Page 36 - Radiodowntown online Dec 2022

wylie harold
BB King told me... Son, the blues ain’t nothing but a good man feelin’ bad.
How did you get interested in performing?
I was 9 yrs old, and had just started to listen to records, the big 33 lp’s, on a old portable record player we had. The only record I had to play was a Perry Como album. I focused on a song called, “Hot Diggadee Dogdiagetti boom what you do to me”, pretty corny.
On a winter night on Feb. 9 in 1964, it was a Sunday evening, my mother called me into the living room, and said; “come quick son, you have to see this”. I had my PJ’s on, you know those that had the feet in them. Anyway I stood right in front of the TV and watched in awe, as the Beatles made there first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show . I stood there totally mesmerized as I watched them, something had changed, something inside of me knew right then and there at 9 yrs old, thats what i had to do, to be, a musician. The next day my father took me to a record store, and I bought the 45 rpm single hit, She Loves You Ya, Ya, Ya. I picked up my mother’s guitar, and with a little help from her, my musical journey had begun.
A set of drums came for Christmas that year, so between drums and guitar is where it all started, on Feb. 9th, 1964.
Who are your influences?
I was first influenced by the Beatles, the Stones, and then Elvis. Later in years, I became a fan of Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, etc., and bands with a harder edge. Then slowly finding my way to such artists as Sonny Terry and Brownie Magee, and Johnny Winter.
The Blues had found me, but I was also influenced by my parent’s love for classic country and right to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who I still enjoy to this day, with a much more mature outlook.
Your accomplishments so far?
To this day I have had a Country music single called, “Keep Those cards and Letters comin”, released in the early 90’s. As well as did a vinyl album on 33 rpm, with a classic rock group from the country, Southern Rock Band I had called “Halfton Live”, at the world Famous Rockcliff Hotel. It was a great album of covers and i had a couple originals on it as well.
Since then, I released a couple CD’s, that were just covers, until spring this year, after many years of working on a all original Blues and R&B album, I was able to get it out while Covid was still at its peak. We started it before Covid, so the last 6 months was spent working on-line and through emails etc.
I have had the honor of sharing the stage with some greats over the years, such as Long John Baldry, which was an amazing experience, we didn’t know his songs, he was such a pro, he just showed us how they went in real time. AS well I opened for Johnny Winter, and hung out on his bus for a while, after the show, and a few other big names over my long career. They all taught me a little something I still carry in my playing to this day.
What are your plans for the future?
Looking ahead to the future, I am trying to move