Jimmy Pitts
Venerable roots-rocker Chris Berardo and his band, The DesBerardos, are well-known for their Americana-tinged ‘70s rock sound. Look no further than the dusty-spurred luminaries Berardo has shared the stage with — The Doobie Brothers, America, Dickey Betts, Foreigner, Reckless Kelly, The Marshall Tucker Band, Molly Hatchet, and the criminally underrated Badfinger — to see that Berardo’s heart beats to the rhythm of classic American rock.
Fittingly, Berardo’s latest single is a cover of Badfinger’s “Baby Blue.” As much as Badfinger straddled the line between classic rock and pop-rock, Berardo ‘walks the line’ between Americana and rock. In Berardo’s capable hands, “Baby Blue” comes out of the gate hot, with the distortion of Badfinger’s original kicked into overdrive – giving the song an immediate grit. Once the doo-wop drums of the intro give way, a sublime acoustic undertone carries the listener away. The result is a well-contained brand of rowdiness, sounding one Jack Daniels past the Jayhawks and two fingers short off Bash & Pop.
“Baby Blue” plays to Berardo’s strengths while serving as a fitting tribute to Badfinger, a criminally underrated band that backed up George Harrison on All Things Must Pass and influenced an entire generation of pop-rockers. The result goes down easy as a glass of whiskey at the end of the day.
Music Fiends recently pulled Chris Berardo away from his studio to put him under The Probe:
1) If a roach crashed your rehearsal space, would you run or would you kill it?
I came up in New York City rehearsal studios … I would stare it down and then name it and then buy it cigarettes and then go to the bar with it and we’d drink and then argue and I’d just figure there were no hard feelings and that I’d see it at rehearsal the next day …
2) Does anyone in the band like to play practical jokes? If so, what’s one of the all-time best ones?
Oh, yes, absolutely … this was a classic … my brother Marc Douglas Berardo once was able to change Bill Kelly’s airline ticket so that when he woke up instead of being in Austin he was inn Thailand … he had no passport and the Thai police arrested him at the airport and threw him in the old Bangkok Hilton (Bang Kwang Prison)… well, he somehow got someone who spoke English to allow him a phone call and when we answered the phone we were all like “Who now? Bill who? No, never heard of him” … he was in there for nearly three months! The stories were not pretty … oh, man believe me, we all had a pretty good laugh about that one!
3) What’s the last gift you received?
My mom gave me one of her old diamond tiaras … at first I felt like I’ll never have anywhere to wear this, but then I just decided that life is too short and now I just wear it nearly everyday … I’m a big hit at the Jiffy Lube!
4) If you could pick one thing about yourself that you’d like your fans to know, what would it be?
I guess that I have tried to learn when not to take myself too seriously, but that I take The Music very seriously, and that I REALLY appreciate every single person who comes to the show or listens to one of the records … I love every minute of what I get to do and I try to never take any of it for granted …
5) What music are you listening to lately?
I was on a Kathleen Edwards jag for a while…. she hits a real musical nerve in me and her band just kills me … this week lots of great Pop / Rock stuff like Teenage Fanclub, Big Star, Paul Westerberg, Mathew Sweet … I’ve always got at least a couple of my amazing Texas buddies spinning … Walt Wilkins is a national treasure and Willy Braun (Reckless Kelly) is really one of the best writers down there … if you like great songs and great voices they are the Real Deal … and I am no kind of educated Jazz guy or anything, but lately I’ve been ending the day in the studio with a cocktail and some Bill Evans and I would absolutely suggest that everyone give that a try!
For more information visit www.chrisberardo.com
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