I TRAVELLED down to the Soul Café in Maidstone, Kent to interview Carlton Moody and Jeff “Stick” Davis of Burrito Deluxe. For the benefit of our UK readers who may not know of them I asked them a few questions.
MA: How was the band formed and where did the name come from.
CM: The band was formed about five years ago. We recorded an album called Georgia Peach, which was a tribute to Gram Parsons. We had “Sneaky” Pete Kleinow, (who was a co-founder of The Flying Burrito Brothers), Tommy Spurlock and myself. The three of us really started the band. We wanted to get Sneaky out playing a little more, as he had not been playing a lot. He had been working on his film career. Sneaky actually named the band after the 1970 Flying Burrito Brothers album, Burrito Deluxe.
MA: Was the band formed with any specific brand of music in mind.
CM: We first started, playing some good Country Rock Music, Americana, is just a mixture. Pete was a big influence on that in the early years. He gave us the chance to make a record and go start playing some gigs.
MA: Are you all original members of the band, or do you employ guest musicians from time to time.
CM: We do use guest musicians from time to time. For example on our new record. Disciples of the Truth, Sneaky Pete plays steel guitar on some tracks. We also used four other steel guitar players on it.
MA: What instruments do each member of the band play and who takes the vocals.
CM & JD: This is Carlton, I’m the lead singer or one of them, Walter Egan is also a lead singer. I play banjo, mandolin and some guitar parts, both Acoustic and Electric. Walter plays Electric Guitar and as I said he takes lead vocals and also harmony vocals. Stick plays bass, both stand up and electric and he also does harmony vocals as well. Bryan Owings plays drums. Unfortunately our keyboard player, Richard Bell, fell ill right before we left. He has a very serious illness. He’s a great keyboard player and has been playing with us for about a year, since Richard Manuel passed away. We wish him all the best.
MA: A lot of people in the UK will be familiar with the name Carlton Moody as you have toured over here with the Moody Brothers. Have any other members of the band toured over here with other bands.
JD: I certainly have, about fourteen years ago, I did three or four tours with Billy Joe Spears, played “Blanket on the Ground” many times. I spoke to her not long ago to see if she felt like coming back. Also I’m from a band, The Amazing Rhythm Aces. We have toured a few times. I have been over a few times playing blues tours. I have also been over several times with different artists. That also goes for Bryan Owings our drummer. He’s been over a few times with different artists. He’s toured with Delbert McClinton, Buddy Miller and the Rhythm Aces. Walter Egan has also been to England several times. We all like to come across the pond and play a little country music now and then, very appreciative audiences over here.
MA: I understand you have a new CD out, is this tour to promote this CD in Europe.
CM & JD: The album, entitled, Disciples of the Truth, has not been officially released yet, not even in the States, so this tour is more of a promotion, just to touch base and get back to letting people know we have a new album, that’s out, but not officially, this is a sort of preview.
MA: I have not heard the CD as yet, could you tell me a little about the songs on it, which ones are your favourites and who wrote them.
JD & CM: There are several great songs on there, some came from within the band and also some from great Nashville songwriters. We have a co-write amongst us in there, it’s called, “All Right on the Wrong Side of Town”. It’s a three quarters slow kind of song but it has a lot of energy in there and it’s fun to play. As we said there are a lot of great songs on the album. Carlton has written a couple of them and Walter has written several. As we said we do have some great songs from the Nashville songwriters that we brought to the table, these are all originals, no covers.
MA: Are you thinking of releasing any of the tracks as a single.
CM & JD: We have one out right now, called, “Midnight at a Red Light”, written by George Hamilton V, who’s a friend of ours. Yes that’s our new single for Europe and it’s out there as we speak.
MA: What else can you tell me about yourselves.
CM & JD: We just enjoy what we do. We love touring the world, taking American music styles to different countries, people seem to enjoy it and we’ll keep on doing that until something else comes along.
MA: Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me, I hope you have a brilliant tour of the UK and Ireland and I also hope the new CD does well for you. I hope to see you over here again in the future.
I would recommend that everybody in the UK, goes to see Burrito Deluxe when they are next over here, they are absolutely brilliant. If any fans are looking for canvas art of band and music, try cheapwallarts.com, they have a large number of discount wall art online. Both of them have good price and customer service.
Leave a Reply