September 18, 2025 • 14 mins
Josie chats with Christopher Wyze about his new projects and more!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Br Bra Cra Cra roystering around the world on the
World Wide Web.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ladies and Children period Is.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The other stations are tuned in too.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ah Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Broadcasting live in the Josey Network Studios in downtown Madonna, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's that time of week again. It's time for the Josie.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Shoe, bringing you the most exciting music, moves and guests
from around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Right here on the Jersey Show. Please make Walker beautiful
in Talented, he love it, America's else lead her business.
Josie Acid votes with Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Everyone, and welcome to the Josie Show.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
We have a great interview coming at you with Christopher Wise,
who's actually going to be a part of the Josie
Music Awards as a presenter this year, so I'm really
excited to get the opportunity to meet him in person.
But we had a great conversation, so please stay tuned
to the whole show. You will not want to miss
a second. Also, big news, I'm sure you all have
already heard, but we're just so excited because JMA Network
(01:37):
TV is now in existence on Roku and Amazon Fire TV,
and so Josie Show will be playing on there as well.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So please make sure you check.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Out our channel JMA Network TV at Roku and Amazon
Fire TV. But we're so excited about that channel. It's
going to be another great opportunity for independent artists to
be her. We have all sorts of different segments coming,
so please make sure you keep a lookout for that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Here we go. I hope you and Jay this great interview.
Please welcome to the Josie Show. My guest Christopher Wise.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Hello, Hey, how are you, Josie. Great to be with
you here today.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh, it's a pleasure having you. Thank you so much
for coming on my show. I've been looking forward to
talking to.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
You, well, looking forward to talking to you. I saw
episode seven, six seventy two. I was looking at some
old episodes. It's like, Wow, you have really had a
lot of guests, and it's cool to.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Be one of them.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Oh, we're happy that you are one of them. Yes,
it's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I love getting to know incredible artists like yourself, and
so I'm really looking forward to talking to you about
all of this exciting stuff you have going on. So,
of course let's start with so stuck in the Mud. Now,
that wasn't just a debut. It was a like a
global jolt. What inspired the album's title, and it's deeply
rooted blues storytelling.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Let's start right there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Well, I'm a blues guy at my roots.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I've been doing music about twenty years and I played
a lot of music in Clarkstille, Mississippi. And you know,
you got to have themes for blues that are kind
of around struggle and so forth. I don't know why,
but you know, ideas pop into your head, and stuck
in the Mud was an idea.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
We've all been there, right, We've been stuck in the mud.
So we had a lot of fun with that song.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And you know, that really was such a fun song
and has been really well received.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I'm really glad we called that the title track.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That was the title of the album, and that was
our debut album that released a little over a year ago.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So we've had a lot of fun since then.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
And can you please share, because your band is Christopher
Wise and the Tellers, can you share how the band
came together and what makes your chemistry so electric on
stage and in studio.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, it's maybe a little bit different, but we put
the project together to go record an album.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So we didn't have a band.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
In fact, we recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and I
met most of the band members that first.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Day in the studio.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So we had several fashion players, and you know, we
had a great producer and Ralph Carter. He used to
play and write songs with Eddie Mney, the great rock
and roller. He's a good blues man and I've known
him for many years. He encouraged me to write music.
He and I wrote eight of the songs on the album,
and he said, let's produce an album.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Let's produce yours. I said, let's do it in.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Muscle Shoals, and he auditioned the band and put the
whole thing together and ran the thing. So the chemistry
kind of was hey, the chemistry set was kind of
put together on Monday morning and mixed it up and
walked out on Friday afternoon with a finished recorded album.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
A little more work to do after that, but we did.
We did get it done in about five days.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, it's a funny story. You would never know. You
never know it.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
That is really cool, And you've been named a one
to watch by NSAI. So what's your approach to songwriting?
How do you balance tradition with originality because you do
it so so well.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, first of all, thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The tradition with originality, I guess it starts, I'll say
with tradition, because you know, I used to listen to
all sorts of music. I love country music, I love
blues music, rock and roll. So I think, first of all,
you've got to know the genres of music, and in
particular the blues, which we turn toward country blues and
different types of blues, delta, and so it starts with that,
(05:16):
I think, having a good grounding in the sort of
history of the music, and then new ideas.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I didn't tell you this, Josie, but I worked for
many years, twenty five plus years as an advertising guy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And I made up ideas.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Creativity is really a blend of that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And the fun thing about writing songs is that I
can take an idea and develop it the way you
know that I see it and have fun with it.
