{"id":7160,"date":"2025-12-04T09:28:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/an-audience-with-steve-cropper-i-just-fire-it-up-and-go-152418\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T09:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:28:15","slug":"an-audience-with-steve-cropper-i-just-fire-it-up-and-go-152418","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/an-audience-with-steve-cropper-i-just-fire-it-up-and-go-152418\/","title":{"rendered":"An Audience With Steve Cropper: \u201cI just fire it up and go\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This article originally appeared in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Click here to subscribe to Uncut<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This article originally appeared in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou might wanna write this,\u201d says Steve Cropper, handily summarising his myriad musical achievements. \u201cThere\u2019s only three people in history that are in all three halls of fame \u2013 the rock\u2019n\u2019roll hall of fame, the musicians\u2019 hall of fame and the songwriters\u2019 hall of fame: Keith Richards, Roy Orbison and Steve Cropper. Pretty good company!\u201d<\/p>\n

On a Zoom call from his Nashville home, Cropper is in ebullient mood, despite a metal plate in his hip that limits his movement. He can no longer go fishing or play golf, but he\u2019s managed to find a way to make a new album called Friendlytown<\/em>, with a little help from technology and fellow axemen such as Billy Gibbons and Brian May. \u201cI guess I\u2019ll retire next year\u2026 I was gonna retire about five years ago and they said, \u2018No, don\u2019t!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It helps that Cropper\u2019s own Insomnia Studios are only a few minutes\u2019 drive away, in the heart of Music Row. \u201cThe whole band was there, it was great. We had more fun than you can shake a stick at. The lead parts were overdubbed by Billy and myself, but most of it was done live. The song \u2018Friendlytown\u2019 was his [Billy\u2019s] idea, and it\u2019s a great one.\u201d So is it about Nashville, or some fantasy place? \u201cThat\u2019s hard to say \u2013 Nashville is<\/em> a fantasy place!\u201d<\/p>\n

The crunch of your guitar on \u201cGreen Onions\u201d was like nothing else that had gone before. How did you get that sound?
Ben Keane, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the fact that I was playing it backwards: four-one, four-one. It\u2019s all in the hands. When Booker was asked, \u2018How does Cropper get his sound?\u2019 he said, \u2018It\u2019s pretty simple \u2013 out of his hands!\u2019 But I learned how to do something that nobody did: I learned how to bend two strings equal at the same time with one finger. I figured the world didn\u2019t need another Chet Atkins, didn\u2019t need another Les Paul, didn\u2019t need another BB King, so I became Steve Cropper. My first session, I asked Chips [Moman, Stax producer] \u2018What do I do?\u2019 He said, \u2018Just play. If they like what they hear, they\u2019ll keep it. If they don\u2019t, they\u2019ll kick you out and never call you back!\u2019 But they kept calling me back, so I guess I did something right.<\/p>\n

What was it about Memphis that gave us so much great music in the \u201950s, \u201960s and \u201970s? Something in the water?
Clive Beddington, Hull<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I knew what it was, I would bottle it and give it to everybody. But with most of the records we made, you can take the vocals off and still hear the song. Just by the intro and the groove, you can tell what the song is. And the water is<\/em> different in Memphis. Every time we went out of town, we couldn\u2019t wait to get home to get a drink of water. Artesian water just tastes better.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been watching the documentary and it suggests that the name The MGs came from an MG car that was spotted driving past the studio during a recording session. Have I been wrong all my life thinking it meant \u2018Memphis Group\u2019?
Noel Sergeant, via Twitter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chips had a Triumph, but there was already a band called The Triumphs, so we decided MGs would be good. Years later, an interviewer asked us what MGs really stands for, and Duck [Dunn] blurted out, \u201cMusical Geniuses\u201d! I love Booker to death, he\u2019s the best musician I ever played with. Him and Al Jackson were somethin\u2019 else, what a team they were. Duck and I were lucky to have Al and Booker there all the time, it was amazing. We played in a lot of other bands, but there\u2019ll never be nothin\u2019 like Booker T & The MGs.<\/p>\n

Can you tell us what went down at the Lorraine Motel?
Sarah Moore, Canterbury<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, let\u2019s see: \u201cMidnight Hour\u201d, \u201cNinety-Nine And A Half\u201d, \u201cKnock On Wood\u201d, \u201c634-5789\u201d\u2026 that\u2019s what went down at the Lorraine Motel. Eddie Floyd always checked in to the Lorraine. They\u2019d put us in the honeymoon suite, when it was available. It had the heart-shaped pillows and all of that! That\u2019s where we wrote \u201c634\u2026\u201d And then if you go down one and over one, that\u2019s where \u201cKnock On Wood\u201d was written. We\u2019d pick up the phone and say, \u2018What\u2019s for supper tonight?\u2019 And she\u2019d say, \u2018Schwimps and chicken\u2019. Schwimps! Every Friday we\u2019d call up just to hear her say that. God bless her, that food was so good.<\/p>\n

What was Otis Redding like when you got to know him?
Peter Fors, Stockholm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Otis had a million-dollar smile. If you could see Otis a long distance away, by the time he walked over, he was your new best friend. Everybody liked Otis, he was just great. [John] Belushi was the same way \u2013 he never refused a fan an autograph, ever.<\/p>\n

