I had a great time interviewing Jeb Brady for the mature Musician T.V. Show. Jeb is a fine artist working in watercolors and oils in addition to being a professional singer and performer. You will be able to see some of Jeb’s performances on the Mature Musician channel on YouTube. Michael

MH: You are an artist and a musician

JB: I probably started with art as a child. I was always singing, so art is something I’ve done all my life.

MH: The art that you brought today is about music. Do you do art about other subjects?

JB: I do a lot of other art. Music is a big part of my art but it’s not the major part of it. I paint a lot of still life work, a lot of figurative work, and landscape. I teach watercolor painting and that has more to do with landscape than it does with musicians. I try to sketch all the time, so since I’m often in musical venues. Musicians have become an integral part of my work.

MH: Is there any particular kind of music you like more than another?

JB: I’m a blues musician primarily though I do play all kinds of other different music. Roots music of all kinds is what I’m into. I love jazz and country music and also reggae.

MH: That would be a good combination, country reggae.

JB: There’s a band that does that

MH: Could we see one of your paintings?

JB: This one is of Howlin’ Wolf. I call this one “Wolf in the Streets”. It has a kind of 1960’s look to it. I love the Wolf and we’re going to one of his songs on the MM show. Anyone who’s familiar with the blues knows that Howlin’ Wolf is one of the greats in the world.

MH: What is this other painting? Who is this?

JB: That’s Bukka White, called Booker T. Washington White. He was a delta slide guitarist and he did some time on the Parchman Farm, a famous (or infamous) prison on the Delta. He developed a fantastic mournful style of singing and slide guitar playing. He happens to be B.B. King’s cousin which is one of the claims to fame for him these days. B.B supposedly was trying to mimic his sound when he started playing guitar, but since he didn’t play slide, he played electric guitar, he came out with a different sound, but it was based on Bukka’s sound.

MH: Parchman Farm reminds me of Mose Allison.

JB: He (Mose) did a song about the Parchman Farm and he’s a Mississippian too.

MH: It’s an interesting thing to see how the music and the art play combine with each other.

JB: They play off of each other. There was a time when I was advised that I had to pick a career of one or the other and I just never could decide. It was too hard and I’m glad I didn’t. They both have such an important part of my life that I can’t imagine not doing either of them.

MH: I’ve been to some of your art shows and the work is just wonderful. It was great to be able to play music with you and be surrounded by all the wonderful art.

JB: I try to combine the two when I can. Sometimes we chase people out of the art show for the music.

MH: There are blues musicians in these paintings as we know and I have seen your show on the history of the blues. Could you talk about that show a little bit?

JB: We did three installments at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage of our “History of the Blues” show and what we like to do is more or less go in a chronological order where we start with the earliest recorded blues and then bring it forward in time to contemporary electric blues. I am a big fan of some of the early recorded forms; Ragtime. Mississippi Delta Blues, early Texas Blues, all those are near and dear to my heart and I like to perform them when I can. We found a context where we could do that, to introduce people to more obscure forms of the blues and also play forms that their more familiar with.

MH: So there’s something for everybody.

JB: Something for everybody in those shows and that’s really a lot of fun. It gives me a chance to expound about the blues. I love to talk about the blues. I think there’s a fascinating lore that goes along with it.

MH: It’s the story of the country.

JB: It is. It’s the American story.

MH: It’s a very educational program too.

JB: I hope people come away from it learning something and are also entertained

MH: Thank you for talking to us today Jeb.

Back to Top

Click here to give us your feedback