Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin sits down with CloudwatcherUno to record a special live interview podcast and play two live tracks “Police Dog Blues” originally recorded by Blind Blake in 1929 and “Window Peepin’ Mama” from his self titled album “Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin and The Swamp Dogs”. All of this was recorded at CloudwatcherUno Podcast HQ.
We talk about meeting at Long Road Fest earlier in this summer, a grrrrreat event full of americana artists. It was there we got to exploring Kaspar’s blues music and lo and behold here we are with this fabulous podcast.
“Police Dog Blues” from Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin recorded for CloudwatcherUno Podcast
Kaspar’s blues journey begins with a guitar gifted to him from a family friend when he was 11 on the condition that Kaspar would learn how to play it. At the age of 12 he discovered Pride and Joy on Guitar Hero and quickly realised this was the blues. This would send him on a path of education and revelation to the blues as a genre and a life style.
Kaspar in action with his steel guitar.
Kaspar went to New Orleans to celebrate turning 18 where he performed in B.B. Kings Blues Club (and was discovered by Harold Marcho music producer). Harold invited Kaspar back to the states to record his first single Sailing. Kaspar is now performing with his live band, Kaspar & The Swamp Dogs around St Albans, London and where ever he may be invited to. The band consists of Seb Rejal on bass guitar and drummer Mia Casey.
Kaspar is the real deal, a musician who lives and breathes blues music.
Enjoy our conversation on the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
This Artist Showcase features Taylor Rae a sensational musician, singer and songwriter who blends blues, jazz and country music to produce a mesmerising musical cocktail. Check out her album “Mad Twenties” to hear how special Taylor Rae and her music is.
“5:25” by Taylor Rae
We got to speak to Taylor Rae after recovering from Covid and suffering the effects brain god. Taylor’s plan to get through this was building upon her muscle memory and performing in front of audiences. Since 2015 Taylor Rae stopped doing everything and music became not only her passion but full time job.
Taylor has already played in Austin, Houston and Dallas, then travelling to California and fly out to Nashville to Washington DC and then Virginia. Taylor is driving alone along the west and east coast. Thankfully Taylor Rae has a team to support her but she is still driving across the country and performing alone on this tour.
Taylor Rae has her eye on the ball that is Music.
Taylor speaks about her love for Santa Cruz and splitting her time between there and Austin Texas. Hopefully Taylor will collaborate again with Jesse Daniel a childhood friend who she has made some brilliant videos such as “Jackson” which showcase the best of their voices.
“Jackson” cover by Taylor Rae and Jesse Daniel
We speak about the album and the genesis of songs which made it into the album but “Sink Or Swim”, “5:25”, “Letting You Go”. They follow a break up and Taylor’s Southern Rock Blues phase and Lounge Jazz Chill sound that she created by working in hotels and weddings.
Taylor sometimes did six times a week doing these gigs but felt that she was becoming human sonic wallpaper. Grateful for the experience she used it to have production ready songs. A guardian angel provided Taylor the funds to make a full album. Along the way Taylor met a top producer Michelle Robertson and her husband who helped her record the album in two days. The video for “Window” will be coming out soon. This year will focus on promoting “Mad Twenties” until the end of the year.
Taylor Rae
Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Taylor Rae. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
CloudwatcherUno sits down with Elles Bailey to talk about ‘Cheats and Liars’, from Elles new album ‘Shining in the Half Light‘ due in 2022, her musical career so far from touring and promoting her album ‘Road I Call Home‘ which is where I first saw Elles live in concert. Elles recently won The UK Blues Awards — where she was awarded UK Blues Artist of the Year 2021 for the second year running.
‘Medicine Man‘ by Elles Bailey
‘Medicine Man‘ is one of my favourite songs of Elles but the story behind it acts now as a warning sign about the dark side of the music business. Having invested all her money in travelling to Los Angeles for four meetings with record labels with an American producer it turned out that he was a con artist.
The situation became the inspiration for another song ‘Wild Wild West‘
‘You guaranteed I’d feel a blazing fire Sold me a dream so I showed you every scar Planted a seed and I let you take me higher Now here I am on Sunset Boulevard’
Elles managed to use that negative experience and turn it into some of her most popular songs.
‘Wildfire‘ by Elles Bailey
We talk about the story for the fan favourite song ‘Howlin Wolf‘ which Elles wrote in 2013. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in tribute to the bluesy delta rock and roll music that was the soundtrack for backpack adventures with her father. The love for this song is so much that there is a facebook page from her fans called the Wolfpack.
‘Howlin Wolf‘ by Elles Bailey
Recently Elles played at the Empress Ballroom at The British Country Music Festival 2021 in Blackpool. The festival promotes the best home-grown, contemporary country and Americana artists from across the UK. This was the highlight of the fledgling return of live music to the British Isles. The experience of reconnecting with a live audience was amazing and showed Elles how much she had missed playing live.
