Best songs utilizing the 'wah-wah' guitar effect

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Electric Ladyland, 1968
This is the grand-daddy of all wah-wah songs and the Platonic Form of electric guitar for many an aspiring players. Flat out, this may be the best electric guitar song ever put on vinyl. Gifted guitarist Joe Satriani sums it up this way: "It's just the greatest piece of electric guitar work ever recorded. In fact, the whole song could be considered the holy grail of guitar expression and technique. It is a beacon of humanity."

The Ring
Robin Trower
Victims of the Fury, 1980
No one has mastered the depth and breadth of electric guitar sounds like British rocker Robin Trower. Easily one of the greatest Stratocaster players in history, Trower flows from the ethereal to the raw in his guitar work. Victims of the Fury is a masterful album, and The Ring is unequaled raw, wah-powered brilliance--the guitar line is so aggressive, it'll peel paint.

Soul to Soul
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Soul to Soul, 1985
Stevie was perhaps the best technical guitar player ever. Not as creatively brilliant as Hendrix, but easily his master in technique. In Soul to Soul, he delivers a romping, wah-infused instrumental that's both as catchy as it is edgy. It'll make your eyes water at the same time you're tapping your foot. The ease and accuracy of his playing, coupled with the rich tone, is simply unbelievable.

Charlie, Joel and Fred

Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing both Charlie Hayes/Joel Fleming and Fred Dixon prepare for their upcoming Deep Blue Innovators Blues Festival performances at an open mic at McMahon's Pub in Monmouth.

Charlie and Joel were on fire, with Charlie playing both acoustic and electric Dobro slide guitar. It was amazing hearing the tone and range from Joel's harmonica playing--certainly not the sound you hear from your garden variety blues harpist. His high-end solo on Shake Your Money Maker was simply amazing!

Fred was working through a potential set, trying out the best flow and fit of a number of way-old-school blues songs. It's simply amazing the depth of material he has access to. He was telling me that his love of deep blues came from his childhood in Chicago (he moved up there at 12), where his "hillbilly" accent and poverty governed who he could and could not hang out with. There, with the poor kids on the streets of Chicago, he fell in love with the authenticity of the blues.

I'm getting psyched about the show--I can hear in my head the flow from one act to the next and I think it'll be a day to remember!

Prepping for the Festival

Over the last month, I've logged a lot of hours getting ready for this year's Deep Blue Innovators Blues Festival. I always have a feeling I've forgotten something, but I've gotten posters out, got the tickets out to local businesses, recruited the logistics team, have the web advertising set up, booked the rooms for the artists... I think that's it for now.

I'm getting psyched, because I can start to hear the flow of the music from one artist to the next in my head, and I think it'll be another magical day. Of course, I always get psycho-nervous before the show, but I think we've got a great show simmering here.

Now if I can only remember what I've forgotten!

Cool, Vicious Little Guitar

Last weekend, I had the pleasure to spend the evening with another "blues wanderer." We swapped some stories and jammed together. I think I got the most out of it, because I'm not all that used to jamming with other folks. I think that's something I really need to do more of, especially to help my timing.

One thing that caught my imagination was his parlor sized Framus acoustic guitar. It's an older guitar manufactured in Germany and he had it set up to play slide. The tone and sound was raw (yet gentle) with a surprising amount of volume.

I did a little digging and found a photo of a guitar that' very similar, and it was referred to as a "Telles"... I checked on the Framus site and they have a great vintage online museum, but I couldn't find that exact guitar, but their "Wanderer" series seemed to be the closest match. You can see that page here.

Bernie Pearl Video

Legendary acoustic blues player Bernie Pearl just uploaded a video of his performance of the Lightnin' Hopkins classic Shinin' Moon (one of my favorite Hopkins' tunes). Here is the link to the video.

I emailed Bernie after I saw this and this is what he sent back:

Thanks for the praise. I met Lightnin' in 1960 and played lots with him. I also studied his recordings and always try to capture the spirit, if not the note-for-note, of his music.

I'm playing a Martin 00-17 (1952) which I have owned since 1956 and used when I played with Lightnin'. No, no pickups at all. Just an acoustic guitar through a decent mic. It makes a great deal of tonal and touch difference when the guitar has an internal pickup or mic. It was a house mic., an SM-57, I think, going directly through the board. The engineer gave me enough monitors to allow me to hear what I was doing and, therefore, enjoy playing.

I'd love to come to Monmouth and play.

Thanks, Bernie

Carolina Chocolate Drops

I had the chance to see the Carolina Chocolate Drops at the MVBS blues festival on July 3rd. They are a self-dubbed African-American String Band, and they play the music that lies, historically, after the field chants and hollers but before the blues proper appeared in the Delta.

Their show was simply amazing, with banjo, fiddle, resonator guitar, kazoo, jug--a wonderful cross section of music from post Civil War up through the 1920s. They even broke out a great old Charlie Patton number: Jellyroll.

