“I don’t cowl songs, I un-cover songs. I carry nice songs again to life,” quips legendary singer/guitarist Jim Kweskin, who continues that custom on his newest album, Doing Issues Proper, with a band dubbed the Berlin Corridor Saturday Night time Evaluation.

That full-bodied ensemble contains bassist Matthew Berlin (who co-produced the album with Kweskin), fiddler Matt Leavenworth, and trumpeter Annie Linders. Visitor vocalists are Racky Thomas and longtime Kweskin collaborator Samoa Wilson. Rounding it out are acoustic flat picker Titus Vollmer and lap metal guitar grasp Cindy Cashdollar, the only real amplified voice.

The 14 songs date again to the ’20s, amongst them are jazz favorites like “Viper Mad,” blues antiquities “Casey ’n Invoice” and “Farewell Daddy Blues,” and the pop requirements “Mona Lisa,” “I Get the Blues When It Rains” and “We’ll Meet Once more.” Two numbers, “4 or 5 Instances” and “Proper or Unsuitable” are classic pop-jazz favorites additionally related to Western swing, and “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone” is a ballad popularized by nation singer/pianist Moon Mullican.

Talked about within the Bob Dylan biopic A Full Unknown, the Connecticut-born Kweskin launched his profession across the similar time as Dylan. Within the winter of 1961-’62, they carried out along with singer Peter Stampfel on the Gaslight Café in Greenwich Village. Every did a solo set, then, “The fourth was the three of us collectively. It was enjoyable. We have been all children in our early 20s.”

Kweskin thought-about the late singer/songwriter Spider John Koerner a private favourite.

Impressed by the unique black jug bands of the Nineteen Twenties, Kweskin made his title within the ’60s main the rollicking (and extremely influential) Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Amongst its alumni are singer Maria Muldaur, then-husband singer/guitarist Geoff Muldaur, violinist Richard Greene, and banjoist Invoice Keith.

Their sound impressed New York’s Even Dozen Jug Band with John Sebastian (who took that sound to the Lovin’ Spoonful), the unique Nitty Gritty Grime Band, Mom MaChree’s Uptown Jug Stompers with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Dan Hicks and his Sizzling Licks.

After the Kweskin Jug Band dissolved within the ’70s, his musical focus was unchanged, and Doing Issues Proper options “a much bigger band than I often play with – a cross between nation and conventional New Orleans fashion jazz and Western swing all bunched collectively.”

As he has for the reason that starting, he recorded reside within the studio.

“I’ve by no means executed something however reside data. Once you’re enjoying with a band, you do belongings you didn’t anticipate. You get impressed by the opposite musicians they usually push you, and it makes you do one thing completely different. That doesn’t occur whenever you lay tracks down.”

Since his youth, fingerpicking has been his specialty, impressed by Merle Travis and significantly Mississippi John Harm. Likewise, his instrument alternative has by no means modified.

“I’ve solely used one type of guitar in my total skilled profession and it’s a Martin D-18.”

He purchased his first in 1959 at Wurlitzer Music in Boston.

“I wished a D-28 as a result of I heard it was a greater guitar, however I didn’t have $300; I had $200, so I settled for a D-18with a hardshell case. I nonetheless have that guitar, however I retired it about 20 years in the past. [Martin’s] Dick Boak picked one for me that I’ve been playin’ ever since. It’s from 2010 or so. I’ve performed D-28s and the D-18, for the best way I play, is healthier. It was fortuitous for me to solely be capable of afford the D-18, as a result of I received the right instrument for me. You desire a sturdy bass tone, – decrease strings carry the rhythm – and the D-18 has good, sturdy bass and a really crisp higher register. I by no means felt the necessity to look any additional. Mates of mine have (newer) guitars they usually’re completely high quality, however I fell in love with the D-18 and I’ve been devoted to it ever since.”

Martin Marquis are his most well-liked strings, and “I take advantage of a thumb decide – no matter suits – and Dunlop .013 fingerpicks, that are very versatile. I can transfer ’em round and form ’em to my finger.”

At 85 and with over two dozen albums underneath his belt, Kweskin is planning another.

“I’ve a bunch of songs I’ve been performing that I’ve by no means recorded and need to get on the market earlier than I can’t do it anymore. I’m gonna do it with a a lot smaller group, perhaps bass and a fiddle to again me up.

“I’ve been blessed,” he says of his longevity. “I didn’t do loads of ingesting or smoking, which in all probability has one thing to do with it. It’s genes, and I’m simply fortunate.” – Wealthy Kienzle

This text initially appeared in VG’s July 2025 concern. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.