by Rick Landers
******
Cindy: Cashdollar Interview
Rick Landers: Today we know that Woodstock, New York and the surrounding area used to be the neighborhood that belonged to some well-known musicians. I guess it always hasn’t been that way; but you either call it home or have called it home in the past. But you grew up there, so you’ve observed that scene evolve over time. What was it like growing up there? How did you become immersed in the music scene when you were in New York?
Cindy: Cashdollar: It was great growing up there. It’s such a beautiful rural area. So many people saying, “Oh you’re from New York,” so they think New York City, but Woodstock’s in the [countryside]. It was a great place to grow up because even before the famed festival there was so much music there. You know there were a lot of musicians there then [Happy and Ari Tom] and just tons of people. And so…Van Morrison lived there…
Rick: Oh I didn’t know that.
[1:12]
Cindy: : Actually, for a short time…and The Band, The Band from the 60’s. At a very early age I was fortunate. I mean, at 12 I saw my first live concert which was Van Morrison. John [ Allen ] Jr. of [Ditto], my guitar teacher Billy Faring, and so it was a lot of exposure to music at a very young age, really.
Rick: I think Marshall Crenshaw lives up there as well. Do you know Marshall?
Cindy: : I don’t…I don’t know him personally. Graham Parker lives there…and so many people.
Rick: There’s a [ draft here]. [uproarious laughing] Close the door okay?
Cindy: : There’s Marshall right now! [more laughing]
Mike: I think there’s one back here!
Rick: During your early musical formative years, once you were attracted to six-string guitars, what led you to become the master steel guitar player that we know today?
Cindy: : Well, actually, I did play regular six-string guitar, and then I heard someone playing dobro in a club that I was waitressing at and loved the sound of it and so I started taking lessons.
Rick: In New York?
Cindy: : Uh huh, that was in Woodstock here, and so I started kinda late on dobro. I think I was about maybe 20 years old, something like that. And so, there went the guitar and there went my callouses. [both laughing] Just focused on dobro and then Mike Aldridge’s “Eight String Swing” album came out and I just thought it sounded so great, so I tried to emulate the sound of the tunings of his eight-string dobro over my six-string and realized that didn’t quite cut it so I got an eight-string steel. I tried a pedal steel and that was just disastrous. Yeah I just couldn’t…
Rick: Was it coordination or…?
Cindy: : I don’t know, I just couldn’t [ ??interference ] so basically, I went from dobro to lap steel. I was playing with Levon Helm and the Woodstock All Stars and dobro with a pickup couldn’t cut through the sound so Richard Manuel had a mellow bar. Are you familiar with those instruments?
Rick: Yeah.
Cindy: : So, I borrowed that for a while and then finally that was just way too heavy to wear around my neck so I got a lap steel. So it just went from electric instruments to heavier and heavier electric instruments.
Rick: Did you take lessons or did you just figure it out?
Cindy: : Actually for the steel…are you referring to the eight-string non-pedal steel lessons?
Rick: Yes.
Cindy: : No, I tried to teach myself.
Rick: That’s hard to do.
Cindy: : That was very hard to do. [laughing]
Rick: It’s a different tuning, right?
Cindy: : Different. The strings are closer together. Tunings are totally different. The touch is even different. It’s like going from a manual typewriter to an electric typewriter. At the time, that’s what it seemed like to me. So when I was hired by Asleep at the Wheel in ’92, the steel guitar is just still kind of a hobby to me and so I took lessons from John Ely, who was the steel player that had left Asleep At The Wheel, but still remained in Austin. I had to move to Austin for that gig. Luckily, John Ely, even after he quit The Wheel, lived there, so I took lessons from him as well as Herb Remington.
Rick: Okay, thank you. Make sure I’m not gonna be too redundant on these questions I think you kinda answered it. What steel guitar or dobro players influenced and inspired you when you started playing and do you still have a favorite old tunes that you still…that still kinda catch your breath when you hear them?
