Eric Kwiatkowski

Visit the Official Charlie Waller website

NWBN: First of all Mr, Waller, could you tell us which part of the States you come from?

CW: I was born in Jointerville, Texas, which is in east Texas, but my father, all my people, were from Louisiana, so we really lived in Louisiana, but he was just over there at the time working, and that’s where I was born - in Texas and raised in Louisiana.

NWBN: How did you start in music? Was there music in your family?

CW: Yes my mother played the piano in church but it was mostly just for the love of music. Every Saturday night we’d get to listen to the Opry on the radio. I had a real love of music - I got a harmonica at a young age. It was during the war when you couldn’t buy metal toys - like harmonicas which have these metal parts I had an old one, with the wooden sides missing, so I made some new ones I tried to play everything that I could find - even a tuning flute (guitar pitch pipes) (laughs) - it had only six notes! I thought, “this is no good, I need another harmonica!” ... but I played harmonica first, and it was something that the teacher would get me up in school to play in the audience and on stage. I was always into singing, and I remember running around the classroom as a small boy singing “White Christmas” and the teacher made me get up in front of everybody and sing “White Christmas” (laughs) - but that may have been the start.

NWBN: The start of your performing career - which leads us very nicely to the next question: did you begin playing music in Bluegrass? I’ve always thought that with your voice you could have sung “mainstream” Country music also?

CW: Well, I started out more or less into what was Country music then - I’d never heard Bluegrass. When I did hear it, I heard some of the early things that Flatt and Scruggs and Reno and Smiley did, and I just flipped over it - I loved it - 1 wanted to do that. Many people have said, “You should go on into Country”. Well, I probably would have done a lot better and had some more success because back then Country music was... it wasn’t like today’s Country music - it was real Country music and I’m not a fan of today’s (laughs) - they use the word Country music but it’s really not, to me. A lot of it’s very good stuff, but I’m not a real fan of it and I don’t listen to it. I like real “old-time” Country music and Bluegrass - that’s something good - gives me goose bumps.

NWBN: Who were the founder members of the Country Gentlemen?

CW: They were John Duffey, myself, and the very first banjo player - Bill Emerson . That didn’t last very long, we got Eddie Adcock (in place of Bill Emerson), and that was the combination that got the most recognition. It was Eddie’s innovative style and John’s that came together. The first bass player was Larry Lahey, but that also didn’t last and he wasn’t a well known member. Jim Cox was on our first Folkways album, and later we got Tom Gray, he was there for quite a long time, and then we got Ed.Ferris and Ed.McLaughlin, Bill Yates Ronnie Davis - a whole bunch of them - we’ve had many, many, members of the “Gentlemen”.

NWBN: How did the name originate?

CW: John Duffey. He named the Country Gentlemen. He said, “I’ve got a name” and I liked it - you know, “The Country Gentlemen”, and then in later years John Duffey left because we were travelling too much and he didn’t want to be on the road that much, so he quit, and we got Jimmy Gaudreau then. It’s kind of ironic - about three years later, John and some other boys got together and said they were going to form a band, and I said, “Well - that’ll be seldom seen!” (laughs). They liked it and they took it - so John named the “Gentlemen” and I named the “Seldom Scene” - I didn’t know I was naming them, but they just liked it.

NWBN: How much material is written by band members?

Right: Charlie Waller celebrating
45 years as a Country Gentleman

CW: Hmmm. Instrumentals probably more than anything. A lot of the instrumentals Eddie Adcock wrote - I can’t remember all of them - I know one of them was Nightwalk, Emerson wrote Welcome to New York, and there’s a whole bunch of instrumentals that were written by banjo players that were with us at the time. As far as songs go, usually we get our material from other places.

NWBN: I gather you were barred from certain Bluegrass festivals in the early days because you were considered “progressive”. Did you lose much work at that time? Was it a big problem?

CW: Everybody - the other acts - hated to follow us! We got up and made people clap, and they wouldn’t let us down (off the stage). With that combination of the “Gentlemen”, With Eddie and John, we entertained the people more, and we had what I thought was great harmony. I know what you mean, but no, it never bothered us. As a matter of fact, it helped us.

NWBN: So this is something which has probably been exaggerated in print, then?

CW: We didn’t have the boundaries, say, that Ralph Stanley would have. He’s got to stay within his tradition. We do a jot of the traditional stuff, but we were one of the groups that could do both, and there weren’t a lot of groups that could do both. It’s done us more good than hurt us.

NWBN: For the guitar enthusiasts - can I ask you: what is the guitar with “Charlie Waller” that’s on all your early records - the one with your name on the fingerboard? It looks like a Martin “herringbone”?

CW: It is. It was built in 1937. For years, I thought it was a ’39, but found out a couple of years ago it’s a ’37. It doesn’t make any difference - it’s still an old one. I got it from Earl Taylor, a mandolin player from our area years ago. You’ve probably heard of him? NWBN: Yes I have some of his recordings. CW: He’s passed away now. He’s the fellow that I played with before the “Gentlemen’: and before Buzz Busby. I used to be a “Bayou Boy” too - Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys.... hey, that’s the call for sound checks, I’ve got to go...

NWBN: Pity - Thank you very much for coming over to see us all, and for this afternoon’s workshop session!

CW: You’re welcome. I wish we had more time!

Visit the Official Charlie Waller website

Updated 10th Aug 2002