Book The Time!! How Willie "Big Eyes" Smith Got Me to Start My Own Record Label.



Bob Stroger, Liz Mandeville, Willie Smith
at the 2010 AK Blues and Heritage Fest.



Sitting around waiting for your life to begin? I'm here to tell you CARPE DIEM! Seize this day and make your dreams happen.

Nobody is promised a tomorrow. Wouldn't you hate to wake up dead only to find you'd blown your chance to be what you could've been?

Don't wait for somebody to discover you! You have to discover yourself before other people will recognize what a truely amazing being you are!

Here's the true story of how my friend,

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith 

helped me do just that:

One night, early last spring, I went to Rosa's Lounge where I'd been invited to help Amy Bratt celebrate her birthday. Amy was radiant, her favorite music was playing and her favorite cupcakes were being consumed.

It was a star studded night, Debby Davies band was headlining, with Tony Rogers, Nora Jean Wallace and her manager Lois in the audience.  Mama Rosa was doing a brisk business as Joined At the Hip's Robert Stroger and Willie"Big Eyes" Smith were also there celebrating their Grammy win that night with (long-time Legendary Blues Band Guitarist) Billy and Mary Flynn along with a jovial bar crowd.

Bob, Willie and I had a long and storied history. I'd met and played with Bob Stroger back in the 80's when I first happened on the Chicago Blues Scene. Bob Stroger, with his red Custom bass rig and unshakable groove, could  make any band sound tight. He still does, as he proved later that night when he and Willie took the stage with Debbie and her assorted special guests.

Back in the early 90's, when guitarist Billy Flynn had taken a sabbatical to help Mary raise their daughter, my then husband, Willie Greeson, had left our band to fulfill a life's dream: he joined the Legendary Blues Band. I got to know the Smith family during those early mornings when I'd drive down to the south side to drop my husband off at their crib before the bands' many road trips. The house was always neat, warm and welcoming and filled with the aroma of Lou's fried chicken getting it's last browning before she packed it up for her husband to take on the road.

Later, when I was playing with Aron Burton's Band at Blue Chicago, Willie Smith would sub for his son Kenny, who at that time was our regular drummer before Dave Jefferson joined up following Albert Kings' demise. I was there the night Jude Curio (Aron's GF at the time and an avid blues fan and documentarian) re-named a then 19 year old Kenny Smith.
"So what's your name and who are you?" Jude demanded.
"I'm Kenny Smith, Willies son" Kenny explained.
"Well if he's "Big Eyes" that must make you "Beady Eyes!" Jude proclaimed.
Although I'd hardly call Kenny Smith "Beady" eyed, the name stuck and there it is.

Willie Smith's brilliantly sloppy yet somehow solidly in the pocket shuffle, his down to earth attitude and professionalism always made him a pleasure to play with and to be around.

But back to Rosa's. I walked over to my two long time friends, Willie and Bob, and offered to buy them a celebratory cocktail.
"Man, " I said to Willie, "I want to win a Grammy, what do I need to win a Grammy, Willie?"
Without blinking an eye he answered "Patience!"
We all laughed, then I said "Willie, I suggested to Michael Frank back in '98 that I wanted to make a record with you, Willie Kent, Allen Batts and George Baze. He nixed it. He said I'd be over shadowed by my side men."
Willie looked incredulous, he said "Well, first I don't know how you could be over shadowed by the guys playing with you, and besides that, all them cats but Allen is dead!"
"Well," I went on, "I still want to make a record with you."
Willie didn't hesitate. "Book the time!" he said. "Look, I never made a dime in the music business until I started making my own records. Last year I did good business, my son helped me and we did it all ourselves. If I can do it, you can. And you should!"

He was very emphatic and actually named some pretty impressive figures. He said "Kenny's pretty savvy, he'll help you. Give him a call, I'll help you too! Book the time!"

The very next day I called my friend Jim Godsey, who's engineered on all my recorded work. I said "Jim, I want to get back in the studio. I need a good sounding live room where I can record all the rhythm tracks at the same time, like back in the day. I'm paying for this out of my own pocket, so I need a guy that'll work with us"

Jim said "Give me a few days, let me make some calls."

Less than a week later he called me and said "There's a guy in Palatine in the basement of the old Harris Bank building who's got what we need."

I trust Jim's judgement so we went on and booked two afternoons at Planet10 in Palatine where a smiling Jimmy Johnson greeted us with steaming hot coffee and a warm, organic sounding room. Willie Smith,  Darryl Wright (Bassist/arranger) and I went in and knocked out 5 tracks that first afternoon.

It's a good thing I didn't wait around because, as most of you blues folk know, Willie Smith was laid to rest before 2011 was out. Thanks, Willie, it would never have happened without you.

It Takes 10,000 Hours To Be Truely Fabulous!!

It’s been said that to be truly great at something you need to invest ten thousand hours in doing it. After that magic number something changes & you become a master. Hopefully there are the incremental improvements that give you hope to keep putting in the time & working at your chosen craft.

In the 80’s I decided I wanted to be an authentic blues singer. With that aim in mind I began a process that easily has involved ten thousand hours, 100 thousand miles, thousands of dollars, not to mention my personal identity.

I’ve always been highly motivated if not disciplined and I’ve never been able to resist a challenge. It came the night my boyfriend came home from his gig & announced that the band was breaking up because the lead singer had quit.

“I’ll be the singer.” I said

And he laughed at me. “You?" He said "You sing like Robert Goulet. You have no soul, you dress like a clown & nobody will ever take you seriously because when you sing you shake your hips & make too many facial expressions.”

“What?” I said, nonplussed, “I sing like who?”

“Robert Goulet. You sing too pretty to be a blues singer. Your voice is too high, no grit.”

“Well, who is a great blues singer?” I asked.

He said “Look at my record collection.” He’d already given up on me. I was just getting started.

“I am not only going to be a great blues singer, I’m going to be the best dam blues singer of my generation!” I declared, with God as my witness, as my boyfriend had already tuned me out.

So I went to his record collection. It had great LPs by Jimmie Reed, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Little Walter, Wilson Pickett, BB, pretty much all male voices. Jimmy Vaughn was once asked who he’d listened to for his chops, he replied “…all the Littles, all the Juniors & all the Kings”. That was me. I made tapes & walked around with headphones on 24/7 absorbing this music like a sponge and practicing until I could sing all the tunes in their original keys, lick for lick.

Some of my favorite singing came from Little Junior Parker and Al Green. I loved the juicy suggestiveness of Muddy Waters, the conviction of my first hero, Tina Turner, the begging of Tyrone Davis. I learned about rhythm from James Brown. My favorite was a wonderful singer from Memphis: Big Maybelle. Her hip shakin’ music blended blues & Jazz, perfect tone, humor, wit & playfulness with flawless phrasing.

I absorbed those qualities, and the best of every player I studied, learning whole songbooks of the artists I admired. I listened to guitarists & horn players to get their licks too. As I put in all those hours stomping the stage & running up & down the road, all those folks I’d studied blended in my heart & mind. Now, after so many years it sounds like me.