Spit 2 Da Beat Podcast
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Spit 2 Da Beat Podcast
Bass Guitar, Funk, and Spiritual Connections: A Chat with James Kinard
What happens when a talented musician from Mount Vernon, New York, finds himself immersed in the rich culture of Memphis, Tennessee? Join us on Spit 2 Da Beat Podcast as we explore James Kinard's incredible journey and how he discovered the life-changing power of music therapy. James shares how a song by Larry Graham ignited his passion for the bass guitar and eventually led to a successful career playing with legendary artists like Rufus Thomas and Millie Jackson.
James doesn't shy away from discussing the challenges he faced in the music industry, revealing the importance of mastering engineering and sound production to stay ahead. We also dive into the spiritual connections of funk music and how its foundation can be applied to any genre. Don't miss this fascinating conversation with James Kinard as we learn about his current band's unique style and the impact of music on our lives. Tune in and be inspired by James' remarkable story and insights!
If your in the music industry- singer, songwriter, composer, indie, neo singer, rapper, country artist, promoter, manager, music lawyer or blues please email me to be a guest on my show at myguest@spit2dabeat.com I would love to hear your Spit about the Music Industry.
And welcome to spit to the beat podcast. I'm your host, stacey aka be unstoppable per year. Look, we're back live in the studio getting ready to do another show. I got a great guest waiting on to be heard and talked about. I'm finally got him in the studio with me. I read his bio. It is so wealthy of knowledge of music and everything like this so I'm gonna get him on in just a second. But before we get started, you definitely can tune in on this show on Facebook live right here. Go to Facebook live. My page Stacey be unstoppable pur year or Stacey Spit to Da Beat also. You can catch this show portion of the show on YouTube and my YouTube channel Spit 2 Da Beat. Don't forget to share, follow, like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. I really will appreciate it. Thank you for listening and we are spit 2 Da Beat podcast.
Stacey Puryear :Let me introduce my guest, but I'm gonna make sure that he has a lot more to tell you as he get ready to come on. He's a native New Yorker but considered Memphis, Tennessee, his musical birthplace. He started journey as a musician early grade school in Mount Vernon, New York, learned to play instruments that range from the violin, the coordinate saxophone, guitar and piano. He found a cell on the bass guitar after hearing a song entitled hair by Graham Central Station. The bass set was Larry Graham, one of the biggest influence in his life decision to become a bass player. So without further ado, i'm gonna bring him on right now. Mr James Kinard, how you doing right. Let's get that in touch one more time, oh okay, yeah am I here, yeah, you're here.
Stacey Puryear :Okay, yeah, how you doing hey, how you doing, bro James. Good, i'm good, we're gonna jump right on into this thing, man. Hey, tell, tell my audience a little more about yourself, man, because well before I read with the information that you sent me, i'm like, oh my god, i'm like reading the encyclopedia of history, man did, when did all this start? and and okay, i don't want to get ahead of myself, well, go ahead, talk to my audience about you.
James Kinard :it's funny because when I first came to Memphis I really wasn't, i wouldn't even consider myself a musician. I was like I was like my 10th grade year in high school. I came in my 10th grade years, i was a teenager and I wasn't really even really playing playing bass. At that time I what I wanted to do was play baseball. I really was. I was really trying to be a baseball player really yeah, what's that career, that passion?
James Kinard :well, just to be transparent, when I moved from New York to Memphis, it was such a big change.
Stacey Puryear :It was kind of traumatic yeah, we were slowed down here yeah, well, i mean, it's just different.
James Kinard :I won't say, you know, it's just different and and for me the difference was so big that I couldn't. It was hard for me to just culturally and you know and everything. So you know, because I would go to school and people when I opened my mouth and talk, people say, look at me like I was something wrong. You know, because I had a really strong Bronx accent. Okay, i lost most of it now, so it's up in here yeah, were nobody could ever tell you from some part of New.
James Kinard :York. Yeah, some some words come out like here, you know everyone's the one, but otherwise, okay, you know I lost it anyway. So, honestly, i started playing music almost as therapy. You know, i've always liked music. I never wanted, i never thought of myself. As you know, pursuing it is, you know, a full career. But when I like I say when I moved down here I started, my grandmother brought me my first base and I just would just practice it all the time I go to sleep with it in my hands at night and everything. And it got to a point where I just it was my therapy to help me with my adjustment, with me on being in Memphis. And it ended up turning into something positive because in my senior year in high school, because I skipped a grade when some school skipped a grade, and senior year in high school I started playing in the jazz band at.
