Old Timey Music for Howard and DC

HDO45331 · Post by **HDO45331** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:14 am

sancarlos wrote:Is the 1990s old timey enough for this thread? I know you aren't necessarily country guys, but I do know you appreciate good instrumental work, so maybe you can enjoy this one.

Try this one......

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 6:40 am

Here's a woman who knew her way around a guitar.

Post by **Shirley** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:40 pm

Man, I love Howlin' Wolf.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:47 pm

I have that London Sessions Howlin' Wolf record on vinyl. Haven't played it for years. Thanks for posting the video.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:36 pm

The Mighty Wolf is one of my favourites.

I read this book a few years ago. A bit long, but finished it with nothing but admiration for the guy. An unbelievably brutal childhood, and when he started making money, he treated his band members like men. And women, great googly moogly...

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Jul 23, 2015 9:07 pm

Pruitt wrote:Here's a woman who knew her way around a guitar.

Oh man, what a voice. Sister Rosetta influenced all the men who are said to be the fathers of rock and roll. Certainly Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash. You can hear a lot of Rosetta in the voices of the first three, and Cash has many times stated that she was a guiding star in his career.

In Tharpe's era, the sanctified church and gospel world was quick to excommunicate musicians who 'crossed over' to the land where music was profane. So Tharpe, one of the first to cross in a big way -- a pop music star right up there with Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington in the 40s-- was never really accepted again in the gospel world for most of her professional career. Sad, as that seems to me to be the music that she most loved.

Rosetta Tharpe is not well known today. It's a bit of a surprise. In addition to making hit records and a lot of money -- not common for a black woman in the 30s and 40s and at least into the early 50s -- she was a racial path-breaker. She hired white male musicians, notably The Jordanaires (who later sang behind Elvis), to tour with her through the segregated south. Very bold stuff for a black woman in her era.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:51 pm

sancarlos wrote:I have that London Sessions Howlin' Wolf record on vinyl. Haven't played it for years. Thanks for posting the video.

I've been listening to this for the past few days. It holds up well, though there are a couple of clinkers. The interplay between Sumlin and Clapton is great. Clapton plays lead most of the time, but he's quite restrained, certainly compared to what he had recently been playing with Blind Faith and Cream. Clapton plays some nice, subtle lines, primarily behind the singer rather than in solos (which are typically short or tragically faded out at the end of tunes). You can hear the respect Clapton had for Wolf and Sumlin in what he refrains from playing, but certainly could play, as he had amply demonstrated in other settings. Clapton and Sumlin sound like they've been playing together for a decade.

An amusing note is the bit where Clapton tries to get Wolf to play acoustic guitar on The Little Red Rooster. He claims he can't follow the rhythm without being able to watch him make the changes. Wolf has heard him playing like an ideal cross between Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Freddie King from back home. So he's having none of this false modesty from young Eric. But it comes across as sweet. The young acolyte -- perhaps realizing that Wolf was near the end -- really wanted to cut a track where he played guitar with the master.

He was out of luck on that front. But it's a fine record, with Wolf still in strong howling form. And the English blues devotees properly taking a deft supportive role.

Last note: there were many fine Chicago blues pianists in the 40s through the 70s. Otis Spann was my favorite. But Lafayette Leake was one of the very best, and he's on the piano for several of the cuts on this album. When it's not him, it's Stones sideman Ian Stewart or Steve Winwood, no slouches.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sun Jul 26, 2015 8:01 am

Love Otis Spann.

This is a fantastic collection -

Otis with the Muddy Waters band having a great old time.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:42 pm

I think that's his classic recording. He spent many years in Waters' band, but on this record Muddy was playing guitar for Spann.

Spann died too young to have left a big body of work. Early 40s I think. He had only just started leading his own band. But he was a great one. There's a field at an Ann Arbor high school that was known as something like "Spann Memorial Field" after the legendary blues and jazz festival was held there in the early 70s. I think of Spann sometimes when I drive by. He's almost as lost now as the plaque or sign that was planted there 45 years ago.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:09 pm

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Fri Aug 07, 2015 3:05 pm

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 4:40 pm

This song never fails to give me goose bumps. It's a cover of a wonderful soul tune...

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:00 pm

I've been a big Nick Lowe fan for a long time, and one of the things I love about the Swamp (and this thread in particular) is that there are several of us devotees, hereabouts. But, I will always be most loyal to the Nick that was with Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams and Billy Bremner, in Rockpile.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:08 pm

Classics both.

First Nick Lowe tune I heard was this one. Still love it.

And this is a funny clip - the kids in the audience of "Top Of The Pops" clearly weren't into Nick and his band, and the feeling was clearly mutual.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:30 pm

I come from the Dave Edmunds side of this stuff, but the same guys played on many records, labeled Lowe or Edmunds or Rockpile. Great music, great time (my early 20s when this stuff came out).

This single is a special fav, as it was penned by Graham Parker. When I'm disconnected from the driving wheel; I'm only half the man that I should be. Go ahead and repeat when necessary:

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:36 pm

Yeah, great tune. As I think I've mentioned before, I saw Graham and Dave play it together once. And, I've seen Dave in three different states! He is a great guitarist, with his own signature sound. And, in concert, he almost always threw in a Chuck Berry tune. Here is my favorite Dave Edmunds song:

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:42 pm

I had a nice Edmunds mixtape I made, started with I Hear You Knocking, ended with Bad is Bad, about 20 tunes, including Three Time Loser. I need to dig that out and re-create it digitally.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:25 pm

Don Covay wrote it, and sings it pretty well.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:30 pm

Pickett cut it first. He digs in deep. Nobody screams with so much control.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:31 pm

My favorite version of "Three Time Loser" was done by Bonnie Raitt in the mid '70s. Here she's plyaing it live in the late 80s with a fine band.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:01 am

Great versions, all of them. Thanks for posting those, DC!

