Tag: Blues

Saturday Matinee – Kmac2021, Stevie Ray Vaughan with Jeff Beck, and Don Nix with the Mar-Keys

Kmac2021 is a one-man Spinal Tap. Reminds me of the vids entitled, “What It’s Really Like To Work In A Music Store.”
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

Okay, so where do we go from here? Goin’ Down.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Jeff Beck covered Don Nix‘s “Going Down.”
I always thought it was a Freddie King song. So what else did Nix do? A lot.

From Wiki: Don Nix began his career playing saxophone for the Mar-Keys, which also featured Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn and others. The [1961] hit instrumental single “Last Night” (composed by the band as a whole) was the first of many successful hits to Nix’s credit. […] The Mar-Keys evolved into Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

https://youtu.be/CIZUS5rBtFE

What a convergence of talent at the right time and the right place. God Bless Stax Records.

Have a soulful weekend, folks, be back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Grand Funk, Todd Rundgren, Sarah Collins & The Joanna Connor Band

Yeah. Found here. Grand Funk Railroad released “We’re an American Band” in 1973, It was produced by a 25 year old named Todd Rundgren and it went gold.

Many of his own recordings were catchy pop (and somewhat sappy) love songs and covers of the same IMO, but I liked them.  I liked them especially because the pretty coeds would stay around longer when Todd Rundgren was spinning at 33rpm. Then in 1983 he wrote and performed one of the best ska tunes ever – Bang The Drum All Day. (As a resident of Hawaii, he later recorded “Bang The Uke All Day.)

Sarah Collins‘ vocal overdub of The Specials‘ 1979 cover of Dandy Livingstone‘s 1967 rocksteady song Rudy, A Message to You makes me smile, but we can’t close out with that one. Sorry, Sarah.

DO NOT BYPASS THE INTRO.
Joanna Connor covers Son House‘ classic “Walkin’ Blues.” She pats your head, then smacks you twice before you realize what happened. Pure awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks, see you soon.

Saturday Matinee – Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, Christopher Ameruoso, Tab Benoit & Tommy Castro with Samantha Fish

That’s Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle performing The Fiddle Player’s National Anthem in 2015(?). And yes, they got clogged by a buck dancer. “Orange Blossom Special” is probably the greatest train song ever, followed by the late Steve Goodman‘s “City of New Orleans.”

Nice 3-string electric cigar box slide git-fiddle from Christopher Ameruoso in 2015.

“Night Train” is a killer boogie jam by Tab Benoit, Tommy Castro & Samantha Fish recorded at The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA, 2014. Somewhere, John Lee Hooker is smiling.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Origins of the Moon Walk, Sugar Chile Robinson, Ola Belle & Zane Campbell

The origins of the Moon Walk.

Sugar Chile Robinson was a 7 year old blues & boogie woogie piano prodigy. I wondered what happened to him and found this. Here he is in 2007 at the age of 69:

Robinson is still performing.

Let’s move on to something completely different.

I’d heard of neither Ola Belle nor Zane Campbell until today but both were and are awesome.

Have a great weekend, folks. There’s more in the hopper.

Saturday Matinee – Elmore James Jr., The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, George Thorogood with Albert Collins & Elmore James

Not sure what to make of this. The son of one of the greatest blues guitarists ever appeared on a Chicago children’s TV show in 2010 and lip-synched his way through the embarrassment. In the YouTube comments, his grandaughter posted her kudos:

There are a lot of Utoobage entries for Elmore James, but I couldn’t find any live video performances, so let’s go with some covers, with links to the original recordings.

In 1972, The Allman Brothers Band covered “One Way Out” (1961).

In 1980, ZZ Top covered Elmore James’ Dust My Broom (1951) which was itself a cover of Robert Johnson’s recording (1936).

In 1984, George Thorogood & Albert Collins nailed Elmore James’ Madison Blues (1960).

Great stuff that. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Bonus:

Saturday Matinee – Werewolf Diskdrive, Justin Johnson & Buckethead

I really don’t know what to make of this, but it somehow seems appropriate given the fires in California. Reminds me of early Devo vids. [h/t Bunkessa]

Justin Johnson amazes me. Plays lead, rhythm, bass and chorus at the same time on a 4-string cigar box slider. One of the commenters on the Utoobage posted “I’m convinced this guy is f***ing Buckethead,” and others agreed, so let’s roll with that.

“I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, ‘Buckethead. That’s Buckethead right there.’ It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time.” –Buckethead

Yeah, that’s a hella nice jam despite the silly visual gimmicks. Brian Carroll rocks.

Then here comes this guy.

Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more stuff.

 

Saturday Matinee – Nate Smith, Justin Johnson & Ry Cooder

https://youtu.be/y-Qx8u-VYuA

Nate Smith jams it. Betcha can’t spot the mistake.

Seems I heard Justin Johnson before, but only accidentally. Sure, it’s a compilation vid, but that there is some righteous awesome. Reminds me of this guy:

Ry Cooder took the slide guitar and shoved it right though my temporal lobes with his 1987 album “Get Rhythm.” It’s a must-have if you like Swamp Rock.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you tomorrow when the time is right.

Saturday Matinee – Tennessee Whiskey, The Spunyboys & Fats Domino

https://youtu.be/qfp5s6sdOeM

Dad sings Chris Stapleton‘s R&B version of David Allen Coe‘s take on Linda Hargrove‘s “Tennessee Whiskey” in a parking lot. Awesome. Yeah, it went viral some time ago, but it’s still a good-un.

The Spunyboys rock.

R.I.P. Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino Jr. [1928-2017]. He was the greatest Country/Blues/R&B/Rock and Roll crossover recording artist ever, and he influenced generations with his easily recognized voice and rolling piano style.

Have a greats weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for stuff.

Saturday Matinee – Wind Chimes, Samantha Fish & The Bo Keys

I found this both oddly fascinating and mildly disturbing. It’s an a/v collage from 2013 somewhere near Lake Erie, yet it’s also kind of an appropriate soundtrack for the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, and for those survivors who haven’t yet fully realized what they’ve lost.

What happens once the news crews are gone? What happens once the reality sets in that you survived the ordeal, but you’ve lost everything? Our prayers are with you.

Now about those looters and scammers…

For a long time, this was THE signature song of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and in some ways his 1956 hit was a blues parody. In January of 2014, Samantha Fish picked it up and jammed it right down our throats with no apologies. Killer version.

Loved this proto-funk theme, and I love the Bo-Keys for rocking the retro soul grooves that I grew up with.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, folks, and we’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff than your imagination can even tolerate. Or not.

Saturday Matinee – About Hurricane Harvey

In case you’re living in a closet, there’s some nasty weather going on down south with a killer hurricane underway.

Led Zeppelin unapologetically ripped off Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe for one of their greatest hits.

On the other hand, this blues jam was an original.

So what’s next? Maybe a Rainy Night In Georgia.

To my friends down in Texas and Louisiana, keep safe.