Milling About with Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools

Southside Johnny joins host Robin Milling to talk about his new CD Songs From The Barn. Branching out from the Asbury Jukes with The Poor Fools, it features a collection of styles from country to samba, bluegrass to honky tonk. Many of the songs are co-written with Jukes' keyboard player Jeff Kazee which John says he's most proud of to date.

He tells Robin the songs are inspired by experiences he's had with a touch of added color. Living in El Paso, Texas back in the 60s, he laments about love lost at the border in Mexicali Waltz. He says, 'we would cross the border to Juarez and try to find trouble and we usually did find it. There were all these beautiful girls there and I was attracted to many of them. We were young and wild so my fantasies would take over and I would dream about these girls for decades to come and write about them in these songs!'

After almost 40 years with the Jukes, The Poor Fools gives Southside the chance to play for fun in smaller venues like converted churches. John recalls the old days playing schools, when his dressing room was a kindergarden classroom. 'I just remember sitting on the little chairs! You know you take this stuff humourously because otherwise you'd really get down. It's some of the things you go through just to get on stage for a couple of hours and make music.' John doesn't measure his success by longevity. He looks to the future and will 'keep riding the train until it stops.' Although he may consider looking back on it all when he's 80!