Jersey Arts Podcast

Roomful of Blues Welcomes First Female Vocalist in Over Fifty Years

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Today, we are highlighting the five-time Grammy Award-nominated band, Roomful of Blues. First formed in 1967, the group touts an impressive tenure approaching almost sixty years in the industry. While some new faces have come and gone in that tenure, the eight-piece blues band is still going strong- most recently welcoming their first female singer, D.D. Bastos, to the octet.

Together, the group has released their latest album “Steppin’ Out” featuring the group’s signature blues, jump, swing and soul sound including timeless gems first cut by Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Jimmy McCracklin, Tiny Bradshaw and more.

Today I was honored to speak with lead guitarist and Roomful producer, Chris Vachon, and lead vocalist, D.D. Bastos, about their latest album, their journey into the band, and their love of the blues. Stay tuned to hear a special musical sneak peek as well.

Thanks for listening!

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Gina Marie Rodriguez:

This is Gina Marie Rodriguez, and you're listening to the Jersey Arts podcast. Today we're highlighting the five-time Grammy Award-nominated band, Room Full of Blues. First formed in 1967, the group touts an impressive tenure, approaching almost 60 years in the industry. While some new faces have come and gone in that tenure, the eight-piece blues band is still going strong, most recently welcoming their first female singer, Lidi Bastus, to the octet. Together, the group has released their latest album, Steppen Out, featuring the group's signature blues, jump, swing, and soul sound, including Timeless Gems, first cut by Etta James, Big Mama Thornton, Jimmy McCracklin, Tiny Bradshaw, and more. Today I was honored to speak with lead guitarist and room full producer Chris Bashaun and lead vocalist D.D. Bastos about their latest album, their journey into the band, and their love of the blues. And you might want to stay tuned to hear a special musical sneak peek as well. Well, hello and happy new year. It is so nice to meet you both. Thank you for being with me on the Jersey Arts podcast today.

Speaker:

Thank you for having us, Gina.

Speaker 2:

Yes, happy new year to you too, and thanks for having us.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Absolutely. I'm looking forward to talking to you about your latest album, Steppin' Out.

Speaker 4:

Yes.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I think that I mean, I was listening to it earlier, right? And I was bopping as I usually do. I have no real rhythm, but that's bopping is the best I can do. We'll take it. I mean, it works. I'm enjoying it. That's really all that matters, right?

Speaker 2:

Excellent. Thank you.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Of course. I think that this album, a lot of people are going to relate to it. And, you know, there's a lot of themes about relationships on here, but I wonder how you go about, and maybe this is a question for Chris. I'm not sure. How do you go about curating an album like this? Because you're essentially highlighting the lesser-known songs of some very well-known artists like Edda James and Big Mama Thornton and Billy the Kid Emerson. So how do you end up producing an album like this?

Speaker:

Um, well, we went through a whole bunch of material. I have a lot of stuff collected over the years from doing other records that uh, you know, we always have a lot of stuff to choose from. So there was a bunch of stuff that I always thought uh would be good to record, but we hadn't done it yet. And then when Didi came in, it presented a great opportunity to actually do that because you know she's female and it the whole thing is different. So we had to change everything around in the in the way that uh, you know, it was a different spin, I guess, if you want to call it that.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

So well, that's a really good segue, I guess, because Didi, you're very new to the band, so I want to talk to you about that as well. What does it feel like for you to be the first female singer of Room Full of Blues?

Speaker 2:

Well, actually, that's uh a pretty heavy mantle to carry, uh, being the first female in an all-male band that had been that way for decades. Uh, but at the same time, it was it was time for that to happen. You know, it was uh it's you can see that there are a lot of when you look at the music industry, you see a lot of females fronting bands. And um so I guess it was time. And it worked out well because I had some material that I could bring to the table that uh was right in in line with what uh Room Full of Blues does. So it was kind of a perfect uh union. And uh I it's been excellent. So um thanks for asking.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Of course. I mean, I can imagine that there's a lot of um both pressure and pride, I guess, that goes along with that. And just joining a band that has been around for gosh, what, over 50 years now? I don't know the exact number, but over 50 years, that's a lot for the both of you. Because uh, if I'm correct, neither of you, well, I know Didi wasn't, but neither of you were founding members. So what is it like to step into an existing group and then continue on?

