Page 9 - BiTS_09_SEPTEMBER_2025

BiTS: I'm glad it has been. You certainly deserve it. Like I said, I read a little bit about
your childhood, and I'm intrigued by your memoir, as you call it. Why did you choose
to call it ‘Weeds Like Us’? That’s a rather strange title.

JM: Ah, there's a song that I have titled ‘Weeds Like Us’, and the chorus is: weeds
like us are hard to kill.

BiTS: Okay!

JM: If you can't find that song, you let me
know. I'll make sure you get your hands
on it, Ian.

BiTS: [Laughs] Thank you very much.
You've already mentioned 17 records;
the latest one is I think absolutely

terrific, and when the last one came out,
somebody who was reviewing it,
referred to the power and pathos of

your voice, which I tend to agree with,
I must say. But where does that come
from?

JM: Oh, I think it comes from a few
places. I would say that there's some
genetic concerns there [chuckles],

there's some genetic responsibility.
My father really had a lovely, lovely
voice and there are other singers in

his side of the family, generations
back. Church singers so on and so
forth. But I would put it to the

early influences, I mean really,
truly B.B. King, who said himself countless times, he

was a gospel singer. So his incredible singing voice and being influenced by that,
early on. I would not get exposure to other influential singers, other than listening
to stuff on the radio and singing along like a minah bird, but not until I was in my
20s. I would see Etta James for the first time when I was in my 20s, early 20s, and

that was a very profound experience for me. Other than that, I would say it's my
history, in other words, my history, or also known as you need to read the book

[chuckles].

BiTS: I do need to read the book. I really only found out about it a couple of days
ago and as soon as I'm able to, I'm going to get a copy and read it.

JM: I'll get you one. I can get you an audio book which is narrated by me, or I can

get you digital quite easily. U.S. Postal Service takes a bit longer, doesn't it?