Hey, this is Paul Martin. And Ray the Roadie. For the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

How's things today, Ray? Things are well. How's things by you? Things are looking up. Looking good.

Looking good. Yeah, this whole, I think there's light at the end of the tunnel. I really do.

I think so. There's shows starting to pop up. Yes.

I've had both my vaccination shots as you have as well, right? I have. I have. I had to take a little trip though to get mine.

I had to go all the way to Streeter. Well, I love Streeter this time of year. It's a nice town.

I'd never been through there before, but yeah, when I was looking for my shot, that was the closest place I could find. Well, at least you got it done and we encourage all of you to go get a shot. Most definitely.

The sooner we can all get out there and hear some rock and roll and play some music, the better. That's right. And I don't have like a third arm growing out of my head or anything like that.

All body parts are normal. Have you lost any hair? Nope. Have not lost any hair.

I think there's more. More has been added. I think I've lost some hair, but yeah, but that's okay.

Did you check your comb? I was losing it anyway. Yeah. My comb is my towel.

Oh, that's true. It would be. Yeah.

That's right. But not to get off the subject or anything, but so who are we talking with today? Today we're talking to a very good friend of yours by the name of Rick Lindy. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Rick Lindy.

I've had the opportunity to work with Rick quite a few times. He's got a great voice, a great, just a powerful, powerful, powerful voice. And he can sing all night long, I tell you.

And that's the song all night long, but he can sing all night long. That's right. But, but, and he probably could sing all night long too, the song, but, but that was, but that was, who was that by, all night long.

The guy on American Idol. Oh, I don't. Oh yeah.

Lionel Ritchie. Lionel Ritchie. Right.

Lionel Ritchie. That guy. Who's from Joliet, by the way.

Is he really? A lot of people don't know that, but Lionel Ritchie's originally from Joliet, Illinois. Let's get him on the show. We should get him on the show.

He would, he would fall under the category of rock and roll Chicago. Right. Yeah.

You know, if you put like Dwayne Johnson and Billy Corgan together, I bet you they'd be a good, like rock and roll band. Rockabilly band. Okay.

Yeah. Possibly. Well, we're talking with Rick Lindy today, who is, who does a lot of rockabilly.

He does everything from the Beatles to Elvis to, to Johnny Cash and Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison without a wig. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Without a wig. Right.

And, and he does a lot of 50s, 60s, 70s music. Right. And so we talked with Rick Lindy, a powerful, powerful voice in the music business, and he's been around for quite a while and he's got some history.

Let's, let's find out about it right now. And away we go. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the show. Today we're talking with one of the most dynamic voices that I've had the opportunity to work with. And it's been said that his voice is as big as Texas and we're talking about Mr. Rick Lindy.

How are you today, Rick? Hey, Rick. Great guys. How you doing? Good.

Good. How's it going? Good. Good.

So, so tell us, tell us how, how, how, how you got started in the business, how you're a young Rick Lindy, you got the desire to even, even take the stage and, and play. Well, I was always encouraged by family to take up a musical instrument. We were always encouraged to kind of perform and started with, my dad was a musician and a singer and played sax and clarinet and organ.

And my parents always encouraged all of us kids, I have three sisters, to take up musical instruments. So I, I started playing piano and then it was at age eight and then 11, I started playing guitar, was always interested in music. My dad came home with an album, Gunfighter Bill, did Trail Songs by Marty Robbins, started getting into like 50s, 60s music at a young age, Elvis, The Beatles and that type of thing.

So those were always big influences in the kind of music that I started doing in high school, got interested in musical theater. Everyone always said, Oh, wow, you got a great voice. So I started, you know, singing with my guitar a little bit and friends would say, Hey, you got to get out there and do it.

So after high school, I started a band and became a bouncer over at Nashville North in Vincentville where they had live music all the time and they had talent night on Thursday nights. I started doing that at age 18 along with being a bouncer at the place. At 18 you were a bouncer? I was, yeah.

So that's kind of how I started doing music at a young age and then I went to art school. I'm an artist too, painting and drawing type of artist. My parents were both artists and my grandparents.

