For over thirty five years, JSP Records out of London has been one of the most important purveyors of American blues music in the world. Enjoy a conversation I had with the label's founder, president and guiding light, John Stedman.

David Mac (DM): Let’s talk a bit about your background and your earliest exposures to music.

John Stedman (JS): I was born in 1954 and grew up in Kent. Growing up in England in the 1960's I was exposed via the radio to a ton of sixties pop and rock. I also listened to the pirate stations. Kent is in the Southeast part of England and actually shares a border with France halfway across the English Channel, so I was able to hear music from the European mainland. Those stations played a far wider range of music.

DM: Do you remember the first time you heard the blues?

JS: I was fifteen. John Peel started slipping in blues tracks on his radio show in those days.

DM: Why don’t you give our readers who may not know John Peel a brief primer?

JS: He was a British journalist and broadcaster who lived in Dallas, Texas in the early 1960’s. He moved back here in the mid 60’s and had a pirate radio program before signing on with BBC 1. He was famous for his eclectic approach to music.

DM: He was to the UK what our border blasters were to us kids growing up on Southern California in those days.

JS: Exactly! From day one though I was interested in the sounds of those blues records, how they were made, the people behind them and the culture that created that music. When those American musicians came to England I would travel to London to see them play. 

DM: Do you remember who some of the artists were that you got to see live in those days?

JS: Absolutely...There was Eddie Burns, Eddie Taylor, Champion Jack Dupree, Baby Boy Warren, Snooky Pryor, Lightnin’ Slim. I saw B.B. King in concert. I saw Freddie King in concert. I also got to see Muddy (Waters) in 1974 at the 100 Club with that great early 70's band.

DM: How and when did the leap from fan to direct involvement with the blues business come about?

JS: It was in 1977. The stream of visiting bluesmen had stopped and I was looking for something to do with my life. It all seemed so simple. Bring in some guys who were already playing on the European mainland and have them tag on some English dates. The first was Billy Boy Arnold. A German agent sent him back home to Chicago via London. I remember I booked him into Dingwall’s in London. I also booked him at the famous punk club in Liverpool, Eric’s. Remember Dave, this was only twenty years or so after Billy Boy made those classic 1950's recordings. He was still so good.

DM: You had some success with Louisiana Red. Let’s talk about that experience.

JS: That’s right. There was real excitement on the scene when he showed up here. He was a true legend. The first show he did at the 100 Club. He was amazing, just deep, deep electric country blues. He then went on to become the artist I booked the most when I seriously got a touring circuit back together. The public loved him whether they were blues fans or not.

DM: In your view what was the reason for his universal appeal?

JS: His shows represented 100% raw energy and commitment. Every night with Red was different. I remember once I had him booked into a provincial folk club. The show was tantamount to Son House reincarnated. It was simply breathtaking. I think he was then unfairly dismissed by most blues writers and critics in America.

DM: I agree but why do you think this was the case?

JS: I believe it may have something to do with him remaining in Europe. However he did make a nice living and made a nice life for himself. Maybe the writers in America didn’t like that.

DM: You started booking blues acts into large venues. Why?

JS: I wanted to show off the music in a concert setting. In 1978 I did a series of three shows at the New London Theatre in Drury Lane, London. It was a lovely theatre. It was a financial mistake of some magnitude, but an interesting experiment nonetheless. I booked three Sundays at the end of January, February and March. The first was going to be J.B. Hutto, but for some reason he became unavailable. I worked with him since. He was a lovely man. So I had Alexis Korner do that show instead.

DM: Let’s talk a bit about Roy Brown and those shows.

JS: Next up was Roy Brown. It was his rediscovery tour and the first of the vintage rhythm and blues guys I would work with. Jonas Bernholm from Sweden and I jointly pioneered the resurgence in the touring careers of a lot of the old r&b acts who couldn't get into the European scene before then.

Roy was just getting back on to the scene, but all I can say is if he was that exciting in 1978, I can’t imagine what he was like in the '50's performing in front of those black crowds on the r&b circuit. I also promoted Roy again later that same year at the 100 Club and he was even better. That performance ranks as probably one of the best five shows I've seen in my entire life.

DM: Then Fess came to England.

JS: That’s right. Professor Longhair did the March date. It was his only show in England. Some weeks before the show I received a call from Paul McCartney's office. They were releasing the Live on the Queen Mary album where he played at McCartney’s birthday party. They wanted to do a little cross promotion for their show in Long Beach, California.

This was a lifesaver as without that help that might have been the last show I did. In the end I brought him in a week before the concert. EMI who was releasing the album took great care of him. They put him up in a nice hotel. For a week Professor Longhair was given the star treatment. He did a TV appearance. He arrived at the TV studio in the Rolls Royce belonging to the chairman of EMI. It was quite something. There was a press reception at Ronnie Scott’s. They bought 400 of the concert tickets from me. They took out full page ads in the music press. He was given the best publicity treatment that money could buy. Like I said it was a lifesaver for me.

I think that a fair portion of Professor Longhair’s legacy and continued notoriety years after his death is a result of that week in London. That piece of luck wasn't going to be repeated, so a new strategy was worked out and it involved the 100 Club.

DM: The 100 Club is a place with which you are closely associated. What should folks know about you and the 100 Club?

JS:  For anyone not familiar with this club, a great place to start is a DVD we just released on JSP Records called U.P. Wilson-Live At The 100 Club 1998. That was one of the last shows I promoted there but I don't think the club changed one jot in the past 20 years. The DVD starts with a scene outside the club right in the middle of London's famous Oxford Street. There are loads of red buses, tourists and shoppers. There is a quick shot of the poster outside. It then goes to then the famous wall of pictures and straight into U.P. playing an amazingly tough show of Texas blues guitar. In the early days there were so many legends around.

