Would you tell us where you grew up and when you started to listen to music what kind of music were you listening to?

Well I, I grew up in West Virginia, place called Fairmont. And I used to listen to the station KDKX out of Pittsburgh that played big band music and I become interested in it then. But I had thought fooling around with piano. My parents bought me a piano when I was at the age of about five or six years-old. And when they moves into the house, I sat down and start messing over it and I struck up a tune that everybody know who I, what I was playing it. At that time it was called "Chopped Sticks". So I just kept developing and developing until I got where I am today.

What was your favorite kind of music as you were growing up?

Well I was used to, you know, living in a coalmine district where it was all blues mostly. You have these, what they call barrelhouse dance in private homes and whatever. And it be just the piano player and beer would be all over the place and they'd be playing and singing the blues. Well at that time I think we had singers like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters and those kind of type of blues.

Could you say you grew up listening mostly to blues and then play a little bit of the kind of music you used to hear.

Well…

Start again. Repeat what you said before in a short way, etc..

Yeah well I, I grew up around blues that was just piano playing women singers or men singers and they was playing blues with the, what they call now, they call it, ah, Kansas City Shuffle.

Tell me that story that Sharon was referring to.

Oh when I was, as I told you, I started messing around with the piano, I was very young. Well at the age of about eight or nine I really could play tunes that people understand. And they could really dance to it so I had a uncle that was real crazy about my playing so like my mother would put me to bed at night, he would come and steal me out of the bed and take me to these ____ houses, ha, ha. And, ah, I'd be sitting up there playing in my pajamas whatever and the people would be dancing, home brew would be all over the top of the piano and so forth. And my mother would come get me, put me all the way back home. My uncle would cut out on me, you know he disappeared and, and this would repeatedly happen and just about every weekend. So I guess it's got in my blood that I was going to be a musician or was crazy about music of whatever. So and as I said, developed on it until I really got into it. Well I actually got interested in being in, a musician professionally when I went in the marines. I got with this, what they call a special service band. And they had musicians in there from all big bands, some like Count Basie, Glenn Millers and, and what, and I was fortunate enough to be the piano player with these people. And I say, this is it, this is it. When I get in civilian life I, I will get back into the business and I got into it so now it's developed into a pretty fair living.

When you came to St. Louis and the band you started here in '52, what kind of music you were playing, what the instruments were, how Chuck Berry came to join that band.

Okay, well back in that time we were playing standard tunes, it mostly was music but I mean was music scores that was written out such as "Stardust" and things of that sort. And I was playing in this club called the Cosmopolitan in East St. Louis. And, ah, one particular week-end my saxophone player got sick and couldn't make it, so I had met Chuck previously because he was playing right up the street from me and I used to go up there, I'd always finish first and I'd go up and listen to him 'cause they didn't have a piano player and I'd just go up and listen. So I had his number and I give him a call and ask him would he fill in for me that one night, you know. And he did. And that one night lasted about 28 to 30 years, see. We started in '53 and I stayed with him up until '73 regular. Then after he started traveling going over in Europe I, I wasn't the type to fly so I would stay home till he got back and then we would hook up and start out again.

Describe the small band you had that Chuck Berry then became a part of. Could you play a little bit, show us the kind of music that band was doing.

Okay, well we were doing strictly, well, it wasn't called rock and roll then but that's all it was, it was just some shuffle [plays piano] which is nothing but rock and roll but that wasn't the name, it was just, just old blues, you know. And this was the type music we were playing in this club. And then Chuck come up with this strange kind of music of his, was called - Ida Red, which was hillbilly music. And they would perform a little circle of people in the club would form a circle and they'd start a square dance. In other words it was a big hit. Well, as you know, people are always looking for something different. And this was different. So he decided to take it to Chicago to Chess Records, well he took it to several recording companies and they turned him down. So Leonard Chess say, well, I give it a try. He say but you can't, you can't have it named Ida Red 'cause there's another group in Nashville, Tennessee is already playing Ida Red. So we changed a few lyrics around and then, ah, we didn't know what the name is. So we looked under the window and there was a mascara box with Maybelline written on it. So Leonard Chess say, let's lame it Maybelline. So then he had to do some more changing with the words. And we did "Maybelline". And we did on the back of that, we did this, ah, this blues "Wee Wee Hours" [plays piano]. And I thought that would be the side because that's what I was used to playing in blues, you know, I thought that would be the A side. They had A and B side back in those times and "Maybelline" was the A side and it sold over a million copies less than six weeks time. And that's when we got this big, ah, tour, this 101, 101 nighters.

Demonstrate how "Maybelline" had more of a country feel to it compared to "Wee Wee Hours".

[plays piano]. And he starts singing lyrics but this was the background of the music, just chop, chop, chop, chop. And he would put the lyrics to it. And, ah, it was rock and roll then. You, you know how rock and roll got the name, through, what's his name, Alan Freed, yeah.

Let me ask you that one again. Could you say etc..

Well to start off with this record "Maybelline" it, ah, this was a part of it that I played [plays piano] that was my part of, of "Maybelline" playing as he was singing the lyric and just repeated itself over and over for about seven and eight ly., lyrics that he was doing on it.

Did people know that he was a black man?

Ah, no, this, this was funny, I mean we went on tour, there's lot of places we played that, ah, when they would call Chuck Berry out, well the drummer and I would already be out and they would call him out on the stage and there would be a lot of ooh, ahh, you know like this ain't supposed to be a black man, it supposed to be a white man singing this kind of song, you know. And while he was getting his self together and you could hear through the crowd - "I thought he was white". "I thought he was white". And then he would strike out on his song, you know. So it was really a novelty on that deal 'cause a lot of places we played until he got there, they thought he was white on account of the songs he was singing.