About those other lap steels.....

In the last week I've had a bunch of questions abut my steel guitars, so here are some quick photos and some notes.

The first one is an old Magnatone, in mother-of-toiletseat brown. It's my favorite of the lot. These are generally frowned on by Steel players because they have a pretty raw tone. The pickup is more like a stratocaster pickup than a normal steel guitar, which means it not a powerful, but these have a great dynamic range and don't tend to feed back. This one is normally in Open D or Open G.






This one is a picture of a national dynamic- it looks like mine, I can't find a good picture of mine right now. It's a classic National- brand lap steel with the big pickup. This is a guitar on steroids, very powerful and sensitive enough to play 3 octaves up the neck. Normally tuned to Open E, Open E-minor and Open A. Sometimes tuned to an E-tuning that goes 1-5-6-1-3-5






This one is an old Supro Comet, circa 1950-something. It's the one I normally play on the legs when I have a gig where I can't or don't want to sit down. It's strung so I can tune it to basically anything froma low Open-C to an Open-A. Unreal that the strings don't break more....







Ok, this one you may have seen from time to time, it's an odd one- an Eddie Alkyrie 10-string, probably made by Epiphone in the 50's. It's tuned to an E13-type of tuning that I developed for this one. It gives me the intervals I need to play minor and major chords as well as some hip jazz chords with odd extensions.






And, finally, the one that started it all- this is the National New Yorker that my friend Boo Rody loaned me *years* ago to learn on. After all these years Boo gave me the chance to buy it and I jumped at the chance. It belonged to his mother who was a professional guitarist and steel player in the 1930's and 1940's. This is a really powerful sounding old guitar that shreds amps for breakfast- it's the one you hear on 'Heartache and Trouble', for example. This is the big-block Chevy of the bunch.

Oh, it does go to gigs, but only ones where I can keep my hands on it, so it doesn't tend to travel at all. Gotta see a show in Aberdeen to see this one....

more blues photos

The Lancashire Telegraph just posted a whole collection of photos from the Burnley Festival. To check them out click here

Off the subject of the blues

The US Mint is finally getting around to making the Alaska quarter-dollar as part of the series. Designs are good for the most part, but I like the one with the Musher and Denali best.

Sorry, it's an Alaskan thing, humor me.

Burnley Stage Photos!

Tony Winfield sent me some photos that he took at Burnley last weekend, and he's been gracious enough to allow me to share them with y'all. Thanks Tony!

Be sure and check out his web site of blues photographs at http://www.bluespics.co.uk and his myspace page

The artist with the Magnatone addiction

I'm sure that there is a cure for people with chronic tendencies to acquire instruments, and if there is please don't tell me about it. Yeah, ok, I have an unhealthy addiction to these Magnatone lap steels, they're cheap, lightweight and sound amazing. And they come in such great colors. Like this vomit-green one, for example, that is currently on it's way to me.

Ahh, the good life. It really did need a home where it'll be able to get out and make some noise and not hide behind a glass case in some industrialists home....

This just in from Burnley

Son Henry Band kicked the fun off at Burnley Mechanics with their raucous set of swing stomp and jazz blues which had the crowds jumping.

Here's the link: http://www.burnleytoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2491049&SectionID=12

Les's Burney Photo Essay

Burnley Retrospective

Well, gang, I'm back home from the Burnley Festival. All in all our show went really well and we were well received. Also had a chance to meet HarpDog and JC from the the Blindman's Blues Forum, and saw but couldn't connect up with Houndog, so by my rough count that was 6 members of the forum all together (including me, Delius and Dino from my line up). If you're not a member, you should google the forum and check it out, it's a great 'place'.

We decided to take the train, save on gas. Great idea in principle, but with all the gear and lap steels I needed my suitcase weighed almost 100 lbs. Not very smart. But the ride down was really relaxing and gave us a chance to just hang out (which doesn't happen enough). Most of the way down we talked about the religion thread on the forum. That's odd coincidence number one- we have an ex --divinity student and an ex-religion and philosophy major in the band. I know that's so *not* blues band, we should have been talking abut wiskey and wimmen, but we were on a train so I think that evens things out.

Get to the train station in Burnley. No Taxi to be found. Two mile walk to the venue. Finally flag a cab big enough to get us there and a really nice Pakistani gentleman talks blues with us all the way to the hotel. So, you've got 3 Scots, an Alaskan and a Pakistani talking blues in England. Small world.

