Max De Bernardi & Veronica Sbergia

Veronica Sbergia & Max De Bernardi passionately play country blues and ragtime, hokum, jug band and rural music from the 20’s and 30’s.
An irresistible blend of blues, ragtime, vaudeville music and hillbilly music, played using strictly acoustic instruments such ukuleles, washboard, kazoo, double bass and guitars. They love entertaining the audience and keeping this precious musical heritage alive, faithfully reproducing its original sound whilst playing it with a modern twist. With The Red Wine Serenaders they won the European Blues Challenge, held in Toulouse (FR) in 2013 and were selected in January 2015 representing Italy for the International Blues Challenge in Memphis (TN). They continue to play and record their music, traveling and touring everywhere the music will lead them. Check their tour dates on www.maxandveronica.com

Interview

1. Max, can you tell us something about your favorite guitars and why you like them?

My favorite guitars, for a few years now, are the vintage small bodies acoustic guitars because I believe, like many other fingerpickers, they are the best for reproducing that type of sound of old vintage recordings that I particularly love. With this I'm not saying that small body guitars built today have a bad sound... far from it.... but I believe that today we tend to build guitars with too many harmonics which, for my type of sound, are "too many" ...I like the sound of old wood, dry and with great projection. I own a 1951 Gibson LG1 and a 1938 Kalamazoo "Carson J. Robison" and a 1967 Gibson B25 twelve string which all have a sound that no modern guitar can reproduce. Having said that, I would like to tell you that I own an Eastman 00 from a few years ago which has an excellent sound and is perfect as a guitar for small gigs and travel.
 

2. Veronica, you sing, play the uke and washboard. I noticed that you use brushes on your washboard. Most people use spoons, fingerpicks, sticks etc. Using brushes makes a lot of sense. How did you came up with using them and how did your learn to play the washboard?

I started playing the washboard after the first record I made with Max. It’s an instrument that fascinated me right away, and I pestered the musician who played it on my record to give me some lessons. He is Pablo Leoni, and he’s a good friend of ours. He gave me his washboard. Initially, I played it with spoons because I always found it difficult to use the thimbles; I kept losing them! A little while later I tried using a hairbrush, and a whole new world opened up for me! I had finally found a way to play it comfortably, and I really liked the final effect combined with Max's guitar sound.

3. Max, do you have a strategie or advice for fellow guitar players how to study songs and how to make your own arrangements?

I believe that the only way to play this style of guitar and then develop a style that is as personal as possible is to learn "by ear" and trying, above all, to reproduce a particular sound. After years of listening trying to reproduce the sound of old records, I think it's automatic to add some of your own personal variations that come out of "your" musical baggage which is, obviously, "modern"! Musicians like me and many others play this music almost a century after it was recorded and each musician has, as musical baggage, thousands of hours of listening to various musical genres which will inevitably influence your way of playing. I started playing in the 70s using tabs like almost everyone at the time  abandoning them after a while. This is not to say that they weren't useful at times but I preferred and prefer trying to reproduce a sound rather than “read” it.

4. Max, when we listen to your repertoire, its clear who your influences are. Are there some less known cats between them as a listeners advice?

I have always been influenced mainly by older musicians, black and white, of what is commonly called Piedmont style and I believe that if lesser-known musicians such as William Moore, Luke Jordan, Willie Walker and Bayless Rose (to name a few) had had the opportunity to recording more pieces at the time, we would have had dozens of songs that would have influenced us guitarists in the same way as Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis etc. etc. All this to say that every guitarist who came before us contributed with his personal style to building an authentic sound tradition so I would recommend listening to all the musicians who strike a chord with your musical sensitivity.
 

5. Veronica, at Mainwood Guitars we have a lot of customers from Italy. How is the blues & roots scene and audience in Italy?

It’s hard to answer this question without being too pessimistic or 'whiny'. There isn’t a true blues & roots scene here, or if there is, it’s very fragmented and struggling to build true connections. This is a pity because Italy is full of great musicians in this genre, but we often find more recognition abroad.
 

6. Max, you just released your new album together with piano player Simone Scifoni. You told me on the phone that its a classic “guitar and piano duo” like Leror Carr & Scrapper Blackwell. Can you tell our readers about that album?

Of course yes! Simone and I wanted to pay homage to the guitar and piano duets of the past, taking inspiration from a Yazoo Records compilation from a few years ago. A record of this type had not yet been made in Italy so Simone, owner of the Bloos Records label in Rome, asked me if I had any pieces of this kind to record for this project. So I looked for some old known and lesser known pieces and we recorded this CD in a single live session a few months ago. Obviously we re-proposed the songs with our personalized and slightly more modern touch while preserving the original sound of the acoustic guitar and piano. Along with some classic and dutiful tributes to Carr & Blackwell, there are lesser-known but equally representative pieces.

7. Veronica, in all those years of playing music is there one special moment that you’ll never forget or is special to you?

Fortunately, we have had many memorable moments! Over the years, we've crossed paths with many great artists, from Charlie Musselwhite to Sugar Blue, to Bobby Rush, just to name a few. Personally, one of the most incredible experiences I've had was participating in the Mustique Blues Festival for two editions, alongside Ian Siegal, Joe Louis Walker, Shamekia Copeland, Zach Prather, and sharing the dance floor with Princess Kate Middleton!
 

8. Max, if you have to throw everything away (also the computer..) and you just can keep only 5 records, which ones will that be?

Pretty hard question to answer :-) I will tell you what I’d keep in the “acoustic guitar field”  “Harlem Street Singer” (Rev. Gary Davis) “Guitar Foremost ” (Blind Blake) “Folk songs of the hills” (Merle Travis) “Greenhouse” Leo Kottke and the first Doc Watson LP 5 albums are too few...there would be many more! These are the first that came to mind! :-)
 

9. Max, do you have favorite players in the traditional acoustic styles that are still alive?

I particularly appreciated Ari Eisinger but I haven't heard from him or seen him around for a while...

10. Veronica, are there any plans for a new record and to release it on vinyl?

We are currently awaiting the arrival of the vinyl records of Bawdy Black Pearls, my CD dedicated to the blueswomen of the 1920s. If all goes well, we should have them by the end of July. We also have a new Max & Veronica album planned, with recording scheduled to begin in mid-August...we will keep you updated! :)

11. Veronica, were you always interested in this kind of music or has that developed over the years?

Yes, I started listening to African American music as a child, and although I have explored a wide variety of musical genres, it is in blues and gospel that I have always felt most comfortable vocally. After meeting Max, I delved deeper into the culture of early blues, and today, after almost 20 years of concerts with Max, I can say that it attracts me even more than on the first day and never ceases to amaze me.

12. Max, are there some highlights in your career that you want to share?

Being Italian musicians and being able to bring our essentially "American" type of music to Europe and the United States while also playing with some of your youth heroes is a great satisfaction for me. :-)

13. Max, for our guitar nerds, which strings do you use on flattops and on your resonator?

Any good brand of cheap strings first of all! :-) I use a normal 012 set but I replace the E on the first string with 013. I use the steel fingerpicks and the plastic thumb pick most of the time and I don’t have a light touch!:-)

14. Max & Veronica, we’ve talked about visiting Mainwood Guitars and to do a “private” concert for our customers. Are there any EU tours coming up as well?

Yes! It might be early October after the UK tour and Paris and then at Mainwood. We have a major UK tour in September and I suggest to take a look at our website for some scattered European gig.