It is an honor and privilege to have today’s guest on My Top Five Records podcast. Mike Flanigin is in my humble opinion the best B3 player around. He playing consistently at CBoys with Jimmie Vaughn, at least when that Covid dude isn’t wreaking havoc on us. Come on Covid. Can’t you leave us alone?
So yeah, he plays with Jimmie. He is also buds with Billy Gibbons and has performed with ZZ Top, Steve Miller, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, Charlie Sexton, Doyle 2 and Bonnie Raitt to name a few. I actually opened up for him once at our mutual friend, Tom Amiss’, annual party
One of my favorite stories is how he used to tour as a guitarist with a LA band and returned to Austin to join the Antone’s Nightclub house band. That’s when he decided to change instruments and start playing the B3. He hooked up with organ legend Big John Patton to learn the craft. And guess what, Big John has a record in Mike’s top five.
In 2015 he released his debut record called The Drifter. Rolling Stone said, “The Drifter is a road trip-worthy record that veers from punk rock to desert pop to Bible Belt Blues, it’s disparate parts glued together with the swirl and swoon of B3 organ. This is day-driving mood music, with Flanigin creating his own version of atmospheric Americana.”
And just this year, he dropped a brand new record called West Texas Blues and born out of his and Sue Foley’s Texas Blues Party that they streamed live on Facebook. They went into the studio as a three piece. Just Sue, Mike and Chris “Whipper” Layton of Double Trouble.
I quote Flanigin saying about the record, “As much as I labored over The Drifter album, which took me three years to make, and I had a lot of different types of genres, and people, and guests, this was the exact opposite.” Flanigin said. “This was ‘Let’s go in and let’s do what we do,’ and we play the blues. That’s what we’ve been doing our whole lives.”
I was driving back from Houston yesterday and thought I would put it on. Well I did and I could not turn it off for the entire ride home. If you like the blues, you’ve got to check it out. An All Star cast of blues legends kicking out an homage to some Texas Blues music.
So PLEASE people go out there and support music. Support the artists that make you groove. Allow those who create to keep creating. Get out there or go online and buy Mike Flanigin’s new record. While you’re at it, I’d recommend you pick up The Drifter as well.
We talked about how he knew Lazy Lester and how Texas music is for dancers. We talked about how Billy Gibbons plays on 7 strings and how that shows in his touch AND how he knows professional card tricks. It was like a history lesson.
We had a slight technical difficulty and about 10 mintues got cut from our conversation. It was primarily about Billy Gibbons. We talked about Dusty has motorboat fingers and that is what makes ZZ Top ultimately unique. He also talks about how he likes to record live in the studio and how he started singing again because Jimmie Vaughn pretty much made him when they were on tour.
What also got cut was where you can find him online. You spell Mike’s last name F L A N I G I N. As he says, with two N’s and two I’s
http://www.mikeflanigin.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mikeflaniginofficial/
https://www.instagram.com/mikeflanigin/
If you’ve got the gumption, head over to THE BIG GUN SHOW DOT COM and check out what my band is up to these days. You can also catch us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube with a handle of thebiggunshowband. Go to our website and sign up for our email newsletter so that you can get updates about our coming record called Honky Rock.
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