Hotel is nice, very English pub and all the other headliners are staying there too.

Quick shower and gear check and we're off to the theatre. Cabbie getting us there is the brother of the first cabbie and so, again, we talk blues all the way to the theatre. Line-check, sound check and off to the green room for some food. Oh, somehow I managed to get *so* much volume out of the Fender Twin they had for us that the sound guy complained he had me totally out of the mains. Arrrgh. Ok. Line check, sound check, turn down, second sound check and then off to the green room where we talked about the creation thread, Epigenetics, grid stability in 6L6 amps and wimmen. Ok, thats a little more blues band- gear and girls. The band is now acting 10 years younger.

Great gig. I love the tone of my old Magnatone lap steel blasting in a big theater and reflecting off the walls. It's a huge woody tone with a really large dynamic range for an electric instrument. We played two encores, and for the second one we played a lap-steel version of 'bring it on home to me' at a slow, teasing tempo. It was one of those soul-cleansing moments that reminds me of why I love to play music, sitting on the edge of the stage and bringing the band volume so low that I sould sing from the edge of the stage without a mic and hear the audience breathing. Any idea on how good a band you need to try that?

Done. Time to sell CDs and talk to folks. Met lots of nice people, business cards go flying out of my hands. We drag our tired selves off to the hotel. Yep, same cabbie, wants to know all about our show and were we staying around for Tommy Castro. Nope, as it turns out, we're recording. Too bad, I like Tommy Castro and haven't seen him in a few years.

It's at the hotel after midnight that things start to get interesting. Johnny Mastro and the band drifted into the hotel bar not long after we did, and we got to talking. Turns out that he's from my hometown in upstate new york 30 years ago. We went to college 10 miles from each other and I went to school with his older brother and sister- she was my ex-girlfriends running buddy. Turns out we know most of the same people. Talked with these guys almost until sun-up about things that Johnny and I had forgotten for years, all the people we'd not kept in touch with after graduation because we were different. A couple of blues-playing misfits in schools of career minded adults. Reassuring to run into someone that had the same experience. All this time I thought it was just me.

Over breakfast, Dave and I talk about the Archetypical journey of the modern hero, Carl Jung, Modern Psychology and the genome project. DIno is immersed in a book. Les is the quiet Beatle this morning. We take turns debating who gets to be Ringo and John. No one wants to be Paul.

Cab ride in the morning to the train station. Different cabbie. Too bad, this guy is grouchy. Lost my phone at the train station, but the guy that found it calls Dino and tells us he'll send it back in the post.

It's on the train that the beers, red bull and talk about women starts. And while we're waiting for a train I catch a reflection of the band in a window, and it hits me how much we look like a band. We're tired and unshaven. We're wearing a mix of stage clothes and street clothes, sunglasses and we're standing in a tight huddle on the platform talking in low voices, even though there is ample room to spread out. Strangers give us our space, but we can catch the stray eye puzzling over who exactly these guys are, what band is this anyway? But we're still taking about metaphysics, gear and women, though, and realizing we'll be able to include Dino in the conversation when he finishes his book in the next 5 minutes. He's lost in some fantasy world, different from ours. No matter, we've other long excursions coming up. This was an easy trip, by comparison.

But the trip was a reminder of how much I love playing music with these guys, and hey- I'd travel with these guys anywhere.

Burnley, ready or not!

Brace yourself, the band is on it's way to the Burnley National Blues Festival for our Friday night appearance. If you're going to the festival, expect a high-energy set for sure.

And, I always enjoy hanging out afterwards and talking shop, so look for me by the band's merchandise stall because that's where I'll be once we're finished. I usually bring my steel guitars along if you're curious about how they actually work- they are an odd breed of guitar.

And, if you're planning on staying home, well, you're going to miss all the fireworks! Off to pack, over and out for now. Hopefully we'll get some drummer-cam pictures for you to see the show from our perspective!

Solo CD release party, June 15

Talk about putting the cart before the horse. I know some of you think that waiting for my solo CD is like waiting for an Elvis sighting. So, to put my money where my mouth is, I schedled the release party at the Lemon Tree, Friday june 15 over lunch. I'll see if I can get an evening slot at a place like the Blue Lamp the same day.

Should get the recording finished the week after the Burnley Blues Festival, I have all the studio time booked- a solid week of recording. That should get it done. It's shaping up to be an interesting disk, with mostly lap acoustic. despite what I told Dave last week I think I am going to dust off my piano. Hmmm, some national steel too. arrgh- too much material. What a curse.