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:51 am

sancarlos wrote:Great versions, all of them. Thanks for posting those, DC!

Made my morning!

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:27 am

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 9:36 am

I know there aren't many reggae fans here, but for you Dead fans...

An absolutely fantastic, moving version of "Wharf Rat" by one of my favourite singers. Terrible video, but a beautiful cover.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 11:16 pm

The album that is off isn't half bad. I'm partial to this

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 6:10 am

Nice one too.

That album is highly recommended.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 6:57 pm

This old gem popped into my head the other day. I bought this album ("In Your Mind") in high school and haven't seen it since a move many years ago.

(Old guy comment here) I just love the fact that two minutes after remembering a certain song, I had downloaded (legally) an album I used to love. And it is a great album.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Sep 28, 2015 7:11 pm

Man, I haven't listened to that one in forever. And I couldn't place the guitarist, had to look it up. Chris Spedding. Should've recognized him.

howard · Post by **howard** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:53 pm

That Ronstadt tune in another thread got me thinking about the old songs, and then Bernie Leadon, and this tune and album. Cause I really like it, tune and album, despite The Dude. Oh well, it's been a good day in Hell. My time went so quickly. Say goodnight, Dick.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 2:34 am

This was the first national-level band I saw. They opened for Fogelberg. I think it was at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

And it was an astonishing show. Nothing like the finely-tuned karaoke act that now tours. At one point they had four banjos out, one of which was electrified and was being played with a slide through an effects pedal. Coltrane meets Scruggs via Hendrix I had long been a Byrds fan, but had only recently gotten into Gram Parsons and the Burritos, So I was tuned in to what the Eagles were up to.

I think this was just after the album with that classic cover came out. Spring of '74, They were playing songs from 'On The Border', and I believe Don Felder was with them. He was the rock edge on what was otherwise really a very folky, country band. It was a great combination.

Highlights included a screaming 'Take It Easy', the slow, soulful 'Ol' '55' (I had no idea who Tom Waits was), and a touching 'My Man,' an ode to the recently deceased Parsons by his friend Bernie Leadon. But really, back then everything they played was a great song to my ears. Even today I love to hear the songs from the first three albums. Before they checked in. I think 'On The Border' may have been one of the first new (most of mine were bought used -- there were tremendous used record shops in the NYC area back in the day) albums that I wore out.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:06 am

This is the band, absent Felder, a few months after I saw them. Glen Frey does a credible job on what I presume was Felder's guitar part.

Here's the Eagles in 1975, with Felder (middle in opening photo) on the stage. The sweet pedal steel is probably played by Bernie Leadon.

I caught Tom Waits in 1976. After listening to the Eagles take several thousand times, I was stunned to hear the author's version.

An alternate version with Waits backed by Zappa's band.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 3:08 am

This is the band, absent Felder, a few months after I saw them. Glen Frey does a credible job on what I presume was Felder's guitar part.

Here's the Eagles in 1975, with Felder (middle in opening photo) on the stage. The sweet pedal steel is probably played by Bernie Leadon.

I caught Tom Waits in 1976. After listening to the Eagles take several thousand times, I was stunned to hear the author's version.

An alternate version with Waits backed by Zappa's band.

howard · Post by **howard** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 6:24 am

thought of you when I posted, I'm enjoying the early Eagles fest this morning. Similarly, it was a couple of years later when I discovered Tom Waits had written Ol' 55.

Haven't heard or thought about that version w/Zappa in a long long time.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:59 am

Learned the bassist for the majority of tunes on the "electric side" of Bringing It All Home was Bill Lee, not the Spaceman, but Spike's dad.

Also played on Peter, Paul & Mary's album, as well as Gordo's Lightfoot! album. Do the right thing indeed.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Sat Oct 03, 2015 2:33 am

howard wrote:thought of you when I posted, I'm enjoying the early Eagles fest this morning. Similarly, it was a couple of years later when I discovered Tom Waits had written Ol' 55.

Haven't heard or thought about that version w/Zappa in a long long time.

I only recently heard that recording. At first I thought this was a strange combo. Zappa's bands were at the opposite end of the musical spectrum from Waits' piano and strangled vocals. But I can see now several points of intersection. They were certainly very smart guys who were willing to follow their respective idiosyncratic muses to the far outskirts of commercial music. Waits later music even sounds a bit Zappa-esque when he abandons the usual chordal structures. I can't think of any 70s 'singer-songwriters' who followed this trail.

I'm not sure, but I think Waits was from San Diego and Zappa from some desert town not far to the NE. So too Captain Beefhart. Did the lithium get in the water table? Or perhaps they just ran in the same circles.

When you were in California did you ever see the Eagles in their earliest days, or their predecessor bands?

howard · Post by **howard** » Sat Oct 03, 2015 7:55 am

I would've seen them backing Linda that one year. They played at UCDavis, ticket sales were low, so they gave out free tickets at my high school to pack the house. But mom wouldn't let me go on a school night (10th grade, I think, 1971 or 72.)

But I saw them twice not long after that, once in Sacramento and once somewhere in the East Bay. Before they checked in.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:47 pm

It's Stevie Ray Vaughan's birthday.

This guy was pretty good.

I saw him open for Dire Straits in a small (5,000 seat) arena in Toronto. Nothing wrong with Dire Straits, but it just wasn't fair.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:10 pm

Now that must have been quite a show. Whole lot of guitar firepower right there.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:08 pm

So, now Bob Dylan does IBM commercials? Gotta be a few people rolling over in their graves.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:33 pm

Not this guy (I was just thinking about this tune the other day)