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Johnny Full-Time

My oldest son was only 10 when I first heard him in his bedroom belting out “I’ve been Loving You too long,” one of my favorite Otis songs. I told him how good he sounded and that he should consider being a blues singer. “The blues are dead Mom” was his response.  “The blues are not dead, Cody. What do you think Otis is?” In his infinite 10-year-old wisdom he looked up at me with big hazel eyes and simply said “Dead Mom, I’m pretty sure Otis is dead.” Okay, so he had me there. Since December 10, 1967, Otis Redding has been dead. The blues, however, are not.

            It’s not possible for me to tell you how many hours I’ve logged cooking, cleaning, and folding laundry with XM Radio’s BB King’s Bluesville as my companion, so let’s just call it plenty. I have had numerous conversations over numerous bottles of Chardonnay covering anything and everything from Robert Johnson’s trek to the crossroads to sell his soul to the devil for his unimaginable guitar style; to the fact that Lead Belly was released from prison in 1925 after serving only seven years of a 35 to life sentence for murder by writing a song for Texas Gov. Pat Morris Neff (quite a testament to LB’s persuasive musical power, as Neff had run for governor on a pledge not to issue pardons); to BB King’s climb from a tractor driver making $22 a week (and glad to have it) to being arguable the best known blues musician in the world. I also have the pleasure of knowing many talented local blues musicians, and even the honor of playing with a few. So I can first handedly assure you, the blues are not dead. However in Evansville at times it seems they may be in a coma. With the surprising amount of  blues talent found in local artists like Tommy Stillwell, Jeremy Hall, Jonas Cowan, and Chris Chrockrem to name only a few, I’ve wondered what it what take to turn this town on. While I sat back and wondered one determined DJ took on the dubious task of breathing new live into Evansville’s awareness and support of the blues. I recently was afforded the opportunity to have lunch with John Luttrell, a.k.a. Johnny Full-Time, and ask him a few questions. John has been volunteering on WUEV every Saturday from 12p-2p to bring Evansville Johnny Full-Time’s “Full Time Blues.”

Here’s what he had to say:

N4U: Why the blues?

JFT: “When I was in high-school most guys were listening to rap or heavy metal. While I listened to that I also started listening to guys like Stevie Ray Vaughn with my aunt. The first time I heard Stevie Ray it was curtains for me.”

You were hooked?

Yeah. So it just kind of snowballed from there. Somebody said you like Stevie Ray he was influenced by so and so, who was influenced by so and so.

The thing about blues is the richness of the history, everything comes from something else. Can you take me on that backward path from Stevie Ray?

Yeah, let’s see I got some Stevie, then someone told me that (SRV’s) “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was actually a Buddy Guy song. You listen to Buddy Guy and your eyes get as big as saucers. At the same time I bought a BB King album called Deuces Wild. It was mostly duets, he did a song with Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison’s on there. Every time I listened to an artist I got branched off to somewhere else. Then my aunt sent me a CD with Robert Johnson on it and that’s when I got into the old stuff. Some artists that go back farther than him like Charlie Patton I still don’t know much about. I just know how significant a roll he played. There are artists I have yet to discover, at the same time there are some that I can turn other people on to.

How did your love for the blues parlay itself into you doing the show?

About the same time I’m getting into all this music I went to college for TV/Radio. I took my first on air class and it seemed like a natural fit. I got my first part-time radio job which led to a full time job at Fox 7 (hence the name). So I was running through the stations one day, heard blues on the radio and was taken aback. I found out that WUEV plays blues from 12 to 6 every Saturday afternoon. I approached Mike Crowley, the General Manager of UEV and said “You play blues, I listen to blues, maybe we can work something out.” He went for it right. My first show was the day the 2008 Handy Blues Fest in Henderson started. I went over the bridge after the show and the organizers were nice enough to let me go back stage and meet some of the artists. From that came an on-air with the Beat Daddys which went from me interviewing them to us having a conversation about stories they had from the road, Tommy brought some CDs and he and Larry played DJ. It was really cool and people seemed to like that format.

Where do you see the show going?

Well, I call the show the best kept secret in Evansville radio, but that’s not a voluntary name. I would like it to be a more regular thing. I’d like the show to be more interactive. I’ve been looking into taking it onto the internet. That’s the way I’m moving right now. I want to allow people to listen to it whenever they want.

Until then you can get your weekly dose of “A Case of the Blues” every Saturday (unless there’s a game) from 11a-6p on WUEV-FM 91.5 featuring Johnny Full-Time’s “Full Time Blues” from 12 -2 p.m. Also check Johnny out on myspace.com/fulltimebluesshow. “I’ll play the Blues for you.” – Albert King.