[4:58]
Cindy: : It’s weird, because the inspiration I got first was before I even got a steel. I was listening…when I was still playing guitar, I was listening to a lot of bottleneck players: John Fahey, Bonnie Raitt, Lowell George, Ry Cooder, all those people were…the sound influenced me so…[uproarious laughing, unrelated?] and so, by the time I was getting into steel, I had those influences plus the Western swing influences. The influences for playing actual steel guitar, non-pedal steel, were Herb Remington and John Ely, of course, because they were my teachers, and Lucky Oceans who was on a lot of the earlier Asleep At The Wheel recordings. Vance Terry wonderful, wonderful steel player, Noel Boggs…So that’s my influences for steel playing.
Rick: I don’t know. I’m not really familiar with the steel world.
Cindy: : That’s alright. That’s okay. So those are my influences and… ‘m sorry what was the question?
Rick: What are the songs that still catch your breath when you start hearing them? You still [ go ] good or
[ ].
Cindy: : That’s a tough question because that changes all the time for me?
Rick: Does it?
Cindy: : It really does. You know I might hear a song that I haven’t heard in ages and it’s still just as good but I just can’t type what that song is. Or there will be certain solos that I hear people do and I just can’t believe. Like there’s a CD with Vance Terry and Jimmy Rivers called “Brisbane Bop” and every solo on there that Vance Terry does is just incredible.
Rick: I’ll have to check that out. Okay, tell us about how you got together with Asleep At The Wheel and some of the high water marks with the group. I know you got five Grammy’s during that time, right?
Cindy: : I got together with them… I had moved from Woodstock to Nashville in 1992 just because work was drying up so much everywhere. [ Things closing down ]
Rick: In Nashville?
[7:10]
Cindy: : In Woodstock. Yeah I was also touring with Leon Redbone [ for four or five years ] just on dobro, not steel, and he had been doing more and more TV voiceover work, just wasn’t touring as much’ so I moved to Nashville in the hopes that if anybody was in need of a dobro player and sort of a steel player that might be a better place to hear of opportunities.
Rick: Yeah, do session work or whatever.
Cindy: : Yeah, and so it just so happened that I heard Asleep At The Wheel was coming into town to tape a TV show. So I kinda waited in the parking lot of the TV station for their bus to pull up, with a promo packet.
Rick: Not a groupie!
Cindy: : So when their bus pulled up…and I heard that their steel player was leaving…so when their bus pulled up, I asked if I could speak with the steel player, and he said, yes, he was leaving, so I gave him my promo pack which was a demo tape and a bunch of stuff and they called and so that’s how I got picked. It took a while because I was still with Leon. Asleep At The Wheel was still auditioning people but they eventually called and I went to Austin to audition which is basically not even a rehearsal. It was just…they picked me up at the hotel and we went and did a bunch of gigs.
Rick: Okay, you’re ready. [That’s quite a challenge too], I would think.
Cindy: : Both. [both laughing] For about a year or so…
[8:39]
Rick: It’s interesting. A lot of people go to Nashville and they really tend not to leave because it’s such a hub of music, and so…but then Austin has really become a hub of music.
Cindy: : Austin is an amazing place to live. I like Nashville but I was only there six months before I got the job with The Wheel. I didn’t even do anything in Nashville. I was kind of on the road…still on the road with Leon, he had done a couple of sessions in Nashville. I didn’t really know anybody in Nashville. And so the opportunity with Asleep at the Wheel came on and they said, “Well, you’re hired but you have to move to Austin.” So I moved to Austin that same year in ’92 and was with them for 8 and a half years.
Rick: That’s a great town, with, Eric Johnson’s there…
Cindy: : Seven nights a week, no matter what kind of music, it’s there. I absolutely love it.
Rick: I was looking at your schedule, and it’s like, you could stay home all the time if you wanted to.
Cindy: : You could.
Ricky: Did you want to eat? Do you want me to pause this or…?
Cindy: : Let’s do one more question.
Rick: Your first solo album “Slide Show” was released in 2004. Why did you wait so long to do your own album?
