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LB: So you played piano with them? PL: Well, after I joined the group ...well, I didn't join them-I was featured in different spots with them, wherever they would be hired. LB: So this was different from the group you had with Robert Parker? PL: Yeah, altogether, yeah. This was a pro LB: Do you think this is why you changed companies so often? PL: I imagine, because I was tryin' to make a livin' by stayin' at home which I found out... LB: Yeah, Fats did tour a lot, and you would have had to go on the road a lot. But the companies kept recording you; Atlantic recorded you in 1949. PL: Well, I sold well wherever my records was at. But they wasn't enough places to do me any good, and there wasn't enough of 'em sold in one place to do me any good. They always would cover expenses and maybe make a few bucks over for them, not for me. I didn't draw anything. LB: Do you remember how you came to record for Atlantic? PL: Yeah, Mr. Ertegun, I heard that he was looking for me when I was at the Caldonia Inn. So I left the Caldonia and went back to the Pepper Pot, I thought I was hid. And he tracked me down and he finally found me. Well, I needed the money bad because my kids was... LB: You were married at this time? PL: I wasn't married, but I had two kids by the woman I'm married to now. See, I didn't really get married till around '46 or '47. Beulah Walker was her name. I had two kids by Alice Walton. See my first kid was born in'42, and I had a kid born while I was in the service. Those were my first two kids. Two boys. The oldest one was named after me, Jr. Then my second kid was named Alexander Eugene Byrd. LB: Getting back to Atlantic; how much did Ertegun offer you? PL: Well, he came up with $100 plus session fees. At that time that was plenty money, I guess. LB: Did you sign a contract? PL: Well, I signed a contract for what I was doin'. LB: Was he going to give you royalties? PL: That's what the whole situation was based upon. LB: But you didn't see any royalties? PL: Well, I never went anywhere, I didn't cooperate. LB: Then you went and recorded with Federal? LB: Did they send a producer from out of town to do that session? PL: Federal, now who did I do that for? I don't know, Joe Assunto at that time was conducting the business part of the situation. At the One-Stop Record Shop (on Rampart Street). So I never asked questions. Like I say, the only questions I'd asked is the one that's doin' right. Them's the ones I want to know. If it not worth it in my mind and in my head it's no sense in learnin' whose names it was. LB: Were you paid for that session? PL: I always got session fees. And that was the end of it, as far as I was concerned. Now I did another thing for Ebb. LB: Do you remember the lady who ran that label? PL: It wasn't a lady. I learned the lady was in charge of the whole thing after I had did it. But the lady was more nicer than who I thought I was doin' the session for. He was sittin' there gettin' kicks. LB: Who was this man who did the session? PL: The guy that was supposed to be in charge of the session, the guy that Mr. Joe Assunto put in charge of the session... I think his name was Dick Sergen(?). LB: But the lady that owned the label was Art Rupe's wife. I think her name was Leola she was divorced from him at the time. PL: Seems like she had a feelings anyway. LB: She'd been around the business with Art when he had Specialty. She must have picked up a few things from him. PL: I'm sure, but Dick didn't ... it was a session being done for her, but I thought it was for Dick Sergen, which it wasn't. He was just there to boost me along for her. LB: He was the A&R man. At that time did you have any special people that you used on your sessions? PL: No, I let them do all the pickin'. Just like it is now with me and Quint. I don't pick 'em 'cause it's a headache. I got tired of that many years ago. As fast as you pick a guy and he develops what you tryin' to learn him, he don't never stay no way. They get ideas of their own, and it ain't worth teachin' or showin' nobody. Not in the field, not in that manner. Smokey Johnson and Honey Boy (Charles Otis), oh, I can name a bunch of 'em drummers, Shiba, all of 'em. You try to help them buy instruments and all and soon as they get a break some other place they're gone. LB: Do you remember a song called "East Saint Louis Baby," and "Boyd's Bounce"? PL: No, those were just puttin' those together overnight. LB: It was done for a label called Wasco. Was it a local label? PL: Yeah. It was black label. LB: Do you remember who owned the label? PL: No, I don't. LB: It's obvious that through this period you weren't making a living off monies from your records. How did you support yourself? Gambling? PL: Yeah, I was gamblin'. Well, I had to eat. I had to sleep, I had to pay rent. My children had to continue to go to school. I was doin' the sufferin' 'cause I had to see that they make it. LB: How far did you get in school? PL: Really I didn't go to school. I went to school in third grade. I went in in third grade and got out in third grade. Arthur P. Williams School, on Perdido and Liberty. It took up the whole block, from Liberty to Franklin. LB: So it seems that most of the time your music didn't support you? PL: Really, no, I wasn't making a living off of the music. It was just a help. Other than sessions I would play gigs sometimes with different fellows. Then after the gigs if there wasn't no gigs, well, I know where my spot was, and that was right back on the corner with those cards. LB: For Ebb you did six sides; a lot of them were ballads. Did you like the ballads the most? PL: Yeah, I do some of the ballads today, "Cry Pretty Baby." LB: And "Misery"? PL: No, I don't do that much any more, 'cause whenever you changes bands you got to get the pieces to direct them to the changes in the measurements and the bars. LB: After Ebb you recorded for Ron. You had a pretty big hit with "Go To The Mardi Gras." PL: That was also Mr. Joe Assunto who did that. I believe that was for his brother-in-law