Speaker 2:

Well, for me, uh, stepping into Roomful in a way was sort of the the um culmination of what I had been doing in the past, but I knew a lot of the uh members of Roomful, so I was familiar with their entire discography and all of their material, and we had been actually, you know, living parallel lines, and the music of, let's say, the the people that had initially uh formed Roomful of Blues, I was very familiar with as well. And at one point had either sat in with them or went to their concerts and listened to their records. So it kind of all fell into place. So it worked out really well that way for me at least. And it's it's a uh it's an interesting concept that we came up with, especially for the cover of the record. We weren't quite sure um how to make it all work to be able to introduce me into the band as a female, and we came up with first of all, the name of the record, which was stepping out. And uh we wanted that to mean you're stepping out to go have a good time, but at the same time, we were stepping into a new era by having a female um at at the helm, so to speak. So the the vintage Corvette sort of represents roomful, a high-powered, well-oiled machine, and then the females uh stepping out and uh being behind the wheel in the driver's seat. So that's how that worked out, and uh yeah, it was it it was almost seamless at that point, and that was something that the record label could get behind, and that it was easy for them to promote.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I love that. I personally love hearing like the behind the scenes of what goes into the artwork and how you how you approach the promotion of the material. But Chris, I I apologize, I didn't want to step on your toes there. Did you have something to add to to entering the group a little bit later? I know you've been there longer.

Speaker:

I entered the band 35 years ago, and I it's hard to remember.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It's been a while, a little bit.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's been a while. Yeah, no, I've had it's been great. I mean, you know, I've had a lot of good times with the band, and um it still continues. So, you know, it's it's nothing that it's something that I I think we're gonna be doing for a long time.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I bring up producing a lot on this podcast, and I feel that it often the definition still eludes me, even though I myself work as a producer in film. When I talk about music or talk with musicians, I don't necessarily know what goes into producing an album. And Chris, I was wondering, since you have tons of experience with that, if you could explain to me, at least using stepping out as an example, what is it that you do in order to put this album together? How do you bring it to life?

Speaker:

Yeah, well, I mean, some of some of it's picking out the material, obviously. And then it's mostly organization, really. It's booking the the studio, booking the rehearsals, making sure everybody's on the same page, making sure we have all the the the horn charts are right. And you know, we do our work ahead of time, and then we go in the studio and just cut the cut the record. Um usually it's it's only like a day and a half for us to do that. Um to actually record the tracks. Then I bring it here at the studio, my my studio, and I mix it here. That takes a lot longer, but I mean, you know, it's uh it's just I guess it's organization, you know, making sure that everything runs at the right speed, and you know, we we don't, you know, spend more money than we have to, and that sort of thing, you know, budget thing. Yeah, you know, making sure we get enough snacks in the studio.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah. Well, that's the most important thing.

Speaker:

Of course it is.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I'm actually really curious about not that this is a music lesson, although it could be, um, what what mixing involves. I mean, is that simply like what I see on TV with people pressing the little dials and moving buttons and stuff?

Speaker:

I mean, you know, when we we we go into a studio and we record multi-track, so everybody has their own track, you know, and then we then I'll take all those tracks and and and put them into my computer, and then I'll mix them so that they all sound like uh, you know, what we what we're supposed to sound like, you know, as a as a song, you know what I mean? So that that that part of it takes a while because you have to kind of shape the sounds and you know use your reverbs and your delays and all of these things, uh EQ and all of that sort of stuff. But that's all done, you know, uh after the fact, after we re actually record the tracks.

Speaker 2:

Well, the engineer does some of that in regards to capturing.

Speaker:

Well, some of it, yeah. But but we usually um usually with EQ like that, you kind of do everything flat. Right. So you can change things later. Yeah.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, I think that's a really important piece of the puzzle. So I do I want to mention that and highlight how important that is and and how important the producer's job is. Because I think there's people like me who who aren't musicians and don't understand that there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. It's not just okay, I'm playing the guitar or I'm singing. There's so much more that goes into making these albums. And I just highlight the work that you do on that end as well.

