An Interview with Brian Kramer
By Johnny Petersen ©2021
The American expatriate blues musician and caricature artist was born in Brooklyn, New York in April 1st, 1963. He’s the real deal! Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1960s wasn’t always easy. Rough neighborhoods, unemployment, shattered families, all of which Kramer informs us about in his short but brilliant 2013 novel “Out Of The Blues”. There is a lot of information about him on the internet, but this story is based on an interview made with him in the Covid summer of 2021 through digital media. Already in his teens, Kramer began playing gigs on local bars around Greenwich Village and Brooklyn, occasionally jamming at the Washington Square Park with an “international gathering of vagabonds and bohemians. Not doing it for coins… just doing it simply to be.” Since a couple of years back, Brian Kramer and his wife Annika live in Hedemora in Dalarna, known for its vivid folk music scene. Before the pandemic, Brian Kramer was going back and forth between Stockholm where he had his famous weekly “Brian Kramer International Blues Jam” at Engelen, an old bar in the old medieval part of town. When asked if he is moving back to the US the answer is: “I have gotten to the point when I can know for sure that, no, I have gotten some strong connections here and I’m playing the blues scene here in Hedemora. I got used to this less stressful life style here.” Brian Kramer has recorded nine albums in his own name so far and appeared on a couple of others like Eric Bibb and Larry Johnson.”
thecountryblues.com: “In your biography you write, ‘until relocating overseas to seek a broader range of opportunities’, well enough, but isn’t the true reason for love?”
Brian Kramer (BK): “I met a Swedish girl in Greenwich Village, in Washington Square Park and you know, basically we fell in love and we literally moved in together the same week. We just became inseparable. The ironic thing about it was that a week before I met her, in the same park, a guy scouted me. He brought blues musicians over to Scandinavia and he said, “Hey man, you’re pretty good, would you like to come to Sweden and Scandinavia for a few months and do a tour?” This was one week before I met the Swedish woman and after we were already living together, in New York. Before she went back to Sweden, I said, “Hey, wait a minute, I think I’m, next month or so, I’m supposed to go to Switzerland or Sweden or something.” So, as it turned out, we continued our relationship, and I came to Sweden. Before I was supposed to begin the tour, she showed me around everywhere and we started up our relationship, and basically it has been going on for 30 years with two kids. The broader range of possibilities was musical because I had access to everything in the European Union, like Germany and England. Hop on a flight and you could do festivals and tours. But, then also the love aspect.”
thecountryblues.com: “Who was it that invited you to Sweden?”
BK: “I don’t know if he’s still around but he was called Professor Washboard. Scott was his name. He was a professional washboard and electronic device street player. Basically, he had a street act and he would bring brilliant American musicians over, do recordings with them and sell them on the street. This was 1990 and it was one of the best first experiences I had here in Europe and we made lots of money just playing in the streets. At that time, I also started to meet core people who became my long-term friends and still are. Like Allen Finney who’s a great musician. Then I met Max Schultz, I met Jenny Boman who passed away you know, and we became best friends and so many great musicians, Chuck Anthony is another one.”
thecountryblues.com: “Are you planning to take up the popular Blues Jams in Stockholm again? (After the pandemic lock-down). If so, when and at what venue?”
BK: “Yes I will, probably in a couple of months or so and I’m going to be travelling back and forth every week. We have ongoing discussions and we want to be sure the conditions are right for everybody and we don’t want to jump into it too soon. Our jam is the most popular jam in Stockholm, next to the Stampen jam (a famous jazz club, a block away), which I of course started. The thing is we don’t want to alienate people. We stopped it before most people stopped doing live shows. When the Covid started to kick in and we would maybe have like fifty people or so in the room and we used to have hundreds coming by at Engelen trough the course of the day. The other thing was economically it didn’t work out for the club. Now the restrictions are beginning to seem a little better and Engelen is waiting to see what it means for them. Once they give us the green light then we’ll start to announce when we’ll be playing again. When we start it will probably be with a lot of guests as well as some special guests.”
thecountryblues.com: “So, you’ve got something to look forward to?”
BK: “Yeah, I mean, we’ve done this for 23 years and then all of a sudden, we haven’t for a year. We’ll have to make up for that year.”
thecountryblues.com: “And, who among those you have played with have you enjoyed the most?”
BK: “Well, if we start at the beginning without going through the whole list, Junior Wells foremost because he was my teacher. He played harmonica and I played guitar but he was my teacher in the language of the blues. Buddy Guy too, whom I hung out with a lot but Junior especially, we had a connection. We got together and played quite a bit and we did the album together. On the back end ,there are so many but I would say my good friend Eric Bibb. The reason I say Eric Bibb is, almost for a singular reason because he was a teacher too and an affirmation of what you could do with the quality of blues music. A lot of that we discovered together at a time when we did a lot of shows as a duo and I learned how two people can embrace an audience of hundreds of people just by their connection to each other.”
thecountryblues.com: “You have been playing with an array of famous musicians. Is there anyone in particular whom you haven’t played with but wish that you could?”