I learned to write words, so I don't struggle after
having written for many, many decades. I suppose I've written
five books, I've done films, I've done all sorts of
things and music was the next frontier. So I come
(05:59):
up with a story idea and the words kind of
pour out.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I'm used to writing on command.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I usually have deadlines, and I give myself a deadline
and hey, we write the song away.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We go, oh yes, yes you do.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You run with it and you did such an incredible job,
and nine of the tracks on your debut album charted globally.
Did you anticipate the kind of response when you were
writing and recording. I mean, I'm sure that was just
kind of just such an exciting time to hear about that.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, No, my greatest expectation was to say, hey, do
you think we can actually finish this?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Start it on Monday and get it done.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
So now it's one step at a time, and that's
what's been fun about this. Write some songs, get together
with a band, go to the studio, put it together,
mix it, master it, get a record label, find a publicist,
get it released out to the world, and every step
of that way it seemed to go like really well,
(06:52):
you know, and it was really fun. So no, I
had no expectation of that, and the way it turned
out then that it did so well that we came
back and within nine months released our second album, which
was a live show that we did in Clarkstone.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
We filmed it, we recorded.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It, and we released that back in April of this
year and it's been doing well on the blues charts
around the world.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Absolutely absolutely, and I'm excited to talk about that. So
live in Clarksdale, that was at the legendary Juke Joint Chapel.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Well, the Juke Joint Chapel, there used to be a
lot of sounds coming out of there about one hundred
years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It was an old cotton gin. It wasn't music.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I don't think it was clanking of machines and so forth.
But it's at the shack up in a lot of
folks have stayed there. It's a real iconic place where
you feel like you're going back in time. And the
actual Juke Joint Chapel is indeed the old cotton Gin
and it's a small little venue, maybe thirty forty to
fifty people could squeeze into there, and it's really really cool.
(07:52):
I mean, all sorts of folks have played there. Kristin
Kingfish Ingram, Charlie mussel White, John Mayoll, lots of lots
of people who are known for blues and Delta blues.
So to me, it was just a natural. I met
Ralph Carter and my producer in Clarksdale. We love Clarksdale
as a place and we love the music there, so
to go do it, to me, seemed like just a
(08:14):
no brainer. And to record it live in a real
juke joint, and to capture the feel and the flavor
of the Mississippi Delta in Clarksdale, Mississippi, I mean, what
the heck, let's do it in the juke joint chapel.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So we did absolutely nothing better than that. I think
that is so cool.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
And the Live in Clarksdale set includes two blue standards
from the nineteen twenties, what Are You Too, How Long?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
How Long? Blues? And Nobody Knows You When You're Down
and Out.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Those songs were written by a couple of guys who
are from Indianapolis, Indiana, and they recorded the first one,
How Long How Long Blues, back in the nineteen twenties,
and it became one of the first million selling records
in America, not just in the blues or any genre
in particular. But it was written by Leroy Carr and
(08:59):
Scrapper black Well played guitar on it, so sort of
a tribute to Leroy and Scrapper, who lived pretty much
their whole lives in Indianapolis where I live, and were
buried here.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
They're still here. They recorded here.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They actually recorded that song in a hotel room in
Indianapolis in the early twenties. So it's such a beautiful song.
It's been covered by blues artists, country artists, lounge singers,
you name it. There's hundreds and hundreds of covers, and
so it's a great song. The second one was written
by another blues man in the nineteen twenties, Jimmy Cox.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Nobody Knows You when You're Down and out?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Boy, doesn't that sound like an old blues song? Well
it is, yes, it's about being down on your luck.
And in fact, Scrapper Blackwell recorded that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Song in the early sixties.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So I'm kind of on this, Hey, I got to
pay tribute to my fellow Indianapolis natives.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And so we did that song as well, which was
just a ton of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Absolutely. I love that though, that you've paid such a.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Great tribute, you know, to two blues pioneers from your hometown.
I mean, I think it's just so wonderful. And how
does the Avenapolis heritage influence your sound and your storytelling?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, I don't know that the city really influences, you know.
