The Catalyst interview: Randall Bramblett

With a CV going back more than five decades, to the seminal 1970s Southern rock/jazz fusion band Sea Level, Randall Bramlett is an A-list singer/songwriter and musician. As a solo artist, the native of Jesop, Georgia creates a smart blend of swampy, keyboard-based R&B, infused with rock, funk, jazz and more.

There exists an encyclopedia of published superlatives about Bramblett, from his one-time bandmates to the artists who called on him for session and road work: The likes of Bonnie Raitt, Gregg Allman, Marc Cohn and Steve Winwood, who hand-picked Bramblett to play saxophone and keyboards on his Roll With It tour, and kept him in his group for more than a decade.

Bramblett and his band perform Saturday at the Safety Habor Music and Art Center; he’s touring behind his 13^th solo album, Paradise Breakdown.

(“This is a man who doesn’t miss,” raved a reviewer for Americana Highways. “He lives at the edge of American roots music, without ever repeating himself or losing his altitude. There is something surely regal about Randall Bramblett’s songs, like he knows the high road is best for him, and doesn’t dip below the line for cheap thrills.”)

Bramblett called from his home in Athens, Georgia.

St. Pete Catalyst: With songs like “The Circus” and “Round and Round the Sun,” it would appear you’re thinking about mortality on this record.

Randall Bramblett: Well, part of it is because I’ve had some dear friends pass on in the last year or so. Tommy Talton. And Davis Causey. Davis was my best friend since ’69, I guess. We played together most of the whole time. That, and just my own aging and realizing that time is not infinite for me, you know? For anybody. And you start actually realizing that … I think that’s probably where the mortality stuff’s coming from.

As a musician, as an artist, is the goal different these days than it was 50 years ago? What’s the goal now, just to express yourself and enjoy what you’re doing?

Yeah, just try to keep making good records. That’s important to me, even though the whole business has changed. And I don’t sell much any more – I never did sell a lot anyways, but even less now. I’ve accepted that, and there’s other ways to get heard. And I think just being able to make a good record like Paradise Breakdown is enough. And to be able to play good venues like Safety Harbor; I don’t try to play a lot. I mean, I don’t try to make any bar date that I can take. I don’t really do bars any more.

After Covid, I realized how much I enjoyed being at home. I hadn’t been at home this long for, I don’t know, decades. And it was kind of nice. Eventually I started wanting to go out and play, but I don’t really want to spend a lot of time sitting in a van … like we’re gonna do this weekend! For eight hours or whatever.

We do it on special occasions. But it’s just been nice bringing it in some, reeling it in, and just playing the gigs we want to play around Asheville, Savannah, Atlanta, Knoxville, Nashville. Places that are not too far.

Was there a time all the way back – like Sea Level time – when you though “I’m gonna be a big star. That’s what I want.” Did you want that?

I wanted to be successful more than we were with Sea Level. I wanted that to grow. But I don’t think I ever wanted to be a big star. And now, even less. All that big star stuff comes with a price, you know. It just eats you up, and you gotta be busy all the time, and you gotta pay more and more people … it’s just nice to have it scaled back. To me, success means writing the songs and making a good album with the people that I love working with. And that’s good enough.

Tell me about your band. I imagine they have other gigs, because you don’t really tour that much.

Yeah. Tom Ryan’s playing bass on this run. I’ve been playing with Tom for 20 or more years. We play horn together with Widespread Panic, when they use horns, and he’s played bass with me for a long time. And Seth Hendershot, on drums, we’ve been playing maybe 15 years together. Nick Johnson [guitar], probably 12 years – he’s the newest member of the group, and the youngest. He’s been a real shot in the arm for me to want to keep playing, we just have such a great connection and a good time playing. All of ‘em are just fantastic. They all play with different groups. This is the main group, but they all have other things. Seth owns a great coffee house/venue here in Athens [Hendershot’s], so he’s busy all the time. And Nick plays with about 10 different groups in Atlanta. Tom does, too.

Turning the clock back: When you joined Steve Winwood’s touring band in the ‘80s, you were all but retired from music?

I was actually semi-retired. I moved to New Orleans for about eight years; I met my wife down there. She had a young daughter. Not much was happening in my career, so I went back to school and got a social work degree. I talked them into coming up here while I went to school. And I thought I’d just be playing around the area, or not much at all … I was prepared to do that, but then I got that call from Steve Winwood’s people. He’s always been an inspiration of mine, a hero of mine, I listened to Traffic all through college. I talked to my wife and I said “Yeah, I’ll go on this tour.” We went all over the world on that tour. Then they called me back for the next one, and then all the other ones for 16 years, I kept getting called back.

And eventually it kinda faded for me. And they got somebody else, too, so that was good.

How’s that social work degree working out for you? Do you talk to the band guys when they’re having personal issues?

Yeah, I try to do a little group counseling on their asses.

[Laughing] No, it has come in handy though. I only worked for a couple of years in a family counseling place. I learned a lot, but I found it was not for me. It’s just too draining. I really wanted to write songs and play music. I just wasn’t able to do it for a while and make a living – once I got a family, I had to think about actually being responsible for a change. So that’s why I got the degree.

After I got the Winwood call, I went back for a little while, but then I got called again. I got a publishing deal. And I was back in, full force.

Tickets for Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. concert in Safety Harbor are available at this link.