Music Coast caught up with @ChuckProphetOfficial at @WaterfrontBlues 2026 in Portland after his set with His Cumbia Shoes for a conversation about cumbia, songwriting, dance grooves, musical rabbit holes, and the wide-open spirit of the festival.
Chuck talks about what His Cumbia Shoes allows him to do that a regular rock setup does not — playing with Latin musicians, putting a different groove underneath the songs, and turning singer-songwriter material into a dance party.
We also get into:
• Wake The Dead and the cumbia direction behind this chapter
• Playing Waterfront Blues Festival with His Cumbia Shoes
• “Give the Boy a Kiss” and how it stretched into a dubby live moment
• Classic songwriting structures inside cumbia and chicha-inspired grooves
• Why the blues umbrella can include cumbia, Cambodian rock, soul, roots, and more
• Keeping grit and story alive inside music built for movement
• Chuck’s love of ABBA, Top of the Pops, and unexpected pop rabbit holes
• How YouTube opens doors to forgotten sounds and scenes
• Why cumbia grooves made him want “more of this”
• Joyful sorrow, not being a downer, and letting the music speak without an owner’s manual
• Being happy to be in Portland and hearing music he had not heard before
Wake The Dead, Chuck Prophet’s cumbia-inspired collaborative album with ¿Qiensave?, is out now. Keep an eye out for Chuck Prophet & His Cumbia Shoes on tour.
🎤 Interview by Music Coast
📍 Waterfront Blues Festival 2026 — Portland, Oregon
