Even after all these years I find myself going back to watch clips of the Arc Angels – perhaps one of the best blues power groups ever assembled and yet they only stayed together for such a short time.
I suppose it’s no surprise that the mega rhythm sections of all time (SRV’s Double Trouble) combined with solid Charlie Sexton and the infinitely creative Doyle Bramhall II grew beyond the Arc Angels – each having such independent personalities, each a star in his own right.
But man…the songs they gave us were sweet.
When it comes to taking blues guitar to the next level, we can only hope that the Arc Angels collaborate once again, it would be a blast to see what comes out.
Until then, here is an early Double Trouble, Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II gig and “Say One Thing”
Filed under blues guitar, texas blues by on Feb 7th, 2012. Comment. 
Just days away from her 74th birthday, blues performer pioneer Etta James passed away yesterday after a long battle with multiple health conditions including a bacterial infection, alzheimer’s and leukemia.
Her career started in the mid 1950’s, a journey that would see her become one of the elite blues performers of her time performing with the biggest names and having several hit songs including “At Last” (the song performed at Obama’s inauguration by Beyonce – a crime that it wasn’t James herself performing), “I Would Rather Be Blind” (remember seeing a rendition of this performed with Dr John that was so powerful) and “Tell Mama”
No doubt about it, Etta lived the life of high’s and low’s including drug addiction, abuse, career fluctuations and subsequent health challenges.
Paving the way for many blues women including Susan Tedeschi, Janis Joplin, and the amazing talent, Shamekia Copeland (daughter of blues great Johnny Copeland), Etta James pioneered a spot for women in what was otherwise a very male experience and outlet.
Perhaps it took someone so rough and tumble to pave the path for others to follow, but there was no doubt she had a voice made for blues performance including power, a wide range and extremely emotional delivery that made everyone sit up to take notice.
Like so many blues pioneers, her biggest recognition all came much later in life. They include being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 (it took a full 8-years later until she was added to the Blues Hall of Fame – what’s with THAT?) as well as winning Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Performance as well as Best Contemporary and Best Traditional Blues Album in 2004, 2005
An incredible life with a massive impact on the Blues, R&B and Jazz – she will be missed and remembered as one of the pioneers opening doors and expanding the borders of modern music.
Filed under Blues Legends by on Jan 21st, 2012. Comment.
Looking for a holiday gift Christmas idea for someone you know loves blues music or blues guitar?
I know in my case, I would be happy getting nothing else but a blues CD or DVD for Christmas – and for those around you, it’s so easy and quick to order them online and have them delivered directly to you (or your neighbor’s) door.
So, how about some ideas…here is my choice for the Top 10 Blues Concert DVD Holiday Gift Ideas:
1. Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2010 (Two-Disc DVD) – If you don’t have this DVD set already, you MUST have it. Names like ZZTop, John Mayer, Derek Trucks, BBKing, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmie Vaughan, Johnny Lang, Buddy Guy and a suprise visit by Ronnie Wood (Rolling Stones fame) make this festival DVD a must have. Look for new comer Gary Clark Jr., Doyle Bramhall II and a Buddy Guy, Johnny Lang, Ron Wood set to blow your mind the most. Jeff Beck shows his amazing technical virtuosity on the guitar once again and we get to watch the definite chemistry between good friends Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton (who by the way gets better each year) . Oh and for you country lovers, there is a dazzling set with Vince Gill, Earl Klugh and Albert Lee…sweeet!
2. Albert King – Stevie Ray Vaughan: In Session (Nov 2010) – It was great to finally see this masterpiece, it had been previously released on CD, but this is one session where seeing is 90% of the value. Watching the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan with his mentor Albert King is touching and powerful all warpped into one. Seeing Stevie, at times lose his confidence in front of King and at times recover to blow him away (think Pride and Joy), there is so much mutual admiration when this session closes you can’t help being touched. Nearing the end of Albert’s career, you can tell he was inspired by Stevie’s pure love of the music and from there on the music these two men make together is legendary. You will not be disappointed – another must have Christmas gift if you don’t already have it.