Cindy: : I didn’t want to do my own album.
Rick: Oh, you didn’t.
Cindy: : No. That was…I was still with Asleep at the Wheel. The drummer, David Sanger of the Wheel, had his own little indie label and said, you really should have product to sell at the merchandise table. And the fans were asking for one, so that’s how “Slide Show” came about. To me it was such a frightening proposition. You know, I’ve been a side person a long time. To have that responsibility of a CD, it was too much to even comprehend, but I’m really glad I did it. I just had a great time doing it, you know.
[10:17]
Rick: How did you pick the songs? Did you write many of them or…?
Cindy: : I wrote a couple. I wrote one, “Locust Grove”, that’s on there, and co-wrote one with Steve James [ the mandolin plalyer ], and I think I picked…I had a list of the people I wanted to have on the CD and then tried to pick the songs according to how I thought they would match up with the people, except for Mike Aldridge. I asked him to pick up a couple of songs, and Marcia Ball, too. I asked her to bring something to it. It’s really like the whole process is kind of like a potluck dinner. It’s kinda like, bring what you want, you know? [both laughing]
Rick: Were they all Austin residents?
Cindy: : No. [ Michael Cerie ]. Sonny Landreth works in Louisiana so it took a while to get…because it was a small budget ,so I would have to wait for people to come through town.
Rick: Okay, so you actually had them record in town with you rather than patching in their stuff.
Cindy: : Yes. Exactly. Except for one track I sent to Woodstock to have my brother, Russell, put drums on the track and John Sebastian is playing [there one time ].
Rick: Oh, is he really ? I haven’t heard him for a long time. Good. Okay. Why don’t you eat and if you want to continue afterwards… Is that okay?
Cindy: : Sure. No problem. Thanks for the time.
Rick: Okay, let me pause this thing… Great. Thank you.
Mike:Quick question.
Cindy: : Yeah.
Mike: Off the record because my wife will want to know this as a Prairie Home Companion fan. What does Garrison really think of singing? Does he just love to sing or…?
Cindy: : I think he enjoys it. I really do. I mean, I did his CD with him. I forgot…I think it came out like a year ago and he really seemed to enjoy the whole Austin [ ]
Mike: [ ] wants to say?
Cindy: : Yeah! He loves music. He’s very comfortable with it. You know he likes it.
Rick: Joyous…As it should be.
Cindy: : Yeah!
Mike: Okay.
Cindy: : Okay. You guys have eaten?
Rick: No I ate before I came here but I wanna keep [ ]
Cindy: : Are you [ ] or you’re trying to tell me something?
Rick: What? No! It’s okay.
Mike: Ten years ago it was not okay.
Cindy: : I remember!
[12:40 -37:10] PAUSE
[37:10]
Rick: We didn’t want to rush you. We wanted to give you enough time to eat.
Cindy: : Yeah [ ]
Rick: I can always call you and…
Cindy: : You can always call me right? Because after Monday… I guess on Monday [ I’m home for 3 days, then I leave again to go out with Peter [ ]
Rick: Oh really? I saw him a few weeks ago. He’s great.
Cindy: : Did you get to read my bio or anything before you…?
Rick: I went through your website.
Cindy: : The bio on the website?
Rick: Yeah.
Cindy: : Okay…Do we not want the wine in the picture maybe?
Rick: Oh no, that’s fine.
[Time marks to this point are from Cindy: 1 wav, but the time marks from here forward are from the Cindy: 2 wav file. At 500 MB, the first one was a challenge to navigate and rewind to the right spots.]
[0:00 Cindy: file 2]
Mike: I’ll edit these. I mean primarily we’ll use the ones from live to get you dressed up, but I’m trying to shoot it with a lot of backlights so you have [a halo] on your hair.
Cindy: : Thank you so much.
Rick: He’s one of the best in DC, trust me.
Cindy: : I trust you.
Mike: We don’t want you to look anything but beautiful.
Cindy: : [ ] get up at 4:00 this morning, getting here, so whatever you can do, I appreciate that.
