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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150377/music-commentary-30">Music commentary #30</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>   Ah, the last of my 30! My father had a working bar band, a ”weekend warriors” group, that played most every Friday and Saturday night in a night club (4 hours per night). The members had day jobs through the week, but the supplemental monies earned from weekend music “gigs” was vital income. Growing up and watching my father drive away on those weekend nights was hard to witness. Of course, I wanted him to be home, but, the bigger reason was that I wanted to know WHAT THAT WAS LIKE ( playing music in a band)! Boy, would I find that out! As I recall, I was late 14 years old when his band, The Nashville Rebels, started a house-band stint at an old schoolhouse. As a “family” environment, youngsters could get in the place, and I rode along when I had no sporting games (I was a perennial athlete). The first time I sat in with the band, playing my brother Mike’s Fender Rhodes keyboard and singing two songs, changed my life. The sound of the full drum kit, the booming electric bass guitar, and a guitarist with a screaming amplifier all around me established WITHOUT A DOUBT what I would spend my life doing. So, here I am. I turn 58 on January 16th, and music business is my livelihood. I was just starting to play guitar, as piano had been my instrument for 5 years. At the dawn of turning 15 my dad allowed me to join in for the entire gig, using my acquired Gibson Les Paul (all my childhood savings went into buying a used, black Les Paul at $350). He split his share of the money with me, so I walked with $25 a night for about a year. A year later, my oldest brother, Larry (29-ish) stopped being in the band, leaving me as the sole guitarist. My pay doubled to $50 a night, occasionally being $40 or $60 and up. I can still hear the sounds from that first year. Larry’s guitar (another Les Paul), Mike’s Rhodes piano (a bell-like chimey-ness keyboard tone), my dad’s Fender Precision electric bass guitar through an Ampeg amp, and the drummer’s kit (a tambourine sat on top of his high hat at all times!). The drummer was Andy Allan. Mike sang most of the songs. Larry and my father really never sang, though Larry would sometimes cover Turn Out The Lights (And Love Me Tonight). Andy added harmonies and I did, too. Several times a night would find me singing lead. That would steadily change in the coming few years, as my vocals became more and more a part of the fabric. The band name had come from an earlier line-up being in a movie, The Nashville Rebel, as Waylon Jenning’s backing group in several scenes (1966). My father had asked for use of the name and it was allowed. So, there I was from late 1979 through early 1983 serving as guitarist-singer in a later incarnation. We were a country band, with a variety of rock and roll, blues, polkas, etc. included in a night’s engagement. We had a backdrop made of plywood and cloth that said “Nashville Rebels”, using glitter substance. The Confederate flag was a pronounced part of the design. I would not be caught dead with such imagery behind me now, as I detest the symbolism of it. There were no people “of color” at the gigs, so, the backdrop suited many of the blue collar white folks with necks of red who came and danced away their week. I thought little of it then, at age 15/16. I do think of it now, and it is not for me. In fact, we played Johnny Russell’s hit “Rednecks, White Socks, and Blue Ribbon Beer”, on occasion. Our sets consisted of doing whatever came to mind, with constant audience-requested songs, too. In that first year of mine the songs were performed without any rehearsing. We were expected to know all the standard country hits, as well as bar band staple rock and roll tunes. For The Good Times, Easy Loving, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Good Hearted Woman, Crazy, Backside Of Thirty, Rose Colored Glasses, Farewell Party, Green Green Grass Of Home, The Fugitive, Sing Me Back Home, Your Lyin’ Blue Eyes, Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms, Texas (When I Die), Faded Love, Workin’ Man Blues. All of these and so many more. Blue Suede Shoes, Roll Over Beethoven, Twist and Shout, Kansas City, Elvira (a rock and roll song we did before Oak Ridge Boys had the massive hit countrified version). We did instrumental songs Wheels, Wildwood Flower, Wipeout, Orange Blossom Special (my father was a fiddler). I had to play bass when my dad went to his fiddle. We did a number of long square dance songs and watched as a “caller” barked out the dance moves to the dance floor, using one of our microphones. The whole schoolhouse building would shake for that. Black Mountain Rag, Liberty, Come Along Cindy, Down Yonder, Footprints In The Snow and countless other “fiddle tunes” were played, as my father had a slew of them. He played them on his fiddle, named Old Cheatham. The instrument was named after the song “Bill Cheatham” and had been my grandfather’s and my great grandfather’s fiddle. Old Cheatham is now in my possession. People could “brown bag” booze into the building, a legal arrangement. It created a wild, rowdy atmosphere. The fact that kids were there did not deter grown men from fights. Audience members could, at times, rudely complain about a song we played. Or, our volume level. Or, whatever their selfish, hot headed brain could conjure and yell out. After the months and months, then years and years, of that kind of environment, it is amazing I would want to play music full-time, or at all. I saw family squabble over it, my mother campaign to have me not do it, my organized baseball playing end over it, my high school years of