Category Archives: This Historic Day In Music
This Historic Day In Music: Wes Montgomery
During my high school days – I am a proud member of the Class of ’71 – my friend, Tom, and I would every now and then get out of New Hampshire and spend a day in downtown Boston. We … Continue reading
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
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
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
70/14/58/100
This past May, Bob Dylan celebrated his 70th birthday. In the May 23rd edition of The New York Times, author and educator David Hajdu had an essay published entitled “Forever Young? In Some Ways, Yes.” Mr. Hajdu puts forth the suggestion that … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Mick Jagger
A few years after Ringo Starr inspired me to learn to play the drums (see my post of July 9, 2011: “Belated Birthday Wishes”), my young infatuation with the Beatles began to fade. By the time I entered high school, I was a Rolling … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Johnny Hartman
This story has nothing to do with the guitar. It is about my very most favorite Jazz vocal recording ever. It is: “Lush Life” by vocalist Johnny Hartman and the John Coltrane Quartet. When I learned, thanks to my good … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Stephen Foster
The first time I can remember that I paid much attention to a song by Stephen Foster was while listening to a James Taylor album. Tucked into the last track on side 2 of the 1970 LP Sweet Baby James, is a … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: Mississippi John Hurt
Long time readers of this blog will know that when I started writing “anniversary” posts – inspired by the anniversary of a favorite musician’s birthday or the recording date of an important piece of music – I titled them with the … Continue reading
sixstr stories 