It's been over two years since HotBands.com was launched, and just under two years since I met one of the most inspirational performers I've seen.

Everyone knows that you don't go into music to get rich.  To even make it a reasonable living, it takes a huge commitment and a tremendous amount of work.  Carolyn Wonderland is one of the hardest working artists I've met, and keeps a schedule that keeps her on the road for more than 7 months out of the year. After 10 years, hard work and paying her dues seems to be on the brink of paying off.

Now going by Carolyn Wonderland (formerly Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys), She has toured in just about every state in the United States as well as a couple of jaunts across the Atlantic to Amsterdam.  Over the last 10 years of her professional career, she's toured with and opened for heavies like Johnny and Edgar Winter, Styx,  .38 Special, and BB King, has 4 CD's under her belt with two more in the can awaiting release, and is only in her mid-twenties!

I met Carolyn shortly after starting HotBands.com and was so blown away by her band, that I featured her in our first issue, May 1998, and helped book a tour for her in the Northwest last Fall...kind of testing out our future agency division of HotBands.  I figured if Rolling Stone can run more than one issue of the same artist in the same year, then it was more than fitting to have Carolyn break in the new version of our website, and let her tell you in her own words how she got to where she is today in the music biz.

<HotBands> Hi Carolyn! It's been a long time, and although you were the first featured band on our site, and I never even had the opportunity to "officially" interview you 

<Carolyn> Well, here we go! ( & thanks again)

<HotBands> Lots of things have happened since that time...you have a new band, moved to Austin... tell me (and the readers) more about the world of Carolyn Wonderland.

<Carolyn> Well, I moved to Austin for the free guitar lessons (every night...stumbling distance) & for a change of pace.  I couldn't bring myself to leave Texas & I've been lucky here, so far.  I've been writing songs with my heroes, like Guy Forsyth.  My band is a happy lot!  Scott's moving in with me up here.  Oh yeah, I guess it would be good to let you in on who's in the band... Scott Daniels (my cousin & brother in arms) is playing guitar & singing with me since summer of 99. Calvin "Pool" Hall is playing bass again after what, 7-8 years hiatus...Eldridge Goins is my new drummer & JP Conga still plays with us when we're in Texas.

<HotBands> Free lessons? I personally think you shred on guitar! Who are you taking lessons from? Scott is a TOTALLY awesome guitar player...is he your new mentor?

<Carolyn> Thanks for thinking so (I'm turning red as a beet)  The free lessons are where you can find them.  I find them in the bars of Austin! Eddy Shaver, Scott, Ian Moore, there's a batch of great ones here!  My mentor is still LSK!!! (Little Screaming Kenny) And my angels are Jerry Lightfoot & everyone involved in his Band of Wonder.

<HotBands> What was the reason you decided to leave Houston and move to Austin (other than the fact that Austin is prettier, not as humid, better music scene....)

<Carolyn> It's not that it's any better...it's always trading one set of problems & blessings in for another... it was just time to go. I really wanted to not be running away from something & instead, run TO something.  I think the change is doing good.  I know no matter where you're from,  you must leave to go on the road & other such fun things, but Houston was starting to kick my ass.  Two  freaked out stalkers and no new songs were coming to me. I finally have 2+ CD's worth of new stuff, just from being here, breathing the air.

<HotBands> It seems that you have had that problem before....any stalkers in Austin bugging you?

<Carolyn> None yet, but I'm a good shot!!

<HotBands> When do you expect to release your next CD's? Any ideas for CD names yet?

<Carolyn> I've been toying with the idea of calling it "Unmastered" or "Demo" & just releasing it in a brown paper sack off the side of the stage!!!  No, actually, that might happen... I am gonna be using our website to put up new & old live stuff, soon.  As far as a CD being out & available... we're talking to a few different labels right now, trying to determine who really likes it & what can they do with it.

<HotBands> In the last year, you've opened up and/or toured with some pretty big names. Who have you played with, and how long did it take to cultivate that relationship (how did you get the gig)?

<Carolyn> It's all thanks to the grace of God, you know?  Los Lobos was an accident (you know that story) Robert Earl Keen was being in the right place at the right time... I've just been lucky & diligent. Getting the gig I think, just comes of playing all the time & folks knowing you're available (& being cheap sure doesn't hurt).  Driving into the sun for weeks has it's perks, like playing with The Paladins in LA & getting to jam with friends everywhere helps.... & so do you!!

<HotBands> I may know the story, but the readers don't....just give the short details

<Carolyn> Well, Los Lobos was playing a private party in Houston for some group of cigarette salesmen. UN-announced. Leon (My Road Manager- when I can afford one!) was running sound & hipped me to the gig. NOBODY knew it was Los Lobos playing & thus, it was empty...I was the only one freakin out, dancin, hollerin, requestin...Then, Mr. Hidalgo invited me up to play tambourine. Sure, why not? He asked my name, and when I said we'd been introduced in LA when he sat in with the Paladins (when we opened) & he says, "Hey, you play guitar!"  So, I did. I made up 3 or 4 songs with them & almost fainted!! I was shaking so, I never got to tell them THANKS for one of the most intense guitar lessons I've ever had. btw... the new box set of LL is the SHIT!!!!!!!!!

<HotBands> - I'm sure that Los Lobos will one day be saying "See that little girl on the stage in that stadium....she played with us once"

<Carolyn> I doubt it. But it's a musical thing thqt can never be taken from me! Thank GOD

<HotBands> Either you're TOO humble, or I have more faith in you than you do!! 

