station. I was selling the CD at my hotel
gigs.

What are the chances of something like that happening?

LL: You helped launch Sirius Satellite Radio. Would you tell us all about it and how it
came to be? Are you still involved?

ET: Similar to landing a gig on my first day in a foreign country, helping start Sirius Satellite
was equally serendipitous. I had moved to NYC and only knew one person there. I had nothing
going for myself except for a job in the basement of a record store in Manhattan in the jazz and
blues department. During my time there, a couple of CDs I had played on with E.C. Scott had

been on the shelves. A guy named Michael Anderson that I worked with in the department had
told me that he worked in radio but was between jobs.
At some point I left that job, and I went out to play some touring dates with E.C. When I
returned there was a message from Michael who asked me to call him. As it turned out he was
hired to run the blues channel at a fledgling satellite radio station called Sirius and he thought
I would be great on the air. I started a week before 9/11 in 2001 and originally broadcast my
shows to zero subscribers. That was over 20 years ago, and I am still working in radio. We’re
now well over 30 million subscribers.

I have been blessed, to say the least!
LL: I understand you’re living in New York (USA) now. How did that come about, and
how is it for a blues musician?

ET: I moved to New York in 1998 and I have been here ever since. When you come to a city
like this where you don’t know anybody, you feel like you ain’t got a friend in the world. This
city will chew you up and spit you out. It was only when I was hired to work on the radio that I
claimed my place here. It could have gone a very different direction.
LL: Let’s Talk about your new release “Early Times and The High Rollers: The Corner”.
What was your inspiration, your process, and your vision for this album?

ET: I started writing songs and I could see a storyline taking shape from one tune to the other
and I decided to go with it and essentially tell a story through the album. I had never written
an album in this way before, but I am happy with how it came out.

My intent was to make an album that didn’t sound like anybody else. I am very committed to
being original. I also tried to put a lot of guitar on the record without the guitar being the
centrepiece. I believe the songs should hold up on their own with or without a lot of solos and
guitar showmanship. When I do play a solo, I try to play in a manner that shows seasoning and
taste and not approach it from a self-centred perspective.

In the end, I wanted to create an album that would stand out from the crowd and yet be
accessible and entertaining to the audience. I licensed the album through my label Dealers
Choice Records to Vizztone Records who then released it. They are really great to work with.
Brat Girl Media has done my publicity. I’m grateful for the work all these people have done to
help me see my vision come to light.
LL: What is your favourite track, or two on The Corner, and why please?