So I've had art in the family a long time and when I graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1990, I was going to join Desert Storm and join the Marine Corps and be in the military at first. My mom didn't really want me to be, being her only son and my dad had passed away when I was 12. She gave me this ad for the Serendipity Singers.

I became one of the Serendipity Singers and I became in a traveling show band that we had our own bus and there were three girls and two other guys in the group and we would travel all around the US, Canada, and Mexico doing music. So that was the first professional unit that I did. It was more like a family show tunes.

Were you one of the youngest members of that group? I was. The person that bought the group, his name was John Ross, and John Ross was, along with a couple of the original members, probably the oldest member of the band that I was in, and he and his parents purchased the band and kind of bought the name and went around. I was the youngest member of the band, there were no original members because the band originated in 1963 and this was of course 1990 so it was long past that any of the original members were in.

But it was a great experience, we got to go all over the place, we did lots of concerts playing with various artists like Robert Goulet, Florence Henderson, Pat Boone, people like that, Chubby Jacker. It was really cool, you know, it was a good way to get into the music business. And you traveled around in a bus, huh? We did, we had our own 40-foot Greyhound, we all had to take turns driving the bus so we had to get CDL license, so I had to actually study and take the driver's test, mine in Galena, Illinois.

If you know how tight the streets are there, the guy told me, he says, oh, if you could drive in this town, you could drive anywhere, kid. So, did you play guitar or did you have a band behind you or did you just sing or what was the story there? I played rhythm guitar always and acoustic guitar most of the time. And that particular band, we had a banjo, we had other acoustic guitars, that was kind of the introduction to how bands do the stems with, you know, tracks and sequenced bass and drums.

That band had that type of thing, so everything was on a click track, it was the early days of that, you know. Oh, that's pretty interesting. So how would you, would you just hear it back through a monitor? Because obviously you didn't have in-ears or anything at that time.

Right, I don't even use in-ears now, I'm pretty old school. A lot of people tell me I should, because sometimes I can't hear the monitors that well. But yeah, after I kind of got burnt out playing show tunes, like I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy and kind of square stuff, you know, our bus had the Chicago Bears on the back, because it was once a tour bus for the Chicago Bears that they bought it.

So me and the guys, you know, we'd be lifting weights, you know, and at that time I was pretty built up. So, you know, girls would go by, wow, are you one of the Chicago Bears or one of the Serendipity? It wasn't exactly, you know, the coolest way to get girls back then, but they seemed to still like me anyway, so whether I was a Chicago Bear or a Serendipity singer, so that was cool. But I got a little burnt out with that as I started, I was always interested in rockabilly music.

So I started my own rockabilly band whenever we were home on breaks, and then I got kind of tired of touring for like two and a half, three years. So I started my own group called, it was first called Rick Lindy and the Lost Wages, what's the name of the band? And then we became Rick Lindy and the Cyclones. We would play at places like Bub City and, you know, various Chicago places, the US Beer Company and places like that.

I'm sure you guys have probably played at those joints too, right? Yeah, I know Bub City and some of the places, sure. So you know, we started getting kind of well known. So we were playing down at Navy Pier and all that type of thing.

And shortly after that, I was at a performance, or it was actually a performance of a group called Big Guitars from Memphis, if you remember them, with Jon Ivin, and he was from Off-Broadway, you know, the Atlantic Records group. Right, I remember Big Guitars from Memphis. I remember actually doing a gig with you guys.

It was New Year's Eve at the Hyatt. Okay, yeah. And you guys were playing in one room and I was playing in another room with the Dancing Noodles.

Yeah, and I think maybe you were at Navy Pier when we played that Dennis Brodman party too, weren't you? Possibly. It's hard to remember them all. Yeah.

Well, how I got in that band was a couple named John and Marilyn Fortney go see Big Guitars. They also went to go see Rick Landy and the Wild Ones. They had Big Guitars from Memphis play their anniversary party, which was kind of a going away party too, because sadly, Marilyn was diagnosed with colon cancer.

They had the party about six, seven months before the actual anniversary because she wasn't going to be around. So it was a very sad, somber kind of, but still sentimental event. And we were invited as a couple to go see that and be part of the party and Big Guitars were playing.