Mike: It’s okay. Like I said I just came from the [National Cook] Festival [ ] Okay I’ll let you go back to…
Cindy: : Yeah…so you know the deal. I know…I know…
Rick: Of all the places in Austin that you play do you find that Antone’s is a special place to play? Or was there another place that you find as particularly appealing?
Cindy: : They’re all have their little special things about them. Antone’s is so steeped in its’ history there and I love playing there, just because it’s just this big, huge blues club and they get the most diverse audience. It’s really funny, you know. And then the Continental Club is great because it just has its’ own, also its’ own sense of history. Then there’s also Ginny’s Little Longhorn. Have you heard of Ginny’s? It’s a small place a little north of town. It’s basically just a room with a pool table and they just [serve you]. I mean, it’s the real deal. You know it’s one of…
Rick: It’s a honky-tonk
Cindy: : …it’s one of those dying breeds of places that you go.
Rick: Yeah. Many fights? [laughing]
Cindy: : No!
Ricky: I was thinking of honky-tonks.
Cindy: : It was just… you get the nicest people in there. Another place with a really diverse crowd and when people come to visit me and they wanna see a real part of culture in Austin, like old culture, I always take them to Ginny’s. There are a lot of places that I like for different reasons but those are the 3 main…
Rick: Okay good, thank you. The first time W.C. Handy heard slide played was in a train station in Mississippi and the guitarist was using a knife and he said the sound was unforgettable. What type of steel do you use? Do you use a knife on occasion? [both laughing]
Cindy: : Depends on how [happy ] the gig is. [all laughing]
Mike: Take a look inside your boots.
Rick: Yeah.
Cindy: : I don’t use a knife. I use a John Pierce, ¾ size Thermo Cryonic Bar for my lap steel and I use a custom-made bar for my acoustic slide. It’s much like a Steven’s bar where it has the indentations on the side but the end is rounded. It was my own brand, the bar I had for awhile, and it was just too expensive to manufacture so…and I still have a couple, but it’s a different weight and heft for each instrument.
Rick: You ever cut a bottle and used the bottleneck?
Cindy: : No. I’ve always wanted to do that ,though, just for the sheer emotional effect of doing it. [both laughing] I just picture being able to…smashing a bottle, just kind of filing a little and then playing it. Yeah…actually because I play the style of slide in my lap or horizontally, the glass is too light of a property but works wonderfully for a bottleneck.
[3:47]
Rick: Like a Sonny Landreth [kind of thing].
Cindy: : I have tried it. I have tried it the other way. Steve James has all kinds of wonderful glass slides that he uses and I…it just doesn’t work for me.
Mike: Can I bust in? You ever played Weissenborn?
Cindy: : Oh yeah, I’ve got one.
Mike: I just found one at an antique store last year on the way up to New York.
Cindy: : Congratulations.
Mike: It was $500, really nice shape.
Cindy: : No! That sounds impossible.
Mike: It was like [hyperventilating]
Rick: Buy it now!
Mike: I couldn’t believe it!
Cindy: : I can’t believe that either. Congratulations. That’s amazing!
Mike: Yeah it was amazing; a true find. It was underneath the front desk and I just saw the guitar case and I was asking what it was. He was saying, ‘”Oh yeah, I got this thing, I’m not sure what it is.”
Cindy: : They are very special guitars. They really are.
Mike: Do you have any suggestions of a great way to play it, because I’m just learning on that so…
Cindy: : Take a wine bottle and…[all laughing] They like low tunings, so I would recommend D or even C, but I find also that each Weissenborn seem to have an affinity for certain tuning. Mine happens to love C.
[5:05]
Mike: I haven’t tried it on C . Maybe I ought to try it.
Cindy: : It’s very low. You’re gonna have to use very heavy gauge strings on the bottom. That’s what I would suggest. You know you don’t…
Mike: Any suggestions on what kind of strings?
