“Jane’s sister married an interesting guy. Over the past couple of years Brian Bisesi and I collaborated on a book about his career as a blues musician. It was published in April by U. Mississippi Press: “Out of the Blue, Life on the Road with Muddy Waters.” (Available on Amazon.) .
In 1978 Brian, then barely in his 20s, is sitting in a nightspot in the Jersey suburbs to catch a performance by Waters. Lead guitarist, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, is out sick. Not to worry, one of the band members tells Waters. That white boy in the fifth row knows all our material and plays a pretty mean guitar. Bring him up here.
Brian rises to the occasion and Muddy keeps him on as a full-time road manager, bean counter and fill-in guitarist. It was the beginning of a lifetime career that took Brian all around the world — Europe, Japan, U.S. — as Muddy Waters opened for the likes of Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones (who took their name from one of his songs) and so on. By the time of Waters’ death a few years later Brian was well enough established in blues circles to win a Grammy and never need a day job again.
He’s a great guitarist, also a great story teller. My role, once I convinced Brian there might be a book in all this, was to clean up the writing and see if we could find a publisher.
As I write this note, Jane and I are just up from Mexico for Jazz Fest in New Orleans. One of the big draws this year is the Stones. If Mick gets too hoarse, Brian says to tell him there’s a veteran member of the Deerfield Glee Club in the audience, ready to hop up on stage and fill in on vocals.
Meanwhile, life goes on. While their parents take a quick birthday trip to Morocco, we’re off to babysit in NYC for two of our half-dozen grandchildren. Then it’s on up to Maine for some auld lang syne with friends and family, Sam Hayes among them.” – Jed Horne ’66