Stacey Puryear :Hillcrest.
James Kinard :High School, okay, and the first gig we did, the first song I ever learned how to play, was Earth, Wind and Fire, right, right. And so, anyway, we played at this like talent show or a major showdown thing, whatever it was. And then we had to play at this dance. And so we played at the dance when we you know when the band that I was playing, when we played, i saw how it affected people. you know what it did, you know it was. I know it sounds corny, but it was like an energy that went out And the energy came back to me and I felt it. I was like, oh, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Stacey Puryear :So in that moment.
James Kinard :Yeah, that's the actual moment, you know. The rest is history To read like. Like you said before, the reason why I even picked up bass is because I heard Larry Graham playing a song called Hair And I said what is that instrument? Cause I had gone through a bunch of other instruments, i was like, whatever, that is that's what I want to play. So that's how I did it.
Stacey Puryear :And you learned all the other instrument, the bass guitar. Yeah, exactly, I don't know. you've been playing the bass ever since when. I mean it became that final instrument.
James Kinard :That was, i would have to say, 74, 75, 74, 1975. Really, since 1975 I've been. I picked it up and I hadn't put it down since you know.
Stacey Puryear :So your transition from New York to Memphis was culture change. I'm sure it was Pretty big. I mean you go from and I'm just being honest, being transparent too everyone else that know New York. New York is faster.
James Kinard :You come down south.
Stacey Puryear :Everything's slow, you know, and mellow, so it definitely a culture change.
James Kinard :I had to get used to go back. It was a lot better back then than it is now. But you know when people will speak to you now in New York. You just kinda like when you see somebody just go, just do the head movement.
Stacey Puryear :I thought there was a little rude up in New York. I mean, there was actually sometimes they don't.
James Kinard :Yeah, well, back then. Now it's weird because it's like the other way around now It's like it seems like there. If you speak to somebody here, they're looking at you like what's wrong with you? In New York they're a lot more friendly than it was when I was up there when I was younger. So it's weird how it's switched around like that. Right, right, right.
Stacey Puryear :So you were a graduate. Was you a graduate of Hillcrest?
James Kinard :Yeah, graduate of Hillcrest, Viking yeah.
Stacey Puryear :So when you moved here, did you move? of course you moved with family and everybody, right? Yeah, yeah, okay, cool cool. So let's take it from there. High school leaving high school, what was the next move after high school?
James Kinard :graduation After high school. See, that's the other thing. I had only been playing like a year and because I had to speak of it like this, because of my faith, is I feel like God has had ordained for my life to go this way. Because I had been playing for maybe a year And after I finished playing, after I graduated from high school, I immediately started playing with this gospel group called Joan Taylor and Soul Deliverance. I don't know if anybody's ever heard of it, but it's been a while. It was like 77, because I graduated in 76 and I recorded my first record in 1977. With her, John Taylor's Soul Deliverance.
Stacey Puryear :How old were you? I'm reaching now, yeah, yeah.
James Kinard :Actually I was 17 years old. Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it. I never really thought about it, but yeah, i was 17.
Stacey Puryear :Wow.
James Kinard :Yeah 17.
Stacey Puryear :Man, man, that's awesome. So let's talk about this record label that you're joined Houston.
James Kinard :You're the connection.
Stacey Puryear :Houston Connection Corp. Yeah, yeah, how did that come about?
James Kinard :Well, i was, you know, from playing, like I was saying before, with John Taylor, and then I started, i guess word of mouth, people say, well, can you play on my?
James Kinard :in this gig and can you play on this record. So I would just do stuff here and there and I started recording. I recorded a displace on Hollywood called Daily Planet Shoe Productions And I get a chance to meet this everybody. I didn't know who he was at the time. I just tell a story like this I came into the recording studio to record for another gospel artist called Gloucester Williams And also, i think, fanny Clark sang us too. I did some stuff with them over at this particular studio, and so the guy who owned the studio, which I didn't know at the time, was interested in retaining me to do some other things. Now, when I first saw him, i thought he was the janitor. Really, just to be honest with you, because he was very unassuming. He wore a t-shirt and, you know, pair of jeans and some regular like yeah, there's a boots or something like, something weird like that, you know.