Cindy: : Bronze probably would sound nice, phosphor bronze on there. Gauges, I have gauges listed on my website for…I don’t think for C tuning but for D tuning I think and also David Lindley has a C tuning that you might want to check, can’t recall it off the bat, but don’t use a really…you don’t need a really heavy bar with glass or wood. Have you heard those instruments?
Rick: I played those.
Cindy: : They’re great. They like shimmer.
Rick: Yeah. It’s a beautiful instrument.
Mike: Would you two look right here so I could see your eyes for at least one shot. There you go… Perfect.
Rick: Okay? Okay, thank you. You formed a musical relationship with Van Morrison during the last two years; you played on his “Pay the Devil” Album.
Cindy: : I didn’t play on that.
Rick: You didn’t? I thought your website said you played on that.
Cindy: : Nope.
Rick: Then I misread. Well let’s talk about…
Cindy: : [laughing] I’m on his new CD.
Rick: Ohh… what’s it’s called?
Cindy: : “Keep It Simple”
Rick: I must have…okay, you played on the 2008 release “Keep It Simple”.
Cindy: : Yeah.
Rick: Was that produced…?
Cindy: : I also toured with him for a little while.
Rick: I saw that. How did you get to know him? I guess you met him in Woodstock then?
Cindy: : No, no. That was such a great thing because then I saw him when I was 12 and then didn’t see him again until meeting him when I got the call to come and play with him. I was called to do…it was when “Pay the Devil” came out…so I was called to do some of the tours to promote that and stayed on.
Rick: Oh okay. And with the new album “Keep It Simple” what did you… how many cuts did you play on?
Cindy: : I think on that, just a couple.
Rick: Was that something you patched in or did you actually go into the studio and…
Cindy: : Yeah, that was very live. That was actually done…we were in…I think we were in Seattle. I think we were supposed to open for the Rolling Stones I forgot where, the date was canceled. We had the day off in Seattle and it was pouring rain. Van had located a recording studio up the street from the hotel and so we just went in there on the spur of the moment.
Rick: Really? That’s got to be wild.
Cindy: : Yeah I was actually…I got the phone call…you know it was a day off so I was like walking around and…
Rick: Go to Pioneer Square or something.
Cindy: : ”You have to be here now!”… you know… went to the studio and cut a couple of tracks. I don’t know where the other tracks were cut, but I’m on it. And I loved…it was a wonderful CD. It just…I mean, I love all of his CD’s.
Rick: Yeah, so do I.
[7:58]
Cindy: : But there’s just something about this CD almost has that very…when I listen to it I just… it makes me feel like I feel when I listen to his very old materials from a long time ago. There’s something very organic and simple about it. Simple.
Rick: Something organic and earthy, yeah.
Cindy: : Very earthful, very earthy. It was a wonderful…a wonderful year working with him.
Rick: Nice guy?
Cindy: : Amazing. The most amazing musicians, there’s no [selfishness], it’s just, whatever, you know. It was a great experience and also to be able to…because I don’t think of myself as a country player. I know I’m labeled as a country player because of all my years with Asleep at the Wheel, but I’ve done so much other stuff and to get the opportunity to play with such an incredible singer/songwriter like Van Morrison and with that band. To me it was just a whole ‘nother level of playing steel guitar. You know, to get to do his material on that instrument…
Rick: Did you find that you explored, or you said you tended to explore the instrument more because of that or…?
Cindy: : Not explore really. I think it was just…it just made me really happy to be able to do other things besides country music. [both laughing] How’s that?
Rick: Sure, thanks.
Cindy: : Other [voice things]… just the [voice things] that we played with his band… you know there was a horn section for a while and I had worked with horns before with Leon Redbone and Asleep at the Wheel, but to be able to play Van’s music on any instrument, it’s an honor. With the steel it was just so nice to be able to stretch…to just stretch out a little bit.
Rick: Did you play “In the Mystic” with him?
Cindy: : No, we didn’t do that song.
Rick: What a great song.
Cindy: : I don’t recall ever doing that song. But you know, I really shouldn’t say because on any given night there were a number of different tunes that would be pulled out, so you just kind of didn’t know…
Rick: Okay. Thanks.
