**** Producer's Note: The following is a general transcript of LCC Connect's weekly radio program. Contents include but may not be limited to podcasts, program imaging, announcements, and PSAs. More detailed and accurate transcripts of the podcast episodes featured in this broadcast can be found at LCCconnect.com or by following the links provided in the show notes of this episode. ****

When we started LCC Connect in 2022, our aim was to create a podcast network that connects our college with the community and our community with the college. Since then, we've expanded to offer more than 30 podcasts, all of which are hosted by members of Lansing Community College or volunteers within our community. I'm Dalian, and on this episode of behind the Connection, I get to celebrate a very special milestone with a gentleman who is not only the host of an LCC Connect podcast, but but someone I have the pleasure of calling a good friend as well. One of our most popular shows, Time Signatures, hosted by Jim Irvin, is closing in on its 100th episode. It is the first show on LCC Connect to reach that milestone. Presented in conjunction with Lansing's own Capital Area Blues Society, Jim has grown the show from a local passion project into something with real reach. His podcast has been included in the University of Mississippi's Blues archive. And in 2024, Jim added video into the m. The way people connect with blues music Now, I should also confess that Jim and I go way back. In fact, I co hosted the very first episode of Time Signatures with him at Moriarty's Pub here in Lansing. Let's just say it was a little bit of a logistical nightmare, but it set the stage for what Time Signatures has become. And now it's time to go behind the scenes and find out what's happening behind the Connection. The last time you were on, I decided to ask you the earliest memory of music. The reason I did that is because that's generally a question you ask of all your guests to come up with something a little bit different. This time, I want to know what's the first blues song or artist that truly grabbed you and made you say, wow, that is awesome?

Well, you know, I was exposed to the blues by my mom many, many years ago, and one of the first musicians that she exposed me to was B.B. king. And I'm trying to think of the name of this song.

I mean, it wasn't something Standard Thrill is Gone, was it?

That is the one. Thank you. I had a little melt brain here for a second, but honest to God, man, it was a wonderful. It was a live rendition in us with a studio audience, and it was wonderful to hear that. And the hook was set, and it was really cool because as part of a Full Circle moment several years later, just not long before he passed, I was able to buy tickets for my mom to go see him up in Mount Pleasant. And what an honor, you know, and I'm really Bummed because she offered to, you know, would you like to go? And I said, well, I'll go next time. Well, BB Was gone shortly thereafter, so that was a missed opportunity for me.

Right, right. But at least you're able to celebrate who he is with, actually, this show in many ways. And you're a lot like me. You and I have talked about it before, how you love the blues, but you love a lot of different types of music, too.

Oh, sure.

When it specifically comes to the blues itself in a way of life or expression, what does it mean to you in that way, beyond just being a musical genre?

Blues is a genre for me. What it means to me is this is the music from which all other music sprouted. I mean, you've heard it said many, many times that the blues touches virtually every genre of music out there. Then you hear people, you know, talk about, you know, the blues got together and had a baby and they called it rock and roll.

Right.

It's the root, it's the base, it's the foundation for the music world. I'm one of those people, and you've heard me say it on my podcast, if you've listened at all, that I love music that makes me feel. And blues music, like no other genre makes me feel on a regular basis. And I absolutely love that deep, soul, stirring music.

So at the time that we're recording this, what number are we at as far as the number show? Do you know?

94, 95, something like that.

We are really closing in on it.

We're striking, man. We're ready.

Yeah. So looking back now, like, how would you describe the show that you're doing now compared to the very first episode that we recorded at Moriarty's Pub night and day? Yeah.

I did not envision time signatures being what it became. I figured it was going to be more of a local show with maybe regional reach and, you know, just have a little fun talking to people. The passion for what I do blossomed into this thing where I started going out and reaching for bigger names.

Right.

And one of the biggest names I put on my list was Joe Bonamassa.

Yeah.

And I can remember the Snickers and the titters, you know, going, yeah, I'm going to get Joe. And they're like, yeah, all right, good luck with that. You know, go get them, buddy. We got him.

Yeah.

Episode 45 was Joe Bonamassa. Five episodes before that was Walter Trout. And Walter not only talked about his liver transplant and the harrowing experience that he went through, he also talked about the three day intervention that Carlos Santana did with him to get him off of drugs and alcohol. That for me, triggered something. I went, I gotta dig deeper when I do my interviews and I get goosebumps thinking about it. I gotta dig deeper. I want to get those stories not for the sake of sensationalizing something, but because it shows you the humanity of the artist. And for me, that's been the hallmark of what I've done ever since show 40.

Yeah. And I would say that, you know, your tenacity is. And you've heard me call you that several times, you've got tenacity. And that's really what's helped you get some of those names already. And I'm sure you've got some bigger names or I don't even want to call them bigger because everybody's got their contribution, everybody plays a part.

Sure.

But I know you've got others on the list that you still want to cross off. So up to this point, you know, like everybody that you've interviewed, give me one artist or one episode that you feel encapsulates kind of the spirit of what time Signatures is about. Was it one of the ones you already mentioned?

No, it actually wasn't. It's the one that is going to be my season ender, my. My finale for season five. It's Curtis Salgado. And I'll tell you why. Because a lot of people don't know that Curtis Salgado lived out in Oregon back when Animal House was being filmed. They filmed it in Eugene, Oregon.

