Welcome to BluesRow

…. and a host of other topics. Eric holds forth on meeting Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, why he loves Chicago blues, what went wrong with Blind Faith. Also why he doesn’t practice the guitar much at home, his view of the current state of the recording industry, what it’s like playing with other great guitarists, Robbie Robertson and Big Pink, and why he was scared of punk. A wide-ranging and fascinating interview. Read it here.

Modern Guitars prints a first-time ever in its entirety interview with Stevie Ray from 1985. We hear about his playing with David Bowie and James Brown (from the Rocky IV soundtrack), his amps, his main guitar (Number One), his relationship with his bandmates, and his feelings about the way his career is starting to take off. A real piece of history you can read here.

BB gave an emotional farewell concert at the  Montreaux Jazz Festival Monday night. How’s this for a list of musicians who joined him onstage: Gladys Knight, Barbara Hendricks, Randy Crawford, Leela James, John McLaughlin, Stanley Clarke, Joe Sample, George Duke, and David Sanborn.  I know, mostly jazz people. Well, it is a jazz festival, after all. Read the article here.

This is from Gainesville.com. Buddy gets asked all the usual questions: how did you start playing, who are your favorites, what’s the future of the blues, etc. And of course, “Can white people play the blues?” Which, incidentally, he’s sick of answering. But it’s still an interesting read. He doesn’t so much answer the questions as use them as a launching pad for some great reminiscences. Check it out here.

If you’re going to Chicago and you’re looking for a guide, check out Karen Hanson. First off, she has a blog called Today’s Chicago Blues.
And secondly, she’s got a book coming out in July called Today’s Chicago Blues. I’m going to Chicago in July, and I’m definitely picking this one up. There’s an interview here from The Chicagoist with Karen on all things Chicago blues. A great read!

Here’s a great 3 and a half minute video of Howlin’ Wolf holding forth on whiskey, women, the blues, and not leaving your shoes behind! Looks like it’s maybe done in a TV studio in between songs. Is that Hubert Sumlin the camera pans to? The lighting is terrible, but I think it is. Thanks to the SqueezeMyLemon blog for this heads-uo.

Do you know this man? Of course not. But Mike Matthews may be one of the key people in the world to blues guitarists. Mike Matthews is the owner of ExpoPUL, a factory in Saratov, Russia. ExpoPUL makes vacuum tubes. That’s right, the warm heart and soul of the tube amps all blues guitarists love to play.

So what’s happening? Looks like the Russian mob wants the land his factory is on. And he’s fighting back. A great story in the making. Read about it here.

The largest free-admission event of its kind kicks off today in Grant Park. They’re expecting over 750,000 visitors. Special emphasis this year is on Louisiana blues, and headliners include Elvin Bishop, the Seigel-Schwall Band, and Bobby “Blue” Bland. Let’s go!

… from Lightnin’ Hopkins!

Personally, I don’t know of any better way to learn how to play than to watch the masters at work. This B&W clip from the 60’s (judging from the age of Joan Baez, who is sitting next to Hopkins, and who gets lots of face time in this video). Anyway, Hopkins does his rendition of “Let’s Pull a Party”. Check it out here.

Great article here from a Mississippi newspaper on the state of the blues in the state of Mississippi. It’s actually doing better in that state than most places, due to all the museums and festivals. And yet it’s not mainstream popular and hasn’t been for the last 40 years or so. But it’s an interesting and inspiring read.

It felt like Mississippi in Central PA, and I mean that in the best way possible. My friend Jim Phipps invited me to a jam put on by the Central PA Blues Society on Thursday.  I had gone to one other jam with Jim a couple of months ago and actually ended up performing.  I survived that and thought, “Hey, let’s try another.”

The venue was the 40 et 8 Club outside of Harrisburg, a private club.  I didn’t even know private clubs existed anymore!  It was a one-story building with a side porch.  We pulled into the parking lot (really just some gravel and grass) and saw it was packed with cars.  People spilled out from the club onto the porch, and you could hear (or feel) the blues groove from outside.  Shouldering our way in, which was the only way to get in, we found a loud, crowded, smoky blues club.  All kinds of people were there — old, young, black, white…   But everybody enjoying the music and each other.  Man, I felt like I had stumbled into a Mississippi juke joint!

