Living legend

Steve Pryor on rambling, roaming, and the red Stratocaster in the window

I was working on a feature about Tulsa musicians when I first met Steve Pryor. Steve’s reputation preceded him. I was told I wouldn’t be able to get the interview for one reason or another, that Steve might be difficult to nail down.

Like so many other artists, Steve has been haunted by gossip about drug abuse and career mishaps. I wanted to find out direct from the source. I drew my own conclusions; I already knew that seeing Steve play his Stratocaster and sing live in that flawless rasp could be a transcendental experience. I suspected his past was rich if not torrid.

Steve has been inducted into both the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. He plays live in Tulsa every Monday at The Dusty Dog Pub, 5107 South Harvard, at 6:30 p.m. “They’ve got the air conditioner on about 40 degrees.” he said, “The drinks are really strong, and the club is really dark.”

Pryor also teaches a workshop for children called “Kids Got the Blues.” I took my two nieces and nephew, between the ages of 2 and 6 years old at the time. Pryor let them play his signature black electric guitar.

I interviewed Steve by phone. From my sofa, I dialed his cell at the scheduled time, and he answered warmly. It was dusk on a mild July Tuesday, the week after Independence Day. In half an hour, he introduced the plot of his life.

“Are you ready to talk to me for a little bit?” I asked.

“Yeah, I have a cup of coffee. You’re working after hours today, huh?” he said.

“Like a musician or something,” I replied. I am a musician, a music writer, and a record label co-owner.

“I guess we work whenever we can,” Steve laughed.

The piece I was writing at the time was to be quite short. As I talked with Steve, I let the tape recorder roll, the conversation flow. It turned out that I captured an endearing essence of Steve, and I’m glad I saved it. I let him keep talking, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to publish most of it. At least, not right then.

Began Steve: “I was born here in Tulsa, I grew up here in Tulsa.

I’m 57. If I’d known I was gonna live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.
We were driving past a pawn shop in Fort Smith when I was a little kid and I saw a red Stratocaster hanging in the window. This is 1963, before the Beatles came out and stuff. I told my Mom I wanted to play guitar.

She ended up getting me one of those toy guitars, you know, with a little crank on it, you’d have to turn the crank to make it play a little tune.

I got real mad, threw it in the fireplace, told her I wanted a real guitar.

So I ended up getting a guitar in 1963 for Christmas.

Took a couple informal lessons, you know, found some guys playing around in school a bunch, talent shows and stuff. Those were the real formative years.

When I was real young, what really got me interested in playing guitar was my Dad had Buck Owens records and my Mom had Ray Charles and B.B. King records.

My Mom liked to turn up the black radio stations from New Orleans when she was growing up in Arkansas and my Dad was more of a redneck from Arkansas, so I had those two polarized influences.

I was always wanting to play blues since I was a little kid. I was always trying to look at it in a practical way; I always saw the music business as the flavor of the month and you gotta be careful because it’s kinda embarrassing to have your hair standing on end or have a Mohawk that is out of style in a couple years.

It was right after high school that I found Mike Bruce. He’s deceased now but he was a great teacher and great player. He played with B.B. King and Bobby Bland. He really set me in the right direction.

The first guys I ever played with were at the Colony Club, around 1973, I think it was. Went over there and jammed with Jamie Oldaker and Carl Radle and Taco Ryan cause my guitar teacher Mike Bruce was over there and he gave me the guitar. That was something else. I was, like, 17 years old and it just opened my eyes. I’m sitting there playing with the guy from Derek and the Dominoes, Carl Radle. You know? Found out he was living in Claremore and all those guys were from around here.

I was playing with all the guys that were playing with Leon and the guys that were playing with Clapton. Dick Sims. You know, they’d come play with me when they weren’t out playing with Eric Clapton.

I played in different bands around town. Jim Sweeny and Jimmy Markham. I’d always go out and see them and Bill Davis. Then we all moved to California in ’77. I was with the Old Dog Band.

