Monday, October 31, 2005

Hurricane Katrina Benefit

Wow, what a party, we raised around $3,000 and had a great time doing it. And today I'm still wiped out. What a weekend.

Party started at 12, which meant that we loaded in and set up at 10 a.m. Not really a big deal except that we played in Dundee the night before and were running on a couple hours sleep. But right out of the gate the music was great, starting with the Juke Joint Rollers. There was a great range of solo performers and duos in the afternoon, including Richard 'Snakehips' O'Donnell on the piano and guitar, the Bourach Brothers and Sliding Delta (Dougie and Lovat). The louder section of the night took off with Papa Mojo, a new band called Mr. Spider, my band and then Lazy Poker. Once the raffle was done we openend it up into an invitational jam that went till all hours of the morning.

And my buddy Eric sat through the whole thing and was still functional enough to drive me and a couple of others home at the end.

I could talk for hours, here's some pictures. The first on is my band, with Mel from Lazy Poker covering for Les:




This is Bob Telford from Wolftrain, great Chicago-style band:




And here is my buddy Lovat Fraser tuning up in the mens room....





And this is Paul Tasker from the Bourach Brothers, a great finger-style player:





And Sandy Mathers, the other half of the Bourach Brothers:





And finally Papa Mojo, with Billy Allardyce on the drums. Excellent guys to know, and great musicians too:



All in all it was a day to remember. We raised some money for people that need help and had a great time. What's more it's proof that blues musicians and fans are the same the world over, and I had a great time talking and getting to know everyone. I'm sure we'll do some event like this again.....

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Blues for my Brother Update

All-

The line-up is official:

Otto 'Ottomatic Slim' Lenz (a harmonica legend from Boston) is headlining. Blue Lisa from Dallas is coming along too. Big Robert T is flying in from Atlanta. Melissa Bledsoe Fisher is joining in, as is Stu Schulman, Rick Brooks, the Veronica C. Page band, and Spin the Bottle. Oh, and my old band will be there too.

For $30 you can have a reserved seat and dinner, and for you the doors open at 6 pm. For a few bucks less you can skip the meal and the early part of the show, join in for the dancing at 8 pm. If it was me I'd go for the dinner tickets, because you'll save over going to a restaurant- and the music will be better.

Oh, keep in mind that we're recording too so we can release a follow-on cd.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Scottish Blues Alliance, Katrina Benefit Schedule

Gang, the Scottish Blues Alliance benefit for the musicians of New Orleans is Saturday at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. Noon-Midnight for 10 quid.

We've got CD's from blues bands around the world, a 12-string guitar, T-Shirts, Whisky, Stevie Ray Vaughan Backstage Passes, Muddy Waters Tickets, and the Peter Green Biography autographed by Peter Green as silent auction and raffle items.

Here's the schedule:

12:00 Doors Open
12:30 Juke Joint Rollers
2:00 Snakehips
3:00 The Bourach Brothers
4:00 Sliding Delta
5:00 Wolftrain
6:00 Pete Goldie
6:15 Papa Mojo
7:15 Pete Goldie
7:30 Mr. Spider
8:30 Sliding Delta
8:45 Son Henry Band
9:45 Sliding Delta
10:00 Lazy Poker
11:00 Big Raffle Draw
11:15 Monster Invitational Jam

Best show in town! See you there...

My bestfriend is getting married!

It's an amazing thing when two people can be so much in love that making decisions about forever is totally logical. Wow.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

More about the Lemon Tree....

By my count there are several keepers, well recorded and really well played:

Second Glance
Vodoo Doll
Hole in My Soul
Cypress Grove
Nobody knows you (when you're down and out)

And a couple that I'm on the fence about:

Glenn Highway blues
Can't be satisfied
3 O'clock in the morning
Key to the highway
Future blues

So, I think what I'll do is think about it for a few more days and then put out a few samplers to people on my mailing list that typically have strong opinions. At any rate, I'm back at the Lemon Tree on the 25th of November and with a little luck we'll catch a few tunes that I didn't play. That list, if you're curious, is:

Rising Water Blues
When I lay my burden down
Watching Noah Sleep
Luke's Black Cloud Blues
I'm not your satellite
Deeper and Deeper
Fat Jeans
Nunca Mas, Corazon

and a few favorite covers like:

Terraplane Blues
Tom Rushen's Blues
Kindhearted Woman
Yo yo mama

So, there it is, in advance- my Lemon Tree set list for the next show. And to think some of you never imagined that you'd ever see me put together a set list.....

