Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.

How did you feel, when it all came down and were you alone, void of sound?

When the levee of lies all around you broke And on every word you began to choke.

How did you feel Tell me how long did you think this could last When the ship that you sailed started sinking so fast.

Not a friend could be found when you were going down.

Was it such a surprise Oh Lord after what you put them through How did you feel Forgiveness never comes easy when you're begging it all for yourself A little mercy was all you were pleading Maybe for a little while you were somebody else How did it feel Good to see you here well I'm glad you came around From the darkness you sowed and put your feet on solid ground With your big soul shining like it used to do Ain't it funny how one clear moment will see you through How did it feel Oh, how did it feel Yeah how did it feel My name is PK Mayo, aka Paul Mayasich.

Was born and raised in Eveleth, Minnesota.

PK Mayo Band we do a trio or solo, trio with the band.

It's a mix of all kinds of different genres of music.

I liked the older Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder stuff.

They kind of went through everything, you know, long before world music was ever called world music these guys were doing it, you know, back in the middle 70s, everything from Ska to TexMex to Blues and R&B and Rock and everything else in between.

I kind of grew up listening to that stuff with some older brothers and they'd bring records home from college actually.

So they would bring these albums home when I was a little kid, probably third or fourth grade, and that's kind of got exposed to all these different things.

KAXE radio was a part of that.

KUMD was a part of that.

I'd come home from school and I put those radio stations on and I'd hear all this different stuff.

So there wasn't, you know, one thing.

It probably leaned more towards the blues but it's always been kind of a combination of everything you know.

We call it Eclectic Electric.

I got so confused and wrapped up in disillusion just another day with you So tired of trying so tired of crying just to get along with you Heavens above is this what you call love I'd rather be alone and blue now And the blues and me we get along night after night song after song Day by day come what may you know the blues will always be around And never let you down Cold as a stone and stuck here under your throne since you've been ruling over me Honey you ain't no queen child and this ain't my scene I get so tired of you telling me what to do Heavens above is this what you call love I'd rather be alone and blue now And the blues and me we get along night after night song after song Day by day come what may you know the blues will always be around Never let you down With a dose of my pride I'll find my stride finally walk away from you I'll lace up my shoes no more pay these dues on a love that's only killing me Our love's demise was on account of your lies and here's one thing I know is true That the blues and me we get along night after night song after song Day by day come what may the blues will always be around The blues and me we get along night after night song after song Day by day come what may you know the blues will always be around Oh they'll never let you down I probably started playing around 16,17, you know, high school parties and in a little band with my brother, you know, older brother and so, you know, right around there you kind of start figuring out that it's probably where you're headed.

Once I got paid for my first job I thought, somebody just paid me money to play guitar, and I thought, I have to figure out a way to keep doing this, you know.

So I really enjoyed the interplay anyway with everybody, too, but somebody pays you for something you love it's pretty hard to walk away from it.

Well a lot of the influences I like to say comes from the people I'm playing with.

Over the years the different bands that I've been in, the people I played music with, did a lot more in shaping the way I play than people on records, you know.

Can't find no truth round here Can't find no truth round here Can't find no truth no matter how I try I just can't justify...why Can't find no truth round here Can't find no hope round here Can't find no hope round here Can't find hope round here no matter how I try I just can't justify....why Can't find no hope round here No matter if they're red or blue They keep sticking it to me and you Take all the money and power now and stick it up on a shelf All the time they take real good care of themselves Don't they Can't find no justice round here Can't find no justice round here Can't find no justice round here no matter how I try I just can't justify...why I can't find no justice Can't find no hope Can't find no truth The songs change even after this most recent album, Truth, the more we got out and played those songs live.

I don't write song lists.

I'm probably going to have to at some point in my life I would imagine, but I like to just kind of feel how the night's going, what the crowd's doing, how the band's feeling.

You can kind of tell right away, you know, what kind of night it's going to be.

There's nothing worse than looking at your song list and looking at the crowd and going these people are going to hate this song, you know.

But I like to just kind of let things go and we have rough ideas of how we're going to do things but I leave, you know, interpretations up to them, too.

Steve Lehto, the other guy playing guitar with me, we'll pretty much just give him as much room as he needs.

You're playing with these people because of what they do, not to change what they do.

You know, if you're going well, you know, I'm not going to play with this guy but I'm going to hire a guy that sounds like that well don't hire that guy.

Keep that guy, you know.

We don't do the songs the same way night after night.

We don't.

One night they might start slower, they might start with a different intro, and these guys are all good enough to know, you know, just fall in and see where it goes.

But I like that it keeps everything fresh.

Musicians are supposed to be creative, you know, we're not supposed to trace things out of a book or, you know, copy this or that.

It ain't workin' for me no more tired of waking up on the kitchen floor Sure ain't no fun when you can't find the door It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't doin' what it used to do back in the days honey of me and you Stayin' up all night now we're acting a fool and It ain't doin' what it used to do It ain't doin' what it used to do Dr told me I got to live a bit better I ride a bike that won't roll walking machine ain't no better Now my heart rate is up my bones are breakin' down This joint's really jumpin' I just wanna lay down It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't feelin' like it used to feel standing on the corner just tryin' to make a deal I hope that the judge want to hear my appeal It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't workin' for me no more It ain't workin' for me no more Honey that's right Musicians are lucky that we have a way to, you know, play things out of ourselves.

If you had a bad day, somebody cut you off, or somebody did this or, you know, whatever happened to you during the day, one of the things I found about performing is I can feel maybe not so good when I arrive, but as soon as I start playing I can feel things, you can play these things out of you.

Not everybody has that outlet and then maybe they refer to other ways of dealing with those things that's probably not as healthy.

So for me performing is getting rid of that kind of stuff.

If you have burdens or things are bugging you or whatever you can.

And I want to convey that to the people too.

You know sometimes people come out for two or three hours to forget about the day or to forget about what happened during the week or to forget about something that they don't want to be dealing with right now, so we want to give that to them too.

And, you know, we're doing Insane, a song called Insane.

I wrote it for my honey, for my wife, because she drove me insane, that's why I married her.

Life's interesting.

It's not boring.

You got my hand in your back pocket That's my heart up on your sleeve You got my finger down in your socket And that's my sugar in your tea There's only everything about you That makes me moan your name There's only everything about you Woman that's driving me insane Mess with my brain going insane That's my ring around your bathtub That's my fat cat at your door You got my amp down in the basement now And all of my guitars on your floor I'm movin' in Only everything about you Makes me moan your name Only everything about you Woman that's driving me insane Mess with my brain You got my butt down in your ashtray and That's my rubber out on your road You got all my greasy hair down in your pea trap Now that's my name by your zip code Only everything about you Makes me moan your name Only everything about you Woman that's driving me insane Drive me insane Mess with my brain Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.