Reprinted from "Highways" Magazine - A publication of the Good Sam Motorhome Club - April, 2004           

      Playin’ Up A Storm

 Roger “Hurricane” Wilson earned his nickname honestly, but now with his home on wheels, he’s taking life a little slower. Music has been a part of Roger Wilson’s life for about as long as he can remember. “I started playing guitar at age 9. In high school school I was a drum major and played trumpet,” says Wilson. “As a young adult I was always into broadcasting, teaching and playing guitar and playing electric and acoustic blues, both.” Music was the big constant says the New Jersey native. He had other hobbies, but they had to fit around his passion. “I’ve always loved the outdoors, but camping wasn’t a big part of it. I went camping as a Boy Scout and would go away to summer camp,” says the 50-year- old full-time musician. Now as the owner of a Winnebago Brave SE, he still doesn’t consider himself much of a camper, merely someone who got tired of paying to sleep in motels and hotels as he traveled with his music. Of course, the 248,000 miles showing on his RV’s odometer and the transmission he recently replaced in his rig while in Norfolk, Nebraska, would beg to differ with his “novice camper” status. For most of the 30 years that Wilson’s been a professional musician, he’s also held down full-time non-music jobs. From 1986-96 he was with CNN and still managed to play 200 dates a year with his band. In fact, that’s where he got his nickname Hurricane. A co-worker noticed that Wilson was always rushing out after work to gigs and then rushing back just in time for work the next day. “He said I was like a hurricane,” says Wilson, “and the name stuck.” With 5 CD’s on the market and playing gigs with his band and also as a solo act, Hurricane has built up an impressive resume. He’s shared the stage with B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Roomful of Blues, Dickey Betts, Leon Russell, Edgar Winter, Snooky Pryor, Bobby Rush, W.C. Clark, Bernard Allison, and Walter Trout. But even a hurricane sometimes runs out of energy, and soon Wilson had to make ac choice between a 9-to-5 job and going fulltime with his music, whisch he did in 1996. “I got tired of trying to find a place to spend the night and also needed a way to get around the road economically,” he says. “I would see motorhomes on the road and I asked my wife Jolie to go and check some models.”

The Wilsons found just what they needed on John Bleakley’s Douglasville, GA., lot and that’s when the Wilson’s relationship with the Good Sam club started. “I started to get some mail from Good Sam,” says Wilson. “I’m not a guy that goes to RV rallies or joins chapters and don’t really use the campgrounds that much. But I use the other benefits. “There have been some road adventures where Good Sam’s RV Emergency Road Service has bailed me out,” he says. Hopefully Wilson won’t need to call on ERS very often as he continues to travel in the Brave, delivering his mix of blues and rock music fans throughout North America – often at campgrounds. If you get a chance, stop and listen. According to Chicago bluesman, Carl Weathersby, “Hurricane plays all kinds of guitar… all good!” Read more about this Good Sam Club member on his website at www.hurricanewilson.com.