It’s Christmas time here in Ottawa again!
What? Christmas in July?
Christmas time for Blues Junkies like me – it’s Ottawa Bluesfest time again…and even though the Festival gets bigger and more diverse each year, there are still some great blues moments I’ll be taking in.
One of those happened on Thursday evening when hometown heroes (and recent Juno award winners for Best Blues Album “To Behold” – a solid mix of rocking blues, soul and funky R&B that defines the MonkeyJunk sound) collaborated with New Orleans performer Johnny Sansone for a deep-fried blues set joined by the Texas Horns.
After some MonkeyJunk original songs to heat up the set, Johnny Sansone (a giant of a man by the way) joined them for a smoking rendition of “Corn Whiskey”.
If anyone doubted they were in for an authentic Southern blues experience despite the Northern roots of MonkeyJunk, those doubts were quickly erased. The crowd built and for another 1-hour we were treated to a heated exchange of blues guitar from Monkey Junk guitarist Tony D, funky base and soul from Steve Mariner and steady back-beat of drummer Matt Sobb.
You all know I’m all about blues guitar, but Johnny Sansone is perhaps one of the lesser known blues harp players (at least I haven’t heard as much about him as say Sugar Blue or the late Paul Butterfield or even Kim Wilson of the Fabulous T-Birds)
HINT – see that MonkeyJunk and Johnny will be playing together at Ottawa’s ultimate blues destination – The Rainbow Sunday July 8th – you will want to check that out if you can.
Here is a small taste of what we saw – if you get the chance to see either MonkeyJunk or Johnny Sansone – take that chance for sure.
Jeff
Filed under Blues Festival by on Jul 7th, 2012. Comment. 
Here’s a funky little blues guitar shuffle in E I put together earlier today…this is my Stratocaster played through an older Fender “The Twin” amp with a Blue Daddy Goudie FX box boosting the gain and tone notch.
I played this with my fingers so I could gets some simultaneous base line walking with fills as I went…sounds pretty good for no backing.
This entire song is played in the open E position with a walking base line in E that looks like E-G-B-C-E played with my thumb while my bottom second and third finger played the higher E and B strings of the E-cord – same position but moved to A and then finishing in the V position of the I-IV-V blues progression on B back down to A and back to E.
The fills are various E blues scale fills including some open string type stuff that you may find Freddie King cooking up on Hideway and such.
What do you think?
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Leave a comment, love to hear from you guys.
Filed under Jeff Smith by on Jul 8th, 2012. Comment.
As Ottawa Bluesfest continued this past weekend I had the chance to catch Lukas Nelson, the son of country superstar Willie Nelson. Definitely shades of the old man, soul filled voice, story telling writing, a love of music and his audience were shouting “chip off the old block”…then the band picked up tempo and turned into a rocking blues band and Lukas showed us his blues guitar techniques.
On this clip you can you see him playing with his teeth, the showman was front and center
Found this clip of him performing a sweet version of “Flooding Down In Texas…” the firmly played anthem of another Texas son – Stevie Ray Vaughan.
There’s no doubt Lukas Nelson is finding his way, he has all of the tools it will be fascinating to see how he puts them all together as the months and years go by.
Filed under blues guitar by on Jul 10th, 2012. Comment.
With 200+ acts in the line-up at this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest, there are bound to be several surprises but there were two bands I especially wanted to hear – no surprise, just great sounds…The SheepDogs (still to come this Thursday) and Bright Light Social Hour from Austin TX.
We were lucky enough to have them booked twice at this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest, I took in the second set on the huge mainstage. The little band from Texas took full advantage making their 4-piece band sound much bigger than it actually was.
One of my weaknesses is the sound of a keyboard through a Leslie speaker system (where the rich tube sound is modified by a revolving baffle). So BLSH had me from the beginning.
Here’s a quick pic of a typical Leslie open from the back if you’ve never seen one…
While Bright Light Social Hour is definitely rooted in the blues, what’s great about these guys is they are one of the latest bands to be a melting pot of influences from 70’s power rock through this decade’s fascination with dance music throwing in ample soul and blues – the trick is to pull it all off.
Not every song did pull it off completely, there were times when it dragged, other times when it looked forced…but the times it DID come together were PURE magic, creativity and originality unlike we see on the music scene today.
According to their website, their next stop is tomorrow night in Quebec City with non other than Aerosmith…not bad company is it?
Here’s a brief clip from Sunday’s Bluesfest performance…listen to the soul in the first few seconds!
Have you watched these guys before? Leave us a comment.
Filed under texas blues by on Jul 11th, 2012. Comment.
I always make it a top priority to catch Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi each time they come to town, happily each time I am more impressed.
Formed back in 2010, this Royal Couple of the guitar blues combines skill, dedication and passion to their craft…definitely a situation where 1+1=3
Two things I noticed at this year’s show from previous years…
1. Tedeschi’s guitar work is now a more featured part of the act – even though the band is now an 11-piece juggernaut, there is still more room for Tedeschi to shine with her passionate vocals and gritty guitar work. Nice job!
