John
Magnie
vocals, organ, keyboards, accordion
He
looks like some sort of musical Merlin – with his
long, gray soul patch fluttering as he wrestles on stage
with the least likely of rock ‘n’ roll instruments.
John Magnie can make the accordion look – and sound – cool. In his
hands, the squeeze box creates music that’s the utter antithesis of polka.
Maybe it is alchemy. It’s funky. Soulful. It’s not Cajun. Not Conjunto.
It’s
more
Ray Charles than Clifton Chenier.
It’s certainly not what you’d expect from a white kid who grew up in Denver.
* * *
Magnie,
the subdudes’ keyboard player and second-lead
vocalist, began playing music relatively late. He’d
learned some guitar as a teen-ager, but didn’t
start playing music seriously until he was 21.
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R.
Crumb’s Meatball character
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“I
fell into it full time when all of my friends were giving
it up. I finally figured out there wasn’t anything
else I really wanted to do,” Magnie
says.
Magnie had tried his hand at college – attending a few around Denver. Finally,
he fell in with a group of hard-core blues lovers and found his
calling.
They called themselves the Righteous Meatball Boogity Band – no kidding – and
Magnie played harmonica and sang. The name, incidentally, was a reference to
a comic book character
by R.Crumb. “It was a Zap Comix. Like, Mr. Natural cooked up this meatball,
and it bounced on people’s head and enlightened them,” Magnie remembers
with a laugh.
It was the late ‘60s-early ‘70s. What else can you say?
* * *
The
band found steady work in the ski resorts and small
communities of the mountains and soon relocated from
Denver to just outside of Steamboat Springs. The band
members and their families rented a ranch, which they
set up as a commune.
Righteous Meatball fell apart in 1973, and Magnie drifted around New Mexico and
Austin,
Texas, before landing in New Orleans in October 1974.
New Orleans “was my musical goal, because my favorite piano players, besides
Ray Charles, were Professor Longhair and James
Booker,” Magnie says.
“Booker was pretty helpful to me, in showing me stuff on the piano whenever
I would ask him. He would be helpful. Professor Longhair, I would just absorb
by going and watching.”
In the spring of ‘75, Magnie was invited to join Blackmale – a
band comprised of Gerald Tillman, Renard and Rodger PochÈ and Newton Mossop Jr.,
some
of New Orleans best funk and R&B players.
* * *
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John Magnie, circa 1984
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Magnie
eventually formed his own band with some musicians
who lived in the same neighborhood, Susie and David
Malone.
They called themselves the Johnny
Zimple
Band. “Nobody knew who John Magnie was, so I
decided I’d be Johnny Zimple,” says
Magnie, who took the name from a street that runs off Carrollton Avenue in New
Orleans.
Magnie, who was regularly performing solo
piano
gigs, also began playing occasionally as a duo with Leigh
Harris, otherwise
known
as
Little Queenie. The Magnie-Harris partnership evolved into one of New Orleans’ legendary
bands: Little Queenie and the Percolators. Harris was the star, but Magnie was
unquestionably the musical leader of the Percolators.
The band began to coalesce in 1977 around Harris on vocals, Magnie
on keyboards and vocals, Allen Pecora on drums,
John
Meunier
on
bass, plus a wide variety of horn players, including Fred Kemp, Earl Turbinton,
Greg Mazell, Eric Langstaff and Eric Traub. About three years later, Tommy
Malone was recruited to play guitar.
Little Queenie & The Percolators were the hottest band in New
Orleans, but they were unable to garner much attention from record labels. Inevitably,
they drifted apart.
* * *
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John Magnie, center, and Tommy Malone, right, formed the Continental
Drifters, seen here in 1986, following the demise of the Percolators.
Jimmy Messa, left, was a member toward the end.
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Magnie
and Malone, however, continued
to
play together and soon were calling themselves
the Continental Drifters.
The band, which also featured Johnny Ray Allen and at one time included Jimmy
Messa, played loud and raucous. They had
a core group of fans,
but, again, success was elusive.
