Haiti Benefit, April 10

Well, the Aberdeen musical community is coming together for a night of music spread over two venues on April 10th. Lots of the details still forthcoming, but here's what I know. There's going to be a bunch of electric blues bands at the Blue Lamp, along with great beer and food, and a couple of acoustic players (me included) at Cellar 35.

From what I hear, you can see Gerry Jablonski, Red Dawg, Tupelo Town Assembly, Mr Spider, Dick Wardell, Papa Mojo and probably a few others. One price gets you into both venues.

It'll be a great time, and it's al for a good cause. I'll post more details when I get them.

(oh, and I'm sneaking off later that night to play a wild gig at the Moorings Bar, shhhhh......)

Grouchy old man alert

don't make me open this.....

Rance Allen

Years ago, my friend Big Mitch turned me on to Rance Allen, and to this day he's my favorite vocalist of all times. Check this out, what a great performance, no studio overdubs just a gifted singer and a song he believes.

Ok, this should be obvious....

I ran into a really unpleasant person yesterday at a gig in Dundee who seems to think the world is divided into 'lead' guitar players, and 'rhythm' guitar players. I'm generally nice to everyone, but the unreal level of ignorance he wanted to inflict on my band was so extreme that I was appalled. Horrified. And I fired back. And that, ladies and gents, never happens. Until Yesterday.

Here's the deal. If you're a musician in a band and you play the guitar, you can't get away with being one or the other, you've got to be both. And where most people get lost is that they forget that our most important job is supporting the groove of the tunes. That means you need to play rhythm. And as everyone in my band knows, we're all in the rhythm section. It's the engine room, what gets people dancing. It's what you get paid for. Being able to blow a solo over changes isn't music if that's all you can do. It's self-indulgence, period, the end.

So, while he may break the guitar world into two camps, lead and rhythm, I break the world down differently- into musicians and instrument owners. Just because you own an instrument doesn't mean you're a musician. Anyone can learn to play the guitar fast, that's just muscle memory. But to be able to engage in a meaningful musical conversation on stage with other musicians and hold an audience's attention? That takes a musician.

Gimme musicians to play with any day of the week.

You, sir, are uninformed, misguided and offensive to those of us that work hard at our craft.

Apples and Trees

There's an old saying around here that apples don't fall far from the tree. And it must be true, here's my oldest surviving the worst blizzard in 90 years in Washington DC by hiding out in a recording studio.

Yeah, I know. No blues content. But a proud old man gets to crow a little every so often....

Magic Sam on a borrowed guitar

Not sure what the story was, but that is Earl Hooker's guitar for sure...

And Earl Hooker.....

My favorite youtube video

BB King and T-Bone Walker at the Hollywood Bowl, 1967. Can you imagine? Listen to the lines BB plays while T-Bone is getting set up. That was when he was really playing at the top of his game (it's my favorite vintage of BB). And T-Bone? Damn.

Home and Recovering

Some of you may have heard the news that I was taken ill while on holiday with the family.

Sample vids from the new DVD with T Rogers

Here's a couple of the tunes from the new T Rogers/Son Henry DVD that should be out pretty soon. They're from the Gastroblues festival in Paks this past summer. It was a great performance and although I can still hear the last touches of a sore throat in my singing it's still fun to watch- it's obvious we were having a great time (which we were).


Here's Can't be Satisfied...




And Richer than a Sheik...




And "Let me lay my head down"...



Hope you enjoy them!

Son Henry Live in B'Pest DVD

Coming soon to a bandstand near you! Live from Budapest with T Rogers, it's an hour of live music filmed at the Gastroblues festival. You can probably fget a c

Budapest Pictures....

Sometimes the pictures tell the story, and this is one of those times!

Back on line!

Wow, who'd ever think that it could take 3 months to get an internet connection? But it's there, and I'm back on line again. More later....

Off to Paks!

I think this images sums it all up! I'm off to Paks to play the DVD release party for the 2009 Gastroblues Festival and taking a great band with me. Tonight, the T Rogers Band and I are on around 8, headlining what promises to be another great night of loud, high energy blues!

Our gig last night in Budapest was another stormer. We played to a packed house at the Fregatt and then proceeded to drink and dance the rest of the night away. Coffee, a little petrol and we're off today. Oh, wait, there is still time for one more round of goulash before we leave....

Budapest, Fregatt tonight!

OK, short notice, but if by some chance you are in Budapest tonight, I 'm playing ath the Fregatte tonight with T Rogers. It is a warm up gig before we hit the road for our DVD release party gig on Saturday. Pictures to follow!

Answer- 3 months....

Question- How long can it take to get an internet connection?

Back on the web for a couple of short but wonderful days. More notes to follow...

website is back up, email may be missing

OK, looks like everything is working again,website os back up.

If you sent me an email in the last 2 days, might be worth a re-send because not much came through!

Devastation and stuff, Cellar 35....

Garage Sale time

Yep, having a MASSIVE clear out of old gear. So much stuff that I've created another blog to hold it all

http://vintageguitarsuk.blogspot.com

is the location of the new site. I'll post the for-sale stuff there and all the blues stuff here.

Remembering who you are....

That's my flag. Comforting to see when you're feeling homesick.