Cindy: : “Moondance”!
[00:10:07]
Rick: What’s that?
Cindy: : “Moondance”.
Rick: Oh, that’s a great song. That’s a great song. You recently worked on “Astral Weeks”? … is that what that was on?
Mike: What?
Rick: “Moondance”? Wasn’t that on “Astral Weeks”?…I’m trying to think of the album that was on…
Mike: It’s been so long.
Rick: It’s been a long time I know. You recently worked with Eliza Gilkison. Guess her father is a musician too, wasn’t he? Another Austin resident and a great songwriter. I met her a couple years ago here. Tell us about the project; I think it’s called “Beautiful World” on the Red House Label that you’re working on with her.
Cindy: : You know, I was only called in to do one track, but I have been such a fan of hers for a long time, so I was very happy to get that phone call. And it was just one of those recording sessions where I got goose bumps. You know her writing is…I think she’s just a wonderful songwriter of our time and also a very timeless songwriter. You know, I think you can’t pigeonhole her. I think if you hear her material years from now you would not be able to tell which era except for her more political songs which really are also cool because they’re not so obvious a lot of her stuff’s very subtle, you know. I think she’s such a sweet person and such a great songwriter and so it was a really nice…one of those nice phone calls to get to be able to work with her.
Rick: She has a song that I think is about like her great, great, great, great grandfather’s letters. Have you heard that song? It’s about the [Redcoats] in the Revolutionary times?
Cindy: : Yeah I know what you are talking about. I can’t think of the song.
Rick: It’s a beautiful song!
Cindy: : Yeah. I wish I could think of the title. She’s wonderful.
Rick: Great hearing her do that. Do you have any Dylan stories you can tell us about?
Cindy: : Let’s see…Well, pick a topic. Give me a topic…[laughing] I mean that’s the thing…I mean those time-out-of-mind recordings, so many people ask me how many great stories from it, but it really was work. I mean we would show up at the studio and we would concentrate on stuff and so there really wasn’t a lot of…I don’t think there was a lot of opportunity for stories during that whole time. At least at the time I was there which was at Criteria Studio in Miami. That’s the time period that I was involved in that.
Rick: So how would you say he managed the production of the songs that he was singing? How did he manage the groups and you? Or did he do that or was there an engineer/producer who said you do this and this and this?
Cindy: : Daniel Lanois was the producer
Rick: Oh really?
Cindy: : And it was all done live and so there were quite a lot of musicians set up in a very large room at the same time. So there was pretty much two of almost every instrument. At least at the Criteria recordings, and we were set up kinda like a big semi circle and Daniel Lanois would be in the middle. Jim Keltner, who played drums was in front of me, which I was in heaven for that alone because he and Levon Helm were my favorite [charmers]…so it was wonderful to be able to watch, to go into work everyday and there’s Jim Keltner and you see him work. It was so live and we were…there weren’t even any charts. I mean we really would just go through the songs a couple of times and then they would roll a tape.
[13:35]
Rick: And that was it? Wow. 40 musicians, though, playing together.
Cindy: : It wasn’t, you know, hours and hours of a lot of extracurricular activity other than just being in that studio and just being so focused. It was such a great process to be involved in because, as you know, a lot of times when you go in the studios, depending on who you’re working for, you’ll take all day on one song.
Rick: Yeah, or one line.
Cindy: : Things are just done to death and this was just such a great experience because it was done live because there was not a lot of time getting the sounds aside from Jim setting up his drums, whatever. There wasn’t the micromanaging that you usually see in the studio. It was just…and when the CD came out I was so thrilled to hear that. It sounded exactly like it did to me in the studio. It had the real sound. It had just the sound of people around you and that was what was so great about that recording. You could actually feel the people around you.
Rick: It was well engineered then. Somebody did a great job placing people around.
Cindy: : Oh, it was incredible. Mark did a great job and he was very hands-on, I mean, you know, at least when I was there, there was no overdubbing at all.
