What Noah wants fans to know about the show:
The show that is scheduled for December 29th 2005 at Stanely’s Pub Cincinnati Ohio, is with Noah's long time friend guitarist and multi instrumentalist Jason Dennie. This is the first time much of this music will be heard by the public.
The first set is a VIP $10 admission sit down set. The audience will be sitting down and quiet for the debut of their new material. Noah and Jason will be sitting down also. It will consist of about 11 new songs that Noah has been working on with Jason Dennie and a few old songs that they used to play together that he rewrote & reworked. Noah describes this first set as sort of a storytellers type atmosphere with “stripped down acoustic kind of stuff.” Should last about an hour and 15 minutes, with a smoke free atmosphere. At the end of this set Jason will do some of his solo material. Hopefully fans will be able to purchase Noah and Jason’s first collaboration album Long Black Train as well as many of Jason’s albums.
The second part of the show will be about an hour and a half and has admission at $6.00 a ticket. The purchase of the VIP ticket for the first set also gets you into the second set at no further cost. The second set list consists of Noah & Jason's songs from Long Black Train and some other old favorites that they throw in like "King Bee" and "Minglewood Blues." Noah & Jason have been working together as of late on the new material for the follow up album of Long Black Train. They realize this album is long over due and promises “the music is all there, we just haven’t recorded it yet.”
Noah offers a little history on the making of the Long Black Train record. Jason and Noah were playing together back then every night. “The way the record came to be was that we went into the studio to make a 3 song demo...” and the producers asked for more. Back then the duo were playing in the bars around Cincinnati Ohio regularly and had really worked the songs out.
Noah says “We didn’t have any money so Dad put up the money as a loan, which we eventually paid back .(laughing) Luckily people bought the record so we were able to pay him back. So Dad says ‘Hey son I got this song that may work out for your album’ and I was like yeah yeah Dad, whatever. I got back from playing at Stanley’s or somewhere one night and I put it in the tape deck. (Noah laughs) You know we didn’t have cds that we could record on back then. So I put it in the tape deck and I was like Ahhh this song is really good. I was like Jason check it out ya know, and we went in to record it."
The song that Noah's Dad wrote is titled “Cuba on My Mind” and Noah says the song is about his Uncle Frank Sturges who was an Italian Catholic from Miami, a soldier of fortune. Sturges was backing Castro’s movement in Cuba until Castro became all about Communism. Sturges then hated Castro and President Kennedy put him in charge of the "Bay of Pigs Invasion." Noah said "Then when Kennedy pulled out, Uncle Frank got mad at Kennedy. Nobody knows for sure but they say Uncle Frank was in Dallas on that day that Kennedy was assassinated. Nobody remembered seeing him but Aunt Janet said he was sick all day in the back.” (Noah laughs) Sturges was also involved in the Watergate break in and spent the rest of his life training Cuban freedom fighters because he thought Castro was a horrible oppressor and wanted to take him down. Noah says that Sturges was sort of a father figure to Noah’s Dad James Hunt and Noah thinks the song is passionate and heartfelt and he is going to play it at Stanely’s with Jason Dennie on the 29th.
“We actually used to do a really cool version of it with a whole band back when Todd Bishop was in the band as lead guitar player. He did a great lead and rocked it out. We even recorded that version with Dad singing and us backing him up."
So Meow asks “What does your Dad sound like?”
Noah answers “He kinda sounds like me.”
Meow interjects “But not as good?”
Noah says “But no, he’s not as good.” (Noah laughs & they both laugh)
Noah anticipates the show will be sold out. Stanley’s capacity is 120 patrons and the online tickets have been selling steadily as well as tickets being sold at the pub. Noah is excited to play the songs with Jason for a live audience and work them out. Doors open at 8pm. Show starts at 9pm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the following evening Friday, December 30th Noah Hunt and the 420 All-Stars are playing at Stanley's Pub and they will have an opening act that night called Grand Oversoul. This show is the Holiday benefit show that Noah tries to do every year to collect for the “Freestore Foodbank.” If you bring 2 or more canned goods you will get $2.00 off at the door. Without the canned good donation tickets are priced at $12.00 each. The usual cast of characters will be in the house. Rhythm guitar/keyboard and backing vocals of Dan Hunt, the recently married (sigh) Alex "Blues" Hughes on bass, the lead guitarist Snake and drummer Johnny Miracle.
