Blues Blast magazine says...

Steel guitars come in many forms – six string, eight string and ten-string – some with double necks, some with pedals and electronic gizmos (pedal steel guitars are the core of 20th century country music). There are some ace players around: Robert Randolph and Darrick Campbell of course; Aubrey Ghent and Sonny Treadway; the winner of this year’s Blues Foundation Award for the Instrumentalist (other) Sonny Rhodes; and the winner of last year’s British Blues Award also for Instrumentalist, Alaskan born Son Henry. All these musicians bring a special, and very welcome sound to the blues, for the instrument is capable of great subtlety and in skilful hands, much “Make-the-hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck-stand-up” passion and emotionality.

Cool. People are paying attention!

And so it ends...

Well, with Nina off on maternity leave and me packing to move it's the end of the first incarnation of the Malpaso Gang. We won a few awards and played some great gigs. But, beyond that, this band gave me a good reason to strap on a guitar and play. Play for the love of it, and not worry about other people expectations or demands. Play for the joy working out some new runs in a strange tuning. Rekindling my love of old country and rockabilly, and playing again.

Truth be told, with everything going on over the last year, this was a refuge for an old soul to eddy out and heal, shaking off the years of frustration of working with a parade of players that have no connection to their roots. It's been a thing of joy to go back to square one.

Once again everything fits. Time to start over.

Ever notice that the people who complain the loudest that you don't play enough

Are never the ones that show up at a gig?

This could be it....

With Nina due any day now, this could be the last Malpaso Gang gig with the whole band. Friday November 18 at the Globe Inn in downtown Aberdeen. We kick off at 9:30 and go till we drop! It'll be old country and rockabilly, lots of originals. And the most fun you can have in Aberdeen on a Friday... It's also my last performance there for the year and what may be a very long time. So, it's a great chance to say goodbye and catch one of the final performances of this award winning band before the first phase passes into the history books!

Last solo gig in Aberdeen tonight...

Well, we're counting down pretty quickly. Tonight is my last solo gig in Aberdeen before I pack up and move. It's a solo gig opening for the Lyndon Anderson Band, one of my favorites. Lyndon is a great harp player and the band is rock solid. Like I said, a favorite.

The big leaving-blast is December 9th at the Moorings. It's a double header with the Malpaso Gang opening the show- both my bands on one bill, I don't think that's ever happened before!

So, sad to go, but a few parties along the way.....

The incredible shrinking trio

Yeah, its true, I did in fact play drums the other night.

I got a wild hair about it after watching Homer Henderson on youtube. Seemed like a great idea. And so "hmmm", I thought, "could you combine that idea with the Black Keys or the White Stripes and really strip it down?"

The answer is yes- with help from Mike Oxley on bass we played an hour or so as the worlds only 2-man trio. I rigged the drums up so I could play with my feet, play the guitar and sing. It was pretty primal and of course not as sophisticated as having a real drummer.

You do learn something doing a gig like that, and its something that a drummer or a guitar player alone don't always'get'- that's that a good groove is a mix of the right amount of each instrument in the right place. And in putting together the material for this gig we had to be really careful to find ways to use the instruments to make things rhythmically interesting where EACH instrument (including the vocals) is really a member of the rhythm section.

Oh, this was a great workout. I'm thinking of setting up an aerobics class like this; sing and play drums. Cool, huh?

But in the end it was fun enough that we'll do it again at the Moorings on December 9th. The Malpaso Gang will open the show. Mark your diaries- it's my last show in Aberdeen.

So, been busy lately...

But I did get time to finish my Coodercaster- it's a modified tele named after Ry Cooder who had a habit of dropping supro lap steel pickups into fender guitars. I'll post pictures...

I started with a cheap Squier Telecaster that I got from the Aberdeen Music forum. Cheap as chips, nice guitar. Cheap. And then dropped in a Supro pickup, complete with the big metal baseplate. Took an hour or so to wire it all up and adjust the intonation. 

Hows it sound? Really good, actually. Lap steel pickups pack a lot of punch, and they're a little darker sounding than a normal guitar pickup so it takes some of the high end off the guitar. It's a great sounding slide guitar, although the big baseplate is really ugly. So, close your eyes and don't look there.

Like I said, pics to follow....

British Blues Awards, 2011

OK, so the dust is settling in life, and the award is sinking in.

Thanks to all of you that took the time to organize the awards, and all of you that voted. It was a great event this year, and an impressive collection of talented artists from across the blues in Britain. As you can imaging, it's an honor just to be included in this group, but to have won this award for the second time is really great.

So, getting down to work the rest of the year, one or two remaining gigs on the diary and a few more being penciled in now that my shoulder is back in working order. Its seemed like forever since I've been able to play an acoustic guitar, but those days look to be over. And so, with this new band of mine we'll plan on a tour of England next year, and a run of gigs on the continent next year as well. In the meantime, it's off to Texas for a couple of weeks in October to hang with some old friends, do some playing and a little recording.

And, that my friends, is the news from here. Stay tuned, things are gonna start moving faster now...

 

 

Thanks to all!

Just saw the twitter comments from the Newark Blues Festival and the British Bues Awards. Thanks to all that voted! Its an honor to have won the Instrumentalist category again. More later when I calm down....