My 5 Desert Island Discs

My mind is wandering this morning (yes, it CAN be a dangerous thing...), so I thought I would write a blog about my 5 favorite albums. I decided to call it my “Desert Island Discs List”, because that’s what I’ve always heard it called. The inferred question being, “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 5 CD’s, what would they be?” Soon my thoughts of CDs were taken over by the idea of being stranded on a deserted island. Would I really be worrying about CD’s? If I was, how would I play them? More importantly, however, how did I come to be on this island? Plane crash? Shipwreck? Was I taken prisoner by an evil genius, like in James Bond movies and left to die here after being interrogated for hours? In fact, if I was the captive of an evil genius, would he allow me to choose 5 CDs to keep me entertained on the island that is supposed to be my prison? If he did, should I take a really long time to decide in the hope that he’d lose interest and I could more easily escape?
If I table the ‘why am I here’ aspect of this already slightly unsettling and potentially horrifying scenario, I am left with the practicality of survival on a deserted island. Is this place truly deserted or are there cannibals or dangerous animals that I will have to fend off? If there are animals, can I eat them if I catch one? (also, can you eat a cannibal? is that morally okay since they would surely eat you...) What about snakes, (of whom I am NOT a fan!)? Would it be like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway? He managed to do pretty well after he got acclimated to the situation. He did however end up with a bizarre assortment of stuff to survive with; ice skates, a volleyball, etc. Apparently he was NOT asked what 5 CDs he’d like to have with him. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that I have a made a thorough reconnoiter of the entire island and found it to be strangely absent of any other life forms...yeah, right.
I think if I was to be stranded on a deserted island and being a fan and longtime viewer of the show Survivor, I would first like to have fire. A LOT of fire. As Jeff Probst is always saying “Fire means life.” I would ask for an entire carton of Bic disposable lighters. Yes, I realize that disposable lighters would be bad for the environment, but I’m stranded on a deserted island at the moment and if and when I am rescued, I will return here in a boat and restore the island to the way it was...I promise. Next, I’m going to need shelter. This one was tough because it needs to be comfortable, dry, warm or cool depending on the outside conditions, etc. Therefore, I choose a tour bus. They are familiar, comfortable to sleep on and if cannibals or snakes attack, I can just lock the door. The following items are necessary without any explanation; a CD player (apparently), a shotgun, ammunition, Spam, fresh water, bathing suit, a big knife, a machete, a small knife, another shotgun (in case something happens to the first one), a GPS, a satellite phone, a flare gun, flares, my guitar, pictures of my family (this is assuming that they are not with me), salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, a skillet, a coffee pot, coffee, plenty of socks, a solar powered generator, crackers, a BBQ grill, a hammock,...
As I look over my list so far, I realize that this is going to cost quite a bit. The tour bus alone is about $500,000.00 and after it’s been on an island, it’s probably going to be greatly depreciated. No resale value there! (by the way, when they deliver the tour bus, couldn’t I just catch a ride back with the delivery person?) This brings me to the question; “ In this scenario, is money ‘no object’?”. Is the question; “If you were a jillionaire and allowed to prepare yourself to live on a deserted island, what 5 CD’s would you take?” I have to say that sounds pretty unrealistic to me. If I’m a jillionaire I could afford more than 5 CDs. Also, if I’m a jillionaire wouldn’t I have a staff of people around me that would theoretically protect me from inadvertently finding my way to a deserted island all alone? A more likely headline would be; “Famous Jillionaire Guitarist Almost Lost On Deserted Island, Saved By Very Efficient Staff Members”. If I am a jillionaire, I would definitely have a personal flying machine, like a jet pack or something (in addition to my Segway of course), so I could probably just use that to escape. (That is if I’m the captive of an evil genius of course) I guess to be fair the question should be; “If you are NOT a jillionaire and you find yourself stranded on a deserted island through no evil machinations of any sort and while money is an important consideration your mind is focused clearly on the 5 CDs that you would like to have with you to listen to, understanding that these are the last 5 CDs you will ever listen to...wait...am I to understand that this scenario contains no ‘happy ending’?!? I’m going to DIE on this island?!? Suddenly my appetite for Spam is disappearing. As are my thoughts of what music I want to hear before I die from starvation and exposure. Or maybe I die of thirst because I can’t get fresh water. When I was a jillionaire, I had plenty of fresh water but now I’m just a poor, unfortunate soul with 5 stupid CDs to my name, dying of thirst on this uncharted deserted island. Or maybe there were cannibals after all and they were hiding in those caves that I saw on the other side of the island but I was tired and thirsty and ready to get back to my camp...to listen to my CDs...God this Spam is starting to turn my stomach...one should never eat Spam in the hot salty air! The salty ocean air is scratching my CDs too! Soon they’ll be unlistenable! What was that noise?! I think I hear something in the jungle...
Okay, so the question as I now understand it is; “You are going to die. You are not rich and no one can save you. You are going to die alone on an uncharted deserted island, far, far removed from any known shipping lanes and the chances for rescue are nonexistent. While you are going to die...soon...for some unknown reason, the gods of fate have seen fit to allow you to have in your possession 5 CDs and a device to play them on. If you can stop your mind from dwelling on the fact that you are DYING(!!!), and can concentrate on music purely for the purposes of enjoyment (in these, your last few hours before delirium sets in signaling that final sweet slumber) what CDs would you take with you to this ISLAND OF DEATH?”
That’s the question?....well...hmmm...alright...I guess...

Live - Donny Hathaway
Stone Crazy - Buddy Guy
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix...


...WAIT! I’ve got it! What if, when the cannibals come for me, I play my CDs to them and they, never having seen a CD player before, are fascinated by the magical box of sound and decide that I am one of their gods! They take me back to their caves and give me food and fresh water and through my time with them, I gain their trust and convince them that cannibalism is just not morally cool. Then we all work together and build an outrigger canoe and we row ourselves into the shipping lanes and are rescued by an oil tanker (probably owned by BP!!) we return to the US, get the cover of People magazine, (one of the cannibals gets caught up in a love triangle with Miley Cyrus and Mel Gibson and ends up on the cover of the National Enquirer...Hollywood can be more dangerous than a deserted island!) get interviewed by Matt Lauer, meet the President, who gives me the Congressional Medal of Survival or something (he'll make up something YUUUUUGE!), we get to make a cameo in the next Star Wars movie, get invited to be interviewed on the CBS morning show and turn them down...after we stop laughing! (who watches the CBS morning show anyway?!?), we do Seth Meyers, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel (where we jam with the band of course) we do Jimmy Fallon just to jam with The Roots (oh, Fallon’s alright, but he seems like he’s just trying a little too hard..), Netflix  wants to have me host a reality show and the cannibals and I are invited to be Grand Marshals of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! So the moral of this tale is; If someone asks your your 5 Desert Island Discs...RUN!

ART...and sex...and Kanye...and Mylie...and McDonald's...

Watching the tribute to Stevie Wonder tonight, I was reminded, yet again, of the importance and reality of true and pure art. No, this ain’t some “old guy that hates everything new” type rant , but I would argue that due to the advances in technology, the tremendous expression of wealth and the allure of celebrity, we are inundated by an exponential amount of “white noise”, a sonic Matrix, if you will; “take the red pill and you’ll see and hear the true art in life, take the blue pill and all things the media feeds will make perfect sense…” Even among the current popular artists these deadly contaminates infect art. 

 Take Miley Cyrus for example. I can’t stand the “foam-finger, tounge-wagging, could-I-be-any-trashier? Miley”, but I have to admit, when she sings and lets the other crap go, she is a true talent. I heard her sing on the SNL tribute, doing a Paul Simon song and she crushed it. That’s an example of someone who has the talent and yet still feels they have to play the game. 