It's just so happened that the drummer used to be in Rick Landy and the Cyclones. He told John Ivan, hey, why don't you get him up and sing a couple tunes? As soon as I went up and sang, the lead singer of the band at the time left the party, walked out the door and I had to finish the night out. So then John gave me his business card at the end of the night, it was actually an oversized big business card.

And he said, hey, give me a call, let's do some gigs together. And I said, what, my band opening for years? He says, no, I want you in my band. He goes, as you see, no, it's a little unreliable with this other guy.

And so I called him up and the next job that I did was a European tour to Denmark and Norway. This was in 1996. We were on national TV in Denmark, along with Hermits Hermits and the Georgia Satellites.

So it was pretty cool. I was there for eight weeks, first time. And then for about five years with Big Guitars, I was going to Europe about four times a year to various countries.

It was really interesting. Wow. So it was a guy, it was a guy embarrassed because you sang so well or what, that he walked out the door? Maybe.

I mean, I really don't know. I mean, he, of course, he was popular in his own right. And when I joined the band, you know, people were used to the other guy and some people embraced me while others were like, you know, you know, how that kind of thing goes, you know? Sure.

I knew, I knew John Ivan too, from even his earlier days playing with a band called Rocky. Yeah, sure. I remember that.

I was probably too young to actually see those shows because I was born in 67. But right. Yeah.

I'm talking early 70s or so. Yeah. I've heard of it though.

Of course. 70s. Yes.

Yeah. Actually, during the course of Big Guitars, things were starting to get where I kind of had that feeling where I'm going to have to branch off and do something different. So some other musicians and I started what now is Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones.

We became Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones in 1999 and I left Big Guitars in 2000. And then I took Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones to Norway and Denmark and Sweden in the early 2000s. And we got on a record label called Amigo Records.

We had two original Rockabilly CDs through an agent named Johnny Minga, who sadly passed away of lung cancer probably about 10 years ago. And Steiner Colander, who is the Red Planet agency out there. And a guy named Tor Arnie Petzold, who is owner of Amigo Flipside Records, got us on that label.

So they started going out to Europe with them. And so Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones kind of started out with European tours. So were you doing original music then or did you just do covers or what? We did original music and we did some covers, mostly obscure Rockabilly covers.

In about 2004, I decided I'm going to introduce more 50s and 60s to our repertoire. And honestly, it kicked the doors down for a lot more opportunities. We started being booked all over the place, a lot of festivals.

And up until the pandemic, I was doing about 325 gigs a year. Wow. And I still did 250 in the pandemic, believe it or not.

Really? Wow. Wow. Well, I noticed during the pandemic, some places that were still having musicians or music was having either solo guitar, just acoustic guitar players, or maybe a duo where full bands weren't happening.

Is that how you got to play so much? We started doing duo stuff. I started doing these, I thought of how FDR did the Fireside Chat and I was doing Fireside Serenade. So we would put up a camera and Bart Alonzo, one of the guys that I work with in the band, and I started performing kind of through Facebook, doing that, people would tip us through PayPal or whatever.

It was a really cool way to start playing again. And that was probably in latter March, April of 2020. And then just I started getting phone calls from different places.

Hey, do you want to come out as a full band outside? Doing parking lot shows at some of these places. I even thought about going to the local one and only drive-in that was here and thought, hey, let's go on the stage by the screen and kind of do drive-in shows and see how that would go. But that never transpired.

So we started doing like a lot of outdoor stuff, full band and duo. Thankfully, I was getting duo shows. You had to be creative during the pandemic, didn't you? Especially since I have four kids to support and this is all I do.

So yeah. And it's funny, even on Facebook, some people that were highly against me doing live performances would get on my case and write me nasty messages. How dare you perform and endanger these people? And I said, well, not holding a gun to their head, they can or can't go to the show.

It's up to them. And I have to continue to make a living. So I understand there's a story behind how you picked the name, The Wild Ones.

Yeah, that's right. It's actually a 1953 film with Marlon Brando, The Wild One, being that we were mainly a rockabilly thing and kind of the motorcycle leather thing. And of course, it was one of Elvis Presley's favorite films that he used to go see over and over again and recite the lines.