Okay.

That's where he lives.

Yeah.

So here comes John Belushi. John Belushi gets introduced to Curtis Salgado one night while he's performing. And it, it blossomed into this friendship. Belushi invited him to come over to the house that they rented for him. You know, while he was there with his. His wife. They made dinner for him. He says, oh, by the way, bring your music with you. So Curtis started educating John on R B and blues and soul. Next thing you know, he's coming up going, hey, I just want to let you know that we're going to do a little skit. It's going to be called the Blues Brothers. And. And this is because of you.

Okay.

And next thing you know, I mean, he showed him, you know, Jake on his knuckles he had. That he had tattooed, and it's for the movie. And he's like, hey, what do you think of that? You know, And Curtis is like, oh, what is it? You know, long story short, when they first performed on Saturday Night Live together as the Blues Brothers. He and Dan Aykroyd. They dedicated the performance that night to Curtis. And the band did not know. Okay, if you go back and you look for it, you'll find it. And it was really cool. So you're going to hear this entire story. And, I mean, Curtis can tell a story, believe me. Yeah. We spent an hour and 38 minutes getting through all of the story complete, you know, from start to finish. But I did that because I've never heard it anywhere else complete. I've heard little. Little bits of it, little pieces of it, or compressed, you know, encapsulated versions of it. I wanted the whole story, and I was going to air it complete, and that's what we're doing.

So that'll be the big 100. Now, are we breaking news here or.

No? No, no, no, no. That's. That's our season five finale. That's going to be like episode one.

All right, all right, all right. We aren't going to talk about who's. Who's 100, are we? You.

You tell me when you want to hear about it. I'll tell you about it.

All right, let's break the news. What's happening?

All right, so Chicago has lovingly opened its doors to me via a very good friend, somebody that I call my honorary executive producer. Her name is Lynn Orman. She is a publicist, she's a journalist, she's a fellow broadcaster, and she has introduced and opened the doors to several people for me, but the big one she brought me was the legendary Billy Branch. Now, Billy did an album called Harp Attack with Carrie Bell, James Cotton, and Junior Wells.

Yeah, okay.

He was the kid. So I got an opportunity to talk to him, and we're gonna go in there and talk about that album and several others and the things that he's doing. Now. This man has spent 46 years in the Blues in the Schools program.

That's dedication right there.

I know that. Yes, sir. And I mean, he does a two week residency every year where he grabs a group of kids and he doesn't just show them the harmonica, he teaches them to play the harmonica. He teaches them the roots of the blues and the story and the history of the blues. And then at the end of this two weeks, he does a performance with all of these kids.

That's awesome.

And so I thought, what better way to honor this man? And he has become an ambassador to the blues for the greater Chicago area because all of these others are gone, with the exception of Buddy Guy and Bob Strozier and a couple of others, they're gone. They've passed from the scene. So he is now the guy that we go to to talk about those days and the history, and he's steeped in it. Boy, he knows what he's doing.

That's exciting.

And so it is. It is going to be a huge pleasure to have him on the show. And I can't wait for everybody to hear our season 100 or episode 100.

All right, so here's the deal is you started this, like, what, two or three years? How long has it been now?

Two and a half years.

And you've really been plugging away with it ever since you began. Like, you actually, like, really embraced it quite a bit more than I thought you would. And then last year, you decided, you know what? I don't have enough work. I'm gonna go ahead and create a YouTube channel as well. So when you did that, when you finally put YouTube into the mix, did your approach to storytelling, did it change any, or do you still kind of do the same thing?

No, we kind of did the same thing, but the video lends a completely different flavor to it. And there are some of the people that I've interviewed in the past, like Steady Rolling, Bob Margolin. I'm bringing him back on because there's certain people that I want to capture. I'd love to capture them all on video, telling the stories, you know, to go way back to the beginning and eventually, like Freddie and Marge and some of the others from the local bands. I'm going to bring in. I've actually brought a few people in locally, Twilight, Birdsong and a few others. Ray Al Shire has come in and we've talked about, you know, the early days of blues in the greater Lansing area. I think especially for the local stuff, you want to have video because it brings the viewer another element for them to attach to and become invested in. To me, adding video has been a wonderful thing to do with the podcast for that reason.

I think it was a good move on your part, and you've really built up your YouTube channel quite a bit. What are you up to now?

Well, we were at, just for context, we were at 462 subscribers at the end of December last year. 2024.

Yeah.

To date, we are closing in on 14,000.

That is awesome. So it hasn't quite grown as much as your YouTube channel subscribers, but your vinyl collection's grown quite a bit.

Oh, man. I mean, I'm talking about crazy did.

You have vinyl in your mix, like, before you even got started with this?

April 8th of last year. I had none. Zero. So.

So that's what I thought. I'm going to really put you on the spot here. What's your most prized piece of vinyl at this time?

I just received this, as a matter of fact, yesterday, two days ago. Oh, there it is. This is. This is the Willie Dixon chess box, and it's really cool. It's a three album set that was put out years and years ago. I'm still trying to get the Howling Wolf version of this. I have the Muddy Waters already. The other prized possession here is my album from James Cotton. I got this up in Bay City in the spring. Okay. Along with a few other pieces. All right. Yeah, this is a cool album. But what makes it even cooler, signed. And that is his signature, people. That is his signature.