2. Derek Trucks is evolving even further into other guitar (and song) styles with the addition of horns, a flute and some very entrancing (is that a word?) guitar work (think Santana!) he is clearly not a man that lacks creativity. Some of it missed, but much of it hit BIG time.
Here is a clip of Rollin and Tumblin that features the considerable talents of Susan Tedeschi…hope they come back next year.
Leave us a comment if you have had the chance to listen or see Trucks or Tedeschi…let us know your thoughts.
Filed under Blues Festival, blues guitar by on Jul 12th, 2012. Comment.
It’s hard to imagine any band lasting 50-years largely still intact but it is especially incredible when that band is a rock & roll band and even more fascinating when you consider it is the Rolling Stones!
Though not nearly the vital influence on Rock & Roll they once were, the Stones have managed to continue their legacy respectfully, still managing to stay in the top tier of bands (not relegated to playing festivals, country arenas and fairgrounds as many of the “had their day” rock bands do today).
You can thank leading man Mick Jagger for that as he is singly responsible for navigating the Stones through the last decade (some would argue their entire career) from a creative but mostly business, publicity and marketing point of view.
It is rare to see a passionate and capable creative rock & roll star rooted properly in the blues who also is educated and smart with money, business savvy and has the balls to stand up for what he knows to be right.
What I personally would really like to see from the Rolling Stones put some of their energy toward in the next few years is helping to boost the blues…after all, that’s where they have come from.
It was great to see Mick and the Presidential Gala a few months back helping to give celebration to Black History Month…but there is much more that the Stones can (and should) be doing to help boost the profile of some of the last living blues icons AND ensure the future of the blues so the next generation of rock&roll bands can be steeped in the same deep musical foundations that led to the incredible success of the Rolling Stones.
In any case, happy 50th Birthday to the Stones. Rock on…Mick, Keith, Ron, Charlie
Filed under blues guitar, rock and roll by on Jul 12th, 2012. Comment.
I like to think I’ve immersed myself in blue (past and present) pretty thoroughly over the last couple of decades…not to say that I haven’t missed someone along the way for sure.
What impresses me more than anything else is how incredibly deep, rich and divergent the talent is…at its root, the I,IV,V (with some slight variations) put to a slow, shuffle, delta or jump style can be the start of millions and millions of different sounds, ryhthms and soul that makes up the blues.
But what about the greatest blues guitar players of all time?
This is subjective, but I really want to get your input on this list…do you agree, disagree? Leave us a comment.
1. T-Bone Walker
2. Son House
3. BB King
4. Jimmie Hendrix
5. Freddie King
6. Albert King
7. Robert Johnson
8. Buddy Guy
9. Stevie Ray Vaughan
10. Eric Clapton
How many do you agree with? Anyone else you would add to the list?
Filed under blues guitar by on Jul 18th, 2012. Comment.
One of the most important parts of listening, understanding, enjoying and playing the blues is respecting the past. The blues is a living and breathing evolution in the human condition as reflected through the instruments and voices of blues music through the years.
To really understand and be able to play blues guitar, you’ve got to have a deep emotianal tie to both your instrument and the music…it just HAS to be that way to be real.
There’s no better way to really GET this than to look at some of the real blues guitar greats…
This first video “Death Letter Blues” should hit you right in the GUT, it sure did me as I watched it over and over again…I literally could not take my eyes of Son House as he tells the story about learning of a love lost but only then to recount the feeling he has that love was lost long before his girl ever died (because she never really loved him like he loved her).
Watch this and tell me you aren’t moved!
Just as we learn from the past, one of the reasons I love blues music is that the masters continually pass the torch onto willing disciples – that’s what’s happening in this video “My Black Mama”where a young Buddy Guy sits in with Son House…amazing stuff!
Talkl to me people – leave me a comment.
Filed under Blues Legends by on Jul 19th, 2012. Comment.
I’m sorry to say I’ve just HAD to pin myself to my TV and audio system this past weekend as I listen/watch two new releases that are well worth bringing to your attention.
1. Robert Cray – Cookin In Mobile (as in Alabama) includes an extremely rare DVD video of Cray pumping out some of his best blues, guitar work and soul singing. Cray never seems to age and his guitar playing gets juicier as time goes on. It takes Cray a few numbers to get amped up, but he really shows some virtuoso blues guitar – and for a music DVD junkie like me, I loved this DVD. For those of you who have attended Robert Cray concerts, you know he is not a flashy guy…you won’t get a huge stage show, but rather a basic (yet phenomenal) drummer, base, keyboard 4-piece band. The show was taped in Saenger Theatre in Mobile Alabama with some of the best sound and video quality I have seen in concert DVD’s – you can hear every note and every bend as Cray squeezes out his emotional tunes. Definitely a 5-star performance and a 5-star production…get this if you love music DVD’s, blues, soul or just great music
Filed under blues guitar by on Jul 25th, 2012. Comment.