weekends spent in beer joints, and uncouth people try to make me feel bad about playing music. However, I stuck with it. I believed I could do it professionally and that I would love it over any other career. I grew and grew and grew, artistically. I managed to play in opera houses, theaters, theatres, on TV. I made albums, wrote hundreds of songs, played in 20 countries. I am lucky. As of now, my health is reasonably good. I can get engagements to play around my country, though I have lost touring in other countries. Only far west of Canada brings me in to tour, not the rest. I beg and plead for gigs all over the US. My community of 58 years has been very sluggish toward coming to hear me perform. It is like dragging my amp on to the stage of Fredonia schoolhouse in 1980, spending my weekend playing music for beer-guzzling yahoos, and forfeiting whatever it is I am forfeiting in life. I am going to keep doing it. Spend your hundreds on the big star, sit in your arena, sing along to your 50-year old classic pop songs in your untrained, out of tune falsetto voice. I don’t care. I am going to perform. I love the music, I must. No one would put in that first year of playing Fridays and Saturdays in the Nashville Rebels unless the love for doing it outweighs the downer aspects of it. Somehow, that lone positive still gives me drive to sing and play. The year 2023 is about to start, as of this writing. The musical sounds of Tom (my father), Larry, Mike, and Andy are still swimming around in my head. Probably, those sounds are echoing in the old schoolhouse, which has been renovated to offices.</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150376/music-commentary-29">Music commentary #29</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>  These albums are ones that I played on and the thoughts I have about them: 1)Town Square (2009) was a double-disc album from the duo Stacey Earle &amp; Mark Stuart. It was intended to be what live audiences heard from us in concert. Yes, a previous double-disc album, Must Be Live, had been released in 2001. But, that album was before numerous studio albums had been released AND many newer songs had been written. Furthermore, it was “Stacey heavy” in that few of my songs are included. It was a bit less “duo”. Town Square was performed live in a studio, just without audience. The tracks had no overdubbing, no fixes, no layering of parts. We played our acoustic guitars, occasional harmonica, and sang our parts in a TAKE, song by song. The performances of these songs are how they were done on a stage, night to night, country to country. If you REALLY want to know what this duo sounds like you will need to get this album and hear the guitar interplay and harmonies. The lyrics are all ours. 2) Takes One To Know One (2005) is by the artist Teddy Larkin. It is one of my favorite albums ever, certainly one of my favorites to help record. When a friend musician was asked about a guitarist for these tracks some 8 players were brought to Teddy’s attention. He seemed to think they were all too “Nashville” in their ideas. So, the friend introduced him to my work and he was happy to have me do the entire record. I was “number 9”, you might say. I love all the songs, that attracted me from the beginning. Then, Teddy gave me a large flexibility in playing what I thought best. All of my electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and mandolin parts are some of my best work. I am biased because of that, yes, but the entirety of the album (players, engineering, lyrics, etc.) is fantastic. I need to hear it regularly. 3) Steve Forbert’s live album from 2004 has a long title. Wait for it: Steve Forbert Good Soul Food Live At The Ark Ann Arbor Michigan June 3,2004 Featuring Mark Stuart. With just our acoustic guitars the artist took his hired “gun” on tour, then, informed me of this album after releasing it! At first, I was concerned. I knew there were concerts that were not great, some that were. Until hearing this CD I had mixed emotions. It turned out to be one of our decent shows, not the best, but decent. He DID feature my name and likeness on the cover. I always wished he would allow me to play the way I wanted on his stuff, but there was lots of dictating my guitar parts. This is a good representation of Steve onstage with a guitarist accompanist. It could have been better if I was more free to choose the playing. His songs are great and his fans love this record, I believe. 4) Dedication. This is an album from 2012, the last Stacey Earle &amp; Mark Stuart album, to date. I had written a batch of new songs and was excited about them. Plus, we had resurrected one of my gems from just before we met, doing it in our shows (the title cut). Inspired by this cluster of songs, all strong works in the opinion of both of us, Stacey set out to write some new songs. We co-wrote a bit, too. Most importantly, our production direction was one that took us into a more “Pop-ish” and “Beatle-y” turn than before. It had always been an influence, but, to demonstrate an outward sampling of The Beatles’ coloring (colouring) on our albums was a first. An acquired piano from 1928 had driven us to write and we used that very instrument on the album (recording gear was brought to our home for piano tracking). I played bass guitar, electric guitars, slide guitars, acoustic guitars. We placed some slick backing vocals onto some songs. I love it, the record. 5) Lifeshakes is a record I played on in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The artist is Antonio Andrade. He had a lot of fantastic songs and asked me to play on the album. Given a “rough” of all the songs, recordings of mostly acoustic guitar and bassist Freebo, I set out to establish my parts. When I arrived with my ideas (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, etc.) Antonio was quite pleased with it all. As a result, some of my best work is throughout this record. I was given a license and used it to express my musicality to its fullest. I love the album, still. 