Mudbone

Gary “Mudbone” Cooper is one of music’s few true individuals. In today’s rigidly formatted times his career has been so astonishingly varied you couldn’t make it up. A starring vocalist with ParliamentFunkadelic and co-founder of Bootsy’s Rubber Band; a collaborator with Prince, Herbie Hancock, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Keith Richards and Jimmy Cliff; co-producer of a Ramones album; with Dave Stewart co-wrote Freedom’s Coming for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 initiative and sang and provided vocal arrangements for Brian May and Bono for the project; worldwide pop star as Sly Fox; has written film music; co-wrote a song for the Peace For One Day soundtrack, the documentary about September 21 becoming the world day for peace; and is about to release his debut solo album “Fresh Mud”, a modern blues/rock/soul album co-produced by Dave Stewart & Mudbone which has instrumental performances by Bob Dylan, Dave Stewart, Jools Holland and Candy Dulfer. And in order to do that he had to move to France.

Ten years ago Muddy’s life took an epiphanic turn when he decamped to Paris. He knew hardly anybody in the city, couldn’t speak the language and was removing himself from what had been his life for more than 20 years. “The way I figured it,” he remembers, “was if I had no language I’d have no fear. Although I was familiar with Paris in a casual way, the move was going into the unknown on every level and I thought that would help me move into new or unknown areas of music. After uprooting myself like that, they definitely couldn’t hold any fear for me.”

The music he found in Paris wasn’t exactly new, and certainly wasn’t French – hooking up with rock legend Dave Stewart, the former-Funkadelic crafted an album rooted in blues. More than that though, “Fresh Mud” is blues for the 21st Century, it has taken on all sorts of influences and is as at home in hip hop, funk and solid rock as it is in the Mississippi Delta. It wasn’t so much Muddy discovered the blues as he re-discovered them for a whole new generation, but it wouldn’t have happened without the open-mindedness that came with his move to France:

“My dad was a blues guy, he played blues guitar, but I wasn’t interested. I had no respect for the blues, because I simply didn’t want any part of that hard time music.”

Understandable really, given the time and the place. Muddy grew up on the mean streets of East Baltimore, where the local residents were more given to taking revenge than singing about their woes. Also, more importantly, this was the 1960s, when moving on up was the only direction for a young empowered black generation, and James Brown was The Man. As much for his sharp suits, gold cufflinks, crisp hair dos and private jets as his new-fangled “funk”.

Adolescent Muddy was so taken with The Godfather of Soul, he “had his moves and style down pat” and in his first band, Ricky & The Chips, he was known as Baby James Brown. Their tight soul tore it up to such a degree they’d open locally for acts like The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. From there, via his next group Madhouse, and a chance meeting with Funkadelic set the singer up for a life of funk.

Madhouse were a wilder outfit and Muddy’s style was as influenced by Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa as it was by The Stylistics and The Delfonics. Which was the way of thinking Muddy brought to the Parliament – sweet-voiced melodies and wild-ass attitude – when George Clinton invited him to contribute to Chocolate City in 1975.

It was a union that was only ever a matter of time, as Madhouse would hang out with Funkadelic every time they came to town. Muddy’s soaring vocals can be heard on every P Funk hit between then and 1979, he played drums on, did vocal arrangements, and co-wrote more than a few of them too, however he considers his biggest contribution to The Funk Mob was co-founding the Rubber Band with Bootsy in 1974.

Originally called Bootsy’s Early Sun, they crafted a vibe and a persona that extended P-Funk into new areas – romance … pop … kid’s stuff – and largely thanks to Muddy’s way with a melody. Most remarkably however, in spite of the Rubber Band ending up so prominent, it was initiated entirely outside of the Mothership. Muddy and Bootsy had to get jobs to support themselves while they were putting the group together. “That’s right,” he laughs, “regular jobs! Bootsy and I worked for an agency called Manpower Services or something!”

Full time funk takes its toll though. Looking for a complete change of pace, in 1979 Muddy quit not only the group but the music business. One of the most distinctive voices in soul spent the next two years talking people into buying insulated windows and doors – Gary “Mudbone” Cooper worked as a telemarketer.

Until Atomic Dog in 1982 that is. Muddy returned to the fold to sing and play drums on this last huge P-Funk hit and stayed on until 1995, but this time took a step back by doing at least as much music away from George and Bootsy. He worked with Prince on the Paisley Park TV show The Ride Divine; with Prince again playing drums on the Graffiti Bridge soundtrack; With Bill Laswell on projects involving Bernie Worrell and Keith Richards, and Herbie Hancock; with Mtume; with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker; he co-produced an album for The Ramones, and other soundtrack work included PCU and Stephen King’s Pet Semetary. Then, in 1986 Muddy had a worldwide pop hit under the name of Sly Fox, with Let’s Go All The Way.

Mudbone was in demand and able to pick and choose his projects, but fifteen years of working almost flat out has its downside - as well as near exhaustion, the singer acquired a few life-threatening habits. A total change of environment was the only way forward, so in 1996, Muddy packed up his Funk and moved to France.

Living off his not inconsiderable P-Funk royalties he hooked up with Fela’s former drummer Tony Allen, booked studio time and began experimenting. Five years of dance music, soul, R&B and rock flowed, then in 2001, while visiting family in the US, Bootsy got Muddy involved with music he was working on for Dave Stewart. It was a year before he actually met Dave, at the Cannes Film Festival, and they hit it off in person as well as musically. Hence “Fresh Mud”, as his newfound collaborator succeeded where his father had failed 40 years ago and turned Muddy on to the blues.

“Dave loves the blues, and him talking about it turned my head! I’d never allowed myself to think about it before because I always associated it with older people, but here was this hip guy of my generation dropping the blues on me. It came out so natural, and I got swept away with it. I could see how it could become part of today’s music like soul and funk, rock and hip hop, and be brought up to date.

“It was really a lot like Funkadelic as the essence of what they did – Cosmic Slop, America Eats It Young – was the blues brought up to date for their audience.”

A high accolade from a long time Funkateer, but one “Fresh Mud” more than lives up to. It blends Muddy’s blues with rap (the album introduces JA rap star Nadira X), hip hop, gospel, rock, old-time soul grooves and a liberal helping of P-Funk riffing and raucousness. It’s modern, it’s traditional, it’s cultural, it’s experimental and it’s moved all of its component music along considerably.

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