So, mark your calendars! And trust me, it'll be in the Lemon Tree Brochure (http://www.lemontree.org)

New CD Review on BluesMatters website

Scottish Music Reviewer Eric Scott had this to say about the new live CD:

This is the record of the annual benefit concert Son plays at in Anchorage, Alaska and it demonstrates that, like a good baseball pitcher, he has some truly ‘nasty stuff’ coming out of his lap steel guitar. Dark, mysterious and dirty in the lower registers, wicked and cutting up high, Mr. Henry remains a modern master of tone and shape- an unstoppable force at next weekend’s Burnley Blues Festival, for those of you within driving distance.

read the complete review here

From my buddy Bob Parsons

My friend Bob Parsons has been writing down road and gig stories, and sent this to me a few weeks ago. I'd forgotten most of this and had a good laugh reading this......

----------------------

I have been very privileged to play with some real ballsy players. Let me just embarrass a dude right here and now.

I played 3 years with Son Henry. He never missed a gig, although he was sick a couple of times. here's a side note — don't hang with that guy when he's doin Dayquil! As I lug my stuff to the gig, still keeping it to one trip, I look back on all the stuff Son packed into his Suburban to get him through the night. Tremendous committment to a certain sound that he needed. Sometimes he'd bring 400 pounds of gear. And the guy was so road-tested. He broke a string on his lap steel at Blues on the Green, kept talking to the crowd the whole time he found a new string and replaced the broken one. The bnd is vamping through all this and I got so caught up in watching this lesson in multi-tasking, I totally forgot to play anything to help him out. Then he looks back and says "Play something will ya, and help me out here!". Duh, oh yeah, that's right, I'm a musician...

Besides, being sick, playing, playing through crappy electricity, microphones emitting blue sparks (come on, how do you go back and put your lips back on a mic that just hit you so hard it burnt your pickups off your strat?) Son calls me from the hospital the day we are to cap off Ocean Fest. He's strapped to a gurny, can't move his head, because some kid smucked Son in the backside with an S-10 pickup going 50mph — and he's talking about MAYBE needing help with his gear that night!!! Geez Louise... what's your excuse!

CD Release Party: the Globe Inn, Thursday March 29th

Next stop the Globe Inn in Aberdeen. We're recording live AND releasing a new CD.

Drummer-Cam photos from Kemnay

A little photo essay from Les, a drummer-cam of last nightst gig in Kemnay. That the Son Henry Band, a monster talent like Bob Hall on the piano and a 125 friend and you've the makings for a party. And that's just what it was. I think I have the photos more or less in chronological order.

All in all an amazing gig. Bob Hall and Hillary Blythe played a great opening set of boogie woogie and some old blues classics and a couple of original tunes too. After a short break to let Donald the blues DJ work his magic it was all us, with Bob sitting in on the piano. Having Bob involved totally turned things on their ear in great ways- lots of off-the-cuff blues and boogie, a head-cutting session over a Slim Harpo selection. Phew.

OK, more of the same at the Globe in Aberdeen on Thursday, and then we're off to Turrif on Friday. Hopefully we'll see you there.

Live CDs are finally here...

Yep, here is the proof, and I have a stack of boxes to prove it as well. Finally, seems like this one has been a long time in the making!

Audio on myspace?

Do any of you actually download the stuff on myspace? I've got a bunch of unreleased live recordings that I'm thinking of putting out there, but don't really want to put the time into it if it's not something that y'all want.

on the fine art of friends and money.....

What a great way to loose a good friend. Shame too, I'd much rather have a house full of friends than a bank full of money. But it seems like a rule written in stone that if you end up loaning someone money you'll end up loosing a friend in the process.

Next time, I'm just going to call it a gift and not take anything but no for an answer. Too strange otherwise.

My father always used to say never sell your car to a friend, in the end you won't have either one , and I think that's sort of the message here too.

Globe Inn, March 29

This'll be the last gig in town before we head off to the Burnley Festival!

We're going to set up a little early so I can run y'all through some of the new solo material. It's really heavy on the lap-steel (acoustic that is), and so far the material has been well received.

I'll also be recording the band set, possibly as a CD release, more likely that it'll be some audio files we'll send to everyone on our mailing list. So, if you're a lurker but not on my mailing list there's a good reason to sign up, and it's as hard as clicking the link at the top of the page.

