Post by The Highlander on Aug 16, 2006 0:12:42 GMT -5
Ok, I'm down with Bluegrass, actually like almost all music (and no, Rap is not music). Only child raised by a Father that loved Dixieland Jazz, Classical and Folk and a Mother who loved Rockabilly and Big Band. Also spent three years growing up in Europe in the "pre-TV" days (very early 60's), when all we did was read and listen to great music. Somehow, with their influences, I dug deaper and found Etta James, Billie Holiday, Blind Lemon, Robert Johnson and others. Then got caught up in the early 60's Folk movement with the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger, New Christy Minstrels, Baez, Dylan and others. Again the roots kept taking me back to the Blues. Then comes the mid-60's and the British Invasion, and guess what? The Stones, Yardbyrds, Animals, John Mayall and even the Beatles (occasionally) were playing Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Robert Johnson, Etta James with a whole new spin on it!
One of the reasons that I have so much respect for Clapton is that he is a true "student" of the Blues. He's had the fame, the money, the "SuperGroups", and he keeps coming back to what he loves. He has put his own money into releasing albums that he knew wouldn't be commercially successful, but he had to do it. I still support local Blues musicians and work with the North Texas Blues Group to help promote venues, work stages, etc. God didn't give me the ability to be an Eric Clapton, but I have done my best to "make noise" on everything from old vintage archtops to Fender Strats since I was 15 (a looong time ago) and still do.
Among my most treasured possesions are signed posters from Eric, Buddy Guy, B.B. King and others, along with guitar picks, pictures with a couple of them and the memories that I have of taking my 20-something Son to Clapton's Crossroads Festival in Dallas 2 years ago. In the middle of the jam session with BB, Buddy, Jimmy Vaughan, John Mayer, Clapton and Robert Randolph, my Son turns to me and my best bud from High School with this glazed look in his eyes and says, "This is the greatest moment of my life, half these people may be gone before I get to see them again!" Fortunately, they're not, and my Son later got to work backstage with me at a Buddy Guy concert in Ft. Worth and meet Buddy and the band, get autographs and even got invited to go party and jam all night (he plays a fair Strat himself) with the band in some Northside dive. That's when Dad stepped in and reminded him that his Mother expected him back in one piece, with me! (Don't make Mama mad by losing her "baby", it's very hard to explain)
One of the reasons that I have so much respect for Clapton is that he is a true "student" of the Blues. He's had the fame, the money, the "SuperGroups", and he keeps coming back to what he loves. He has put his own money into releasing albums that he knew wouldn't be commercially successful, but he had to do it. I still support local Blues musicians and work with the North Texas Blues Group to help promote venues, work stages, etc. God didn't give me the ability to be an Eric Clapton, but I have done my best to "make noise" on everything from old vintage archtops to Fender Strats since I was 15 (a looong time ago) and still do.
Among my most treasured possesions are signed posters from Eric, Buddy Guy, B.B. King and others, along with guitar picks, pictures with a couple of them and the memories that I have of taking my 20-something Son to Clapton's Crossroads Festival in Dallas 2 years ago. In the middle of the jam session with BB, Buddy, Jimmy Vaughan, John Mayer, Clapton and Robert Randolph, my Son turns to me and my best bud from High School with this glazed look in his eyes and says, "This is the greatest moment of my life, half these people may be gone before I get to see them again!" Fortunately, they're not, and my Son later got to work backstage with me at a Buddy Guy concert in Ft. Worth and meet Buddy and the band, get autographs and even got invited to go party and jam all night (he plays a fair Strat himself) with the band in some Northside dive. That's when Dad stepped in and reminded him that his Mother expected him back in one piece, with me! (Don't make Mama mad by losing her "baby", it's very hard to explain)