 I’m reminded of the movie This Is It; the tragic, slow-motion car wreck of Michael Jackson’s final days. While there is a lot to shake our heads at and tsk-tsk, there’s also the inarguable fact that even in a severely compromised state (as we’ve now heard ad-nauseam) MJ still was able to bring it. He hit his marks, hit the notes, made his cues and led the band. he was even making directorial directions. 

 It reminds me of the same feeling I had watching Mike Tyson being knocked out by Buster Douglas, Tyson’s on the mat, knocked out and he’s still crawling around finding his mouthpiece and getting it in his mouth because he knows “instinctively” that they won’t let him continue without it. He’s operating on that hardcore built in artistic instinct that has served artists for centuries. I feel that Michael Jackson was operating on pure built-in, ingrained instinct. He was raised up in the same Motown machine that gave us Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross. Unfortunately, it’s why we see artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, etc. abusing drink or drugs, but still able to bring their amazing talent to the fore. The true art is HARD-WIRED.

 We, as humans, always recognize true art and admire and respect greatness. For an example I give you Prince; on the recent GRAMMY broadcast, current music royalty was represented. You had Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Beyonce, etc. BUT…Prince walks out to give an award, doesn’t open his mouth and receives a standing ovation! Greatness is recognized.

 Kanye West (thanks to the advice of his publicist and management team , I’m sure) tried to protest the awarding of a GRAMMY to Beck as an affront to art with the “neglect” of Beyonce. As I said, his move was more about his own promotion than any real regard for artistic integrity but even that reveals a lot about where we are as a culture; Kanye is either completely aware of what he’s doing and thereby giving art no true value or he’s completely unaware and is an example of the ignorance and ‘Matrix’ quality existence that permeates the current artistic landscape. 

 One more GRAMMY example; I really like the Hozier song, “Take Me To Church”. I think it’s a really cool song and I hope he has a lot more to bring to the air. That being said, once again the GRAMMY telecast reveals something. Annie Lennox gets up and does a duet with Hozier and lays waste to the place. No pyro, no vocal histrionics, no auto-tune. Just a straight up talented vocalist and performer doing what she does and killing it. 

 The thing about art is that in it’s purest form, it is completely un-reliant on commerce. You can draw a picture and put it in a drawer, you can sing at church or in your car, you can cook an amazing meal for your family, none of these will bring you a dime. That doesn’t make them less artistic or compromise the artistic qualities. You can make a sex tape and sell it for a million dollars or lip-sync (ala’ Milli Vanilli) and make money without ever scratching the surface of “art”. 

 So MY point, if I have one, is that it’s up to us as a culture, to put some kind of limits on what we will and will not tolerate in art. Van Gough didn’t get it, Mozart didn’t get it, Monet didn’t get it. I’m speaking of artistic respect and financial recognition, during their lifetime. Recognize and give credit where it’s due. Call BS on the stuff that’s obviously an opportunistic grab. 

 In the end, I equate it with food, sex and movies; I’m not saying never eat at McDonald’s, just never forget the difference between a McDonald’s hamburger and a really good steak with fresh vegetables; or, for my vegetarian friends, a frozen vegetarian dinner and a plate of freshly prepared, fresh vegetables; sex with a onetime hookup as opposed to sex with someone you’re in love with, music that you can read a book while listening to as opposed to music that gives you goosebumps, a movie that you can eat popcorn during as opposed to a movie that has you glued to your chair and feeling every emotion.

ALL REVOLUTIONS ARE TEMPORARY...

Recently I rediscovered my old turntable. Covered in dust, neglected and relegated to an unused corner of the den, tucked into it’s “imitation woodgrain cabinet’ along with the dual cassette deck, AM/FM receiver and 5 disc CD tray, MASSIVE remote included, my JVC component stereo system was pretty awesome stuff when Buff and I bought it some 22 years ago, at Circuit City in Nashville. In the ensuing years, it had become just a piece of furniture and thanks to the CD/iTunes revolution, it’s absence wasn’t noticed at all for a looooong time! It was a good place to stack books when the bookshelf was too full (or far away). I had even thought of selling it from time to time. 

 A vinyl record shop re-opening in my hometown (https://www.facebook.com/VarietyRecordLounge) probably had something to do with me “remembering” my stereo, but for whatever reason, sitting down with my record collection made me realize just how much I’d missed it. Buff bet me that it wouldn’t even work anymore but as I dropped the needle that warm, boomy tone jumped out of our speakers that still bear the tattered remnants of our long passed cat General Sterling Price’s passion for well sharpened claws. 

 First, a disclaimer, I like technology. I am a fan of all things new and shiny and, when it comes to recorded music, iTunes and MP3’s have their place and play a huge part in my personal enjoyment of music as well as in my professional relationship with the art form. I have about 60 vinyl albums at the moment but I have about 4,000 CD’s and according to my iTunes library 7,536 “albums”, so obviously iTunes wins in quanity! As much as I travel, being able to take my entire iTunes collection on the road, via en external hard drive is awesome. Being able to pull up any song on YouTube or Rhapsody, Spotify, Pandora or any other streaming service (I’ll have to write another blog about how artists are getting screwed by the unfair streaming laws) is really a sign of the times for our culture. My iPhone and iPad are instant jukeboxes for me and my car stereo is actually just a flash-drive socket that plays stuff from my iTunes. It was 6 months or so before I discovered that the radio portion of my car stereo wasn’t even hooked up in my car.  We are the “RIGHT NOW” generation. We don’t wait well for anything. In fact, I see examples all the time of how little patience many of us have for, well, ‘patience’. 

 As I sit in the floor (yes it’s best to sit in the floor while listening to records, try it.) and pull out some of my albums I remember how strong of an impact the music has when I can look at the artwork (in a size that you can actually see), read the liner notes, absorb the entire artistic effort and then of course you have to get up and turn the record over to hear side 2 (or 3 or 4 for that matter). The smell of the cardboard and vinyl, the occasional crackle and pop from the speakers as the needle jumps a tiny scratch. The sound of the needle automatically lifting, signaling the time to change sides. 

 Listening to records is a physical commitment that you can’t have with iTunes. In one of the great ironies of technology, listening to vinyl albums is an interactive experience while iTunes is really a static experience. Records require something of the owner and the listener. There’s the aforementioned physical “turning over” of records, not to mention taking them out of the sleeve and placing the needle on the groove (no accident that they’re called ‘grooves’)They get scratched and warped if they’re not taken care of so you have to be responsible. You tend to listen to songs on albums in order and I at least, tend to listen to an entire side of a record before I change to another. Records make it more likely that you’ll listen to the tracks “in order”, in other words, in the sequence that the artist intended for them to be played. When I started making records, it was still standard practice to put thought into the sequencing of a record. They told a story or at least had some kind of thread. Those days are mostly gone and songs drive the popular conscience these days. In some ways I agree, I don’t want to hear an entire album of The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?). Maybe they would do all animals with different senses like; “What Does The Goat Hear” or “What Does The Unicorn Smell” or “Why The Komodo Dragon Cries”. And I could go off on a tangent about how disposable music seems to be to our culture today but I won’t. 

 I pulled out my copy of Prince’s 1999 and remembered listening to it over and over, when I first discovered it back in the late ‘80‘s, studying the cover for clues, reading the liner notes and trying to hear Dez Dickerson’s parts as opposed to Prince’s guitar licks. I remembered the fact that for a double album, I thought it was strange/cool that it came in a single album cover with two inner sleeves. Pictures of Prince and the band on each side. The label on the record was simply a picture of Prince’s eye. Lyrics printed out for the songs! The imagery tying in with the music making it somehow more powerful and stronger. Sure I went on to buy that record on cassette and later on CD and even later on iTunes (I really like that album) but no other format ever had the impact of hearing it on vinyl. Before you think that I’m about to go off on how much “better” vinyl sounds than CD, let me just say that I’ve spent the last 24 years standing in front of LOUD guitar amps and crashing cymbals. I don’t testify to be able to hear any sonic superiority for anybody but me (I know what sounds good to me:)). 

