Not unlike the Joad family in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath the band known as Bobby “Blooze Dawg” and the Bad Ass Blooze Hounds are in the process of relocating to California from their native Oklahoma. Their leader, who really likes being called “Blooze Dawg”, is a very creative speller and a very candid individual who shared with me his not so unique blues odyssey. We sat down last week at a Santa Monica, California micro brew pub where Jones, from behind a brand new pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers, told me how he became a bluesman for life.

David Mac (DM): Hey Bobby... Do you prefer to be called Bobby or...

Bobby “Blues Dawg” Jones (BJ): I prefer to be called, Blooze Dawg.

DM: We’re already off to a bad start because under no circumstances will I refer to you as Blues Dawg. Sorry...not going to happen.

BJ: Yeah, the lady over at the Possum Patch Blues Society (PPBS) said you were kind of a prick.

DM: They have ladies at the PPBS?

BJ: Well they’re not really ladies in the strictest sense of the word but the president is Da Blues Queen. But she spells it...

DM: Oh Bobby, I can guess how she spells “blues”

BJ: Don’t interrupt me. She spells Queen, “K-w-e-e-n.”

DM: Of course she does. Where in Southern California are you living?

BJ: We are still living in Oklahoma. I am just out here scouting things out. Santa Monica seems kind of nice. Is it expensive?

DM: No, it’s not. A lot of people don’t like living this close to the beach. Let’s talk about your musical background. Do you come from a musical family?

BJ: My parents were into all kinds of music. Quiet Riot, Def Leopard, Motley Crew, you name it.

DM: Van Halen....

BJ: When I said you name it, I didn’t really mean it.

DM: Sorry...did these 80’s hair bands have an impact on your playing.

BJ: Hair bands? I was raised by my Aunt. She listened to the Eagles.

DM: Was this in Oklahoma?

BJ: I don’t know. I was pretty young back then.

DM: Alrighty then. When and under what circumstances did you start playing music?

BJ: I played in a rock band all through high school. We played dances that type of thing. We were kind of am AC/DC cover band called, BD/ED. See what we did is we took the letters....

DM: I get it.

BJ: Smart ass.

DM: Thanks...it’s better than being a dumb ass.

BJ: We should probably keep the name calling to a minimum.

DM: That minimum I suppose by your way of thinking is me calling you, Blooze Dawg and you calling me a prick and a smart ass.

BJ: Yeah, that’ll work.

DM: Moving on, where did your rock music take you?

BJ: Will Rogers High School where I met my future wife. We got married and had ourselves a kid.  

DM: Not in that order I suspect.

BJ: Of course not. What it did though is really make me take a look at myself. It was then I realized I needed a haircut and shave. Then my wife wanted me to get a real job. So I became a software analyst and did web design on the side. I did that until our kid got all growed up and shit and I decided to take up music again. I felt I was too old to play rock so it dawned on me I could play blues music. I know three chords. I mean how hard can it be?

DM: I take it you don’t want me to answer that question?

BJ: No.

DM:  Do you remember when you first heard blues music?

BJ: I do. It feels like it was just yesterday but it was actually a few weeks ago. This is a good story.

DM: I’ll be the judge of that.

BJ: I was at this fancy bar and grill kind of place and it had ballet parking.

DM: Do you mean valet parking?

BJ: I don’t know but they had guys who parked the cars for you and they wore ballet outfits, so there might have been some confusion there. Anyway, this one guy grabs my claim check, does one of those pirouettes and leaps across the parking lot. He was really quite good, by the way. He comes back. I hop in my truck and speed off. I was kind of plastered and was almost all the way home before I realized it wasn’t my truck.

DM:  What was your first clue that you were not driving your own vehicle?

BJ: It had a full tank of gas.

DM: Was there anything else?

 BJ: It had other people’s shit in the cab, including a CD that wasn’t mine. It was Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Greatest Hits. I put it in the CD player which, come to think of it, didn’t look anything like my CD player. It was the only CD he had and the truck was real nice, so I listened to the CD non-stop for the next several weeks before I went back to the restaurant and returned the truck. I fell in love with blues, well at least that CD. I knew right then and there, I would become a bluesman for life.

DM: Serendipity...

BJ: No, I just have a bad cough.  

DM: Uh-Huh....you said, “bluesman for life”, but you were already 50 years old by the time of this epiphany.

BJ: Man, you think I have serendipity and epiphany. Like I said it is just a cough, relax.  

DM: I am just concerned. Anyway, at the age of 50 you became a bluesman for life.  

