New Orleans rhythm and blues singer Skip Easterling recorded for the legendary Joe Banashak throughout the best part of the sixties and into the 70's. He is best remembered for the classic funk reworking of "I'm Your Hoochie Koochie Man" recorded under Huey Piano Smith. I interviewed Skip about a lesser known but much coveted soul stormer he recorded under Eddie Bo called "keep The fire burning" Martin Lawrie July 2004

So Skip, I wanted to not only ask you about a 45 you cut for Alon back in the sixties "The Grass Looks Greener / Keep The Fire Burning" under the awesome Eddie Bo, but also to find out a little more about you. You had a long running recording career with Joe Banashak,releasing numerous records for most of his legendary New Orleans labels. What can you tell us about that 45 and about your memories of an incredible career? Okay, where do i begin? First off, ''The Grass Looks Greener' and 'Keep The Fire Burning' were recorded in Jan 1967 and were written especially for me to record. It was the year in which my youngest chid was born. The b-side was 'Keep The Fire Burning'. Eddie Bo was hired to be the new A&R man because Joe Banashak and Allen Touisaint had a falling out. Also Allen, who had been discharged from the army a year or so earlier, did not like the new artist Joe had used to put on tracks that were layed down by Allen and the studio musicians he used since before entering the US Army. Chiefly me, he told Joe I sang flat, and Joe accused him of being predjudice. Don't get me wrong I have great respect for Allen to this day and everyone is entitled to his opinion. I did one recording for Joe with Allen as the a&r man, which Allen wrote, 'All For You' / 'Run Along To Mama' under Alon records which Joe Banashak owned not Allen. I must say I was very uncomfortable working with Allen. When and how did you start working with Joe? I had started recording for Joe Banashak in 1964, I was 15 years of age and had to be imancipated so that I could sign the recording contract. Allen was in the Army, and the first two songs I recorded were 'Don't Let Him' and the b-side, 'Sugar blocks'. It recieved heavy airplay on am stations at the time around New Orleans and the Louisiana area, but was not a big seller, or so I was told. It wasn't too long before I was in Cosmo's 4 trk studio again to record 'Wishing well' and the b-side 'You Sit and cry alone'. 'Wishing well' was a pick hit on WTIX and WNOE AM, and as far away as south florida. I was on my way with these non R&B records, then the Beatles took the city and America like a tornado. Also Joe lost some of his power with the white stations, so he put me over to Rhythm and Blues. I did a redo of 'Wonderful Girl', I forget the b-side and a couple of others, one by the name of 'Shiny Gold Ring' at Sax Kari's studio in New Orleans for Banashak. What labels were these tracks on? All these were on alon records. Joe and Lew chudd of imperial records started the label Minit records long before I arrived on the scene. Later Joe and lew chudd parted company, so joe started Alon and Instant records and later 7-B records. All this time I was booked on radio stations across Louisiana and new orleans. At the same time i had my own band at Papa Joes Ringside Lounge on bourbon Street.We played the early morning Jam session and across the street on the corner Mac or better know as Dr. John and his band played the early gig. Mac did not sing the singer was the late Ronny Baras. Mac was agreat keyboardist on the hammond b-3, and even better on the guitar, he also was a studio musician being on a lot of cuts like irma thomas 'Two Winters Long', he played the tasty guitar riff. He was and still is my friend and one of my favorite musicians. along with Allen Tousaint. So how did 'The Grass Looks Greener' do locally, was this the only occasssion you worked with Eddie? In 1967' the grass looks greener' got heavy airplay on black stations such as wbok am and wyld am, it went to number 3 on the local black charts. Later I recorded another Eddie Bo song, by the name of 'just one more time' and the b-side was a cover song called, 'he's got the whole world in his hands'. it did recieve some play on the black ststions but did not do as well. Had you worked with Eddie before these recordings? I had never knew Eddie Bo before the grass looks greener session except for some of his earlier recording i had heard on the local am radio ststions. One song in particular was 'tell it like it is', not the Aaron neville version, but a real funky upbeat song. Eddie Bo could sing and play the piano well. When Joe brought him in to write the two songs for me to record, we became very good friends, and to this day I will always remember what a pleasure it was to work with The Great Edwin Bocage. Who was the backing band on the 'Grass Looks..." session? James Black was the drummer. I will have think real hard to come up with the other musicians, but give me some time, and i will. Images courtesy of Bob Walker & Skip Easterling So was that it for Alon after 'Just One More Time'? I recorded a few more under Alon with other a&r men, then in 1970 Banashak hired a new A&R man Huey Piano Smith. He is another Great piano player, and a pleasure to have worked with him in the studio. By that time cosmo had 8 trks.So Joe asked Huey Smith if he could take an old Missisppi Delta blues song and make it funky. It was I''m Your Hootchie Coochie Man'. The b-side was Jessie Hills 'oo poo pa doo'. And for the first time I was put on the Instant Label. All the rest of my recordings were released on Instant from then on. I really