With a new studio album set for release next month, The Todd Wolfe Band brings its rigorous national tour to Grand Rapids’ Tip Top Deluxe on Friday.
Grand Rapids tour stop: The Todd Wolfe Band rolls into the Tip Top on Friday.
More than three decades in, blues-rock guitarist Todd Wolfe certainly knows the ups and downs of the music business.
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And after a high-profile stint with Sheryl Crow’s band in the 1990s, the New York native has found satisfaction with his own Todd Wolfe Band, which unveils a new studio album, “Miles to Go,” on Aug. 13.
The band – Wolfe, drummer Roger Voss and bassist Justine Gardner – is touring nearly nonstop these days as it crisscrosses the country, often playing six or seven nights a week. On Friday, the band rolls into the intimate confines of the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill on Grand Rapids’ West Side.
Wolfe took time out of his hectic touring schedule to answer a few questions for Local Spins about the rigors of a seasoned musician forging a rock ‘n’ roll career in the new millennium.
Q: Is it gratifying to get attention for your own music and performances these days?
A: Much tougher on my own but in some ways, yes, gratifying as I’m playing my own music my way and band members interpret my music their way, so it’s pretty open. It’s nice to get the reviews we’ve been getting on these eight albums (since 1999) … and I appreciate that. At this point, I would like to be a little less obscure and to be able to make a little more comfortable living as it’s tough out there.
Wolfe and his band in action.
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The Todd Wolfe Band
8 p.m. Friday
$10
Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill,
760 Butterworth Ave. SW, Grand Rapids
Info/tickets: facebook.com/pages/Tip-Top-Deluxe-Bar-Grill, toddwolfe.com
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Q: What’s been the biggest change in the music industry since you started in the late ‘70s?
A: Resources from the industry are very limited to a majority of us out there and only available to the upper crust of artists that can still pull the numbers required by the industry. The other difference though (is there) are more avenues on a mom-and-pop level to get your music out to the people. It just takes a bit more to get it to the masses.
Q: How would you describe your years of working with Sheryl Crow?
A: The years with Sheryl were a blast, from touring all over the world to having the likes of Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, James Taylor, David Hidalgo, Marty Stuart, etc., jumping on stage with us, to visiting President Bill Clinton in the White House. Sheryl is a talent and one hard-working individual. Now … writing and playing my music, though I did some with Sheryl, is very gratifying. But there’s much that makes it difficult on this level as I have to wear many hats, from advancing shows, managing and tour-managing the band, promo, turnout of the people, there are many responsibilities.
Q: To what do you attribute your blues and Southern rock hues? Who were your biggest musical influences?
A: I’m not sure if Southern is a part of it, unless my mom’s heritage of Texican plays a part, or the music of the late ‘60s and ‘70s, a melting pot of rock ‘n’ roll, blues, country, R&B, soul – bands like Delaney & Bonnie, Derek & the Dominos, The Allman Brothers, which were all an influence. As far as blues … it would have started with bands like The Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, Cream, Jeff Beck Group, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Winter, etc. Having blues as a dominant ingredient in their music and me first being exposed to that music at the ripe age and then having them mention their influences like the Kings, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and many others. That will always be in my playing, but I come more from the rock ‘n’ roll side: George Harrison, then Keith Richards and Brian Jones made me want to pick up the guitar. And then when Clapton, Beck, Jimi and Peter Green came around, along with Bloomfield and Winter and others, I really wanted to play.
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