“I think we
were trying to be edgy, and we just ended up being
loud,” Magnie says.
In the meantime, he had picked up a new instrument.
“In like ‘86, I got ahold of an accordion, from a guy named Vernon
Rome, (who) gave me his dad’s old accordion. I’d been messing
around
with it. … I transferred everything I knew from piano and worked
on the actual mechanics of playing.”
Magnie meanwhile had been continuing to perform solo and duo shows in town.
One of his regular gigs was at Tipitina’s, where he generally
played solo piano, but sometimes friends would join him on stage. One night
was recorded and released as his first solo LP, “Now
Appearing.”
But another one of those nights at Tipitina’s had a more lasting impact.
* *
* By
every account, March 16, 1987,
exceeded
every
expectation.
The concept was simple: Magnie and three friends
would perform a night of acoustic music, bringing
with them as little as possible in the way of instruments.
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John Magnie, from an early subdudes promotional photo, 1989
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Tommy
Malone carried an acoustic guitar. Johnny Allen also carried an acoustic
guitar.
Steve Amedée carried a tambourine. John Magnie
arrived with an accordion.
“We performed a lot of the same music that we’d been doing (with the
Drifters),
but
with
this other style, ... this little warm acoustic style, and people just loved
it. And afterward, we went over to Steve’s
house and listened to the tape, and we knew it had a magic to it.
“All we had to do was follow the blueprint that had been laid upon us,” Magnie
says.
Things moved pretty quickly afterward. Magnie and the others were
convinced a physical move out of New Orleans was key
to a breakthrough. In October of '87, they settled on Magnie’s
suggestion of Fort Collins.
“The whole crew – the four of us guys with three women and five kids – we
all wagon-trained out from New Orleans in a series of cars and trailers. We found
two places to rent, and we lived in two houses next door to each other.
Fort Collins “is a really sweet little place. You got enough people, you
got a college,
some places to play, it’s right on the mountains. ... For the Louisiana
boys... it was just kind of a liberating
feeling,
like, ‘You’re going to the West.’ It’s still got sort of
a, ‘you can do anything you want to do’ feeling, you know? Almost a
pioneer bit of a feel, where we felt like we could make it – and
it did help us to solidify our music.”
*
* *
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John
Magnie performs with the 3 Twins at Avogadro's Number
in Fort Collins in 1998. (Photo by Clare Schachter)
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The
next several years were a whirlwind. A core
following in Fort Collins,
Boulder and Denver. A record contract with Atlantic.
Weeks and
months on the road. Critical acclaim. Sellout crowds. Adoring fans. But
there were lows, as well: Lack
of promotion. Resulting disappointing sales. Changes in record labels.
Changing
dynamics
in the band.
The band members went separate ways in November 1996.
“I
went to nothing for a little while. Then came the
question of livelihood – paying the bills,” Magnie
says with a laugh. “It was really starting back
at ground zero.” Naturally, he kept writing.
“It was a workshop period. The thing I did most during that period was write
songs. These songs – “Wishin’,” “The Rain Song,” plus
all of our
3 Twins songs, plus a bunch of gospel stuff that I’m going to be recording
here sometime – all
came up through that time.”
In 1998, he emerged with his first post-subdudes album, titled simply “Magnie.”
“I think it was a natural – I don’t
know if it was a reaction – but
it was a natural reflection of the fact that I was on my own at the
time. And – but I gotta say – enjoying
it,” he says.
The
CD marked a reunion between Magnie
and Amedée
on many songs and included participation from Tim Cook, a songwriter in his
own right who had worked with
the
subdudes for the past several years.
Soon Magnie, Amedée
and Cook were performing together. After a series
of name changes, they settled
on “The 3 Twins” and earned a loyal following in the Colorado-Wyoming
area. The Twins’ music marked a return to the stripped-down
sound of the early subdudes, with an emphasis on vocal harmony and a focus
on Magnie’s new, post-subdudes songs,
many written with Amedée
and Cook.