So we thought it would be fitting. This sad part of it is, some of the agents will go, we're having a hard time booking with the name The Wild Ones. They think you're a heavy metal band at some of these places.

So we became Rick Lindy and the Jukebox Legends also. For those agents that are understanding, it was a 50s and 60s style band. Yeah.

Yeah. So who's part of the band now? Right now? Well, we had a few members that dropped out in the pandemic. They were over 60s, so some of them weren't playing.

We had, for 22 years, I was working with Todd Menke on lead guitar. Great Nash since 2007. Sometimes Bart Alonzo on lead guitar.

A gentleman by the name of Sal Salvato, who was a great friend of mine and sadly passed away last October, two days after we had just done a performance together. He was working for me for eight years. He had a heart attack, passed away, sadly.

And of course we miss him. But the show had to go on as far as lead guitars go. During the pandemic, I started doing some recordings and reached out to James Lynch of American English and he wasn't doing that many gigs.

So he started working with me. We make a great team. He's part of the band now too.

And we also have on bass, Jim Nelson, who was in Mickey and the Memories, remember that? Sure, sure. He was in Mickey and the Memories. He was also played with Kim Thomas.

The lady singer that they were doing a lot of blue chip days with. Right, right. She was doing a lot of blue chip days with her, right? From Indiana.

Yes. And then I got Andy Trippi on drums and also our main drummer now, because Andy wants to just do mainly outdoor stuff now. You have Tracy Shepard on drums and then sometimes we use Gordon Patriarca on bass too, if you know him.

Sure, yeah. Yeah, I know all those guys. Yes.

Yeah. So, you know, all these guys are part of the band. I play so many gigs, I kind of have to have, you know, many players to do it.

Who was the blind guy that you had playing guitar? Oh, that was Bruce McDonald. And as far as I know, he's still alive. I haven't talked to him for a couple of years.

He was great. I mean, it was amazing to watch him play. He's really good.

I started working with Bruce back in 1995, along with Radar Hearst, if you remember him, on steel guitar. Okay. He's more in the country.

Bruce was something else. I mean, just very interesting the way he played and the way he laid the guitar on his lap and played and just felt the strings and felt the music. It was just very cool.

That's true. Bruce has a great ear for music because, you know, obviously he can't see, so his other sense is strengthened by his other handicap, but he's sure made up for it. He can play.

What's weird is he plays on his lap and the guitar kind of upside down and strums toward himself. Right. Kind of that Jeff Healy style guitar play.

Right. That's what I was going to say. Yeah.

Jeff Healy. Yeah. Let's take a pause for a word from GHS Strings.

Hey, Ray. Ray, what are you doing? I'm getting my blue rest on. I'm playing my banjo, except there seems to be something wrong with the strings.

Well, you know, Ray, GHS makes strings for all types of instruments. Electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and even banjo. Then I'm getting new GHS Strings and my banjo will sound better.

I don't think it's the strings, Ray. GHS are easy to play with rich, full balance tone available in many different gauges. Great for all musical styles.

So if you play. Play with the best. Play GHS Strings.

Tell me a little bit about you do a radio show or you did a radio show or something. I've actually haven't really done a radio show, but I've been on Scott McKay's radio show on 95.9 River a lot. He's been a great friend of mine and he does some voiceover work for me for some of the commercials I do for my self-made CDs that I've been doing.

I started doing a lot more CDs since the pandemic. I built my own studio. I used my walk-in closet as a sound booth, seemed to be the best place.

And I used to do some recordings with a Chevrolet recording in Chicago. We were doing a lot of albums together. And I started doing, I decided I was going to do a Rick Lindy Salutes the Beatles album.

And I reached out to James Paul Lynch from American English and he started doing some tracks with me on that, trading tracks back and forth through email. And then he became one of the guitarists in the band after I started doing some gigs with us. And then I did a Johnny Cash salute.

I did an Elvis salute. I did a Buddy Holly one that turned out really well. A couple of Christmas ones.

I do a Christmas one every year. I did an American Graffiti music one. Most recently, a Hank Williams Senior and a Marty Robbins salute.