I think, like a lot of songwriters, probably all of
your just personal experiences go into it. And I spent
most of my life here. I grew up in southern
Indiana actually south of Louisville, Kentucky. We're way in the
south are so you know, I've got a little bit
of hill country in me, and so all of that
(10:30):
stuff comes together when it comes into my sound. And
it also comes from listening to a lot of blues
music and spending time in places like Memphis and Nashville
and Clarksdale Muscle Shoals to sort of drink in the
scene of what the music of America is. Which country music,
blues music, jazz music. Man, it's all America and I love.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It all absolutely.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And for those who want to check out all of
your music that you have out right now, including this
live in Clarksdale, where is the best places that they
can go to, Well, it should.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Go to my website.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It's christopherwise dot com. That's Christopher and then wyze dot Com.
All the music's there and links videos, you can see
the beautiful juke joint chapel and I also filmed a
fifty minute documentary as a part of the album called
Whys in Clarksdale. I love Clarksdale and the music scenes
so much. I decided it after we recorded the album.
(11:25):
You know what, I want to show people around Clarksdale
and what the Mississippi Delta area and the music is
all about.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So that is a piece that comes out and is
with the CD and DVD. Also a live DVD video
of the show.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Is on the DVD as well, So it's the soundtrack,
it's the show, and it's a little look around Clarksdale
that comes out with the package.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So it was a heck of a lot of fun
to do it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Yes, you are coming through with the content. I love
it in all the different things that you got the documentary.
I just think that's amazing and I definitely hope everyone
goes and checks out your website. And also you're on
social network sites as well. Can you give out those
links as well to.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Be Christopher Wives and the tellers If you look at
that on Facebook and Instagram, we do a lot there
We just hit several thousands and thousands and thousands of
followers milestone on Facebook, which is cool. And you know,
we got so many people from around the world our
first album. You know, it's got streaming in ninety different countries.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It's been on.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Blues charts in Europe, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, mex To
go all over the place.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
So it's been a ton of fun. And the album,
our debut album, Stuck in the Mud.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Was recently nominated for a Blues Blast magazine award as
the Best New Artist's Debut Album of the Year, and
fans can vote, So if you want to listen to
our music, go to my website. We're putting our music
up there free to listen to during the balloting and
voting period which ends at the end of August. Go there,
listen to the music, and if you'll like it, click
(12:54):
vote vote for all the great blues artists. There's twenty
three different categories and we're just thrilled to be nominated
and among.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
One of those.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Congratulations and well deserved as well to be among all
of those incredible blues artists.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I love that. Wow, congratulations and please vote.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Everybody, please do check out the music and place that
vote and tell them how much you love Christopher Wise
and the Tellers, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And I want to know what is next for you.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Any new projects or tours or collaborations on the horizon
you could tell us about or are you mainly focused
on promoting this new album.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Well, as you know, Josie, you spent a lot of
your time spreading the word about what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You do, I do, so I do spend a lot
of time with that.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
But I recently made a trip to Muscle Shoals, Alabama
just last week, in fact, and Huntsville, Alabama and Nashville.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I was in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
We were on TV there, okay, and so we had
a lot of fun. But one of the things we
did in all the road trip there was to start
put some plans in place for another album. It's not
anywhere other than just an idea at this time and
a commitment to do it. So I gotta get busy
writing songs. Maybe we ought to wrap this up so
(14:03):
I can get started. That's where the whole thing starts
is by writing a bash of songs. And Ralph Carter
my producer Will will be side by side with me
the Tellers. We've got a big show coming up here
in just about four weeks in Indianapolis and really the
state's biggest arts fair. It's called Penron Festival. It's on
September sixth, so we'll be on the main stage there.
(14:25):
So we got a lot of stuff going. That's a
lot of cool things that we've got in the works.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I'm a new fan, and congratulations on everything that you
have going on right now and please come back on anytime.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Okay, it was a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I'm a new fan of yours, Jose, So this has
been fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Love what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh, thank you you as well. Everyone. Please make sure
you check out Chrisopher Wise and the Tellers.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Please follow him, check out all of his music, and
please support and check out that music first and foremost.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Thank you so much, Chrisopher. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You bet have a great day by me too.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Bye bye,
Br Bra Cra Cra roystering around the world on the
World Wide Web.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ladies and Children period Is.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
The other stations are tuned in too.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Ah Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Broadcasting live in the Josey Network Studios in downtown Madonna, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It's that time of week again. It's time for the Josie.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Shoe, bringing you the most exciting music, moves and guests
from around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Right here on the Jersey Show. Please make Walker beautiful
in Talented, he love it, America's else lead her business.