Stacey Puryear :Okay.
James Kinard :And he was on the floor fixing the tile on the floor And I spoke to him. I spoke, i stepped past him, i stepped over him whenever I went to the studio, so I had no idea who he was. Now, when I tell you who he is, Shock me, go here. So look, i'll tell. Okay to finish the story long story short. They said you know, after we left there from the record store, okay, we're gonna go over to the guy who owns the studio's house. His name was. He said his name was Jim Stewart.
Stacey Puryear :Oh.
James Kinard :You know. So now, if anybody hears that name, most people, well most people in the music industry, would know who Jim Stewart is. I'll give her a tell you if you don't know. So we went to his house And I don't know. If you're familiar with, are you familiar with? I forget what's street is all this?
Stacey Puryear :a place called For the Kingdom Is it like is it in White Haven or close to Thirds? No, it's out in Raleigh.
James Kinard :Raleigh, i think out in Raleigh, but it's like a gigantic huge complex. That was his house. He donated that house. He donated it had like three swimming pools, a horse ranch, tennis court, basketball court game or all that stuff. This was back in 82.
Stacey Puryear :Okay.
James Kinard :And I found out that he was the guy who started with Staxs Records.
Stacey Puryear :Wow, wow Yeah.
James Kinard :I had no idea, but what impressed me was how unassuming he was. He didn't try to flaunt who he was or brag about who he was. He just kinda just wanted to get whatever it took to be successful, you know, without anything extra. you know That's awesome.
Stacey Puryear :So back to you. I mean, it seemed like your name was just passed around a lot For people who's calling you as a notice guy name. he can play the bass guitar, let's get him and that. So your name was in that circle a lot, wasn't it?
James Kinard :Yeah.
Stacey Puryear :Like you was coming up with a job, out the job.
James Kinard :Yeah, and you know I had to and it was funny because, like I said, i wasn't really trying to do it to make a living. I just it was for the love of the music. I really enjoyed what I did And I, you know I put all my priority was to just be a good musician you know, at 17, 18 years old.
Stacey Puryear :Yes, sir.
James Kinard :Wow.
Stacey Puryear :Wow, that's amazing man. So you signed to that label, right? They signed you and that. Yeah.
James Kinard :Yeah, they that particular record studio I was just talking about. They had made a connection with a guy named Harvey Lynch in Houston, texas, And they started signing artists, local artists from Memphis, on this particular label. And how I got to be on the label was I was just I had learned a lot about being in a recorded studio. You know, from that period of 77 up to 82. I had learned how to engineer and produce and write music and all of that. So I was in. So they gave me the key to the studio So I would go when everybody was gone. I would go in the middle of the night and then just record my own stuff, but I play all the instruments and record my own music. And so Jim Stewart came in and he heard some of the stuff I did and he said man, you need to be, you need to be an artist yourself.
James Kinard :Okay, You know and that's how they, that's how I got really in, you know the industry with as far as writing and producing and all of that stuff.
Stacey Puryear :So and that's how I get what you should be. So what was your stage name? I said I know you signed as a solo artist, right?
James Kinard :Yeah, i had that. That's another story. That's how, in fact, to just continue from that. That's how I got my stage name It was. It was people from used to connection records were in there and they heard the music. And somebody said, well, what is it going to go by? What's going to be a stage now? And somebody I have no idea, who said somebody just shouted out X-25. X-25.
Stacey Puryear :And they just went with that I was like sounds good, whatever it takes, I'm just saying I didn't have a meaning behind it, No, it just. somebody just shouted out X-25. Wow.
James Kinard :You know, and all my friends and all the people from back in the day, they still call me that, So you know.
Stacey Puryear :Those who know. Man, that is amazing man. You started so early and your career just started taking off. And you, from what you said just a minute ago, you was going into the studio when everybody left.
Stacey Puryear :You had the chance to learn every aspect of the music industry, from the recording, being the engineer and finding how to hear that sound, that sound right or sound wrong. So you learned everything, the whole circle of the music. So that's amazing within itself. Most people only get portions here and there of it And they either are singer or they are instrument player, but you learn the whole 360 of it.
James Kinard :It was a great opportunity.
Stacey Puryear :And you went and did that by teaching yourself right.
