A Pocket Full Of Picks At The Pub

A night full of anticipation and hearing this and that about a performer that I was told was going to blow my socks off, we filled the beer coolers to the gills and made sure no one was gonna be cut off from their favorite liquor. The smell wiffs in from the windows of the fish plant just down over the hill running full blast after the crab fishery has opened. The smell of money surrounds Bonavista like the perfect green fog. Tonight though was the night that I was waiting for a long time, Dave White. a good friend of mine and great musician in his own right, drags out a musician that I've been hearing about ever since I started working at Walkhams Gate Pub, Carl Peters. The night started off slow with only the slot tappers gluing their eyes to the screen wishing for lady luck to be a friend tonight. It was a typical Newfoundland night with fog slowly creeping in off the water and hindering Dave's driving abilities coming out from St.John's. But he arrives and sets up the system to kick off the night. Dave rushes home to take a quick shower while Carl arrives and makes some tweaks to the system before the show starts. Dave shows back up and shows off his acoustic guitar, personally signed by Peters himself, in the flesh. Then Carl pulls out his own signed Dave White acoustic guitar. Then I heard why everyone had nothing but praise for Carl Peters. The echo from his guitar bounced off the walls and got stuck in your ears. Carl and Dave played effortlessly perfect together and sounded if they were playing together for a lifetime. They traded between playing lead guitar and lead vocals. With harmony that only strengthen each others vocal ability they ran through a gauntlet of classic rock songs from Tom Petty, Steve Earle, Tragically Hip, etc even throwing in a few 90s hits that Dave has been performing since his illustrious Maybe Fog days. I was especially impressed with Carl's own interpretation of the Big Bill Broonzy song Before You Accuse Me, made popular by Eric Clapton on his album Unplugged. Carl's interpretation of the song was the perfect mix between blues and acoustic rock. Throughout the night Dave and Carl kept everyone dancing in front of the stage and singing right along with them through each and every song. Not only was I impressed with Carl's playing but also how nice of a guy he was, gracious was not a strong enough word. I kept his energy up with tequila, beer and double espresso shots and him and Dave kept the energy up of the crowd that showed up at the pub that night. It turned out to be a perfect night with everyone leaving feeling drunken and still hyped up from the great music. I now have another favorite performer at the pub alongside Steve and Bob, Chester and Marcus, and Dave White. Now I'll add Carl Peters to the list. If your ever downtown St. John's and you hear Carl Peters is performing tonight at a certain time, run don't walk. You will be pleasantly impressed with the fast fingers and the glowing echo his his guitar as well as the strong bluesy voice of Carl Peters and the silky smooth voice and always full of energy Dave White, the man who eats , sleeps, breaths and bathes in music.

Claptons Blues

Today marks the birthday of Eric Clapton. Considered by many as the greatest guitarist to ever live. Signs of Clapton is God graffiti the walls and buildings of England in the late 60s. After braking through as John Mayall's sideman in the Bluesbreakers and showing everyone his licks in the Yardbirds, Clapton was just a young kid with alot of talent with the guitar. He was extremely shy and never though of himself as a vocalist untill Mayall convinced him to sing a few songs. He found his voice and made a career with a silky smooth voice singing blues and soul tunes. Claptons life would be shredded with drug abuse and tragedy. But he would later kick the habit and is still now creating beautiful music and touring all over the world. Here Clapton performs with what I personally think is the greatest group of musicians he ever put together. Derek And The Dominoes. The band would create a classic album and possibly one of Claptons greatest masterpiece Layla. The album scattered with blues and soul songs but the highlight was the albums title track which Clapton had some help from friend Duane Allman from The Allman Brothers. The duo would create one of rocks greatest song. Happy birthday Eric Clapton.

