Josh: You’re going to South America and Africa. Can you talk a little bit about those trips?

Stephen:  Sure. So, for my trip to South America, I’m on a tour to celebrate Albert King’s 100th birthday, which is April 25th. I leave on the 10th, and I return back to the States on the 25th. We’ll hit the capital cities of both Argentina and Brazil. And we’ve got some shows outside of those, a grand total of nine shows, I believe. It’s my first time in South America. And then we got a US State Department gig over in Burkina Faso, that I leave out from the States on the 27th. So, I’m going to be moving pretty, pretty tough there. And I get back on the ninth. I don’t know too much about that gig, but I know that I’m looking forward to it. It is in west Africa. It’s right by Ghana. I’ve never been to Africa, and, um, it should be a fun time.

We’ll be doing some clinics over there and doing some teaching. So, I’ll get to see who wants to learn particularly about my style of music and, you know, and see where the talent lies, so to speak over there.

Josh:  You’re going to be playing at Foundry 45 as part of the Homegrown Blues Fest. What about the Blues interests you so much?

Stephen:  What drew me in was the way it makes me feel when I hear someone singing or playing the blues. That’s something you can’t shake when you have such a deep connection with it. And then upon growing up and learning more about it, the stories that they’d tell and why someone sings a particular song that way, just drew me in even more.

Josh:  What do you recall of your first experience hearing the Blues?

Stephen: The first real experience was I was at home, and I was watching Sanford and Son. And B.B. King was in an episode. And he of course did some playing and that was music that just sounded good to me. I’d always liked Motown styles of music and funk and all those nice things. But that was my first taste of freedom. <laugh>.

Josh:  When did you know you wanted to be a musician, specifically a Blues musician?

Stephen:   In the summer of 2013, I knew that I really wanted to play guitar and Blues music was just what I listened to the most. And that is what I really thought was the best. And so that’s what I wanted to learn how to play. I just knew that I really wanted to learn how to play and that nothing was going to stop me. But I didn’t make up my mind to turn this into a career until I dropped out of college. And it was just I didn’t enjoy the learning experiences that I had, but I knew that I couldn’t go another day without playing music.

Josh:  How would you describe your sound and the band’s chemistry?

Stephen: :  Loud, very loud. Everything’s just really, no, I’m kidding. <laugh>

I would say it’s very in your face, very high energy. It’s all authentic in that we tend to just meld together real well and we just groove wherever we can. And it’s something that no one should miss.

Josh:  Would you say you draw from a specific type of Blues style more than others?

Stephen:  I would have to say Texas style of blues influences me heavily. It’s a heavy combination of Texas and Chicago style for what I generally play with my full band.

Josh:  The band’s name is the Stephen Hull Experience. It sounds like you want the show to be an experience for people, so that part of the name is fitting.

Stephen:  Absolutely. Because you can go listen to a record player if you want to, and it won’t bring you the same experiences of being in the room as live music and having fun with us. Cause I know that when we’re on stage we always tend to have fun. And so, I’d like to be able to share that with everybody and have them join in the experience.

Josh:  You released a new song “Toys In My Eyes” last year. What was your inspiration for that one?

Stephen:   I actually only did mild curation of the words. That song was written by a friend of mine. His son had an experience at a theme park that shall not be named for legal reasons. <laugh>,

But the two of them went in collaboration with the words. And he came to me, and he goes, “you think you could put this to music?” And I said, “yeah, I think I can do that.” And then I did. And more accurately he came to me with the, the rough draft of it. I looked at it and said, there’s absolutely no way I’m singing this. I’m not getting sued. My first song that I recorded. <laugh>.

But I dare I say I like it, because it wasn’t necessarily something that I thought would take off in any way, shape, or form. Because to me it was just something that we were having fun doing. And it was a nice song that I could look back on and be like, “that’s where I started. That was the first one.” And then I had a few people come up to me and go, look, he’s got the toys in his eyes.” And I was like, “oh, that’s funny. You guys are hilarious.” <laugh>.