6) Steve Earle’s El Corazon is a product of mostly songs the artist wrote during a couple of years of touring with his band. I was in that band and we would work up the songs at sound checks, then, toss them in as an encore, in some cases. When it was time to record the numbers in 1997, during a window off the road, I was left not playing on a few of the ones I had been doing onstage. Furthermore, I was not allowed to play ANY electric guitar parts (my best instrument). In the case of Ft. Worth Blues a mandola was handed me to play, though I had never played one! I had been using the sister instrument, mandolin, on tour. I guess that qualified me! Upon noting my limited role, the artist promised I would be called in to do all the background vocals and harmonies, as I was a strong singer. When I was left out of all of that, too, it was a sign that it was time to move on from this “band”. I have, still, never owned a copy of this major release in which I am credited. For those familiar with this album, I DID play on Telephone Road, Taneytown, Somewhere Out There, and a couple of others. It is a very good record from Steve, but, bittersweet for me. I did not tour the record, as I stepped away just as it was unleashed to the public. 7) Just Like There’s Nothin’ To It-this Steve Forbert album from 2004 is a very good record, I think. I play on some of the tracks, acoustic and 12-string guitars. The artist would have me on tour with him after the release. We were always an acoustic twosome for all those concerts. I had to try and work out parts on my guitar that was replacement for a very pop-production kind of record. 8)Left Of Nashville is a Mark Stuart solo record from 2008. I had two plans in mind: play all instruments on a record (as my biggest musical heroes had done -Paul McCartney and John Fogerty), and, do an album in two days time. Although, I can play drums, I decided against having a drum kit on the record. I did use assorted percussions. I played acoustic 6 and 12-string guitars, electric guitars, piano, slide guitar, and represented all vocals. I wrote all the songs, of course. Some of the material was very new, some songs were older ones that had not made it onto albums. 12 &amp; 49 Crossroads is a blues-style acoustic guitar instrumental. I do it in shows today. Sal’s Song was a piece I was assigned to write at a songwriting retreat, where I was an instructor. Left of Nashville had just been written and reflected the status of being an “outsider” in the music community I grew up around. It was the title track, with no reservation about it. Inside the song is a little nod to Roger McGuinn (12-string part) and George Harrison (electric slide part). The chord progression is McCartney-like, in my view. I was starting to tour heavier as a solo act and this album was to be my new “product” to coincide with that.</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150374/music-commentary-28">Music commentary #28</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p> The making of an album Simple Gearle, days away from the 25th anniversary of doing so, is topic #28. In Nashville I had performed with my wife, Stacey Earle, since February of ‘92. We married in late ‘93, but, had been onstage together, in studios together, and rehearsing songs together since meeting one another. I had seen several opportunities come about for Stacey, as a writer-artist, to be recorded/produced by different music industry people. The first thing that would be done was limit my role in the recording. Though I was there for the writing process of most of her songs, helping to craft an arrangement, and establish guitar and vocal harmony parts the producer would always counter that work with his own approach. The non-stop gigging that we did with two acoustic guitars and two voices would be greatly altered to electric guitars and/or steel guitars, electric bass, full drum kit, and so on. The second thing to be done, behind limiting my playing, was to take Stacey’s guitar out of her hands OR reduce its significance. The end result was one that had lost the “magic” and put a “big production” layering of instruments onto the songs. A layering that had lost its soul , THE soul. After Stacey had wrapped up a three-year stint as a staff songwriter, and I had stepped out of a two-three year stretch in her brother Steve’s band, we were ready to tackle making an actual record, one that would reflect how WE treated her songs. We had always known that HER guitar playing was a specific charm in the sound of her musical pieces. And, MY acoustic guitar sensibilities were honed around that. My use of octaves for intros, solos, and outros were the correct ideas with her percussive rhythm style. The choice to keep my own guitar out of the first verse, allowing her guitar and voice to introduce the song to the listener, only to make its way in at the right moment, was the difference-maker in spellbinding the audience. I knew it and she knew it. Yes, a “stripped-down”, acoustic based record was the thing to make. We had to borrow the money from a friend, Paul, to do a two-three day process of recording and mixing Simple Gearle. Yes, it was done in a very short window. We had three friends to play on the tracks, friends who had understood more than others, what our “sound” really was. Mike Webb, John Gardner, and Mark Prentice rounded out, tastefully, what was built around Stacey’s guitar/vocal and my guitar/harmony vocal. Andrea Zonn did play on one track, too. $2,300 paid for the studio