JJ Cale was one of those songwriters who was mind-boggling when it came to taking in the body of his work through his career, and the variety of artists who covered his work. Of course, there was Eric Clapton with "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," Lynyrd Skynyrd and Johnny Cash and the Allman Brothers boogieing to "Call Me The Breeze," Waylon Jennings and Dr, John doing "Clyde," The Band handling "Crazy Mama," Santana with "Sensitive Kind," Freddie King and Captain Beefheart on "I Got The Same Old Blues," Widespread Panic jamming to "Travelin' Light" at show after show, Kansas rockin' to "Bringing It Back" ... on and on.
JJ Cale
Yeah, JJ Cale was one of those kinds of songwriters -- someone who had a gift for telling a story through music, someone who made you just feel so laid back, someone you felt like you could party to his tunes all night long, someone who could rip your heart out through his words.
Cale seemed to have a special kinship with Clapton, who helped maybe more than any single musician to bring Cale's music to the masses.
A later video of Cale and Clapton performing together at a Crossroads show was a perfect example of how JJ came across. As they started into a rendition of "After Midnight," there was Cale waiting for Clapton to take the lead as Clapton nudged JJ on instead with just a look and a small gesture, shaking him off, as if to say, "No, this one's yours." Cale took it from there, looking like he meant and lived just what he wrote and performed -- a guy with the kind of looks and mannerisms you might expect to find at a smoky barroom, sitting on a stool while downing a shot and a beer.
He was one of us. In all those songs, he was one of us.
Lester Chambers and Alexis Ohanian have reached a goal in a fundraising pledge drive that was launched less than two weeks ago in order for Lester and his band of Bay Area musicians, The Mud Stompers, to record a new album.
The goal was $39,000 to at least cover minimum expenses by January 9. They eclipsed that goal Monday afternoon. By Monday evening, Christmas Eve, the campaign had raised over $43,000. It doesn't have to stop there.
It helped to get an early Christmas present via a front page article on CNN.com. Click on the link below to read it yourself. The word is spreading. CNN.com: On Web, "Time Has Come" for '60s singer
This is a week for music so powerful, it has a kind of force that can
knock you out just thinking about it. It's relentless. It can stick
with you for a lifetime.
And here's where this week of "kickin' tail" was inspired. It came to me last Sunday, as I was driving that morning to do a few hours' worth of work. I was just in one of "those moods," with my beat up pair of cowboy boots on, and as I was finding a radio station to listen to as I was driving my pickup truck, I came across the familiar strains of a scorching guitar.
My favorite classic rock station was doing one of its "weekend blocks" of songs by artists, and I came across George Thorogood and The Destroyers doing "Bad To the Bone," along with a couple more tunes from them.
I was happy to come across that. It set the tone for my whole week.
So, who do you love? For me this week, it's been those "tail kickers."
And it all started for me with George and The Destroyers.
I'm a person who actually looks at my Facebook "to do" items closely enough to check out who has a birthday on my friends list on that particular day, and to wish that person a happy day.
John McVie (Image via Wikipedia)
There were a bunch of them today. One of those people celebrating a birthday today happens to be John McVie. I wished him a "rockin' day." Yes, that's John McVie from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and the "Mac" part of Fleetwood Mac. The guy playing the bass, laying down that steady groove.
I love musicians' birthday jams. When a musician has a birthday, it's not unusual for them to have a few friends over, socialize, share some good food and drink, and do what they love to do -- play music.
Here's a video birthday jam in John McVie's honor, but I won't just go with the easier Fleetwood Mac choices. I'll try and go a bit deeper than that.
When someone has a musical history as deep and rich as John McVie, you've got to go deep.
To be honest, I'd never heard of Gary Clark Jr., until earlier this year when I came across his name in a sidebar story found in a used copy of a Rolling Stone Magazine special edition that listed the 100 greatest modern guitarists.
Even then, I'd forgotten his name until I ran into it again a while later in a search for the names of hot young blues guitarists. Then, I went in search of some examples of his playing and singing.