Love it. That is awesome.

I went back to the people. I'm like, dude, did you realize this was signed? And then I took him online and I showed him James Cotton signature. He's like, well, I guess it's worth a little more now, isn't it?

That is awesome. So, like, in personal conversations, you and I have talked before, and I'll say it again, your interview skills, I think are better than mine. And as time has progressed, you've gotten even gooder. And I know gooder isn't a word, but I love making.

Yeah, it's more gooder.

I love making up a good word. So there you go. You're gooder. So what advice have you got for aspiring people who are trying to improve their interview skills? What advice do you have for them as far as interviews go?

Let me throw something at you. I had an interview with a gentleman by the name of Earl Thomas Ridgman. Earl is from California, and he's got incredible stories. Etta. James has recorded his music. Tom Jones has performed his music. Screamin. Jay Hawkins has done his music. The biggest compliment I've ever received came from him, and he said, I hope I coined this phrase. He said, you are the Oprah Winfrey of blues podcasting. That's a hell of a compliment.

That is a great compliment.

It really is. And. And trust me when I tell you, today I'm taking this with a ton of humility, because if my mom was here, she'd be whispering in my ear, remain humble before the Lord. That was her favorite phrase.

That's what she said.

So I keep myself grounded. And I'm serious. I'm humbled about it. It's an Incredible honor to be on the Blues Archive and to be part of that. But my advice for any podcaster starting out, first of all, you have to have a passion for what you're doing. The one magic bullet that I have found with this podcast is I found my niche, or my niche, however you want to say it. And it truly is its own. I mean, it's not just another podcast. There's a reason for people to come and check it out. There's, you know, it's. It's. It's focused. So, number one, find your niche or your niche, however you want to say it. But secondly, be real, right? Don't. Don't try to put on airs and things like that. And probably the biggest piece is don't talk to hear yourself talk.

Right?

Okay. I've heard interviewers. They've got the Jolly Joe radio sound and, hey, George, why don't you tell me about this, that and the other thing. They'll get a half sentence in. Yeah, but don't you want to talk about. And they just. You're not the focus. And what I try to do, Dadalian, is with my questions, I try to ask the questions and get the hell out of the way and let them go, Right? Just let them go.

You had a lot of things to unpack there. But the one thing that I think you share with most anybody that I ask that question to, or something similar to, is authenticity. Be yourself. Make sure that that's your driving force behind what you do. And I agree with it completely, wholeheartedly. And as you know, I work with a lot of folks that really have never gone into broadcasting. That's not really their thing. And they're completely new to the whole deal. And I always tell them every time you're gonna make mistakes, you're bound to make mistakes. So you just told me the positive side. Now I'm gonna ask you on the other side. Tell me about the biggest blooper, biggest thing that happened that maybe either ended up on the cutting room floor or people just don't know about, but it was kind of fun.

All right, so you know me, I love going out and doing remote recording. I don't have any problem doing it. Some of the first. One of the first episodes we did, as a matter of fact, that you alluded to, fraught with all kinds of technical difficulties, was recording live at. At Moriarty's. And the problem that we had was he had feedback coming through the microphone or the microphones from the speakers that were too close and blah, blah, blah.

I swear, whoever was who was serving that night was intentionally throwing dishes a little harder than normal.

Yeah, sorry, go ahead. But a little over a year ago, I was asked by Mike Scorey, a good friend of mine and also a wonderful Lansing musician, if I would be willing to do a Storytellers episode or a Liars Club episode with a bunch of musicians from Lansing.

Okay.

And I said, sure, that sounds like fun. So we did it. A gentleman came out and recorded it for us, gave me the stuff. I put it together. Was a wonderful audio only episode because the guys didn't really want to be on camera. So I thought, well, man, that went really good. I think I'm going to reach out to people in other areas. So I reached out to the greater metro Detroit area and talked to Motor City Josh down there in metro Detroit, and I said, I'd like to do something like this. And I described it to him and he said, yeah, let me put some people together. So he did. He got pim, Greg Nagy, Dave Edwards, and Pat Smiley. We all met at the recording studio. I set everything up. I brought my podcasting stuff. I had my camera, my lights. I had everything. It was awesome. Guess who forgot to do his audio check. So the only audio that I got from the entire episode was off my video camera, off my little HD webcam.

Oh, man.

And if. And if you go look for the Liars Club episode with Motor City Josh and Greg Nagy and those other guys, it's up there.

Those are guys that are busy, so that'd be hard to pull that together again.

I wasn't going to even ask. And. And it was. And the content was so good. I said, you know what? Live and learn.

That's exactly it.

But. But they made me do it because they said, you asked one question during the interview. What was your biggest snafu, your biggest blooper, your biggest screw up? And every one of them answered it. So they said to me, we're not redoing it. Put it up as is and tell that story. And so I did those kind of things. Keep you humble, man. I'm telling you, they do.

And kudos to you, you know, for, you know, going through the process and actually being brave enough to put it up there and out there. Because I know that we've had some mist before where I'm just like, no, we're not putting that out. So tell me about the first moment you realized that Time Signatures was actually connecting with your audience.

