Rock n Roll's Best Kept Secret
By Julien R. Fielding

After three decade's worth of music and deep admiration from the likes of Penn Jillette, Elvis Costello and Keith Richards, NRBQ – which stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet - has only had one hit on Billboard's Top 100. (It was "Get That Gasoline Blues.") But that's OK with keyboardist and founding member Terry Adams, he's just happy to still be doing what he's always wanted to.

		NRBQ's music style is hard to pin down. Its eclectic, genre-hopping style careens from rockabillly to jazz and then to polka and pop. Ask Adams why they do this and he'll tell you he never saw any differences between those types of music. "If I could describe the type of music that NRBQ plays, I wouldn't be doing this," he
confesses. "I would say It's 'NRBQ style." I don't honor those borderlines. They have never been there for me. We don't think of ourselves as eclectic, We're just using all the colors and sounds We've heard over the years. We're inspired by life itself. We've always enjoyed all types of music."

And if music industry big wigs don't like that, then It's their problem. "Today a narrowmindedness exists in the music industry, but at one time it wasn't that way," Adams explains. "You could hear all kinds of music on the AM radio. In 1965, the Top 10 had all different kinds of music. We don't have a problem. Music is bigger than those labels, we'd like to help the industry, but we don't have time to worry about it."

Known to its fans simply as "the Q," NRBQ came together in Miami in the late 1960s. At that time the group was comprised of Adams, bassist Joey Spampinato, drummer Tom Staley, singer Frank Gadler and guitarist Steve Ferguson. (Today the lineup is Adams, Spampinato, drummer Tom Ardolino and guitarist Johnny Spampinato, Joey's brother.) "Steve Ferguson and I went to Florida and we ran into Joey's band, the Seven of Us," he says. "We merged the groups. At first [performing] was something we did at home. Different friends would come over and we would record ourselves for the joy of it."

		Something bigger was in store for them, though, so they left Florida for New York, where they were signed to Columbia Records. Two albums followed – NRBQ and Boppin" The Blues. The band later changed labels to Kama Sutra and put out another two records, Scraps and Workshop. Then Ferguson left the band and so did Staley. Despite some additional changes within the band's dynamic, they continued to release a succession of albums. The quartet even started its own label, called Edi-Sun, which has
allowed them to amass a large archive of music. "We've always tried to maintain some control over our music, even though sometimes we came into conflict over it," he says.

In 1999 the group celebrated its 30th anniversary with a new studio effort and a few shows at New York's Bowery Ballroom. There Mike Scully, executive producer of The Simpsons, and his wife, Julie Thacker filmed the band for use in an episode. A huge fan of "the Q," Scully invited the musicians to not only make an animated appearance in the episode (they were the band in a biker bar) they were the first ever band to appear on the Simpsons both animated and live in the same episode. NRBQ also to performed as themselves while the end credits rolled. This wasn't their only collaboration with Scully, though. He and his wife also co-produced a documentary about the band, "NRBQ: Rock 'n" Roll's Best Kept Secret," which aired earlier this year on A&E. (Adams says it ran again this September, this time with new footage.) Scully also invited the group to perform the theme music for the Fox comedy series called The Pitts.

Over the years, the band has continued to tour, building a fan base that stretches from North America into Europe and Japan. NRBQ's live performances are of legend, and not just because so many "big names" have taken in a concert or two. (Count Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Bruce Springsteen, R.E.M, Ben Folds Five and Barenaked Ladies in that group. It's even reputed that in 1969 Jimmy Hendrix was whooping it up in a sea of faces.) Fans also enjoy the group's spontaneity. Adams explains that when he and his bandmates step onstage, they haven't any idea what they're going to. "We only play for the moment," he says. "It's impossible to plan. The last time we did plan was in 1972 and that didn't work. We like to feel the room and then play what is needed for that night."

Being a musician—a real, natural one—means doing what you have to do, no matter what, Adams admits.

"You don't work toward something and call it success. Some [musicians] knock around for two or three years and then have enough money to admit they hate each other … The main problem with MTV is that music is played in the background to promote an image and sell a product. There are people who get caught up in that.
We're just going to keep working on this until we get it right."

To get the latest information on NRBQ, go to the band's Web site at www.nrbq.com.