Sweet Baby James

We drove all night, arriving around dawn. We staggered wearily into the hotel restaurant, and as I sat there mesmerized by the aroma of coffee, eggs, and bacon, it slowly dawned on me through the fog of fatigue that music was playing in the room.

The first song I was aware of was a slow, quiet song – a mellow-voiced man singing about “Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground”. The album continued to play, and as I listened more closely to the songs, I realized that I was hearing something special but I had no idea who the singer was.

Different Enough

When you stop to think of all of the guitarists that you have heard in popular music, you begin to realize that not only are there hundreds or more, but even those that play the same genre are all clearly different. Then the next thought for me was, “Well duh – that’s why we have heard of them.”

No Stairway

If you love guitars, you have probably spent a fair amount of time in guitar stores browsing, drooling, talking, and playing. Store personnel do their best to provide customer service to those ready to buy, and for those that are just browsing. While this is part of retail life, especially with big-ticket items like guitars, basses, and amps, it is helpful to remember that there is a code of best practices for customers as well as retailers. 

The ‘27’ Club

What do Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain have in common? What about Brian Jones, Amy Winehouse, Ron McKernan, and Pete Ham? If you said they were all musicians/performers, you would be correct. If you noticed that all of them are deceased, you would also be correct. They also had something else in common - they are all members of an exclusive club.

Every one of these performers (and a dozen or more other, lesser known musicians) are members of the infamous ‘27 Club’.

The Rhythm Aces

Popular music has its stars, and also those ‘other’ musicians that made major contributions yet are not very well known. Rhythm guitarists are rarely the stars of a band, unless they happen to be the lead singer, but no one can deny their importance to the music. Although the guitarists featured in this piece are not as well known as most lead guitar players, they deserve mention for their skill in driving the music of rock and roll.

The ‘Other’ Turner

One of the forgotten stars of the early rock era is Ike Turner. He is probably better known as the former husband of a mega-star singer, but Ike holds a place all his own among the pioneers of rock and roll. He was a bandleader, guitarist, songwriter, pianist, talent scout, record arranger, and producer. He discovered Anna Mae Bullock; changed her name to Tina Turner and helped to propel her to stardom. His musical resume is impressive, but unfortunately for him, Turner is best known as an alleged wife beater and abuser.

A Good Dusting

Few songs speak more to the roots of blues and blues-rock than ‘Dust My Broom’. It is a signature piece, written in the 1930’s, and has been recorded by many prominent rock and blues singers and guitarists. No one knows for certain who wrote it; it has been attributed to two legendary bluesmen: Robert Johnson and Elmore James, although it is possible that either or both used other songs of the time and altered them to produce their own version.

I Remember That Guy

There are and have been many great guitarists in the history of rock. Some, like Clapton, Page, Hendrix, and Allman, are very well known and tend to get most of the ‘ink’.  Others, while recognized for their abilities, are sometimes relegated to the status of ‘oh yeah, I remember that guy’, and are rarely mentioned in discussions of the so-called ‘greatest’.

How Do You Start A Band?

How long have you been playing guitar? How long have you sat in your house and jammed along with records/CD’s? How long have you wanted to be in a band? What are you waiting for? If you are a guitar/bass player and you have never been in a band, then you need to drag yourself out of the house and get playing live.

The usual excuses go something like this: 

The Quiet Beatle

The Beatles were one of the biggest acts in pop, and rock and roll history. They were four young men from Liverpool who set the word on fire with their unique brand of music. All four were very good musicians; they sang great harmonies, and they wrote great songs – songs that still resonate today, more than forty years after they broke up. Although they conquered the world together, there is little doubt that John Lennon and Paul McCartney received most of the attention.