The first time I realized that it was connecting with my audience was When I had Eliza Neals on, and you can't ask me what the episode number is, but she shared it out on her social media, and I got 1400 plus views in 24 hours. And I'm like, holy crap. And I messaged her and I said, did you share this or something? She goes, oh, yeah. I put it on my socials. And it's like, at that time, that was one of the biggest episodes I had had organically. It made me realize that, you know, that I had something like I had found my niche, you know, and then Chicago opened its doors to me with Lynn. And, you know, she told me recently, she said, you know, I trust you. I've watched you and I trust you. So when I bring these interviews to you, I'm. I'm extending you some extra trust.

Right?

And so when I get these interviews, like Billy Branch or, you know, these legends of the blues, they're children that I just recently interviewed and talked to. Beautiful episode. Beautiful episode. One of the. One of the best episodes I've ever done. But I had a video snafu.

Well, there's. There's another one. And that goes back to the same thing, though. As long as you learn from it. Well, then I guess it was worth going through. I guess in some way.

Yes, sir.

So, you know, like you said earlier, a lot of your guests have become what I would call bigger names in the world of blues. But one of my favorite things about what you're doing is you still pull it back to the local scene every once in a while. And I do those interviews because a lot of those folks, they're people I know they're people that are a part of our community. So tell me how you feel that the capital city, Lansing, Michigan, fits into the greater blues scene.

You know, Dadaly, and I got to tell you, after I just interviewed Harry Oman not long ago, and I am so excited for that episode to air. The work that he did back in the early 90s to bring these musicians like Johnny Bassett and Thornetta Davis when she was very young and a whole bunch of others into the Lansing area from metro Detroit. The work that Jim Flynn did in the greater Lansing area, bringing in Anson Funderberg and some of these others that. That they brought in specifically. I mean, Jim used to pay some of these people out of his own pocket to come and perform here. Yeah, it made Lansing incredibly relevant. As time has progressed, we've kind of lost that relevance. We've lost a lot of our venues, like the Green Door that just went dark at the end of June. I'm saddened by it because I would love to return to that because I believe that Lansing was a. Was a conduit through which, you know, everybody from Chicago to New York, if they were traveling, they could. They knew that they had a place they could come and play because there were several outlets to do it. But, man, what a history. What a rich history we have in the blues. It's wonderful.

You know, we did an entire episode on it. So I don't want to dive too far into the weeds as far as your incorporation into the University of Mississippi's blues archive, but I want you to kind of, like, explain what it felt like when you realized that that was gonna happen, where you were gonna actually be included in that. What were you feeling at that time?

I was absolutely gobsmacked. Yeah. I was only in the early stages of this show. I had just. It was before I started the video, as a matter of fact. I was in season two, I believe, when I got the word yeah. And Greg immediately said, yes, we want you.

Yeah.

And I'm like, really? Really? That's. You know. So I understand.

Send him, like, some samples.

I just told him about it and sent him a link.

Okay.

And it came through through Bonnie Queen Bee.

Yeah.

And she was the one that recommended I reach out because they're always trying to preserve, you know, various elements of the blues. And when I went to their website, I found that they had a lot of recorded interviews with different people. But it. Number one, wasn't any of them podcasts. Not one. Maybe some radio programs, different things like that. So this was a real first for them to be able to incorporate a podcast that was being produced currently to be put up on their archive. I mean, it's not lost on me the. The historic weight that now rests upon every one of these episodes. Because I tell people when I get done talking to them, by the way, this episode is going to be preserved for decades to come. Okay. Your children's. Children's children are going to be able to watch it and hear it. It's an honor. It's an incredible honor to be part of something like that. When we talk about preserving the history of the blues, we are truly preserving the history of the blues.

Very cool. If you could have any blues artist sit down with you tomorrow, living or dead, who would that be?

Wow.

You know, living or dead, that changed it for me, because living it, it'd be Buddy Guy. He's been on my. On my hot list forever, I would say. I think I'D like to talk to Paul Butterfield. I'd like to get some stories from him about those early days with Mike Bloomfield and, and Charlie Muscle White and Elvin Bishop when, you know, they were the. They were the white guys in Chicago that were sitting at the feet of Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters and all these great blues men in Chicago in the early 60s, and they helped carry that out to the world.

Yeah.

And I would love to get some of those stories, man. I really would.

So where do you see the blues heading in the future? And where exactly do you see Time Signatures being a part of that story?

Well, I have to be honest with you, I am disheartened a little bit by the downward trend that I've seen in the blues over the last five, six, ten years. I am told that resurgences happen regularly in the music genre, which is wonderful. I am really hoping to be part of that resurgence, both locally and nationally. Globally, because Time Signatures truly is a global reach. And I would love to just have Time Signatures be a part of keeping those. Those stories alive and keeping those legacies moving and sharing them with future generations so that there is truly a reason to keep the genre moving.

Very cool. Before we depart, is there anything else you wanted me to ask about that we didn't hit on?

Well, I. I would like to pay homage to a couple of my friends that have been involved with helping me along the way.

This is the time to do it, brother.