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John Magnie with the Dudes at Tipitina's, January 2003. (Photo
by Erika Goldring)
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“The 3 Twins band focused on making people dance, too. We had … (an
idea) where
we would start up a series here in Fort Collins, our dance parties. The whole
reason was just to explore grooves and see which ones made people dance.”
They released two CDs, “Trinkets” and “Post Trinkets.” The
second featured contributions from musicians such as
Sam
Bush,
Sonny
Landreth and Tommy Malone.
Malone’s participation hinted that a reconciliation might be forthcoming.
Sure enough, in the fall of 2001, at the Tommy Malone Band’s show in
Denver,
Malone
invited Magnie – who was in the audience – to
play with
him on a couple of subdudes’ chestnuts.
Soon,
talk turned to a full-scale reunion that would merge
Malone’s band with the 3 Twins. A series of
shows in February 2002 were extremely well-received
by fans, and they also exceeded even the band
members’ expectations:
The chemistry was still intact.
Today, as the band continues to tour widely, it’s not unusual for the subdudes
to
get together a few days before a tour starts to work on new
songs.
“It’s a very delicate thing, because it’s very competitive,” Magnie
says of the collaborative process. “Each
idea is precious to somebody. So, if an idea gets thrown aside or challenged,
you
have
to work through things like that.
But it really does make for the best material in the end. ... You have
to
take
a team approach and hope that the sum is greater than
the parts. That’s
kind of what has happened for us.”
Q&A with John Magnie
Q: Is there a story behind
the soul patch? How long have you had it?
A: I copied it straight off
another piano player – a guy named Larry
Neef from Caspar, Wyoming. I thought
it looked cool
on him, and I just started wearing it. Had
it since
I was 21, and I'm 55 now – so, 34 years. Whew, I
didn't realize that! I've had a whole beard before, but
it was still under there (laughs).
Q:
One of the many influences on the subdudes' sound is gospel.
But, growing up Catholic in the West, how did you first
hear
and get into gospel music?
A:The Catholic music is what
might've driven me to gospel (laughs). I think that when
I first heard gospel music on recordings, as a musician,
I just loved the depth of it. And then I thought there
was
a certain advantage that gospel music has, just in that
it is inspired by a source deeper, maybe, or higher than
your typical barroom or bedroom song. And the grooves in
gospel music are just the greatest – it’s really
great music to play. But when I got down to New Orleans,
… then I got to go hear and see it! The experience
of praise
and worship where you can just put your whole body into
it – you dance to praise God – it just felt
like something that was really right to me. As opposed
to the
Catholic – almost guilt – if you were to move around and
call that some kind of praise. … I've really just
loved gospel music as long as I've been hearing music.
Q:
Tell us about the time you helped recover Lucille, B.B.
King’s guitar that was stolen.
A: The great part about it
is that I got credit, but I didn't really do it! We opened
for B.B. King over at Old Man River’s – this was Little
Queenie and the Percolators, and I think Sonny Landreth
played guitar with us that night. But the guitar was stolen
while we were on stage playing. B.B. King’s piano player
saw the guy taking off, so he ran out, got his license
plate.
The cops went to his house, and he was sitting on his sofa
holding the guitar – he was playing a song, didn't
get to even finish a whole song before he got busted! I
was
given credit for being the one to catch the robber, but
I was actually playing at the time.
Q:
I've heard that you carry around with you a notebook of
lyric ideas.
A: I've been doing it for
35 years. I have many notebooks – full of whole songs,
full of ideas, full of phrases. I'm a note guy, I have
lists
of things in my pocket all the time. Any time I hear anything,
a catchphrase, or think of something, I write it down.
That’s
a large part of songwriting – catching those things
and cataloging them and then trying to distill them.
To
catch them, you just have to be ready for them, just open
your ears to things and hear a song in everything.
Lagniappe
(a little something extra thrown in...)
Q:
Who has the best po-boys?
A: I would think Frankie and
Johnny’s – the oyster po-boy. Pretty much over the
years they've been real good, consistent. Always tasty.
