Written interview with Blues and Jazz guitarist RandyLee Riviere.
Jazz Blues European Union: – Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with Jazz Blues EU. Tell us about your music. When did you start performing?
Randy Lee Riviere: – Thegenesis of my music was the 1970’s … some 1960’s. This eraimpacted me most in these ‘formative years’. My guitar workevolved into Lead Guitar, and I did that in lots of the bands Iplayed with in those days. I started writing ‘songs’ probably inthe late 70’s when I was basically a young naïve kid. Those tunessucked of course but that’s where the process began and became moreand more of my focus over time.
Rockand Roll in the 70’s was hard and loud. I had all the gear withhuge output and that’s what I did. Perhaps my hearing loss now wasa product of some of that!
Isuppose my most important influences were the Beatles, Cream, LedZeppelin, Ten Years After, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blackfoot, Robin Trowerand lots of others. And of course Neil Young who really grew on memore and more over time, and ultimately led me into more acousticmusic and songwriting.
I don’t really listen to much Radio really. I let all these roots inside melead the way. Along with lyrics that mostly come from all theexperiences and work I’ve done over time. Lots and lots of stuff.
JBEU: – What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
RLR: – I grew up in Northern California and we were seriously rockin’ in those days.
JBEU: – What do you find most challenging about being an independent artist in today’s music industry?
RLR: – Coming up with the money required to make records. And all the stuff required to get the music to the folks … CD manufacturing, PR, Radio, Web Site and on and on. It’s really expensive. I have a little farm and we sell meat products to fancy restaurants. That’s about it other than savings … that’s supposed to be for ‘retirement’ which of course I’ll never do. I love to make records, and that’s what I want to do until I’m put in the ground. I’m very lucky to be working with great producers and musicians. The very best in the business really. They are well fed and have to be paid!
It’s rough. People don’t really buy CD’s anymore, or even download music. They’re streaming what they want and we get paid next to nothing for that. I don’t tour much anymore. It’s too expensive for me to do that and make records. I can’t afford it, so my priority is to make the albums. I love it.
JBEU: – What do you base your success on?
RLR: – Hard work. Really working my songs hard to pull the truth out of whatever is on my mind with the tune I’m piecing together. Putting ‘scratch’ recordings together to help the guys in the studio get the song’s vibe just right.
Getting a great producer in place. They get us to the coolest most appropriate studio to work in and bring in all the best players that will fit the vibe the best. I worked with Tom Hambridge on my last album ‘Concrete Blues’ and we’re working on another. Tom is amazing. He makes the songs ‘ring like a bell’ and mixes and masters the project himself. He’s also a killer drummer. Drums are like everything to me with this harder blues rock music. And he’s simply among the very best in this world. I’m blessed to be working with him. We’re about the same age with many of the same influences; he really gets these songs. Tom is also a wonderful songwriter, and we are actually co-writing. Something I have very rarely done in the past.
JBEU: – Can you talk about your experiences collaborating with other artists or musicians? How does it influence your creative process?
RLR: – I’ve been really blessed to have the honor of working with great, great people throughout my career. They just make the songs pop. They are everything and I deeply thank them all.
JBEU: – What was your latest musical release?
RLR: – Concrete Blues
JBEU: – Do you have any news to share? Could you share the story behind your latest new CD Randy Lee Riviere – Concrete Blues and what inspired its creation?
RLR: – In addition to my life in music, I’m a wildlife biologist and have worked in various capacities in this field over time. I’m retired from that now and am focusing on my little farm and music.
I love the American natural landscape, and it’s extremely important to me. But it has been impacted really hard in countless areas by economical priorities, thoughtless habitat loss, machines, developers, and etc., etc. Arguably the biggest impact on native habitat in western America involves the construction of dams. Just about every river out here has been dammed at least once. Dams just kill rivers, and most of the habitat values associated with them. Fish, waterbirds, mammals … everything. Riparian areas are among the most diverse and important habitats that exist … until they’re dammed. There are so many examples of what I’m talking about here … the Colorado, Columbia, Sacramento, Kings, and San Joaquin river systems are among the most important. A really good book to read about all this is “Cadillac Desert” by Marc Reisner. It is the ‘go to’ narrative of the ridiculous history of water management in the American West. Nearly all the water has gone to the development of Los Angelos, Phoenix/Tucson, Las Vegas, monocultural agriculture and hydropower use. Our wonderful government entity The Bureau of Reclamation was responsible for building all these structures … Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Dam, Sacramento Dam and on and on.