Well, we're going to start with my producer, Dadalian Lowry. Thank you. Because you were the guy that. That believed in me, held my feet to the fire, made me. I'll never forget the. The time you told me I need at least four episodes in the can. And just. Just so that we have a little bit of. A little bit of reference to it. Season five is done. I'm already recording in season six, which doesn't. Episode doesn't even launch until January. Okay. That's how dedicated I am to this program. But among the others, I've got Devin Jones, my mentor from Canada, Lynn Orman from Chicago. I've already mentioned her. I've got great ties with Michelle Simon and the National Women in Blues, my good friend Andy Caballa, who came up with the name Time Signatures because he's a drummer. And then of course, my subscribers, my listeners, the fans of the show. Like I say in every episode, if it wasn't for you, none of this would be possible. And that's my thanks.

And it takes a community to build what you have built. Indeed, you're doing a great job, man, and it is so awesome to have you a part of what we're doing here at LCC Connect as well. So my pleasure for everything that you've done. All right. You know, I like to finish the show with a rando question, right. What's your go to karaoke song even if you'd never admit it publicly?

New York, New York, I've done it publicly. There's recordings somewhere out there.

New York, New York I've done publicly.

So there you go. Yeah, yeah. I like getting the girls up there. Do a kick line for me while I'm doing it, too.

There you go.

No, I'm just saying it's, you know, something you don't want to pass along so they can fix it.

You're saying I'm yellow.

You're yellow.

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This is Time Signatures with Jim Irvin, a podcast and radio program program presented by the Capital Area Blues Society in Lansing, Michigan. Most any contemporary musical style can trace its roots back to the blues. Time Signatures explores the blues and its musical connections with captivating interviews, lively discussions and news from the world of the blues. And now here he is, your host, Jim Irvin.

Well, thank you so much Parker, and welcome to Time Signatures. I'm your host, Jim Irvin and my very special guest today is a young lady from North Dakota that's been making a name for herself and her band, the Groove Revival. Now some would call her work blues rock, but make no mistake, she can definitely get down and gritty with some good old fashioned blues as well. And if you like a bit of southern rock in your musical diet, she also dabbles in that as well, a la the Allman Brothers. And we have a lot to talk about, so please, let's get this party started. Vocalist, songwriter, guitarist and producer, Jennifer Lynn, welcome to Time Signatures. How are you doing this evening?

I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me, Jim.

Well, it is an honor to have you here, but I want to get going by starting to talk about your earliest memories of music. Take us back. And what, what do you recall?

That would definitely be at my grandparents house. They had one of those radios that to a small child it's taller than they are, than a small kid. And in that radio I can remember hearing anything from outlaw country, which my grandfather was a big fan of, so Willie, Waylon and the boys. And also grew up with a lot of kind of traditional country, bluegrass, also Motown, R B. And then when I would visit my grandparents on the other side of the family, they were, they were older, went through, you know, World War II, the Great Depression, all of that, and grew up in their house listening to more big band stuff and jazz, which was also really cool. Yeah, so I kind of grew up kind of with a little bit of a hodgepodge of a musical environment. And then I stumbled upon my parents vinyl and the rest was kind of history. I was an only child. So growing up in Minnesota, where, you know you're in Michigan, right?

Yes, I am.

So you can relate. The snow will leave you stranded and you're stuck in your house. And for an only child, my parents, vinyl was definitely a refuge when I was real young.

Very cool. Any favorite musicians or bands from those early years? Any songs that would play over and over and over and drive people nuts.

Yeah. There's a funny story my parent, my mom would probably tell the Oak Ridge Boys. There was a vinyl that mysteriously got lost because I played it over and over and over again. That and Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Islands in the Stream got played non stop. That's when I was. That's when I was real young. I just loved the harmonies that were presented in both of those songs. And when I got to be a little bit older, where I actually was kind of understanding and making more choices with my music, with my parents stuff, it was the Animals I loved kind of more of that edgy rock that was coming out.

Oh yeah.

That when they were growing up, the band Free. I. I love Paul Kossoff's playing. And then, you know, kind of the more traditional answers, you know, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, here from the States. Just a collection of where the overdriven guitars were. Something for me that always kind of captured my ear even before I was a guitar player. It's just something about it that I really enjoyed.

Well, Jennifer, you don't identify yourself as a blues purist. I did hear some tracks from an earlier release that you definitely show the ability to deliver the goods with that old school blues sound as well. But here's what I read. She draws inspiration from various genres including rock, blues, R B and a touch of roots music. Yeah, I. I can definitely feel that when I listen to your music. Absolutely.

Yeah. Well. Well, thank you. I'm glad that that comes through. I think our fans seem to enjoy the fact that it's not maybe as rigid as. As some would maybe want it to be, I guess. But for. For us, it really works. It's also a collection of the other musicians that I perform with in my band. My. My co writer and partner. Musical partner in crime, I guess you could say. He's the other guitar player in our band. We have a lot of similar musical inspirations. His, for him, it would be kind of. Clapton is a big one for him.

Sure.

And a lot of that. The Allman Brothers, for both of us is a big one. Especially with the dual guitar parts that we like to perform. And yeah, so it all kind of gets jumbled up into a sound which luckily for us, I feel is a good fit for the type of music we like to create.

Well, Jennifer, I have to ask you, at what point did you determine that a career in music was in the cards for you?

I'm still trying to figure that out, Jim. No.

Okay.