James Kinard :Yeah, most of it I learned. Well, i had some guidance from an engineer that used to work over at Artic Recording Studios. He did a lot of engineering work for people like DeBloire Cays and Sherna Brown and a lot of the local art and a lot of old stacks. I mean, if he was from stacks he worked out of the stacks of camp And pretty much most of all the staxs artists he did and he taught me all the stuff I knew about engineering and sound and all that kind of stuff. So I had the best of the best I mean I was when it comes to learning about the industry and everything.
Stacey Puryear :So yeah, cool, cool. So hold on for a second. We're gonna take a public announcement break and we'll be right back. All right, hey, this is Stacey AKA Be Unstoppable Puryear, with spit 2 Da Beat Podcast. Would you like to be my guest? if you're a singer, songwriter, musician, producer or promoter, give me a call at 901-341-6777 or email me at myguestatspit2dabeat. com. Okay, we're back. We're back with James Cunard, the music. I'm gonna call you the music library man, because we gotta talk about how this, this list of artists that you play behind or play with alongside of them. Yeah, it's a plethora of artists that you was able to. I mean, i don't think anybody can hold record to what you sent me from just naming a few of them.
James Kinard :No, rufus Thomas, go tell us the list, Tell us some of these artists that you play for I probably forgotten all the people, a lot of the people that I play with, but Rufus Thomas was actually one of my favorites, you know, he was a lot of fun. He could even turn a mistake into making part of the show. He was the the consummate performer professional on stage. He knew what it meant to perform and what it meant to really put on a show. Out of all the people matter of fact, pretty much out of all the people that I've played with, he was probably the most. You know, he had the most knowledge as far as knowing what it meant to put on a show and make good music at the same time. Milly Jackson. Milly Jackson was a. She was part of I think we were doing a show.
James Kinard :That's what I was playing with Isaac Hayes at the time and they would do, you know, because they did a do it at one point Right And so I think she just that was just, I think, a one-shot thing, because she came to downtown to do a show with Isaac for some when he had that club downtown Isaac Hayes club, and I think the people that I played behind was Milly Jackson and the Del Fonics and Melba Moore, I think it was So, man when you sent me this list, you know I started looking at the list and I'm like all the people I'm still looking for.
Stacey Puryear :Where's Prince Michael Jackson? I said if he ain't playing with him, come on now. All these names on here, people would die to play for him. Man, that you had a chance to experience that on stage with them.
James Kinard :Yeah, you know I didn't want to move to Minneapolis. It's too cold up there.
Stacey Puryear :I know it's 14 degrees below zero some days up there. I couldn't do it either, bro, but I'm not lying. I was looking at, i know, prince Michael Jackson on here somewhere.
James Kinard :Well, we, yeah, we've crossed paths, you know so. I never did get him, I never did share the stage with him, you know.
Stacey Puryear :So other thing that you. You started a band and you released some music. Tell us about that.
James Kinard :Yeah, we what I was telling you before about when I first got here and when we first started playing. And I've been playing all these years with a lot of different people. You know pretty much every Stax artist you could name, except maybe you oldest renting the original bar case. But you know I've always wanted to put my own band together, because even when I had my own, when I was in the label as an artist myself, i never had a band, because during that time period it was it was a lot of electronic music and a lot of dance music where you had 12 inch singles and you know they would put. They start putting out real putting out albums. They put out more like when they give you a deal they give you like single deals. So and how?
Stacey Puryear :was the record deals back then And I know it's totally different now.
James Kinard :But how was it Yeah?
James Kinard :it was you know it was weird about that is I came up. I felt like I came up right at the edge of the time when music was more how could I say this? It was. It was more about visual. I think it was because the MTV it come out at that time and they, it seemed like most of the record deals were based on how the artists looked sometimes and you had to have a look. As a matter of fact, when a friend of mine went in and shopped a record deal out in California, this is a true story.
Stacey Puryear :Okay.
James Kinard :We went out there, went into I think it was Capitol Records, i think And first thing they said was okay, let me see some pictures. They didn't hear any music. they hadn't heard any music at all.
Stacey Puryear :Really.
James Kinard :And so we showed them the pictures of artists, like okay, you got a deal, now let me hear them, let me hear the music.
Stacey Puryear :Hold up Now. that sounds bad.