Speaker:

Well, everybody has to be involved in it too. I mean, everybody pulls together, and you you kind of, as a producer, you have you have to sort of have people feel that way that they're involved in it, you know what I mean? To keep everybody happy, and you know, you don't want to be getting in there and having people arguing and stuff like that.

Speaker 4:

That's true.

Speaker:

Yeah, so it's gotta be a productive uh situation.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I can imagine there's there's a lot to consider there. I want to ask the both of you, um, and again, you've Didi, you've been singing since you were what, five years old? You've you've been in the synistry for a long time. How did you find yourself in this particular genre, both of you? What what drew you to the blues?

Speaker 2:

Well, what drew me was um we used to watch on Sunday afternoons the replay of uh Don Kirschner's rock concert. And uh we're glued to the TV as usual on a Sunday afternoon, my brother and I, and he wanted to watch that show particularly because Journey was on. Now I'm not a big fan of Journey, but it's not to say that they're not a good band. And so we're watching the show, and they stop at one point and they introduce they say, We're we're gonna bring on a someone who's influenced us a lot and we have a lot of respect for, and we'd like him to join us out here on the stage. And so we're wondering, well, who could it be? You know, we're like, wow, this is exciting. And BB King walks out. Yeah, exactly. And you know, I'm what 13, maybe, you know, 13, 14 years old. And my brother and I look at each other like BB King, who's that? And out walks BB King. And we just went, wow, this is amazing. He started singing, started playing, and it was like nothing I had ever heard. It was familiar because it sounded like gospel music, but at the same time, it wasn't gospel, you know. There was it was there was that rock element to it, the rock and roll element, but it was something different. It had this energy, it had this soul to it that was amazing. So, of course, the very next day I when I went to school, I asked my music teacher, have you ever heard of a performer, a guitar player uh called BB King? He goes, Yeah. And he grabs his his guitar and he starts playing and he's he's doing Lucille and he's talking about all of that. And it was really cool because it led to, it was a theory class, as a matter of fact. And uh so he talked about that, you know, and and uh the the theory behind blues and so on and so forth, and and how it led to, you know, what we're listening to today. So that that was my introduction to it. And every couple of weeks we I would go to the library and take out, you know, books and records, and of course I just bolted right for the record bin to look for BB King. And I found the Cook County Jail live performance uh that he did, which is a staple. It's just amazing. And I listened to that until I put a hole in it, and uh and then I of course uh I became curious as to there must be women doing this, and that's discovered Coco Taylor and Edda James and Brown and Laverne Baker and all sorts of other uh, you know, females, and it was just amazing, it was great, and it's been that kind of a journey ever since.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I love that. I mean, you saw that my jaw still drops when I hear BB King. So it is Exactly, exactly. It's exciting. I love it. Chris, how about you? What's your story?

Speaker:

Well, I I uh my sisters brought in the Beatles when I was 63, I was a little kid, and that was what I wanted to be, a Beatle. So I did that, you know, tried to figure out how to play the guitar and all that. And when I when I was about I don't know, about 15, I think, um friend of mine gave me uh Live at the Regal, which is a BB King album. And so when I heard that, it was like, wow, this is uh this is amazing, and this is something that I I'd really like to do too. But um I didn't do it right away. I I still was in a bunch of different bands playing, you know, playing the stuff of the day, and um didn't really get to start really playing blues until I was about 17 or 18. And later on after that, after you know, I I I started to learn from all the all the different masters, and then I heard about Roomful, but it took years and years for me to actually get into the band because they started in the 70s, and you know, I was just still a kid, and so yeah, it took me um I I was in a few other bands where we just did blues basically, and then I finally got the job with Roomful, so it's been that was my journey into it, you know. And never I I've just been doing that ever since, you know.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Well, I love it. You said what, 35 years now?

Speaker:

35, yeah.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Yeah, that's amazing. That's that's the dream for most people to have a job that they love that much that they can stick around for 35 plus years.

Speaker:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's been fun. We've had been able to go, you know, we've been in to over 22 countries and been played everywhere in the States, except for Hawaii. We never haven't done that one yet. But yeah, I've been I've gotten to see a lot of things for 10 minutes.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

Hey, it counts. That's more than a lot of other people.

