Ruthie's Table 4: Rag'n'Bone Man

Britain's most successful and brilliant blue singer. But this time I broke that rule, and here we are today on a spring evening in the River Cafe garden, about to get to know each other. I am incredibly excited. Alms Sunshine, my own sunshine. You made me have me. Skis are a great you know, dear love you Shin. Do you want to come on tour? Thank you? Okay? Would you like to read your recipe? What recipe are you going

to read? I'm going to read raspberries with Ricotta. I was going to try and do my best radio voice or like phone voice like my mom used to do. Any voice you like, you can sing it, I can do my best. This is a delicious summer dessert. We only make it when the raspberries are ripe. You will need five fifty grams of fresh raspberries, two hundred and fifty grams of buffalo ricotta, one a mouthia lemon, four tablespoons of caster sugar. Finally, grate the lemon pill and

mix with the sugar. Leave for a while to allow the flavors to combine and the sugar to be absorbed. Scatter the raspberries on a large plate, Turn the rocotto out very carefully, and then slice it as finely as possible. Place rocotto slices delicately over the raspberries and sprinkle with the lemon and the sugar. My mom would be proud of me, that she'd be fair of you. Oh, my mom was fantastic. She's an amazing woman. I grew up in a single parent household, just my mom, me and

my sister. And I was lucky with my mom growing up because actually my mom and my dad because we my mom didn't have much money. You know, my mom was quite often on benefits and stuff, but we always got buy with decent food. You know, one pot kicking a lot of the time. But my mom was always good with flavor. And I learned that super young. I was maybe like ten or eleven when I started kicking myself.

Do you remember what she would make? My favorite thing was always muscles and just make a huge, huge point when I'm talking about huge, like you know, like the big, big saucepans, lots of garlic, lots of wine, sometimes cream if we had it, but and and you know, loads of bread. Did your mother worked did she? Did? She have? Not really, because my sister's down syndrome, so that sort of meant that she most of the time, you know, didn't work much. It was it was at home all

the time, looking after me and my sister. But what was the age difference between We're only a year and a half apart, and you said that you started cooking when you were I think we guess If my mom was busy and we wanted to eat or we were hungry, I was told to just you know, either you eat what's there, or you'll make something. And I think I

watched my mom cook a few times. I watched my grandma cook, so I think I had a fairly good understanding of how things were met A taste or it just was trial and error and I was allowed to explore whatever. You didn't have fear of lighting the fire or those crappy electric cookers with a spiral hobs, you know, like that, the properly eighties eighties ones. And so you were cooking for your sister. Did she appreciate the food that you could? Oh? Yeah, yeah sure. I mean now

she's got older, she cooked a little bit. She comes around to my house and and tries cooking a few things. But I think I just wanted to look after it, right, Yeah, yeah, I think that also. You know, young men who have lived in a single parent family know how to take care of themselves and people around them much more. And I think that gives you something, yeah, very special. I had a friend who say she only wanted Boyfriends of single parents do so much more domestically, you know. But

going to your parents, there was always music. So that was your mom? Was it your mom and your dad or was it yeah, my mom and dad. My first experience of music was not from like a record player. We're just from people being in my house playing music. And was it because they had friends from musicians? Was your what did your father do? Well, my dad's always been a musician by trade. He's a diver actually, it was always working away or riggs and stuff, cable lane

ships and whatnot. But he's always been a guitarist and he played like guitar, banjo, own mandolin. Yeah, we because we grew up around a lot of folk music. So I kind of guess like food and that came together when we were super young because it was hand in hand. It was like everyone's coming around for dinner and the night would end in like wine and songs. You like,

my dad playing. I don't remember it that well, but I remember my uncle Rob being there with my dad and they're being bottles of wine and blues being plaid. Did he play? When you say American polk music was a pizza gur weavers, I would say more like Irish folk music, stuff like Planksty and Christie Moore. Yeah, some old gypsy songs and stuff like that, and there'd be someone playing a fiddle and does he play now he still? Oh yeah, for real, my dad played. My dad actually

