Interview from : http://www.nydailynews.com
'Roots' under the tree
By DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER
Brian Setzer grew up on Long Island, but he always watched the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting on TV, just like someone in Idaho.
"My father said no way was he coming into the city for that," Setzer says with a laugh.
But now Setzer's got the last laugh.
When the lights go up on Wednesday, Setzer and his whole orchestra will be on the scene providing the holiday music.
"I'll be right under the tree," he says. "I can't think of a cooler gig."
Cool is something with which Setzer has some experience, because in an age of increasingly processed pop, he's developed a knack for scoring with music that no one is supposed to care about anymore.
In the '80s that was the rockabilly of the Stray Cats and more recently it has been the big-band sounds of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, whose 1998 "Dirty Boogie" CD sold several million copies.
"I sometimes have to remind myself that it's not 'mainstream' music," he says. "But people seem to like it."
They can get a high-octane dose of it over the next few days. Besides Rockefeller Center, the Orchestra is playing Westbury Music Fair tomorrow night in its "Second Annual Christmas Extravaganza."
That means a red and green bandstand and background singers dressed in little red Santa dresses. It also means a selection of Christmas songs from the "Boogie Woogie Christmas" CD that Setzer released last year, in addition to his earlier hits like "Rock This Town" and "Jump, Jive and Wail" and a 7-minute reworking of the "Nutcracker Suite."
Expect some tunes, too, from Setzer's new CD "Nitro Burnin' Funny Daddy," which cruises easily from a great country-rockabilly number, "When the Bells Don't Chime," to the cranky, bluesy "Drink Whiskey and Shut Up" to a lovely reworking of the Pentagons' "To Be Loved."
"I think 'roots' is a fair description for my music," says Setzer, whose own turntable lately has been spinning with a stack of vinyl Count Basie albums.
"It's all American music. It all comes from the blues."
Just don't call it "retro."
"I don't like the term," he says. "It gives me an image of a guy in a zoot suit."
Equally to the point, it makes him sound like a tribute act when what he's really done, against all odds, is make these vintage styles fresh enough to sell records today.
"I guess I've been fortunate," he says. "I've built a large enough base of fans that I don't have to depend on having a hit record. I feel sorry for artists who have one hit, then get dropped by their label and have nowhere to go."
At the very least, that's not how you get to Rockefeller Center.
Originally published on November 28, 2003