‘Cheats and Liars‘ by Elles Bailey
Elles never set out to be a country artist or a blues artist what she is and wants to be first and foremost is a musician who makes killer music. ‘Cheats and Liars’ when it first came out enjoyed a world exclusive on ‘The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews’, on BBC Radio Two and was added to Planet Rock’s A List and was the most played track on Planet Rock in September 2021. The success of this single has meant the second single ‘Sunset City‘ got pushed back to make way for this huge first single.
Elles is the very first artist to be signed to peermusic (the largest independent music publisher in the world) via Under The Apple Tree (UTAT) (the label co-founded by music and broadcasting legend ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris), spearheading a brand-new, music publishing, joint venture.
The Lexington – March 2019
Photo: Alan Dunkley
Photo: Alex Berger
With Elles Bailey at The Lexington – March 2019
Photo: Adam Kennedy
Out of all of these achievements one of the closest to Elles heart has been the birth of her baby which has brought her closer to her family and with their support Elles will be able to go back to what she loves doing most in the world which is going back on tour in October and November 2021.
Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Elles Bailey. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
William Poyer performing live at Luna, February 2020 ~ Photograph by Matt Bradshaw
William Poyer is as unique as his music. An outstanding lyricist whose words come to life with a passion and haunting elegance that goes beyond poetry into the sublime spoken word of fellow artists Ray LaMontagne and Jason Isbell.
In this podcast CloudwatcherUno sits down with William and discuss his adventures in Mexico City, taking the brave step of moving across the world to find himself and learning to focus on his music and meeting fellow musical souls such as Jairus McDonald and José (Tato) Grageda from the band Peregrino. In those years he learnt a new language, met his wife and they have a beautiful baby boy.
Wiliam Poyer ~ Photograph by Russell Sansom
William has supported Great Lakes Band and Ferris and Sylvester on tour and has performed on stages large and small to connect with audiences with his music. In this podcast we get to hear two acoustic songs ‘Where Do I Begin’ and an unrecorded song ‘Forgiven’ which he will record in the home studio of Ferris and Sylvester.
‘Where Do I Begin’ by William Poyer
For William his passion has always been the acoustic guitar and from there his love of creating hooks, melodies to connect with audiences on an emotional level. William gets to showcase these talents on 10th October by performing in a socially distanced gig at the Old Joinery in Greenwich and a premiere a documentary about artists performing at the Spiritual Bar in Camden on October 22nd / 23rd 2020. Tickets for this event will be out shortly.
Click down below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring William Poyer. Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and many other platforms.
The Gods of Rock came down from Mount Olympus to O2 Brixton Academy on 3rd November 2019 and they brought the weapons of lightning, mixed with maelstrom of sound and unleashed them onto this corner of Albion.
My prayers were answered and the promised land of musical genius was within reach. The voice of Jay Buchanan filled the venue and electrified every soul with his stunning range and vocal power. Not a single breath was wasted, it was a performance of sheer genius. Ably supported by his fellow celestial beings Scott Holiday (Guitar), Michael Miley (Drums), Dave Beste (Bass and backing vocals) and Todd Ögren (Keyboards). You knew you were at a night of music that will live on in the annals of musical history.
I knew I was ticking off my musical bucket list this night. Having waited over a year to see Rival Sons this was well worth the wait. This is a band at the heights of their musical prowess and shined in the limelight. Looking around at the faces of the audience all you could see was happiness in their eyes. Headbanging fans kept pace with each guitar riff and drum solo.
Jay was in his element, savouring each rapturous applause to songs and taking in the moment. At times he would stand still and just listen as the audience sang back the lyrics to songs such as “Shooting Stars’.
Rival Sons performed songs throughout their back catalogue opening with ‘End of Forever’ from the album ‘Feral Roots’ and ‘Electric Man’ from ‘Great Western Valkyrie’ and ‘Keep on Swinging’ from ‘Head Down’.
It may not have been the loudest concert that i’ve been to that was Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real earlier on in the year but for pure unadulterated entertainment Rival Sons took everything above and beyond the call of musical duty.
Instead of doing an encore with the band walking off stage Jay told the enraptured audience that if it was alright with them he would just carry on playing more rock anthems. The end of the night finally came when Jay sand ‘Do your Worst’ a fitting tribute to all the worshippers of the mighty Rival Sons.
My experience didn’t end just there as I got to meet the whole band which for this fan boy was totally out of body experience. To add to that getting the whole band to sign my copy of ‘Feral Roots’ along with the tour poster truly made for a magical evening.
CloudwatcherUno PLAY.LISTEN.ENJOY. 