time, the engineer (Nathan Green), the players (who did their parts for next to nothing), AND the first 500 CDs! That is right, we spent the totality of $2,300 for making it AND manufacture of 500 CDs. Our first show to have it in hand was at Twice Told Coffee in Louisville, KY. Stacey’s father had to drive to the warehouse and pick up the first batch, then drive 2 1/2 hours to our venue for show time. The sellout of 45 persons in that tiny room led to selling 27 copies of Simple Gearle at $15 a piece. Imagine that today-27 people out of 45 buying a grassroots artist’s new record for $15! Let me reflect a moment on how we recorded our parts. Stacey LOVED my dark sunburst Gibson J-50 acoustic guitar, more than her blonde finish Gibson J-45. So, she played every one of her guitar parts on it. Then, I played MY parts on the same J-50. I changed the strings to have sparkly new ones for her, tuned it, placed a capo on the correct fret, tweaked the tuning again, handed Stacey the guitar. She played AND sang the entirety of each song, me sitting next to her, having just tuned my guitar perfectly for her. The next day, I changed the strings, tuned, and put my parts down. The other players came in later and added a bit to what our guitar tracks (and voices) had spearheaded. For the first time, the recording of Stacey’s songs were more in step with what we wanted. This all happened in the first few days of 1998. Thanks to Malcom Holcombe taking Stacey under his wings, and introducing her (and me) to the world of folk, grassroots, singer-songwriter, do-it-yourself, independent artists we found a home for our music. Malcom’s role had JUST taken place in the latter part of ‘97, and by early ‘98 we focused on nothing but being touring-recording artists. Owning our own little label, expanding our tour dates beyond the Nashville music arena, even outside the southeastern USA, to Canada and Europe-all came from having made the album Simple Gearle at the start of 1998. Where did time go? 25 years.</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150373/music-commentary-27">Music commentary #27</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>   My favorite singer/songwriters are about to be named. At the top of the list will be a few giant favorites, then, some others I greatly appreciate. No doubt, some great ones will not be listed, though I could go on and on listing. PAUL McCARTNEY is at the top. I love the package that includes the lyrics (though, bonehead after bonehead will line up to believe he is not a great lyricist). Get over it, his lyrics can be splendid. His vocals are fantastic, a man of several distinct voices. His musicianship is great. I love that he writes and performs on piano, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, and drums (yes, creating drum parts, even singing from behind the kit in some rare instances). Please stop comparing him to one specific rock artist from long ago. His work STANDS ON ITS OWN. JOHN FOGERTY is way up there with me. I love his songwriting, voice, musicality. He has written great songs in the latter part of his career. I hope folks do not ONLY know his twenty-something work, which WAS often great. Like McCartney, his work that attracts me does not end with his first legendary band breaking up. JOHN LENNON died at 40, though his body of work consists of some of the greatest songs pop music ever offered. He was a tremendous influence on me. STEVE EARLE may be my brother-in-law, but, his songwriting from his first four albums is among the greatest songs I know. Later, there would be gems, and some people prefer later work of his. But, the first four albums are the high bar for me. Those all, seriously, influenced my output. Hurtin’Me, Hurtin’ You is my favorite, and it came a bit later. He played it for me the day I met him. He, in fact, came into my kitchen to show me his newest song (it was sure to be raining outdoors!). I played on it with him, once I was in his band. ROBERT JOHNSON mesmerizes me. His early, disturbing death cut short no-telling how great of a career. His songs, filled with earnestness, vocals, and guitar playing draw me in like no other. It is just as tragic what happened to him as what happened to John Lennon. Some of Robert’s creations are among the most unique in the modern history of recorded music. I do not tire of hearing the tracks. GUY CLARK is as pure of a songwriter as I have heard. It was due to his diligence in craftily perfecting his lyrics. Once we heard them on a release the songs had gone through a meticulous process by the master writer. His guitar playing and singing was always very soulful. I am inspired ANY time I hear him. The Randall Knife is the gold standard of a lyrical song. Boats To Build is a masterpiece, too. I used to cover Baton Rouge, as feel-good of a song as you will hear. STACEY EARLE-yes, she is my wife! Her songs, most of them, I was around for the development. I heard her genesis of them, the process she went through, and, oftentimes knew the subject matter firsthand. Her guitar style is one-of-a-kind, a percussive orchestra from a wooden box of strings. I tried to play minimal accompaniment to her over the THOUSANDS of performances we did together. Why is her songwriting not more revered? Her greatest pieces are just that-great. The overshadow factor of her brother is a tragedy. Do yourself a favor: get him out of your head and listen to her songs, not two or three, but 15 or 20 of them. BOB DYLAN (Robert Zimmerman), like many say, is a huge influence for me. I prefer his first four albums more than anything. