By Jeb Wright

Bryan Bassett may not be a household name, yet the guitarist has managed to stay in the music business for the better part of 35 years. He is a performer, producer, engineer, and songwriter and has a Billboard Pop Chart #1 hit on his resume.

Even those who were burning disco records in the 1970’s owned a copy of Wild Cherry’s debut album. “Play That Funky Music” is one of those songs that has grown from being a hit single to becoming part of America’s vernacular culture. The song has been remade countless times and has been featured in dozens of television shows and movies and it features Bryan Bassett on guitar.

After Wild Cherry ended, Bryan became a mainstay at Florida’s Kingsnake Studios, working on over a hundred records. He played alongside Foghat and Savoy Brown co-founder Lonesome Dave Peverett for years in Dave’s version of Foghat before joining Dave and Roger Earl in Foghat proper until Peverett’s untimely death in 2000. Bassett also recorded and toured with Molly Hatchet for several years before coming back to Foghat, where he continues on to the present day.

Bassett has experienced much, both positive and negative, within the music industry and has retained a love, passion and respect for music. He has the soul of a bluesman and the spirit of a rock n’ roller making Foghat the perfect band for him to be a member.

Foghat is currently on the road, promoting their critically acclaimed and fan loved blues album Last Train Home. Bassett gave the album his all, as he does everything that he is involved in. He is a consummate professional, a genuine nice guy and pretty damned good guitarist.

Read on to learn more about this funky, blues playing white boy and what he has accomplished along his musical journey.

Bryan: We were devastated. It was so cool to rub shoulders with a blues master, as there are not that many of them left. Over the years I have had some great opportunities. I met John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley and a lot of guys like that. Blues was their whole life and they lived it. Eddie lived on the road and it was sad to hear that he died on the road. Eddie drove everywhere. He probably spent fifty years of his life driving to gigs. It is just horrible but I am not surprised as his whole life all he did was drive gig to gig.

Bryan: That is a true story. To have Eddie Kirkland knock on your door and want to play the blues makes for a pretty good day.

Bryan: You just seem to find the time to do the things you love. When I first relocated to Florida, which was in the late 1970’s, after I left Wild Cherry, I happened to meet Bob Greenlee, who was the owner of Kingsnake Studios, which is a blues roots label. I began hanging out there and I met most of the good friends that I have to this day at that studio. I began doing some sessions and then before you know it, fifteen years and a hundred albums have gone by. I have been involved with over 100 blues albums with that label as a guitarist, producer and mixer. We did stuff for other blues labels as well.

Being on a blues label is certainly not a money making proposition but it was a great place, musically. We were making a record every two weeks. Guys would come through town and we would do a weeks worth of sessions and then they would head back out on the road. I really enjoyed that period of time.

Bryan: A friend of mine, Steven Dees, is a producer and he plays with Hall & Oates. He has played with Ian Hunter and several other bands over the years. He is producing a wonderful keyboard player from Memphis named Victor Wainwright. We are finishing up his third album. We have finished mixing it and we are now mastering it.

Bryan: My early interest in guitar came from the British Invasion bands like Peter Green and Eric Clapton. There were a lot of great electric blues guitar players coming from across the pond. When I started to research it I found out that they had been listening to American blues artists that none of us kids in America even knew existed. I started listening to Otis Rush, BB King and Albert King. I dug back into the pasts and found out about all these blues players and I started listening to them.

Bryan: I went in-depth with it all the way back to Robert Johnson. I learned about all the genres of it. When I started working with Lonesome Dave, in Foghat, I learned a lot about the blues because he was a true blues aficionado. He collected old 78 records and he knew everything about the blues. We would spend hours on the tour bus talking about it. We would listen to his record collection, which contained just about every blues album that had ever been recorded. He was an encyclopedia of the blues and that peaked my interest.

At the time I was at Kingsnake, we delved into Southeastern blues, which is what Bob liked to produce. We listened to all these great guys like Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown, Lonesome Slim and all the guys from the Louisiana, Baton Rouge era.

Bryan: That is true but it is not unlike what happened to a lot of early rock bands. It is like Hunter S. Thompson said, “The music industry is full of sharks and rats but it also has a dark side.” I am misquoting him but the original quote is so true.

A lot of the British Invasion guys brought them back into the limelight again and made it so they could make some money. Albert King was opening up at the Fillmore East with all kinds of rock bands. Johnny Winter helped bring Muddy Waters to the forefront in the ‘70’s. They finally, in later parts of their life, got some recognition and made some money. In the early years they were playing the Chitlin Circuit and playing for daily money to survive.