Speaker:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 4:

I was there.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

So this year, 2026 is the year you're gonna end up in Hawaii, right? That's what we're doing. Yeah, that'd be nice. Yeah. Don't worry, I'm putting it out into the world for you. I've gotten really good at manifesting. 2026 is your year. But I want to talk to you about back to the album itself. Do you have this is the most dangerous question I ask every musician. I do it every time, but do you have a favorite to perform? I know that's a scary one, but everybody secretly has a favorite.

Speaker 2:

Hmm.

Speaker:

Favorite song on the record?

Speaker 2:

On the record? Yeah. Um, well, I enjoy performing You Were Wrong. Um, if for whatever reason, you know, I look out into the audience and people's heads are they're going for it, you know, they love it. And and it moves. It has it has just a really good feel, and and it's it's contemporary blues. So I think people that are into blues are recognize it or recognize the the you know the essence of it. But at the same time, there's that driving beat which reminds them of you know modern rock and roll. So it's it's kind of I like it because it's that amalgam, it's the meeting of of the two genres. So that's one of my favorites.

Speaker:

Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of favorites on there, but I think uh one of them that stands out for me is satisfied because when I heard that years ago, I thought, wow, how raw this is, you know, and we never we never tried it out with any other versions of the band, but um so when we were listening to this stuff, it came up again, and I was like, let's try this, but let's rock it up a little bit, you know what I mean? And that's what we ended up doing. So I I I enjoy playing that song, you know. Yeah, that's a good tool. Definitely.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

This might be a naive question from someone who isn't a musician, but how do you when you're reimagining a song, how is it that you inject new life into it? What is it that or how how do you do that? Is it like transposing the music? Is it just um oh I don't know the proper terminology yet? Like, are you speeding it up? Are you what is the reimagining, if that makes sense?

Speaker:

Um if we're doing a cover, um, which we did most on this this record, um we I think it's just the way the band plays and the background that they have, and we just kind of go, okay, let's let's try this song, and it it comes out a little bit different than just the original, you know what I mean? So I think it's maybe an energy thing. Um we like to swing hard, you know, we like to play whatever we do, we try to put the excitement into it, you know what I mean? So it may vary from the the original a little bit, you know.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, well, I feel that it's important to emulate and not so much imitate. Um you always want to bring your personal um style, your feel, and your own personal interpretation of of the song while maintaining the integrity of the song. So to me, that's how I approach the vocals. Um I didn't want it to be something where I would be either imitating it note for note, but at the same time I didn't want to go so far from the original that it would become somehow um well, you ruin it essentially. You know, there's a reason why you were attracted to the song to begin with, and so you want to maintain that. So I guess the best approach is just to emulate it, to feel it. You know, wh what is it that made you want to do that song and when you attach yourself to that then it just comes out your way and with Rufel they have their own sound their own feel and and it just comes out that way so it's it's really kind of cool. I love that. So it's it's a meeting of the minds too with the band because you also want a feature like for satisfied we were we're very fortunate to have such an excellent drummer at my coffee and for him it was you know he just loved it. He takes off on it and sing sing song. Exactly and then the horns right behind it it made me think of you know either a a huge marching band or you know a a whole herd of elephants coming down the street which is kind of the same thing. So it was uh it was excellent. It it's very visual if you close your eyes and listen to it you can almost imagine that you can see it in your mind's eye.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I thank you for bearing with me when I ask these questions that are a little a little uh naive I suppose but in my mind you know when I'm in the shower and I'm singing and I'm a famous jazz artist, you know how it goes. I like to pretend that I sound like you like your voice is amazing and it it brings thank you it sparks joy for me to steal from Marie Kondo it sparks joy. But I I love what you guys do. I don't know that I would ever be able to do it. Touring in and of itself scares me. I mean you're going all over the place which is great but like you said you're spending 10 minutes in in one spot and then moving on to the next but if we can take a moment to highlight New Jersey since that's where you'll be at the Lizzie Rose music room. Can you tell me how you feel about Jersey audiences?

