Robert Johnson... wow!
Bessie Smith, good god.
Kim Nalley. Just amazing.

Hey Custom, thanks for that.

Didn't like all of it, but some of it is great. Specially liked These Blues won't leave me alone. I could hear some SRV there.

Going to have to go back for more.

hello, Luigi. I discovered Kirk Smithhart recently myself. His web site shows only a fraction of his talent. Add to the list- one of the best songwriters I have heard in a long time. and live- good lord, he is just hard to beat. Its hard to believe that he is an independent artist and not on a major label. You are correct when you said he is better than Kenny Wayne Sheppard and Johnny Lang. Another thing I like about him is that he plays so many different styles combined in to one. I just think he is great and I think he is pretty. :)

I think BB's 77 or 78 years old now. See him while you have the chance. He spends the evening in a chair on the stage nowadays, but his shows are still wonderful.

And Magic Slim and the Teardrops are touring actively right now. If you like an Otis Rush kinda sound (Copeland/Clapton/etc.) he's all you'll ever need to watch to feel fulfilled by an evening in a club.

Also, Duke Robillard's been on tour for a month or so. AMAZING guitarist- saw him at the Great American Music Hall where his microphone wasn't working. Didn't stop Duke- he just pulled out a hollow-body Gibson electric and stepped to the very front of the stage and did a T-Bone/Tiny-Grimes set at the top of his lungs. AMAZING.

Peace

T

Hey Dave K. - I saw that Fillmore show w/Robery Cray - he was fabulous. I aslo saw BB King about 10 years ago at the Mystic in Petaluma. He was a very generous performer - I don't quite know how else to describe it. After the show, he came down into the audience and was just chatting with everybody. I will always remember that.

Ouch, I can see I hurt your feelings. I was not very nice, I admit. I am sorry.

It was more a statement about the music industry than a personal attack on your tastes but it was wrong of me to make it personal. Your other choices were excellent. Buddy Guy, when he occasionally chooses to, plays some excellent guitar and is a fine singer. SRV was a virtuoso without question.

I just can't see beyond the fact that Jonny Lang is a marginal talent buoyed by the backing of somewhat-major label marketing money. He is to the blues world as Pat Boone was to Little Richard. A safe McClean Alternative. Buddy Guy laughs all the way to the bank with these young white guys but do you think he brags about playing with them to his friends? Hell no, he just goes through the motions with them.

There are so many talented musicians who go unoticed with more talent in their little pinkies. That's right, I said pinkies!!! :)

It is an injustice to them and to the artform itself. That I am not joking about. Shouldn't it be about reaching the true pinnacle of the artform rather than pandering to teen angst for the almighty dollar?

Before this gets turned into some kind of discussion about race and age let me dispell that notion. Let him spend his rookie years at the feet of the masters just like other young white blues guys did. Both Stevie and Jimmie Vaughan along with guys like Charlie Musselwhite and Rod Piazza all learned from the best. Not at some contrived label-structured studio, "jam session," but after closing at some dive, in cars and old ratty apartments. Are Kenny Wayne Shepperd, Jonny Lang, and Shannon Curfman such phenoms or is their money to be made from them?

So...if my apology hasn't offended you more I will sign off now.

Once again, no offense intended. Have a great weekend.

You should check out Two Headed Man on Live From Chicago - Bayou Lightning Strikes. A great version of that tune.