~The Zen Bubba Band, Dallas, TX USA~
Winner of THE 2002 KHYI-FM, 95.3 FM- BATTLE OF THE BANDS @ The Lonestar Cafe in Dallas, Texas.
Americana music with a deep rockin' twist-
Robert E. Williford is Zen Bubba. He is the songwriter, singer and all around incredible musician that IS Zen Bubba!
BIO: A teenager when he began playing guitar, Bob often felt that playing guitar was the most fun he could have with his clothes on!!!!!! Bob has played folk, jazz, rock-n-roll, and everything in between -- from Chuck Berry to Gram Parsons. Listen to the words in his music: you'll get a slice of real life. The tunes that Bob creates get you really rockin'! ZEN BUBBA'S sound has a combination of influences that will keep you guessing and coming back for more.
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INTERVIEW with Zen Bubba:
Bob was performing at a PICKIN' IN THE PINES concert in Pine Mills, Texas, along with Ray Wylie Hubbard, Max Stallings and T-Roy Miller when he consented to this interview. Here is an excerpt from the interview with Victor Makris, Executive Producer of Zen Bubba's IN THE WIND cd.
.....VM: Bob, how did you get to be known as Zin Bubba?
.....BOB: I had been a truck driver for over 24 years. There was something about being out on the road, being fully engaged at the wheel and gearbox, with a constantly changing scenery that kept me at the work for all that time. Its a feeling thats hard to describe when your truck is fully loaded, the days first light is in the sky, your engine starts up and your vehicle begins moving, with you at the wheel. I have never studied Zen and still dont know much about it.
I know its going to be hard for some folks to believe this, but on a good workday, theres almost a Zen-like flow, a sense of peace and balance. I just kind of noticed that. Some of my best song ideas came when I was feeling like that. Well anyway, a few years back I began dating a woman who was a student of Zen Buddhism. I never told her about the "flow" like feeling I sometimes had. One day she just said "you know you have a lot of zen-like qualities." I had forgotten she said that.
But one day I was given my first gig at the Light and Easy Club in Dallas. The manager was setting up the marquis outside the club and he asked for my stage name. The words "Zen Bubba" just leaped out of me. But when he put it on the marquis he spelled it "Zin Bubba". I dont know if he did that on purpose or not, but the name stuck after that. We were Zin Bubba for several years before we changed the name back to Zen Bubba to keep people from thinking we didn't know how to spell. My songs really arent about Zen, but some might see that in them. Many of my songs are about searching for meaning or understanding about someone or some thing or a feelings I was having about something.
.....VM: The phrasing in your songs is very unique. Like "throw a fight, and hope a party breaks out" and the haunting melody to Look the Other Way, where do these song ideas come from?
.....BOB: Well it just sort of started spontaneously. There were things going on in my life that I needed a way to express. I would be working, or driving along and the theme or the wording of a song, some unique phrase or melody would pop into my head. Most of the time it was based on something I was going through or feeling at the time. So I started keeping a notepad in my lunch box and Id write the words down and hoped I could hang on to the melody until I got home. But I can tell you that most of them have come from my own life, or those close to me.
.....VM: You do most of the guitar leads on the CD and go between acoustic and electric, with beautiful phrasing. Even your strumming has a very powerful quality to it. It almost seems like you draw on a lot of different styles for your own unique blend. Have you thought about that?
.....BOB: I was an early teenager when I began playing guitar. I have often said playing guitar is the most fun I have with my clothes on! Ive played folk, some jazz, rock-n-roll, and everything in between from Chuck Berry to Gram Parsons. I was a major fan of the Byrds. I really loved it when they went country. Thats when Gram Parsons joined them and they then recorded Sweetheart of the Rodeo. I felt they were a making the effort to express the sincere power of their folk themes through the country venue. I guess they would have been a little before their time because it was not received well by the public. At the time everyone was listening to Dylan. I have been influenced by all these artists, even by Lightnin Hopkins.