 My stack of Jimi Hendrix bootlegs brought back many memories of being in Japan or Italy or the UK and searching through record stores and flea markets for basically any albums with Jimi’s name or face on the cover. Imagine a 6 week tour of Europe and carrying a stack of albums along with your luggage and guitar! That my friend is commitment! My copy of Santana’s Abraxas album, even in it’s worn and faded state seems to explode with color and imagery. Coming from the same vibe as Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, it just draws you in and says, “Play me!”. I listened to it yesterday and was instantly inspired. I can’t say the same for the 1,000+ times I’ve listened to that record on iTunes. 

 While I would claim to have a fairly cool and extensive CD collection (easier to carry throughout Europe...) and an insane iTunes collection that will require a team of psychologists many years to explain, my record collection is small and more of a combination of cool stuff (Hendrix, SRV, Sinatra, BB KIng, Muddy Waters, George Jones, an insane amount of Earl Hooker records...) quirky stuff; The Carpenters Greatest Hits, and various mysteries that have been lost to time; Why do we have an album of “The Worlds Greatest Sound Effects”, 3 copies of Hank Williams Jr.’s Greatest Hits, 2 copies of the soundtrack to The Blues Brothers Movie, The Best of Tony Bennett Vol. 2 (where the heck is Volume 1?!?!?). 

 One of my best friends and I argue all the time about the merits of being able to hold an album in your hands while you listen as opposed to the immediacy and convenience of an MP3, I’m sure we’ll argue some more after he reads this:) but I didn’t really write this blog to spark any arguments or debates, it’s more of an epiphany for me that, through my “re-discovery” of my record collection, I can easily and immediately revisit specific times and memories in my life and that, to me, is one of music’s greatest strengths and magical powers. Music transcends language, culture, time and even technology!

Hank Williams Jr. is a little goofy...

 The strange thing about a perfect day is that you don’t really realize it’s perfect until it’s over. Today I spent the entire day with my girls. We went to the gym, the AT&T store, the dump, soccer practice and even hauled a little hay. Tonight, they’re both asleep and I’m realizing how perfect today was. When I’m on the road, I have to access my “mental pictures” to keep sane. I remember dinners, watching TV shows, moments. I’m not any different from any other working parent/husband. We do what we do because it provides for our family. If you work at a plant or you drive a truck, you’re doing what you have to do to keep the lights on. I drive for a living. I spend days and weeks away from home for a living. Selfishly, I make music for fun. I always say, “I get paid for driving and being away from my family, I make music for fun and for the love of it.” I love what I do for a living. I hate that it keeps me away from my family. It definitely makes me appreciate the moments we have together. Just like you, I’ve got a lot of “stuff” going on in my life. A lot of challenges that make it hard to just let the days flow. I’m not sure I’ve ever even met anyone who can just let the days “flow” but thats the myth we’re all led to believe. Cynics say, “Life is hard and then you die.” (If I find out Socrates said that I’ll be humiliated!) Life doesn’t “flow”, it’s bumpy and full of curves. No one is just “gliding” through this, don’t be fooled for a second. Life is gritty and sometimes crazy. You can’t truly feel the high’s without the lows. I think that you have to find the perfection where it is; not in the big moments but in the little ones. Tell someone you love them, eat a very GOOD piece of chocolate, listen to some amazing music (Jimi Hendrix is good...), spend a moment really feeling the moment. You might just realize that a perfect day was happening while you weren’t looking.

Video: Ray Charles and Dolly Parton Indian Leg Wrestle!

Grateful. That’s what I am today. I try and remain grateful all the time. Sometimes it’s hard because life can throw more curve balls than Sandy Koufax. I got to watch my daughter’s play tonight (Willie Wonka Jr., she plays the role of Charlie!!) and was blown away. Yes, I am her father and I’ll always think she’s an amazing genius, but she IS! She obviously got more of her mother’s genes than mine! She’s beautiful inside and out just like her mother. 

 All day I’ve been watching the Conrad Murray trial on HLN. Propofol. AEG. Millions of dollars and at the end of the day, just a sad end to a tremendously talented, under-appreciated artist. My thoughts keep going to Michael Jackson’s children. My daughter is roughly the same age and she can see and hear CNN so I’m sure they do too. Hearing the graphic, gruesome details of your father’s passing is horrible. They’re in my prayers. 

 I’m grateful for my wife. My best friend, my most trusted confidant, my “Yoko of the South”! No one gets me more than she does. I’m grateful for my friends. They listen to me vent, worry, fret, revel, howl, brag, joke, cajole, and often just make a jackass out of myself. I’m grateful for my family. My mom, my brother, my in-laws, my adopted-laws, my MF brothers, my friends who don’t even realize we’re friends.

 I’m grateful for not so spiritual stuff too, of course. I’m grateful for my Jimi Hendrix collection. I’m grateful for Jimi Hendrix! I’m grateful for my guitar collection (humble by guitar player standards but still pretty goofy). I’m grateful for my truck that defies all mechanical logic and continues to operate perfectly. I am especially grateful for a certain guitar that allows me to “cheat” on her periodically and simply reminds me of her perfection every time I pick her up. 

 Sometimes it’s hard to be positive. Sometimes, it’s hard to be grateful. It’s easy to wallow in the mire of your own personal misery and feel like you invented woe and trouble. I’m ashamed to say that I am guilty of that sometimes. There’s a saying in the South; “I’ve got more than I can say grace over.” It usually means; “I have more responsibilities than I can deal with.” For some reason, I always hear it the other way; “I’m being blessed so much, I can’t thank for all of it!” I always think of that phrase when I get pissy. I can’t thank for everything, because I can’t THINK of everything. I’ve got more than I can say grace over. When I go to bed tonight, I’ll pray like every night. I’ll pray for my wife and daughter, my family and friends, my soul, the sick and hurting, and YOU. I can’t think of it all, so I just remember what I can. I’m grateful for you. I am GRATEFUL!

Rick Perry and Mitt Romney both name Scott Holt their favorite guitar player!

Driving home from the gym today, I took a route that I don’t usually drive on. It got me to thinking about the fact that when you live in a town (wether it’s all your life or just for a couple of years) you tend to “learn your way around”. You learn the fastest routes, the best routes for red lights or traffic and even the route that allows you to do all of your errands in order!

 As a traveling musician, there’s a similar thing that happens from being on the road. The more you travel on certain roads, the more you learn about the area. Whenever we get a new person in the bus with us, they comment on how we seem to know where every Starbucks on the interstate. We also are pretty good at remembering where we left the Red Robins, Chipotles, Five Guys and every bbq joint we’ve ever been too. 

 Lately, we’ve been running the same route through St. Louis, just about every week. It goes like this; Nashville to Paducah, KY on I-24. Then through Metropolis, IL., Mount Vernon, IL., East St. Louis and then St. Louis. From there we might go north or west. Funny how we always manage to hit St. Louis at lunch time and Zia’s is always “on the way”!

 Between Nashville and Paducah, there are only two Starbucks. Both in Paducah; one’s at Lourdes Hospital (always fun to stop at the hospital with a new guy and tell him we’re going in for a quick blood transfusion!) and one’s in the mall. Depends on what time we’re blowing through town and just how fast we’re rolling as to which one we stop at. Coming out of Nashville on I-24 there’s a big hill that you have to drive over and it has two big cell towers on the south side of the interstate. If you’re rolling before daybreak and especially if it’s foggy, the flashing lights on top of the cell towers look just like police blue lights. Always a great way to get the heart rate up for driving! Passing through Clarksville I always think of Jimi Hendrix and his time there with the 101’st Airborne and gigging there and later in Nashville with Billy Cox. Metropolis; I look for the water tank with Superman on it. There’s also a Exxon gas station on I-24 that sells BBQ’ed fried baloney sandwiches! I’m pretty sure there not that good for you. Mostly because they taste soooo good! Carbondale is the next place for Starbucks and they also have a Steak and Shake right across the street. Good place to re-fuel at the Flying J too. On I-64, especially coming home, I see the signs for Nashville, IL and it always feels like a cruel joke knowing that we’ve still got some miles to go. Crossing those rivers; the Tennessee, the Ohio and especially the Mississippi still excites me. I never get used to the magnitude of those big rivers. 