BK: “Oh jeez, let’s see, hmm, well two artists that I’ve always fantasized over, sitting next to and playing guitar. One is Keb Mo, basically because I’m such a big fan of his ‘big, open airy blues’, the diversity of his songs and his music. That’s something that I like to think I come from the similar place. I call it ‘uplifting blues’. I imagine that we could click. I had the same feel of Taj Mahal, but the Taj dream actually have come true and I was able to sit next to him and play and I recorded a song with him. A beautiful connection. There’s a lot of people on that list and also, believe or not, Bob Dylan. Not because he is ‘Bob Dylan’ and famous and so but because he has such a love for the blues and roots music. I believe that if he were sitting there and I had a guitar and would start to play some Robert Johnson songs, he would dig it. I’m sure.”
thecountryblues.com: “Do you have any favorite artist from the early blues era? Say 1910 – 1950. Just one.”
BK: “OK, let’s go with a classic, Robert Johnson. For me there is the ‘Big Delta Three’: Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Johnny Shines. Robert Johnson for the complexity and the simplicity and for the mystery of the blues. Muddy Waters for taking that to the next level, still containing the hot soul, dirt and grit of the Delta, electrifying it and bringing it to a new generation. Johnny Shines for subtle, beautiful slide-work, his lyricism and beautiful high-pitched vocal. There is genuine sweetness about this guy that I just love.”
thecountryblues.com: “What’s your favorite brand of acoustic guitars?
BK: Well, I’ve been through them all, I’ve got some custom builds, but basically over the years I built up to fine Martin Guitars. I don’t have as many guitars as I used to because I’m thinning out the herd, but I would say right now I would grab a Martin HM 28. Love that guitar I bought in New York. Of course, I would also say resonator guitars, Nationals.”
thecountryblues.com: “You are a well-known slide guitarist. Do you prefer metal, glass or mud-slides?”
BK: “Definitely glass. I use almost exclusively Diamond Bottle Necks out of the U.K. The crystal glass enhances the sound hundreds of times. It’s a question of bringing out the best of each particular instrument. If you have a Stradivarius violin you don’t save money on a cheap bow, you invest in the best bow available. If you have a National resonator guitar you do want to bring out all the best sound qualities of it. But different materials can be the most suitable in different situations.”
thecountryblues.com: “Now we come to the Buddhist part. You are known as a practicing Buddhist. How did that come about?”
BK: “This is a great question and something that I don’t often get a chance to talk about. A lot of people don’t relate to that and me being a blues musician. It’s not necessarily something that I present. I don’t go, “Oh by the way, I’m a Buddhist!” …“When I was around 20 in New York, my parents had split up, I dropped out of art school because I had decided I didn’t want to become a professional artist. One day as I was working as a bicycle courier, this was in the winter, I was delivering a package to a film editing studio and a woman. A very nice lady said, ‘Hey are you interested in Buddhism?’ I said, no not really. She went on saying that’s it’s really great, it will open up your perception and awareness and she started to tell me that you can make things possible with a focused awareness. But, (with a big smile) I was more interested in her, she was cute, a real cutie pie. So, what I did was I agreed to go with her to this little Buddhist meeting down in the Soho area. The thing was the minute I walked into the room I heard they was doing this chant ‘Namo Myoho Renge Kyo’. I heard this chanting and I was very drawn to it. Then there was a discussion meeting and the guy in charge asked me, ‘Do you have any dreams? If you do this you can make any dream come true!’ Nobody ever told me that in my life before. I was a young man from Brooklyn from a dysfunctional family and most of the people tell “don’t even try, give up.” The thing was that I really wanted to be a performing musician. I wanted to perform and I wanted to be accepted as a blues musician, as an artist, by the people whom I admire. I began the recitation practice and – I was doing some drugs then and having some shifty friends – I started to realize what was holding me back and what was pushing me in the right direction. I was doing this meditation and I was able to finish and learn complete songs. I created a set and I was doing my first gig, through chanting as a Buddhist, and I remember it was at the famous club in Greenwich Village called the Folk City, where Bob Dylan got his start. So I was learning the blues and Buddhism simultaneously, they do have a lot in common philosophically. I was doing this gig with two friends of mine and all I remember is people clapping their hands.”
Brian Kramer (briankramerbluesart.com) is also a significant caricaturist of the blues. See his impressive portfolio here https://www.thecountryblues.com/brian-kramers-blues-art/.
