Chuck Berry Jr. on being raised by the father of rock 'n' roll

Chuck Berry passed away in March at 90, leaving behind a body of work that shaped the very foundations of modern music. But the father of rock 'n' roll wasn't done: Chuck, available June 9 and streaming on CBC Music now, is Berry's first album of new material since 1979's Rockit, and a poignant reminder of the musician's legacy and influence.

The album almost didn't happen. The songs on Chuck were in the works immediately following Rockit, and he worked on them for the better part of a decade. Then, in 1989, his studio/former amusement park, Berry Park, where his recordings were held, burnt to the ground and with it, all of his unreleased work.

My dad pretty much kept his lyrics with him, and when I say with him, I mean in his bedroom.- Chuck Berry Jr.

"He was going through the process of getting his music together and then the fire hit, and he freaked out, man," says his son, Chuck Berry Jr., who plays guitar on Chuck and toured with his dad for 14 years. "It was like, man, I'm steam rollin', I'm doing plenty of concerts, and he had a very creative period through that point, probably 30 or 40 songs in that 10-year period. That's a lot of stuff ... he had close to four albums worth of music, potentially."

By 1991 Berry had rebuilt his studio and begun to recreate what he had captured the decade before. The only thing he had to work from was his lyrics, which he always kept close.

"My dad pretty much kept his lyrics with him, and when I say with him, I mean in his bedroom," says Berry Jr. "Because he was always writing stuff, he was a poet. He had sheets and sheets of paper. After he passed away, I went to their house in St. Louis and went to get some stuff and sure enough, inside his closet in a box were lyrics, no joke, I'm find the original lyrics to 'Johnny B Goode,' 'Back to Memphis,' 50- and 60-year-old songs, man. It blew me away, man. He kept them in the bedroom."

"Back to Memphis," Berry Jr. says, was written on TWA (Trans World Airlines) letterhead. "He more than likely wrote it on a plane or just had their paper, because I'm finding lyrics on Holiday Inn stationary, whatever was around. These were original lyrics that he wrote and took to the studio with him."

Below, Berry Jr. discusses the first time he realized his dad was famous, reluctantly joining the band and whether or not Chuck Berry, who didn't win a Grammy until 1984 (for lifetime achievement), felt he got the recognition he deserved in his lifetime.

On realizing his dad was a 'big shot'

"I realized that he had a job that my friends' parents didn't have when I saw him on television. I think it was American Bandstand, he was never on Ed Sullivan, but he was on a lot of television, so I'm a kid thinking, 'Only big shots are on television, and our dad's on television.' You're five years old but it doesn't click. Then you realize he's on a lot. The president is on TV and he's a big shot. Maybe my dad is a big shot.

"By the time I could read, it became more obvious. We'd go to a show and see 'Chuck Berry' on the marquees at the places he was about to play, and then go into these places and see an opening act, like I saw the Grateful Dead open for him, and it's like, I've heard them on the radio. I'm seven or eight and here's thousands of people screaming and clapping, my dad is on stage and it's like, wait, what is happening? It started to fold in that there was something special about my dad."

On learning to play guitar with his dad's band

"I was 40 years old when I started playing in my dad's band. Prior to that I had six, seven guitars but I didn't know how to play any of them. I'm serious, I could play the intro to 'Smoke on the Water.'

"It was a matter of fate that I even ended up joining my dad's band. … My sister's husband was in the band, and one morning, my mom leaves me a message that my brother in law has died. My dad lost his trusted sideman, his son in law, and there is a void there. I thought he was joking but he said, 'Anytime you want to get up on stage with us, just let me know.' He's letting me know he's serious, and I'm like, man, I don't even know how to play. He said, 'We'll show you, the whole band, we'll teach you.' I did that for 14 years until he went on hiatus. It was a blast, man, no question about it. I couldn't have had more fun. Moscow, Paris, London, we played some incredible places."

On whether Chuck Berry felt he got the recognition he deserved

"I don't think he really dwelled on that kind of stuff. His fulfillment was going out onto a stage, and he had to do it or the people weren't coming back. Though that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing [he was among the first to be inducted in 1986], that was a big deal. He found out about the selection process and that he was number 1, the first, for real? We was thinking about the people that came before him, T-Bone Walker, Louis Jordan, Carl Hogan, Charlie Christian, and the fact that he was influenced by them. He was so humbled by that. … People thought he was outgoing and boisterous, but he was a humble dude. He never bragged. He just wasn't like that. Ask anybody."

"The Voyager spacecraft [Golden Record] with 'Johnny B. Goode' on it. ... He was just beyond words when he found out that NASA, the scientists, Carl Sagan — he adored Carl Sagan and became friends with him — that they picked 'Johnny B. Goode' as the representation of music from the United States to send into space. Then, when he got the Kennedy Centre honour, which is the highest order an entertainer can receive in the United States. Those were some of the rare occasions where he was like, ya, this is cool. He cherished, cherished those. The rest of that stuff was like, oh well, the fans like me."

— Jesse Kinos-Goodin, q digital staff