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house. It was sort of my refuge. My father had a beautiful singing voice. He could
yodel [chuckles] like Eddy Arnold, the country singer. My father was much more

interested in American western swing music. My mother was interested in things
like opera and show tunes and Broadway, so among the many ways they clashed
[laughs].

BiTS: So how did the blues find you then?

LM: Oh, well, there was a band in Milwaukee when I was growing up called Short

Stuff. It was a guy who's still actually playing and still has a band, named Jim Liban,
and I used to sneak into their gigs underage
[laughs], and listen to that music, and also,

we were really rabid record collectors of
vinyl LPs. We had stacks of them in my house
at home growing up. So, I of course, carried
on the family tradition and I think my first

album was Johnny Winter and Muddy
Waters, Muddy Waters “Hard Again”. The
one that Johnny Winter had produced. I
played that album so much I wore the

grooves off it [laughs].

BiTS: That's wonderful.

LM: I had a chance to see Muddy Waters at
Oshkosh back in the day and it just

completely slayed me. So the first opportunity I had, I high tailed it down to Chicago.

BiTS: That's wonderful. Thank you very much for that. I read your bio on Wikipedia,
and I'm fascinated by the story that appears there where it says that some band
leader insulted you and that encouraged you to go and take a degree in music. What

on earth was the insult?

LM: Oh, he pointed his finger at me, and he said, blues singer the way some people
say a curse word. He said, “blues singer”. He didn't call me by my name. He pointed
at me with his finger, like the Wicked Witch of the West or something, and he said,

[deep voice] “BLUES SINGER”. Now, you know, in blues, jamming is part of what we
do. Improvisation is something that blues and jazz share and a good jazz artist has
a lot of blues in their playing. They understand playing behind the beat and the

sexiness and soul and sensuality of the music. We know that stuff. It's not just about
all the technicalities.

So, I was really nonplussed that this guy would use blues singer as a curse word
toward me. And also in the blues, when we jam, everybody plays. You point to

somebody, and they do a solo, and when they're finished, then you sing another verse
and point to somebody else, and this guy had this way where it was once you sing,
you're done. And I was like, oh, well, that's pretty stiff, but it was his stage. I am anger