I've just posted my extensive 1980 interview with Willie Dixon. Dixon, of course, was the composer of songs made famous by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and many other blues stars, and rock fans know him via covers done by the Rolling Stones, Cream, Jeff Beck, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Dylan, the Dead, and so many others.
Willie was also an expert upright bassist who played on the great Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley singles at Chess and many of the classic postwar Chicago blues recordings. We spent quite a bit of time during this interview talking about his work as a bassist, his instruments, and how records were made. One interesting fact he pointed out was "years ago they didn’t have all these different tracks that they have in the studio now. And what would happen, they’d put the mike into the instrument that you was gonna play. They used to wrap cloth around the bass – put the bass mike down in the bottom of the tailpiece. And then when you play it, why, it would come right through like an electrified bass."
He also goes very deep into his creative process and how to write songs.
If you're interested in seeing the whole 7000-word interview, it's posted here:
Willie Dixon on Songwriting, Bass Playing, and the Blues