The Band Made A Difference

The Band came out of nowhere. Starting off as The Hawks with Ronnie Hawkins they kept the name when they started playing as a backup band for Bob Dylan. With Dylan they became The Band after numerous people were asking Dylan who they were and his reply was "oh, thats just the band". It stuck with them and decided to keep the name. The Band consisted of 4 Canadians Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel and 1 American Levon Helm. They carried on through a phenomenal career from their debut album Music From Big Pink to Northern Lights - Southern Cross. In 1976 they decided to call it quits, after Robertson was weary of touring and Manuel was suffering a neck injury from a boating accident. But they didn't leave without a bang. Robertson came up with the idea of a last concert, later called The Last Waltz. This concert was performed on Thanksgiving day in 1976. On the card was everyone from Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Van Morrison, Dr John, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Neil Diamond, and Paul Butterfeild. Directed by the great Martin Scorsese it defined what The Band was all about. They had fun and you can really see it. This song It Makes No Difference also defined The Band, beautiful and soulful.

The Son Is Shining

One man has a spot on top of the blues world. He’s not a multi millionaire like Eric Clapton. He’s not covered by millions like Robert Johnson or Willie Dixon. He’s not considered the greatest guitar player to ever live like Jimi Hendrix or Page. In retrospect he didn’t see much fame at all until in his later years and not much then.  His name is Eddie James House Jr., more commonly known as the great Son House.

House was born on March 21, 1902 in Riverton Mississippi. By the age of 7 he and his mother left his father and moved to Tallulah, Louisiana. There a young Eddie House was determined to become a Baptist preacher and by the age of 15 he began his preaching career. He rejected the church’s firm stance against blues music; House was attracted to it and taught himself the guitar by his mid-20’s. Inspired by a traveling musician named Willie Wilson, Son House traveled around Mississippi and Tennessee with such legendary blues musicians such as Charley Patton,  Robert Johnson, Willie Brown and Fiddlin’ Joe Martin.

To give House more of a blues credibility he spent 2 years at the Parchment Farm State Penitentiary. He spent all of 1928 and 1929 in the prison after allegedly killing a man and receiving a 15 year sentence. The story goes Son House was working a juke joint one night when a man came in and started shooting everyone. House got shot in the leg then shot and killed the man. It was self defense but Son still did the time.

Son’s early recordings can be heard on Paramount in the 1930’s and later he was recorded by Alan Lomax for his Library of Congress recordings in 1941 and 1942.

After that he faded into black. He was rediscovered in the 1960 after the huge country blues revival. He was found after a long search in the Mississippi delta region by Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro. They could not find him in the delta but later found him in Rochester, New York where he has lived since 1943. He had been working for the New York Central Railroad there and hasn’t played music in years. He had no idea that so many great musicians had been listening to his early recordings and built a career from his style.

He toured frequently in the US and Europe as the revival was growing and growing. Playing the Newport Folk Festival alongside of Mississippi John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Bukka  White, Skip James, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, etc. They were loved everywhere they played alongside such amazing artists as Bob Dylan, Pete Seegar, Joan Beaz, Dave Van Ronk, etc.

The success of the touring took a toll on House. He started having a drinking problem and it showed at the Newport Folk Festival one evening. A dear friend of his and great blues musician Howlin' Wolf was performing on stage. Son was horribly drunk and making a lot of noise off stage to a point where Wolf stop playing to tell House that all he cared about was whiskey. Also that he could have had a great career but he threw it all away.

Drinking really distorted his style and had an effect on how House played. He couldn’t play like he did on those field recordings by Alan Lomax. To help him out Producer John Hammond Sr. asked Canned Heat guitarist Alan Wilson, who was a huge Son House fan,  to teach Son House how to play like Son House. So Alan went to work and the result was the Columbia recording The Father Of The Delta Blues – The Complete 1965 Sessions.

House later moved to Detroit, Michigan where he retired once again in 1974. Ill health plagued him and House died as a result of cancer of the larynx on October 19, 1988. The Detroit Blues Society performed benefit concerts to raise money to raise a fitting monument on his grave. RIP.

The influence of Son House can be seen everywhere in the music world. From Gary Moore to Andrew Bird to The White Stripes to Warren Haynes and Govt Mule. Lynyrd Skynard’s song  Swamp Music was a  tribute to Son House.

