“I think music serves as a kind of social lubricant. It gives you a reason to interact with people in different places as you move through time and space. It’s opened countless doors and trails for me to follow.“

Luke Winslow-King: Coast of Light

Luke Winslow-King blends jazz, blues, classical, and folk into a powerful, cinematic sound. With fluid guitar work, fearless songwriting, and gruff yet tender vocals, his music leaves a lasting impression. Originally hailing from Cadillac, Michigan, and now living in Spain, Winslow-King’s early influences included Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, and Carlos Santana. After a short stint studying jazz and classical guitar, he began busking on street corners performing Woody Guthrie songs, fell in love with New Orleans spending the next 15 years honing his craft on street, and developing a lifelong friendship with his musical collaborator, guitarist Roberto Luti. Winslow-King’s new album Coast of Light, due March 27th via Bloodshot Records, looks out over the edges of life, death, failure, hope, and love. It evokes his musical journey reflects how the music of Spain has influenced his writing and producing.                                   (Luke Winslow-King / Photo by Jason Kruppa)

The album is dedicated to the experience of going to explore the city of Cadiz on the ‘coast of light’, the Atlantic side of Andalusia, and discovering the beautiful seaside, and the passion for flamenco music there creating an esoteric impressionist version of real life that is so deeply reflected in Spanish art. The 12 songs on Coast of Light, were co-produced by Winslow-King and Roberto Luti at the Jambona Lab Studios in Livorno, Italy. In addition to Winslow-King on guitar, percussion, and vocals, and Luti on guitar, the album features Simone Luti on bass, Piero Perelli on drums and congas, Nicola Venturini on Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, and piano and drums, and Giacomo Riggi on mallet percussion.

Interview by Michael Limnios

Special Thanks: Luke Winslow-King, Randall Moore & Pati deVries (Devious Planet)

How has the music influenced your views of the world and the journeys (in US and Europe) you’ve taken?

I think music serves as a kind of social lubricant. It gives you a reason to interact with people in different places as you move through time and space. It’s opened countless doors and trails for me to follow. That’s what has drawn me to music over a lifetime — the way it becomes common ground. A meeting place. A well that people draw from. It can be neutral and universal, something people can rally around, relate to, and share all at once.I’ve been fortunate to cover a lot of territory and make many friends through this life in music.

As for how music has influenced the way I see the world — when you travel as a musician, you tend to experience a place more through its land and its people than through its political affiliations. You begin seeing through a different set of glasses, straight to the heart of what we all have in common. My goal when I arrive somewhere is simple: to get everyone singing along, to get us all on the same hymn sheet, as they say. Music becomes a shared language and a shared purpose.

That’s one of the greatest gifts music gives to travel and to your vision of the world — it trains you to look for common ground first, to seek connection, and to recognize how much we already share.

How do you describe your sound, music philosophy and songbook? How do you want the music to affect people?

I’d describe my music as an amalgamation of the different roots I was exposed to growing up — blues, jazz, country, and, most of all, rock ’n’ roll. What first drew me to music is still what keeps me following it through life: it’s a way for people to enjoy themselves and to recognize something of their own experience in the sound.

That’s become my philosophy as a musician — to make music that people can find themselves in. I try to write melodies that are simple enough to put in your pocket and take home with you. If a melody is too complicated to remember after the first listen, it probably needs more refinement.

I want my music to affect people the way great music has affected me. It has pushed me to delve deeper into myself, to uncover my true qualities and essence. That’s what I hope to inspire in others — the courage to know themselves fully and to live that truth unabashedly and unapologetically.

“As the old saying goes, be yourself — everyone else is taken. It has been a real journey to discover my own singing voice and to learn how to relate to people from behind a guitar and microphone. I’ve tried to learn how to treat people well and how to connect with them honestly.” (Photo: Luke Winslow-King)

Why do you think that the American Roots music continues to generate such a devoted following?

Along with Hollywood films, I’d venture to say that music is one of America’s finest exports. Throughout American history, film and music have been treasures that a young country like America can offer back to the world. I think they continue to resonate globally because they ring true. They cut through the noise, and people relate to them because they recognize something of their own nature reflected.

Do you have any interesting stories about the making of the new album Coast of Light? How does your hometown that affect your music?