Josie Acid votes with Hello.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Everyone, and welcome to the Josie Show.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
We have a great interview coming at you with Christopher Wise,
who's actually going to be a part of the Josie
Music Awards as a presenter this year, so I'm really
excited to get the opportunity to meet him in person.
But we had a great conversation, so please stay tuned
to the whole show. You will not want to miss
a second. Also, big news, I'm sure you all have
already heard, but we're just so excited because JMA Network
(01:37):
TV is now in existence on Roku and Amazon Fire TV,
and so Josie Show will be playing on there as well.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So please make sure you check.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Out our channel JMA Network TV at Roku and Amazon
Fire TV. But we're so excited about that channel. It's
going to be another great opportunity for independent artists to
be her. We have all sorts of different segments coming,
so please make sure you keep a lookout for that.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Here we go. I hope you and Jay this great interview.
Please welcome to the Josie Show. My guest Christopher Wise.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Hello, Hey, how are you, Josie. Great to be with
you here today.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh, it's a pleasure having you. Thank you so much
for coming on my show. I've been looking forward to
talking to.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
You, well, looking forward to talking to you. I saw
episode seven, six seventy two. I was looking at some
old episodes. It's like, Wow, you have really had a
lot of guests, and it's cool to.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Be one of them.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Oh, we're happy that you are one of them. Yes,
it's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
You know.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I love getting to know incredible artists like yourself, and
so I'm really looking forward to talking to you about
all of this exciting stuff you have going on. So,
of course let's start with so stuck in the Mud. Now,
that wasn't just a debut. It was a like a
global jolt. What inspired the album's title, and it's deeply
rooted blues storytelling.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Let's start right there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Well, I'm a blues guy at my roots.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
I've been doing music about twenty years and I played
a lot of music in Clarkstille, Mississippi. And you know,
you got to have themes for blues that are kind
of around struggle and so forth. I don't know why,
but you know, ideas pop into your head, and stuck
in the Mud was an idea.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
We've all been there, right, We've been stuck in the mud.
So we had a lot of fun with that song.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And you know, that really was such a fun song
and has been really well received.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I'm really glad we called that the title track.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
That was the title of the album, and that was
our debut album that released a little over a year ago.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
So we've had a lot of fun since then.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
And can you please share, because your band is Christopher
Wise and the Tellers, can you share how the band
came together and what makes your chemistry so electric on
stage and in studio.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, it's maybe a little bit different, but we put
the project together to go record an album.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So we didn't have a band.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
In fact, we recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and I
met most of the band members that first.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Day in the studio.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
So we had several fashion players, and you know, we
had a great producer and Ralph Carter. He used to
play and write songs with Eddie Mney, the great rock
and roller. He's a good blues man and I've known
him for many years. He encouraged me to write music.
He and I wrote eight of the songs on the album,
and he said, let's produce an album.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Let's produce yours. I said, let's do it in.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Muscle Shoals, and he auditioned the band and put the
whole thing together and ran the thing. So the chemistry
kind of was hey, the chemistry set was kind of
put together on Monday morning and mixed it up and
walked out on Friday afternoon with a finished recorded album.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
A little more work to do after that, but we did.
We did get it done in about five days.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Well, it's a funny story. You would never know. You
never know it.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
That is really cool, And you've been named a one
to watch by NSAI. So what's your approach to songwriting?
How do you balance tradition with originality because you do
it so so well.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, first of all, thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The tradition with originality, I guess it starts, I'll say
with tradition, because you know, I used to listen to
all sorts of music. I love country music, I love
blues music, rock and roll. So I think, first of all,
you've got to know the genres of music, and in
particular the blues, which we turn toward country blues and
different types of blues, delta, and so it starts with that,
(05:16):
I think, having a good grounding in the sort of
history of the music, and then new ideas.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
I didn't tell you this, Josie, but I worked for
many years, twenty five plus years as an advertising guy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And I made up ideas.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Creativity is really a blend of that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
And the fun thing about writing songs is that I
can take an idea and develop it the way you
know that I see it and have fun with it.