Long live the memory of the greatest blues musician to ever sing of love and pain. To ever write of whiskey and murder.  Be it belting out field hollars or Gospel tunes or just deep and dirty gut wrenching blues. The master of the slide guitar with just using a broken bottle neck as well as a great a capella  singer as heard in John The Revelator and Grinnin In Your Face. He could do it all before anyone knew what it was.

Boomer's Story is worth reading

This is by far one of my favorite albums to just sit back and enjoy with a cup of coffee. Its one of those morning albums that takes you back to a time where everything was so simple and sweet. Its a happy album and Ry's guitar work is at its peak greatness on this album. Alongside Into The Purple Valley this album put the name Ry Cooder on the turntables of many. 1972 was a good year for Cooder, there must of been something he was drinking to put out both albums alongside each other and both to just blow peoples minds.

The first track is the title track Boomer's Story. Traditional songs have always interested me. Be it gospel, hollars, blues, folk, etc. I can never get enough of them, they just make me feel comfortable and warm. As soon as you hear the first few guitar licks on Boomers story you feel that this album is going to be good. Then as Ry's soothing voice starts singing you can just sit back on enjoy. The song like alot of tradtional songs is about heartach of a lost love and the life of a hobo. Its sad but sweet as you get more and more into the song you feel so bad for Boomer but somehow it makes you feel good. Great song.

As Cherry Ball Blues rolls in you can really hear Ry's beautiful guitar work. Written by Skip James (Devils got my woman, I'm so glad) it really say's it all without saying anything at all. Its just a wonderful instrumental and the blues really shows through in the guitar work.

Crow Black Chicken is a comedic song. It seems like Ry had a blast while recording it in the studio. There's beautiful slide work scattered throughout the song that truely makes the song work.

Ax Sweet Mama is a true blues song. Written by Sleepy John Estes it was recorded a number of times sometimes as a different name (drop down mama). The blues is and always will be Ry's forte. He really shines on this song between his slide work and yelling those blues out like a true down and out 50s blues hero.

Maria Elena. The name Leo Kottke comes to mind as I listen to this. Its such a slow beautiful song. I can just see myself somewhere in Italy dancing the night away with my sweetheart in my arms. It just shows how different of a style Ry has. Going from a deep blues song as Ax Sweet Mama to this wonderful soft spanish style melody. Its wonderful to me when I find an album that has so many styles from the same musician. Beautiful is all i can say for this song and it lives up to it greatly.

The Dark End of the Street starts off side two of Boomer's Story. The sound of so sad. I can hear a little bit of Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven in there. This song can bring a teary eye to a lonely heart. Even as an instrumental, Ry does not have to say a word in this song. The story is sadly told by his guitar.

Rally Round the Flag climbs in next. With Randy Newman playing piano on this war song. Its just Ry's voice and Randy's piano that starts off this song. Slowly but surely Ry's acoustic starts making its way into it. You can barely hear it but it pairs beautifully with the piano. Again another sad song as is most songs of war. But even though it is sad it is still beautiful.

Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer shows up next. Again its a very old tune that Ry seems to love. His soft voice go well with the simplicity of these old tunes. They may sound simple but as you listen closely to his guitar twang and twist in and out of note to note you can see how not so simple these are.

President Kennedy is the only tune that Ry does not sing on. Actually its the old dark voice of blues legend Sleepy John Estes. The pain in this mans voice truly shows on this tune. I'm a huge fan of the blues and Estes holds his own in this packed full of talent genre. Listen to this song and see why.

Last but not least is another tradtional train song. Good Morning Mr. Railroad Man sounds alot like a Woody Guthrie song that mated with gospel song. Its a great ending to an album that i can listen every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of.

I couldn't help but write a long blog for this album. There are so many great things to say about it. Every track on this album is just simply amazing and I fell in love with it after I first droped that needle to that last crackle at the end.