JB: Hey, thanks for remembering!
DW: I just happened to notice your birthdate (August) posted on your website. You�ve accomplished quite a bit in the 20-odd years you�ve been performing.
JB: Yeah, it�s been a good run. I�ve had a lot of luck with people believing in me and giving me a chance to do things, especially Byrd Hale, Mark Hummel and, of course, Rod [Piazza], especially Mark and Rod, who are probably a lot more well-known than Byrd Hale. There was also a guy named Paul Durkett in the Bay Area, and they all gave me my start.
DW: I had just presumed you were from Texas until I found out you are actually from San Francisco.
JB: I�m from San Francisco, but right now we have more of the band living in Texas than there were for quite some time. Gene Taylor lives in Austin, our bass player, Ronnie James, lives in Austin, and, of course, we have the newest member of the band, Nick Curran, who lives in Austin, although none of them are originally from Texas. Nick is actually from up north, somewhere around Portland, Maine, and Ronnie James (his stage name) is originally from near Gary, Indiana.
DW: I admit I don�t know a whole lot about the techniques of mastering a drum kit, but I like to think I know a great drummer when I hear one. I find you very versatile and dynamic. You released a CD early this year, called Jimi Bott, Live Volume 1, Cheap Thrills, which is a collection of previously unreleased live tracks performed by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, and a number of special guests such as Junior Watson, Alex Schultz and Kid Ramos. I see that the Real Blues magazine has ranked it number 7 out of its top 100 so far this year.
JB: I saw that! That�s really great, isn�t it?
DW: Certainly! Did your song, �Cheap Thrills�, get on the CD Baby compilation disc at all?
JB: I don�t know if it made it on it or not because they haven�t tallied it up yet. It was only based on the sales for August. A lot of friends and fans actually came through for me on that. It�s an odd thing to ask if they might want to buy another copy; some people bought several copies, actually, which was really outstanding and wonderful.
As far as the actual technical ability of playing the drums on Cheap Thrills, on the whole album, it was part of the thought of putting it together, although it was really about the performances. After I had compiled it all, I had several people tell me that it does cover quite a few bases as far as different styles of drumming, and I�m glad of that. It shows a bit more versatility, and that�s a plus, but it wasn�t the initial idea. It was just something that I was lucky enough to be a part of.
Everybody involved with the CD - the players, especially Rod, Watson, and everybody on it - not only did they like the idea, give me the okay on it, but some of them actually picked the songs. They were almost demanding of the songs to put on there. These were performances that were also showing them at some of their highest points, that they felt had never been actually put out on their own records, so I think it�s really great that everybody gave back on it rather than just going, �Yeah, Jimi, just do whatever you want�. They were really behind it, actually very helpful.
DW: On Cheap Thrills, you included a drum solo tribute to Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich and Louis Belson; jazz drummers, of course. Do you have any favourite rock drummers or ones that you aspire to emulate?
JB: We�re not commenting on the actual �Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)� [a �rollin� tumbler� on Cheap Thrills]. You want to go the other direction?
DW: Right.
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