My friend David Busey was in a band with us, playing keyboards. His brother was Gary Busey. Gary had just starred in the Buddy Holly Story, and he told us to come out there and play some gigs with him. So we went out there and did that.

The “Buddy Holly on Acid” gig is the only way I can describe that deal. That was real wild. 

But did that a couple years, then that wasn’t fun no more. So I came back to Tulsa. That’s when I played a couple years with Jim Sweeny and Jimmy Markham, those guys.

I used to go watch Tommy Tripplehorn play guitar with Bill Davis and he let me sit in a bunch. Then I just got that wanderlust again. When I moved to New York City in 1983, that’s when I hooked up with my first big-name gig. By chance, happened to go in the Lone Star Café and there was Paul Butterfield, the Chicago blues harp player. He needed a bass player and a guitar player, and there we were, and we landed that gig. A friend of mine was living up there, Randy Vanson, this bass player, and he said, “Come on up to New York City.” So we lived up there in Brooklyn a while.

Did that for a year or so. I even lived with him in little Italy. That was a real education. I just learned to be real careful with those old blues guys because they’re into some strange stuff. Lots of drugs and alcohol and it got kinda scary, so I came back to town.

After that was over I thought I would have my own band. I started Steve Pryor and the Mighty Kingsnakes in ’84. Did that a while, made my first record as an artist. My first record was an actual record, 33 1/3.

Then we moved out to California again and got a real record deal with Zoo Entertainment, part of Sony. Got that in 1990. Did that a couple years and toured with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, did some shows with Joe Cocker. We did a little California tour playing with him.

That’s how I got picked up by Alex Hodges and Stryke Force Management. He was managing the Allman Brothers. He managed Stevie Ray Vaughn up until the helicopter crash [that killed Vaughn], and he picked me up a year later.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds were from Austin, Texas. That band was started by Kim Wilson and Jimmy Vaughn, Stevie Ray’s big brother. So that was when I [Steve Pryor Band] got my own record deal, and they hooked us up with opening for them. That was when we first got a tour bus and all that stuff.

We did a couple tours with them between 1989 to 1992. Just all over the United States. From Los Angeles to New York. It was great. It was really great.

We got to play Tipitina’s in New Orleans, Mississippi Nights in St. Louis, Greek Theater in Los Angeles, Wiltern Theater in LA, Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

That was a good time right there, as far as seeing how things really work and seeing how real blues players play. Applying their craft. Being around those guys every night.

We got dropped by our label because we were, like, the last of the blues bands to be on the radio, ’91, ’92. That was a rough time. Pearl Jam and all that stuff was getting real big and I just left the Los Angeles music scene behind and came back to town. Been making my own records since then.

In the heyday of the Cain’s Ballroom, when it was a real nasty old joint, we were the guys that opened up for everybody that came through town when we had the Old Dog Band together. If I was gonna mention any, I would say Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters.

It’s amazing, I made so much more money doing our own CDs than I ever did in the ‘real music world.’ First of all, we never had a hit. But it’s good to always have a product in hand when you’re playing shows. I’ll sit there for an hour after we play, signing CDs and getting them to people, one by one. It’s just been a lot more rewarding being in my own hometown.

I finally met Leon Russell. I jammed with him over in Fayetteville. He called me over and said, “You know, you’d think that Leon Russell would have met Steve Pryor in all these years. I’m glad to meet ya and I think you ought to play with us tonight.”

So that was like a childhood dream come true. I saw that Mad Dogs & Englishmen when I was a kid and that was the thing that told me you could be from Tulsa and go see the world playing music. That really opened my eyes up. So that was really great finally meeting him.

I never met Clapton. I think we’d get along fabulously. [Laughs]

I like the simplicity of going out and playing my songs by myself. But I’ll always have a band. That’s when I do really good, with the electric guitar.”

Condensed and edited from the recorded interview with Lindsey Neal Kuykendall and Steve Pryor, July 9, 2013. Pryor’s next “Kids Got the Blues” workshop is slated for April 19 at Woody Guthrie Center. Contact WGC for pricing and registration.