Joe Ruffino. LB: Now he still sells that record every year; I know that. You should be getting some money. PL: Yeah, he had been sellin' it every year. From here on I should draw royalties. I just received a statement this year from what they claim they made off it all of these many years. It didn't add up to much, but from now on I do have the rights to it. LB: Also for Ron you did "Cuttin' Out" and "If I Only Knew," which was a real fine ballad. Did you write about people you knew or situations or... PL: Well, it all comes in, it blends into that. Just whatever hits your mind and stimulates you, just like preachin' the gospel. LB: Po you think of yourself as preaching a message when you play your music, like a preacher? PL: Usually that's what it's all based upon. LB: What religion was your family? PL: Well, you could say spiritual or sanctified. Baptist, I was christened Baptist. LB: You would have heard a lot of gospel music and breathin' that hellfire. PL: Well, I used to hang around. I like spiritual music, and I like sanctified music. It inspires me really. Baptist people don't like or care about music too much, not this type of music. LB: They don't like secular music, the type you make money from. Church music is all right because it's done for God's glory. PL: They don't say anything about donating any money to them. I mean if they accept your money they should accept you as well. You can send somethin' to the Baptist church and they'll accept it and use it if it's money. LB: Getting back to your records; do you remember Rip Roberts? You did one record for him called "I Got a Whole Lotta Love." PL: I don't remember doin' anything for Rip Roberts. If I did he wasn't on the session, somebody else was. 'Cause I know Rip very well and I know Weber, his right hand partner. I used to play for all the big bands that came to their club which was located on Dumaine Street. San Jacinto was the name of it. That's when he was bookin' big acts. But I was gonna do some sessions with Rip, but I was gonna work with Rip like I worked with Cosimo or Joe Assunto, in the background. But they always got greedy or somethin'. I think they be hurted more badder than I was. LB: In the end they were. After Rip you did some sides for Joe Assunto; "Third House From The Corner" and "Big Chief." “Big Chief" was the most successful record. Earl King said he wrote that. PL: Earl King wrote it. I just helped him out with it. LB: Did he come up with the arrangement? PL: Well, I had to rearrange some of the things to fit what I was puttin' into his song. I had to rearrange the beat and I had to rearrange the breaks. Well, Wardell (Quezergue) give me a hand with it 'cause he had to write the music for all the other instruments. I never could find nobody could write for me. LB: Wardell's good-he can write for any PL: All but me. Well, I don't have any piano music, but all the rest of it I have it. For "Big Chief" I have for every instrument involved on the session: I have sheet music for the sax, clarinet... Well, I had it. Joe Assunto got it now. LB: During all these years that you played music in the '30s, '40s, and '50s, where were you living? PL: Anywhere and everywhere, there wasn't no particular place. Like I say I was never was stayin' at home. I'd always make money and send it home. That's how I stayed away from my wife so long. I felt like why should I be there in her way and them not eatin' and sleepin' correctly. If I wasn't there maybe some guy would pass along and you know. [The 1936 New Orleans City Directory lists Roland Byrd and his mother Ella Mae Byrd living' at 936 Julia St.] That's why I volunteered to go into the Army. If I couldn't afford 'em, well, I didn't need 'em. I got hurt in a few spots in it, but I don't regret it right on. I had some extra children when I came back (from the Army). (Laughs) I had six when I came back. Now I have seven. And I got a baby daughter. The baby girl, she's going to be 18 this year, and my oldest son would be around 34 or 35. My No. 2 son should be around 34 or 33, somewhere in there. One was born in '42 and the other one was born in '43. Now I got a No. I daughter, I got a No. 2 daughter and I got a baby daughter. I have a No. 1 son, a No. 2 son, a No. 3 son and a No. 4 son. He is studyin' to be a disc jockey right now. He's learnin' talent but in a different mood. He's been into every little thing that he could get into. I don't block 'em, it's just a pleasure and someday maybe they'll find their place. It's good to know a little of everything if you can anyway. Now the baby want to go to college, and by all means I want to see that she gets there. You know what I mean. LB: Are there any plans for you to record again? I know you did that record for Barclay ... PL: Really, I'm-just hopin' that these albums really suit my mind well. If they do maybe ( can surprise a lot of people that things been hung in me so long that haven't come out. All I want to do is see some money and maybe I can get some pleasure out of myself. LB: Did you enjoy your trip to Europe? PL: Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Really we enjoyed it and everybody was happy and everybody was anxious to get back home. They had bills and things that was undone that had to be taken care of. It don't blend in when you're away from home. My wife needed money. I made the error not leavin' her none. It was there but she couldn't use it 'cause it was in checks. I didn't cash 'em before I left. LB: What do you think of yourself as a musician? Do you call yourself a blues musician or a jazz musician, or do you label what you do? PL: I just put it this way. I consider being a good entertainer with fair showmanship. In the job I'm proud to be of some service to the public or other than just for myself alone. I really enjoy my work. And I'd enjoy it better if we could keep groups together. You know, it's hard to keep showin' different people the same thing over and over. Then each one's goin' to have a different opinion about it.
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