 Then of course there’s the soundtrack. When you’re driving, it’s important that you’ve got good music to listen to. Also, it’s important that you have the right music to listen to. Usually, we leave Nashville and it’s been a couple of days since we’ve seen each other. It’s usually about a half-hour to an hour of what’s been going on at home and general chit-chat before everyone settles into “long-drive” mode. Some sleep (I’ve been in too many wrecks for that ever really work for me), some read and everyone pops the little white ear plugs that Apple kindly gave us (for a nominal fee of course) and for the next 5-6 hours it’s dead silence. Somebody will get a phone call or maybe need to stop for something but for the most part an entire CD can play through before you stop. You need music that keeps you engaged and alert, not soothing stuff, no matter how much you enjoy it. Depending on my mood and what I’m into at the time anything can go either way. Lately “good” driving music has been; Jimi Hendrix, Hank Williams, Muddy Waters, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, BB King, Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle. “Not good” music is usually instrumental music. Bach can get you killed if you’re not careful! If the ‘drowseys’ start to set in, just wake somebody up and get them talking. Sometimes that’s as good as a cup of coffee for getting you back on point. As I read back through this ramble, I realize that the person writing it could very well be a truck driver or a traveling salesman. The only thing that makes what we do different is the gig at the end of the trip. Thank God for the gig!

Have a little faith...

 I am a man of faith. I Believe. I believe that my wife loves me. I believe that I’ll be able to buy all of the land contiguous to my land some day (it’s not a lot, I mean it’s a lot but not like the Louisiana Purchase ‘a lot’). I believe that every time my whammy bar comes back up, my guitar will be in tune. (Okay, that one’s just a pipe dream!) I believe in God and I believe that He is in control of my life, that the path that I am on is by His design, that He’s given me the talents and desires that I have and that as long as I stay true to Him, everything in my little world will be just fine...then I doubt. I worry. I get scared. I get scared and the little voices in my head start chattering away; “you’re not that good.”, “you’ve played that same lick a million times and now everyone’s going to realize you’re a fraud.”, “you don’t have a good singing voice.”, “you’re too fat/tall/skinny/bald...”...you get the idea. Sometimes it seems like the closer you get to some really great thing; (a vacation with my family, a big gig, a stable career...) something comes along and undermines it. An unexpected bill, an unexpected crisis, an illness (although I do not get SICK, TIRED or HUNGRY. Just ask my wife!) Something comes along and shakes my faith. 

 When I was growing up, I was taught that God (or as it sounded from the preachers and teachers; GOD) was my father. Now, you have to understand, my earthly father, Jess Holt,  is/was a gentle, loving, full of life and humor, supportive, understanding man.  He loved golf, books, backgammon, his sons, his wife, life, photography and most of all his family, (yes that means I put us in that list twice, on purpose). I could go to him in the middle of the night (which I did every time I saw the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds on late-night TV) and he would say, “it’s okay, son.” “every thing's fine.” “you just had a bad dream.” “I’m right here and I won’t let anything happen to you.” I would then go to bed and sleep like the baby that I was. 

 GOD, on the other hand, was a white haired, white bearded man who was angry at me. He had lightning in his hand that he was ready to throw at me. Nothing I could say or do would gain me the comfort that the church hymns said I was supposed to be feeling. In fact, every day that I was alive just drove me further from his love and grace.

 Lot of conflict growing up. Which I am still doing. Growing up, that is. I’m going through some tumult now, like I’m sure you are too. Mine’s minor, minor; business related so it might be small potatoes to what you’re going through. I was visiting a family member in the hospital recently and was reminded that there are worse things in life than being cutoff in traffic, (but I digress). My point, (and yes Virginia, I do have one) is about faith. Faith, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said; “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.” Faith is belief. Belief that you are not alone. Belief that something is working beyond your power, knowledge and ability. That there is more to this than...THIS. What stops you from robbing banks or kicking canes out from under old ladies. My worries and issues these days are small. My worries are just little nuts and bolts issues. My family is healthy and strong and loving and focused. My dad faced death with grace and strength that I can only pray that I will have. I have family members that are dealing today with catastrophic issues. Things Buff and I have never had to face, (thank God). I have a very dear friend that is battling a life and death issue and I have watched, silently for the most part, while he deals with it in a fairly public forum (facebook). He posts his thoughts, his fears, his frustrations and I have been continually amazed and uplifted by his strength. “Here is a man of true faith!”’ I says to myself... A while back, he had some bad news. Then, he had some good news. Now, he’s had some sketchy news that rattles him. You can hear it in his writing. But, his faith remains. His ability to see through the doubt and fear is his biggest strength. I have always admired him for that. Tonight, however. Reading his latest post, I was struck by another realization; God is working on all levels. He’s caring for CK (my friend) and he’s also using his experience and his ability to articulate and communicate a bigger, more universal message. Basically the way I hear it, is like what my dad would say to me and certainly what I say to my daughter now; “ I got ya!” No matter what, no matter how bad it gets; “I got ya!” You might not believe me, you might not agree with the outcome, but “I got ya.” 

 I’m told that we’re all going to grow old and then die. I’m told that. I don’t believe it for me personally and if you ever happen to come to my funeral (which I promise you will be an affair you will want to attend...if you can get tickets for one of the performances!) and look down into my casket, you will see one very surprised MF!:) I am told that though. I have faith. I have faith that there is a plan. I have faith that there is someone, smarter than all of us, driving this train. That love will prove to be the prevailing force in our universe. There has to be a reason why children and old people suffer. There has to be a reason why good people leave here and not so good folks seem to thrive and carry on. Faith. Faith is believing in something. Have faith. Have faith in each other. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your loved ones. Whatever your faith is (and even if you’re an atheist you have faith!:)), pray for my friend tonight. And, while you’re at it, pray for one another, pray for your enemies, pray for YOUR friends, pray for a stranger, pray for ‘your fellow man’, pray for our country, pray for your country, pray for CK, pray for me and I’ll pray for you. Pray and have faith that your prayers will be answered. What have you got to lose?

If I Had A Radio Station...

I am not a fan of talk radio. I like music. I LOVE music, actually (not like I love my wife but very much like I love Mexican food, actually MORE than Mexican food! But much, much LESS than my wife!!). I like for my radio to play music. I expect it to play music. That’s it’s job as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s not your radio’s job and that’s fine. Maybe you like talk radio and that’s fine too (If you love it so much why don’t you marry it?!...sorry I’ve been watching a lot of Pee Wee Herman lately!). I’m just talking about MY radio and what I like to hear. When my radio stops playing music, I put in a CD, turn on my iPod, sit down at the piano or pick up a guitar because I want to hear music. Talk radio is very popular these days. There are stations that talk about sports, news, conservative issues, liberal issues, science, comedy, cooking, etc. there might even be a station that talks about music! I’ll have to check. I have many friends, musicians and music fans among them, who listen to more talk radio than music. I am not one of them. If I had a radio station it would play music 24/7. According to the current paradigm, it wouldn’t be very successful to most people I know. My friends would listen to it because I asked them to, (at least they would claim to be listening to it, probably while listening to talk radio). I would limit advertisers (you have to have the ads to pay for the airtime, or maybe I could be like XM and just sell subscriptions!) to 5 second commercials; “Buy Ford Trucks!”. The news would only come on if something major happened and then wouldn’t repeat until a really new development actually happened. There would be no hours and hours of commentary about the implications of this major event on the rest of the world, blah, blah, blah, unless there was an implication for the rest of the world to be concerned about, and then the implication would be explained and we would move on.  The news would come on with that sound that they used to use on TV when news would break; click, click, click... We don’t use that sound anymore because news is ALWAYS breaking! Turn on any news program and while they’re talking about news, a scroll is running underneath telling more news. Sometimes it’s important; Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster, but sometimes it’s not important; the warlock Charlie Sheen. That’s not news. It’s strange and interesting like a car wreck is interesting, but it’s not news like Libya and yet it’s on the same scroll as news about the economy or the health care debate. Sometimes, they break in to the news with more news! It’s like; “That’s interesting news Bob but we’ve just heard this even more interesting news!” 