3. Junior Wells Blues Legends: Live At Nightstage: Master of the electric delta blues and long time Buddy Guy partner, this previously unreleased material is masterfully captured – it really is like seeing him live in front of you. With songs like “Look Over Yonders Wall”, I Just Want to Make Love To You” and “Got My Mojo Working” as well as a special guest appearance by Buddy Guy make this concert DVD especially memorable. Not only is the music great – taken from two different concerts, but there is a fascinating backstage interview with Junior and Buddy Guy that make this DVD a must-have.
4. Born In The Honey – The PineTop Perkins Story – I found this DVD fascinating even though I can’t say I was a huge Pinetop Perkins follower. No denying that he had chops and touring with Muddy Waters puts him right up there near the BIG MAN himself. This package comes with 2 DVD’s, one with great music and the other with some very good interviews with Pinetop himself as well as with those who knew him. What a great man and what a game changer when it came to mixing blues and boogie woogie piano. It is the combination of music and documentary that will make this a great gift idea this Holiday season.
5. Songs From The Road – Luther Allison (Bonus DVD) – As we continue to lose so many of the original blues greats, it was almost as if Luther Allison came and went way too quickly, yet he combined so much passion (think Albert Collins meets Freddie King with a splash of Buddy Guy). Luckily some of his best work was captured on this CD and DVD combination. There are roughly 7 songs contained on the concert DVD including “Cancel My Check Solberg” and “Living in the House of Blues”. An incredible talent that so many people are only today realizing existed before he passed on in 1997. A great treasure with this Holiday gift concert DVD
6. BONUS LISTING – Joe Bonamassa Live From The Royal Albert Hall – DVD – I just had to fit this one in although most of you probably already have this in your collection. Joe Bonamassa is one of the most exciting, blues-rooted, rock guitar players to come along. His beginnings as a child prodigy are legendary and yet he has matured into a very powerful blues guitar player – all of that is captured in this high quality, up-tempo live music DVD from Royal Albert Hall. This concert DVD is exactly the way I like it…95% live music, 5% interesting stories and introductions from Joe (I loved the story about how he dreamed of playing Royal Albert Hall when he was a kid). We also get a blistering appearance with Eric Clapton where the two go toe-to-toe on an up-tempo blues number. A fabulous DVD, get it if it is not part of your collection.
There you have it – my selections for the best Holiday blues concert DVD’s. If you have any other suggestions, leave a comment – some of us may already have ALL of these suggestions already…
Filed under blues guitar, holiday music ideas by on Dec 15th, 2011. Comment.
So tell me, what does Texas put in their water that creates so many great blues guitar players?
Actually it isn’t hard to understand when you visit Austin a see the incredible mix of bars, clubs and street musicians – the question becomes, how can you NOT become a musician.
But then, out of this blues mecca comes what everyone is buzzing about…the next great blues guitar legend? His name is Gary Clark Jr. and yes, he’s the real deal.
He caught the attention of one Eric Clapton ending up as one of the only new guitar players on Crossroad Blue Festival 2010’s line-up – a show certainly to remember up there with Doyle Bramhall II – they tore it up!
Here’s Gary Clark showing his retro shuffle chops with a sweet mix of Chuck Berry, Texas shuffle (a la Vaughan Brothers) and traditional Lightning Hopkins, Freddie King on this version of Shotgun Blues written by Donnie and Hock Walsh of the Downchild Blues Band.
And now for the real test – a slow blues…sounds of BB King mixed with Buddy Guy?
Apparently he is working on a CD that will come out next year – but already generating significant buzz…or as we like to say “paying his dues”
Nice to see that blues is alive and well.
Filed under blues guitar by on Dec 14th, 2011. Comment.
