by Frank Matheis. 2020
There are many offspring of famous musicians who have made a successful career by following in the footsteps of their elder kin. You know who they are. While it’s always good to have a prominent name on which to build a métier, some are better at it than others. The big name only takes you so far, but if you don’t fully own up to the associated expectations, the name-fame can be a detriment.
Here is a guy with a double whammy. His name is Richard Pryor, just like the immortal comedian; and, he’s the son of the world-renowned harmonica ace Snooky Pryor. Wisely, he has the stage name “Rip Lee” because how else will anyone ever find you in the Google world when there are hundreds of listings for the comedian clogging the searches.
Pryor lives up in Carbondale, Illinois. When thecountryblues.com first came across the acoustic bluesman, who plays guitar and harmonica, his blues nobility family connection was unknown. He is featured because he’s a terrific performer who can stand tall on the merit of his own marvelous musicianship. Surely, as an apprentice of his father, he is blues royalty, but, well, he is damned good. He is a harmonica ace and superb guitarist, a terrific blues singer who delivers foot-stomping and fiery acoustic blues. His harmonica style is derived at the feet of his father, and not surprisingly, both as a singer and harmonica player he carries on that style. He deserves accolades as a solo artist, and frankly, he is far better than many in the genre, but has not had the fame equivalent to his skill.
Thecountryblues.com interviewed the Electro-Fi recording artist Rip Lee Pryor via telephone on September 22, 2020:
Pryor: “When I was in high school me and my brother played in a rhythm and blues type of band. We played some Top 40 stuff. It was due to my dad playing music. As a young kid, I used to listen to his records and tried to mimic his harmonica playing. That’s when I first started playing – we were maybe 14 or 15 years old. That’s’ how I started – my dad got me interested in music. I started professionally with my dad’s guitar playing basically what I play on the guitar now. From ’94 up until 2000 I played with my brother and we went out with my dad.
I have been playing as a solo acoustic act for 10 years– since about 2010. I played here in Illinois at the Chicago Blues Festival; and, around New York and Pennsylvania. My record company, Electro-Fi is in Canada, that was the label that my dad was with. I also played the juke joint festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and the King Biscuit Festival in Arkansas. Now, I frequently play those. And. Other than that, it’s just been small festivals and I did a tour. I toured up – when I played the Poconos that fed into a tour – I played some small festivals. I did that twice – but never the larger festivals in the United States.
I write some originals and cover traditionals. I did an independent CD back in 1998, Pitch a Boogie Woogie and I wrote some of the songs on that CD, some of my dad’s songs and some Sonny Boy Williamson. The last CD I did was six years ago, Nobody But Me (Electro-Fi). It’s a blood cancer I wrote a couple of songs on that too. I like to play my dad’s music and Sonny Boy Williams – and I lean towards that sound in the music that I play.
I retired from my day job as a carpenter in 2008 with the intention of playing music full time. Then, in 2000 I put the music on hold because I was working hard in my day job at the time. My dad passed away in 2006. In 2008, I was going to pick the music back up, but I started gambling, going around in the casinos. It was hard to try to set up a band at the time, but I wanted to do it. In 2010, I came down with cancer really bad. Multiple myeloma – it’s a blood cancer. I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. I had it for a while before they caught it. I promised myself if I got back on my feet, I wanted to play my music if I go into remission once again. I was determined to play.
So, I went solo playing acoustically and then for 10 years I did really well, traveling through different countries playing the music. Then, in 2015, the cancer came back again. I went in remission again and then I continued to travel, which brought us up to 2020. Then right at this point the cancer is back again. I’m taking chemo. Hopefully it is going into remission towards the end of the year. The cancer gave me a lot of headaches and I just didn’t feel like playing– well, it was almost impossible to play. But things are getting better so now at this point I’m putting together a trio. I’ve got a piano player and a bass player and we’re working out things and hopefully by the time things start opening up with the virus, and my cancer will into remission. I am going to try to push my stuff out there to try to get more gigs because actually, even prior to the pandemic, you know I wasn’t doing much and I wasn’t pushing much.
I’m the type of person, I try to do my best I can with what I’ve got and what will be will be. I can just put out the best I can put out. And whether it lives up to what my father Snooky Pryor did, I don’t know. I just do the best I can and try to make it good. And if it’s good to me hopefully it will be good to the public. And living up to his standards or what he did, why, it don’t bother me. I try to not play identical like he did, but I play his style because that’s what I learned from him. But still it’s me. It’s not him note for note. I’m a hard worker, honest, down-to-earth type of person and just put my all and all into whatever I go after I try to do my best in it. And I want to be a role model for my younger people.
I want to carry my dad’s legacy – to keep it going, to honor what he did. That’s one of my goals. If I can make somebody smile, that makes me feel good.
