Lester Butler drafted four guitarists, three bass players and two drummers to flesh out the sessions that would become 1997’s “13 Featuring Lester Butler.”
But there was only one piano player: Andy Kaulkin, who added a distinctive (and essential) touch to songs such as “So Low Down,” “HNC,” the unforgettable “Plague of Madness” and lo-fi “Down In The Alley.” In fact, Kaulkin’s keyboard sound is one of the unifying themes of “13,” helping to pull several different lineups and sessions into a cohesive whole.
The album would not be the same without that piano, and immediately sets “13” apart from “King King.”
But who is Kaulkin, besides the surly giant hulking at the back of the “13” group photo … the only member not draped in black?
Thankfully, this July 13, 1996, story in Billboard magazine by Chris Morris (a writer who has authored books about Los Lobos and Bob Dylan, along with liner notes for The Blasters, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Top Jimmy and Howlin’ Wolf) tells you all you need to know:
Pretty cool that he found time to play with a post-Red Devils Lester Butler, John Bazz and Bill Bateman lineup of The Blue Shadows on Wednesdays at Bar Deluxe.
Kaulkin’s greatest success, however, would come in 1999, when he founded Epitaph sister-label Anti- and released Tom Waits’ Grammy-winning “Mule Variations” (which included “13” comrades Smokey Hormel and Stephen Hodges).
(Top: Andy Kaulkin press photo via Bong Load Custom, circa 1996.)
No Fightin' 