Whether Jimmy Thackery headlines a festival in South
Dakota or jams for hours in one of numerous blues bars
that dot the musical landscape, he'll always unleash
an intense volley of rockin' blues guitar guaranteed
to leave crowds emotionally spent. His double edged
guitar dynamics allow him to fire off tracer missiles,
bend a note so it will fit under a limbo bar, run off
dive bomber riffs, and find space within the trembling
of one stinging note. "I put all my senses on hold
and find the zone and follow what's inside. There's
an electricity from your mind to your heart to your
fingers. You just try and remember to breathe."
He's
one of the few blues guitarists who learned first hand
from the masters of the blues, not off a blues record
or DVD. Though most associate Jimmy with his 15 years
as the co-founder of the Nighthawks, he ended his time
with them in 1987. Since then, Jimmy has been on the
road as a solo musician for 15 years doing nearly 300
shows a year proving each night that he is still the
guitar powerhouse in the blues.
Thackery
has lived the life of a true road warrior; he's absorbed
the artistic lessons of life and filtered them into
his guitar playing and song writing. To get where he
is today, Jimmy has journeyed a highway of life filled
with a series of twists and turns. He met all the right
people and they have had a permanent influence on him.
It
was Thackery's time on stage with Muddy Waters that
is branded deep within his musical soul. "Muddy
was one of those guys who was constantly encouraging.
He never told you what to do, but he always told you
what you were doing wrong. He never minced words about
that.
"The first time on stage with Muddy, I was in such
awe of him that I just kept my eyes and ears open and
just picked up on everything he did. It was the dynamics
they had that became so ingrained in us. We heard it
on the records and then stood on stage and saw how it
worked."
Thackery
left the Nighthawks in 1987 because he wanted the opportunity
to write and put newer material into the sets. First
he formed a six piece R&B band, the Assassins, an
all-star R&B, funk band from the DC area, and recorded
three albums with them. Then, in 1992, Thackery put
together his three piece band called the Drivers to
highlight his explosive guitar and hit the blues highway.
"The
1990's were a fabulous time. We were working our butts
off doing" close to 300 shows a year. The irony
is that was one of the reasons I'd left the Nighthawks,
I was tired of working so much and not having a life
outside the music. When you're out on your own, you'd
better rise to the occasion. So I found myself back
in the 300 night niche. What made that satisfying is
that it was my ship and I was the captain of it. We
were doing material that I was writing. We were doing
arrangements that I came up with." Whenever Thackery
plays live, a guitar stand props up four guitars and
Thackery will announce to the audience, I'm gonna use
all of them tonight!"
His
recordings are no different. In that time, he's recorded
eight discs for Blind Pig.
His
first record, Empty Arms Motel, was released in 1992.
"That one still seems to be the favorite of a lot
of people. I went into Kingsnake Records and rattled
off some covers and originals. Halfway through, Bob
Greenlee called Jerry Del Guidance at Blind Pig about
the sessions." From that session, Thackery began
his years with Blind Pig.
In
1993 he followed up with Sideways In Paradise, a down
home, laid back acoustic duet with John Mooney. Then,
in 1994 Jimmy recorded Trouble Man, with Memphis producer
Jim Gaines. That began their five record association.
Wild Night Out, a 1995 live recording, Drive To Survive
in 1996, Switching Gears in 1998, and Sinner Street,
which added a sax to Thackery's music in 2000. "I
think that record, Trouble Man, turned the corner for
me because I had a real producer and I was doing original
songs. That gave me a direction. Jim and I did a lot
of projects together. He did everything through Sinner
Street. I was learning so much by watching him as a
producer that by the end of Sinner Street, we both came
to the realization that I was ready. I was telling him
what was going on. He knew that I'd lost my training
wheels."
After
leaving Blind Pig, Thackery has released and produced
two of his own records, We Got It and True Stories,
on Telarc and two collaborations on Telarc with Tab
Benoit, Whiskey Store and Whiskey Store Live. And there
was the critically acclaimed reunion with his old friend
David Raitt on Blue Rock It"
All
this has lead to a new Jimmy Thackery. Because every
record is more about originals than covers, Jimmy traveled
to Nashville to work out his songs with some of the
best. This is not a Jimmy Thackery goes country. This
is Jimmy Thackery rocks the blues. "I think True
Stories on Telarc is my best song writing to date. For
the newest Telarc project I went to Nashville to work
with Gary Nicholson. I wanted to go and see how the
guys in Nashville go about writing songs. We wrote this
from the ground up. I came in with hooks and ideas and
lines. I didn't want to be overly prepared. I wanted
to see how they build these songs lyrically. What you
do with Gary Nicholson is throw out a hook or line and
take off from there and you don't leave that garage
until you're done with a song."
Jimmy
describes what writing is like for him. "Inspiration
can come at any time. It might be a lyric first or it
might be a musical lick first. It might just be a form
thing. In my world, a lyric tends to be a musical road
map. It tends to set up the music I hear in my head.
The cadence of a lyric tends to suggest the way to go
on the guitar. There was one tune we labored over with
a certain groove and feel and it wasn't rising to the
occasion. At the very last second, Gary and I said,
"Why not just rock this thing out. We completely
switched gears and totally changed the patterns and
chords and went for something completely different.
We did it in one take. It's the first song on the record
and it just kicks ass."
And
there is Thackery's guitar. "There are three guitar
instrumentals on this record because I wanted to make
a guitar oriented record. The guitar is still very rootsy
stuff that is very rooted in blues. But also rooted
in surf and spy music. I'm a sucker for that straight
eight beat, twangy, minor scale instrumental stuff.
The first thing every body did when they got a guitar
in the early 1960's was to play the music of the Ventures.
I'm still staying true to those roots. Blues is well
represented, but so is all that other music I heard.
But so is all the other music I listened to."
To
make the best record possible, Jimmy hired some of the
best musicians Nashville had to offer. It's no coincidence
that many of these names also work with fellow blues
rocker, Delbert McClinton. Jimmy notes that even though
it has a Delbert feel, it still has all of his integrity.
"Maybe because of the way it's laid out and the
common musicians, it will strike a chord with fans who
don't normally buy my records."
To
support his newest project, Thackery's ready to do the
road time. "I started thinking that I missed the
days when I was just a full blown, kick ass trio. I
thought it would be fun to go back to that. I did keep
Mark Stutso, my drummer of 15 years. He knows what direction
I'm going in before I do."
Between
constant road work with his own band, producing the
latest record by his Arkansas friends, the Cate Brothers,
recording Whiskey Store with Tab Benoit and touring
in support and playing various Nighthawks reunions,
Thackery's plate is overflowing, and that's exactly
how Thackery likes life - Overflowing.
http://www.jimmythackery.com/
