cadillac Funk Q+A

Tyler Davis 

10 interesting questions For ANDREW YURKOW  }}{{{}{}

 Lead Singer of Cadillac Funk.  Originally from Indianola, MS in the MS delta  

_Local Oxford band_

Plays Rooster's Blues House, The Blind Pig, clubs in Jackson, Memphis, Tupelo, Como, Holly Springs

T: Did you always want to play the guitar? 

Yurkow: "I remember my first guitar…  my neighbor Dave brings the guitar over to me and hands it to me one day… I didn't see him for another three months, until the baby was born and when I saw him again I said man I swear that guitar's given me nightmares.  He said it was just sitting in his attic when he gave it to me. But yea I still love it."

T: Who taught you to play?

Yurkow: "Growin' up where I did, it was the easiest way to study the 'delta' blues.  Then I just tried to play with any and everybody that would let me sit down and let me watch 'em play guitar.  I didn't want to study music in school you know? I wanted to study it in the world."  

T: Why sing the blues?

Yurkow: "My alcoholic stepfather gave me a birthday gift.  It was an eagles cd that actually had a Jimi Hendrix disc in the case, and a hot rocks, Greatest Hits of the Rolling Stones.  Changed my life, once I got ahold of that I started wondering where all these awesome songs by Hendrix and the Stones  were coming from and obviously it just led me back to right where I was in the delta in mississippi and just the blues in general. "

T: So, how many members in your band, I noticed it changes almost every show??

Yurkow: "Over the course of probably 40 to 50 musicians, I can't even count the number of all the drummers but it was just a big family of musicians and now they're all still working in town and whoever's free I use to play my shows because they all know the music now, so its a good system and usually we have enough people to do a show, however every shows 'gonna be unique because you never know who's gonna show up to play man."

T: Oxford has been your stomping ground for the last few years, are y'all wanting to branch your music out for other ears to hear?

Yurkow: "I love playing locally for people I know and see a lot.  When folks I know come to see us play, it makes us feel good and were really on fire when we get in this groove. But we do want to get our name out there and do some travelin'.  We are in the works of getting something worked out for a tour across the U.S., out west probably.  It would be three months on the road, one month at home, so that something we're really interested in taking on."

T: Any interest in recording some music to release at Fat Possum records(of Oxford) or a recording studio in Memphis, Tupelo?

Yurkow:  "We've done a few recording sessions to lay down originals.  The Burnside brothers invited us to their home in the hill country of Mississippi, in Holly Springs.  They were nice enough to let us record in their studio in their home in Holly Springs, a short drive from Oxford.  They even sat in on a few tracks with us."

T:  What's the evolution of the name 'Cadillac Funk'?

Yurkow:  "When we first started playing shows in '07, I had had a few side project gigs with friends that we called 'the cadillac johnson'.  As it grew into this project, and we started to play shows on a regular basis, we changed the name to the more appropriate, more appealing 'Cadillac Funk'."

(follow-up) T: Why funk?

Yurkow: "We play a blend of hill country blues and New Orleans style funk, as well as some covers that get the crowd going, and that's what it's really all about, the fans man."

T:  What's been your favorite part or highlight so far on this wild ride?

Yurkow:  "Playing the Hill Country Blues Festival with grammy winner Kenny Brown and sharing the stage with him and Duwayne and Cedric Burnside has really been the most special moment that I can remember.  You should make it out next year, it's a really eye opening experience to the hill country blues and the delta and all their musical history that flows out of their instruments like lightning."