If you ever get a chance to see this band, mark your calendar. The show is captivating and Rhiannon Giddens dancing is unforgettable.

The Kelly Richey Band

The June 21st performance of the Kelly Richey Band was simply amazing! The Rivoli was in fine form and we filled the entire main floor with fans for the show. What was the most amazing thing about Kelly's performance was the way she was able to absolutely grab the crowd's attention and hold it throughout all of her amazing solos.

She would sometimes solo five or six minutes straight, and each note seemed to pull the crowd forward on their seats. I've heard some amazing guitarists, but even the most amazing guitarist can make a solo seem to drag on--not so with Kelly--it was mesmerizing and amazing.

Best Duets

Portland, Oregon
Loretta Lynn and Jack White
This raucous ballad of drunk love found in a bar over pitchers of Sloe Gin Fizz pairs county music legend Loretta Lynn with alternative rocker and song writer Jack White (of the White Stripes). This catchy tune is both hard-core county music and edgy alternative rock, showing that even the most unlikely genre lines can be blurred.

Me and My Shadow
Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
This jazzy Rat Pack duet was was of the staples of their early 60s Vegas shows. Revamped lyrics feel both traditional and mired in the hip Vegas of the era as the song follows the crooners from club to club, best friends partying until the light of dawn.

Fairytale of New York
Shane MacGowen and Kristy MacColl
This story-song follows two hard-luck Irish immigrants as they attempt to deal with Christmas in New York City without killing each other. The song is a twisted, poignant holiday jewel featuring shattered dreams, wandering tramps, drug addicts, the NYPD choir and the realization that love is always messy.

2008 Blues Music Award Winners

The 2008 Blues Music Awards Winners announced by the Blues Foundation:

1. DVD - Kenny Wayne Shepherd "10 Days Out: - Blues from the Backroads "
2. Traditional Blues Male Artist - Hubert Sumlin
3. Traditional Blues Female Artist - Koko Taylor
4. Acoustic Artist - Bobby Rush
5. Acoustic Album Bobby Rush - Raw
6. Pinetop Perkins Piano Player - Honey Piazza
7. Instrumentalist-Guitar - Bob Margolin
8. Soul Blues Male Artist - Bobby Rush
9. Soul Blues Female Artist - Irma Thomas
10. Soul Blues Album - The Holmes Brothers – State of Grace
11. Historical Album - Epic/Legacy – Breakin’ It UP, Breakin’ it DOWN
12. Contemporary Blues Album - Tommy Castro - Painkiller
13. Contemporary Blues Female Artist - Bettye LaVette
14. Contemporary Blues Male Artist - Tab Benoit
15. Instrumentalist-Harmonica - Kim Wilson
16. Instrumentalist-Bass - Bob Stroger
17. Instrumentalist-Drums - Sam Lay
18. Instrumentalist-Horn - Deanna Bogart
19. Instrumentalist-Pedal Steel- Robert Randolph
20. Best New Artist Debut - Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy – Cotton Field to Coffee House
21. Song - “Gonna Buy Me a Mule” – Koko Taylor
22. Traditional Blues Album - Koko Taylor – Old School
23. Album - Watermelon Slim & the Workers – The Wheel Man
24. Band - Watermelon Slim & the Workers
25. B.B. King Entertainer - Tommy Castro

Saddest Songs Ever

For this week's Galesburg Register Mail "Rating Game" feature, we were asked to list our three "saddest songs ever." Here are my picks, which include one awesome blues tune from B.B. King and a true "blue" song from John Prine:

"There Must Be A Better World Somewhere", B.B. King
This song blends heat-wrenching sadness with just a hint of tragic optimism. While the lyrics are sad in and of themselves, the gut punch of this song comes from the interplay of the wailing saxophones and B.B. King's crying guitar.

"Hallelujah", Jeff Buckley
Buckley's cover of this Leonard Cohen song weaves an emotional tapestry of inner sorrow and confusion, at once both tragic and beautiful. The enigmatic lyrics blend flawlessly with his ethereal singing voice to create an unforgettable emotion experience for the listener.

"Angel From Montgomery", John Prine
The emotional power of these lyrics almost commands you to toss back a shot of hard liquor and to cry quietly in your beer. This masterpiece of lonely sorrow, also covered by Bonnie Raitt, paints a picture of a desperately broken life in sparse, powerful prose.

Click here for a link to the full article.

Online Music Teaching

I'll be trying something wholly new for me this spring. I've signed up for a 12 week online class from the Berklee College of Music. It's a Blues Guitar Workshop, and I'm psyched to dive in and spend 12 weeks increasing my blues knowledge base.

Folks tell me I'm not a bad blues guitarist, but I feel like my musical knowledge is built on a pretty shaky foundation, and hopefully this class will help shore up that foundation (and give me some new licks and tunes to boot!).

I'm very curious to see how online teaching works for something like guitar. We'll get videos of instructor demonstrations and we will submit our work as MP3 files. I think it could be quite effective. The semester starts in early April--I'll be sure to report on how it goes.