I had no idea that Stevie Ray Vaughan had ever met Muddy Waters, until now, most others didn’t either.
Can you imagine the stories they would have and, if a few years earlier, the kind of music Stevie and Muddy may have made together.
Two giants of the blues guitar and blues music in general, equally large in terms of stage presence and charisma, there’s no telling the possibilities.
Take a look at this YouTube video from a photographer who worked for magazines in the past who has some very exclusive photos of Stevie and the great bluesman Muddy Waters:
Isn’t that cool?
Filed under Blues Legends, stevie ray vaughan by on Dec 11th, 2011. 1 Comment.
I can still see Hubert’s giant smile as I walked up to him a couple years back here at our Ottawa Blues Festival. He hung out for an entire weekend up here just shooting the breeze with many musicians who idolized him and what he had done for the blues guitar.
Known most for being the ryhthm and then lead guitar player for the great Howlin Wolf in the 1950’s, Hubert is one of the few links to the past of the great electric blues movement – and the little skinny kid always seemed as thankful and unworthy, even when the great Howlin Wolf took him under his wing.
One of the first electric blues guitar players that combined stage presence, charisma and solid mixed rythm and lead guitar, Hubert Sumlin was THE inspiration for many modern artists as varied as the Vaughan Brothers and Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page and the Rolling Stones.
Hubert passed on to join Albert King, Albert Collins, Freddie, Lightning Hopkins and yes, Jimi and Stevie too… man that must be some jam going on up there!
He struggled with health challenges for the last years after taking a stroke that barely seemed to contain him – he still, with the support of those he influenced, was able to tour and share his last years with us.
It could (and should) be argued that the combination of Hubert, Willie Dixon and Howlin Wolf was the baddest, most creative blues band of all time with classics that include “Smokestack Lightning”, and “The Red Rooster” and “Backdoor Man”
You would be hard pressed to see a blues band anywhere that doesn’t know at least one of these classics.
Rolling Stones Step Up To Pay For Hubert’s Funeral
As you may know from reading Hubert’s biographical information, he loved the music (he WAS the music), but had a tough time managing his career and finances…and so found himself just as he had lived most of his life, without a great deal of money. Blues musicians have a tough enough time making ends meet so they can continue to live their dreams, when health issues get in the way it makes things that much tougher.
Today, we get word that the Rolling Stones have stepped up and offered to cover the complete costs of a proper and fitting funeral…now that’s class and paying their dues to one of the early influencers of their music. Good on them…
Sunday and Monday will mark visitation Hubert in Totowa, New Jersey where he had been living with a private funeral to follow on Tuesday in Illinois for
So we continue on, down yet another legendary blues stringer with the sincere hope that others will take up the cause, live for the soul of blues and take over the baton for the next stage of the run…who will it be?
Goodnight Hubert, and god’s speed.
Filed under Blues Legends by on Dec 9th, 2011. Comment.
[mc src=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFqK6PBq-hA&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL37DEC2F0013CE888″ type=”youtube”]T-Bone Walker[/mc]I’ve been in a mood for going back and learning some blues guitar strategies, techniques and styles from the greats – was listening to this video of T-Bone Walker playing at the “Jazz at the Philharmonic” – the first song I noticed the often used example of T-Bone changing up the standard I-IV-V blues progression to a I-II-IV-V which gives it a more classy, jazzy feel – he did this on many slow blues numbers.
You’ll also notice on his progression to the IV, he will slide up to the V and resolve down to the IV position – in this particular case it is in the key of B-flat.
Take a listen, there’s also a great jump-blues song tagged on here as well with an amazing band (listen to the drumming on the last song how it complements T-Bone’s wonderful playing). Oh ya, and it’s hard to keep your eyes off of him on stage, he is such a great performer.
Filed under Blues Legends, texas blues by on Nov 3rd, 2011. Comment.