Bryan: My guitar tech works with Kenny Wayne quite a bit and Hubert Sumlin was out with him. He was in poor heath and Kenny was trying to keep him healthy and get him out there. Kenny Wayne really respects all the old guys and the traditions, which come with them.

Another guy who was amazing was Gary Moore. He came from Thin Lizzy and he was a great rock guitarist but he was an amazing blues player. Joe Bonamassa kind of reminds me of Gary, the way he plays the electric blues.

Bryan: It is something that was always on the minds of the band, going clear back to when I worked with Dave in the early 1990’s. There were always a couple of blues covers on every Foghat record but this time we did one specifically aimed at the blues. It was really something that Dave wanted to do. We each picked three songs apiece and went into the studio. We could have made a triple album with all the songs we wanted to do. We rocked them up a little bit and we played them the way we played them. It was an easy album to make. We recorded them in our band house in Florida. We would barbeque and record and then drink some wine and record. It was a very comfortable record to make. Over the years I have learned that the records that are fun to make seem to end up better than the ones you slave over.

Bryan: I’m used to doing that. I would be in the control room and I would hit record and wave for everyone to begin and I would play guitar on my lap. When it was all over I would reach over and hit stop.

Some of my favorite solos are at the end of songs. We were recording one song and we were at the end and five minutes later we are still playing. Suddenly, a drumstick comes flying past my head and Roger looks at me and I go, “Okay, that’s a take.”

Bryan: We were actually a rock band first. “Play That Funky Music” is actually a very autobiographical song. We were playing Led Zeppelin and Robin Trower in the clubs at the time when The Bee Gees and KC and the Sunshine Band were coming out. We were playing in these bigs clubs that had a thousand people and we were rocking out while all these people were just looking at us. We would take a break and the deejay would come on and play all these new dance songs and the dance floor would immediately be packed. Literally, one guy actually came up to us and said, “You better start paying some funky music, white boy.” We were still a covers band so we went out and learned the hits of the day.

We actually recorded that album with our own money on our own time. We just wanted to up our stock in the local market so we could go from five hundred bucks a night to eight hundred bucks a night. It was one of those things where a record executive heard it while we were in the studio and we went from the bars to the arenas in about six weeks time.

Bryan: It was a surprise to me that it ever was a hit. I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time and I completely went nuts. I had no expectation that it would break so fast. We were on a small record label that was made up of a couple of guys in Cleveland. They had an independent guy whose job it was to call up radio stations. We owe the song breaking to them as they did all the work. When it started going it really went fast and we were shocked. It was a really fun song to play. We would play that song in the clubs right after we wrote it and even guys who didn’t like to dance were dancing.

Bryan: I have played a million notes in my life but those are the seven notes that people will remember. I have heard so many different versions of it… George Michaels did it and the band Extreme rocked it up a bit. I have heard marching bands do it. I have heard it done in airport lounges. A lot of bands play it to this day, as it is a great club song. To have it still be so popular is just crazy. My kids just love it.

Bryan: I had a band called Blue House that had a house gig in Orlando. Pat Travers is a good friend of mine – he is a great guitarist and a wonderful guy. Dave had just moved back here from London, where he had been on hiatus for a few years. He was looking to get back into playing and Pat brought Dave to a gig. We were playing all these old blues songs and Dave absolutely loved the fact that we were playing all these obscure songs and he sat in with us. We became friends after that. In a couple of weeks he asked me if wanted to do some playing with him. We set it up where my quartet would open a show and then Pat Travers would play a few songs with us and then Dave would come out and play with us. Eventually, Dave wanted to form his own band and I jumped at the chance to do that.

Bryan: When I joined, I was in Lonesome Dave’s Foghat. Roger had continued playing for years when Dave went back to England. Technically, there was Lonesome Dave’s Foghat and Roger Earl’s Foghat. Finally, the band reformed with all original members, Dave, Roger, Rod Price and Tony Stevens. Rick Rubin was a huge Foghat fan and he wanted the band back together so he could record them. Unfortunately, he never got to because he had four or five other projects going on. They did Return of the Boogie Men and a live album as they couldn’t just sit around and wait for Rick Rubin.

I went and joined Molly Hatchet at that time. Foghat played with Molly Hatchet over in Europe and we became friends. Hatchet needed another guitar player so I did that for seven or eight years. Dave became ill and Foghat had to come off the road for a year. When Dave went into remission and wanted to get back to playing, Rod didn’t want to tour anymore as he had gotten into teaching. Dave called me up and I left Molly Hatchet and played with Dave in 1999, up until his death in 2000.