I learned to write words, so I don't struggle after
having written for many, many decades. I suppose I've written
five books, I've done films, I've done all sorts of
things and music was the next frontier. So I come
(05:59):
up with a story idea and the words kind of
pour out.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
And I'm used to writing on command.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
I usually have deadlines, and I give myself a deadline
and hey, we write the song away.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
We go, oh yes, yes you do.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
You run with it and you did such an incredible job,
and nine of the tracks on your debut album charted globally.
Did you anticipate the kind of response when you were
writing and recording. I mean, I'm sure that was just
kind of just such an exciting time to hear about that.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, No, my greatest expectation was to say, hey, do
you think we can actually finish this?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Start it on Monday and get it done.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
So now it's one step at a time, and that's
what's been fun about this. Write some songs, get together
with a band, go to the studio, put it together,
mix it, master it, get a record label, find a publicist,
get it released out to the world, and every step
of that way it seemed to go like really well,
(06:52):
you know, and it was really fun. So no, I
had no expectation of that, and the way it turned
out then that it did so well that we came
back and within nine months released our second album, which
was a live show that we did in Clarkstone.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
We filmed it, we recorded.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It, and we released that back in April of this
year and it's been doing well on the blues charts
around the world.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Absolutely absolutely, and I'm excited to talk about that. So
live in Clarksdale, that was at the legendary Juke Joint Chapel.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Well, the Juke Joint Chapel, there used to be a
lot of sounds coming out of there about one hundred
years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
It was an old cotton gin. It wasn't music.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
I don't think it was clanking of machines and so forth.
But it's at the shack up in a lot of
folks have stayed there. It's a real iconic place where
you feel like you're going back in time. And the
actual Juke Joint Chapel is indeed the old cotton Gin
and it's a small little venue, maybe thirty forty to
fifty people could squeeze into there, and it's really really cool.
(07:52):
I mean, all sorts of folks have played there. Kristin
Kingfish Ingram, Charlie mussel White, John Mayoll, lots of lots
of people who are known for blues and Delta blues.
So to me, it was just a natural. I met
Ralph Carter and my producer in Clarksdale. We love Clarksdale
as a place and we love the music there, so
to go do it, to me, seemed like just a
(08:14):
no brainer. And to record it live in a real
juke joint, and to capture the feel and the flavor
of the Mississippi Delta in Clarksdale, Mississippi, I mean, what
the heck, let's do it in the juke joint chapel.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
So we did absolutely nothing better than that. I think
that is so cool.
Speaker 4 (08:29):
And the Live in Clarksdale set includes two blue standards
from the nineteen twenties, what Are You Too, How Long?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
How Long? Blues? And Nobody Knows You When You're Down
and Out.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Those songs were written by a couple of guys who
are from Indianapolis, Indiana, and they recorded the first one,
How Long How Long Blues, back in the nineteen twenties,
and it became one of the first million selling records
in America, not just in the blues or any genre
in particular. But it was written by Leroy Carr and
(08:59):
Scrapper black Well played guitar on it, so sort of
a tribute to Leroy and Scrapper, who lived pretty much
their whole lives in Indianapolis where I live, and were
buried here.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
They're still here. They recorded here.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
They actually recorded that song in a hotel room in
Indianapolis in the early twenties. So it's such a beautiful song.
It's been covered by blues artists, country artists, lounge singers,
you name it. There's hundreds and hundreds of covers, and
so it's a great song. The second one was written
by another blues man in the nineteen twenties, Jimmy Cox.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Nobody Knows You when You're Down and out?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Boy, doesn't that sound like an old blues song? Well
it is, yes, it's about being down on your luck.
And in fact, Scrapper Blackwell recorded that.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Song in the early sixties.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
So I'm kind of on this, Hey, I got to
pay tribute to my fellow Indianapolis natives.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And so we did that song as well, which was
just a ton of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Absolutely. I love that though, that you've paid such a.
Speaker 4 (09:55):
Great tribute, you know, to two blues pioneers from your hometown.
I mean, I think it's just so wonderful. And how
does the Avenapolis heritage influence your sound and your storytelling?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Well, I don't know that the city really influences, you know.