 My station would be unlimited when it comes to genre. I don’t recognize them in the world so why would I recognize them on my radio station? Blues would be next to Rock, which would be next to Country, which would be next to Jazz, which would be next to Pop, etc. I think other than making it easier to find CDs in the record store (if you can find a record store and even know what a CD is...) Genres are kind of useless anyway. It gets very hard to categorize some artists and figure out which section they should even be in; (is Johnny Cash in the Country section or the Folk section?) For that matter, if “Pop” is short for “popular” (it is) wouldn’t all artists who’s records are selling well be considered “pop”? Currently, according to Billboard magazine’s chart of the top 200 songs, R.E.M, Sara Evans, Bruno Mars and Jason Aldean would all be considered ‘pop’. Hmmmm. On my radio station, they would all get played anyway, so I guess the categories wouldn’t matter.

 On that thought, genres are kind of like us humans. We’re always looking for the differences in ourselves that separate us from each other and yet there’s way more stuff that make us the same. Just like music! Race, sex, religion, social class, nationality, eye color, weight, skin color; all that stuff that we use to differentiate ourselves, separate, put apart. Categories are great for a simple explanation but they rarely tell you anything about a song, a movie, a painting, an artist or a person for that matter. I’m not sure why we feel the need to do that. I have a young daughter that I’m trying to teach about life and the world and trying to teach her that all people are the same is a very important part of that. I try and explain to her that we don’t judge people. We get to know them. That tells more about someone than the color of their skin or their height. Music is like that too. Don’t dislike something out of hand, listen and judge it based on if it moves you or not. 

  My playlist of artists would look something like this:

• B.B. King
• Ms. Aretha Franklin
• Motorhead
• Justin Bieber (just wanted to put his name right next to Motorhead!)
• Roy Hamilton
• Buck Owens
• Rhianna
• The Statler Brothers
• Albert Collins
• The Police
• Elvis Presley
• Jeff Buckley
• Jeff Beck
• Jeff Bridges (I could just do a day of ‘Jeffs’)
• George Jones
• Salif Keita
• Buddy Guy
• Eric Clapton
• The Monkees
• Hound Dog Taylor
• Material
• Sonny Sharrock
• Fleetwood Mac
• AC/DC
• Steve Earle
• Jimi Hendrix
• Merle Haggard
• The Beatles
• Van Halen
• Tammy Wynette
• Spinal Tap
• Ali Farke Toure
• Robert Johnson
• Prince
• The Rolling Stones
• Stevie Ray Vaughan
• The Sex Pistols
• Hank Williams
• Scott Holt (well, it IS my radio station!)
• John Coltrane
• Sam Cooke
• T.V on the Radio
• P-Funk
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• Billy Idol
• Sly & The Family Stone
• Wes Montgomery
• Miles Davis
• Santana
• Skip James
• Faron Young
• Mozart
• Bob Dylan
• the cast of Glee (seeing if you’d actually read the whole list down!)
• etc. (by that I mean, I could go on and on. Etc. is not to indicate a band called etc. although I’d probably play them too)

In Defense Of The Tangible

 I love technology. I love my iPhone, my Mac, my Kindle, my iPod, etc. I believe that technology is our friend. I’m all “big screen TV’s and wireless guitars!” That being said, this blog is in defense of the “old school”. I recently read an interview with Jon Bon Jovi, in which he was lamenting the seeming replacement of the physical album or CD with MP3’s or Wav's. He blamed Steve Jobs personally, which I don’t really agree with, but much of the interview felt right to me. I reposted the article on my facebook and got some interesting responses. It made me think about my own feelings concerning this topic, which in my line of work is kind of important!

 When I was growing up, (in olden times) music was on albums (33 1/3 baby!!), then we got 8-track tapes (horrible) and then cassettes (ehh), then the glorious CD! Yes, an indestructible, last forever format; except it’s not. They scratch, have a shelf life, and you can break them. Still it was the last physical format to come along before the age of 1’s and 0’s. When MP3’s became the thing, it wasn’t the sound quality that bothered me as much as the physical “not being able to hold something” feeling. My high-school years (my truly formative music listening years) were spent listening to most of my music while driving in my truck, cruising up and down the streets of my hometown, on a really crappy car stereo with a graphic equalizer that did little more than add too much treble, bass and volume. In other words, sound quality was not really a major issue for me at the time. Even now, as I write this, I’m listening to music (Lucinda Williams / Blessed) on desktop computer speakers...sounds fine to me:). A lot of my favorite stuff isn't really “audio-phile” type stuff anyway, I’ve been listening recently to Robert Johnson, not exactly pristine recordings (some things even technology can’t do yet!)!

 When I first heard Jimi Hendrix, it was important that I saw a picture of him. It was important to read the liner notes and see where the music was recorded, who else played on it, when was it recorded, etc. I learned as much about music from reading my CD’s as from listening to them. I learned about Guitar Slim in the liner notes of a Stevie Ray Vaughan, CD. I found out about Earl Hooker from Buddy Guy, but I learned more about his discography from liner notes on Muddy Waters records, etc. I can’t overstate the importance of that source of information and knowledge when learning about music. There IS a reason why there’s a Grammy category for liner notes! 

 When I first started exploring iTunes I was excited about the “compactness” of it; I can carry my entire record collection with me everywhere on a device roughly the size of a deck of cards. That’s awesome! When I started touring, I carried a little CD player and 3 BIG albums of CDs! Very cumbersome!! Once the newness of iTunes wore off and it became a regular part of my day, the limitations started to reveal themselves. Especially after my first hard drive crash that lost my entire iTunes library! 4,450 albums...GONE! That’s a great, (albeit painful) wake up call! I’ve had a couple of crashes and ‘losses’ since then and it sent me scurrying back to my local record store (Grimey’s in Nashville) and made me appreciate, again, the feeling of tearing the plastic off of a new resource and a new friend. 

 I believe in the ability of humans to assimilate new technology and refine it over time. I think that’s what will happen to recorded music; it’s great to have MP3’s, it’s great to have iTunes and be able to buy a song while driving down the interstate at 3:00am (yes, I have done that for some of the most random songs you can imagine!) but I don’t believe 1’s and 0’s will ever fully replace the physical recorded work any more than I believe that texting will ever fully do away with face to face conversation (although it is very handy!!) Buddy used to tell me; “just because something is new doesn’t make it better.” I agree with that.

