Music of the Mountains: BlackDog

Colorado guitarist Jon Ridnell has released his first new BlackDog album in over a decade, Freak the Funk. Tune into this week's episode to learn more about Jon and his new release.

Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello there, everybody. My name is Jamie Lammert, and welcome to Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to See, brought to you by the Mountaineer Podcast. On May 31st, I talked on the phone with local musician John Ridnell, who's just released a brand new album, Freak the Funk, under the artist name Black Dog. It's his first album name under Black Dog in many, many years. And John is incredibly excited to talk about the album and spread the word that it's out there. But first, uh a message from our sponsor. The 94th Central City Opera Festival opens June 27th. Since 1932, Central City Opera has been one of Colorado's favorite arts traditions, bringing world-class talent to a 19th-century opera house in historic Central City. This summer, CPO is celebrating the 70th anniversary of our world premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe. The show tells the scandalous historical love story of silver baron Horace Tavor, who left his wife Augusta for Baby Doe, a performance which rocked Denver society and today remains a staple of Colorado history. You can also catch the Marriage of Figaro, Masterclass, and CCO in concert this season, with a cast featuring talent from the Met, San Francisco Opera, and beyond. Tickets start at $32, and seats are going fast, so don't miss out. The festival runs June 27th through August 2nd. Visit CentralCityOpera.org to learn more. And now our interview with John Ridnell.

SPEAKER_02 1:44

So uh do you mind just introducing yourself real quick? Hi, I'm John Black John Ridnell, guitarist, singer, songwriter. I live in Eldora, Colorado, and New Orleans.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Sweet. And you just came out with a brand new album of yours.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

It's the first Black Dog album in over twenty years. I've been doing New Family Dog with my son, Miles, for about fourteen years now. So and I did a couple John Ridnell albums. So this is the first one under Black Dog since probably 2002 or three. And I've been spending uh a significant amount of time in New Orleans, and I figured I'd kind of go big and hire the best people I could down there. And we did a record in uh New Orleans at J.K. Eckert's studio, Rhythm Shack Studios a couple years ago with New Family Dogs, and I kind of put it together that he was able to get me George Porter and John Vadakovich. Everybody knows George Porter Jr., he's the bass player from the meters, uh foundational player in funk music and American music. So I got to work with him, and Johnny Vadakovich was the drummer. He uh he's one of the great jazz drummers of our time. They're both in their late 70s. So what happened was I saw him do a gig with Eric Krasno at the Maple Leaf. I live a few blocks from the Maple Leaf Bar in New Orleans. And during Jazz Fest last year, Johnny and George did a uh gig with Eric Krasno. Because they're from kind of different schools. Johnny's really a jazz guy, and George is really a funk guy. But I saw him do a gig and I was like, hmm. And I put it together that I could maybe make it happen, and I actually pulled it off by the skin of my teeth. So Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

And what was yeah, what was the process of kind of bringing the album back and performing again as Black Dog and all that stuff?

SPEAKER_03 3:23

Yeah, well, Miles, you know, I did New Family Dog for a number of years with my son, and it's been great. We did a bunch of cool records. You can find them all on YouTube and Spotify or whatever. But he's doing other stuff now. He's playing in a great bluegrass band, high alone term, and he's he's gotta move on and do his thing, you know. So I'm kind of going back to Black Dog. We still play. You know, he he plays and we're building all the shows this summer in Colorado as Black Dog just because I did the new record and blah blah blah. But Miles is playing most of the shows. But uh it's great coming back to Colorado. I love New Orleans, I miss New Orleans a lot. It went really well this year. They're playing the record on WWZ, the big station down there. They had me on there, which was kind of, man, one of the biggest things that happened to me in my career, I think. You know. I've been playing on the radio before, but not WWZ in New Orleans. It's like the greatest station that there is, so it's a pretty cool development. I should probably mention the other players on the record. George did five out of the eight tracks. James Singleton, great upright jazz basic. He plays everything, but he's a really great jazz player. Played the other three tracks. Luciano Lass, my friend from Brazil, on keyboards and piano. And Jason Mingledorf on saxophone. Greg Hicks on Trombone. He's the trumpet player. Barney Floyd. Barney and Jason both play with Dr. John. I mean, these are pretty heavy people. And Whitney Aloysius on vocals. Yeah, it was really a great experience. I learned a ton. And to work with George and Johnny, the two of my heroes, was pretty amazing. Yeah, it was a really good experience. It's good to get it done. Like I said, it was it's it's kind of a miracle I pulled the whole thing off. It was crazy. Glad I did it.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Was there anything that kind of felt different coming back to what's technically a solo project after doing New Family Dog with Miles for a long time?