James Kinard :That's a true story. That's a true story. Well, because I was coming from Memphis, did they just want somebody from Memphis, or what No no, that's the way the industry was at the time It was like a transition where they didn't focus on the talent first, they focused on how, and it was because of the MTV thing where the video would push the music. So they wanted you to look a certain way so they could help them promote the music, whatever the music was.
Stacey Puryear :So that was the intel or, as far as the contract, what was?
James Kinard :it all about. What was the pay Back then? well, you know it depends on who you signed with. It would depend. You know, because it's kind of complicated, because you get, you know, as an artist, you get paid as a song If you write the song. You get paid like that If you publish the song which is another.
James Kinard :You know another side of it.
James Kinard :You get paid for publishing And then you get paid now. Well, yeah, then you get paid for merchandising And see, a lot of times or a lot of people don't know is that most of the time you have to go on the road and make your most, most of your money, by being out on the road. Because what happens is when you sign a record deal and they give you what you call an advance, that advance and a lot of artists used to think that that was their money, But the advance was an advance on sales that they're hoping that you would, you know, hoping that you would sell a lot of records And if you sold enough to meet that advance, then, yeah, that money is yours. But if you didn't, if they didn't recruit their losses from putting their money into the recording studio and hiring musicians and tour support and promotions and everything, when they got through all of that, whatever's left, if they were behind, If any money came in, they would take that and you wouldn't get any more money. That would be that.
James Kinard :That's so it would depend on you that go out on the road and do a lot of touring to make.
Stacey Puryear :To make your money?
James Kinard :Yeah, because a lot of times you don't really make on your first album or your second album. You can eat Lionel Richie and all the top artists can tell you that. You know they don't really make their first, even if it's a million seller or multi million seller, they don't really make any money off the first one. You know that may be the second or third. You know something like that. So that's how it works.
Stacey Puryear :That's some great information And that's definitely what I've been looking for on my show. Somebody can explain it from A to Z. About the contract part, about you know the publishing and the writing and stuff like going into. Like you probably ain't gonna make no money off your first album. You know stuff like the evening you're touring you got to repay the record label back because they looking for their money plus interest So you can't you dying to get to what they call it, what the sophomore album, the next album Exactly.
James Kinard :I hope that that sells more than the other one did Exactly, exactly, man.
Stacey Puryear :That's amazing. That information alone is valuable to my audience. Now let's talk about this funk thing. Now you touch bases on gospel, all the genre music, gospel, jazz, so R&B How was R&B for you? I mean you, i know you're in gospel, but, and I know you're a little bit of jazz, but R&B.
James Kinard :Yeah, i mean, that's the thing, that's the beauty of the experience that I've had in music, i actually. But mom was the one when I first started really taking this seriously. She's the one who told me not to just get locked into, you know. Just just see music as music and not, as you know, listening to one particular thing. Because whichever genre you jump to, the notes don't change, it's the same notes. Really, you can play it with a different feel or different instrument, but the, you know, the chords are going to be the chords. A flat major is going to be a A flat major and gospel is going to be that and jazz is going to be A flat major, is going to be in country is going to be a A flat major is not going to change.
Stacey Puryear :So wow, it's A flat across the board.
James Kinard :Right So it's just music, you know and when I, when I started seeing that and I would focus more on what makes a song feels good, feel good. So I would listen to every song that did to touch me in some kind of a way emotionally, whichever genre it was, and try to find out why it touched me like that. And it had to do something. I had to do with how a musician a real this is my, my philosophy a real musician will focus in on how a song feels and that necessarily, you know how, how proficiently you can play the notes or how precise you know.
James Kinard :Because this is when I did a, when I would do recording sessions with Mooli Mitchell, you know, which was a producer for Al Green, and and and peoples and those artists, and I would do recording sessions with him and I would play down a track and I would hear what I thought was a mistake And so, and so I would say, willie, can I go back and do that again? He said, if you touch it I'll kill you. And I didn't get it because I wanted.
Stacey Puryear :You know, i was like he was hearing something that you didn't hear Yeah.
James Kinard :Yeah, he was more focused on on how it felt.
Stacey Puryear :Okay, See.
James Kinard :I learned that's another place. I love it. It was another university for me.
