Troubled Men Podcast

The powerhouse guitarist from the Wild Magnolias and Papa Grows Funk spent 20 years as a star of the Japanese blues and soul music world before finding a new home in New Orleans. A longtime devotee of Mardi Gras Indian music and the Meters, he quickly found his way into the very bands he’d studied from afar. After nearly three decades at the apex of the funk scene in his adopted city, June tips into an old haunt to rendezvous with the Troubled Men. They decide to do it in English, as Manny and René’s Japanese is atrocious. Topics include gunplay, a murder bet, Carlo Fest, donuts, the 4th of July, Japan, Susan Cowsill, Abe Simpson, fireworks, Tic Tacs, Theryl “the Houseman” DeClouet, that hometown smell, an athlete, American TV and radio, the Ventures, electric guitars, fake hippies, the West Road Blues Band, opening for B.B. King, funk bands, a record deal, Korean cultural dominance, Pink Lady, Chickenshack, Band of Pleasure, David T. Walker, James Gadson, the Sunset Strip, the