Swatkins on his new album "Friends and Other Necessities"

We’ll be back at The Café in Artichoke Music next week. Mean ole Mr. Covid laid me up for a few weeks but things are much better now. Nevertheless, I am using an ancient arcane device known as the telephone to talk with this week’s guest Steve Swatkins, he of the keyboards and voice box, a composer and bandleader as well as a member of Allen Stone’s band. His new album Friends and Other Necessities is just out and it is both very funky and tremendously inspiring. Not religious, but just exactly what we need right now. I realize I said that about Jim Brunberg’s new album a couple of weeks ago but that just means we’re lucky to have both of them in our world. Steve lives in L.A. now with his fiancé Moorea Masa, who appears on the album. Mr. Swatkins, come here, I want you. That’s what Mr. Bell said.