Juke Joint Swingin': an interview with Wayne "the Train" Hancock

I had the chance to catch Wayne "the Train" Hancock, Juke Joint Swing player extraodinaire, in between tours for a brief phone interview last Thursday. Tip of the hat to Cary Baker over at Conqueroo for helping out!

Wayne is just getting ready to head out again to support his new CD "Tulsa", 14 original songs with production by Wayne himself along with steel guitar legend Lloyd Maines. It will be released October 10 on Chicago-based Bloodshot Records. We had a nice hunker, and here are the parts his mom will let me print.

HW: So it's 1pm your time. Been up long?

WH: (yawns) About 5 minutes.

HW: Got to ask � why the hell do you DO this??

WH: Cause I'm insane? (Laughs) Actually I like doing this � worst is playing seven or eight days in a row, but I've always known this is what I'm supposed to be doin'.

HW: Any shows you're particularly looking forward to over the next few weeks?

WH: New York City is always fun. Traffic is insane. LA, New York & Boston are the worst for traffic. The only time I can recall bein' able to get anywhere in New York City traffic was right after 9/11. And I'm a country boy, I get lost a lot in big cities, cause everything looks the same. Same streets, same buildings. Just like city folks get lost out in the country.

HW: You do over 200 shows a year, which is a bunch. Have you managed to create a life for yourself away from the road, or is the road the life you're looking for?

WH: I do have a little life off the road, but the road is the reason I have a life. I have a house, and my girlfriend, but I like being out there playing music. The road is the life I'm looking for. It is what I do. Always chasing that dragon, looking for that feeling I got when I first heard music from folks like Bob Wills, Glenn Miller, those swing bands my parents listened to. And my girlfriend travels with us, she's a great musician herself, and helps us out with CD sales and stuff, really pitches in.

HW: You ever catch that dragon?

WH: Almost every show!

HW: Your new CD "Tulsa" comes out in a few days. How did it come together, and what are your hopes for it?

WH: The title came because I just love Tulsa. The town has a lot of history, and I have a lotta friends there. You gotta be good to get a gig in Tulsa, so when I go to Tulsa I swing HARD! The CD swings pretty good, that's what they're calling it I guess, western swing.

We recorded the whole thing in two and a half, maybe three days. Went in Monday at 11 and were out by 5 on Wednesday, just a few four or five hour sessions, because everybody was there at the same time.

As to the hopes, well if in a hundred years or so this music is still around, and somebody listens to it and gets bit by that beat, that's all right. I'm not in this to get rich � hell, I'd LIKE to be rich, okay? But it's all about the music, about playing the music. If all else fails, I can go back to living under a bridge. I've been there before and I ain't afraid of it. But I'll always be able to make a living.

Awhile back I was opening for (insert major label act here) back east. The audience treated us real bad, they had the brains of a bowlin' ball. It was like playing to 14,000 Beavis and Buttheads. Booin' us, everything. And after one show I was talking to (label dude name here), and he said, "you'll never be a rock star playing like that. Your guys look like a bunch of bums, and the audience doesn't get what you're doing. I get it, you're like hillbilly jazz, but they don't understand."

HW: That must have stung!

WH: I was pretty crushed, but I told him I play this because I love to play it, I have to play it. The easy way has never been my way. I don't care if it is ever accepted; this is what I have to play to stay sane. You see, to a lot of major label folks, if you aren't on a major then you're a loser � everyone not being controlled by the business is a loser to them. But I think everyone being controlled is a loser.

A week later I was opening for George Jones in Oklahoma, and the audience loved us, gave us a standing ovation. I went outside for a breath of air and George's manager walks up and says "Possum wants you up onstage with him." So I go back inside, and I'm supposed to go up onstage with George and sing a duet, "I Don't Need No Rockin' Chair". And I'm tellin'em, hey, I don't know the words, I don't listen to Nashville stuff, or the radio, none of that. They told me no problem, they had a teleprompter. So I'm onstage singin' a duet with George Jones, readin' the words off a TV screen! Afterwards George handed me his guitar to put away � hey there's a real honor, I mean that's his axe � and he told me "Don't change nothin'". George Jones acted like I think a major label star ought to be, just decent.

HW: How is it you get so much energy into a set, and get folks out on the floor, with no drums?

WH: People tell me if you want respect you need a drummer. BS! That's just ignorance, you need to educate those people! There's something different about playing a string beat � playing with drums is like being trapped, like trying to play a wide-open song between two railroad tracks. Drums cut the song up into little pieces.

HW: What is it like working with Lloyd Maines?

WH: When we go into the studio it's like he can read my mind. Lloyd is great to work with, a great guy � a well of great ideas. Producers in general don't impress me, when the artist has an idea they'll say, "we'll see about that." Well, when they're working for me "we'll see about that" better turn into "OK we'll try that" pretty quick, or I'm gonna find me a new producer! Lloyd's never been like that; he has a lot of respect for my ideas. And he's like me; he enjoys the energy of a whole band coming in together to record.

HW: Your long-time bass man Chris Darrell just headed off to college. How's the new guy Jake Erwin working out, was there much of an adjustment?

WH: (long pause) Somewhat of an adjustment. Chris had only been playing a year or so when I got him � able to do the job but such a kid! He'd been with us quite a while. But anyone who wants an education, I won't stand in the way of that. He dropped out of college to tour with us, and now he's gone back. Jake came from a jazz band, he used to play in Hot Club of Cowtown, a different feel entirely. Plus he's due for a wedding right in the middle of the tour, so we'll see...

HW: You joined the Marines at 18, right after winning the Wrangler Jeans song contest. I know your time in the service must have had an affect on your career, but did it also affect your approach to music?

WH: Well, it sure put the career on hold. The Marines expect you to be a soldier, not an entertainer. I did perform for my friends and some officers, but playing was a spare time thing. As to affecting my music, not really. I didn't really find myself until 1989-90, when I started realizing I was making more money at night than I was making in the day jobs. I lost a lotta stuff starting out playing music, did the living room circuit for a while, where a friend says "yeah, you can stay a couple of days" and you stay a couple weeks before moving on. But it's all right now.

HW: Your calls to your sidemen are woven all through the songs on "Tulsa", and some are saying this is a signature sound for you.

WH: The call becomes part of the music, sure. If a player has a one-syllable name, I'll give them at least a 2-syllable nickname so that the call moves with the music. And they don't play until I call'em.

HW: You tour in a Ford Econoline van � ever thought about a tour bus?

WH: (derisive chuckle) I've always thought tour buses were like wearin' a millionaire's shoes if you're not a millionaire. Why? Like being in a closed box with blinders on. Cost a lotta money just to say, "Look at me!" And it makes it harder for my fans to come out and talk to me.

HW: What is the most interesting experience you've had with a club owner?

WH: I was playing some place in Missouri; I forget the name, back when Nashville was into the "swing thing". The owner, a thirty-something guy, came out talking swing jive, acting the mister cool, and that's okay I guess, we had a good show. But when I went back to the office afterwards to get paid, there was this blonde chick that told me "Oh, he's gone, but I'll take care of you" � and it was the same guy, in drag! He paid me though.

HW: Future plans?

WH: When I stop breathin' I'll retire.