No, Actually, it was a conversation with my grandmother. When I was a teenager, I stumbled upon a VH1 documentary on Bruce Springsteen, which is kind of interesting, I suppose. I was about 13 years old. I was writing short stories at the time. It was kind of something I did creatively to occupy my time again during those awesome winter snowstorms. And after seeing that documentary, for me, I was like, you know, I. I love singing. I love music. I wasn't really active in anything other than, you know, maybe the choirs that we were a part of in school. But after seeing that, I was like, that is what I want to do. I want to still. Still tell stories like that. And so what happened was, during high school, I was writing a lot of music. None of it was probably good, but I was writing a lot of music, and I was learning how to play guitar, teaching myself. I was an athlete, so I didn't have a whole lot of spare time, but it was definitely something I was interested in. And my grandmother about, let's see, she passed away in 2011, and she pulled me aside. She had cancer. And the one. If there is any bright side to cancer, it's that for someone who has it, there's now a time clock. I think that that kind of gets kicked in where things can be said, if that makes sense. You get, yes, ma', am, the remaining time that you have. And she pulled me aside and had a heart to heart with me and asked me why I wasn't doing music anymore. I went to college, and like most people, you kind of get busy with the things. Pursuing a career.

Sure.

And things kind of got pushed to the side a little bit. And it was that conversation with her because she said, even if you do it purely for the enjoyment of, you enjoy doing it. That's all that matters. It's a gift that you've been given, and if it resonates with anyone else, you should take it upon yourself to share that with other people. And I really took that to heart because I could also see in what she was telling me there was a lot of value for not only me. You know, if I write a song that resonates with someone else, there's a. There's a lot of value in that. So that's kind of how it started. And it was because of that conversation with her that I picked up the guitar again and had the five chords that I knew on guitar. I was awful. It was so bad. Like, playing bar chords was questionable at best. And one thing just kind of led to another where I was not Able to put it down, it just became this thing that I really started to focus my time on and history. It's been a. Been a really fun journey.

Well, you know, I'm sitting here thinking back, and I think you might be one of the first, if not the first musician that I've talked to that formed a band and got rolling in the early aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Was this something that you were planning prior to the Pandemic, you maybe got started on and got stopped or what?

Yeah, a little. There was definitely a little bit of that. So when I started and picked up the guitar again and then got to a point where I felt comfortable performing in front of other human beings and even getting paid for it, I was a trio at the time. And I knew, I knew for me that was how I wanted to start. I knew I didn't always want to stay that way, but I knew if I introduced another guitar player into the band, I was going to start pawning stuff off on them. So it was. It was kind of my way to challenge myself and say, hey, if you're going to do this, I really need to build a foundation on my own before I include anyone else. And then it kind of built to where I was a four piece. And right before COVID hit, it escalated to the point that we were a five piece. We didn't have a set keyboard player at that time, but we kind of had some ideas of who we wanted that to be. But yeah, so we were just finally starting to get into doing the shows that we wanted to do right when Covid hit. But not that Covid at all was a blessing because it definitely wasn't for anyone, but it did kind of make us hit the pause button. And with all that downtime, it gave us a chance to take some of the songs that my co writer and I had been kind of milling around with and decide to do something more formal with it. And that was our album, Nothing Holding Me down. And then very cool kind of kind of history. We're for plugging away at it. It's been a lot of fun and.

Turning the page here. In 2022, you released that first album, or actually an EP, to be concise. Nothing Holding Me Down. And you garnered four Independent Blues Music Award nominations, including best Blues Rock Band and bless Best Blues Rock Album. This work was all yours too. There were no covers, were there?

Right. There were no covers on that album. And that's kind of always been our intention with our studio albums. Is we sure to keep them all originals, which is also a good avenue for us to. I mean, that's the point. You know, we love writing and. Yeah, but. But yeah, we did. We. We actually wrote, for sure, two of the songs on that EP we wrote during lockdown over Zoom, because, you know, we were missing. Missing each other, missing making music together. And so I had kind of the beginning stages of. Of writing that and then when we recorded that album, because we do all of our. Our recording actually in my home studio. And that was really interesting because we were recording it in pieces because it was at a time where you couldn't really safely. You know, there was still so many question marks with COVID that, you know, getting more than two people together was kind of something that you didn't want to do at. So we recorded it in pieces, and I had a whole ton of free time, so I learned how to mix and master, and that's been an evolving process as well, which has been a lot of fun.

So now I wanted to ask you because, you know, getting out there and getting that first EP released and. And getting the kind of attention that you got, that must have been an exciting time for you.

Yeah.

To see your music accepted on that level.

It was, you know, it. Most artists will say that's of course not why we get into the business, but there's definitely.

We know the truth. Come on, man, you gotta. You gotta be wanting some kind of, you know, validation for what you're doing. Come on.

That's really what it is. Because, you know, get it. Getting it from the fans is one thing. That's, for me, what means the most, because those are the people that are. Are really kind of living with the music we create. You know, we've heard lots of great stories from. From fans that we've had where some of our music has helped them through a hard time, which a lot of musicians obviously can share that story, because that is the whole point. You know, it's the human condition and. And writing. Writing some music that goes along with it. But, yeah, getting. Getting some recognition within our industry was very nice. It was very unexpected, and we were very appreciative to be considered for those nominations.

Yes, ma'.

Am.