wasn't too excited about recording either one, but being under contract i had no choice in the matter. But Huey really pulled off a bit of his genius, and changed the whole doggone feel. I went into the studio and we did two takes on Hoochie coochie man, and they kept the first take. Back then new orleans was hot with 'Mr. Big Stuff' by my friend Jean knight and 'Groove Me' by my friend King Floyd. How did 'Hoochie' do? After Hoochie coochie man was released it shot up to number 1 on just about every black station in the south including some high powered soul FM stations that were becoming popular. They even had Hoochie Coochie Man day In Slidell where i was raised. I played black clubs from texas to florida off of that record. I did shows with Babara Lynn, William bell , Joe Simon Jean Knight, King Floyd just to mention a few. Even had a deal cooking with jerry wexler of Atlantic Records but Joe would not let me go. That would have been my meal ticket. The record was in high demand but Joe could not keep up with the distribution. Banashak apologized to me over that about a year before he passed on. I told him that was okay. It just wasn't meant to be. I really miss him even though all of us from Ernie K-Doe to Art Neville and down to me were screwed. Black, white whatever colour, and i see things have not changed too much for the better today. How was racial tension in LA back then, especially being white in a predominantly black music industry? During the 60's in Louisiana yes there was racial bull and even to this day, but not among the musicians from that time period. Other than a few remarks made from some of Joe's black artist such as 'Oh No, Joe done signed a white boy'. We were one big family. Kris Kenner, Ernie K-doe Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Art Neville. Raymond Lewis, Oliver Morgan, Lee Dorsey, Benny Spellman, Eldrige Holmes Eddie Lang just to mention a few. As far as I know I was the first white artist to get massive airplay on black stations in New Orleans, long before Dr. John. 1967 that was the beginning of some of my best recordings. As Eddie Bo told me in the studio on the Grass looks greener session, "don't listen to Joe don't listen to anyone just sing the song from your heart the way you feel it. That is soul". Did Joe try to give input into the creative process? Banashak was the money man and the producer, and he would try at times to tell the artist and the studio musicians what to do and what he wanted on some recordings, but it was mainly the A&R man who had the last say. Joe put up the money and he made most of the money. So what happened after Hoochie? As for me, after the Hoochie Coochie thing we recorded 'Too Weak To Break The Chains' a really good song written by Huey Smith, Huey and I collaberated on a song we wrote called 'I'm your man'. That was about it. I went on playing local clubs and Joe went into Gospel until he died of heart failure in the Atlanta airport on the way back from Baltimore where he was from. It is of my opinion that if it had not been for Joe Banashak there would have been no one to bring out and show the country, and now the world, New Orleans R&B. He was the man behind it all. After Joe did you continue to record? I went on to play keyboards with Freddie Fender on the road for about 6 years when he had the smash hit 'Before the next teardrop falls', and 'Wasted Days and Wasted Nites', which down here we call it swamp pop. We had a bus accident in 1979 and our drummer Little Joe Lambert and bus driver Sonny Parker were killed. I quit the road after that. Lil Joe lambert was the drummer on Hoochie Coochie man among others. (Skip did return to the studios briefly in 1985 to record the forgotten country/soul outings: 'Meat Rack Tavern / So In Love Are We' for Currella, this was a self financed recording made in a small studio in Slidel that failed to make impact on release but is regarded by local New Orleans collectors and historians as a good record. So tell us about the Ponderossa Stomp, that must have been a great tribute to you? I',m looking at 60 now, and have not played in years until the ponderosa thing. In 2001 I was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of fame. Quite an honor I sang 'The Grass Looks Greener', 'Hoochi Coochie Man' and a cut from my new album that is still not released. I was so honoured and surprised at the people from England who were in town to see the Jazz Fest that came up to me after the show and asked for my autograph, they even had some of my original 45's as well as the album released by Charley records of the U.K, 'Taking Inventory'. I actually got paid to do that gig, and i was recieved very handsomely. I got to see some very dear friends, and for that I am thankful What's this about a new album? We started the album in 1998, and then my grandaughter was kidnapped, raped and strangled to death so it really sent me and my family into another world. However I plan to do some more recordings of songs I have written down thru the years and see what happens. It will be fun anyway. It has been quite a thrill for me to have recorded and played music with some of the greats, and I wish them all the best. Thankyou to James 'Skip' Easterling, a gentle and true man who quite rightly deserves his place amongst the greats of new Orleans. At the time of writing "The Grass Is Greener / Keep The Fire Burning" is currently valued at £100, but due to lack of awareness of this record it can be occassionally be found on ebay for under £50, and several dealers have recently listed in for as low as £30. Good hunting.