Beat Your Heart Out™‪️‬ Maureen Buscareno

Wonder Where I Even Start: an interview with Detroit musician Eddie Baranek

Today’s guest is Detroit musician Eddie Baranek. Some of you may know him from his band, The Sights. He’s also played with KO and the Knockouts, The Come Ons, The Detroit Cobras, Scott Morgan, and others. Eddie is an accomplished musician and songwriter, who has toured all over the US and Europe. He was also nominated for an Emmy in 2011 as songwriter for the theme of PBS’s Under The Radar Michigan and was also the Michigan Notable Book Award recipient in 2014 for, Taken Alive: The Sights’ Rock and Roll Tour Diary, all about their tour with Jack Black’s band Tenacious D. Eddie’s latest band is The Scrappers. The song in the background is Feel Love off of their self titled album. This is taken from The Scrapper’s About page: The Scrappers are a rock'n'roll quartet from Detroit, sweetening their ragged-but-right roots with echoes of pedal steel from Laurel Canyon and harmonies that stick like the brotherly honey of the Everlys or the Burritos. Hooks that beg, borrow and steal. The Scrappers feature Eddie on vocals, guitar, and piano; plus Dave Lawson on vocals/bass, Ben Luckett on drums, and Pete Ballard on pedal steel.

Eddie and I chatted about how he started his first band in high school and what it was like playing clubs when most of the kids his age were wondering about who they were taking to the prom. If you’ve never seen Eddie on stage he’s larger than life and full of joy, always smiling and putting everything into his performance. He’s usually playing his trusty ‘65 Gibson ES-330 Hollow Body guitar and surrounded by some of the best musicians in the business. If you don’t know Eddie’s music, I suggest you give yourself a treat and pick up his new self titled album he put out with The Scrappers.

Eddie’s book, “Taken Alive: The Sights’ Rock and Roll Tour Diary” is out of print, but Eddie has some copies available for anyone who would like to purchase a copy. It’s a tour diary that spans The Sights’ tour of the U.S. and Europe with Tenacious D. There are some great stories of what it’s like to be backstage at legendary venues like The Red Rocks Amphitheatre and how glamorous it really is living on the road. Fast food anyone? Eddie is slowly sorting through The Sights archives from 1998 on and is toying around with the idea of releasing some of the live recordings at some point.

Yes, there are a few familiar faces in his new band who performed and toured with Eddie in The Sights, but you have to remember that Eddie started The Sights when he was in high school and maybe he just needed a break from those songs for a bit. If you miss The Sights move on over to The Scrappers and give them a listen. You’ll hear bits of Big Star, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and killer pedal steel guitar, thanks to Pete Ballard. Glom onto the sweet vocals and bass from Dave Lawson and the killer drumming from Ben Luckett. Dave and Ben create a tight rhythm section and the band seems to breathe like they are one person.

I always joke with Eddie about our mutual love of The Band. We took Eddie to see Big Pink last time he was in the area with his wonderful wife Nicole. “Feel Love”, off of The Scrapper’s debut album was written for Nicole and you can see her in the video for the song.

I do hear some of the Americana roots and attention to melody and storytelling in a lot of this record. Take a listen to the song, “Feel Love”, the opening track on the record, and you’ll hear the groove, genuineness, and love that I’m talking about. Great guitar licks, melodies, and harmonies, with a beat you can dance to...I can’t wait for the world to open up again to see Eddie and The Scrappers perform and you should head out and see them too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ5Ms1X5N8Y

In the meantime, pick up a copy of The Scrappers debut album: https://www.thescrappersband.com/shop/the-scrappers

https://dekedickerson.com/
https://moonoverthetrees.com Deke Dickerson is known by many in the Rockabilly, Country, Garage Punk, and guitar world as a phenomenally talented and fun performer. Boy, did we cover a lot of ground in this interview. I hope you enjoy it. Whatever genre Deke is playing you can’t help but hear the joy he takes in all he does.
He’s also a collector. Like a modern day Alan Lomax searching for lost songs and forgotten talented artists he loves keeping their stories and music alive. He also adds to the tradition with his original compositions. Speaking of collecting, Deke is also known for his garage sale finds in a wonderful world of weirdness that he shares with his fans on Facebook. He’s collected some interesting things, even a pink toilet that he found in a home that Merle Travis lived in in Oklahoma.
Speaking of Merle Travis, Deke is also an accomplished writer and music historian and has a book on Country legend, Merle Travis coming out in the spring of 2021. Surprisingly this is one of the first Biographies written about Merle Travis. Deke commented that, “Anybody who would enjoy a biography of Johnny Thunders would enjoy a biography of Merle Travis.” We talk about how the book came to be, Merle’s legacy, and how Merle came up with the concept for modern electric solid body guitar which was made by Paul Bigsby in 1948.