Back in 2001 we received an album that became our album of the year. WELCOME was by USA blues/rock maestro Doyle Bramhall II and his band, Smokestack. On hearing it we quickly arranged an interview in London at the Borderline club where Doyle was appearing in one of his rare UK performances. WELCOME received virtually no media coverage here but in 2001 it easily outshone every album Shakenstir received and subsequently we’ve played several tracks from it during the Shakenstir radio sessions. Doyle also popped up on another album we’ve played extensively, Roger Waters’ IN THE FLESH live, where he has a key role as lead guitarist and vocalist. He is highly favoured by our own Eric Clapton and has appeared many times with Eric on live tours. After witnessing a stunning live performance at the Borderline, we met up with Doyle…

What were you listening to when you were growing up, and what music influenced you into your style of music and playing the guitar?

Early on, when I was about four years old, my dad starting taking me out to a lot of blues gigs that he was playing at, and some of those gigs may have been with Freddie King or Lightning Hopkins or Jimmie Vaughan… Stevie Ray Vaughan - they were actually in a band together. At one point it was my dad as singer/drummer, Stevie on bass, and Jimmy on guitar. So I was always surrounded by musicians, and they were obviously blues musicians as well. I grew up listening to Albert King, Otis Rush, Albert Collins, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watters and a lot of the Texas artists because I was from there and Texas is its own little country. I think that when you come from there you stay true to your Texas roots. I didn’t start expanding musically until later on when I started to get into bands like The Beatles and Jeff Beck, Cream, Blind Faith - those kind of things. I was also listening to a lot of soul and early funk. I mean from Sly Stone, Al Green and the Isley Brothers.

Do you have a favourite song you could pick from that period - a song that sticks out in your mind?

How Do You Mend A Broken Heart by Al Green. For a love song that was a pretty heavy song back then I would have to say. To listen to an awesome funk groove, I would have to say In Time by Sly & The Family Stone - that’s probably the most mind-blowing funk song I’ve ever heard.

So at what point did you say ‘I want to do this, I can do this?’

Sort of thought I would always do it, but it didn’t surface heavily until I was about thirteen. That’s when I picked up the guitar, and by the age of fifteen I was playing gigs while still at school. I remember I was making about $300-$500 a weekend playing my music and at one point I was being hired for so many gigs that I had to make a choice: It seemed it would be either school or playing because it was getting in the way of me making money and I wasn’t doing so well in algebra at the time! So I decided to stick with the guitar.