Rick: That’s pretty amazing.
Cindy: : Not that I saw.
Mike: Cindy: , it’s five to seven…
Cindy: : Thank you
Rick: Okay I’ve got about 4 more questions; we can do that on the phone…
[00:15:06]
Cindy: : Well… Do one more and then we’ll have an even number of three.
Rick: Okay, let’s see what I’m gonna ask you here. Okay, you’ve also worked with Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks, who were known as pretty feisty ladies. When you’re with them [Cindy: laughing] are you the quiet one?
Cindy: : How could you not be? [both laughing] Wouldn’t dare say a word! Dolly is just wonderful and so funny and so…I didn’t feel the need to be quiet. I think it was just you know…we were just…you feel like you might be the quiet one, but everybody is just having a good time . In those 2 instances, the Dixie Chicks I worked with when I was with Asleep at the Wheel. We did the “Ride With Bob” CD and have all those guests on there and so that’s when I got to work with the Dixie Chicks. They’re very…just really nice people. Dolly… I was not… I did not play steel on her track on the first tribute to Bob Wills CD, but I did tape a pilot TV show with her with Asleep at the Wheel and she’s just amazing. I love her. She was just so full of life and so funny and so, like you say, you do feel quiet. [both laughing]
Rick: Okay, well let’s follow up by telephone and…
Cindy: : We do have 5 minutes.
Rick: Okay, at least we can do them quick, too, if you want. Let me mix it up with a couple of Telemasters: Bill Kirchen and Redd. How would you describe how the 3 of you musically intertwine your styles of play? Intuitive or more like players seasoned by experience playing together?
Cindy: : I just think it’s a macrame, rumble-up pairing. [both laughing] I think it’s just, we’ve all known each other for quite a while and we just love…we’ve played together…you know, on and off for a long time.
Rick: Just playing with the boys.
[17:04]
Cindy: : Yeah, I think it’s just…really it’s just fun. It’s total fun. I mean, you’re not even thinking. Yeah…you’re just kinda playing and having a good time, you know.
Rick: Just 2 quick ones then.
Cindy: : Sometimes you try to be able to dodge the bullet you know I mean if you were playing up there between Redd and Bill, Oh my!.. you’re the one, you’re in the line of fire and you gotta fire off a really good round or you’re gonna get killed you know. That’s how I look at it, you know. Like [eight ball.]
Rick: That’s good. Any chance the three of you will pull together an album?
Cindy: : That’s a very good question. I would love it if it happened. I was on Bill’s last CD. I mean we’ve all worked together but as far as doing a…
Rick: Sort of a trio.
Cindy: : A trio thing …I don’t know…It’s a great idea. It really is.
Rick: Okay. last question, what new projects do you have rolling around that you plan on running to ground next?
Cindy: : I would like to do another CD.
Rick: A solo CD or…?
Cindy: : I would like to do the same thing as “Slide Show” where I had all those different guests. That was so much fun to be able to…it’s very rare for a slide player to get to play with another slide player. You know a guitarist…
Rick: Yeah, we all play together, yeah, all the time.
Cindy: : You know…but for some reason…maybe there is a good reason. You know that old joke: What’s the definition of the half step? 2 slide players playing in unison. [Rick laughing] Which also applies to fiddle, I know. The making of “Slide Show” was fun in so many ways And also because it’s very rare I get the opportunity to play with other slide players. I mean, I play with Sonny Landreth a couple of times a year. We do [that] show, Steve James and…
Mike: Do you know Freddy Roulette?
Cindy: : No I don’t.
Mike: Have you heard of him?
Cindy: : Oh yeah. Amazing. I would love to meet him. That’s why I would like to do another “Slide Show” 2 in order to be able to meet some of these people that I admire and do another CD where there are guests because I think a lot of people have either misconceptions or just maybe they have haven’t seen slide guitar enough to know what it can do. I mean, they see a pedal steel and they think it’s just country. They see an acoustic slide and they think maybe just blues. I would like to do another CD and just show again so many different styles. Derrick Campbell from the Campbell Brothers: we’ve talked about getting together to do something for my next project and I’m teaching a workshop with him in October in Port Townsend. We’re doing it on the weekends.