Now, in 2023, Jennifer, your band released the second official EP entitled Gypsy Soul. And that one spent 16 weeks on the Roots Music Reports charts, peaking at number two in the blues rock category. Again, that had to have felt amazing, especially given the early success that you had with your first ep, but because this was the second album that was featuring solely the work of Jennifer Lynn and the Groove Revival.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it did. It felt great. And we, we actually. So. So truth be told, I currently am holding down a full time job. I'm a college professor currently. And so as a result of that, it's always been. It definitely was a challenge during that time because again, Covid was going on, so I'm teaching classes remotely and there's all sorts of craziness. But our, our plan was to always kind of take those albums and pair them together as kind of one cohesive. So when, when we wrote Gypsy Soul, we kept it a little bit more traditional blues because we had kind of, kind of felt that nothing holding me down was a little bit more on the rock side. So we wanted to kind of create this. This nice little pairing that we could put together almost like a cohesive album that we just released in pieces because of the time restraints that we kind of have. And so, yeah, so that was. Again, we weren't expecting that, which was really nice. And we definitely appreciate any consideration that we can get. You know, it's. It's just nice to have our music getting out there to the, to the masses. So.

And, and I have to ask you about that first regional tour that you went out on. It sounds like you guys were very well received, Would you agree?

Oh, yeah, yes, We. We'd. We hit the road and for us were located in Bismarck, North Dakota, which some might consider saying, okay, that's like you're the redheaded stepchild because you're in the middle of prairie country with Playing the Blues. Okay, how does that.

Let me, let me stop you for one minute, okay, And I'll turn you loose again. When I was doing the intro, I started going down that road and I'm thinking, she's from North Dakota, she's not from Memphis, she's not from Kansas City. And I thought, no, no, no, I don't, I don't want to do that. I don't want to put that kind of a spin on it. But you're right. And it really speaks to the fact, Jennifer, you don't have to be from Memphis. You don't have to be from the Mississippi Delta. You just need to be somebody that's got that vibe and you understand the music.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And. And our local fan base here in Bisbar has been absolutely amazing. And beyond support, last week had our largest show here in, in Bismarck. It was a. At a great historic venue in town and we just have a tremendous amount of support. So for anyone that's like North To. In fact, I've seen it in some of our album reviews. You know, you can. It's either literally written exactly as North Dakota. It's not really a place you think for the blues. But, you know, you could argue that with so many people. I mean, Joe's from upstate New York. I'm sure when he was first starting out, he experienced that. The same kind of people looking at him going, okay, yeah, okay, blues. Yeah, that's. That makes sense. But people are actually really hip to it. I think it's more just. I kind of subscribe to the Quincy Jones way of thinking about music, which is there's two types. You've got good music and bad music. And if it's good music, people usually can rally around that and they can see value in it. And that's kind of what we would have been experiencing in our. Our home state.

Well, and I. I guess that begs the question then. Are you finding that maybe you're bringing mainstream blues and some of the rock blues genre to the fore in front of a group that maybe haven't seen it before or haven't got much experience seeing it?

That's hard to say. That would probably be a good question for some of our fans, I think. I think the fact that our music always kind of comes across as a little bit. What I hear from a lot of our fans is, boy, your music really takes me back and makes me feel like I'm in the 70s, which I take as a compliment, because, again.

Oh, absolutely.

That is the music that, like I said, I grew up on, where the dual. A lot of dual guitars, a lot of great harmonies. The songwriting is usually, you know, I feel, telling a good story that goes along with the music. So I think, you know, it's not necessarily that they're kind of latching onto the blues. I think I would suspect they're probably more latching on to just the emotions that come with it, which is kind of that throwback, kind of a 70s feel.

Sure, sure. So here you come again in 2024. You've got this album coming out. It's actually. It's out something different from the first two releases in that you have several pieces of your own work, but you've also added a small block of covers featuring the music of Greg Allman, the Animals, and John Fogarty for good measure. Talk about this new album for a moment.

Yeah. So our latest album that came out this year was a live album, and we recorded it actually in our hometown of Bismarck, N.D. and the covers that we chose to put on the album were ones that, for me and also some of my bandmates kind of had a special significance. So we. We chose to cover a Bonnie Raitt tune because, hey, I'm a. I'm a woman in the blues. It doesn't get any better than Bonnie Raitt. So having a. Granted, it was a cover that she did, it was a Chris Smithers tune. And the first time I heard her do it, though, it was, you know, how there are songs that are written just like how Janis Joplin took me and Bobby McGee. Right. I can't imagine anyone else singing it. That's how I feel about Love Me Like a Man and. And Bonnie Raitt singing that. So the. The covers that we chose were kind of a tip of the hat to some of the artists that have. In bands that have come before us, that have really inspired the music we create. So the. The covers that are on that album, there's five of them, and we were pretty selective on which five they would be just because they had such significance and an impact on our. Our music that we create.

You know, and it's interesting because you had mentioned, you know, Greg Allman and some of the. The Southern rock stuff earlier in the. In the interview, and so it didn't. When you said that, it kind of put the pieces together. That's why they chose them.

Yeah, definitely.

But I want to talk about upcoming promotions. Are you guys planning on going out on tour? Do you have any other plans with this new work yet? What's. What's going on?