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll is unbelievable and forces me to get up from a chair and want to fight for social change. His later career song, Po’ Boy is a favorite. And, I have to re-dissect A Simple Twist Of Fate once a year. I keep finding new things in it. He is what they say he is-a great songwriter. By the way, I learned a lot of guitar from studying him. CHUCK BERRY. There is a reason he is called the “Shakespeare of Rock and Roll”. His songwriting set a standard in the rock pantheon that few could attempt to match. Without all those well-written lyrics to coincide with the string-bending licks on his guitar, the power chords, the country music-inspired vocals, rock music would have been a much lesser platform of musical art. He lifted it up, it has stood the test of time, he influenced millions. The craftiness, like Guy Clark, is to be noted. Funny, my first time to meet Guy was at a small stage where he wanted me to jump up onto the stage and play “some Chuck Berry”. Sadly, I had no guitar with me that day. Years later, I would play a bit with him on HIS tunes. CHUCK BRODSKY is a fellow folk/Americana singer-songwriter. We play all the same festivals, house concerts, theaters, coffeehouses, etc. He is a good friend, too. His lyrics are as good as it will ever get. Countless songs of Brodsky’s are masterfully-written and leave a stir inside you during your experiencing them. I urge anybody to delve into his body of work, especially if you have a taste for the singer-songwriter type of artist. He is incapable of having a weak link in his lyrical pieces. I can hear his Lili’s Braids in my head right now. Moving. Touching. JOHN PRINE was a discovery that changed my songwriting. Once I bought his first album, and soaked up every track, I pivoted my lyrical approach in a way few could cause such a pivot. I learned some guitar from him, though he had a slightly clumsy execution of playing. Sometimes, humor found its way into his songs, when other writers would be too stiff to go there. Then, the darkest of dark could emerge. Place his Let’s Talk Dirty In Hawaiian in front of Sam Stone and see what I mean. I will stop here in listing. I DO love other singer-songwriters. Merle Travis, Tony Joe White, Dave Olney, George Harrison, Carole King, Buddy Holly, Woody Guthrie, Lonnie Wayne Flemmer, Merle Haggard, Roger McGuinn. They are artists I would love to go on and on about. Are any of these listed a surprise to anyone?</p></div>
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  <div class="message"><p>   Woody Guthrie. If you are a Van Halen fan you do not know him, with all likelihood. If Merle Haggard and Johnny Paycheck sang your anthems you are not aware of him, with all likelihood. If George Benson and Chuck Mangione were your major interests, then, Guthrie was not on your radar, most likely. However, for fans of Odetta and Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton? Here would be persons versed, somewhat, in Woody Guthrie. Even rock music fans of Bob Dylan (not the early folkie fans) would know OF Woodie, though in a limited way. I remember becoming a bit intoxicated with Dylan. His first 4 albums would leave a real imprint on my musical directions. I began writing songs in a different way. I started delving deeper into acoustic guitar-driven approaches. I BOUGHT A HARP RACK and HARMONICAS. I drove from my Tennessee to New York and performed at a “hoot night” on Gerde’s Folk City stage. But, before these developments happened, I routed backward from Dylan to HIS massive influence, Woody Guthrie. I read his book, Bound For Glory. I got my hands on some of his recordings. I familiarized myself with the social atmosphere that permeated his work, be it songs or poetry or other writings. It changed me. I could sense his influence on OTHERS, at that point. When I heard Johnny Rivers or CCR doing The Midnight Special I no longer heard a Rock’n Roll or R&amp;B record. I knew it was credited to Leadbelly, and understood the historicity around the song message. Guthrie and Leadbelly were friends and I knew that. When I heard Bruce Springsteen’s super-stripped down acoustic album, Nebraska, it had Guthrie’s influence all over it. And, I was quite sure Bruce had found him by tracking backward from Dylan (like me). The idea that music could be taken into the underbelly of this world, and performed with a purpose that was centered around the betterment of people, was a game-changer for me. The notion of singing about the poor, the abused, the powerless-it all left an impression. I came to realize the blemishes of Guthrie, too. The man who felt so determined to sing and write for the downtrodden while leaving his wife and kids at home to fend for themselves-that brought on a shock for me. But, where did his life-ending disease start to affect his actions? Huntington’s Chorea would take Woody’s life at a young age. By then, his influence would have reverberated in a large way. Millions of people would hear lyrics in countless writer’s songs, lyrics that would cause much thought and soul searching. It is in stuff I write and perform today, though most folks do not think of it. In some cases, I will perform a Woody Guthrie song outright, such as So Long It’s Been Good To Know You, Union Maid, Curly Headed Baby, This Land Is Your Land.