Stacey Puryear :Okay, hold hold that I'm going to take one more PA break and we'll be right back. All right, hey, this is Stacy aka. Be unstoppable, we'll prepare you. Thank you for listening to our show, spit to the beat podcast. If you would like to be a sponsor, visit our website at www dot spit to the beatcom and click the support tab and leave a donation. We really would appreciate it. Thank you again for listening. Also, catch every episode Thursday morning at 8am. Okay, we're back in the studio with my guest, james Canard, the musician library right here there I'm getting a great lesson on and I hope this is valuable information. I know it's valuable information to my audience. So let's pick back up there. You say you was in the studio with Willie Mitchell. Yeah, and he told you better not test it.
James Kinard :Well, he said it another way. I can't say Right.
Stacey Puryear :I understand You being kind Family show.
James Kinard :So I understand, I understand, But he let me have it. He like don't you know, don't touch that.
James Kinard :I mean and, like I said, I understood. It took me because sometimes the end this goes back to what I say before This. Really I think this took me to another level of understanding the difference between being what I've instrument I played and being a musician. That's two different things. That's different between being a drummer and a musician or a bass player. The musician musician goes to the other level, so he would do things like. It is more abstract. Actually it's more spiritual, okay, and I didn't.
James Kinard :At first it took me a minute, not too long, but it took me a minute to really understand what that really meant. But one of the things that helped me was one time he was trying to explain to me I was playing on I can't remember There may have been an and people's album and we were working on a track and we ran down the track and I guess it wasn't feeling quite like what he wanted it to feel like And so what he would do he's like he would do like this. He was like, let me see if I can imitate. He said Hey, man, can I get you to do more?
James Kinard :Give me some more, so I'm like how do I have that process, that process that with this? you know when he I need you to give me some more feeling. So I just kind of focused on when I thought he meant to close my eyes and I tried to he said yeah, that's it, That's it.
James Kinard :That's like Oh, okay, i think I get it now. You know so, and I started thinking more like that, and it was. I found out that it's an abstract place you have to go to. You almost have to go. This is what I tell everybody you have to go past the music right to get to that other place spiritually and bring it back, and the music is the tool that you use to create the art of music.
Stacey Puryear :you know did you teach music in school too? Something like that. Was you teaching music in school? Okay, Okay. No, no, I never had a old conversation about that one time ago. I thought you said you was teaching music at school or something.
James Kinard :I've had a lot of people excuse me, a lot of people, you know, ask for private lessons But honestly, a lot of them, you know, quit early because they don't want to master the basic. They want to be awesome on day one, Right, And my thing is that you have to master the basics. I mean you have to start from the beginning.
Stacey Puryear :And if they stay with it just like you just reiterate, you got to learn how to go past the music to feel it.
James Kinard :Yeah.
Stacey Puryear :I think they were willing to teach you. You know you got to go past what you, because you just playing the basics. You got to go past what you're hearing and what you're playing to really get that feel. You know that probably was a sudden feel that he was trying to get out of you. Yeah, Cause you from New York. Yeah, so let's talk about the funk. We talked about the other genre, the gospel, the jazz, r&b and so, but your go to music style is funk, yeah, yeah.
James Kinard :That's because, again, if I go back to my childhood, even for us playing music, you know, i can tell you the exact moment when I was captured by that genre of music. I know the exact moment in the exact song. Okay, i was in, i was in my. This was in New York, i was in my it's when we had those console stereos that sat on the floor, you know, and I was listening to the radio station and I heard J's Brown's Cold Sweat And when I heard it I didn't know what J's Brown was.
Stacey Puryear :Really.
James Kinard :I never heard that kind of music before in my life, but I remember sitting right in front of the speaker like this just speak, put them up in, just like, just sitting there, like, oh, why does this make me feel so good when I hear it?
James Kinard :The Godfather song And I heard that song and I just I just hadn't been right since, yeah, and so I just that's, that was my introduction to what funk music was, And then I started trying to. Then I started paying attention to more songs like Sliding Family Stone and Sliding Family Stone and Ohio Players and you know whoever else did like anything that I thought was anything close to funk. I just kind of focused on that and that just kind of got in my soul. So when I eventually picked up the bass you know that's what I started listening to that kind of music and tried to focus on that feel, because that feel you really can put it on almost everything. You can put it in gospel.
James Kinard :Yeah, and you put it in jazz, you can put in everything.
Stacey Puryear :So that just goes along with what you just saying about the funk music. Is that what your band now, when y'all go out and play gigs?