Oh- this gig is also the OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE of the new live CD too.......

Ribbon of the road

I asked my father, but he didn't know
how to choose between a woman and the open road


from "Ribbon of the road", recorded tonight.

The problem isn't having enough material for this solo record, it's clearly having a back-log of material that adds up to too much. What a good problem to have...

Recording, part 2

Yes, folks, we're recording in anger these days.

Spent several hours at Musical Vision yesterday recording some lap steel tracks and managed to finish two that I'm happy with:

1. Sackcloth and Ashes
2. Water and stone

And then, to make matters worse, was up to the wee hours of the morning working on guitar parts to

3. Mirror man
4. Born to roam

Tonight we're back at it, and we'll be finishing off

5. Fork in the road
6. Name for a number
7. The celebrated Mother in Law Blues

And then package everything off to sing and mix. Lots of this will come out on the next solor record, and the rest will be available for download on Snocap or myspace or something (not sure yet).

Ok, that's me done coming up for air in the middle of this creative frenzy. If you're waiting on me to return a phone call or something, I apologize. I'm focused and need this done. Man, I haven't even taken the trash out this week but that's probably something I can't let slide much longer.....

Peace!

Bob Hall, Son Henry in Kemnay, March 23

Need a great excuse to get a little out of Aberdeen? Here it is, then!

On March 23rd we'll be playing a gig with British Blues Piano legen Bob Hall in the Fetternear Hall in Kemnay (see the map). The night will start with a relaxed set from Bob Hall and Hilary Blythe performing lots of great piano based blues. From there we'll drag Bob into the middle of my band and play a few hours of classic Chicago Blues for danging into the wee hours of the morning.

It's an honor for us to support someone of Bob's caliber. If you were at the opening of the Dundee Blues Bonanza last year when Bob sat in with us, you remember that this is a dynamic combination. You'll hear lots of new material, stuff that I've never taken to a gig yet, but with this line-up it's going to be something else.

Seating is limited, so send me an email at info@sonhenry.com to reserve seats.

See you there!

New Band Photos

We had some new pictures taken and I've redone the web site to show you the WHOLE band. Click here to see the image! More pictures to follow after the Globe Gig!

Day one results

Well, a few very productive hours in the studio today. All the guitar parts for:

Stranger Blues
Hole in my soul
Long way Home
Bound to ride that train
one foot in front
solitary blues

are done. Some harp, singing and percussion and these are all finished! Going to take a break from this for a bit, though. Need to spend a little time editing the lyrics to these songs so they're really sharp.

Recording Tomorrow!

Hey y'all

Work on the long-promised solo CD resumes tomorrow (Thursday) when I take that old National of mine into the Musical Vision Studio here in Aberdeen. I've made a list of the songs that need to be recorded and it's grown really long, but since tomorrow is the first day in this studio I imagine we'll try for getting three complete songs down and be sure to really get a feel for the place. But, if it goes well, there'll be a whole bunch of stuff coming out this year.

As a surprise, I'll be taking my new Stella guitar with me as well- it's an old, cheap plywood guitar that Billy Allardyce found on Ebay. It's got a classic sound for the old-school blues, it's something about the plywood top and old dirt from some grandmother's attic. No matter, I've got a tune or two for it, and if we're rolling tomorrow it'll get it's air time!

Really, there's no way to release all this music on CD, there's just too much of it, so I'm looking into the option of taking bunches of it straight to digital distribution. Tunes, Tune Tribe and a couple of other outlets and by-pass the CD process completely. Some will probably end up as free downloads on MySpace too.

OK, I'll check in tomorrow night, let you know how it all turned out. In the meantime, happy Valentine's Day!

Son

back in the studio

Well, it had to happen!

Starting Thursday I'll be back in the studio for some more recording, but this time I'll be finishing up that solo disk I've been working on forever. It's going to be an interesting mix of some tunes on the National, a bunch of acoustic and electric lap steel and some songs on the straight guitar. I'm anticipating that the songs will stand by themselves without the need for over-dubbed parts, but in all honesty being in the studio is like having a really big box of crayons to play with- might be hard to avoid the temptation to fill things out a bit. There's one or two songs that would really benefit from a little bass and drums too, so we'll see.