Mike: What a great place to do it. Oh man!
Cindy: : The first week of October is when…Derrick and I are really looking forward to that. So my hope is to do another CD, but with the way the business is and the economy is you know…but that’s what I’m hoping.
[00:20:08]
Rick: What about Robert Randall?
Cindy: : I’ve never played with him.
Rick: Well I’ve heard that… somebody earlier today said, “Have you ever heard her do something other than swing?” I said not really.
Cindy: : Nobody…
Rick: They said that you can really rock when you want to. [both laughing]
Cindy: : Really? It’s funny. A lot of people, I think, saw me a good amount with Leon Redbone…
Rick: Sort of in that niche.
Cindy: : In that niche. And maybe with John Herald in the earlier years when I started out. I just played bluegrass dobro, but because I was with Asleep At The Wheel for 8 and 1/2 years, you know, of course, you get branded as “that’s all you do is western swing”. Yet I do a lot of other things. Which is one of the reasons why I left Asleep at the Wheel. I really missed playing acoustic and I missed the variety of a lot of different things that I do. I have to do another project and also I’ve got a really fun show coming up. A repeat of shows I’ve done earlier this year, “Texas Guitar Women” with Sue Foley…
Rick: Oh, really? Yeah, we interviewed her.
Cindy: : …and Carolyn Wonderland and bass player, Sarah Brown and Lisa Pankratz, who is a great drummer. We’ve got a show coming up in Ohio and then some other shows and we’ve been in the studio recording here and there. So that’s fun. That’s a very fun project to do and that’s about it.
Rick: Okay, that’s great! Thank you.
Cindy: : Sure.
Rick: We got through them all.
Cindy: : All right. Thank you so much
Rick: Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. And hello to Cash for me, if you will…
Cindy: : I really appreciate your patience and waiting around
Mike: Let me get one more straight on, where your hair is down.
Cindy: : It’s always down.
Mike: [picture taking session]…Great. Thank you so much.
Cindy: : Oh! We didn’t talk about Levon Helms [rambles]. We can do that another time.
Rick: Okay. Or I can give you a call next week.
[22:41]
Cindy: : [ a lot ]?
Rick: No.
Cindy: : Oh, it’s amazing where his house in Woodstock.
Rick: Oh really?
Cindy: : Yeah.
Rick: Okay we’ll talk about that. I’ll give you a call next week. I’ll get your number from…
Cindy: : Okay when I go to Woodstock I do [ the real ] because I’ve not been for a long time.
Rick: Okay.
Cindy: : There are wonderful house concerts and [ ] people there are playing Emmylou and Elvis Costello…
Rick: I know a guy whose been to those. He was actually a photographer. He said it was interesting. Keith Richards was there. Bob Dylan was there. This guy’s name was Gene Martin. He was a photographer from New York. You ever heard of Gene Martin?
Cindy: : No.
Rick: Oh, he passed away a year and a half ago. Great photographer.
Cindy: : All the good ones are passing away. [ Artie Chong ] just passed away Sunday. Did you know Artie?
Rick: Oh, no.
Cindy: : Yeah, he passed away of liver cancer Sunday…very sad…Well thank you!
Rick: Thank you. Have a good show.
Cindy: : Aww, your magazine looks very nice. I took a look at it.
Rick: Oh did you? Thank you.
Cindy: : Yeah…what a wonderful…it’s nice to see a good variety like that.
Rick: We like to mix it up. We’re actually going to start doing some classical musicians pretty soon, guitarists, so…
Cindy: : It’s good. Well call me if you have any questions or my voice didn’t come out right, because I’m a little [babble]
Rick: Okay [ Catherine] I’ve met a couple of other times. She’s wonderful.
Cindy: : Thank you so much.
Rick: Thank you.
[24:00]