BJ: Yes I did. I called all my old buddies from high school. They too all had kids who grew up and had some spare time to turn themselves into bluesmen for life, like me. Well actually, our harmonica player and vocalist, Richard Whistler never had kids or got married, but our bass player, Phil Buttrey and our drummer Jimmy Stix had kids.

DM: Who are some of your influences on guitar?

BJ: Well let’s see, there is Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck of course. Robin Trower, the list goes on. I have them written down. (pulling out a folded piece of paper and putting on a pair of reading glasses). Lets see...there are the three Kings.

DM: Can you name any of their first names?

BJ: One of them is named B. B. I am pretty sure. I can never remember the other two. There is Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush or Otis Redding I can’t remember.

DM: These are huge influences though.

BJ: HUGE!

DM: Go on. You’ve got a pretty big list there.

BJ: T-Bone Waters, Robert Johnson, The More James

DM: The More James?

BJ: He is a Mexican dude who goes by El More James but this is America man and I think we all need to learn to speak American. Anyway, there is his brother Skip James, Charlie Patton who had something to do with World War 2, Albert Collins, Gatemouth Brown, Stevie and Jimmie Ray Vaughan...

DM: Are the Ray Vaughans related?

BJ: Yes they are first cousins. It is why Robert Vaughan was known as the man from Uncle.

DM: I see. Anybody else...

BJ: Yes.... Leadbelly

DM: Leadbelly.... REALLY?

BJ: I’m not kidding that’s what it says, Leadbelly. Shit, I lost my place.

DM: That’s OK, I have heard enough.

BJ: Thanks, I was starting to run out of names and I have a hard time reading my own handwriting.

DM:  Tell me about what kind of gigs have you been playing?

BJ: Well we joined the PPBS of course and paid them seventy five dollars and they put us on their monthly calendar and book us at their monthly jams. They want to send us to the IBC’s in Memphis. We are real excited. Anyway, right now we have a regular Tuesday gig at the Phat Kat Lounge opening for Jose Bossanova. He is a dude who plays Jobim’s music through a stack of Marshalls. He really rocks. I’m not kidding.  

DM: Bobby, are you familiar with Jobim’s music?

BJ: No. Should I add him to my list of huge influences?

DM: Sure, why not. Let’s back up a minute though. You have only been playing blues music for a few weeks and you are being promoted by your local blues society.

BJ: Yeah, it’s great. Any band can join. If you either play blues music or have the word “blues” in the name of your band, you are golden. We really didn’t know if we could learn to play blues so we hedged our bets. Anyway they are real cool with everything as long as you pay them and let Da Blooze Kween have her picture taken with the band so she can post it on Facebook. You also have to let her get into any of your gigs for free.  

DM: Let’s talk about the new album. Most bands have to really struggle to get a self produced album made but you guys have a CD out already after only being together for a few weeks.

BJ: We are really on the fast track. Our bass player Phil was in a pretty bad farming accident where his testicles were damaged beyond repair and had to be removed. He is getting some pretty large disability checks, as well as a huge settlement from the farmer who owned the sheep.

DM: That’s a shame but I have to ask...oh hell, I don’t want to know. The new album entitled, Live at the First Street Bar and Grill isn’t really a blues album per se.

BJ: Oh man, that’s what is wrong with you blues purists. You just need to expand your minds man.

DM:  I’ll try and work on that Bobby. I have heard the record. You do rock covers such as Wild Thing by the Trogs.

BJ: Let me stop you right there. I knew you had no idea what you are talking about. We do the Jimi Hendrix version of that song.

DM: Excuse me, my bad. What else do we have here? You do, Walk, Don’t Run by the Ventures.

BJ: Yes, but my guitar part sounds like one of those Kings we talked about. I don’t remember which one. I am a bluesman deep down in my soul. You saw the photos of me on the album cover and in the press kit I sent you.

DM: I meant to ask you about that. In every shot you have a very pained expression on your face.

BJ: Somebody told me that is called an “affectation” real bluesmen do when they play guitar. You should have known that Dave.  

DM:  Thanks for being patient with me Bobby. Your press kit lists the songs you do live. The list reads as follows:

1)      Cross Cut Saw

2)      Rock Me Baby

3)      Pride and Joy

4)      Born to be Wild

5)      Hoochie Coochie Man

6)      Little Red Rooster

7)      Mannish Boy

8)      Born Under a Bad Sign

9)      The Thrill is Gone

10)   (I got my) Mojo Working

You only know ten songs?

BJ: We don’t know any of these songs yet, except Born to be Wild but these are the ones we want to learn first. We are trying to do songs that haven’t been covered by other bands, but for now we are sticking with the material you hear on our debut album. Like I said, we are very well financed, so we are running ads in all the magazines and they said they would write reviews on our new album.