We've started the 'organization' process- slicing up the material that I want to record into easy to manage groups. For example, recording all the songs on the national in one pass (even though they won't end up on the disk like that), preening the guitar parts and the lyrics and generally making sure that the first set of songs are ready to be put under the microscope. It's an interesting process, and truthfully, sometimes these songs just don't measure up. Needless to say we'll record more than will appear on the final disk.

So, fingers crossed! I'll let you know how this goes....

Horns?

It's true.


We've added Ken Shorten on trumpet and David Hair on misc. saxophones. They've both got years of experience and can play their backsides off. They really make the sound of this band bigger than I'd ever believed possible!

Not sure when the first gig wil be, we're scrambling to get tunes together. Could be as early as the end of next month....

on the fine are of kicking ass....

What a great band I've got. It's not every night that you open for Jimi Hendrix. I mean,even if it's a tribute band, the crowd expectations are really high and not a lot of people go to see the support act. It's like being the dishwasher or something.

But with nothing to loose, these guys just corked one off. Amazing. Crowd of people pressed to the edge of the stage, digging it. Wow. Awesome all the way around.

I'm obviously wiped out, it's late and I need to crash. So rather than babble on incoherently, let's just leave it at this. Way to go guys!

Don't believe it's a small world?

Then you need to get to a Lemon Tree gig somewhere. Because there you can hear an Alaskan guitarist, mixed by a lassie from Scotland, and sit at the same table with a painter born in Bethel Alaska, a few folks from Shetland Islands, a Scottish Lap-steel maker and an assortment of folks from England and France.

Home Page Updates!

Well, I'm not a web developer, but sometimes I sure feel more like a web guy than a guitar player. But, all griping aside, I did some updates to my homepage at www.sonhenry.com.

Schedule page, recordings, news- lots of new stuff to crow on about. Take a look!

Burnley National Blues Festival

The brochure is out, take a look!

Click here

Supporting Hendrix and Rob Tognoni

Check it out- Saturday February 3rd at the Lemon Tree supporting the Hendrix tribute band, and the following Sunday afternoon opening for Rob Tognoni. Going to be a busy weekend!

http://www.lemontree.org for advanced tickets to the hendrix show!

See ya!

Glad I don't need to worry about hitting anything this big on the way home from a gig, but I must admit that this picture makes me more thana little homesick. Look at all that snow! Great ski season right now...

New Myspace Page

Well, we've finally taken the plunge and joined everyone at myspace. I'll be putting video and mp3's there, and making some unreleased stuff available for download. Here's the URL:

www.myspace.com/sonhenry

Stop by and have a look and a listen! Grab what you like and please spread the word.

See you soon, somewhere!

Live Recording, Globe Inn, March 29

Just a quick heads up- I've made arrangements to record the band live at our gig at the Globe Inn in Aberdeen. We'll be ready and primed for the gig at the Burnley festival, so it seems like a logical time to do a little extra recording! Not sure that we'll do any more than mix it up and throw it out on myspace.

Oh, if you don't have the link, here's how you get to our myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/sonhenry

Go check it out, because we need a few friends!

Burnley National Blues Festival, April 6th

This is so cool! We'll be on the main stage at the Burnley National Blues Festival on Friday, April 6th. Here's the URL to the festival site:

http://www.burnleymechanics.co.uk/blues.php

Expect a great show, get seats down front. The guys and I are really primed for this one!

Old Friends, best friends

A quick shot of an old favorite guitar getting some stage time at a recent gig!

Happy 2007!

nuff said.

Twas the night before Christmas......

Twas the night before christmas
and all through the house
the band was getting restless
there was no bass player about

and so in my leather jacket
and backwards beret
I put on my shoes
and went looking for Dave

then out from the street
there arose such a racket
that the cigarettes fell
out of my jacket

and looking through the window
of a rusty old van
who should I spy
but the long lost bass man

locked in the van
along with the keys
was davey the bass player
and 8 bottles of beer

when finally with a coat hanger
we did get him out
he jumped into the night air
and stumbled about

at the top of his lungs
full of good christmas cheer
"Happy Crishmash to all,
And Nappy Hew Near"

But from down the street
we did hear the yell
of punters, "play freebird"
oh bloddy hell.......

last gig of the year tonight

Cafe Drummonds, Aberdeen. Band on at 9:30

Great year, hard to believe that it's over already. Openers for Tam White, Blue Lisa, Ray Bonneville, Mem Shannon and gigs from Estonia to Alaska and all points in between. A new CD, and some great reviews and a live CD off to duplication. A youtube video that drew praise from some heavyweights in the steelguitar world. An awesome year. So how do you wrap it up? Gotta get to Drummonds tonight and find out....