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Timeline
April
7, 1949 – Born in Abilene, Texas,
where his father worked on oil rigs.
circa 1952 – Moves
with family to Denver, Colo., his parents' hometown.
circa 1967 – Picks
up the guitar.
circa 1967 – Begins
attending college at area schools, including Colorado State
University in Fort Collins.
1970 – Begins
playing piano.
1970 – Joins
his first band, the Righteous Meatball Boogity Band. Initially
he sings and plays harmonica in the blues band.
circa 1971 – Moves
with band members to a town near Steamboat Springs where
they form a commune at a ranch.
circa 1972-74 – Drifts
through New Mexico and into Austin, Texas, supporting himself
playing solo piano gigs.
October 1974 – Moves
to New Orleans, the home of two of his piano-playing idols.
winter 1974 – Works
with Jim Stapleton and the Cavaliers, playing country music
in Belle Chasse and other West Bank communities around New
Orleans.
circa 1974-1976 – Plays
with the Deacon John band – his main gig in New Orleans
for several years, often backing featured singers
such as Irma Thomas, Benny Spellman, Ernie K-Doe and others.
spring 1975 – Joins
and plays piano and clavinet with Blackmale, a popular R&B
band in New Orleans.
circa late 1975-circa
1978 – Forms the Johnny Zimple
Band with David Malone (later of the Radiators) and Malone’s
then-wife, Susie.
early 1977-circa 1983 – Forms
and leads the Percolators with vocalist
Leigh “L'il Queenie” Harris.
early 1983-1986 – Continues
working with Harris and her husband Bruce MacDonald as “L'il
Queenie and the Skin Twins.”
1983-1986 – Holds
down a regular solo piano gig at the Gazebo near the French
Market in New Orleans.
circa 1984 – Forms
a short-lived band, “The Works,” with Tommy Malone.
1984-1987
– Forms the Continental Drifters with
former Percolators Tommy Malone and Kenneth Blevins. Membership
later includes Johnny Ray Allen and Jimmy Messa, among many
others.
1986 – Releases
first solo album, “Now Appearing,” recorded
live at Tipitina’s in
New Orleans.
1986 – Begins
playing accordion
March
15, 1987 – the subdudes perform for the first
time – at Tipitina’s.
October 1987 –
Moves to Fort Collins, Colo.
early 1989-November 1996 –
After signing their first big contract, the subdudes release
four studio CDs and tour widely before calling it quits.
January
1994 – Organizes
the first of three informal get-togethers in Fort Collins
that are recorded and released (only on cassette) annually
as “The
Parlor Sessions.”
The sessions feature Magnie, Amedee and more than a dozen
other Fort Collins musicians.
March
1997 – Works on a
thus-far unreleased
album by Anders
Osborne, “New Madrid.”
early 1998 – Tours with Fort Collins
musician Celeste Krenz, playing keyboards.
March
1998 – Releases “Magnie,” his first post-subdudes CD.
It contains the original
versions of “Like a Ghost” and “If Wishing Made It So.”
March-April 1998 – Mounts a small solo tour
to promote the “Magnie” CD, including opening some shows for artists
such as the Radiators, Marcia Ball, Keb' Mo' and Jerry Jeff Walker. Tim Cook
accompanies him on percussion and harmony vocals on occasion.
circa July 1998 – Steve Amedée begins
joining Magnie (and Tim Cook) at live performances.
June 1998 – Joins Sam Bush on stage at the
Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Two songs recorded at the festival featuring
Magnie are released on Bush’s “Peaks
of Telluride” CD. Magnie and Cook also perform at an informal workshop
during the festival.
February 1999 – Magnie,
Amedée and Cook begin calling themselves Magpie and perform throughout
the Front Range area of Colorado.
spring 1999 – Reunites with Leigh “Little
Queenie” Harris for her album, “House of Secrets.” Magnie plays
keyboards and accordion on several songs, and contributes two new tunes (plus
a
third song co-written with Harris years earlier).
spring 1999 – Magpie hits the road,
performing in New Orleans at the Jazz & Heritage Festival (where they were
joined on stage by Tommy Malone), Austin at the South by Southwest Conference
and many other cities.
