George Nowak - The Barefoot Man Interview
Are you originally from the Cayman Islands? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically the guitar and songwriting?
Originally from Germany – German Parents, mother remarried to a US service am and I ended up in North Carolina at around the age of 8. In Germany my step father took me to the movie theaters on the military base where I saw Elvis, Gene Audrey and such singing on the big screen. At about age 13 my mom bought me a guitar at a pawn shop and I started strumming. By the time I was 17 I had written a few country style songs and went to Nashville to hustle them. I worked with Chart Records for some time, mainly as a gofer doing some demo studio work however through it all I always had a wanderlust for the tropics, beaches, sunshine and fishing. The idea of stardom was never a huge interest. I once turned down an interview with some record executives because it was good day for fishing in the Bahamas. I never showed up for my flight to Miami, oh well? No regrets.
Was music something that was relevant around your household? Who were some of your earliest influences in your more formative years? Do you have any siblings? What ultimately inspired you to pursue a life and career in music? I’m curious to know how the nickname “The Barefoot Man” came about.
Early influences were Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins then later on John Prine. I had two borthers and one sister who were all half siblings from my step father whom were all younger and have since passed. As mentioned earlier, my true love has always been the tropics. Not so much wanting to be a big star, on the road, managers, motels, contracts, etc. but having said that I saw no reason to live in the islands with a 9 to 5 job, so my guitar became my passport. I sang in tiki bars, saloons and honky-tonks all around the world for little money in the beginning. Its impossible to place a price tag on a free hammock, burgers and beer and as a young lad, that’s all I needed. Usually someone had a boat I could use and eventually once the money started rolling in I bought my own 32 foot sail boat and while on a boat fishing with no other humans around, this is where my inspiration for my 20 albums came from. The islanders tagged me as “Barefoot Man” and too a native islander the first sign of poverty was not owning a pair of shoes. The poorest of the West Indian locals would wear shoes. For me, it was always summer and I lived on the beach, so who needs shoes? The name stuck and and it was a good marketing tool. “The Barefoot Man” on an album cover with island songs was more attractive for sales than George Nowak on the album cover, George. That just didn’t have the right ring to it..
Tell me about writing and recording your 1971 debut “Sings For You”. I’d like to know some of the backstory to songs such as “Our Song”, “The Legend of Bow Down”, “Honey Child” and “Yellow Pages”.
This is really an old album, “Bow down” was a song about a motor boat I once owned in the Bahamas which was a small 14 foot with a 40 HP engine and every time I invited some young girl to go boating with me we would get a few miles from the island and the boat would break down. All the villagers thought I did it intentionally to be stranded for long hours with these pretty tourists girls. “Yellow Pages” I wrote in high-school and later re-wrote it with Roger Bowling (who wrote several of Kenny Rogers’ hits). Allen Jackson recorded the song, but it never made the album. Many of my songs come from personal life experiences.
Your career is incredibly prolific and even more impressive that you’ve solely released your own music for over 50 years. What are some of your most fondest memories, or general highlights of working on some of the projects you have over the years?
Highlights? That I was able to make a living from my own compositions and with those funds sent 4 children to universities, have a home on the beach, traveling the world and to now be working hard at not working. I’m a lucky guy and don’t mind saying so.