Friday, October 14, 2005

Live at the Lemon Tree today

Well, I was a little underwhelmed by the music today and then I listened to the cd that Craig recorded for me. Turns out it actually was pretty good, some of it is good enough to share. So, give me a bit and I'll distill some of the best songs and make them available here. Just goes to show you that you just never really know. Lot's of the credit goes to Craig, who did a really stellar job on the sound today, dealing with that cantankerous national guitar of mine is an art. Hopefully he'll be the soundguy at my next gig there on November 25th.

As always, it was great to see so many of you, including Sandy Mathers and the contingent from ConocoPhillips- Eithne, Allen, Hugh and Carol. Thanks for coming today, hope to see more of you!

OK, back to work on the recordings. Needed to pop up for a bit and let you know what was going on!

CD Suggestion: Sacred Steel Convention



Been a while since we had a CD suggestion here, so let's talk, because this is a great one. It's some amazing music recorded at the Second Annual Sacred Steel Convention in March, 2001. It's got the Campbell Brothers, Elton Noble, Lonnie Bennett, Robert Randolph and a number of other monster musicians that are all masters of the genre. Even if you're not into gospel music, this is a fantastic disk. I got my copy in Houston last week, but you can get it from any of the on-line CD retailers and it's worth every penny. You can listen on-line at Amazon, frankly the samples don't do the CD justice!

Monday, October 10, 2005

A Whirlwind tour of Texas

Hey all, I'm back. It's so good to be home. I love Texas, don't get me wrong (it was even home at one time) but there is nothing in life like the sound of your suitcase hitting the floor inside your own front door.

Spent a week in Houston, checking out local bands and sitting in here and there. I really enjoyed a set by Sonny Boy Terry at the very funky Shakespere Club. He's a great harp player, worth checking out if you're in the area.

From there I was in Dallas for the 6th Anniversary show of Blue Lisa's Big Texas Blues radio show on KNON 89.3. She took me on a tour of the new studio and I spent some time talking to my old friends Dave Chaos and Don O. Don was also kind enough to put me on the air during his show and play a couple of songs off the new CD.

The anniversary show was a monster bill at Django's on the Parkway, with locals BB Campbell and the Hambones, Andrea Dawson, Blue Lisa, me and Candye Kane. Mike 'BB' Campbell is an upcomer in Dallas, and they really kicked it off fine. Andrea Dawson is my favorite new Blues-RnB singer, man she's got an incredible voice and stage persence for miles. My set (with a fair amount of steel guitar) was very well received, and Lisa's band did a great job with my songs. Thanks Tim, Nick, Jim and Lenno- you guys rocked the house.

But life in Dallas, ahhhh, what a great time. I used to live in a sleepy little town called McKinney, and so on Saturday it was off to visit friends for an old fashioned porch party. Ok, it's not exactly blues, but I love going back to my old haunts. Dinner at Sicily's. Cafe Brazil, the Metro Diner, Guitar Center, Charley's Guitars. But the best part was sitting on my friends Lawrence and Nina's porch with Dan, Rick and Kerry and all the kids and just catching up.

But, home again. Laundry and then time to put the CD's that I bought on my mp3 player- and then I'll tell you all about those too.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

And here's what they said about opening for Peter Green

Same source, different gig:

Inside the club the athmosphere was certainly electric and the supporting act the Son Henry Band started the evening with an impressive performance, the small space in front of the stage soon taken advantage of by a handful of dancers.

There's no doubt that the Alaskan Bluesman Son Henry, accompanied by Mike Oxley on bass and Les Taylor on drums, left the audience well and truly warmed up.

Even More from Orkney

They said this about us in the Orcadian:

Alaskan Bluesman Son Henry, appearing for the first time, proved a huge sucess. Recently relocated to Aberdeen, he is described as an excellent musician and performer providing a mixture of original material and covers with his voice and guitar to the fore, backed by a tight rhythm section.

This proved to be the case with strong vocals expressing deeply-felt lyrics. These, plus some excellent moves on the guitar, provided a hugely fun session, with the audience bopping away.

They also improvised, using an ashtray and a bottle of beer to play some of the tunes!

One fan said "They are excellent, a refreshing sound"

"They are very sharp and there is some really good guitar playing"

Robert MacNamara, another festival veteran, saod "This is the best band I've heard in three years of the festival"

Another man has been converted, Justin Kimmett of Stromness said: "I wasn;t a true blues fan until this weekend"