I won't forget his name again anytime soon.
The raves that I read about in the magazine sidebar were true. The young Texan is the real deal, coming straight out of the place where legends like Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan came from, and playing a lot like SRV himself at times. Then there are the comparisons to Jimi Hendrix. His reputation has grown with the help of festivals and minor CD or EP releases. But now he's got a major release with the album "Blak And Blu." Now, we've got a great opportunity to watch a great young artist take off.
This has been quite a week. Friday's the day to let it all hang out, to focus on having a good time and rrrreeeelax. I plan on doing that.
For me, there's one surefire way to get the weekend started the right way. That's to put on some Stevie Ray Vaughan, get into that blues and R&B, and ... who knows, maybe the house will start rockin'. If it does, don't bother knockin'!
I told you yesterday about a trip I made last New Year's Eve to help my old college roommate/good friend/brother Baron Chase celebrate his 52nd birthday with an annual birthday jam at his place in the Bay Area.
I told you about how Baron serves as music director for Lester Chambers, a musician with a long and colorful history to tell from the world of music with many stories coming from his days with the iconic 1960s soul/psychedelic/rock/gospel group The Chambers Brothers and songs like "Time Has Come Today," "People Get Ready," and "Love Peace and Happiness."
I told you about how Lester lived just a few houses down from Baron at the time. It was quite a rush to me to sit in Baron's kitchen that afternoon, look out the window, and see a part of music history walk up the sidewalk to Baron's front door.
After he came in, we were introduced and shook hands.
"Hi, I'm Lester Chambers."
"Oh, yeah, I know who you are," I responded. "It's an honor to meet you."
From there, we kicked back and watched some NBA on the television before more guests arrived and the jamming began.
Lester Chambers sings "Dock of the Bay" (Photo By John G. Miller)
I sat in an easy chair. Lester sat on a love seat less than five feet away from me. When the people who were there felt like getting into the music and they launched into the Otis Redding classic "(Sittin' On The) Dock of the Bay," and Lester Chambers was singing it five feet away from me, I felt the need to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. I grabbed my camera to record the moment.
It was a night to remember for sure. Lester is about the most decent, kind, gentle guy you'd ever want to meet. He's genuine. There's no "rock star aura" about him. Having him pull out a blues harp and start playing that is a treat all by itself. Vocally, he sings like a man who's traveled a few hard roads in his life and lived to tell the tales. He sang "Dock of the Bay" like he was telling a hard story about his life, and he sang it with love and care. When he sang Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," with the guest musicians jamming and singing along, it was like a prayer coming from Lester's heart. Everyone was captivated.
Dylan and Lester Chambers perform together.
Speaking of Dylan, there's Lester's son Dylan as well. Lester would love to come back strong in the music business himself, but he doesn't think so much of himself these days as he does promoting the career of Dylan Chambers.
Dylan's got some vocal talent himself, and he put it on display the night of the birthday jam. He's carrying on a family tradition. Dylan also rattled off tons of information about Lester and the rest of the Chambers Brothers for those more unfamiliar with them. He is an amazing historian when it comes to his famous father and uncles.
Lester and his brothers gave Dylan some great material of musically historic significance to work with. Songs like "Time Has Come Today" don't come around all that often and have the kind of lasting impact that tune has had.
Lester's still trying to leave his mark on the music world in his early 70s. He and Baron turned what was known as the Lester Chambers Blues Revue into a group called The Mud Stompers to note Lester's Mississippi roots, and they played two live shows online earlier this year on stageit.com. I tuned in to both of them and tried to help get the word out to anyone who wanted to tune in. Both stageit.com shows were top-notch in terms of musicianship and tightness, and Lester showed he still has the chops vocally and on that blues harp.
We can't forget Dylan Chambers either. He's determined to make people remember his father and uncles and the musical heritage they created. And he's working on doing something with his talents himself, with his group The Midnight Transit.