Meow inquired if Noah eats canned goods and which are his favorites. So Noah slides into the pantry without missing a beat and answers candidly “I got some Albacore Tuna in there, black beans, I seem some Progresso Soup, you know lentil soup; that’s pretty good. I got some mixed greens cuz I love southern soul food, collard greens and all that stuff.”
Meow asks about Noah's views on the seasons hottest debate, the politically correct holiday tree. Noah says “I have an artificial tree but it’s not up yet.” Meow wanted to know “Do you ever sing any holiday songs or Christmas carols?” Noah answers that he used to when he was in Catholic school, he was sent there at 16 for being a juvenile delinquent. Meow says “If you were asked to sing a Christmas song right now what would you sing?” “Oh god I don’t know, I think I know all the words to Silent Night.” Meow asks him; “Will you sing it for me now?” And Noah says “ Okay,” (Didn’t take much for Meow to convince Noah.) And he went downstairs to grab his guitar and tune his voice to the proper key. Meow invited Stacia Rose and her daughter Sasha Rae to listen in. Noah sang without hesitation a beautiful impromptu rendition of Silent Night especially for us. (Swoon) After we applauded his efforts Meow told Noah that he has a beautiful voice and informed him that a lot of people comment about his voice and how it moves them and steals the show on all the records. She asked him “If you could pick one voice that stands out to you every time you hear it, who would it be?” Noah chooses Paul Rodgers, David Gilmour, Gregg Allman and selects Muddy Waters as his “...favorite voice of all time. Ultimate blues and rock. I never heard anybody else with quite that good of a voice.”
There is much more to Meow’s interview with Noah, they spoke in depth about religion and politics, bootlegging & rehearsing for shows in Noah’s basement. Kenny Wayne Shepherd- past and present projects. Noah’s take on cologne and horseback riding. So please check back for a continuation of Meow’s exclusive interview with Noah Hunt for NoahHunt.org. And if you can make it to the shows at Stanley’s please get down there because the VIP first set on the 29th with Noahs old friend Jason Dennie is the debut material for the highly anticipated follow up album to Long Black Train. This is the first time this music will be heard by the public! You don’t want to miss that or the Noah Hunt and 420 All-Stars show the next night. Dates are conveniently on back to back nights at Stanley’s for out of town fans to come on down!
Please bring your camera Noah promised Meow he would pay attention to wardrobe, at least on the first night with Jason Dennie... he may dress up. The next night will just be jeans and a t-shirt.
Ha- Cheers!
NoahHunt.org Admin
What’s in Noah’s CD player?
On a cold December day Meow wonders what discs Noah is spinning in his cd player these days. Noah says “Jeeze I’ve been listening to myself a lot...” and laughs “...and it’s not an egotistical thing, I’ve just been listening to it back to get ideas.” Then he moves over to his stereo to check the current cds in his play list. While he’s looking through his cd collection Meow recommends artist Edwin McCain, any of his albums. To that Noah excitedly responds “Edwin McCain, he’s a good friend of mine! Great singer, great songwriter and a great guy too. I haven’t talked to him in a while though but he’s a really great guy. You’d really like him a lot.” Meow asks Noah if he’s heard the song “White Crosses” by Edwin McCain on his latest album “Screams and Whispers.” Noah replies “No, I don’t have his latest album.” Meow explains how the song is based on a true story about Mexican immigrants trying to cross the border in a 18 wheeler and many of them died. It’s a beautiful song. He said he’ll check it out.