Jim introduced me to George Bressler, the president of the CPBS, and I asked him where to sign up.  George, a real nice guy and a gentleman, indicated the clipboard up front.  Actually, I was asking where to sign up for the CPBS, and he thought I meant where to sign up for the jam.  So I signed up and then realized that I had just signed up to jam later.  Well, I had brought my guitar, but…  After about an hour of listening to the other musicians, I was ready to take my name off the list!  If you’ve even been an amateur among pros, you know the feeling!

One guitarist who absolutely smoked was Don Johnson.  He did a great set of blues and soul and totally ripped on his solos.  And he was a good vocalist as well, with a real soulful delivery.

I loved the atmosphere (except for the smoke) and was astonished to find so many blues fans out on a Thursday night.  So for those who think the blues is dead or dying, if you live in the Harrisburg area, come on out on a Thursday night!  It’s very much alive and definitely kicking.

Oh, and we had to leave before my set came up. *whew*  Maybe next time…

Great footage of the Irish blues gunslinger with some very tasty slide guitar. Backed by his band Taste, though it’s pretty much all Rory, playing “Gambling Blues.” Right here.

From the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival. He’s playing “Hobo Blues” unaccompanied. It’s a younger JLH, and the music is more country blues than boogie. But it’s a powerful performance. Take a look.

You’ve got to see this! Supposedly one of the only pieces of video footage of Hound Dog and the Houserockers. They’re playing outside somewhere, and the footage is B&W. Who cares? I’ve always wanted to see how he actually played the guitar, so this is awesome.

Allow some time for it to download completely. If you don’t have broadband, it will take a long long time…. Check it out here!

“The best guitarist you’ve never heard of.” That’s how I describe Shorty to people. Then I explain that he’s Jimi Hendrix’s brother-in-law, and that Jimi used to go AWOL from the army to hear Shorty play. And that a good bit of Jimi’s style was based on Shorty’s playing. All of that helps a bit for the uninformed. But the truth is — you’ve just got to see him to believe how good this guy is.

I had seen him a year ago at a blues festival at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA, and he just Ripped It Up. My jaw hit the floor. So when I heard he was going to be at Klinger’s Tavern in Hanover in October, I had to go see him. Hanover is about 45 minutes from Lancaster, and my bud Jim Phipps and I set out to take in the show.

Klinger’s is famous for its wide selection of foreign and domestic brews, and justly so. But the thing that really grabbed my attention was the size of the venue. Tiny! Not much room for the band to set up, and if you sit at the bar, you’re about 10 feet away. I just shook my head in amazement. Here is arguably one of the best guitarists living, and he’s playing this tiny little place in Hanover, PA. Nothing against Klinger’s, but you compare Shorty and his body of work to, let’s say Nickelback, and it just isn’t fair.

He’s got a 5-piece band: rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums (plus Shorty). We chatted with the keyboards guy and found out that their drummer was pretty new, the previous one having walked off the week before. He sounded pretty good considering. The band has enough funk and groove to back Shorty’s guitar fireworks, and that’s really what a Shorty concert is all about.

If you want to hear a good sample, I’d recommend his latest CD, Watch Your Back, on Alligator Records.

How to describe his playing? He uses all G&L Strats through Fender Twins, and it’s a massive sound, sharp and fat. It’s probably more towards the rock end of the spectrum than the blues. He’s also a pretty good blues vocalist and shouter. And he can work a crowd, usually taking a long set to walk through the fans and “talk” to them via his wireless guitaring. And he is LOUD.

In between sets, he signed CD’s and talked to fans. I wanted to bring my 15-year-old son, who is a guitarist, but Klinger’s being a bar, that wasn’t possible. So I bought a CD and asked Shorty to sign it for Chris. When he heard I was from Canada, he wanted to know where, and told me he had lived in Vancouver for a few years. Then he signed the CD for Chris, making sure that he spelled Chris’s name right, and wrote, “Keep picking that thing, Chris.” He was a real gentleman. What made it even more remarkable was that I had to wait in line behind someone who asked Shorty to sign about a dozen items: a guitar, books, CD’s, a clock… Man, I lost track after a while. And was losing patience. I mean, think about the musician and the other people waiting in line! But to his credit, Shorty was an absolute gentleman about the whole thing, signing everything in his slow, methodical handwriting.

After the second set, we left (it being a school night; we’re both teachers). I had three thoughts which still stick with me: 1) This guy is a guitar monster. 2) He’s as good a person as he is a guitarist. and 3) How is it he’s playing in a small bar to at most 50 people? There ain’t no justice in the world, but I guess that’s just the blues.

If you get the chance to see Guitar Shorty, run don’t walk, and go see him. And buy his CD while you’re there!