Wavy Speaks: A Quick Chat With Dave Burlingame

Photo by Mike Kaiz

As far as musicians go, Cornmeal's Wavy Dave Burlingame poses a formidable triple threat these days -- throwing down psychedelic banjo jams with his main band, channeling Phil Lesh as the occasional bassist for Terrapin Flyer and serving as an ambassador for our very own Chicago music scene, often dropping by to add some hot licks with some of the city's finest pickers or even hosting a jam session or two of his own.  On the cusp of his recent Midwest tour with Terrapin Flyer, and just after he and Cornmeal bassist Chris Gangi hosted the first Cornmeal Ramble at Martyrs in December, we got to have a quick chat with Wavy that focused primarily on these extracurricular activities.

So, here's Wavy on a handful of topics...

Wavy on... discovering bluegrass:  "Bluegrass was something I learned after I had already started playing. What caught my ear was Jerry Garcia playing a banjo -- The Old and In The Way stuff.  I picked up a banjo about 13 years ago but I would not been exposed had it not been for the Grateful Dead."

Wavy on... becoming a Deadhead:  "My first show was in '89 at the Milwaukee Mecca.  Actually, it was two shows back to back.  The first one piqued my interest.  But after the second one, I declared my Deadheadness for life."

Wavy on... playing with Ratdog's Mark Karan in Terrapin Flyer: "He wants to approach the catalog  from a slightly different angle... a little more bluesy rock element.  It's refreshing.  The way I see it, no two Grateful Dead shows were the same -- there's no succinct representation that we're trying to make.  I always like to make it more funky -- get people to dance!"

Wavy on... banjo vs. bass: "The two instruments approach are very different so I tend to keep them separate when playing.  Three finger banjo picking style comes from a different place than the bass.  I've played banjo with Terrapin a handful of times.  I can hear the licks in my head when I'm listening, but I definitely can't do it while playing!"

Wavy on... Rambles:  "We really hope to do that again.  The concept was based on the way The Band approached The Last Waltz.  They had their friends come in they learned their songs and backed them up.  Beside being an outstanding night of music, it was a great learning experience.  A lot of hard word, just learning songs -- some of which you've never heard before -- they're not on the radio.  But there's really some remarkable songwriting!" (Wavy and Gangi will debut Chatsworth and Dupree at aliveOne on 2/6 - performing as a duo with many special guests expected)

Wavy on... covers:  "We asked every band to suggest tunes and Chris and I discussed the set list.  My highlights were the Led Zeppelin songs with Afro-Zep's Ryan Behling.  Near the end of the song 'Ramble On', there's this little double lead that's on the record [hums a few bars... you know the one].  I did that with Scott Tipping of Backyard Tire Fire.  It was a little melodic thing that got worked up just before we went on stage that night." Other covers performed that night included Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer", The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" and Zeppelin's "Fool In The Rain".

Wavy on... collaborating: "Everybody involved in the Ramble was just great: Cody (Chicago Farmer) fronted the band for a while, Paul Hoffman (Greensky Bluegrass) jammed with us, Ben Wright (Henhouse Prowlers) played a few tunes.  I was impressed with (fiddler) Phil Roach from Giving Tree Band - he seems to know a song before you even teach it to him.  It was awesome!"

Photo Courtesy of Mike Kaiz Photojournalism