Category Archives: Posts with Video
This Historic Day In Music: “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”
Who: Muddy Waters, electric guitar & vocals; Little Walter, harmonica; Jimmy Rogers, electric guitar; Otis Spann, piano; Willie Dixon, upright bass; Fred Below, drums. What: “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” by Willie Dixon When: January 7, 1954 Where: the recording … Continue reading
An Old Acquaintance
It was the first Monday afternoon of the new year. I was driving through town, running an errand, listening to Tom Waits. The CD playing on the car stereo was one I’d purchased the previous Saturday while doing some end-of-2011 shopping at my favorite store on … Continue reading
The New Possibility
In May of 1970, when I started learning how to play the guitar, I had no idea that an acoustic guitar, if played in a certain style, could, on it’s own, sing a song. I discovered that this was possible thanks to John … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Merle Travis
In the world of guitar music, I know of only a few players who were respected and influential enough to have a style of playing the instrument named after them. There was Maybelle Carter and the “Carter scratch,” Elizabeth Cotten and her “Cotten picking” and … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: November 27, 1936, The Gunter Hotel, Rm.414, San Antonio, Texas
Today, November 27, 1936, was the third recording session in five days for the 25-year-old Blues musician from Mississippi, Robert Johnson. The first session, his first, had been on the previous Monday, November 23. It had been quite productive, with a … Continue reading
Wrestling With The Angel, Chapter 2
I first heard Linda Thompson sing on the album Shoot Out The Lights, recorded and released with her then-husband, Richard Thompson in 1982. The duo had been making music together since 1974’s I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight … Continue reading
Wrestling With The Angel
The Harrow & The Harvest by Gillian Welch came out last summer, June 28 to be precise. I’d known the release date and had been looking forward to this new CD for about a month. I’ve been a fan of Gillian Welch (see my … Continue reading
Reading & Listening
I had a Barnes & Noble gift card that, as my father would have said, was “burning a hole in my pocket” and a B & N store coupon for 20%-off any one item. It was summer, I was on vacation: I just … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: B.B.King
Last year, I missed B.B.King’s birthday and ended up writing about it belatedly on Sept. 20, 2010. I entitled that post “One That Got Away.” This year, I vowed to not miss this very important and historic day in music. … Continue reading
sixstr stories 