Finding it pt.2

The meandering stream of life. Can you remember how you came to have the list of ‘favorites’ that you currently have? If today you like eating lobster, did you start with fish sticks? If today your favorite book is Water For Elephants was it once Green Eggs and Ham? If today you are jamming to Born This Way by Lady Gaga, was there a time in your past when it was Fallin’ by Alicia Keys? (Did you know that was 10 years ago?!) Sometimes I wonder why I like certain songs. In my line of work it’s an important thing to try and study. If I could figure it out, I’d be writing this from my private island fortress, while sitting on a stack of gold bars. How did I go from listening to my parents live Sha Na Na record to listening to Lightnin’ Hopkins? How do I draw the line from my love for Hank Williams Jr to my love for Funkadelic? I loved Elvis long before I began to raid his record collection for guidance. I got my appreciation for B.B. King from Buddy Guy. I found out about Guitar Slim from Stevie Ray Vaughan. I learned my gospel music from church but I learned my love of George Jones from my mom listening to WSIX in Nashville. There’s a place in the Bible where Jesus says to become like “little children”. I won’t go into the spiritual aspects of the passage but I will say that a lot of aspects of the creative life (and maybe just life in general) are made better by following that ideal. In my last blog, I spoke about how I discovered music. I discovered it in a random, sort of meandering way that wouldn’t make sense if you were trying find the straight line of discovery. I still find music like a child plays; any toy is fair game, size and proportion doesn’t matter. A 2” tall doll can be friends with an 18” doll and they can live in a house that is in now way proportionate for either of them. When I play dolls with my daughter, I’m the ‘boy dolls’ which tend to be a little less ‘together’ than the girl dolls. My favorite is the one we call business man; he has a tie and suspenders but no jacket and no shoes. She may be a Cinderella or a small girl in a riding outfit but it makes no difference. The rule is; there are no rules. It’s just playing. Imagination.
Music is like that (thank God!). In my iTunes, Donny hathaway is right next to The Doors (alphabetized by first names I guess) I found Robert Johnson like this; Jimi Hendrix - Stevie Ray Vaughan - Buddy Guy - Billy Idol - John Lee Hooker - Robin Trower - Eric Clapton - The Time - Robert Johnson. There was no straight line, no path of logic, just a sort of “Hey, I wonder what this sounds like?” I remember sometimes I would find someone that I wasn’t really ready for and it would be a while before I could come back to them and it make sense to me. John Lee Hooker was like that for me. I had heard Buddy, Stevie, B.B., Muddy and I had heard John Lee’s name enough to know he was “important” but when I bought my first record, Mad Man Blues, it made no sense at all. It sounded out of tune, unorganized and nothing like what I was used to. It was NOT love at first sight. As time went on, I developed a broader sensability, found more music, varied sounds and when I came back to John Lee, it WAS love. I put him high on my list of favorites and consider him one of the greatest bluesmen ever. I heard the Sex Pistols looooong before I loved them. For a long time I liked Adam & The Ants better than the Clash! (What do you want, I was a Prince fan!)
(My List of Greatest Blues Men, order subject to change daily or hourly)
Muddy Waters
B.B. King
Robert Johnson
Howlin’ Wolf
John Lee Hooker
T-bone Walker
Buddy Guy
Albert Collins
Freddie King
Hank Williams

*I add this caveat; Stevie Ray Vaughan was the LAST real authentic blues man. I’ve yet to see anyone access that channel since. Also, I know that I left off; Little Walter, Son House, Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert King, Junior Wells, Elmore James, Little Milton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Charlie Patton, etc...

My daughter, who has become one of my best teachers, shows me every day how to ‘learn like a child’. She discovered the song You Really Got Me not from Van Halen like I did, not from The Kinks but from Alvin & The Chipmunks. Not trying to be cool or hip, she just found the version that to her ear sounds ‘good’. She learned Hank William’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry from a film version of Beverly Hillbillies. I learned the same way; my first Clapton record wasn’t Derek & The Dominoes or Cream, it was Behind The Sun. Good record but not the record responsible for his “godhood”. Not the ‘cool’ record you want to say was your first. My first Buddy Guy record was a Vanguard compilation. Then I accidentally came across Stone Crazy on Alligator, (still my favorite and I would argue his best). I heard Elton John for years and saw his videos through the 80’s and early 90’s but couldn’t be bothered to even own an Elton John record. Then one day it just clicked into place and a casual purchase of his greatest hits (because I am determined to own every record ever made) led to me deciding that he is one of the greatest pop music geniuses of the 20th century. (Yes I am prepared to argue that point with anyone!) I liked the Monkees before I liked the Beatles. I liked the Beatles before I liked The Rolling Stones. I liked 70’s jumpsuit era Elvis better than 50’s era (I still do sometimes) because that’s the one I was exposed to first. I like Merle Haggard doing Lefty Frizzell better than the originals. I like to discuss music. I will debate (not argue) with you about my choices if challenged, but in the end it’s about what you like as an individual. There are 31 flavors of ice cream for a reason (except in Libya where there is just the one flavor; Kaddafi Krunch! Bahahahahahaha!! WINNING!)

Finding it pt.1

I’m always fascinated by how “new” music finds me. I’ve been on this planet for several years now and not only do I find new recent music all the time (still in love with F**k You by Cee Lo Green) but I also find stuff that I’m amazed I haven’t come across before. Some of you who came out to the shows last year on ‘The Big Nasty’s Traveling Freak Show’ tour know that I was in the throes of discovering Elton John for real, finally. The temptation to play Bennie And The Jets was often irresistible (sorry for that!)! These days I’m finding amazing artists like Townes Van Zandt. I’m a music fiend, so I’ve heard his name for years, but actually tracking down some of his work and listening to it is different from just being aware that we share oxygen.
I’m not sure how other people do go through this type stuff (or if they even think about it at all) but being a musician, I’m always working on my craft from every angle and that includes my “diet”. I believe that an artist is not only the combination of elements and desires that God gives but also a result of the influences that come to you and at what stage they arrive. I started with Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan in very short order so discovering the guitar gave me an entry to my medium. If my first influences had been Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Charles Portis, I would be a very different type of artist!
After spending a bunch of time immersing myself in the blues (I actually wrote Muddy Waters but just couldn’t bring myself to let the pun go!), I was introduced, by Buddy and others, to P-Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire, Prince, Bobby Womack etc. I also looked around my hometown area and started finding the people that I had grown up hearing; George Jones, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Jr. My list of favorites has grown over time to be quite an eclectic list; Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Miles Davis, Donny Hathaway, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck, Aretha Franklin, Jason and The Scorchers, Sly & The Family Stone, The Sex Pistols, Mozart, B.B. King, John Coltrane, Funkadelic, Wes Montgomery, Elton John, Steve Earle, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Eric Clapton, George Jones, The Beatles, Dwight Yoakum,... I could literally go on and on!
The point (if in fact there is a point) is that I am so grateful that God has given me such an adoration for what I do and allows me to continue to discover new music and have it feel like it did when I first started. I’ve told the story of “finding” Jimi for the first time. I can still access that feeling in my memory. I can still see the place I was, the way the sounds hit me and assaulted my senses and left me knowing that this was my path. I remember going to see Elvis with my parents, I can still feel the air from that night. I remember exploring Prince’s 1999 album (yes kids, on vinyl!). Hearing Buddy Guy for the first time, on a cassette, late at night. The impact on me was huge! I LOVE MUSIC! can you tell?

Recommended Playlist (if you’re interested)
Buddy Guy / One Room Country Shack
Hank Williams / Rambling Man
John Coltrane / Naima
Duke Ellington / Lotus Blossom
George Jones / He Stopped Loving Her Today
Jason & The Scorchers / White Lies
Townes Van Zandt / Pancho & Lefty
Funkadelic / Maggot Brain
The Rolling Stones / Rocks Off
B.B. King / You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now
Prince / She’s Always In My Hair
John Prine / In Spite Of Ourselves
Earth, Wind & Fire / September
Donny Hathaway / A Song For You

...when she's dreaming

Just got back from the latest recording sessions in Minneapolis. (Snuck out in 18” of snow before another 12” fell!) We are in the process of recording a new project. Tentatively titled; ...when she’s dreaming. We’re calling it an acoustic record, but hopefully it will be more than that. We did make a rule that the only “electric” instrument would be Truth’s B3, so we’ll see if we’re able to keep it like that! In the process of recording, we actually put down a couple of songs that will be on a later, somewhat larger project, more about that later. I’m really happy with the reception that Kudzu is getting. We’re getting a great response to all the songs every night and it’s really great to see our fans really “getting it” so to speak. Being able to create music is my favorite thing to do (second favorite thing actually...) and suddenly it feels like we have no limits in what kind of music we can make and that feels great! If you haven’t checked out Kudzu yet, what’re ya waiting for?!? Go to iTunes or Amazon and download it right now!...I’ll wait...:)
Buff and Olivia give the new stuff their thumbs up so hopefully we’re on the right track! Look for the new stuff later this year and until then BUY KUDZU!!!