played on my last album. Yeah. Yeah. There's a song at the end called Old Habits and there's a little piece of guitar music that comes afterwards. Can we listen to it? Yeah? Sure, do we have it. It's almost like a secret track. So when they when the song Old Habits finishes, there's about ten seconds and then the guitar parts starts, and it's just something that I recorded and my dad one day and I wanted to put

it on the record, which is nice. My dad actually wrote that tune while he was I think waiting for one of us to be born. I don't know whether it was me, Lucy or my other sister Rhan. Is he interested in food? Yeah, I mean my dad's a pretty good cook. He's always fairly simple. It takes really good but it'd be simple. It'd be like a good salad, new potatoes, and then like a good piece of fish. But it was always it was always season good and

it's fresh, you know. There was always like and he makes a good dressing for the salad and it would be a nice piece of like seabuss or something. He's kind of always he went. He wouldn't allow like ketch up on the table and stuff like that, which I kind of right. You describe your mother, who was very careful about flavoring, and you remember that you talked about muscles. I don't know where she bought them. I don't know where you grew up. And she used wine in the

sauce for her children. And then your father, who I find his music so beautifully compelling. This grilled fish and he almost sounds like the way he cooked was the way he played his music. And so you grew up with us food of your childhood? Where did they learn to cook? Well? I mean I actually asked my dad that question because I was like, I know, I know that we used to have like good food as kids and having stuff like muscles, you know, when we were young.

But I think my mom and dad lived in Spain for quite a long time, and I didn't know that, saidtle Bit later on. I think they lived in Heavier in Spain for maybe like five or six years, but have been in what the seventies, I guess late seventies before they had us. Yeah, so it's probably from there.

And actually, like where we grew up in Uckfield is pretty close to Brighton, close to a place called Seaford, which is on a good place to buy fish and Hastings which is awesome for for buying fish, probably more so back then, tell me about as a child. The story I've heard when you performed in order to buy ice cream. Yeah, there's a truth to this story. Uh In in the summer, the kids from our street we used to sometimes get together, and so we had a

house full of instruments. We had guitars that were hanging on the walls and sometimes there are old crappy ones that no one played anymore, or or old keyboard that doesn't really work. Um. We we would get those instruments and put them out on the front lawn, open the windows and play like whatever music it was through the stereo as loud as possible and act like we were playing it and put a bas get there in front of us to ask for money so we could go

and buy ice cream from the ice cream band. Did it well? He did? I mean people came out and gave us money. I think we made made enough to get some ice cream. That's the version of I grew up, you know, selling lemonade when I was a kid. You know, take lemonade and then put a table on the front lawn and at five cents please. Yeah, we were like buskings and like guns and roses. Okay, I am here with Rory Dragon Bowman and one of his biggest fans apart from me, that is Louie Warwyn, who is a waiter.

How old you, Louis? I'm three? Okay. So when I went around today saying guess who's coming to dinner tonight? Guess who's coming to talk? You were especially excited, So I thought, why not share the mic with you? Okay, here you go, hi, Rory. Um. I think as an artist, you've collaborated with loads of different people or so, in the spirit of collaborating, who would your dream musical dinner

guests be alive or dead? Um? Prince Probably. I've got to say Prince because I feel like he was a bit of a tricky customer and I think he'd probably bring a good dynamic to the table. Do you think he'd be a fussy eater? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I think I'd be demanding, you know, but I kind of like that, kind of like people to be a bit more rock and roll these days. Someone take authority at the table. Absolutely. How do you think that fame change the way you

perceived yourself and others perceived you? And was there ever moment of frustration within that? It's a constant battle if I'm honest, between being really happy that it gave me the opportunity to do what I'm doing now and to travel the world and to play shows for lots of people, and don't I always feel lucky always, But there are points of it that I never thought I would have to deal with the feeling of being out in public

and have people staring at me. And it's not something as a person that I really warm to as a feeling because I'm quite private and I'm not really an outgoing person, if I'm honest, So parts of that made me more introvert. And the reason I live in a place where no one is. I live in a village that probably has about five thousand people in it, so I do hide away a little bit. But I'm kind