Bryan: We would talk all the time when I was in Molly Hatchet. When Dave got sick I would advise him on the American health care system as I had a daughter who had cystic fibrosis. Dave was English so he needed some help with our system. I think he always felt bad that he had to fire me when the original guys got back together. When he asked me back into Foghat it meant a whole lot to me and I think it also meant a whole lot to him.

Bryan: Rod was a very different person to play like because he had a very unique way of playing slide guitar. He was a master of slide guitar. It really was a master class into his style. I got the chance to play with him for about five months when we had Lonesome Dave’s Foghat. Rod came out with us and we played as a five piece. I got to know Rod and stand next to him and watch him play. To this day I still put the records on and listen to him play and make sure that I’m not getting too far away from his primary parts. He was a one of a kind guitarist.

Bryan: When you play a song a lot then you have a tendency to morph it into something else. That is not always a bad thing but a lot of our Foghat fans come out to the show and want to hear us play the songs correctly. It is the same in classical or jazz or any other kind of music. People want to hear the signature parts. Luckily, with Foghat, there is always room to improvise and put your own stamp on it. You can get yourself in there but you want to make sure that you play the parts properly.

Bryan: Wild Cherry used to play Foghat songs. Before Wild Cherry, in some of my other bands, we played a lot of Savoy Brown songs. Savoy Brown was one of the most influential British Invasion bands for me. Kim Simmonds played some great riffs. When we went on tour in 1976 with Wild Cherry, it was a huge year for Foghat because “Slow Ride” came out. “Play That Funky Music” was also out then. I did a lot of fabulous tours with R&B bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder but I always wanted to be a rocker. I was very glad to make the change.

Jeb: I love Foghat Live and I consider it to be one of the best live albums ever. You were on Foghat Live II and I am not blowing smoke up your ass but it is just as good.

Bryan: It meant a lot for us to do it. When you’re a replacement player in a band then it can be tough. We wanted to show people that we could still play and do justice to the material. I appreciate that comment. We really wanted to show people what we are all about live and we are very glad that it turned out well.

Bryan: It has sort of has taken on a life of it’s own. It started out a twenty second intro but now it can go on twenty minutes if we don’t watch it. We always try to play it when we headline and have time to do it. It is very improvisational and Charlie [Huhn] and I get to really stretch out. There are a lot of cues in that song but there is a lot of just going back and forth between him and I.

Bryan: Roger has done what he loved his entire life and that makes him one of the most successful people I have ever met. He is the heart and soul of this band and we couldn’t do it without him. He has always carried it on and I am proud to be in a band with him. He is a great drummer but he is also a great person.

Bryan: He absolutely is. We were very nearly not going to do anything because we couldn’t find anyone to replace Dave after he died. Dave knew of Charlie and Roger remembered that. They had seen him in Humble Pie. Charlie was really the only person we auditioned. We talked to him and went to New York and had a rehearsal and we had an instant chemistry. He could cover the material and he had that same rock n’ roll attitude without being a copycat of Dave’s. He could also rock out on guitar. We really hit it off. He was the last piece of the puzzle and he got us back on the road.

Bryan: Well, I guess that is a matter of scale. Any day you get paid to play is a good day. Sometimes you may get into a situation where the equipment they supply you with is not right and that makes the show suffer. Very rarely is it an internal thing. We are always ready to go. Sometimes you may have been traveling fourteen hours and you are not feeling well and you’re not on your “A” game. Other than that we are pretty much on. I am just thankful to be in this band and to be able to do it every night.

Bryan: My daughter faced an 18 year struggle with a horrible disease and she never complained a day of her life. All I have to do is think of that and all the other problems become extremely trivial. She was always laughing and was a very positive person. For the last twenty years she has been my inspiration. There is not too much point in being a negative person. Where does that go? Pretty much nowhere.

I really enjoy playing. I am not as rich as I would like to be but I am rich in my spirit. I love what I do. Someone asked me if I was ever going to retire. I replied, “What would I do? Get together with my friends and play guitar?” Why bother retiring. Foghat’s schedule is filling up again. We’re also going to work on a DVD this year and start writing songs for another CD.

Bryan: We have a lot of stuff in the can and we are looking forward to digging into it. We put out the Official Bootleg which was just some clips of different gigs. We really want to do a Hi Def recording that captures our live performance.

Bryan: At the moment I would have to say “Terraplane Blues.” It is a heavy slow blues written by Robert Johnson. We have extended it out and it is my personal favorite right now. The “California Blues” jam is another one that is really fun for me. Charlie and I get to go and hang out at the end of the stage and play guitar hero.