James Kinard :I mean you basically play a lot of funk type. We do everything, but it's the foundation is pretty, pretty funky.
Stacey Puryear :Okay, yeah, that's what I'm trying to say, the foundation of it. Yeah, man, that's awesome. Look at me. I have enjoyed this conversation with you.
Stacey Puryear :I really do appreciate you coming on the show and giving us a plethora again of information about the music industry, your history, your transition from New York to Memphis and all these artists that you play with and behind. I mean, people really need to if they don't know you, i don't know what planet these folks been living on, but man, i think, i think definitely I know Memphis, and know you? How's your out of town aspect as far as when people, when you travel, do people know you're out of town?
James Kinard :Well, you know what's funny? I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday about about that, how that's the that's the weird part is like it's it's strange when people in another country know more about you than the people where, where you live. You know, you actually live. And I remember traveling overseas to London during a tour in London And we were doing the, the particular tour, we were talking to some people about doing a radio interview And one of the people who, one of the people that authorized, was introducing me to this particular group of people who were like historians, i think musical historians, and I'm thinking you know they, they know just, you know famous people or whatever, and so he introduced me to these people.
James Kinard :He said Oh yeah, we know who you are. You played on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You put on this one like on wow, i forgot, i played on it. So they, they knew more about me than the people here where I actually stay. You know, and you know that's that's why a lot of people you know, you hear about a lot of jazz artists they go overseas and they stay over there because it seems like they get more respect over there sometimes, you know.
James Kinard :But you know that doesn't mean that this has done a good place for music and musicians to to thrive. It just can be difficult sometimes because the way things can be set up, or you know, but it's, it's, it's. I say that there's been a lot of musicians that have had to leave here and go other places to really really there's people from here that are playing with people like Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, and and and J Lo and you know, and they're from right here And they say that people wouldn't know it. You know. So it's, you know, it would be nice if you know we could Just stay here and be, you know, just as successful. You know, that's why the band that I'm working with now we actually have a concert coming up. Okay, the 31st no, not 31st, 23rd, i'm sorry, 23rd of this month at the opening of Park Sale. It's a Friday.
Stacey Puryear :Okay, okay, and it's called. The name of the band is Music, music, awesome, awesome. Now last question. probably already ready to say this so you might be repeating yourself. Okay, but what advice would you give up in common musician artist who's trying to make their. Their put a foothold in the music industry? Tell your wife say hey.
James Kinard :I don't think she knows she's on camera.
Stacey Puryear :She been exposed.
James Kinard :You still there.
Stacey Puryear :Yeah, i'm here. I'm here. Okay, go ahead.
James Kinard :So advice I would say focus on the art of music. What is it? Understand what it means, what the purpose of music is, before you do anything. Don't make it. Don't make making money the priority.
James Kinard :Oh you know, the money will come. you know, just stay focused on the art of music. If you, the purpose of music is to is like any art form, like a painting or sculpture or whatever you know is to invoke some kind of emotion, you know, and that means something internal and to me, spiritually. So I would say, find out what it is, how to get past the music and find that place to connect to. You know, for me is is God, you know, I can connect spiritually And then I bring it back and use the music as a vehicle to express what I've learned, who I am, what I've experienced. you know, and that's what you call, that's what they do in paintings and poetry. It's the same thing as art. So I would say, focus on that and you keep the art alive and you also build yourself up as a true musician, as opposed to just playing an instrument you know, awesome, awesome, great, great.
Stacey Puryear :Yeah, i want to thank you for being on Spit 2 Da Beat podcast and sharing your life story and your career and your continuous musician lifestyle of playing music all over the United States and out the country. Thank you again, brother Jimmy.
James Kinard :I call you.
Stacey Puryear :Jimmy, I know it's James, but I've been calling Jimmy all your life since I've been knowing you. So, thank you. Hold on for a second As we get ready to close that. Hold on for me, Jim, All right. Okay, I'll put you. All right, man. Go close out. Well again, thank you joining Spit 2 Da Beat Podcast. I'm your host, Stacey AKA Beat unstoppable Perrier, And we'll hear this new episode every Thursday at 8am. Please tune in. You can catch it at www. spit2dabeat. com. Also, if you'd like to be a guest on my show, email me at myguest@ spit2dabeat. com or give me a call at 901-341-6777. And that's a wrap.