I think, like a lot of songwriters, probably all of
your just personal experiences go into it. And I spent
most of my life here. I grew up in southern
Indiana actually south of Louisville, Kentucky. We're way in the
south are so you know, I've got a little bit
of hill country in me, and so all of that
(10:30):
stuff comes together when it comes into my sound. And
it also comes from listening to a lot of blues
music and spending time in places like Memphis and Nashville
and Clarksdale Muscle Shoals to sort of drink in the
scene of what the music of America is. Which country music,
blues music, jazz music. Man, it's all America and I love.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It all absolutely.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
And for those who want to check out all of
your music that you have out right now, including this
live in Clarksdale, where is the best places that they
can go to, Well, it should.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Go to my website.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
It's christopherwise dot com. That's Christopher and then wyze dot Com.
All the music's there and links videos, you can see
the beautiful juke joint chapel and I also filmed a
fifty minute documentary as a part of the album called
Whys in Clarksdale. I love Clarksdale and the music scenes
so much. I decided it after we recorded the album.
(11:25):
You know what, I want to show people around Clarksdale
and what the Mississippi Delta area and the music is
all about.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So that is a piece that comes out and is
with the CD and DVD. Also a live DVD video
of the show.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Is on the DVD as well, So it's the soundtrack,
it's the show, and it's a little look around Clarksdale
that comes out with the package.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So it was a heck of a lot of fun
to do it.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Yes, you are coming through with the content. I love
it in all the different things that you got the documentary.
I just think that's amazing and I definitely hope everyone
goes and checks out your website. And also you're on
social network sites as well. Can you give out those
links as well to.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Be Christopher Wives and the tellers If you look at
that on Facebook and Instagram, we do a lot there
We just hit several thousands and thousands and thousands of
followers milestone on Facebook, which is cool. And you know,
we got so many people from around the world our
first album. You know, it's got streaming in ninety different countries.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It's been on.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Blues charts in Europe, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, mex To
go all over the place.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
So it's been a ton of fun. And the album,
our debut album, Stuck in the Mud.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Was recently nominated for a Blues Blast magazine award as
the Best New Artist's Debut Album of the Year, and
fans can vote, So if you want to listen to
our music, go to my website. We're putting our music
up there free to listen to during the balloting and
voting period which ends at the end of August. Go there,
listen to the music, and if you'll like it, click
(12:54):
vote vote for all the great blues artists. There's twenty
three different categories and we're just thrilled to be nominated
and among.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
One of those.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Congratulations and well deserved as well to be among all
of those incredible blues artists.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I love that. Wow, congratulations and please vote.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Everybody, please do check out the music and place that
vote and tell them how much you love Christopher Wise
and the Tellers, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
And I want to know what is next for you.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
Any new projects or tours or collaborations on the horizon
you could tell us about or are you mainly focused
on promoting this new album.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Well, as you know, Josie, you spent a lot of
your time spreading the word about what you do.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You do, I do, so I do spend a lot
of time with that.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
But I recently made a trip to Muscle Shoals, Alabama
just last week, in fact, and Huntsville, Alabama and Nashville.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I was in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
We were on TV there, okay, and so we had
a lot of fun. But one of the things we
did in all the road trip there was to start
put some plans in place for another album. It's not
anywhere other than just an idea at this time and
a commitment to do it. So I gotta get busy
writing songs. Maybe we ought to wrap this up so
(14:03):
I can get started. That's where the whole thing starts
is by writing a bash of songs. And Ralph Carter
my producer Will will be side by side with me
the Tellers. We've got a big show coming up here
in just about four weeks in Indianapolis and really the
state's biggest arts fair. It's called Penron Festival. It's on
September sixth, so we'll be on the main stage there.
(14:25):
So we got a lot of stuff going. That's a
lot of cool things that we've got in the works.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
I'm so excited.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
I'm a new fan, and congratulations on everything that you
have going on right now and please come back on anytime.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Okay, it was a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I'm a new fan of yours, Jose, So this has
been fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Love what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Oh, thank you you as well. Everyone. Please make sure
you check out Chrisopher Wise and the Tellers.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Please follow him, check out all of his music, and
please support and check out that music first and foremost.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Thank you so much, Chrisopher. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
You bet have a great day by me too.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Bye bye,
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