“Concrete Blues” was originally called “Reclamation Blues”, but that title was a bit too cumbersome I thought.
Tom Hambridge and I are presently working on a new album … probably with a focus on Southern/Blues/Rock with a tinge of Americana. That stuff is what I’m tending to come up with right now. But an album will become this living breathing thing. You have to let it breathe. In other words, We’ll know what we have when the dust settles.
JBEU: – How do you approach the process of songwriting, and are there any specific themes or emotions you tend to explore in your music?
RLR: – Songs just happen, on their own. I can’t explain it. I’ll sit down with a guitar and out comes whatever comes out at the time. I’ll look at that for awhile and try to make sense out of it. Once I have, then I write that story, and that story has to be true to the genesis of the song. It has to be the truth, not a watered down version of it or a big effort to try to make it cute. It is what it is and I just hone it to communicate that. Hopefully in clever ways that can help it reach out to the folks. I prefer to never tell someone what the song is about. It really needs to be about whatever it is to the listener. Themes often reach people a different way than they do to me. What it means to me is captured in a way that’s important to me. That process may go in a different direction to the listener and I think that’s very important. When you look at a painting don’t you try to make sense of it … let it make sense to you … a product of your own life and experiences?
JBEU: – As an indie musician, how do you navigate the balance between creative freedom and commercial appeal?
RLR: – I write songs for myself. What makes sense to me and is the truth. I don’t write songs for anyone else nor any other entity. They are what they are, and they are the truth to me.
JBEU: – What role does technology and social media play in promoting your music and connecting with your audience?
RLR: – These days it’s important to reach folks via the media/platforms they use to listen to music. I’m old school and all this stuff is a moneyless often ridiculous slog to me. I like to use a quote from the character “Wednesday” on that show contrived by Tim Burton. “I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation.” Lol.
JBEU: – Could you describe a memorable live performance experience or tour that has had a lasting impact on you and your music?
RLR: – We were playing at a somewhat intimate venue down in Prescott, Arizona. We were doing my old tune “Old Kentucky”, the only ¾ waltz I’ve ever done. This beautiful 20-something lady walked right up front and put a 20 in the tip jar … I’m really embarrassed but I totally lost where I was in the song … a moment of cerebral amnesia brought on by the thrill of it all, I guess. God Bless her. That was about a half tank of gas then!
During that same gig, this guy got up and started heading for the door … of course you hate to see that. We fired up my tune “Dependence Day” and he stopped, turned around and sat back down. This is one of those things that keeps you doing it.
JBEU: – In an era of streaming platforms, how do you feel about the changing landscape of music consumption and its impact on independent musicians?
RLR: – Again, I’m old school so all of this is largely new to me, and my natural inclination is to avoid it. But you can’t. It seems like you need this big melting pot of all of it. But it would need to be built into something that generates some kind of income. People want music right? Well, unless you’re just hooked on major label artists flush with cash, you get us. And we are not getting paid. It costs a lot, a lot, to make music well. It becomes unsustainable and it eventually just goes away for this reason. The music world is a sad world now I’m sorry to say. For independents for sure.
JBEU: – Musicians often have a close relationship with their fanbase. How do you engage with your fans and build a dedicated community around your music?
RLR: – It’s tough, but we’re working on it. Facebook is a way for sure. Radio gets you DJ fans which leads to listener fans. Streaming can some, but largely not. Interacting with folks like yourself helps a lot. We tend to always get good reviews, that are listed on the website. This certainly gets attention.
JBEU: – How can fans find you? Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
RLR: – Via the website for sure. Facebook. We’re in the process of getting more You Tube material up. We’re working on it, but it always involves bringing on more hired guns, which of course is another layer of expense … and again, it’s rough trying to pay for all of this.
To my followers I will say thank you. It’s a thrill when people are digging what you do. Fan support is everything in this business, but primarily its good for the soul.
Interview by Olivia Peevas