Noah lists the artists that he has been listening to “Pink Floyd no surprises there. The Dead, got some Johnny Cash, Bryan Lee, Buddy Guy. There’s this guy Dave Alvin- great Texas singer songwriter from Austin he’s great. I love him. He was from the Blasters out of Austin. I got his new album. Ruth Brown, a lot of classic Rock and Blues here. Also I love this guy called Ray Lamontagne. Cool stuff, kinda like Cat Stevens meets Van Morrison but it’s good. He’s a young guy, he’s in his twenties. He’s a friend of Jimmy’s actually but he’s getting really big."
Meow interrupts to inquire “What does he look like?”
Noah says “He’s a nice looking guy. Dark hair and a beard, so yeah.”
Meow adds “Yeah cuz nice looking guys do help out.” (They laugh)
Noah says “Yeah he’s a young, nice looking guy.”
**We checked him out, you can view his photo here and hear his music on his website. He really does have a nice voice.
He didn’t look so young to us though, he looks like he has an old soul.**
Meow says “Well a lot of girls say how handsome you are and everything but it helps I think because we wanna be sung to you know what I mean? By a good looking guy!”
Noah says “Sure! Sure!”
“We don’t want some ugly guy and please um, wardrobe is important.” Meow teases.
(Laughter from both)
Meow discusses wardrobe with Noah:
Noah wants to explain. He’s heard enough about this wardrobe complaint from NoahHunt.org. “Let me explain something about my wardrobe. I have about four or five shirts, about four or five pairs of pants. I used to live out of a suitcase.” Meow doesn’t want to hear any excuses.
“Your pictures are going up on the web.” She tells him.
Noah concedes and says "I think I might get dressed up for the acoustic show. The other one will just be jeans and a t-shirt.” A compromise Meow can live with as long as it’s a shirt she’s never seen before.
Noah’s take on Bootlegs:
Meow tells Noah that she is a collector of his live music. Noah thinks that is great and says “I totally allow it, I advocate it. I grew up listening to ‘The Dead’ and it’s a great way to get the music out there. Let the people share it.” He goes on to say that he’s kind of torn about allowing recordings of the first set of the new acoustic material he will perform at Stanleys on the 29th only because it’s never been recorded yet by him and Jason Dennie. But the second set and the second show would be cool for fans to record. He wants his fans to share his live Noah Hunt and The 420 All-Stars stuff because “There is no 420 album.”
Where does Noah rehearse?
“I’m going to rehearse on Wednesday afternoon at my house with Jason. The lower level of my house is affectionately referred to as ‘The Dungeon’. It’s not all underground. We have a control room for the recording stuff. And the practice room where he and I can practice or the whole band can practice and it actually has a bar in it. Which is really nice, for some of us, not everybody drinks.” Then he went on to describe the attached living room with the TV and cable Xbox and other guy things. “And then there is the guitar room.” Where he keeps a bunch of guitars. “You can go in there and close it off and play by yourself.” .
Why Noah bangs the tambourine?
Meow inquires what other instruments Noah plays besides guitar. “Well I play piano.”
Meow laughs... “Tambourine we know.”
Noah laughs and says “Well I can’t dance so you know I gotta do something. You know during a 15 minute guitar solo. If it’s longer than that I just walk off stage.”
Meow says “Yeah I’ve seen you do that.”
Noah tells a story about one of the guitar players on Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s last tour. “When we had that young kid that rhythm guitar player Shaun he used to get all bummed out when like on some songs.. like when we didn’t need him. Kenny was like ‘Shaun, Noah walks off stage all the time. Like I gotta do a 15 minute guitar solo and Noah’s just fine.’”
Meow says “Yeah, go back and chill.”
Noah adds “Like yeah dude relax.”
Kenny’s always a hot topic and they spoke about him for a while.
Noah talks about Kenny:
After Meow gets Noah to sing “Silent Night” a capella to her she compliments his beautiful voice. They tip toe to the forbidden grounds of the last Kenny Wayne Shepherd album “The Place You’re In” where Noah’s vocals are only featured on two tracks as a guest.
Meow exhales how the fans of Noah’s voice really felt that there was something missing on that project. Meow laughs out loud and says “You know we got kicked off the Kenny Wayne Shepherd message board because of that.”