Next year? A new live CD, a new band cd in the studio and a solo cd. And the life of a road dog, have lap steel will travel!

See you tonight, and happy, safe holidays to all. Thanks for your friendship and support.

and while we're at it.....

If you haven't read it yet, jump down t the previous post or this won't make a lick of sense.....

The real trick is going to be making this an integated whole, between the band and the solo gigs, no? It's going to be one thing to havethe solo gigs veer off in a new and interesting direction (not to mention a portable one too- can you imagine taking 5 guitars on a train?). But, to some extent this needs to fit well with the band too. Here's why-

First, the original songs need to be, to some extent, portable between both gigs. Otherwise, don't you run into a radical conflict, where a listener's expectations are far from being met- it seems like a big jump from raw, delta blues to lap-steel hendrix covers, no? Does it matter?

Second, the songwriter is happier if he's got a consistent target to write for, otherwise songs just stay in the books and never get a chance to tell their story on the stage.

And so, I'm open to feedback here- how important is it to have a performer present a consistent set of material from gig to gig? And by this I don't mean playing the same familiar songs the same way every night, but rather that everything seems to hang together. Or do you prefer to be surprised by what can creep into a set list on any given night?

I have my bias here. But I always like to hear from you guys. My email is at the top of the page here, so if you feel inclined, I'd welcome the feedback (as long as it's not a pitch to sell me Viagra or a Nigerian email scam), and I won't put you on a junk mail list.


OK, off to spend some time at the piano. Be well!

finding a new voice.....

Every once in a while a gig opens your eyes to new possibilities, and helps you find a new voice. It's as though the dynamics of the room, the acoustics and the personalties of the audience all lead you towards an answer or a change that you've been working towards. And SNAP, everything is in place.

Here's the dilemna- The National works fine in a sit-down cafe, but not in a pub. And, I've been feeling a little removed from the music, in the sense that these old songs have gone back to being someone elses's stories. So, last night at Satchmo's in Dundee I had a bar stool all to myself on the stage, and Leon Hunter was kind enough to let me experiment. And experiment I did, I took 5 guitars to the club and just played.

It turns out that the night just gelled with an old Jesse Mae Hemphill song, that set in motion a string of old Mississippi Hill Country style songs. Some RL Burnside and other stuff played with that vibe. And instantly the room went from one of ignoring the background music to dancing or shuffling in place, moving close to the stage and sitting there listening and throwing out song ideas. So, there was some James Taylor played on an electrified slide guitar at full volume. and other odd stuff, but somehow it all worked. And the original songs I've been wrestling with, lots of them just fit the bill.

I had a long drive home last night in the wee hours of the morning, and I was still zipping from the aftermath (it's 11 am the next day now) while I was prying my eyelids open with coffee this morning. I love it when the doors open like this, because most of the time it's not very subtle and is what one of those large bank vault doors opening must sound like.

Oh, about the 5 guitars? I only need two from here on out, and a very cheesy, very small amplifier to make it all work. Phew, I'm back to being portable again which is a comfort because moving FIVE guitars for a solo gig is a little over the top. But we did answer the question.

And for Dave and Mario who will want to know what happens to all the old delta stuff, it'll still be there guys, we're just going to transmogrify it a bit and make it a little more relevant to the life of a working-class guitar player with 4 kids living in the 21st century. Add volume and presto.....

what a great way to wrap up the year!

If you were at the Blue Lamp last night this won't be news.....

I'm so proud of they guys in the band. We had a double header with the Glebe Street Blues Band last night and they tee'd it up and hit it hard and straight. If you're wrapping up a great year, that was the gig. Dino and Angus were a cement floor, absolutely rock solid. And if you've been watching Dave lately you know he just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Damn, what a great band!

My favorites of the evening? "Don't go cutting off your hair", a dedication to the late Sammy Meyers was spontantous and right on the money, including a perfect Peter Green-tinged solo by Dave, and the "Voodoo Chile" rendition with the Sputnik imitation (a lap steel on legs played behind my head).

Wow, I'm exhausted, and off to catch some sleep. Thanks to all of you that bought CD's last night! Hope they make great stocking stuffers!

Last band gig of the year is at Cafe Drummonds on the 21st. It'll be a good one, so mark your diaries!

So where is that solo CD?

Great gig at Drummonds last night, sorry if you missed it...

