The music produced by Blair Crimmins & The Hookers is thoroughly eclectic, as well as a hell of a lot of fun to dance to. Thankfully, he was kind enough to meet with eBurban at Cabbagetown’s Estoria bar to discuss his latest album, his musical inspirations and aspirations, his deep Atlanta roots, his love for jazz and Judy Garland, as well as how jamming with Carlos Santana at the age of 12 inspired his musical career.
Lauren Welch: How many instruments do you play?
Blair Crimmins: On the album Meet The Hookers I play guitar, the piano, the four-string banjo, ukelele, accordian…should we start counting?
LW: Yes.
BC: (Counts on fingers) Piano, guitar, banjo, ukelele, accordian, um, I play vibraphone on that and, the organ, that’s just more keys.
LW: So seven – we have seven.
BC: Whenever I get in a situation where I feel like I need to bring in a new instrument, I’d just as soon play it myself if possible. The only thing that I can’t really do that with is drums and horns. I’ve spent many a night sitting on my front porch and people are leaving the restaurants when I’m playing really terrible trumpet on the front porch (laughs).
LW: That’s so cool. I love Cabbagetown.
BC: Yeah, that’s a huge part of my inspiration living here.
LW: So where are you from then? Are you from here?
BC: I’m from Atlanta, yeah. I’ve been in Georgia my whole life.
LW: Where in Atlanta are you from?
BC: I’m originally from Decatur but I moved around a lot. My grandmother lived in the Lakewood area until the day she died in a house that my grandfather built with his bare hands out there.
LW: How long has your family been here?
BC: Well my mom and my mom’s mom are from here, and my grandmother’s mother is from here and pretty far back. We’re a long lineage of Atlantans. My family lived here when you could still have pigs and stuff in your front yard.
LW: Wow. Were they like ‘Gone With The Wind’/Civil War era?
BC: I don’t think we’ve traced them back to the Civil War but that’s possible. I think at some point we might have come down from the hills. I’ve got a picture of my great-great grandfather in downtown Atlanta on a huge cart of watermelons, but you couldn’t even tell it’s downtown, it’s just dirt roads, but it’s where Underground is now.
LW: Is it framed?
BC: Yeah. It’s an incredible picture. He’s got this incredible look of pride on his face while he’s showcasing his harvest of watermelons…And it’s in front of the First National Bank, which has a hole in the window. I don’t know how you could have a bank with a hole in the window (laughs). And two old guys with beards smokin’ pipes next to him.
LW: You never lived anywhere else?
BC: Yeah, I lived in Boston for a couple of years going to school up there and came back, and realized I needed to be in the South.
LW: You’re Southern.
BC: I’m Southern, yeah. Totally Southern through and through. I love traveling, love visiting, but I’ll always come back to somewhere in the South. Maybe not always Atlanta, but somewhere.
- What are your influences? How would you describe your music?
- How would you describe your sound then? Like Dixieland?
- How old were you when you started playing and what inspired you?
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