Random:

Just my Monday morning thoughts; Congratulations Packers! Christina Aguilera should be forgiven for messing up the National Anthem, it’s a lot of pressure to perform solo in front of the entire world. I don’t think that it should put your patriotism into question if you can’t remember the words. The Black Eyed Peas were actually pretty good for a Super Bowl Half Time show. Not sure what you’re supposed to expect from something like that but I thought they performed well, actually sang live and made it interesting. The commercials this year were probably the most unimaginative and dull of any year I can remember. I think the Bill O’Reily interview with President Obama was strange. I thought the president handled himself well but I’d rather see John Madden interviewing. Doesn’t anyone else remember that Bill O’Reily was the host of A Current Affair?
Buffy gave me a Kindle for Christmas (thanks again Beautiful!) and I have read more in the last two months than I have in the last two years! Best books so far; The Kennedy Detail, Hellhounds On His Trail, A Terrible Glory, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest.
TODAY'S PLAYLIST:
1. ALICE IN WONDERLAND - BILL EVANS
2. A LOVE SUPREME - JOHN COLTRANE
3. GYPSY WOMAN - MUDDY WATERS
4. WICKED AS IT SEEMS - KEITH RICHARDS
5. CONTREDANSES (12) FOR ORCHESTRA - BEETHOVAN
6. SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE - CREAM
7. CLOSED CAPTION DEMO - FUGAZI
8. SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU - LED ZEPPELIN
9. HOT PANTS - JAMES BROWN
10. MY BABE (LIVE) - SONNYBOY WILLIAMSON

All Hail The King!

“Before Elvis, there was nothing.” - John Lennon

Elvis’ birthday is today. He would have been 76 years old. I, like many people, called him the King of Rock and Roll today on Facebook and was challenged to explain how he could merit that title. So here goes;
It’s hard to imagine how different the world was 60 years ago. Nowhere was our cultural differences more broadly expressed than in music. Pop music was divided into ‘black’ music and ‘white’ music. The names for the categories were much more genteel; white music was either ‘pop’ (short for popular music) or country & western (yes, both kinds!) black music was first called ‘race records’ and then was changed to ‘r&b’. Of course all of these distinctions were only invented by the recording industry to sell records. In the real world, ‘white’ people would listen to ‘black’ music and vice-versa.
When Elvis walked into Sun records in Memphis, TN in 1954, he stood in front of the mic and let loose a new kind of music. An uptempo, countryfied version of an old rhythm and blues song by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup called That’s Alright Mama. This was the birth of Rock and Roll. Rock and Roll transcended boundaries of culture, race, gender or nationality. The music was embraced by kids all over the nation and soon the world. Elvis started the avalanche of artists that followed; Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, etc. He influenced everyone from Buddy Holly to Led Zeppelin. Keith Richards, in his recent autobiography, had this to say concerning Elvis’ imprint on his own career; “Heartbreak Hotel...was the stunner...when I woke the next morning, I was a different guy.”
No other single artist or group influenced more artists or a more diverse group of artists than Elvis. In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland there are a collection of drawings made by a young Jimi Hendrix in grade school, the subject of one drawing; Elvis Presley. Bob Dylan referred to listening to Elvis like, “busting out of jail”. Little Richard called Elvis “an integrator”. Rod Stewart said; “Elvis was the king. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps.” Elton John said; “If it hadn’t been for Elvis, I don’t know where popular music would be.” In a career that only lasted 20 years, including 9 years in Hollywood making movies instead of rock and roll records, it would be easier to make a list of 20th century artists who weren’t influenced by Elvis...it would be a very short list.

Gratitude

I am grateful. I am a blessed person with too much and I am grateful. Right now we are in Sioux Falls, SD. Today is Wednesday. We’re broke down, waiting on a new transmission, that won’t be ready until Friday. Stopped for fuel, got in to drive off and nothing! We still have 958 miles to travel when we get rolling and in the meantime, we’re sitting still. Even still, I can’t be anything but grateful. I’m grateful for the obvious stuff; my wife (my heart), my daughter (my life), my friends and family, my music, etc. I’m also grateful for the fact that we broke down in a place where we could get the transmission fixed properly. I’m grateful that I have a band of guys with me that I can depend on. My guys made a conscious decision to stay here and face this with me, for that I am incredibly proud and grateful. It’s hard to be on the road, to do it alone, for me, is unimaginable. I’m grateful for the people that support me behind the scenes at Gracetone (my company) that work so hard to make our lives run smooth. I’m grateful for the fact that we have a safe, comfortable place to stay while we wait. We started the trip home in Moscow, ID. We traveled 1,000 miles through plenty of desolate country that would NOT have been hospitable to us if we’d broke down there. We broke down 15 miles from a dealership that services and repairs our brand of vehicle. We broke down in a town that has a classic rock station that happened to play one of our songs on the radio last night. Just that little thing (a big thing to us) was special and wouldn’t have happened if we had blown through here like we were intending. I’m even grateful for the little stuff like being walking distance from Starbucks and Mexican food! It would be easy to focus on the cost of being here, the missing of my family and whatever, but I can’t / won’t do that. I’m just not wired that way. I have to focus on what I see which is just an avalanche of blessings. God is great and I am blessed!