So I have all these different CDs I've done in the music mall. She said goodbye, well Lord I thought I would cry, she'll do me, she'll do you, she's got the kind of love you need, Lord I love you. I got a hundred and sixty acres in the valley, got a hundred and sixty acres of the best, got an old soul there that couldn't breathe sweat, and a funk where life can lay me down in the rest of their tongues to greet the sun.

I've forgotten what a hero we're in need. Head for home when day is done. Where'd my pocket money go? Full circle back to Marty Robbins, huh? Yeah, exactly.

My first record. Right. Right.

I think every family had that record. I know it was a great record. We had a background with Marty with his, kind of drawn with a black suit on.

Yeah. It's a great album. But tell me about some of your original music.

Your first CD was Wild Side of Town, is that correct? That's right. I did some originals before that. Actually, back in 1990 while I was in the Serendipity Singers, a good friend of mine, Dave Schrader, who has always heard my music.

I've known him since I was five years old, set me up to record in Nashville on a label called K-Ark Records through a guy named John Capps. And we traveled to Nashville together, us buddies, to play with these studio musicians. And it just so happened when I was at the session, I was sitting on the sofa showing the guys my original two songs, Workin' Man Blues and Tantalize My Heart.

The guy next to me was wearing a red satin jacket, looked over at his hand and had a horseshoe ring with diamonds. It turned out to be DJ Fontana, who was the drummer on my session, Elvis is Strong. So it was really cool to work with him.

And I was amazed with the studio musicians. They just wrote down a bunch of numbers and boom and boom, we recorded it with no flaws. I didn't like to do tapes.

Wow. And then you did the American Dream, right? Yeah. Wild Side of Town came out in 2001 with a lot of original tunes that I wrote.

That album was written for when Johnny Minga and Steiner Callender from Norway called me and said, you know, hey, we'd like to have your band over since you've been over here with Biggie Towers. I'm interested in hearing Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones. It was just called the Wild Ones at that time.

I added Rick Lindy later when I thought it would be a good way to get more people to come out. So we went out there and on their Independence Day, May 17th, is like our July 4th, and I go in Norway. We released Wild Side of Town with Ray Caines on lead guitar, who was a friend of mine from grade school.

Really great guitarist. Mike Hossman on drums and Malcolm Didier on bass. And we did Wild Side of Town and the next album was American Dream.

And we went over there the next year, which was 2002. And that was right after all that stuff with September 11, 2001 that happened. We noticed kind of a little bit of a difference the way people were in Europe right after that.

It was a little weird with the whole political thing and war and all that stuff that happened. Of course, musicians, we have nothing to do with that. We're just doing our thing and trying to make a living at it.

But I'll tell you an interesting story that you might think is funny. When we went over there to promote American Dream, we got set up with this car from a company called Rent-A-Wreck. And it was an old Volvo station wagon.

We're driving around the mountains of Norway and Sweden and all these places, not really knowing where they are. There's no map quest. We're trying to look at a map.

We're going around the bend in a mountain and a semi is coming at us on the same lane. We got to try to pull over and bite our fingernails. But this car broke down in a parking lot and all this water is all over.

We're supposed to go to this huge concert that was like a sold-out show. And we're like, what the hell are we going to do? We had a cell phone. We called up our agent.

Meanwhile, this guy pulls up next to us at the gas pump and we hear our album, American Dream, blasting out of the window. And we're like, hey. And they're like, hey, I'm listening to you guys.

Yeah. Hey, you got this big, nice truck with a panel truck. What are you doing tonight? He goes, not much.

You want to drive us to our show? Our car just broke down. It was like a godsend. This guy came and took us to our concert.

So we got to go do it. And it's funny. A buddy of mine that passed away four years ago, his name was Henry Pirelli, one of my best friends from art school, used to say, you're like Indiana Jones.

Your boat could blow up and a piece of driftwood is coming along. And I kind of really feel that. I've always had a real spiritual connection with God and kind of always hope and pray that he's watching over me and my family and the band.

That's cool. That's very cool. One of the things we also are doing, besides doing our regular shows this year, which are going to be a lot of different festivals and stuff.

Some of them are rescheduled from last year. That's the problem. It's hard to get anything new this year because all the bands that were canceled in 2020 are being rehired again.

