Music Thread (post a song)

Lindley is way too often overlooked in discussions of guitar Gods, if it had six strings he could master it. And his own albums had a quirky charm with a whole bunch of styles all mixed together - and his cover of "Mercury Blues" is one of the great covers done by anybody.

 

I was lucky enough to catch him live at a local festival some years ago, and you nailed it. It was Lindley and Hani Nasr, a Turkish drummer who played the sort of tall drums that you can squeeze between your thighs or your arm and ribcage to alter the pitch and tone. Lindley was on a long necked three stringed instrument from Turkey called a Saz, playing slide blues on it. It was a strange and eclectic set, not really the Lindley show I would have chosen, but it still just blew me away. He's not just a multi-instrumentalist, he's a maxi-instrumentalist.

I call that year's City Stages festival my guitar god weekend, because I caught Lindley, Johnny Winter, Leo Kottke, and Doc Watson all in the space of three days. It was fabulous.

Anyhow, Lindley has done a lot of stuff y'all have heard, particularly if you are a Jackson Brown fan. The slide on "Redneck Friend" or "Old 55" and yes, of course, "Mercury Blues". He was a mainstay of Jackson's band from his first record till 1980 or so. He's backed Ronstadt, Zevon, Crosby and Nash, James Taylor, and many more on tour and he's done tons of sessions with a wide range of artists.

Here's a link to his web page, a picture of some of his instruments. The Saz is top row, second from right. David Lindley - Instruments

 

Redbone was an odd duck. I never had a chance to catch him live, unfortunately. He loved that 20's and 30's style of jazz and American popular music standards from that era. RIP.

 

I'm excited to see needtobreathe live again next week in Grand Rapids, MI. Saw them plugged in last year with Switchfoot and they are doing a sit-down acoustic tour right now. It's been one of those bands that I have a cd in the car to use as "back up" music to play when nothing is on the radio and my wife went to the show last year and fell in love with them. So this time she's going as a fan and is so ready.
Not really "Southern Rock" but very much influenced by that and Gospel/Blues.

 

Chicago would've had a totally different trajectory if they had replaced Peter Cetera with Anne Murray.

 

Right around the 1:30 mark, you see both of them in the same shot. Cetera and Murray have exactly the same hairstyle.

 

Might've helped more than a little if they hadn't let David Foster destroy what made Chicago ... well, Chicago.

 

May favorite thing about Chicago: at the absolute peak of their 80s easy listening cheesiness, Peter Cetera is wearing a Bauhaus t-shirt in the "You're The Inspiration" video.

 

Next month I'm seeing the real Chicago, which is touring with Brian Wilson. Should be great. Al Jardine just joined the tour. I saw Jardine (with is son Matt) recently. Not an epic show, but certainly a fun one. Blondie Chaplin, who has played with the Beach Boys, is in the concert, too. Should be good.
Chicago is my favorite band, so I hope they can still play. I've been disappointed before when some of my favorites couldn't play anymore. I saw Chicago twice in the '80s, once when they were fronting a string orchestra and another when they just let it fly. The second was much better.
Growing up at the beach, the Beach Boys have been favorites, too. There was a time when I would have argued that the Beach Boys were better than the Beatles (I was young and dumb). But it wasn't really a stretch.
Spring, summer concert season is going to have a strong start.

 

I think Brian Wilson considered the Beach Boys and Beatles to be in a creative rivalry, especially with "Rubber Soul" vs. "Pet Sounds."

 

Brian Wilson was obsesses with outdoing the Beatles. It undoubtedly contributed to his mental illness, as did his conflicts with his father.