Eric the Social worker, a couple of guys visiting from Calgary, Collin, Dave, Sherry Mike and Jane all asked about the solo cd- as in when is it going to be finished?

Soon.

Having enough material isn't the problem, it's what material goes together well enough for a cd so that it's an even consistent statement that reflects the 'artist's mindset' at a given point in time. This guy is a little over the road these days. Is it a country or delta blues record? Lots of lap steel? Some electric or ensemble playing? Talk about your basic pointless emotional and artistic crisis- here we are.

So, whadda we gonna do?

How about this as a plan- I've booked time in a local studio in december to take one and only one guitar in for a 4 hour block of recording. We'll record a couple of complete songs and keep the good stuff. Take a second block of time with another guitar and record another bunch of songs, and keep rotating untill we get a good, consistent package. The rest of the stuff I'll put out on my website for folks on my email list to download as a freebie.

GACK! Don't ask me about the live cd, it's all ready to go (artwork and all), but that's waiting on the label to get it out- hassle them at info@frontporchrecords.co.uk...

OK, that's me rant for the day. Off to write a few new songs!

Some stuff I gotta have when I grow up-


A guitar shaped swimming pool, a round, furry bed with an 8-track tape player mounted upside down for easy access from a reclining position. And some work clothes. Elvis had it all figured out.....

Kemnay Photos!

Chris Overton surprised me with photos from the Kemnay gig, here are some of them. More later. Thanks Chris!

Another YouTube video

I found some more footage from the Stirling Tollbooth this sumer, a real mellow version of the guys playing "love in vain". You cancheck it out here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkt895kZT8g

Wow, the new Sons of Kemnay....

We had such a great time in Kemnay last night, warm welcome, nice room full of people and great acoustics.

I had a feeling it was going to be a great gig when we were driving down the highway into town and say a series of small signs on the roadside, about the size of an A3 sheet of paper that read:

SON HENRY

BLUES BAND

NOVEMBER 25

TICKETS AT HAIR SHOP

With publicity like that, well, we knew we were in the right track. And the thing abut Scots is that they're very much like Alaskans in their open-minded attitude towards music and willingness to have goot time. So, once everything was loaded in and set up we relaxed to hear Paul Tasker's new band the Doghouse Roses, an acoustic duo that reminded me of the Cowboy Junkies. Great music to relax to, and eat a pizza (which we did with reckless abandon)

At 10 pm it was our turn, and the guys corked off a great set right from the opening number. My instruction were to play a 'listening' set first and a dancing set later so people would hang around till the end. We managed to keep people sitting till around the 3rd number and then everyone (inclulding the band) was up and dancing and carrying on. So, we ended up with two long sets of dancing and carrying on.

Thanks to all of you that joined us last night, and those of you that took the CDs home! And to Dave and the rest of the crew that worked so hard to put on the show, thanks as well- you all did an excellent job with all the organizing and such. And for the honor of being tagges ' Honorary Sons of Kemnay'? Well, what can I say? We are really flattered....

back in the saddle

Been a couple of weeks off, much needed here. Sorry about the long absence....

Couple of big gigs coming up- the first Forfar Blues and Bridie festival is December 4, and I'm alternating sets with Gerry Jablonski at the Caledonian Pub and the Plough. Gerry's one of my favorite guitar players, so it should be fun, and talk about contrasting styles? And any time you get to launch a new blues festival is very cool as well.

From there, watch out for a solo set in December at Satchmo's in Dundee AND the mother of all double-header gigs at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen on December 9th and Cafe Drumonds on November 30. More you-tube video to shoot at those two gigs as well.

Peace all, stay in touch!

Looking for horn players

And you thought I was kidding!

The band needs a horn section- Trumpet, Tenor Sax, Trombone or Bari Sax. Lot's of original material to be played, and I want to nufge the band in that Texas swing direction (and not towards a blues brothers tribute act)

last gig aftermath

Was that the best solo gig I've ever played? No, probably far from it actually. But it did confirm for me that there's something interesting and fun to changing over to an electric guitar-based set. My guitars sounded great, and I didn't feel like I was fighting them the whole time on stage. I never seem to get that feeling from my acoustics, and as much as I love my old national it was (all whining aside) great to NOT have it there to serve as a crutch.