Thankfully, we got rehired at most of the events. And, you know, we're just doing mainly Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, shows like that. But we are doing a show this fall with backing up Robert Gordon at the Brower House in Lombard.

If you remember Robert Gordon, a rockabilly revivalist vocalist that was on RCA. And he was just before the Stray Cats came and kicked the doors down for rockabilly to become popular again. We're going to be doing a show with him September 17th at Brower House in Lombard.

Now, speaking of doing shows with people, you've had the opportunity to open up for Johnny Cash. Is that right? That's true. Yes.

When I was interned at Beach Singers in Washington, D.C., I had decided on my day off I was going to see the Smithsonian Institute and Ford's Theater and all that. And while I was seeing Ford's Theater, I was walking past a music store and in front of the music store, it had a big bus that said Johnny Cash. I'm like, music store, Johnny Cash, he's got to be in there.

Right. I had my Sun Records t-shirt on and I go in there and Johnny Cash is buying a guitar with a salesman. And I went up to him and said, excuse me, I'm a big fan.

He took my hand and he was very polite, kind. Salesman kind of said, you know, go away, kid, you bother me kind of thing. But a few years later, I did get the opportunity to open up for him.

And at the Green Room, we decided I was going to try to ask if I could meet him. And they let me back there. And when I walked in the door, he says, you've come a long way since Washington, D.C. He remembered me.

Wow. Very cool. So it was cool.

So he actually remembered that was about six years later. What band was that with that you opened up for him? It was Big Guitars. Oh, Big Guitars.

OK. And they also did one with in the NBC show in England, too, with Johnny Cash. Well, they're building the gallows outside my cell.

I've got 25 minutes to go. And the whole town's waiting just to hear me yell. I got 24 minutes to go.

Well, they gave me some beans for my last meal. I got 23 minutes to go. I didn't realize the Big Guitars did that much traveling.

Oh, yeah. Actually, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Sweden, a lot of stuff in Nashville at the time. Texas over at the Bloodshot Barbecue for South by Southwest, stuff like that.

Or even that the Wild Ones did as much traveling as you did. I know it's, you know, we go anywhere, anytime, whatever. If the money is there and we have it on our schedule and we can arrange it, we'll do it.

Now that I have kids, it's a little harder to get away. But we did have a European tour scheduled for the fall of 2020. We were supposed to go to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland.

And, of course, that all got screwed over by the pandemic. But that was also a bonding tour for our fans. We could offer them all being with Country Bear Fair hotels, meals a day, and a chartered bus tour.

They could go along with us to all those destinations. And it was more of a vacation with fans. And for $3,000 a person, they could get all that for an 11-day tour.

And I would do a few gigs on the way. That's what that was. But it didn't happen.

Maybe it will later. But I think the travel companies got to get back on their feet again after so much BS from last year. Yeah, I mean, the pandemic has just crippled so many businesses that you don't even realize.

Obviously, the travel industry, but the rock and roll business, and music business, and theater, and everything else. And then the behind-the-scenes people, the road crews, the sound men that have lost their jobs or lost their income. That's true.

So tell me about Hayden Thompson. Well, Hayden Thompson, a rockabilly singer and guitarist actually from Booneville, Mississippi. He was on Sun Records.

And he had a couple hits, Love My Baby, and stuff like that. I was reading a book around 1992 called Good Rockin' Tonight. And I happened to see the chapter on Hayden Thompson.

Said he was from Highland Park, Illinois. So I went ahead and looked him up in the phone book when there were phone books. And I saw H. Thompson in Highland Park.

So I thought, I'm going to give it a call. So I gave the number a call. This guy goes, hello, with the southern accent.

I said, are you Hayden Thompson from Sun Records? Oh, yes, I am. So we started talking. And it just so happened.

He was performing that night at the Cubby Bear in Chicago. Along with a group called the Moondogs. You remember Jimmy Sutton? On bass, he was also in the Mighty Blue Kings.

And now playing with that J.D. Pearson. Jimmy and I went to the American Academy of Art together. So I knew him.

We used to do princess parties over at the American Academy of Art. And jam on our lunch hours together. And he was instrumental with that whole big C jamboree at barters.

