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point in 2015, we were doing this festival and The Boneshakers were on one stage and me, as
Mindi Abair solo artist, was on another stage. Now the bands were the same. Randy played in
my band. My drummer third was playing in The Boneshakers, my keyboard player, Rodney was
playing in The Boneshakers. The only difference was Sweet Pea Atkinson and me [chuckles]. So
you know I said, hey, Randy, can I come over and just sit in? And he was like, yeah, come on. And
I ended up sitting in for the entire show. It
was electric. It was just so much fun so

that's when Randy and I decided let's
create Mindi Abair and The Boneshakers
and just join forces for a few records and
have some fun and we'll both have input
into it and so yeah, we made four of the best
records I've ever made in my life together.
And it was so much fun.

BiTS: You keep hugely busy, a gig last
night, I gather from what you said, and
presumably, you're doing others during the
course of the rest of the month. How do you
manage it all? Is it hard work for you or just
your love of music keeps you going?

MA: I think yes is the answer to that. I love
music. I love playing. You know, I'm on the

Randy Jacobs stage last night with Randy Jacobs again
and the whole band, and it's just inspiring.
You know, I got really lucky and get to do

something that inspires me every night and it's a beautiful thing. So that definitely drives me and
staying busy with things you love is pretty easy. And you know, I do my best to stay in shape and
stay up for it all. But yeah, there are times that I look at the guys in the band and go, woo, okay,
this is a lot. You know, after the pandemic, you know, we were so starved to just get out there
and be with people again and play for people again and you know so when the world kind of
started coming back I said yes to just everything. You want me to go there? Oh, yeah. You want
us to play? Uh-huh. Absolutely. And so, you know, this past year happened, and it was all those
yeses in a row. So maybe we said yes to too much, but I've loved every second and I wouldn’t
take anything back.

BiTS: Did you get badly hit by COVID?

MA: We as musicians here, I mean, we were basically just cut off from everything for over a year
and we were just unable to do anything. So I mean I ended up doing shows from my porch. We
did over 80 shows during the pandemic from my porch. You know, when it was lawful to have
one other person over, I'd sit him at the end of the porch and I'd sit at the other end of the porch
and we'd just make music together and it was a beautiful, beautiful thing and I only got COVID
probably a year and a half ago or something. I didn't get hit hard at all. I'd been vaccinated a
million times and so I think I got lucky and got through it really easily, but yeah, it was a drag to
have to be away from everyone for so long. You know, right?

BiTS: That’s a good expression. It certainly was. Over the years you've had a great many
successes. What do you think has been outstanding for you? What's the proudest achievement

so far?