</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150369/music-commentary-25">Music commentary #25</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>    The guitarists to play Woodstock in August 1969 is the subject today! For those who had the soundtrack album and/or saw the movie chronicling the music festival several electric guitarists stood out. Jimi Hendrix closing out the event in the DAYTIME of a Monday (due to the schedule running behind) is, likely, the most memorable guitar moment. Carlos Santana’s undeniable tone, Pete Townsend’s “windmill” strums on “Tommy” material, and Alvin Lee speeding along on his blues-rock jam-out were oft talked about through the years. But, there were some very interesting players to take the stage throughout the several days and nights. Some were not captured at their best moment, some were left out of the film /album altogether. So, in our revisionist atmosphere that we live, some significant champions of guitar are “forgotten” from having played Woodstock. I will mention that Henry McCullough was guitarist with Joe Cocker’s Grease Band. Cocker’s performance is documented, but, most are unaware of the guitarist onstage with him. Having been in Spooky Tooth, and soon to be in Wings, McCullough was a tasteful rock/blues guitarist. His work is on the Jesus Christ Superstar album, McCartney’s “My Love” and “Live and Let Die”, as well as Cocker’s first two albums. Johnny Winter played the gig, but, was not included in the movie and soundtrack album from 1970. It is a shame, as his blistering electric blues was a nice addition to the overall line-up. Leslie West, of Mountain, too, is absent from the initial “public record” of the event. Robbie Robertson of The Band, a legendary guitarist in rock ‘n roll, was stricken from the consciousness of later listeners. Most in the ‘70s, 80’s and ‘90s did not know those above-mentioned graced the stage. A real tragedy, I believe, is how John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival was “erased” from having performed at Woodstock. That band’s omission from the famous album and movie helped to downplay the importance of the act to THAT audience, in THAT historic moment. CCR were extraordinarily huge in the last half of 1969, and Fogerty’s guitar from that stage should have been heralded through the ages (though they played in the dead of night). Few will notice lead guitarist Henry Gross is in Sha Na Na, later to have solo pop success with “Shannon”. They go onstage just before Hendrix, on the Monday morning. Henry once told me that he was sitting on the edge of the stage while Hendrix played The Star Spangled Banner, having wrapped up the Sha Na Na set. Personally, I would have loved more of Alan Wilson. Canned Heat were at home on this event, but, little is seen of them in the movie. Wilson and his slide guitar playing would be an early “27 Club” member the following year. Stephen Stills is shown with his acoustic guitar, open tuned, on Suite:Judy Blue Eyes. His guitar playing is framed nicely at times, though the elements are messing with his tuning. Richie Havens, also, gets captured strumming for dear life, using an open tuned guitar. Joan Baez demonstrates rock-solid finger-style on Joe Hill, and, is wonderfully exposed as the iconic folk artist of the moment in history that is the Woodstock Festival. Neil Young is there, but, we get no guitar footage. John Sebastian, Arlo Guthrie, Melanie all play acoustic guitar. Hendrix, actually, has a SECOND electric guitarist on this performance! Can you name him? There is a great trivia question. By the way, most of the performances are now available to us all. That came decades after the initial release of the film and soundtrack album.</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150368/music-commentary-24">Music commentary #24</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>    Rock music fans do not grow up. This is not true to the letter, but, generally accurate. When you discuss rock musicians, rock albums, rock songs, rock concerts, etc. the “youngster” emerges, even with a 60 year old person. One of the sure signs of this is the opinion, the outlook that is unchanged after decades. For instance, a determination that The Allman Brothers Band of 1970 was the best incarnation the group would ever have, that the musicianship of these twenty-somethings would exceed any pinnacle that the SAME PLAYERS would reach in their thirties, forties, and beyond is ludicrous. Sure, Duane Allman and Berry Oakley died in their twenties. But, did Dickey Betts and Greg Allman become worse artists over time? No. They grew. Were other band members of later incarnations lesser artists and lesser musicians, though they were MUCH older and experienced than twenty-somethings? Who can hear Warren Haynes sing and play and really believe he is lesser than 1970 versions of Duane and Dickey and Greg? Ask most rock fans about all of this and the answer is that Statesboro Blues, Whipping Post, and One Way Out are a high bar that cannot be touched, much less cleared by newer work. Doesn’t it stand to reason that a 40-year-old musician should be more than his/her 23-year-old self? Not according to the rock fan who descends into his 16-year-old mindset when discussing this topic. Even at 60, the teenage maturity level takes center stage when talking of rock music. Have you ever seen those “lists” of greatest music players? In a list of greatest guitarists, be it in a magazine, online blog, or water fountain discussion at work, the top 100 of all-time will consist of 92 rock guitarists. In other words, to be great you must be from the rock genre. “Everyone” knows that rock guitar styling is superior to other guitar stylings. So, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, Randy Rhodes, etc. will take their usual places in these “lists”. Just to show that there is SOME attention given outside rock music Chet Atkins and BB King might be on the list. But, that is only because the immature rock fan has heard of them a bit. Uncle Johnny, who plays guitar, has mentioned those players. Maybe, a musician friend has raved about them. So, on the list a few non-rock guitarists go. But, sadly, a couple of death metal players, one roots rocker, and a couple of speedy “shredders” have to be left off the list. Anyway, those 92 “freaks of nature” geniuses are there to be drooled over. You cannot play like Neal Schon or Tommy