Session musician extraordinaire AL PERKINS spoke to broadcaster Mike Rimmer

Big Dog 3

Al: Yes, second call. So I went and got it and went out to Record Plant and it was getting kind of late by that time - probably 11.30. There wasn't a lot going on down there but I was peeking in these rooms - there wasn't a manager there at the desk. I was about ready to give up, thinking they'd already gone and the last studio I went in I saw an R&B session going on. I could hear the music and I could see the Blackberry background singers. So I said do you guys know where Joe Walsh is? And they said yeah, are you the banjo player? And I said yeah. They said they're waiting for you. Come on in. So I went in there and Joe shook my hand and said I'll get the artists to come out and show you the song. So I set up out there and they put a microphone on and they started running the song. There are all these push beats and I said what do you want? Five string rolling or strumming? Anything you want to do is fine. So I did it and it turned out to be "Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing".

Mike: I heard a session that you did with an American singer based in Germany called Robin Casey and there was a fantastic version of an old hymn, "Rock Of Ages". She sang it and you guys were playing - I don't know who was playing with you. She did a guide vocal in the booth and at the end of the song you said don't change that, leave it as it is. You don't remember that do you?

Al: No, I don't remember that. You'll have to send me a copy of that.

Mike: I'll send you an mp3. I would imagine there's a whole load of sessions that have just been erased from your mind cos you've played with so many people.

Al: Gosh, yes. I've never even stopped to figure that out. I just came from a session awhile ago with a new up and coming artist. He's got a lot of new songs that were really good, too. You run into that so often in this town. In fact there are a lot of things that we record that never see the light of day that I think are really good. But it's that way. Some make it out and some don't.

Mike: Are you expensive?

Al: I never really got into charging double scale, you know, unless the budget permits. Other people tell me that you should be doing that. Usually people are on such tight budgets these days that they're trying to get everything done in a minimal amount of time and cost. I just usually use the union scale for my playing.

Mike: How did you get into record production?

Al: We were working with Tom Dowd, who has since passed away. I consider him as America's version of George Martin. I told him I'd been asked to produce a record and I wanted to know if I could sit with him and learn. We were up in Colorado recording and he said sure. Get your pencil and paper and sit down here and ask away and I'll tell you what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I couldn't have paid for the education that I got from him - about panning and recording and positioning and all those things. I still have my notes from him - microphones and silhouettes, what numbers they were, how he used them, where he placed them. I learned a lot from him. Actually I got a compliment from the mastering lab when we mastered "Can It Be". I remember seeing Don Henley on the street one day and I gave him a copy of it. I don't know if he ever listened to it at all.

Mike: So you got into production and sessions and that's been your life ever since, has it?

Al: Yeah. I did a lot of records when I was out in California. Strangely enough, though, when I came here it seemed to revert into session kind of things. I joined with Emmylou for a time in the '90s with the Nash Ramblers which were acoustic, dobro and stuff. Now I'm just playing on other people's records. God hadn't got me into production all that much.

Mike: Big Dog 3 is your band at the moment. Tell me about them.

Al: It began as a band concept. We've hardly had time to get together and play out too much. We've done two little trips over to the UK and I may go again, based on this album, this summer. We just had this idea to do a little project. So I put some of my songs on it and it's got one from the Fleetwood Mac old catalogue. And I do an instrumental on it. There's a gospel song on it called "Born To Believe", which I really do like. I borrowed that from Danny Flowers and Mr Nicholson.

Mike: So what about the future then? You don't look like the kind of guy who's going to retire.

Al: No, I don't want to retire. I just really enjoy playing. So as long as God's got me working, I'll work. We have some other guys and gals that we ask to come out sometimes. We'll play at a restaurant sometimes just for fun. That's been a lot of fun and that may even develop into a recording project, you never know. We just enjoy playing in whatever surroundings we have an opportunity to play in. We get to talk to a lot of people that way too.

Mike: I was going to ask you whether you've still got the same passion that you had in the '70s when you were trying to lead people to Jesus that you were playing with. Are you still the same Al Perkins in that regard?

Al: I haven't been out on the beach lately with tracts. But I do take advantage if there's an opening. We really like to do that, try to share. The more you're around people and see how life treats them and how they're going through different issues, it really gives you an opportunity to talk to them a little bit about it and talk to them about the Lord. Also offer to pray for them - that's a great thing too, whether they're believers or not. You just never know who's going to accept him, you know. We're in such a state right now in the world where there are so many things going on, we're obviously a day or two closer to him coming back. So we sure want to see as many people accept Christ as we can possibly see.