Mr. Sipp: Even though I was in my parents’ Christian home, I never looked at myself as a gospel musician. I looked at myself as a musician. Early on, I began to study music and the theory of music, and I never read any books where there was a gospel C or a blues C, or a blues F-sharp or a gospel F-sharp. So I still sing gospel songs, and even now in my career as Mr. Sipp, my show consists of, you know, some gospel, blues, funk, soul, the whole nine yards because I just don’t want to be labeled as a blues musician or a gospel musician. I am a musician period.
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Nick Spitzer: Of course, when I hear Mr. Sipp, the first thing I think is Mississippi.
Mr. Sipp: Yes, Mr. Mississippi.
Nick Spitzer: But I also think of it as somebody who might like to take a sip once in a while. Are you somebody that has a sip or do you pretty much stay off the sauce?
Mr. Sipp: Well, now, I will sip, but it's going to only be on water, Powerade, juice. [laughs] Yeah, I stay away from the tonic, man. Purified life, man, creates purified music. Purified music creates purified relationships. Relationships just creates a purified universe.
Nick Spitzer: Okay. Have you ever worked from the pulpit, preaching?
Mr. Sipp: I feel like everything I do is somewhat from the standpoint of a preacher. In my music I am delivering the good news.
Nick Spitzer: Amen!
Mr. Sipp: Whether, you know, whether it's blues, gospel, it's all good news for me. So I consider myself Pastor Sipp, the pastor of the blues because, you know, I'm gonna bring that good news everywhere I go.
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Nick Spitzer: The message of gospel, it seems to me, is to love the Lord, love yourself, love your community. Blues is a very different message, it feels to me. How do you see the two related or maybe they're just complement?
Mr. Sipp: For me, I think blues and gospel is first cousins, and in my eyesight, they do express the same thing. There’s pain in gospel. You talk about the pain, then you talk about the Savior. In blues, you talk about the pain, and you talk about whatever saves you from that pain. One is heavily Jesus/God based, and the other one is just real everyday life based, you know. But it's the same stories. For me, the same melodies.
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Nick Spitzer: I have to say, I was looking at some of your many credits and one of them–my favorite I think–is National Mr. Sipp Day in your hometown.
Mr. Sipp: That's probably the highest accomplishment in my life that I've received so far.
Nick Spitzer: Yeah everyone needs to be a hero in their hometown.
Mr. Sipp: Yeah, that topped the Grammy for me. For me to be able to grow up in the hometown, and ride up and down that street and pass that street, and I’ll be there I'm quite sure until the city crumbles.
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