Noah says sympathetically “Yeah yeah..”
Meow continues “...but we don’t mind because we are also free speech advocates. We had to speak our minds.”
Noah says “Well, I understand. Let me try to explain a little bit about that whole thing. It wasn’t... I mean Kenny came to me and said you know, it looks like this is how this record is going to go down . I mean a lot of the songs were really personal a lot of them dealt with him getting his life straight and I tried singing them and it was just too personal.”
“I’m glad you didn’t sing them now.” Meow teases again.
Noah replies “Yeah, yeah. I know. I will say this - Kenny and I have never been closer than we are now. And he wasn’t doing it to try and hurt me or try to just shut me out. It’s just sorta had the direction he went in on this time with all the stuff he went through, he just felt it necessary to do it.” Noah continues, “Well I will say this and he and I talked about it. I think that the next record, I’m positive the next record that we make and we still have a lot of music to make together, the next record we make will be more of the ones that I think our fans really wanted.”
As it stands today the intention for the next album is to be more of what the fan base wants to hear. Meow asks “Don’t you think it’s important that the fans are honest?”
Noah answers “Yeah, well they have to be.”
Meow continues “We love Kenny. He’s good at what he does and your good at what you do.”
“Yeah” Noah says “And we heard that and he heard that.”
“We weren’t trying to hurt his feelings.”
Noah says “No I know. I don’t think you did.”
Future goals for Noah:
“I want to not just do rock. I want to indulge my acoustic side and also indulge my Blues side. So you know, I liked to do this acoustic record .(The record he is working on with Jason Dennie) I’d like to also make a Blues record. In a side conversation Meow gives Noah her views where she sees him going as an artist and they chuckle about it. “What I wanna be is, I wanna be happy and I want to be making music... I wanna be content making it but not just content I wanna be happy making it. I wanna make music for me first. If you make something that you love and care about I think that your fans will respond to it and enjoy it. In the end I just want to be able to make a decent living and take care of myself and my family and friends and not have to compromise too much. I hate record companies. I will say that. I don’t like record companies at all. I think that most people who run record companies have no idea what music is about.”
Noah’s delivery style:
There are singers with great voices who are naturally talented and yet they still lack the ability to connect with the audience through just the song. Meow tells Noah this is one compliment she hears far more frequently from Noah’s fans about his performances.
“Natural talent will only get you so far. There are things you can learn. Entertaining is easier to acquire than natural talent.” Noah comments.
Meow asks “So you were always an entertainer when you were little, trying to get people to look at you?
Noah says “Well yeah, I used to like to get up in front of people and sing ya know. I’ve been playing since I was four.” and then he laughs. “I always used to like to get up and perform for people for some reason.” He tells us he played guitar at church as a kid.
About movies:
“Have you seen any good movies lately?” Meow’s burning curiosity and love for the big screen compel her to ask.
Noah answers “The Batman movie this summer. I enjoyed that.”
“Have you seen Ray?” Meow asks.
Noah responds “I loved it I thought it was great.” Meow agrees.
She follows up with “What do you want to see that is out now?”
Noah says “I think I want to see King Kong. Yeah I like movies like that. It’s a great story. It’s all there.”
King Kong is just a gorilla movie to Stacia Rose who is more interested in seeing “Brokeback Mountain.” and they laugh about King Kong being “just a gorilla.”
“Brokeback Mountain?” Noah asks. “The one about the gay cowboys?”
“Yeah I want to see that.” Meow says.
We discovered that when Noah does go to the movies he doesn’t like going with crowds. “I love seeing the movie on the big screen. I really enjoy it. I just don’t like being around a bunch of people.” Meow agrees as they discuss how they both go to matinees to avoid the crowds.
Thirteen year old Sasha Rae wants Meow to ask “Who does Noah go to the movies with?”
He responds “Usually my girlfriend.”
They talk more about what movies not to see and which ones have titles that are deceptive.
About cologne:
Meow inquires “Do you wear any cologne?”
