Hello Again Kats & Kittens, Friend & Fiend,
MONKEES gettin’ schooled…JIMI HENDRIX, guitar lessons, PETER TORK (on floor, sexy mesh) & MICHAEL NESMITH…
ONWARD!
To BLUES ALLEY we go….let’s start with a starter, JOHN LEE HOOKER….son of a Mississippi sharecropper, is known to bring Electricity to Delta Blues, by way of Electric Guitar….moved north young, WWII work for Mr. Ford Motor….janitor & played guitar in jukejoints in DEEEtroit.
Here’s 1948’s hit “Boogie Chillen’”….taken from a great Blues comp about DEEEtroit Blues….Blues from the Motor City…
Ghost White JOHNNY WINTER…was one of the best at Texas blues…Beaumount….with younger albino bro EDGAR…as Brothers do, they banded, then Edgar broke off into his Whiter Trash rock-fusion…Johnny got noticed, friend MIKE BLOOMFIELD helps with ropes, record deals happen, first record in ‘68….then more…1971 a fabulous live album LIVE Johnny Winter And….is a fantastic album…Mr. Hoochie Koo, RICK DERRINGER trades riffs with JOHNNY throughout…
Here’s “It’s My Own Fault” all 11 + minutes of blues.
We’re in LIVE mode now, so shall we stay…THE ALLMAN BROTHERS recorded what a lot of folks consider the best live recording of music, ever…their concert at Fillmore East over three nights in March 1971 is impeccable…so good it’s in the Library Of Congress (2004)….Darker times ahead Duane Allman crashes motorcycle, dies in October ‘71, then Barry Oakley too crashes three blocks from where Duane died…but this is March, the Brothers are at the peak of their game & sound…
Right now it’s blue skies & “Stormy Monday”…from Live At Fillmore East.
A lot of dead bluesters here, but live & alive……JIMI HENDRIX is Live at the Isle of Wight Fest…from the BLUE WILD ANGEL LP….here’s “Freedom”.
Next the magician STEVIE RAY VAUGHN with “The Sky Is Crying” from the Essential SRV comp.
MICKEY THOMAS is a guy you know…but don’t…you know his voice…he sang with JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, ELVIN BISHOP…some chart hits…. ”Fooled Around & Fell In Love”…on it goes…here’s his side thing THE BLUEMASTERS, around 2010…this is a live version of “Over Yonder Wall” from Blind Raccoon Records comp.
This guy is hot, GRAMMY hot…Austin, Oil State prodigy, GARY CLARKE JR. not much one can say about this force of nature….just super good. From 2012’s Blak & Blue album…..fine fine record go buy…..here’s “Bright Lights”….guitar here will make you weep.
MORE OIL STATE! WES JEANS is here to fill your ears….witnessed this Kat in a small imbibing palace in Austin some years back, thinking this kid is gonna blaze the blues world….not sure if that happened but this guy has talent…
From his Forest Of The Pine LP, “Jumping At Shadows”.
UK Blues Bus rollin in….with two classic artists….PAUL RODGERS of BAD COMPANY fame, does blues a lot & it suits him…his vocals in blues structure is perfect match…From his 1993 Muddy Waters Blues LP “Rollin’ Stone”. One JEFF BECK is plucking the strings here….find this album…BRIAN MAY, BUDDY GUY, DAVID GILMOUR, NEAL SCHON, GARY MOORE, BRIAN SETZER, RICHIE SAMBORA, SLASH, STEVE MILLER, JASON BONHAM play on it.
Next Mr. ERIC CLAPTON…off the wonderful blues album From the Cradle, circa ‘94. Had the spectacular op…to witness Mr CLAPTON at LALA’s House of Blues…no dancing allowed, just the band, clock struck 9, strings up, they played for two plus hours…magnificent….good Mate CL won tickets to the show & this reporter got lucky….kept saying “we’re seeing CLAPTON in a pub…can you believe it?” next to the soundboard, 30 feet from “HIM”.
King of the Slide Guitar….ELMORE JAMES…at 12 played the jitterbug or diddly bow (one stringed thinga majig)…Navy duty for WWII, back in Miss-Crook’d River State…toiled at bros. electric fix-it shop…developed his “slide” with parts from the shop…detachable guitar pickups…passed young 45, a ticker problem.
Here’s his most famous tune, got him recording money…. ”Dust My Broom” off the Blues Masters Vol 15. Slide Guitar classics comp.
Time for a Howl….ChiTown’s HOWLIN’ WOLF a doe-rae-moola whiz, drove THE BLUES HIGHWAY(US 61) from Memphis to ChiTown in his own car with $4K in his pocket….this was the ‘40’s, remember…..able to keep a “Best of…” band…offered his band members health insurance…played with just about every blues Icon, ROBERT JOHNSON, SON HOUSE, FLOYD JONES, HONEYBOY EDWARDS, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II, ROBERT LOCKWOOD, JR., & WILLIE JOHNSON.
“Evil” from the Chicago Soul: Electric Blues, Funk, & Soul comp.
We stay in ChiTown with BUDDY GUY, one of the top 100 guitarists, accord Rolling Stone…pretty nice for a Swamp State sharecropper, got outta cotton fields north to Windy…Grammy’s, yes….multiple, yes….still playing, yes. Witnessed this Kat a few times, always top of the top…
From his wonderful Born To Play Guitar LP, “Crazy World”. ain’t it so.
Blues travel well…across globe…we are in Scotland with two from Glasgow’s BUZZ Records first TIM ELLIOT & THE TROUBLEMAKERS….Mr. ELLIOT’s French Harp work is wonderful…one can see the CANNED HEAT or BUTTERFIELD influences…
“Hard Work Ain’t Easy” from BUZZ Alt:Blues Sampler, around ‘94
Next from the same comp. RADIOTONES, stripped, bare bones blues, don’t have much info on these Kats…not even sure they are still up & running. “Bring My Baby Back”.
Not enough can be said of this next artist…RY COODER….big name, big talent…one eye, (knife accident at four)…Witnessed Mr. COODER in H’Wood as part of LITTLE VILLAGE, what a band! JIM KELTNER, skins, JOHN HIATT, guitar/vocals, NICK LOWE low tones….band was tight! SoCal kid, stays close to home…produced the wonderful Buena Vista Social Club album, film work too, 17 soundtracks…6 Grammy’s, 2 Hon-DR certs….it continues.
Here’s “All Shook Up” from ‘87’s Get Rhthym LP.
NYC bluesman DAVE FIELDS at the plate….ready to swing with “Addicted To Your Fire”…..nice string work here….from the Blind Raccoon Comp disc…
Fat Man in da howse! POPA CHUBBY ‘nother ‘Yorker…..big man, big sound…heavy blues….great live show…witnessed a couple times at THE YALE (no more) in DA COUV…this 300 plus Kat puts out, 30 albums!
From the Stealing The Devil’s Guitar…..”Slide Devil Man Slide”.
More BLUES in the JUKEBOX (was HITPLAY, needed newness)….look for COVID-19 PLAYLIST BLUES…
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow.
Peace & Distance.
