Monday, April 25, 2011

Gallager's Mandolin Blues



Undeniable talent. Unrelenting force. Underrated musician. Rory Gallager never really got his come up ins. He was a driving force in the 70's blues boom alongside Johnny Winter, BB King, Albert King, Allman Brothers, etc. His talent was respected by a cult following of fans and other well respected fellow musicians such as Keith Richards, Bono, Pete Townsted, Thin Lizzy, as well as many others that caught onto his talent in the early stages of his playing career. His sweat was filled with acid, literally, and so was his voice. He spat out lyrics like he grew up in the deep woods of the delta, a poor black man with nothing but the blues to his name. But in reality he came from a well off family in Ireland and never really knew about hardships and pain but he can portray it in a song through his rough and bluesy voice. Here he plays the blues through a mandolin with the greatest of ease. He wails on it like it was his last song and he needed to tell the crowd listening what he was feeling at the time for one last time. I personally think he does just that and I just love the simpleness in this song. Just Rory with a mandolin, minimal bass and minimal drums. Its not much but says alot.

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