Big Mike Griffin makes his mark

" The music is such an asset to the city historically, they should be behind it 100 percent. It's such a calling card for people,' Griffin says. 'Personally, I was upset they put the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I said, "Man, why isn't it in Mem "

By Norm Shaw

There are just too many angles to open a story about Big Mike Griffin.

There's the size thing. He really is Big Mike Griffin.

Then there's the Nashville thing. You know, when you think of Nashville, the Music City, you automatically think of country music, not blues.

And of course, there's the Memphis/Beale Street thing. His drummer's from Memphis, he plays here a lot. Loves Beale Street.

All these angles apply, and if Griffin didn't have any talent they would be a good way to start a story. But Griffin has talent. A lot of it. And Memphis is getting more than its share of visits from Griffin to prove it.

Griffin is on the road in support of Sittin' Here with Nothing, his third release on Waldoxy Records. He and his Unknown Blues Band played Huey's on Super Bowl night. They return April 5-6 to the Blues City Band Box on Beale.

"Oh man, yeah, we love Memphis," Griffin says by phone from his Nashville home. "We just burn up I-40. It's got a vibe to it that is great. Playing on Beale Street is just cool."

When told of some of the plans by politicians for Beale and Downtown, Griffin says he is somewhat surprised there isn't more support for the music heritage of the city.

"The music is such an asset to the city historically, they should be behind it 100 percent. It's such a calling card for people," he says. "Personally, I was upset they put the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I said, 'Man, why isn't it in Memphis. That's where it was born.'"

Griffin knows a little bit about support from a city for music. He moved to Nashville in 1986. He did session work for country artists, but says "everything I played sounded like the blues, so I finally took the hint and played only blues." His support in Nashville began growing almost immediately. A big part of that support comes from the Music City Blues Society, named the best in the country last year by the Blues Foundation.

"Nashville is more than just country," he says. "There's a lot of good jazz, classical, most any kind of music you want to hear. It's a magnet for great music. To me, if you want to make music, there's only three places to be: New York City, Los Angeles or here in Nashville. I think it's amazing that we've got Nashville and Memphis so close. Two great music places in one state."

Griffin moved to Nashville from Oklahoma, where he grew up. Lotton, Okla., is hardly a hotbed for blues, but it was the music that Griffin loved. He used to travel 125 miles to Dallas and Fort Worth to hear blues. Trips to Oklahoma City were used to search out blues records. Griffin says his influences are the obvious ones because of his upbringing.

"I grew up with that second generation of blues guitarists," he says. "Mike Bloomfield of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an early influence. Albert King. And all those first generation guys when they went electric. Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, those kinds of people.

"But I love Lightin' Hopkins, too, and that acoustic blues. What can you say, these were all pretty standard, but that was what I heard where I grew up. I was very limited in what I could purchase. I'd go to Oklahoma City and find out-of-the-way record stores and search their bins. You might find, say, a Slim Harpo record, so it was well worth the search."

As he grew older, his love for blues just kept expanding. So did his body.

Today, Griffin stands 6 feet, 10 inches tall, and weighs 370 pounds.

WEVL-FM 90 programmer Tom Claypool, host of the Blues Today show, says Griffin has an obvious stage presence.

"He plays a Les Paul guitar, but it looks like a ukulele in his hands," says Claypool, who also is on the board of directors of the Beale Street Blues Society. "We've been trying for a long time to find him a T-shirt big enough to put the Blues Society logo on. I know he wears a 5X shirt."

Claypool has been playing up to three different cuts from Sittin Here With Nothing on Blues Today, which airs Mondays from 8-10 a.m. and features contemporary blues.

"He's a good guitarist, and he's got a good voice," Claypool says. "And of course, he's got that great stage presence."

Griffin is very happy with his latest release. It features five original compositions, a couple of Little Milton Campbell songs and a few others from the Waldoxy publishing arm. Griffin receives great backup from the Unknown Blues Band, which features Clayton Ivey on piano and Hammond organ, David Hood on bass and Memphian Pat O'Connor on drums.

Work already has begun on the next record.

"I'm writing songs now," he says. "I write a lot of my own material, and this next record we will go totally with originals. We hope to cut it this spring."

And despite growing success, Griffin sees no need to look for a different record label other than the Jackson, Miss.-based Waldoxy Records.

"They're my family," Griffin says. "You gotta find a home in this business, and they're all great. I can call them up and it's like talking to your brother, except I'm calling up and talking to the president of the label. That doesn't happen at big labels very often. There are a lot of good labels out there, but I respect these people so much. There's so much history at Waldoxy and Malaco (which distributes Waldoxy). Malaco's got Bobby 'Blue' Bland and Little Milton, and I just respect those guys so much for what they have done."

And respect continues to grow for Griffin. Check him out at the Blues City Band Box. You can't miss him. Just look up.