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It was an early age. I was about seven years old. I saw some of my neighbours in the backyard. It
happened to be Al 'TNT' Braggs' brother, James Braggs and they were practising guitar, so I was
kind of obsessed with it and my mum bought me one. Well, actually all of the people on my side that
we called uncles were actually musicians that played with her and one was Adolphus Sneed. He was
the bandleader and he gave me guitar lessons for a while. Sent me to school for a while to take
guitar lessons.
BiTS:
Who were you listening to then?
AJBJ:
At a young age, I was listening to whoever I could
see on television, guitar players and country
guitar players and The Ventures and I was listen-
ing to ironically, Freddie King (left) who several
years later I ended up playing with.
BiTS:
Well, I hear sounds of Freddie King in what you
play. I also hear sounds of T-Bone Walker. Were
you a fan of T-Bone Walker?
AJBJ:
Oh, yeah, I actually met him through Freddie
when I was a kid. When I was about 16 hanging
around with Freddie King, doing gigs on the
weekend and I actually met T-Bone Walker, Big
Joe Turner and Lowell Fulson and actually in
those days Finis Tasby was the bass player with
Freddie King.
BiTS:
You started to play with Freddie when you were really quite young. What age were you when you
started?
AJBJ:
Well, I was actually 16 when I met Freddie and started playing gigs on the weekend and he would
come and ask my mom could I go play at different gigs on the weekends, so I started at an early age
playing with him. I didn't know I could play at that time, but I guess I could.
BiTS:
Did you go on tour with him?
AJBJ:
Yeah, well later after a stint I signed a contract with Bobby Patterson and the Mustangs and we
recorded different songs for Abnak Records. Then later I re-joined Freddie and that's when I started
touring with him and he and Leon Russell had collaborated, and we were doing the big tours,
stadiums and stuff. I played with Freddie off and on for about ten years.
BiTS:
