Beginning out as a ardour mission, ‘Caught In The Mud‘ by Christopher Wyze & The Tellers quickly became one thing greater. We received to speak to Wyze about all of it.
Was there a selected second you realized Christopher Wyze & the Tellers turned greater than only a ardour mission?
Nicely, while you get a #1 hit on a blues chart, it begins to sink in. I say that considerably jokingly, however in all honesty, I had no thought this mission would change into a hit. We got down to make a studio album. That was the purpose, your complete purpose. And that made sense. I didn’t have a band, didn’t have a band title, no report label…I hadn’t recorded a single track I’d written. I’d solely began writing songs lower than a yr earlier than we recorded. We had nothing…besides a small pile of track lyrics I had written and a few iPhone demos that co-writer and producer Ralph Carter and I had cobbled collectively from the place to begin of my lyrics. However I had what I felt have been good songs.
I knew I had an excellent producer and co-writer, and buddy in Ralph Carter. He had given me the arrogance and encouragement to jot down songs. And I knew he knew learn how to make nice music. I might have been blissful to say that we accomplished an album of our unique songs – by no means thoughts undertaking something extra. However issues went in the other way.
We did hit #1 with one among our songs, ‘Again to Clarksdale’, on the Roots Music Report Blues single chart, which is predicated on worldwide radio play. We hit #1 singles on iTunes Blues in Germany and Mexico. The album, ‘Caught within the Mud’ and eight of the songs from it, hit a number of blues charts around the globe: France, Australia, Canada, Belgium, the U.S., and a number of other international charts.
The blues media gave us a lot of love – radio stations, magazines, web sites, they wrote opinions of our album and have tales, and did picture spreads. Our movies have obtained 1000’s of hours of views. The album peaked at #2 on RMR within the early fall of 2024. At that time, I started to comprehend that what had began as a enjoyable ardour mission had became one thing a lot greater with blues lovers all around the world. It’s loopy…the #1 metropolis on this planet for listeners to our music is Paris, France. Simply loopy. Beginning a few yr in the past, I started devoting nearly full-time to music.
How do you go about evoking a traditional blues sound in your music?
It begins with the fabric…the phrases and the music we create. And for me, that comes from being an enormous blues fan and listener to start with. After some time, the blues simply form of seep into you. Perhaps you begin listening casually, after which a bit extra. That turns into hours and years of listening to how musicians interpret the blues. Then, you get to the place the place the music, the groove, the texture, the message of the blues simply turns into a part of you. And in the end, it finds its method into your music.
Evoking the traditional blues sound comes from realizing the traditional blues sound and what it appears like to listen to it and play it. The fellows within the band know the blues, so it’s considerably second nature to us. The remainder of the individuals concerned with our music get it, too – beginning with our producer, Ralph Carter, who’s an enormous a part of creating the sound. There’s additionally our recording engineers, the blending, and the mastering. Christopher Wyze & the Tellers is a bunch of oldsters who really feel the music and put their blues into the completed product, whether or not it’s recorded within the studio or carried out reside on stage.
Elaborate in your relationship with the Shack Up Inn and the Juke Joint Chapel. What makes these locations particular to you?
I reside in Indiana, however for me, the Shack Up Inn is my different dwelling. From the primary time I set foot on the grounds there, about 15 years in the past, I felt like I had one way or the other come dwelling. For individuals who don’t know, the Shack Up Inn is on the grounds of the previous Hopson Plantation in Clarksdale. The centerpiece is the previous cotton gin, and inside that, there’s the Juke Joint Chapel Music Corridor, together with rooms you’ll be able to keep in. Strewn across the gin are a bunch of previous sharecropper shacks which have been drug onto the grounds from the encircling space and refurbished to make them into dwelling quarters – cabins, if you’ll. There’s a grass courtyard strewn with picnic tables and remnants of issues from years passed by – farm tools, automobiles, furnishings, junk artwork, you title it – previous stuff that the majority people would have most likely tossed out. The entire place is a sense. Anyway, that’s the scene. And I can let you know, if that setting doesn’t offer you a taste for the blues and the historical past behind it, you don’t have a pulse.
I traveled to Clarksdale and the Shack Up Inn for the primary time to attend a week-long blues harmonica camp. On the time, I used to be fronting a canopy band; we performed blues. I play the harp some, however I needed to get higher. So, I signed up for the camp. I believed I’d decide up some harp suggestions and methods, and I did. However I received far more than that out of my go to. I walked away with a method higher deal with on the blues and what it was and is all about. And I took that with me and carry it in all places I’m going. It’s a part of me now.
I met nice musicians and lecturers: Jon Gindick, RJ Mischo, Cheryl Enviornment, TJ Klay, Hash Brown (Brian Calway), Richard Sleigh, and Ralph Carter, who turned an excellent buddy and mentor for me. Ralph inspired me to not simply play the blues however to start out writing blues songs. Finally, he and I co-wrote and he produced our two albums. I write most of my lyrics proper there on the Shack Up Inn and I proceed to return to play music, to jot down music, to get along with fellow musicians…and now to report. We recorded and filmed our LIVE in CLARKSDALE album contained in the Juke Joint Chapel on the Shack Up Inn.
There’s an plain chemistry between everybody on stage.
Sure, and it’s so a lot enjoyable to play with this group. All of us love the music of the blues. All of us respect one another as musicians and performers…and all of us get a kick out of performing reside. I like it when people point out how a lot enjoyable it appears like we’re having on stage. It tells me that the enjoyable we’ve got is contagious; it infects our audiences. That’s what it’s all about for us.
