With Bowie and Hooky on the trail of a Good English Pint in Ummmmerrica, there was a great chance last night for me to soak up the tasty live sound of Roadhouse southern America , in Oxford , and stand for a couple of hours within touching distance of the fretboard of the modern legend that is Alvin Youngblood Hart.
Grammy award winning Alvin, out of Memphis TN is the cosmic American Love Child Of Howlin Wolf and Link Wray!!! Known as a "musician's musician", his praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to Brit guitar gods Eric Clapton & Mick Taylor.
Since his 1996 debut recording, the all-acoustic BIG MAMA'S DOOR, he has carried his musical message the world over. A devout follower of the 'no barriers' approach laid by veteran performers like Gatemouth Brown and the late great Doug Sahm, Alvin continues to defy the so- called purists.
To have him appearing in the tiny, ( itself fast becoming legendry ) Blues club, on the fringe strip of the City , is a real coup, but you could just tell by hearing him talk about the rocking blues that he was as happy bringing the walls down to 100 people ( as there was cramming the room...) as he was to 10,000 at a festival.
So we got the lot, from all ten of his different guitars.. the whole gamut of southern State Music as if Hendrix has descended on us himself...
....the whole tale of starting out life on the dirt poor side of the tracks to playing round the globe, just how I want my bluesmen to be. You gotta have felt to know how to feel. His new album "Motivational Speaker" just about says it all and it was a fantastic evening watching at close quarters his big phat phalanges make his guitar wail and sing.
You'll have noticed the words "legendry" and "Bob Dylan" cropping up a few times in this blog which prompted an aftershow beer and chat at the bar about the nature of Legendry-ness and how it is almost over used like "genius"..these day. What does it take to be legendry... Longevity ?...the rise from poverty to being a household name through deeds told by word of mouth?...or that simply that you gained respect...by doing it the hard way, playing every roadhouse and blues club in the world like this one tonight... increasing the legend even more.
Of course when you get to being Dylan, you get to that weird place of being so legendry, you can start to play with it, almost go back to the start, (a bit like Alvin tonight,) and enjoy the weirdness it brings....
......... as it was with great amusement that on the way home I tuned in the 1 am newsround on the car radio to hear that Bob Dylan, the man himself, is "talking to a couple of car companies" about becoming the voice of their GPS Sat Nav system.
So naturally this led me to thinking.. "How many Roads does a man walk down" and whether what ever you typed into the Sat Nav you would end up on "positively 4th Street"
It could have been "Lonely Avenue" but Ray Charles got there first and I even hoped he wrote "Turn Turn Turn" but that was Pete Seeger, so it seems even legends can't have everything.
The Legendry Sir Dayvd ( "Left at the next street. No, right. You know what? Just go straight." ) of Legendry Oxford
After a couple of steady, challenging, yet rewarding days of work...I was ready to unwind with some Rockin' Blues at the old Victory Theater in downtown Evansville. Now the home of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, the Victory originally started as a 1920's Palace of Silent Films.
Braving a last minute severe thunderstorm and torrential rain...Sir Hook's Traveling Medicine Show arrived in Victory at the Victory.
Last night's headliner is one of my favorite guitar players...Joe Bonamassa. Starting as a child prodigy...Joe is now called the "New King of the Blues" and "One of the World's Greatest Guitar Players". Joe is that and so much more...a Rockin' Demon on Guitar...SMOKIN'!
The 4th row view from my resolution challenged iPhone doesn't even begin to capture the raw power, energy and sonic beauty that Joe and his solid band mates laid out on the Blues Buffet for our hungry consumption!
This is Joe's website, www.jbonamassa.com, where you'll find the real version of guitar hero. Here's some history from Joe's bio on the site:
Like that of John Henry, Bonamassa’s story has its fair share of legend, grit and endurance. Remarkably, the 2009 release of The Ballad Of John Henry coincides with his twentieth year as a professional musician, an extraordinary timeline for a young artist just into his ’30s. A child prodigy, Bonamassa was finessing Stevie Ray Vaughan licks when he was seven and by the time he was ten, had caught B.B. King’s ear. After first hearing him play, King said, “This kid's potential is unbelievable. He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface. He's one of a kind.” By age 12, Bonamassa was opening shows for the blues icon (something he also did recently as the opener on King’s 80th birthday tour), and went on to tour with venerable acts including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker and Gregg Allman.
Reversing the order for artistic sake, the opening act, and the Gorgeous part of this Smokin' story is Gina Sicilia. All of 23 years old, what makes Gina "Gorgeous" is not so much her looks as the sound that comes out of her Philadelphia bred, Italian American mouth and the energy of the performance.
It was like watching Janis Joplin perform while listening to the blended voices of Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Bonnie Riatt all at once....DYNAMIC!
Best of all, the songs from her new album, "Hey Sugar", were performed as recorded by a stripped down version of musical mayhem. Upright bass, one snare with cymbal, and an electric guitar was all it took to the ROCK THE HOUSE DOWN! I kept thinking that this is how it must have felt to be at the old Rockabilly shows with Johnny Cash, Elvis and the gang when I was just a spec in my Daddy's eyes!
Gina's web site is where you'll enter into this wonderful world, www.ginasicilia.com. Here's some bio information:
Only once in a great while an artist comes along with the power to cause jaws to drop in awe—ladies and and gentleman, meet Philadelphia's own musical own dynamo Gina Sicilia Exposed to music early on by her music-loving family, Gina began singing at the age of 3 and wrote her first song at the tender age of 12. Upon hearing blues legend Bobby Bland for the first time at the age of 14, she became instantly enthralled by the raw emotion and power of blues & soul. After spending her teenage years polishing her vocal and songwriting skills, Gina began singing in clubs around the Philadelphia area, and has since branched out worldwide. As an artist who has been performing on the blues circuit for only a few short years, it is obvious to see that Gina's star is rising, and it is rising fast. In December 2007, only five months after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album, "Allow Me To Confess", Gina signed with the prestigious Piedmont Talent booking agency, which represents such legendary acts as Johnny Winter and James Cotton. That same month, Gina's impressive talent was recognized by the Blues Foundation, earning her a 2008 Blues Music Awards nomination for "Best New Artist Debut".
So, there you have the latest musical exploits from Sir Hook's Traveling Medicine Show. I hope you will enjoy!