“Do I? No not usually. But when I do I have Fahrenheit.” (Men’s fragrance by Christian Dior)
Noah asks“ Did you ever smell it?”
“Nope, I never did.” She says.
Noah goes on, “It’s pretty good. If I do (wear it) just a little bit. A little goes a long way.”
The forbidden subjects religion & politics:
Noah’s take on religion:
Noah expressed that he was baptized Catholic which was his grandmother’s wishes. His father said as he got older that he may choose for himself if he wanted to be baptized a Catholic as an adult. Noah decided not to make the sacrament of Confirmation even though he graduated from a Catholic high school.
“Religion all stems from the same spring. The core idea is all the same thing. Here’s an example of what we do. Me and Dad we usually go and we pray out in the woods in a little tent with a bunch of rocks around with some Native Americans. Old Lakota Indians. It’s called a sweat lodge. My Dad, he does it all the time. Jesus used to pray out in the wilderness too ya know. He didn’t need million dollar churches and donations.”
Meow thinks it’s cool and mentions to him that she thought he looked Native to her when she first discovered his music. Noah admits “My mom says I have Cherokee in me. I guess Great Granddad was Cherokee so I guess I do have some. So I guess I am an Italian Indian.” Noah recollects the family stories. “Apparently there was one of them that had an Indian head dress from like the 1800's. One of my drunken Great Uncles or somebody took it and pawned it for booze. My Dad remembers it though (The Cherokee head dress) from when he was a little kid.”
A few words on politics:
Meow pries “Can I ask you a personal question?”
Noah replies suspiciously “Yeah.” He was probably relieved to hear it. (HA)
“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?”
“I’m a Democrat.” Noah says but adds that he hates politics.
Meow and Noah talked about the current Bush Administration laughing about how many Bush supporters have changed their mind now that they are disappointed with the way he is running the country.
Noah says “I tell them- you people got exactly what you deserved and I vote. I just voted in the first black Mayor in Cincinnati history.”
Save a horse ride a cowboy?
Sasha Rae and Justin both avid riders with their own horse often wondered did Noah ever ride a horse? So Meow asks “Did you ever ride a horse?”
Noah answers “My mom has six horses so yes. I rode them. And I actually even took a horseback riding class in college.”
“Have you ever cantered?”
Noah’s response “I’ve cantered yes.”
“Did you ever gallop?” asks Meow.
“I’ve galloped too! My mom rides English so Mom-”
Meow interjects- “I have a hard time seeing you on a horse.”
Which Noah replies “Well I have a hard time being on a horse.” {{Laughter ... everybody laughs}} Noah continues “I haven’t ridden in years but yeah Mom taught me how to ride and uh she rides English and that’s way more challenging I think then Western. And I mean she’s a maniac dude! She goes on these endurance rides that are competitive and she goes straight down hills through the woods, they’re timed and everything. They have like 70 acres out in the country that they live on so she’s got hills and creeks and valleys and she goes all the time.”
The new Music:
As we wind down the interview the girls call for Noah to play them something they’ve never heard. He says he’s got something in his cd player he can share with us and he plays a demo, one of the new acoustic tracks. He tells his dog Meesha to be quiet in the background as he’s setting it up so we can hear it. Meow asks about WNKU and Noah says he’s going to play there with Jason on Thursday the 29th to promote the show.
“So yeah what do you think?” Noah asks after we’ve heard some of it.
Meow says “Oh my God. Beautiful, beautiful.”
Noah replies “Thanks.”
Meow tells Noah, “This is my favorite kind of music. A man’s beautiful voice and a acoustic guitar.”
Noah replies “Well, that’s what it’s gonna be - with Jason and he’s gonna play some mandolin. But I mean it’s all acoustic and tracks like that. I stopped it before my guitar solo which is actually pretty good. I’m still working on it.”
We give thanks and Holiday wishes to each other. Noah ends with “ It’s been great talking to you and we’ll see you soon. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
Meow & Stacia Rose
NoahHunt.org Admin
Gratuities from Noah