Gotta say, at least the way I feel now, is that this is my favorite album of all time.* Just heard it while driving along Highway One Tuesday night. A 3-mile slow run, along with a few shots of single malt earlier, then this playing while skirting the coast: a sweet spot in time.
The elegance of pure blues. The single notes, the timing, the structure, the simplicity, the adherence to formulas…
These concerts took place in Europe in 1963. Muddy Waters, Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williams, Slim Harpo, Willy Dixon, Victoria Spivey…
I was an insurance broker in San Francisco then. I think if I’d heard this then, my life might’ve taken a different direction.
We have a totally world-class array of music programs on KWMR, which is about 15 miles down the road.
Shorty is on every other Thursday night, but you can get her archives. I think they stay up for a couple of weeks.
kwmr.org/broadcasts/42388
If this has expired, go here: kwmr.org/archives
and fill in the “Show Name”.
Play it loud! Sounds so much better playing from the CD (yeah, so old-school) through decent speakers. Rock ’n’ roll does just speak to me at times.
(Remind me to tell you about our connection to one of these guitar players in a few weeks.)
In spite of all the shit going on the planet right now, it’s a beautiful California morning, a bunch of poppies are exuberantly blooming, oblivious of world misery, we have (two days ago) finished the year-long stressful job of putting together Rolling Homes: Shelter on Wheels, covering 75 nomadic homes and I feel wonderfully free and ready first for a celebratory 4×4 trip to Baja, then to come back and get to work on my semi-autobiography, Live from California.
(From about mid-April on, I’ll be blogging from the road — a lot more regular posting when I’m away from office tasks.)
Just now listening to this (and watching Billy’s expressions). Rare communication between musicians, it’s like they’ve blended their art and skills into one.
