Credits for the video Interview with excerpts from the show :
Jay Ryan (Lead vocals, guitars) Paul Susen (Fiddle, Acoustic Mandolin, Electric Mandolin) Stéphane Missri (Guitars, Banjo, Lap Steel Guitar, Background Vocals) Marten Ingle (Bass, Double Bass, Background Vocals) Jean-Serge Karsky (Drums, Percussion, Washboard, Spoons)
Produced by Paul Bessone Stage manager and booking : Juan Carlos Melean Background images : Edith Gaudy, Irène Bessone
Thanks : Chris Drapier, Bernard Rousseau, Julien Vivante, Camille Leprieur, Barbara Hébrard, Lucas Vivante, Lucile Mikaelian, Stéphane Seddoh, Jean-Pierre Vivante, Jules Roulendes and students of the Paris music business school (Institut des Métiers de la Musique | IMM)
«… Jay and the Cooks explores the roots of the blues upstream on the mythic river “Up the Mississippi” is captivating and authentic.» – Music Waves
«… it’s a 100% American menu offering up authentic blues to dirty rock n’ roll and folk songs concocted by players who handle with prodigious skill guitars, banjo, lap steel, fiddle, mandolin, washboard …» – Pavillon 666
«… It’s warm and simple, just like we like it, a long way from complications and highbrow hubris, in the image of the man. An album sprinkled with covers / tributes, mixed with original numbers and even a song in French!…» – Songazine
«… It starts off with 100% pure blues! That’s followed up directly by a good old Rock n’ Roll track that affirms the lineage between the two musical worlds. Although coming from Irish immigrant roots this rowdy guy distills and swings 100% American inspired music…» – Paris Move
RADIO AIRPLAY
Collectif des Radio Blues – RAM05 – Cross Blues Station – RADIO BETON – Du Blues Sinon Rien – RADIO ARC EN CIEL – Electrick Shock – RADIO GRILLE OUVERTE – Crossroad – RADIO PORTUGAISE – L’Autre Monde – LIBELLULE FM – Highway55 – RADIO LIBERTAIRE – FREQUENCE AMITIE VESOUL – Rock En Stock – RADIO PULSAR – RADIO DECLIC – Declectic Jazz – RADIO COTEAUX – Blues Jean – RADIO FMR – Traffic 2 Rock – RBA FM Auvergne Limousin – Radio Blues Intense – Le Blues Café Live
Tyler and Jay’s friendship goes went back a long way. They both came from California in the region around Los Angeles. They were both born in the early 50’s. Tyler grew up in Hollywood and Jay in Long Beach. The they both changed regions and finally ran into each other in Austin, Texas in the 70’s.
Last year Tyler decided to come back to the mainland and we lost track of him for a while. In the end he found love again with the women of his life; finally settled down in Arizona, Tyler Jameson Barnes has just ended his travels.
I’m Really Glad I Met Her by Tyler Jameson Barnes
Well she used to love me then But she sure don’t love me now
Well she used to love me then But she doesn’t love me now
Well I wanted her to love me Any way and any how
Well she’s probably in a mental hospital Or locked down tight in jail
Well she’s probably in a mental hospital (you know, one of those institutions) Or locked down tight in jail
And if I had a dollar I wouldn’t go her bail
I’m on another road now baby Don’t think our paths are gonna cross
I’m on another road now baby Don’t think our paths are gonna cross
I’m really glad I met you Nothin’ ventured nothin lost
When I was in high school I played trombone in the Algonac Michigan High School marching band. In 1966 we were invited to march in the big parade in Chicago that brought together the best Marching bands from the area.
I didn’t even know that Muddy Waters was playing in a blues club that same night in the South Side. I didn’t even know he existed!
Jay Ryan – Photo Bernard Rousseau
Later my family moved to Elkhart, Indiana, which is even closer to Chicago. but I still hadn’t heard a thing about Muddy Waters, the real thing!
When I finally got ahold of a record and spun it on my record player in Texas at the age of 19 it changed my life.
In ‘75 I lived in Austin, Texas. Down there they mix it up. At the Armadillo Club they had every kind of band you could think of. In particular, there was Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen… they played rock-a-billy, blues, country, whatever, trucker songs….The Fabulous Thunderbirds played straight blues, Clifton Chenier form Louisiana played Zydeco at Antone’s every month…. all this music came from along the Mississippi.
From New Orleans up through the Delta, on to Memphis, Saint Louis, its tributaries (The Ohio and Chicago rivers) into Kentucky and Chicago, Nashville isn’t far, and well, Bob Dylan was born in the State where the river starts.
In 1998 I was at the Folk Alliance Music Conference in Memphis. We rented a big Cadillac and drove it across the Mississippi into Arkansas. It’s big, it’s dangerous, it’s muddy, the people that live along its banks are mostly poor, but it is one of the most stupendous sights and metaphors in the USA for many Authors.
This project is not trying to reproduce the same thing that has already be done by the greats. It’s a very personal take on and homage to the music that has influenced me and the band for our entire lives with a majority of original songs.
There’s no getting around it. I don’t come from Mississippi, I can’t and don’t want to sing like the guys from Clarksville, but the message they and the folks in Memphis and Nashville sent out to the world is what this is all about.
With this creation, I also wanted to give a good place to the literature. I contacted Greil Marcus who accepted that I integrate into the show extracts of « Mystery Train ». The Minnesota Historical Society Press also accepted that I insert passages of « A Stretch on the to river » by Richard Bissell. Also, you will hear short extracts of « Adventures of Huckleberry Finn » by Mark Twain in a traditional and improvised sound atmosphere.
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