And I was part of that whole deal. When it started with batteries not included. And Lincoln Park.

And then later at Deja Vu. So anyway, Hayden said, why don't you come out to the show tonight? So I did. And I started talking to the Moondogs manager, Robert Crowe.

And Robert said, hey, we're doing this gig at the Beat Kitchen. With Ronnie Dawson and Hayden Thompson. Would your group be interested in backing up Hayden Thompson? So I said, sure.

So we ended up doing the show with Hayden. It was October 2nd of 1992. At the Beat Kitchen.

With Ronnie Dawson and the Moondogs. And it was with Rick Lindy and the Cyclones. And I became friends with Hayden.

I'm still buddies with him. I asked him to be on a duet with me on Love My Baby. On the Wild Side of Town album.

Came out to the studio and recorded it. And he's always joking around with me. Where's my record proceeds from doing that spot with you, Lindy? Where is that? Back in the 60s, he had an album with a hit called 1688.

So I sent him a check for $16.88. Because it's about a guy that doesn't have $16.88 for a train fare to go see his lover. Because he has no money. So just as a smart ass, I sent him that.

I see. So where can people find more about Rick Lindy? Your Facebook page? The Wild Ones? Website? Website is www.thewildonesband.net You can also Google Rick Lindy. It will come up as one of the first things.

And then of course Facebook. Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones Band. I also have my own personal Facebook, Rick Lindy.

L-I-N-D-Y, Rick Lindy. I always encourage people to friend me. I'm starting to become almost, at the end, I guess you can only have 5,000 friends.

So I'm like 400 away from not having them. So I'm going to have to go through them and see some of the fake profiles that are probably on there and get rid of them. Right, you might have a couple duplicates too, right? Yeah, go ahead.

At the start, you mentioned that you were really interested in the art, the painting. Are you still doing any of that? Yes and no. I mean, I've always had the drive to draw and paint.

But I started getting into doing real high-definition quality monster models lately. So I've been doing like Frankenstein, The Mummy, Forrest Garland stuff. It's kind of a fun thing.

I can do my art and music together by doing that. So that's one of the artistic things I've been doing. But I would like to get back into painting and drawing.

It just seems like with doing 200-300 shows a year and all the business part of it, organizing everything, and then having a family too. I have a 6-year-old daughter and I'm still 53 years old. Believe me, when I was 47, when she was born, it was a big eye-opener of how to be a parent.

I have three kids by marriage too. So I've already kind of got my feet wet with being a dad to them for a year before that. I see.

Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you, Rick. Yes, it has. Likewise.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the opportunity, Ray and Paul, for being on here. Ray, I don't think we've met before.

No, we haven't. Are you sure? We have or haven't? No, we have not. Okay.

And then Paul, of course, I've seen many times. I was always happy to see when he was the sound guy because then I knew I would get the monitors. And it seems like all the guys are named Paul over there.

And then you were one of the guys that was happy to sell CDs for us too, which we appreciate. Oh, sure. Thank you.

Sure. Oh, yeah. Well, I've played music all my life too.

And so I know what it's like to do a little promo and push your records. And you have to do that in order to get anywhere. That's for sure.

And actually, I'm going to be doing a whole chunk on July 24th in Wittenberg, Wisconsin. So I'm doing a show there. It's actually a Roy Orbison Salute.

We're also doing a Roy Orbison Salute show. And it doesn't mean I'm putting a wig on or anything. I'm just myself.

I might put a pair of shades on. But we just do the music of. We're doing July 22nd at Rockin' Wheels in Edison, which is a huge concert in the park and car show.

And a few years ago, we did a back-to-back show with Sha Na Na there. Oh, Blue Angel, don't you cry Just because he said goodbye Oh, oh, don't cry No, Blue Angel, have no fear I'll brush away each lonely teardrop I had another question I wanted to ask you too about your voice and singing two or three hundred shows a year. Have you ever had problems with your voice? I did in 2019 when I was doing May, June, July, August, and September 30 shows a month.

Yeah, I mean, that's crazy. I mean, it's just a thought of that. But I suppose it's like conditioning if you keep it conditioned, right? Yeah, I mean, usually I'd have a Monday off or something.

