Sierra Mountain Times

By Thomas Atkins

Brad Wilson, a former Summerville High student, will be playing high quality blues/rock at Big Daddy’s Smokin’ BBQ this weekend. Photo courtesy of Brad Wilson

Brad Wilson, an award winning singer/songwriter/guitarist based in Los Angeles, has quite an extensive resume. He has released ten albums and his music has been featured in John Carpenter’s last two films and soundtracks, “Vampire’s” and “Ghosts of Mars,” as well as on the ABC morning show “Live With Regis & Kelly,” the NBC soap opera, “Passions,” and the digital music leader DMX Music added three of his songs to their “Rock and Blues” channel which has a daily listening audience of 80 million worldwide. All Access Music Awards in Los Angeles voted Wilson “Best Songwriter,” and he’s also won “Best Blues Band” at L.A.’s Rock City News Awards…three times. Wilson and his band have toured nationally over a dozen times and have opened for many top name artists such as Tonic, Paula Cole, Cheap Trick, and .38 Special. However, out of all his travels and success, his fondest memories are the years he spent in Tuolumne County, and he is looking forward to returning to his roots this weekend to rock Big Daddy’s Smokin’ BBQ in Twain Harte.

Although Wilson was born in the Bay Area, his family moved to Twain Harte to take over the Mi-Wuk Golf Course and Inn. This move occurred the summer after his eighth grade year, and Wilson spent the next four years attending Summerville High School.

“Moving up from the Bay Area to Twain Harte was like moving into a National Geographic Magazine,” said Wilson. “At first when I moved up, I thought this wasn’t for me, but after awhile I got to appreciate the fact that you can get much closer to people. Everything in the city was moving so fast and up there you could finally get to know people. There was more of a small town feeling and a lot of camaraderie at school and support from the teams as well as the old fashioned values. And in the long run, over the years, the friendships I made up there have lasted a lifetime.”

Wilson still appreciates the beauty and uniqueness of the quiet mountain towns, and often reflects on the snow, the fall foliage, the apples and the rivers that he enjoyed so much during his high school days.
“Its always worth it to slow down just a minute and enjoy things like taking a walk through the woods or down to the river,” he said. “I lived up there for some really great years in my life. The years when you’re in high school are just golden, and I am very excited to be coming back.”

While at Summerville, Wilson seemed to be involved in everything. He played varsity football, was captain of the track team for four years and was involved in the ski club (he also worked at Dodge Ridge). Wilson was also the editor of the school newspaper, as well as the vice president of his senior class. This was all in addition to his music, which filled the rest of his spare time.

Wilson first started playing the guitar the summer before his freshman year, and his passion for music continued and thrived throughout his high school years as he found himself playing in bands that would perform at school dances or local lodges.

“We’d rent out a lodge and throw our own concerts,” said Wilson. “There was a feeling of independence, which was wonderful. You’d get the lodge, put out the flyers, get a P.A. system and have a show. Oftentimes people would sit in and jam. We were into jamming from day one.”

Wilson said that these jam sessions were out of necessity due to the small number of people who played instruments.

“When someone showed up that played something we’d say, ‘you know what, jump in on this.’ Yea, there weren’t a lot of musicians so whoever was playing pretty much got in the band.”

Brad Wilson rocking the stage at a show in California. Brad and his band travel all over the state and play over 150 shows a year!

Yet what stoked Wilson’s musical fire were the concerts put on by Bill Graham, a promoter who revolutionized music concerts in the 1960s.

“Bill Graham probably had the most influence because of the live shows he was bringing in,” said Wilson. “My friends and I would get in the car and drive to San Francisco to his events. We were very in tune to what was happening and we would make a run…we’d get the car full of people and we’d go storming off down that hill, and the next thing you’d know we’d be in the city. We were way off into Graham because he would put on Muddy Waters, Albert King, B.B. King and he’d mix blues right in with the English rock bands that were coming in. He’d mix this new sound in with groups like Thin Lizzy, the Stones, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull or Peter Frampton, and that’s the first time I saw the blues guys. I was just floored with the sound they were getting because it wasn’t like anything I was hearing from the English guys. We were just like ‘wow, these guys are amazing.’ It was so different and so completely American that the English guys were really having trouble to replicate it. Even Beck and Clapton were not replicating what was happening with guys like Albert King. The closest thing we could get was maybe Mike Bloomfield or Dwayne Allman. But from my high school years on I was really knocked out with the blues.”

After high school, Wilson eventually moved to L.A. to get involved with the entertainment business. It was there where he got his first big break.

“I was recording at a big studio down there and John Carpenter was directing a movie next door when he heard one of my songs,” said Wilson. “He said that he liked it, and it became the theme of his movie, “Vampires.”

Although Carpenter’s movies have success, they aren’t necessarily designed to be blockbusters, but for some reason this movie went to number one in the country.

“This really launched me as a songwriter,” said Wilson. “It was a tremendous break, and as the movie went around worldwide I ended up touring the country behind it. It was just one of those Hollywood things that hit me like a meteorite and launched out.”

Wilson soon found himself playing in front of tens of thousands of people.