So, owing a very heavy debt to Little Jimmy Reed for the rack-harp lessons, and some very insightful advice from Ray Bonneville I think this is the direction we're going to go for a while. Friday showed me what songs work and what ones clearly don't, and so we'll be leaving a bunch of material behind. But the good news is that I can get caught up on some of the songs I've written that don't work on a resonator guitar. It's all a balance. But I've always been a firm believer in going where the muse leads, and there's some interesting signs pointing in this direction.

Oh, and yeah, I'm really excited about how well my floor board worked as well. I got lots of help from Mac running the sound board who understood exactly what I wanted. But the electronics worked great and I'll keep it!

All I want for Christmas

All I want for Christmas is a horn section. Baritone Sax, Tenor, Alto and a Trumpet player.

Really, that's it. I don't even need a card.

My friend Anna turned me on to this guy- he's a pre-war blues and gospel guy that plays the zither. A novelty instrument? Historical oddity? No matter, the music is really unusual and great listening.

A new guitar or two...

Well, there are some new additions to the family here. After loosing an old friend to the airline baggage handlers, and realizing it was time to part with a couple of other guitars that hadn't seen a gig in a bit it was time to indulge. Expect to see this at the Lemon Tree in November-

The one in the case is an ES-125T, it's a thin-bodied ES-125 jazz box with a big old P-90 pickup on it. It's a great guitar for the swampy solo stuff I've been playing in standard tunings. All the old Jimmy Reed sounds great on it as well.

So, why the change? Fair question, I suppose. Here's the logic- I'd like to change over to a set of guitars I can use for a solo gig where my electric lap steel seems less radical. It always seems to fit poorly with an acoustic national and a regular acoustic guitar. So, we'll translate the slide material to the my old silvertone and the straight guitar parts to the 125T, amplify everything andthen the lap steel fits better. It's a great change in other ways too- opens up some rhythmic techniques on these guitars that don't come out or simply don't work on an acoustic guitar.

I suppose the national will still get around. I know I don't ever want to risk travelling with it again.

Off to practice and write. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Memphis in the meantime...

OK, I'm back. What a great trip.

Ended up spending two days in Memphis lasty weekend. Got there Friday night and stayed in the Days Inn Graceland across 'Elvis Presley Blvd' from the Graceland mansion. the hotel was great- a guitar shaped swimming pool and Elvis movies nonstop on 4 channels in the hotel. Getting there late at night there was only one thing to do- head out for Bar-b-que.

Turns out A-R Barbeque was right down the road and was some of the best I've had in a long time. I ate myself silly. Beans and coleslaw, and a big brisket sandwich. Ahhh. Heaven.

In the morning some friends and I hopped aboard a tour bus and went through the mansion. It was smaller than I expected, but right on the money- great shag carpeting on the roof, exactly like I imagined Elvis would decorate his place.

Then, off to lunch and more barbeque.

In the afternoon I did the tours of Sun Studios and the Stax Museum of Soul. Inspiring to be there, both places. Absolutely magical.

That night we hit Beale Street. Not what I expected at all. Early in the night it was nothing but Stevie Ray cover bands playing the same set list over and over. I finally sat on the street in front of Big Gary, who played all the old Jimmy Reed stuff. Covers, but still good and not 'Pride and Joy' and 'Cold Shot'. Later on it was off to hear this kick-ass rockabilly band, who's name I've lost. The beer was good, what can I say.

No matter, it's great to be home and ready to play again. Check in sometime soon at a gig, lots of other stories to tell!

barbeque at my place!

Amazing things happend when you have a welder for a friend!

My buddy Dave sent me an email a while back of a picture he'd found on the web of a great BBQ accessory, one of those pictures that was making it's way around the internet. Man, I had to find a set of these to add some comic relief to my backdoor cooking. My cooking is funny enough by itself, but it does need a little help...

So, to make a long story short, it turns out he's not just a welder he's an artist too, and made me these to amuse the kids and annoy my wife. Thanks Dave! Because now I have the most popular gas grill in town

Off to Graceland too!

Oh, expect a travel-log over the next few weeks, because we're going to Memphis and Nashville! I'll try and post pictures along the way....

Been kinda quiet here lately...

Long time, no writing. My apologies, it's been a little busy.

We've been working on the new songs for our next record, and had a great rehearsal last week. I think we've got a string start on seven or eight new songs. The feel of these is pretty close to that Glenn Highway Blues-vibe, real rootsy. Except this time it's nice to have a second guitar player to bat ideas around with, makes the foundation a little sounder.

More in a bit!