Speaker:

That's a great little audience it's uh it's a small place, you know what I mean? So it's very intimate I mean you're pretty much in everybody's laps. But um we've been playing there for a long time actually since Lou started it. So we always look forward to going there and and it's cool because it is small, you know what I mean? You get to talk to everybody and yeah it's a great great little place.

Speaker 2:

Well it'll be my maiden voyage. I haven't been to uh Lizzie's yet so but uh just knowing that it's it's an intimate setting I love that because I can look right into people's eyes as I perform. Some of the songs for instance like I've got a feeling uh that song is great because you can bring a theater aspect to it and I do have some theater background so at that point I can make it sort of a vignette and uh and make sure that people are hearing the lyrics and and they can see or hear the storyline and it it elicits you know people looking at each other and laughing or and that's that's exactly what I want is to connect with the audience and have them connect with us. Where you know with other people it's it's different but other musicians I've worked with and other bands I've worked with they want to just sort of stand back and have that barrier. But uh with me it's just the opposite I want to be able to you know reach out and touch them.

Speaker:

Yeah that's the place to do it. That's true.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It'll be possible right cool yeah I have to say that I personally love the more intimate venues because it feels like you're more connected not only to the performer but to the music. So I wonder if when you're performing you you had mentioned before that one of the songs that you enjoyed performing the most was because you liked seeing the audience reaction. So I wonder if that will change for you once you've been in an intimate venue like this, if maybe there will be a new song that arises where you realize oh this is what people are connecting with more.

Speaker:

Well that's a good question because you're right. You know sometimes when you're in a theater and it's like you know 300, 400 seats or whatever and you're far back you can't you don't really get that, you know what I mean? Um you can't see right away who's like and what you know what I mean. You can see maybe the first few rows but you know I think Lizzie Rose is I think there's only seventy or eighty seats in there I think. So it's quite different you know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

Yeah that'll that'll be every audience is different though that's what I've noticed. That certain songs really move them while others and you you know you kind of I've let go of of thinking that oh this is gonna be the song that's gonna make them jump and actually it's not because I'm pleasantly surprised where you do a song and they love it, they jump to their feet and applaud whereas other songs that you think oh this will be the one and that doesn't happen. So it's it'll be interesting to see how Jersey uh blues fans are going to uh you know embrace our performance and what songs they're gonna really do. So that's exciting for me.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

I happen to think that Jersey audiences are great so I think you're gonna be really uh happy with what you find at the Lizzie Rose Music Room. But for our listeners uh again there's only like 70 to 80 seats that's what we're saying so you want to get your tickets as soon as possible. The Room full of blues will be at the Lizzie Rose music room on January 18th and I'm looking forward to seeing you guys there. I thank you so much for taking the time. Is there anything else you'd like to say to Jersey audiences before we leave?

Speaker:

Yeah we're looking forward to seeing you again I don't think we've been there for a few years so um definitely looking forward to to seeing everybody again.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

It's about time we're welcoming you back.

Speaker 2:

Excellent looking forward to it we're gonna rock out and have a great time.

Gina Marie Rodriguez:

In the words of BB King blues is a tonic for whatever ails you so if you're in need of a reprieve now you know where to go. Room Full of Blues will be offering their blues tonic on January 18th at the Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton. Doors open at 7 p.m for tickets and more information be sure to visit LizzieRoseMusic.com and don't wait too long Seats are limited. If you liked this episode be sure to review subscribe and tell your friends a transcript of this podcast links relevant to the story and more about the arts in New Jersey can be found at jerseyarts.com. The JerseyArts podcast is presented by Art Pride New Jersey advancing estate of creativity since 1986. The show was co-founded by and currently supported by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the arts. This episode was hosted edited and produced by me Gina Marie Rodriguez. Executive producers are Jim Atkinson and Isaac Serna-Diez and my thanks of course to Didi Bastos and Christopher Sean for speaking with me today. I'm Gina Marie Rodriguez for the Jersey Arts Podcast thanks for listening now let's close out with a bit of New Year's tonic this is a taste of Didi's favorite You Were Wrong as performed by Room Full of Blues Hey now you were wrong you were wrong

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Gina Marie Rodriguez

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Maddie Orton

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