Coast of Light is my second album recorded in Livorno, the home of guitarist and bass player Roberto Luti and Simone Luti. It’s a beautiful port town on the Tuscan coast. It’s become a home away from home for me. I feel lucky to work with such a strong crew of musicians and engineers there. We’ve built something like an office and a factory — a place where we’re comfortable enough to take chances while creating and recording, free to experiment and take risks.

There are stories behind the recording and the music, but I prefer to keep them encoded within the songs so listeners can create their own— almost like a choose-your-own-adventure novel.

My hometown and the wild nature of Northern Michigan run deep in my spine and are part of everything I create. Travel gives you a kind of depth of field: you begin to see the breadth of things, from where you started to where you’ve arrived. It shifts your focus and casts everything in a different light, depending on where you stand.

“That’s become my philosophy as a musician — to make music that people can find themselves in. I try to write melodies that are simple enough to put in your pocket and take home with you. If a melody is too complicated to remember after the first listen, it probably needs more refinement.” (Photo: Luke Winslow-King)

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What keeps a musician passionate over the years?

When I was sixteen, my parents let me drive the Ford Ranger down to Kalamazoo with my high school sweetheart to see B.B. King live at the Kalamazoo State Theatre. After the show, he opened his bus to fans and signed autographs. I got to speak with him for a minute, and we joked that we must be related because we share the same last name. He was warm and lighthearted, and I was struck by how generous he was with his time. He did that all over the world and played a huge role in carrying blues music across borders, helping people understand it as music of deep feeling and authenticity.

Years later, I was fortunate enough to open for Taj Mahal at The Ark in Ann Arbor. After the show, we sat and talked for an hour or so while his crew loaded out. He shared stories about Sleepy John Estes sleeping on his couch and reflected on the blues revival of the 1960s and ’70s, when the musical world felt smaller and more tightly knit.

As for staying passionate as a musician, I think it’s different for everyone. Each person is searching for their own spark, their own spice of life. Maybe that’s the real question to keep chasing: what comes next, and what will keep it hot, fresh, and exciting? In that sense, your guess is as good as mine.

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I would say I miss just about everything from the past. That’s what’s so beautiful about music — it’s a window into nostalgia. It takes you back to the good times. I grew up on my parents’ music and always idealized the 1960s and ’70s — how people got excited about music, how they talked about it, how they were eager to experience it live, and how many built their identities around it. I’m always seeking that same inquisitive spark in myself and in my own work.

I think we all miss how tactile music used to be — vinyl records, tuning forks, magnetic tape. When music was more analog, it felt easier to let it seep into your bloodstream. Digital sound can feel a little foreign, harder for me to fully absorb. That said, having digital multitrack recording in everyone’s pocket has allowed an incredible amount of music to be created over the past decades, and we’ve all benefited from that.

My biggest fear is that we’ll lean on technology out of convenience or laziness and one day find our deepest passions and inspirations diminished. That’s the nightmare I sometimes feel drawing closer.                                           (Photo: Luke Winslow-King)

“Along with Hollywood films, I’d venture to say that music is one of America’s finest exports. Throughout American history, film and music have been treasures that a young country like America can offer back to the world. I think they continue to resonate globally because they ring true. They cut through the noise, and people relate to them because they recognize something of their own nature reflected.”

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? Why is it important to we preserve and spread the blues?

I’m not sure what the impact of music is on socio-cultural movements these days. To be completely honest, many of today’s protest songs come across to me as muted, even trite. It can feel as though they’re inserted into media streams and playlists wherever algorithms allow, tuned to channels where listeners already agree. Much of it seems like preaching to the choir, or simply hearing the sound of your own voice.

Maybe it’s that the roads have been paved over one too many times, the rags wrung out. I don’t want to sound entirely defeated, but I believe a truly radical protest movement has to grow from the ground up. If you’re making music to plug into social media algorithms that determine success, it’s unlikely to carry the depth and authenticity that moves people. It’s not going to make us quake the way a song like “With God on Our Side” once did.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

As the old saying goes, be yourself — everyone else is taken. It has been a real journey to discover my own singing voice and to learn how to relate to people from behind a guitar and microphone. I’ve tried to learn how to treat people well and how to connect with them honestly. I’ve realized that people don’t want to be told. They don’t want a long explanation of what a song is about before you play it. They simply want to feel something real and to go home enriched in some way. 

Living the life of an artist is a privilege, and with that privilege comes responsibility.

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(Luke Winslow-King / Photo by Jason Kruppa)