May 1999 – Gambit weekly of New Orleans
calls Magpie’s jazzfest performance the “Best Jazz Fest Debut.”
very late 1999-early 2000 – Magpie
briefly becomes Coot. Soon Magnie, Amedée and Cook settle on the name 3 Twins.
May 2000 – The
3 Twins release an 11-song version of “Trinkets,” a mostly re-recorded,
expanded and more polished version of an identically titled CD released the
previous year
by Magpie. Some of the highlights include “Julianne,” “If
Wishin' Made It So” and “The Rain Song.” All three would
be re-recorded for the subdudes' “Miracle Mule” CD (although the
new recording of “Julianne” thus far has not been released).
2001– The
3 Twins release “Post Trinkets” – a long-awaited follow-up
to “Trinkets.”
It includes contributions from Sonny Landreth, Anders Osborne, Jay Clear,
Tommy Malone, the Iguanas, Dave Easley,
the Bluegrass Patriots, and many others. One of the songs, “Country
Child,” was featured prominently at many of the early Dudes reunion
shows.
October 26, 2001 – Magnie
reunites on stage with Tommy Malone, who was in Denver performing
a
show with his solo band. Talks ensue about working
together again.
February 2002 – The
Tommy Malone Band and the 3 Twins combine
to form
the
six-member Dudes, which includes three of the four original
subdudes.
December 2002 – The
3 Twins and Celeste Krenz release a Christmas CD, “Christmas … Through
My Baby’s Eyes.”
March
2003 – The
Dudes scale back to a five-piece band and revive the
name “subdudes.”
April 2004 – The subdudes'
first studio album in eight years, “Miracle Mule,” is
released.
John’s
gear
With the
subdudes, John primarily uses:
Accordion
Baldoni Combo 2
Keyboard
Yamaha P-80 electric piano
Electronics
reverb box, EQ pedal, reverb pedal (used with accordion)
Discography
  
  
Here’s a look at a handful of the albums on which John
Magnie has appeared. (Click the cover for
more information.)
MP3
Here are
some excerpts of recordings featuring John Magnie:
 Splendid Company – This
is one of John Magnie's earliest recorded lead vocals and
comes from an LP released in New Orleans by Ron Cuccia and
the Jazz Poetry Group, which consisted of Cuccia, a
local poet and songwriter, on vocals; Magnie on piano and
vocals, Leigh "Little
Queenie" Harris on vocals; Ramsey McLean on bass and
cello; Charles Neville (of the Neville Brothers) on sax and
vocals;
and Ricky Sebastian on drums and percussion. The recording
is from the group's self-titled LP, released in late 1979.
Listen to this mp3
excerpt.
It’s So
Hard – Much
of the subdudes’ early repertoire actually dates to
the Little Queenie & the Percolators period. Here’s
a live audience recording of one of John Magnie’s songs
that would be featured 13 years later on the "Annunciation" CD.
This version features
Magnie on lead vocals with harmony vocals from Leigh Harris
and Tommy Malone. L'il Queenie and the Percolators recorded
live at the Dream Palace,
May 1, 1981. Listen
to this
mp3 excerpt.
Like
a Ghost – Leigh “Little
Queenie” Harris released this version of Magnie’s
song in April 1999 on her “House of Secrets” CD.
Magnie doesn't actually appear on this recording of
one of his best songs,
but it's stunning nonetheless. (Magnie’s
own version of this song can be found on the “Magnie” solo
CD, as well as the 3 Twins' “Post Trinkets” CD.
Listen to this mp3
excerpt.
Big
Time Dreamer – Originally found on the
3 Twins' "Post Trinkets" CD, this rocking live
version was recorded at the Little Bear Saloon, a great little
club in
Evergreen,
Colo., on April 22, 2001, and features harmony vocals from
Steve Amedée and Tim Cook. Listen to this mp3
excerpt. |