of okay with that now. It might be something that you know, co with, yeah, yeah, And to be honest, I've always liked peace and quiet, not now with the kids and that, but but you know, being being around nature and suff like that helps for when you do have to change world. Um, you know, during the time this time, you know, when people didn't go out so much, I found myself just forgetting that who I was and just going out and doing normal stuff and someone would say, oh,

can I have a picture? I'm like, what, who by? Leave me alone? I think public and private is hard. For the most part, people are pretty understanding and nice, but we do live in a different world. Now. I've noticed in the restaurant, but when people were very, very careful of anyone who eats here and whether they're famous or not. We do respect privacy, but at the table that we really if we see somebody going up to somebody,

so please respect that. Generally people will give autographs or sign something later, but there's a real reluctant to have a photograph taken with someone because you don't know where it's going to be. Is that a line too far? Do you think that you just draw on the photograph. If I'm with my kids, it's a straight now every time, because they don't they don't deserve to be drawn into that world. But if I'm on my own don't. I

don't really mind, as long as people respectful. I was in a hotel the other night and someone put a photo in front of my face while I had him up. Well, I had spaghetti on my fork, and that's align t far, you know, Like I was would it be okay when you're finished eating? If if I have a picture outside, that's cool. I don't you know, I would never be grabbed that. But when I'm when I'm eating, it's not okay. We're going to talk about food now. You know what.

I've talked to actors who are in in a play, or directors who are making films, or indeed musicians who are playing gigs. There seems to be a kind of rigor about what they eat and how they're affects your performance, most notably Victoria Beckham, who said that when she was in The Spice Girl, she discovered very early on what she could eat to perform and which she couldn't need to perform. And I was wondering whether there was an

element of that in your work. When you're traveling, when you're going on stage to perform, how does that effect what you eat. My answer to that question is very simple. It's very simple because I can actually can't eat anything before I perform um. So I'm not a nervous person, well certainly not. I'm actually more nervous to do this podcast with you than I am to go on stage, because talking like this doesn't always come naturally to me. But singing doesn't really make me nervous, or be on

the stage doesn't make me nervous. It's just the feeling, the sensation of being full. When I'm trying to sing, it affects the way my diaphragm works and it's harder to get the notes. So generally early in the morning, I'll have breakfast. Do you know if it's a show that I have like a big breakfast, so then I don't. Then I kind of gives me enough for the rest

of the day. Or if I'm real hungry, I have like fruit during the day because that doesn't blake you out, and then really badly I'll eat like eleven o'clock at night after the show because I will be super hungry. That's why I say I made the decision to eat stuff like sushi or cleaner foods like something Japanese um, eat a lot of soups and things like that because I'm eating later later on. Where is your next traveling?

Where are you going? I don't know the first place we're going to, but we have we have some great gigs coming up this time, some Switzerland dates. And the trouble is when we when I go places the places that I always wanted to visit, other places that I spend the least time in. Well, but I don't know why. Maybe it's just fate, you know. I'm like, what do you remember about this beautiful place at the airport the hotel and the show and then the airport again in

the morning. You just don't get time sometimes, and you know, the Sudds law is always the places that you think, I would love to be in this beautiful place, but I've only two hours after a show that you can go back, of course, and maybe you should go a day earlier and stay a day later so you can eat the food of where you're going. So it's a very very busy summer, but there are a couple of days maybe here and there I could, I could do that.