Iommi unless you are a born genius, right? The high school kid in the 60-year-old body is sure of this. Though he barely can play himself, or cannot play at all, he is an expert at knowing guitarist skill set. Back him into a corner on the discussion, point to the pyrotechnics around the fretboard onstage, the money spent by the record company to promote, and all the countless “lists” that qualify Eddie or Jimi or Stevie Ray as the top guitarists of all-time and the teenage 60-year-old points to the record sales and air play. THAT trumps anything Warren Haynes or anyone else does. After all, it is a proven fact that David Gilmour has been all over classic rock airwaves for decades, and his solo on Another Brick In The Wall is pure genius. Unplayable by anyone else, only by him. The success of Pink Floyd proves it. Yeah? You know Taylor Swift plays guitar. Check out HER success. Look at the sales and the popularity. Shouldn’t she be at the top of the list? </p>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150367/music-commentary-23">Music commentary #23</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>   Creedence Clearwater Revival songs covered by bar bands is my subject this day. IF YOU ARE COVERING CERTAIN selections by this band there is a need to have a guitar tuned a whole-step low, in order to sound “authentic” (*more on this later). I performed CCR covers in rock bands, country bands, and blues bands. In EVERY case fellow musicians made it a point to NOT play the recorded parts like the record, though going to lengths, to be sticklers, about nailing down the part of other cover songs. In country band experiences I saw painstaking effort to mimic a Sawyer Brown or Keith Whitley number, but, sloppily bastardize a CCR song. On rock gigs the players would never think of going astray on ZZ Top or John Mellencamp songs. But, toss Creedence into the set and this really lazy, cheapened attempt at the parts came into play. It was as if the players had never heard the records, though they could not have missed them! I did stints on blues gigs and witnessed the same approach. Thrill Is Gone (BB King) or Pride and Joy (Stevie Ray Vaughan) would be done closely like those covered artists, almost with a religious zeal to do so. However, Suzi Q? The band, at that point, has no recollection OR interest in being true to CCR (though, a cover of Rockabilly’s Dale Hawkins). Here are my direct pointers about this: 1) All the “swampy” songs in key of E7 are DIFFERENT songs. They are not to be adjoined into a Creedence medley. Green River, Born on the Bayou, Suzi Q, and John Fogerty’s Old Man Down the Road are lyrically separate pieces. Each one has a DISTINCT bass guitar line from one to the other. Each GUITAR part is unique and the drums on each song are different song to song. Doug Clifford is one of rock’s great drummers and he played a SPECIFIC part on his kit for EACH SONG. To put all those songs into one big “pot” and play them the SAME WAY is an insult and makes you a cream-puff lounge band. STOP DOING IT. 2) Do the songs in the key Fogerty sings them and you play the authenticity card. It, also, drives the song. Lower the key because you cannot hit the notes, and, you are that ”cream-puff” lounge band. If no one in the band has the high range you might want to do Jimmy Buffett songs or something, instead. 3) Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Fortunate Son, Lodi, Midnight Special, Run Through The Jungle and some others are on that guitar tuned lower*. In fact, the authenticity is really there for a few of these numbers when you combine a standard-tuned guitar WITH one a whole-step lower. Proud Mary is played from an open E chord shape, but, is lower tuned to be an actual D. The voicing CANNOT sound right if it involves only a standard guitar playing open D shape. That is why most bands throw in the towel and do a much-too-fast “race to the fire” rendering of the song, akin to Ike &amp; Tina’s version. CCR’s original is full of soul and has a fantastic groove. Your party-band version takes that all away, and, yes, you just became the “cream-puff” lounge band by doing it in that fashion. Bad Moon Rising has a mesh of the two guitar tunings (standard and low-tuned), with the lower one giving those “Scotty Moore” licks from the E shape (which is D, actually). Those rockabilly licks only come in during the second verse and beyond. YOU CANNOT DO THOSE LICKS on a standard tuned guitar, key of D. You have to be tuned down and have THE E SHAPE for that. Again, don’t, please don’t, lower the key of the song and sound like the cream…….well, you know. In closing, there is such a thing as putting your own stamp on a cover song, something I am in favor of doing. But, if you are guilty of not listening to these great records and hearing WHAT MAKES THEM GREAT, and, bastardizing the parts played out of ignorance, then, go and admit so. Please do not take the lazy way out and insist you are doing it YOUR OWN WAY as an excuse for not knowing your part. How do so many musicians, actual working professionals, treat CCR music as though it is not worthy of solid execution? The band had a few years of being HUGE in rock and pop music, and, are played forever in heavy rotation in many formats. Down On The Corner, Lookin’ Out My Back Door, Who”ll Stop the Rain?, Have You Ever Seen the Rain?, Up Around The Bend and all those previously mentioned-how has a player NOT HEARD THEM ALL a billion times? How did you not notice the bass and drums and guitar and vocal parts? My guess is that the answer is in another question: why do you play Sweet Home Alabama and Mustang Sally too fast? </p>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150365/music-commentary-22">Music commentary #22</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>  