DM: Yes, I have one of those reviews right here, it says, “Bobby ‘Blooze Dawg’ Jones plays deliciously, magically, smoothly, heavenly, mesmerizingly.” It goes on to say, “He is an incendiary guitar virtuoso.” It must be pretty humbling to pay for such effusive praise.

BJ: I am very proud of that one.

DM:  What’s next for Bobby “Blooze Dawg” Jones and the Bad Ass Blooze Hounds?

BJ: We have had several band meetings and we have been discussing changing the spelling of my last name from Jones with an “s” to “Jonez” with a “z”.

DM: Shrewd....

BJ: I thought there would be no more name calling. Anyway, we are also starting to realize even though it sounds cool to call ourselves a blues band, we really don’t dig the music all that much. Our publicist, which is our blues society, who by the way, did I tell you are Keepin’ the Blues Alive, don’t seem to mind that we don’t play any blues, so why mess with a good thing.

DM: How do they keep the blues alive Bobby?

BJ:  They are great. They sell t-shirts, hats, buttons, bumper stickers and they host free open jams. They do it all. They are real passionate about the blues. Their other slogan is, “Nuthin’ but the Blues.” They spell Nothing....

DM: Yea I know. I know. Where does the money go from the revenue generated by the membership and merch sales?

BJ: This is the beauty part. It goes right back to the PPBS. So they can make more merch and keep on “Keepin’ the Blues Alive.”  

DM: I am getting a little choked up. That is such a beautiful thing. Maybe someday they can win a “Keepin the Blues Alive” award. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, but back to my original question about what’s next for the band.

BJ: Oh yeah....we are going to make another album of rock material and call it, New Blues for the New Millennium or something like that. When anybody asks what this has to do with blues music, we will say, hang on...I have this all written down. It’s great. You’ll love this. (Bobby then pulls out another crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, puts on his reading glasses again and clears his throat.) “All music comes from the blues. Blues music is like any art form. It has to grow to survive. The music must evolve. We are pushing the music forward in the new millennium. We are going to be the vanguards of a new blues revolution like the Muddy and the Wolf and the Dixon were a long time ago.”  Pretty good, huh Dave. It beats the hell out of having to actually to learn how to play blues music.

DM: This then leads to a couple of obvious questions. If you don’t understand, or as you as you said, don’t really care for this music all that much, why are you interested in “evolving the music” as you say or why even discuss blues music at all?

BJ: Good question Dave. I thought you might ask that. It is because we have to give blues lip service so we can sell CDs and get booked at blues festivals. We know we can’t get over in the rock world. That is a serious business. The blues world on the other hand is pretty pathetic. They let anybody hoodwink them and then thank the person for doing so. I mean who thought we could get a CD reviewed in a national magazine? Who thought we could get a promoter for seventy five tax deductable dollars a year? Heck, we are even going to be the subject of a cover story in a monthly magazine out here in California. That only cost a grand. We are finalists in a harmonica contest and Richard our harp man can’t even play harmonica. He just walks out on stage with his brief case opens it up and it has all these harmonicas in it. He just sets it on a stool and grabs one and holds it in one hand. He plays a pretty mean tambourine though. What was your second question Dave?  

DM: You answered it already. Thanks very much.  I don’t feel too good Bobby. I think I am going to be sick.

BJ: You don’t look too good Dave. Hey listen, I got to wrap this up anyway. I have a date with Destiny.

DM: I am guessing Destiny is that woman leaning against the bar, chewing gum with the leopard print mini skirt and the white go go boots.

BJ: How did you know?

DM: Just a lucky guess Bobby.

BJ: If you want, I can introduce you her to you. For twenty bucks she will...

DM:  Stop right there Bobby. That’s very thoughtful of you, but let’s wrap this up. Your “date” keeps looking at her watch.

BJ: She never takes that watch off Dave and I mean never. She is great at telling time. She also wants to be a blues singer. We may put her on our next CD. She has never sung professionally. Although sometimes she makes noises that kind of remind me of Janis Joplin. She has lots of money so she is being promoted by Da Blooze Kween. I just made a decision we are going to be called, Bobby “Blooze Dawg” Jonez and The Bad Ass Blooze Hounds featuring Destiny Z. My favorite letter in the alphabet is “Z”.

DM:  Would you go now.... please. I’m begging you Bobby...GO.

BJ: One quick question though Dave. When is this interview going to go on-line?

DM: April 1st 2013.

BJ: Isn’t that April Fool’s Day.

DM: You’re a genius Bobby.