Page 33 - BiTS_06_JUNE_2023

players and I learned more the acoustic blues from the 30s and 40s. It was pretty much impossible
trying to find someone to teach me, so I learned a lot in a year. Also, now we have YouTube. This
new generation is very fortunate to have YouTube as a teacher because you find everything
nowadays on YouTube. But at the time, I would get some material, like some papers from a friend,
the friend of a friend. I have some material here to teach you how to play some Robert Johnson
songs, some of his techniques, and that's how I learned like about a year, was like with a friend,
from a friend, from someone else. So let's say I’m almost self-taught. I'm not 100% self-taught
[chuckles].

BiTS: Tell me, how long have you been in Scotland now?

LB: Well, now it's been, let me think, 3½ years. I came here in 2019, right after the Fringe Festival
in September or something like that

BiTS: You got any plans to make another record over here?

LB: Oh yes, yes. I released recently ‘Winter Blues’. It was a single. I actually recorded it in 2020,
just before the pandemic, or
maybe at the end of 2019. I
recorded that single inspired by
the wintertime, the first proper
wintertime I had in my life
[laughs]. Also, I did a
collaboration with a friend. He
was playing the guitar and there
was me on the guitar and then
washboard, and we would play
John Henry, that classic country blues song. So there was this other recording we released after,
I mean, he released it on his album. I did a collaboration. And for now, I have some stuff ready,
sort of. I mean, not ready. I have some songs, I just need to work on them a little bit more and
find some time to record. It's kind of a bit hard to record during the summer because once the
gigs pick up, it's hard. I would like to record something with the double bass and the washboard,
like a trio, so there's a lot more logistics in that. But yes, definitely I have some new original stuff
that I’ve been working on. So yes, maybe after the summer looking to work on it and try to find
some time to record and release something.

BiTS: Let's go back again for a bit. Why did you choose to call yourself Lone Bear?

LB: Lone Bear, is an indigenous Native American name. I met a guy in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
His name was Lone Bear, his surname actually and because we sort of looked a bit similar, as I'm
from Brazil, I have also a little bit of an indigenous look, and him as well. So a lot of people thought

that we were brothers, and they would call him Lone Bear, and then people sometimes called
me Lone Bear. So I thought, well, that sounds cool as a blues name and it would also make it
easier for people, so that became my name because I used to use my own name, but a lot of people
wouldn't really understand and would always have a mistake or misspelling when they would
make a post for a gig or doing publicity, my name would always be wrong, the spelling. So it came
about the right time, let's say, and also at the time I was playing a lot of solo gigs, I thought Lone
Bear also would go well because of that.

BiTS: Are you being successful as far as you're concerned in this country or in the UK, are you
getting gigs and that sort of thing?