<Carolyn> Oh, thanks.... much redder now!

<HotBands> In all honesty, I've traveled around the country quite a bit and have seen all kinds of bands....beginners, good bands, and great bands...your band is one of the best bands I've seen and the one thing that really separates you from the rest of the bands that I've seen is that none of your band members have let it go to their head....you would never know by just talking with you any of your current members how great your band is!   AND.... you know how to say "Thank you" which is something that seems to be forgotten in a lot of business dealings these days

<Carolyn> You are too kind!

<HotBands> In fact, one of the clubs I helped you book in Seattle's Pioneer Square last time you were here ended up saying (after being REAL gun-shy about an out-of-state band) "They were the best F-ing band we've ever had play here!"

<Carolyn> That can't be! I 'm glad they liked us... I LOVED playing up there in Seattle. I started that song, Pieces of a Postcard, at Eric Olsen's & finished it with Guy Forsyth when we got back.  It has may lines about the hang with y'all, Eric O, & chasing Eric Danley down to Eugene. 

<HotBands> Thanks! I'm flattered and can't wait to hear it! I just got one of the last copies currently available of "Play With Matches" (your 3rd CD) and totally love it!  Chris' song at the end is hilarious....

<Carolyn> Thanks I JUST SAW Chris at last night's gig. He's playing drums with Jug O' Lightnin' & I'll put stuff from them & Sonny James & the Sinners up on your site ASAP.  I do "No Really, I Can Drive" in his honor with some frequency... We recorded Play with Matches at Big Mo with Ed Eastridge (Danny Gatton...)

<HotBands>  Part of your new releases were recorded at Willie Nelson's place. How did you get in with him?

<Carolyn>Oh, shoot...we're not in with anybody!

<HotBands> Sonny James is up on our new site already, and tell Jug O'Lightnin to get their stuff up here too! They were one of the most ORIGINAL things I'd heard in a while!

<Carolyn> I'll get Aaron & Mopar & Chris to let me put some of thier stuff up, I hope! They are so fun!

<HotBands> Also, you played BB King's birthday party last year....are you SURE you're not "in" with anybody? 

<Carolyn>Oh, no...Those guys at SFX are cool & decided to have local blues legends (& somehow, us) play at the Woodlands show. Again, luck & dilligence can get you in to see great music for free sometimes!!!

<HotBands> Now the latest "big" thing you've done was last Friday at Billy Blues in Houston and you were playing with members of The Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, and Taj Mahal. How did that go, and what are the prospects of picking up some of these people for your tours?

<Carolyn> Oh, my! You must be speaking of Jerry Lightfoot's Band of Wonder! That is a really fortunate thing, for all of us to get to play Jerry's songs. We are recording an album of Jerry Lightfoot's new songs. I was asked to sing on a bit of it & jumped at the chance to play with Jerry again! The band is crackerjack, too. His friend, Vince Welnick plays piano & sings on it. (We also do a song that Robert Hunter & he wrote called "Golden Stairs") 

<HotBands> So he helped write for The Dead?

<Carolyn> Jerry is a great guitarist & singer, songwriter from Houston.  He has played with so many blues men & women, he could write a book. Big Walter "The Thunderbird" being one, whom he includes on this CD by covering one of his tunes. Jerry plays blues guitar but writes universal music. You'll hear what I'm talking about when the CD comes out.  btw...there are DATs, audience, board mix & video floating around from the one gig!!!  The members of his band are: Jerry, ....Vince, whom I mentioned earlier, on piano. & yes, it's THAT Vince Welnick, he's played with the Tubes, Todd Rundgren, & the Grateful Dead...John X Reed on guitar, he plays with the Texana Dames & played with Doug Sahm...Frosty on drums, he plays with lots of folks, including Guy Forsyth, & yes it's THAT Frosty from all the bands you've heard, like Sly...and Larry Fulshear on bass, he who has had an equally illustrious musical existence & who now plays with Taj Mahal.  Finally, there's me, the lucky one who feels like a name dropper making a phone call.  I really had a great time & you never know who may sit in when they can with each other later... that's part of the beauty of guessing this life, you know? Vive le cross-pollination

<HotBands> You've had such a rich life in the ability to mingle with such heavies, but in the words of a famous quote "The more you play, the less you suck, and I play a lot" I guess you've paid your dues (wasn't that your quote?)

<Carolyn> Yep, it was, and it's true!! THANKFULLY!  Also, all these folks are kind enough to let me play with them.

<HotBands> What are your plans for 2001 as far as major tours?

<Carolyn> Well, we're currently booking a west coast tour from Denver, SLC, Seattle, Eugene, SF, LA etc after SXSW this March- April...trying to get overseas some before the fall & of course...our yearly trek to the Buffalo Chip Campground in Sturgis, SD for Bike Week in August.  We'll probably head over to the West after that.  You know, I'm still looking for an agent. I'd love to spend more time writing. I want to go back EAST this year, too & see Les Paul at the Iridium.

<HotBands>One of the things that is always a theme with our online interviews is the artists perseverence. I'm sure that only you TRULY know the dues you've paid, but for the up and coming artists of the world, do you have any words of encouragement that helped you get through the tougher times?

<Carolyn> hmmm.... just hang in there like a hair in a biscuit. You gotta have faith in the music you're playing & live cheap ...but remember YOU GET TO PLAY MUSIC, so really there's nothing terrible to bitch about. You'd probably have the same woes doing a regular job, but here, your scenery changes & you constantly evolve. It's something I wish for everyone.