DM: Such as...

JS: Charles Brown, Johnny Shines and Robert Lockwood Junior, Luther Allison, J.B. Hutto, Rosco Gordon, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Little Brother Montgomery, Lazy Lester, Carey and Lurrie Bell, Champion Jack Dupree, Jimmy Rogers and just so many more.

DM: You alluded to your label JSP Records. How did that get started?

JS: I didn't intend to start a label, but the musicians made me do it......literally. I had the early signings requesting deals. That good old fashioned, ‘give me some money and I'll make you a record’ attitude. The first couple of years of the label it was a mixture of live sets, some licensed material, notably from the Bandera label, and the legendary, must be heard to be believed Cleo Page album. Then things started to get serious. The thought of recording people in the U.S. seemed to be the obvious next move. 

DM: When was this John?

JS: It was in 1979. I visited Chicago with some ideas to do some recording. I had no real connections there, but I turned up at the Delmark offices unannounced. I found Bob Koester. He was enormously helpful. He gave me the connection with recording engineer Ken Rasek. Considering that he didn't know me and I had only released at that point a handful of LPs, he gave me a lot of time and attention. Bob is a completely genuine man and I will forever be grateful.

DM: Let’s talk about your association with Buddy Guy.

JS: Buddy is a smart guy. He always wanted that big deal, big exposure and big promotion. He knew that the midsized American blues labels were a trap. Recording for them would mean that he would never get the big re-launch of his career he knew he deserved. So recording for me was a way to make some money and make some albums in a way that no other label would give him the artistic freedom to do. I had made a gentleman's agreement with him that my albums would never get in his way and wouldn't be licensed back to an American label.

So in September of 1979 we cut the album, Live at the Checkerboard Lounge.  What an album. Has there been another properly recorded album cut in a Southside club? Not perfect, but tough, tough, tough.  Buddy feels free to experiment, take chances and just cut loose.

DM: Next up was Breaking Out...

JS: That’s right. I had been in New York recording the Illinois Jacquet and Jr. Mance albums. The next year when Buddy was passing through and we hooked up backstage at the Bottom Line and set up the arrangements for album number two. For this one I went back to Chicago and co-produced the record with Buddy. I used Sound Studio and Buddy and his band walked in with this album prepared, rehearsed and had everything worked out. Buddy did some trickery with his guitar sound and utilized a funky rocky approach to it. I still haven't heard another album quite like it. It has Buddy's most intense singing and a performance that's almost anguished and really intense.

DM: How was the album received?

JS: When it first came out everyone hated it of course, but you won't understand Buddy and his music without an appreciation of that album.

DM: While preparing for our discussion the other day I found that old record in my library and took it out for a spin. I still don’t like it, for whatever that’s worth. However, you were on the verge of making what many consider to be the definitive Buddy Guy album from this period.

JS: That’s right. A year or so later Buddy did the first of the many sessions we would do at Jerry Soto's studio and the sublime DJ Play My Blues was recorded. If I had been responsible for only one album being recorded then that would be the one. It was just perfect Chicago blues guitar with phenomenal sound and with Buddy just cooking.

DM: There is another guy we should talk about.

JS: (laughs) That would be guy with a capital ‘G,’ Buddy’s brother, Phil Guy. Phil made contributions on all three of Buddy's albums we did. So it seemed about time Buddy took his turn as guest. So on Red Hot Blues of Phil Guy he contributed some fine playing, but he didn't want to overshadow Phil. It's very much Phil's album and typical of Phil Guy’s music. He mixes straight ahead Chicago club blues with some experimental touches of funk.

DM: There are several people who you have worked with through the years that had a hand in the recording process on product that came out on JSP. Let’s start with Jerry Soto, who left us way too soon just a few years ago.

JS: This is how it went with Jerry at Soto Sound. The artist would go into the studio, usually ahead of a tour, so there was product available to promote on the tour and sell at the gigs. Jerry Soto would not be the producer, as the artist would self self-produce the records, but Jerry was what I have described as a documentarian. He was also the sound engineer.

I have recently released a DVD of Louisiana Red performing at Soto Sound in 1982 and a bonus track is a little piece of video that Jerry made in the control room at the last session he recorded for me. It illustrates perfectly the utter rapport he had with the musicians. What a lovely man. I really miss him.

DM: Who are some of the artists that you worked with at Jerry’s studio in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago?

JS: We did albums by such Chicago greats as Jimmy Dawkins, Brewer Phillips, Byther Smith, Carey Bell, Lefty Dizz, Big Moose Walker, Lurrie Bell. We also did the two Deitra Farr albums that JSP put out. This was a time when the blues was going 'slick' and 'produced,' but apart from the carefully crafted productions of Deitra Farr, these albums were the opposite, rough, tough real blues.

DM: Is there a big difference in recording American artists in England as opposed to here in the States?

JS:  Not really. The cultural connections are so deep and historical for both for musicians. I have always noticed how 'at home' the American musicians felt here. Well, apart from the ‘Where's the fog?’ question when they arrived in London for the very first time, they by and large feel comfortable working over here.

End of Part One

Editors Note: My conversation with John Stedman continues next month as we talk about some of the legendary American masters of this music that he worked with in England. We will talk about some inter-continental musical pairings as well as the wonderful historical re-issues and box sets that JSP has made available to the public over these past many years.