“Those shows are always exciting because there is a security barrier and the sound is so bombastic,” he said. “It was very exciting to have my guitar that loud…when your guitar is mic’d up and is going out on that kind of wattage, you are pushing a tremendous amount of sound allowing you to get a great tone because your amp is just cranking.”

Yet although Wilson has experienced success on a corporate level as well as local levels, he has decided to take a path much different than many recording artists.

“It is difficult for independent artists like myself to get involved with record companies because they would own the masters to the records and it becomes difficult for the artist to control their future, because they no longer own their product or their songs,” said Wilson. “When you get swept up into the label and the label doesn’t print up any more records, then you don’t have anymore records.”

Because of this, Wilson decided to start his own music company.

“I really wanted to build a company that was based around my song writing,” said Wilson. “In this way I can record my albums and sell them online and at shows. It really has been a wonderful thing as an artist to try to approach things like a small company, kind of like a mom and pop store.”

Wilson takes pride in his business and enjoys being involved at all levels.

“I do enjoy working on my business,” he said. “I like to work and I love accomplishing things. That’s why I like having my own company. I like doing calls and I like running stuff down or going to the printer or getting the records manufactured or working on something on the website. I like to work all the time…it’s probably my favorite thing to do.”

One of Wilson’s favorite sayings is: “Get off the bench and get in the game,” which is exactly what Wilson does.

“I don’t like to sit on the bench; I like to get in the game,” said Wilson. “I’m highly motivated by getting in action. I have a feeling of freedom with my business. And even though it doesn’t have the rock stardom as one would know it with someone like John Mayer or Metallica, it allows me to be at the driver seat, and I own my songs.”

When writing his songs, Wilson describes the process as a painting.

“Everything is like a painter working on several paintings at a time,” he said. “I work on this one a little bit and then that one depending on the mood and the ideas I’m getting and the directions…often the songs will take direction based on a couple of sentences or lines I’ve come up with and those start to lead the way. I try not to be too preconceived going into it that I’m going to definitely write a song about this – usually it comes to me where I’m playing some stuff and all of a sudden I’ll hear something or get an idea and I follow that path for awhile. I complete each one as I see where it goes because I’m not on a deadline.”

A lot of his songs are said to have a “California sound,” which most likely comes from his extensive traveling of the state.

“I focus on the state of California because I was born here and I’m a Californian,” said Wilson. “I really love traveling the state from all four corners. I live in L.A. and southern California is a wonderful place, but I’m a Californian and I feel just as at home anywhere in the state. It’s just incredible – Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Yosemite, Tahoe. This is one amazing state!”

Wilson plays up and down the state every weekend, performing over 150 shows a year at music venues, clubs, city events, casinos, motorcycle rallies, fairs and festivals, and places like Big Daddy’s which are settings he enjoys the most.

“I like to work in a smaller club situation, especially if the club is packed,” he said. “I have a lot of fun that way because for my shows I like to get the audience involved and get the people to sing along or shout out and everyone feels a part of the show. I like to have more of a conversation going with the crowd, so for me it is a lot more fun if it turns into a house party. But at the heart of the matter I’m a singer, songwriter, guitarist that is a little bit like Clapton, Gregg Allman, Dwayne Allman, Gary Moore, B.B. King or Stevie Ray Vaughan.”
These legendary musicians have helped pave the way for Wilson, and now he is able to add his own style to the blues/rock genre of music.

“Over the years I’ve got excited about Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan – guys that managed to blend rock with the blues,” he said. “I was excited about guitar players that were singing and playing lead guitar. The idea was that you could sing and play the lead and the chords and capture the rhythm of the song all by one individual, and if you had a great bass player and drummer you could fill out the sound and get a nice power trio sound. As a guitarist, for me, it’s nice to have plenty of room to take the band down really quietly or bring the band up to where it’s rippin’ and be able to have that versatility. I do like to do a lot of rippin’ lead, but I try to balance that with songs that really focus on the melody and the chords. Blues is a wide appealing music that everyone can hang their hat on.”

Because of his talent and his stage presence, Wilson has received a lot of positive feedback over the years.
“I really like people, so when I’m at the shows I connect with people all over the state of California,” he said. “A lot of the time they email me, and I email them back. People often tell me, ‘you know what your doing – not a lot of people are doing it and it’s your own style.’ It’s a nice refreshing change to what they are already getting. I’m old school, but its fun to hear it live.”

To hear Wilson live come check him out at Big Daddy’s Smokin’ BBQ at the Twain Harte Golf Course on Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2 and for a sampling of his music visit www.bradwilsonlive.com or myspace.com/bradwilsonlive.

“This show will probably be 50 percent original, 25 percent traditional blues like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker – songs that give me a chance to play lead and give the audience a chance to experience traditional blues – and the other 25 percent will be classic rock songs that the audience will find fun, such as the Steve Miller Band, Doobie Brothers and Van Morrison,” said Wilson. “I’ve heard Big Daddy’s is a fun place…a hang out. Plus the BBQ food…who doesn’t love BBQ? It really has the right ingredients for fun. So we’re thrilled to come up, and I’m hoping to see some people that I haven’t seen in a long, long time.”