Home Archive by category "Americana" (Page 9)

Category: Americana

2013 Blues from Phil Gates – Live at the Hermosa Saloon

So this afternoon I listened to some blues from Phil Gates and his band. I had put their new album Live at the Hermosa Saloon on the iPhone the other day and never had a chance to listen to it! Boy did I like what I heard! I’m off to work at Target tonight, and will listen on the way there and back, and can tell you more about the album tomorrow!! Here’s some background from Phil’s website: Phil Gates was born in Chicago Ill., into a family of musicians that helped form his music style, and ability. Phil began…

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Life’s Soundtrack’s – A Strong Run with B B King – An Afternoon with Trooper and Knopfler!

So I ran today for the third Monday in a row! Now if I can only get two more days in a week, maybe I can get back into some kind of shape. Today’s run was probably my best run since I started back running regularly last month. Like my last run, it’s nice to look down at the iPhone and see paces that are less than 10 minutes per mile. I think I also stayed below 11 minutes per mile going uphill on Pancoast!! On earlier runs, I struggled to stay under 12 minutes per mile going uphill!! Here…

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Today in Music – 1925 – “Blues Boy” Riley King is born!!

So today is the 88th birthday of probably the greatest blues musician of all time and certainly the one whose been at the top of his craft the longest, B.B. King!! First, here’s  the obligatory background information from Wikipedia, like he needs and introduction: Riley B. King (born September 16, 1925), known by the stage name B.B. King, is an American blues musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time (previously ranked No. 3 in the 2003 edition of the same list),[1] and he…

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Life’s Soundtrack – Running’s Easier with Blues from Lisa Mann’s Satisfied!!

So I ran last night, but I didn’t write a post about the run. I ended up spending the evening  transferring my iTunes library from the desktop to my laptop, because I use the laptop more than the desktop now, while I watched the Phils lose, By the time I was ready to write, I was too tired! I think the trick is to write the post as soon after the run as possible!! Anyway  I still am running a lot slower than I was in the  spring, but the run last night was the easiest since I’ve started up…

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The Musicians Train ends with The Rides – Can’t Get Enough!

So now if you get to old timers together like Stephen Stills and Barry Goldberg together and they start thinking, hey how about we do an album like Super Session. We’ll get some guys together and just have some fun making music. So how should they round our their little group?…. hum maybe by getting a young Mike Bloomfield which they by adding Kenny Wayne Sheppard to round out their trio!! The result is supergroup of great talented musicians Stephen Stills, Barry Goldberg and Kenny Wayne Sheppard and they call themselves The Rides.  Today I  listened to their new album…

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The Train of Musicians keeps Chugging along Stills, Kooper, Bloomfield and Goldberg!

So about a year before Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons were forming The Flying Burrito Brothers, two blues musicians from Chicago went west to form the great American blues band.  The result was the short-lived band The Electric Flag and the album A Long Time Comin’ has always been a favorite of mine. The album introduced me to the music of Mike Bloomfield. From Wikipedia: The Electric Flag was a blues rock soul group, led by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg and drummer Buddy Miles, and featuring other well-known musicians such as vocalist Nick Gravenites and bassist Harvey Brooks….

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Today in Music – 1990 – The Music World loses Stevie Ray Vaughan

So often late on a Friday night, and I’m working at Target, and not feeling particularly chipper, Jerry Jeff Walker’s song “Blue Mood” pops into the jukebox in my head. Well, tonight, as I reviewed the musical events that occurred on this date, the final verse of the song came in loud and clear. Here it is….. 03 Blue Mood clip Yes, on this date 23 years ago, the music world lost one of the best blues guitarist ever, Stevie Ray Vaughan. From Wikipedia: On August 27, 1990, Vaughan had just performed with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre…

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Trader Joe’s, a Cemetery and a Five-mile Run, Oh My!

So sometimes when I sit down to write a post the words just come out, that does not usually happen on the days that I run! For some reason sometimes running not only gets to me physically, but also mentally as well. Today after a my first five-mile run in a long, long time I am wiped out. It also may be the result of working all day, Friday 8:30-5:00 and then 6:00 to 11:15 and then again last night from 5:30 to 11:15 or a combination of the two!! The only thing I really did today, in addition to…

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Today in Music – 1917 – John Lee Hooker was born – Pass the Bourbon, Scotch and Beer!

So on Wednesday August 22, 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi John Lee Hooker one of the most influential blues musicians across several generations was born. From Wikipedia John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing his own unique style of what was originally a unique brand of country blues. He developed a ‘talking blues’ style that was his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was metrically…

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A Good Run with a New App and The CD Woodbury Band!

So after two runs last week and then not being able to run this weekend because of Elizabeth’s move, and work at Target, I was determined to run last night. On the last two runs, I had used my work Windows phone and an app called Run the Map. It worked ok but for some reason the phone would only play half of the songs on the album I was listening to, so the headphones came off about mid-way in the run, which actually wasn’t that bad because I was struggling at the end of the runs so I really…

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