I think that, you know, having that someone who cares about food and as curious as you are and wants to eat, well, then you should, you know, being in switch free somewhere where the food is good. Yeah, yeah, tell them that's the deal. You know that you'll do the constitut you do the deal. Music is so important, isn't it. Well? For me, food and music as as a chef and working in a restaurant, working with people, are cooking and serving food to people. We also we

love to sing. We sing quite a lot if we have any chance at all. And somebody's leaving at somebody's birthday, um, we sing. And the other day we had a party for someone who was leaving from maternity leave and uh, and so I just said to them, find out, you know, who can play some music. What what can we do for the music. And when I came in, we had the party and we had a speech and I said goodbye to her. You know, we had wine, and then

one of our waiters came out and played the trombone. Yeah, and he played Babylove, you know, the supreme song, you know, because she was going and she was going to have a baby. And he came up with his trombone, and I thought, you know, I discovered something about him. I didn't know that he played them blone and it was beautiful. And then you find out somebody plays the guitar. We have somebody And music is so so important. Do you ever have the music in the restaurant? No, because personally

I don't like background music itself. I always find if I go to someone the house and they put music on, and then you're trying to talk or trying to eadn't the music is playing in the background, and I think acoustically it's hard in a restaurant. But when I'm Valentine's Night, we get a piano. We have a piano. We take out a table and we have somebody coming and play the piano. And what do you play when you come

in the house? Do you turn on music when you're Yeah, I mean our radio doesn't really stop playing all day long, and I find it really relaxed in the mornings. But then you know, I'll pick up Ruben from nursery and he'll come back and he'll listen to like he wants. He wants to listen to the music from the Millions movie. But some of the music is quite good. You know the New Millions movie. They use the song you know

the Turtles the tea. So that's some places every day of my house so happy and and this song is in my house every single day, to the point where if it comes to the radio, like, yeah, that's funny. Do you talk about having a vegetable garden, Yeah, I have been growing vegetables not this last year much because my had this big polytonnel in my garden to grow in, but we had a big storm and it blew away, so it was like it was in the next door's house,

basically got blown over the fence. But do you, like, did you do you actually tend the garden yourself? I tried to. Yeah, I don't. I feel like I had a lot of the time, I don't know what I'm doing. But sometimes, you know, I've had quite decent amount of like carrots and strawberries and stuff sometimes and successfully grow loads of chili's way more than I needed, and a

crazy amount of tomatoes. We were talking before. I think it's just fun with especially when with the kids around, you know, Like I had a tomato to three maybe four tomato plants, all the different kinds, and as soon as they would grow, I'd seen them, and then the next day they'll be none left because Ruben, we're just

going to pick them off and eat. That experience of going anyway into a garden and taking something from I can't get to sit and eat like spaghetti like a carbonaro, but he'll pick off like seven Do you make a point of trying to eat well, so so Zoe my misses. She has three boys and I have I have a four year old, So we have a four year old, a five year old, a ten year old, and a twelve year old in the house, all boys. Boys. So it's hectic, and i'd say maybe like once a week

we managed to get round the table, you know. But I'm happy with that at the moment. You give your kids to catch up, Yeah, yeah, I try to let them, to let them choose, but I tried to not give them the ones with too much sugar and stuff in. But I was always deprived, not deprived, that's the wrong word. I wasn't allow sugary stuff, but for a good reason, because you know, kids with dancing drome shouldn't have too many sugary foods because they process it differently and they're

susceptible to more to diabetes. So we were not We weren't allowed so much sugar as a kid, you know. Um, So I think now I'm like, yeah, go ahead, just say what you want kind of thing. Okay, So there there's a question that I asked at the end of every conversation. And this has been a really lovely conversation.

So happy that we had time to talk together. If food is what we prepare when we're hungry, or food is what we feed our children, or food is something that we use for celebration, it is also something we turned to for comfort. So I was going to ask you if you had a comfort food that you could describe to me, what would that be? Rory it would be. I've gone through this in my head a few times,

like what would be the most confident food? But I think it's it's like an old school bacon sandwich, like cheap, pre cut white bread, proper butter bacon that's kind of fried to it with an inch of its life like, so it's super super crispy, about four slices and cheap ketchup and that's it. Bacon catchup and bread and then you cut it in half and maybe have a cup of tea on the side. Sounds good? Is it? Bacon hot? Yeah? Yeah? You love no dear, oh my child love you? Please

don't my son shin. That was so nice. Thank you. To visit the online shop of The River Cafe, go to shop the River Cafe dot co dot uk. River Cafe Table for is a production of I Heart Radio and Adami Studios. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.