But we were doing like downtown shows or doubleheaders on the weekends. Right. But I sing from the diaphragm.

However, you know, being the voice being human, sometimes, yeah, there's been times that I remember at Elmwood Park Fest, I cracked a little bit and I had to play the Drake Hotel that night because we were playing there once a month. And when I got to the Drake Hotel, I don't know how I got through the gig because I kept drinking this peppermint schnapps that was 100 proof that night. And the next day I go, how did I sing, guys? Oh, you were great.

I remember it. It was probably the only intoxicated show I played. Yeah.

Voice never sounded better. What did you do? I know, right? But I got through it. And I'll be honest, the pandemic, in a way, was a blessing to have a couple months off of voice.

Yeah. I'm around it. Yeah, around that time, it was weird.

I was actually putting a toilet in and my left hand felt like it wasn't working right. And it turned out a few months before that, I fell on my shoulder and a pinched nerve had somehow paralyzed my left hand a little bit. So I couldn't even play guitar and play bar chords.

When I started doing the fireside serenades, somehow it got back into shape again. Several prayers later, asking God, please work. It's kind of funny when you have to do something, you find the energy and you find the wherewithal within you to be able to do it.

That's absolutely true. I mean, plus I'm setting the PA up at like 90% of these shows. And usually at the end of the show, the guys are cool to help.

But beginning of the show, usually I'm doing it all myself. Sure, sure. You know, guys that don't roll in their amp at half hour before the show, it's already up.

But they're all good guys. They'll help you if I ask. Yeah.

Well, thanks so much, Rick, for joining us and continued success with everything that you're doing and your music. And God bless you. Very good.

All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Rick.

Thanks, Rick. Have a good day. Appreciate the interview.

Bye-bye. Well, all I want is a love that's hot. Can't be sold and it can't be bought.

Love don't try to be something it's not. Well, all I want is a love that's real. None won't rob and none won't steal.

So that was Rick Lindy of Rick Lindy and the Wild Ones. Some interesting stuff there, wouldn't you say, Ray? Most definitely. Quite worldly traveled.

Some great stories there, too, about the car breaking down. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, can you imagine that? You're sitting on the side of the road, and here comes another vehicle, and he's playing your music. That's pretty funny. It's like the Oneaters.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah, that was a godsend, I think.

Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. Yeah, but he does belt it out, man.

He does have a great voice. Really great voice. Yes, he does.

He can really sing his heart out, and he's been doing it for quite some time. And we appreciate him coming on our show and talking about it and having a little fun. Yeah, well, him doing 300-plus shows a year, if it wasn't for this pandemic, we probably couldn't even book him.

Right, right. I mean, that's almost crazy to think of. Of course, I'm a little older than him, but I imagine doing one show a day.

I mean, I do two shows in two days, and I'm worn out for a week and a half. How about it? How about it? You're right. But I guess that's just part of getting old, huh? Yeah, you did do two shows in one day.

Well, not too long ago. Yes, yes, I did. Yeah, I know you were pretty worn out.

I felt it the next couple days, yes. That's right, you did. That's right, you did.

So definitely make sure you go and check Rick and his band out this year. They'll be playing all over the place. Check their website, their Facebook page.

And while you're out there, check out the Rock & Roll Museum, Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 in beautiful Joliet, Illinois, and sign up for a charter membership. I was there a couple days ago, about a week ago, and they're getting ready to hopefully open soon. They've still got some work to do in there, but you can go and check out their page, their website, and also get yourself some GHS strings while you're at it.

Yeah, I'm sure there's a music shop near the museum down there. Yeah, probably. All right, well, thanks for listening, everybody.

We'll see you next week with another exciting episode of the Rock & Roll Chicago Podcast. Maybe we'll even have Dwayne The Rock and Billy Corgan for a little Rockabilly thing. Okay, sure.

I'll see if I can set that up. Okay, you do that. I'll do that.

See you next week. Yeah. Bye.

The Rock & Roll Chicago Podcast does not own the rights to any of the music that's played on this podcast. The music is used to promote the band or musicians that are interviewed. The Rock & Roll Chicago Podcast is made possible by The Rock & Roll Chicago Podcasting Company