Yeah, so right. Right now we're actually finishing up a run of shows here in November, which we're touching on a little bit of our region. We're still at the. The infancy, I guess you could say, of touring. So for us, it's currently North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota. And we're planning to expand that in 2025. And it's been going really great. We're four walling everything, which is also extremely exhausting, which means we do. We book the venue, we get the sound production, we do the marketing, we do the advertising, we do all the things because we're kind of essentially kind of creating venues where there technically aren't any, because the bar scene just doesn't really work for us. Where we found we've done it, don't get me wrong. And it's not that we didn't have a good time. It's just we find for the type of music we create more of, like the tiered seating venue or places where people have seen seats where they actually are coming for the music and don't have to strain to hear over the guy who's six beers into his night tends to work a lot better for our fans. So we've been creating that environment and we are actually just at the beginning stages of polishing up our next studio album as well, which will be 10 songs, all originals that'll release next year. So. Okay, lots of things in the hopper and yeah, we've just been enjoying having the opportunity to get out and, and visit with a lot of our fans on the road and meet, meet new people as well. New people into our ecosystem and it's been a, been a good time and.

I'm sure that being able to get out, especially post Covid now has been like many people that I've talked to, many of the musicians, it's a, it's a breath of fresh air, if you will.

Oh yeah.

To be able to get back out there and, and do those kind of events.

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like it's therapy for everyone because the people that are coming to the shows, I mean especially we have. Not only do we have people that are super supportive of our bands, they're just die hard music supporters, which is, you know, when Covid hit, it was just as hard on them as it was on musicians not being able to, to perform.

Yeah, I, I actually write an article for the Capital Area Blue Society of which I'm a member of the board and it's called up and down these Michigan Roads with Irv. And about every quarter when we do our newsletter, I do a list of all the shows that I've been to and it's amazing to me. I mean, I did three shows in one week. I had Walter Trout on Friday. On Monday I had Warren Haynes over in Grand Rapids.

Oh, wow.

And who else did? I think I had Thornetta Davis, like you know, midweek. It's like, how can you beat that kind of a gig? The quality of the music and you know, I'm also a concert photographer, so I've got photography that I do quite a bit as well. But it's, it's a great time being out there now. Jennifer, I wanted to ask you with, with this new album that you're going to be releasing, has there been any talk about vinyl? Because as you can see, I happen to have vinyl over here. I've got a nice chunk that I've amassed since April.

Yes, we are all about the vinyl. In fact, we actually did what I kind of described when I had Said our first ep, Nothing Holding Me down, our second ep, Gypsy. So we always kind of pictured them as a nice little piggyback pairing. So we did make a vinyl out of that. We put them together. Yep. And it's that vinyl is called Astronomy Gypsy. Kind of a play on the album cover from each. And then we also did a vinyl release for our live album. And yeah, the live album we actually did end up charting with that, which was really cool. Bill Billboard, we had a number four spot for that release, which was very nice. Cool. And yeah, what I think is really neat too is our vinyl sales on that album were pretty comparable to CDs, where I was like, yes, people are into vinyl again. This is so great. I mean you can see the trend, but when you actually experience it as a musician, it's so cool. Just the nostalgia of knowing there's people putting a needle on your, your music somewhere is pretty neat.

Well, trust me, when we're done with this interview, I'm going to get the information and I'm going to be ordering the Astro Gypsy and the live album because one can never have too much vinyl. That's all there is to it. You can't see it. I even, I even have over here to my left, I have a, an ultrasonic cleaner. So I get the old blues albums and I've cleaned them all and I got tags on them so I know they're done and it's a whole thing.

But so you're an profile. I love it.

Oh, big time. I, I, I'm a, a child of the 70s and my musical memories go way back into much like you, a very eclectic blend of stuff going for my grandparents with the big band and the, the jazz and stuff like that. My mom with the 50s and the oldies and the, you know, the, the war years and all that. And of course I came up in the early 70s, so. Come on, man, you classic rock, baby. You know.

I know. That was a great decade.

Oh yeah. So Jennifer, where can people go to purchase a copy of your new cd? Maybe get some merch or even book you for a gig in their, in their hometown?

Sure, absolutely. Our website is our, our home for everything that anyone can access any of those things. And our website is jlyn L Y N and the Groove Revival dot com.

Very good. And we'll make sure to put that on the notes for the, for the episode when we put it up. But Jennifer Lynn, I want to thank you so much for taking time to come and talk about your music here on Time Signatures. Looking forward to seeing what unfolds for you in the future with your band. And anytime you have news to share, including that new album, get in touch. Get in touch and we will get you back on. Is that a deal?

That's a deal. Thanks so much for having me, Jim. I appreciate it.

Very cool. Well, that wraps up this edition of Time Signatures with Jim Irvin. Once again, my thanks to Jennifer Lynn. But most importantly, I want to say thank you to you for being here. For without you, none of this would be possible. Jim Irvin reminding you that keeping the blues alive is everyone's responsibility. But preserving the history of the blues, one story at a time, that's my mission. Until next time. So long.

This has been Time Signatures with Jim Irvin presented by the Capitol Area Blues society in Lansing, Michigan. For more information on CABS, visit Capitol Capitalarea blues.org you can find this episode and past episodes@lccconnect.org the Time Signature Theme song Michigan Roads is used by permission and was written by Root Doctor featuring Freddie Cunningham. Until next time, keep on keeping the blues alive. This is WLNZ Lansing. You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. To find out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect, voices, vibes, Vision.