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Um it's interesting, you know. Miles has been my guy for a long time. He knows all my tunes, you know, more than anybody. So it's been interesting, you know, it's a new thing. Especially in New Orleans. I'm playing with all different people, new people, you know, all the time. And it's you know, I've been in Colorado thirty years. I came from New York, New York City area, which was, you know, hard to get in the music business there, but I did it. And I've been here for thirty years and I realized after I went to New Orleans, I realized I got soft when I came to New Orleans. 'Cause uh it's easy up here. It's pretty laid back, Colorado, you know. But then New Orleans is super competitive. So it's been uh it's good for me. You know, it keeps me on my toes. Definitely been getting in shape down there as far as playing. They do long gigs, you know, you do six hour jazz gigs. I never did a six hour gig in my life till last December. Yeah, and then you know, I'm realizing that's why their musicians in New Orleans are so great. They work they're just constantly playing. The level of competition is so high that you have to be good or you're not gonna make it, you know. So it's been really good for me. I'm trying to get Miles to come down, but he's pretty comfortable up here. He's a Colorado kid, but it's gonna happen. He'll come down eventually.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah. What has been exciting about being able to just perform as Black Dog, probably share the same material with people, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Um, it's been cool. Forcing me to do new stuff, and you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

It's been hard to branch out away from my son, you know. We're we're kind of a dynamic duo. We you know, we do well together, we harmonize together, we have that whole family sound, you know, which it's really cool. So I I miss him a lot. But the whole New Orleans thing has been great. I just I live in Eldora and I just can't I quit skiing because I got some back problems and nerve problems. And I just started going out in New Orleans during the COVID era, basically all around the Gulf, but chasing New Orleans and uh now I'm doing six months and six months and the music is you know, the feel of the city and the music is creeping into my songwriting and composing and everything, which is really fun. I consider it a real learning experience being in New Orleans. It's just there's so much music to learn and the history of everything and where jazz came from, rhythm and blues came from, which basically led into rock and roll. So it's just the kind of foundation of American music. So learn all about that's been really great. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Is there anything in particular that you're hoping we'll take away from any of the shows you have or any other thoughts on the upcoming album, all that all that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_03 7:31

We did a few singles. Um it came out on Bed River Records, and I'd thank Joe Michaels and Ruthie and Deborah, our publicist, because they've uh gotten the last several albums out there. There's a few new Family Dog, there's three or four new Family Dog albums on Bent River Records, and that is the first one on the Black Dog. And uh he you know helps me out a lot. He all the stuff that I would probably never do to get the stuff out there he does, which is great. Uh we're being submitted for Grammy this year. We did with the last new Family Dog album as well, which is pretty cool. Shows this week? Let's see, what am I doing? I don't even know. I'm playing the Vic and Solida on Friday. We do every Sunday playing jazz in Netherland at Knotted Root Brewery, five to seven-ish. That's been going on for several years, and that's a lot of fun. That's with my son and different people, different drummers, different horn players show up, so that's a lot of fun. Keeping jazz going in med. Yeah. And you can chew check Black Dog on Facebook, that's where I post my gigs. I don't really do a website or any any of that stuff. But uh Facebook, if you want to get in contact, hit me up or check the dates. I always post the dates on there.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

So Yeah. Sweet.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah, thanks for doing this, man.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Absolutely. Thank you so much for for being able to jump in and talk about all this. This is great.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

No problem. Uh anything to help get the music out there to the people. So appreciate it very much.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Thank you so much, John, for coming on board and joining us for the podcast. You can find Black Dog's new album, Freak the Funk, wherever you get your music. Uh you can also find him on Facebook, and you can see him host Jazz Sundays during his time in Colorado every Sunday starting at 5 p.m. at Renata Group Brewing, located at 215 North Carolina Street in Maryland. Thank you so much, everybody, for tuning in to this week's Music of the Mountains, Where to Be and What to Frought to you by the Mountaineer Podcast. I'll be back next week with another Music of the Mountains segment. I will be back very soon with another episode of the podcast, but in the meantime, be sure to subscribe to the Mountaineer Podcast wherever you're listening now. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Podcaster, whichever your preferred listening place is. If you want to support the Mountaineer and our efforts in local journalism, be sure to head to the mtnear.com and click on the subscribe button in the top right corner of our homepage where you can get a print and or digital subscription. You can also find a full archive of the Mountaineer Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and on our homepage by scrolling down to Mountaineer Media. There you'll also find our Facebook, our Instagram at mtn.ear, and our YouTube channel. Finally, if you have any questions or suggestions for the newspaper or the podcast, you can reach out to myself at media at the mountaineer.com, my co-host Tyler Hickman at T Y L E R at the Mountaineer.com, our editor in chief, Barbara Hart at infothemountaineer.com, and general inquiries at frontdesk at the Mountaineer.com. We'll see you guys next time. Have a great rest of your day. Collaborating with other artists, including George, Ford of Junior, and Johnny Video Academy.