How did the whistling solo come about in \u201cSitting On The Dock Of The Bay\u201d?
Carl Franks, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ronnie Capone, who was the engineer on it, said, \u201cOne thing\u2019s for sure, Otis\u2019ll never be a whistler,\u201d or something like that. And I guess Otis proved him wrong \u2013 it was the next take that we did it. He never did hear the seagulls or the waves or the electric guitar. I was setting up to overdub the last time I saw him. I said, \u2018Bye, see you Monday, have a good time.\u2019 We had a gig too, and we were sitting on the tarmac all frozen in on a Sunday morning. Duck said, \u201cIf we could get ahold of Otis\u2019s pilot, he\u2019d get us outta here.\u201d We didn\u2019t know his plane had already gone down.<\/p>\n

The riff at the beginning of \u201cSoul Man\u201d: was that something you had in your back pocket, or did you come up with it on the spot?
Garry, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me tell you the story of that one. Isaac [Hayes, co-writer] came up to the control room. He said, \u2018I know you\u2019re not to be bothered when you\u2019re mixing, but David and I have written a hit and we cannot come up with an intro.\u2019 I was known as the intro guy in those days. He said, \u2018Can you just come down for five minutes, get your guitar and play something?\u2019 I said, \u2018OK.\u2019 He played the intro that he had, and I just did what I call hammer licks, the third and the one, G and E. And that was it.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to The Blues Brothers. I said to John [Belushi] after we did all his blues songs, \u2018Can we do something people can dance to?\u2019 He said, \u2018Like what?\u2019 I looked over at [arranger] Paul Shaffer: \u2018Do you remember \u201cSoul Man\u201d?\u2019 Everybody fell in and that was it. Danny [Aykroyd] come out of the back with that crazy-leg dance he had. In my show I say, \u2018I bet you could name this song in two notes.\u2019 I play it and the crowd goes nuts.<\/p>\n

What was John Belushi like as a frontman?
Nathan Prince, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was great. A lot of the journalists said, \u2018What are you and Duck doing playing with these two comedians?\u2019 But they weren\u2019t just comedians, Danny actually played harmonica on every song that we did. And John used to front a band, play drums and sing. He\u2019s good. But he was always giving something away: he gave away cars, houses. His manager would have to spend the next day following John on stuff he\u2019d given away the night before\u2026<\/p>\n

The Blues Brothers played with the Grateful Dead at the last ever show at Winterland on New Year\u2019s Eve 1978. How did you fit in with the Deadheads?
Paula Friedman, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty good! We hung out with the bass player all night long. They gave us a strict warning: do not let Belushi do any drugs while you\u2019re playing. So we\u2019re walking out and some kid hands him a Pepsi bottle, and he just downs it. Oh god! I knew it had to be laced with something. About an hour later he was off and away. Luckily the playing was over, so it didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bBilly Cox once said you were one of Jimi Hendrix\u2019s greatest influences. Can you hear yourself in his playing?
Mike Beadle, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t hear one note that he played where I influenced him! He didn\u2019t play like me \u2013 he\u2019s his own man. But it\u2019s true in one aspect. We played a college gig [with the Isley Brothers at DePauw University in 1965] where they had different bands at opposite ends of the hall. When one band would quit their last number, we\u2019d pick up. And we did that back and forth all night long. I\u2019d go over and watch him play, then I\u2019d look down and see him watching me play. So Jimi was a good friend. Another tragedy. He was so high when I last saw him, he barely recognised me. I grabbed his buddies and said, \u2018Get him sober, you gonna kill him\u2019. He died about three weeks later.<\/p>\n

What are your recollections of headlining Slane Castle in Ireland as part of Neil Young\u2019s band in 1993, and your memories of the tour in general?
Eugene Veldon, Galway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Neil\u2019s great, he\u2019s somethin\u2019 else. Everybody says he\u2019s crazy but he danced over to me one time and said, \u2018At least I don\u2019t have to tell you guys what song is next\u2026\u2019 We got nominated for the number one tour that year, but he got so much hate mail. People wanted to see Crazy Horse, they didn\u2019t wanna see Booker T & The MGs \u2013 we were way too organised!<\/p>\n

You played on Frank Blank\u2019s Honeycomb<\/em> album in 2005. How do you prepare for playing with an artist from a whole different scene?
Giovanni, via email<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good question. I don\u2019t know, I just fire it up and go. Duck used to say, \u2018We\u2019re not gonna make work out of this are we boys?\u2019 I just play to what I hear, that\u2019s all I can do. If it\u2019s country, I\u2019ll play country. If it\u2019s somethin\u2019 else, I\u2019ll play somethin\u2019 else. Except for one thing \u2013 I can\u2019t play jazz, never could. But you can\u2019t do everything.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post An Audience With Steve Cropper: \u201cI just fire it up and go\u201d<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This article originally appeared in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024) Click here to subscribe to Uncut This article originally appeared in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024) \u201cYou might wanna write…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,35,4663,4664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-interviews","category-stax-records","category-steve-cropper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}