What was it prefer to share this momentous second with Irene Smits on stage?
Nicely, it was cool, enjoyable, and energizing. Irene lights up the stage…and is such an attractive songstress. I met her and her husband, Tom, years in the past in Clarksdale. I’ve watched their music take form and evolve…on the similar time, my music took form. They carry out and report as Goodnight Irene. The loopy factor is that I had no thought Tom and Irene have been in Clarksdale on the time we confirmed up for the present. I came upon the day earlier than we recorded and filmed. They have been on the town from their dwelling within the Netherlands to play a gig. We one way or the other linked and I requested Irene if she’d be up for becoming a member of us on stage for a track – ‘Caught within the Mud’. She got here to rehearsal the day earlier than the present to run via the track a few occasions. And the subsequent day, she joined us for ‘Caught within the Mud’ within the reside present. What began as a loopy coincidence turned out to be one of many highlights of the reside album and video.
What’s been the response to ‘Caught In The Mud (Dwell)’, and the larger mission to date out of your followers and listeners? How do you are feeling now that this efficiency is launched to the world?
The response has gone past our wildest expectations. Going into this mission, individuals instructed me how powerful it’s to achieve success with a reside album. They warned me to not get my hopes up too excessive. And similar to with our debut album, which we did within the studio, my solely expectation was to make some nice music. I figured if we did that, nicely…mission achieved. I felt actually good after we completed the studio recording periods, and felt the identical method concerning the Dwell in Clarksdale session. I felt like we pulled it off and had carried out our greatest. The reception we’ve gotten is icing on the cake. As soon as once more, we made it onto the blues charts around the globe, and the album, present video, and documentary movie have gotten a lot of media protection and opinions from around the globe. And our fan base, listeners, and followers on social media develop by the day. How do I really feel? Unbelievable!
Is there something you realized about your self whereas crafting this three-part mission?
I continue to learn, and it’s just about the identical lesson: have a “why not?” angle, and good issues would possibly simply occur for you. I say “would possibly” as a result of there aren’t any ensures on this world. But it surely’s arduous to do something of any consequence with out first believing you are able to do it. Shortly after our debut album was launched – and we noticed the nice response it was getting – I had this concept, name it extra of a dream. I needed to report and movie a reside present, and do it on the Shack Up Inn, within the Juke Joint Chapel, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Now take into account, at that time, Christopher Wyze & the Tellers was only a studio band – one which had spent a complete of 5 days collectively in a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In truth, there was no reside performing band; it didn’t exist. So, the very first thing to do was to place a band collectively. Then, organize the gig on the Shack Up Inn, line up the audio and video recording crews, get producer Ralph Carter on board, get Large Radio Data, our label, …and on and on. Nicely, the educational in all of that is that for those who assume you are able to do it…nicely, perhaps you’ll be able to. And for those who assume you’ll be able to’t…you positively can’t.
What would you like the world to find out about Clarksdale and its place in blues historical past?
It’s the hub, the middle for the music of the Delta…the blues. Within the documentary movie we made (WYZE in CLARKSDALE), we take individuals to the very place the place W.C. Useful first heard the blues: Tutwiler, Miss, a couple of minutes from Clarksdale. Useful took that music he heard on the practice station there and popularized it. He gave it to the world. Useful grew up in Clarksdale. So it’s truthful to say that Clarksdale and that space of the Delta is the place the blues have been born. Individuals ought to know this concerning the blues – and plenty of do. The entire city and space is steeped in blues music. Within the documentary movie, I introduce individuals to among the historical past, locations and folks that make Clarksdale so particular in that method. Sadly, People appear to be much less conscious of the significance of Clarksdale than do others from outdoors the U.S. Make a journey to Clarksdale and on any day of the yr, the vast majority of individuals visiting are from outdoors the united statesA. Europeans, particularly, cherish the blues, they usually flock to Clarksdale. He’s one thing loopy: for our band, Spotify tells us that the #1 metropolis on this planet for listeners to our music is Paris, France. Loopy.
The place does Christopher Wyze & the Tellers match into an rising blues revival? What can followers stay up for subsequent?
That’s perhaps a greater query for our followers and the blues media, but it surely’s trying like we’re proper within the thick of it. All of this has made our heads spin to consider what’s occurred for our music in simply the previous yr – the Radio play…the media protection…hitting blues charts within the U.S., Australia, France, Canada, Belgium, iTunes, Mexico, Germany, and a number of other international charts. And now, being nominated for a Blues Blast Music Award for “Greatest New Artist Debut Album” (followers can vote right here)…it’s simply superb to be part of all the nice issues taking place with blues music around the globe.
All of this has come on the energy of 1 studio album of unique music and one reside efficiency as a band…our LIVE in CLARKSDALE album and video. Subsequent for us…we’ve simply now gotten the ball rolling on plans for a studio album of all-new, unique music. We’re at work to place collectively a touring schedule of festivals within the U.S. for 2026. We’ve received an outdoor likelihood of attending to Europe for some reveals subsequent yr.
To our followers on the market: I need to say, “Hey people, let these venues and festivals on the market know you need them to e-book Christopher Wyze & the Tellers!” Lastly, we proceed to place out increasingly more video content material and different goodies on our web site and social channels. In case you love the blues, be part of us at our web site. If you do, we’ll maintain you posted on new music, new movies and tour dates.
You may watch the reside video of ‘Caught In The Mud’ beneath, and discover out extra about Christopher Wyze & The Tellers and their music on-line on YouTube, Fb, and Instagram.
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