I still remember fondly one of my very first concerts back in the mid 1990’s saw Johnny Winter play the National Arts Center Theatre here in Ottawa…a venue typically reserved for proper theatre goers rather than loud, heavy drinking bikers, youth and blues revellers – but that night turned out to be magic.
It was funny, he tore off on an amazing version of Highway 61 – when some huge motor started up and interfered with the sound. He stopped for a few seconds, cranked up the amp and exclaimed “fu*! it” and hit it even harder…ahh…the moments you remember 🙂
Since then I’ve had the great fortune of seeing him dozens more times around the world – here at the Ottawa bluesfest a few times as well.
No doubt, his health went down hill and there were a few concerts I didn’t know if it may be the last time I see him.
But, the pheonix rises, Johnny sounds better than he has in a long, long time (though his guitar work never really suffered showing the true talent of this legend). All of this has culminated in a new CD titled “Roots”
My personal favorites:
“Dust My Broom” is a perfect fit for Johnny’s awesome slide and rough (but great sounding) voice. Pretty much anyone who listens to blues music will know this song as it has been covered by all the greats – having been orginally written by Elmore James (made more famous by Robert Johnson)
“Maybellene” – Yep, Johnny Winter does Chuck Berry with the help of Vince Gill on guitar. I really like the different side of Johnny’s vocals on this one with some tasty Texas rapidfire guitar thrown in for good measure
“Further On Up The Road” – Oh ya, I love the texas shuffle, and T-Bone was the master. Johnny stays true to the original form and adds his own stinging licks to this one. Damn…now I have to go through the entire day with that shuffle inside my head
Other collaborations on this tasty CD include Susan Tedeschi (wherever Derek Trucks goes these days Susan is right there at his side), a nice shuffle with Edgar Winter (his brother).
But really, there is not a bad tune on this CD…great blues all around. I assume Roots will be up for some serious blues awards, it truly deserves it.
Do you have the CD, what do you think?
Filed under texas blues by on Oct 11th, 2011. Comment.
When Robert Randolph brings his family band along anywhere near where I live (and sometimes not so near) I make sure I see him. Part revival meeting, part instrumental master, with equal parts new age and old soul Robert Randolph has never disappointed always bringing a fresh approach with massive passion to anything he plays.
Somehow this song passed me by, I didn’t come across it until late tonight as I was surfing the Yahoo Blues Channel for a trip back to some blues guitar songs I had overlooked in what has been a pretty powerful year despite it becoming harder and harder to see or hear your favorite blues acts these days.
“If I Had My Way” is a swinging country blues number that allows Robert’s Family Band to show off their incredible talent – each one equally unique and soulful in his and her own right. Take a listen, for the die-hard Robert Randolph fan, there is something great about mixing his pedal slide guitar in with a different grooving style than you typically have heard from him in the past…love to see this one live.
What do you think?
Filed under slide guitar by on Oct 11th, 2011. Comment.
We all know the Rolling Stones are a blues-based band, and at times that blues even shines through in their playing, but rarely do we get to hear some roots delta blues coming from the likes of Keith Richards like this:
Who knew he had all that individual blues guitar talent — it’s not everyone that can pick up and play like Robert Johnson or Big Bill Broonzy, but Keith nails not only the progression but does an excellent job on the timing and a pretty good job on the feeling behind the tune (which make up more than 50% of nailing any great acoustic blues tune)
I’m especially impressed with the timing – when I try and play a flowing acoustic blues tune like this I like to think of a rock skipping across the water, touching down each time in near perfect rhythm, but seemingly out of your control. Both of these numbers are played in the key of A with the signature A-D-E I-IV-V progression, but with very intricate fingering fills between and lots of feeling.
By the way – we just launched a new Acoustic Guitar Review Site – we put this together after our latest hunt for a new acoustic guitar…you may find it interesting.
Now, back to the vide – I know I’ll be spending a few minutes on this one.
Filed under acoustic blues by on Jul 22nd, 2011. Comment.