Drivin’ My Life Away, the record and song released by Eddie Rabbitt is the subject today. In mid 1980 the record, marketed in the country music realm, was unleashed. I had just started my 3 1/2 year stint in a bar band and was 15 years young. My brother “appointed” the song for me to sing, and I did. I never regretted it. It was a feel good number each time it was performed for the “beer joint” audiences on the dance floor. The song itself was a three-way co-write, certainly commonplace in the Nashville industry from where it sprang. Rabbitt and Even Stevens, along with producer David Malloy, are credited with being authors. The theme: truck driving. That theme was an old one in country music, but, the record had a very new, modern treatment. The beginning has a strongly strummed acoustic guitar that feels like the Sun Records sides of Elvis, Scotty, and Bill. It has that same high-energy vibe that Presley himself was capable of playing. The open E chord is played with a slightly “rock and roll” attitude that often could be too polished when placed on Nashville country records. But, not here. It has the approach that John Lennon puts on “The Ballad of John &amp; Yoko” or “ I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party” from Beatles records. The rhythm section has a very high end, current quality, as opposed to truck driving classics by Dave Dudley and others from the 1960s. But, the real moment of the new age of Nashville kicking in the door has to be the lead guitar. With definite rockabilly references, the guitar has a “crunchy” rock texture. That was very new in country at the time. By ‘83 or ‘84 the rock guitar sounds were becoming commonplace on Nashville country releases. Ronnie Milsaps’ “Stranger In My House” and Earl Thomas Conley’s “Don’t Make It Easy On Me” show this effect. But, in early 1980 the guitar sounds were, typically, clean. The overdriven or distortion guitar tracks had been avoided for so long. You can go back to Grady Martin’s “accident” from a blown speaker on Marty Robbin’s “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me” hit in the early 60s, of course. That grungy lead guitar solo was a maverick on country radio, actually sounding like a saxophone. But, the trend of a crunchy, rock sound from a guitar on country records would start to creep in in the very early ‘80s. Rabbitt, a New Jersey native, would have a follow up hit that went to number one, ” I Love A Rainy Night”, in early ‘81. It, too, would feature an aggressive rock guitar solo, immersed in that overdriven texture. The formula was changing in “guitar town” (a trucker’s reference on CB radio). Is “Drivin’ My Life Away” country? Is it, actually, a fun-time pop/rock record? If The Eagles had released it, had Felder or Walsh played the same guitar part, would it have been all over FM rock stations? It is more rocking than Pure Prairie League’s “Amie” or C,S,N, &amp; Y’s “Teach Your Children”. Both of those have been beaten to death on rock radio for decades.</p></div>
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    <p class="post-info"><span data-time="2023-02-07T22:20:28-06:00" title="February 07, 2023 22:20">02/07/2023</span></p>

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  <a href="/blog/blog/7150364/music-commentary-21">Music commentary #21</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>   There are circumstances where a major artist makes an appearance on another major artist’s recording, and is credited on the official release. The Beatles did an odd thing when they credited Billy Preston on the single release of Get Back (“The Beatles with Billy Preston”). It was very generous, considering that Eric Clapton did not even get a small, liner-note mention for guesting on While My Guitar Gently Weeps the year before (only an album cut, no single). That, likely, was to do with the acts being on different labels. I remember having a 45 rpm of Art Garfunkel doing (What A)Wonderful World and the official release said “with James Taylor and Paul Simon” after Art’s name. I believe Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s hit of Pancho and Lefty listed both greats as equal billing, though Hag sang one lone verse. There are instances in which the guest is vocally present, yet, not officially noted on the release. Usually, the small-written credits make a mention. But, did you know Mick Jagger is singing an obvious harmony beneath Carly Simon on her hit You’re So Vain? The release states “Carly Simon” as the artist, no reference to Jagger on the label. Steve Winwood’s Back In The High Life Again features a very clear cut harmony by James Taylor. Linda Ronstadt makes a very noticeable harmony appearance on Neil Young’s Heart Of Gold. Only a read of the small credits of the album artwork gives a clue to those examples, unless you have “educated” ears and can discern those stars’ vocal harmonies. I was surprised to see George Harrison making a guitar appearance on Cheech &amp; Chong’s Basketball Jones track, only seeing it in the liner-notes. After reading the small credit I could hear that it was obviously GH on that lead guitar part. My wife, Stacey Earle, had a major artist guest on her track Kiss Her Goodnight in 2000. We could list the name, but, not “plug” it, as contractual issues got in the way with that artist’s label. Can you guess who is singing and playing a sparse piano and harmonium on it, just by listening? What are your favorite appearances like that, the ones with subtle mention (or no mention)? John Lennon and Paul McCartney on We Love You by The Rolling Stones? Steve Lukather and Eddie Van Halen on Michael Jackson’s Beat It? Rick Derringer on Weird Al Yankovic’s Eat It? </p>
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