My 5 Desert Island Discs

My mind is wandering this morning (yes, it CAN be a dangerous thing...), so I thought I would write a blog about my 5 favorite albums. I decided to call it my “Desert Island Discs List”, because that’s what I’ve always heard it called. The inferred question being, “If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have 5 CD’s, what would they be?” Soon my thoughts of CDs were taken over by the idea of being stranded on a deserted island. Would I really be worrying about CD’s? If I was, how would I play them? More importantly, however, how did I come to be on this island? Plane crash? Shipwreck? Was I taken prisoner by an evil genius, like in James Bond movies and left to die here after being interrogated for hours? In fact, if I was the captive of an evil genius, would he allow me to choose 5 CDs to keep me entertained on the island that is supposed to be my prison? If he did, should I take a really long time to decide in the hope that he’d lose interest and I could more easily escape?
If I table the ‘why am I here’ aspect of this already slightly unsettling and potentially horrifying scenario, I am left with the practicality of survival on a deserted island. Is this place truly deserted or are there cannibals or dangerous animals that I will have to fend off? If there are animals, can I eat them if I catch one? (also, can you eat a cannibal? is that morally okay since they would surely eat you...) What about snakes, (of whom I am NOT a fan!)? Would it be like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway? He managed to do pretty well after he got acclimated to the situation. He did however end up with a bizarre assortment of stuff to survive with; ice skates, a volleyball, etc. Apparently he was NOT asked what 5 CDs he’d like to have with him. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that I have a made a thorough reconnoiter of the entire island and found it to be strangely absent of any other life forms...yeah, right.
I think if I was to be stranded on a deserted island and being a fan and longtime viewer of the show Survivor, I would first like to have fire. A LOT of fire. As Jeff Probst is always saying “Fire means life.” I would ask for an entire carton of Bic disposable lighters. Yes, I realize that disposable lighters would be bad for the environment, but I’m stranded on a deserted island at the moment and if and when I am rescued, I will return here in a boat and restore the island to the way it was...I promise. Next, I’m going to need shelter. This one was tough because it needs to be comfortable, dry, warm or cool depending on the outside conditions, etc. Therefore, I choose a tour bus. They are familiar, comfortable to sleep on and if cannibals or snakes attack, I can just lock the door. The following items are necessary without any explanation; a CD player (apparently), a shotgun, ammunition, Spam, fresh water, bathing suit, a big knife, a machete, a small knife, another shotgun (in case something happens to the first one), a GPS, a satellite phone, a flare gun, flares, my guitar, pictures of my family (this is assuming that they are not with me), salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, a skillet, a coffee pot, coffee, plenty of socks, a solar powered generator, crackers, a BBQ grill, a hammock,...
As I look over my list so far, I realize that this is going to cost quite a bit. The tour bus alone is about $500,000.00 and after it’s been on an island, it’s probably going to be greatly depreciated. No resale value there! (by the way, when they deliver the tour bus, couldn’t I just catch a ride back with the delivery person?) This brings me to the question; “ In this scenario, is money ‘no object’?”. Is the question; “If you were a jillionaire and allowed to prepare yourself to live on a deserted island, what 5 CD’s would you take?” I have to say that sounds pretty unrealistic to me. If I’m a jillionaire I could afford more than 5 CDs. Also, if I’m a jillionaire wouldn’t I have a staff of people around me that would theoretically protect me from inadvertently finding my way to a deserted island all alone? A more likely headline would be; “Famous Jillionaire Guitarist Almost Lost On Deserted Island, Saved By Very Efficient Staff Members”. If I am a jillionaire, I would definitely have a personal flying machine, like a jet pack or something (in addition to my Segway of course), so I could probably just use that to escape. (That is if I’m the captive of an evil genius of course) I guess to be fair the question should be; “If you are NOT a jillionaire and you find yourself stranded on a deserted island through no evil machinations of any sort and while money is an important consideration your mind is focused clearly on the 5 CDs that you would like to have with you to listen to, understanding that these are the last 5 CDs you will ever listen to...wait...am I to understand that this scenario contains no ‘happy ending’?!? I’m going to DIE on this island?!? Suddenly my appetite for Spam is disappearing. As are my thoughts of what music I want to hear before I die from starvation and exposure. Or maybe I die of thirst because I can’t get fresh water. When I was a jillionaire, I had plenty of fresh water but now I’m just a poor, unfortunate soul with 5 stupid CDs to my name, dying of thirst on this uncharted deserted island. Or maybe there were cannibals after all and they were hiding in those caves that I saw on the other side of the island but I was tired and thirsty and ready to get back to my camp...to listen to my CDs...God this Spam is starting to turn my stomach...one should never eat Spam in the hot salty air! The salty ocean air is scratching my CDs too! Soon they’ll be unlistenable! What was that noise?! I think I hear something in the jungle...
Okay, so the question as I now understand it is; “You are going to die. You are not rich and no one can save you. You are going to die alone on an uncharted deserted island, far, far removed from any known shipping lanes and the chances for rescue are nonexistent. While you are going to die...soon...for some unknown reason, the gods of fate have seen fit to allow you to have in your possession 5 CDs and a device to play them on. If you can stop your mind from dwelling on the fact that you are DYING(!!!), and can concentrate on music purely for the purposes of enjoyment (in these, your last few hours before delirium sets in signaling that final sweet slumber) what CDs would you take with you to this ISLAND OF DEATH?”
That’s the question?....well...hmmm...alright...I guess...

Live - Donny Hathaway
Stone Crazy - Buddy Guy
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
The Violin Concertos II - Mozart
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane


WAIT! I’ve got it! What if, when the cannibals come for me, I play my CDs to them and they, never having seen a CD player before, are fascinated by the magical box of sound and decide that I am one of their gods! They take me back to their caves and give me food and fresh water and through my time with them, I gain their trust and convince them that cannibalism is just not morally cool. Then we all work together and build an outrigger canoe and we row ourselves into the shipping lanes and are rescued by an oil tanker (probably owned by BP!!) we return to the US, get the cover of People magazine, (one of the cannibals gets caught up in a love triangle with Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson and ends up on the cover of the National Enquirer...Hollywood can be more dangerous than a deserted island!) get interviewed by Matt Lauer, meet the President, who gives me the Congressional Medal of Survival or something, we get to make a cameo in The Hangover 3, get invited to be interviewed on the CBS morning show and turn them down...after we stop laughing! (who watches the CBS morning show anyway?!?), we do Leno, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel, Letterman (where we jam with the band of course) we do Jimmy Fallon just to jam with The Roots (oh, Fallon’s alright, but he seems like he’s just trying a little too hard..),National Geographic wants to have me host a reality show and the cannibals and I are invited to be Grand Marshals of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! (all of which can only help the sales of KUDZU - out Jan. 11, 2011)

Snapshots from Memphis

Recently, I took a trip to Memphis for a project I’m working on. I’ve always had a real affinity for Memphis. Some of my biggest musical influences come from there; B.B. King, Little Milton, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis of course, the flow of music that has passed through Memphis from New Orleans up through the Delta and northward has probably been the single biggest path of influence in contemporary music. So I went to Memphis to soak up some of those ghosts. Feel the weight of the air that men like Howlin’ Wolf pushed out of their lungs to sing something like Moanin’ At Midnight. Even though I live just 3 hours east in Nashville, the vibe is completely different. There is a rhythm to southern towns for sure but at the same time they are all very distinctive in the way they feel, the way people walk and talk and just the ‘texture’ of them.
I went to Memphis to soak in that feel for a while and see if she would ‘shake the muse’ so to speak. “Hello Memphis, I write songs, whaddya got? Anything left in the old tank?” I’ve just begun to scratch the surface of what I found, so I can say Memphis is still there!
The coolest moment of this particular trip though was sort of an unexpected one. We went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is in the old Lorraine Motel, site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. The museum is a profound space. A well done introductory film of Dr. King’s life and his pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement begins a self guided tour and it takes you to the actual motel room he occupied on that fateful day as well as to the room where the shot was fired from. All in all, a very profound and thoughtful trip in and of itself, but we weren’t done. The next day was a cold and rainy one and we were sort of wandering around Memphis, talking about the city and what we were seeing and almost as an afterthought, we decided to drive by the Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ Headquarters; the site of Dr. King’s final speech.
We entered, although I’m not sure visitors are even permitted! We were allowed, after signing in, to go into the sanctuary by ourselves! A huge, stately space. I’ve been in a lot of churches when they’re not having services and I’m always awed by the stately silence they have. Just a deep, peaceful air. This one was no exception, a large room, the center of which was occupied by the podium from which Dr. King made his speech. We approached the spot and when I stood there, the feeling was overwhelming. This was the spot where a man, who knew he was destined to die because of his convictions, boldly stood and espoused those very convictions and exhorted the audience to keep the faith. The air felt solemn, heavy with the kind of somber, passive awareness and resignation of a witness. Thanks to an iPhone and YouTube we were even able to sort recreate the speech. Even from little cell phone speakers, Dr. King’s voice was powerful and we all got chills. Thanks to YouTube, I’ve been listening to a lot of Dr. King’s speeches lately and I’m so grateful for the technology that allows us to access these kinds of things! I hope we can put the ideas of people like Dr. King back into the forefront of our consciousness. Just simple ideas; respect, dignity, peace...really simple.

Positivity

I’m a positive person. I believe in the ‘better’ of life and humanity. Instead of immediately thinking “rip-off” or “watch out”, I believe in the promise of “YES!”. Do I fall short? Hell yeah!! The temptation to flip off a bad driver is tremendous! The desire to berate a bad waiter is compelling! I get pissed off when things don’t go ‘my way’! I wasn’t always so focused on being positive, in fact for most of my life I thought; “It’ll never work, they’ll never go for it, this person is intentionally being difficult, I can’t...”. That IS an easy way to go through life, on the surface anyway. If you say, “I can’t”; you’re probably right. A version of that statement has been credited to Henry Ford. I don’t know if he really said it, but if he did, he’s right.
A few years ago, I was thinking about my career, my life, my music, where I was in the universe, etc, and I realized that somehow, I had been focused on the wrong things. Wrong, in this instance, meaning for me, not the most spiritually healthy things; money, record sales, etc. My wife Buffy introduced me to a book that made me stop and think. I won’t name it outright, because this isn’t an infomercial, but it IS one of the 5 books named at the end of this blog. The book in itself, on the surface, could have been passed off as one more semi-new age bit of mumbo jumbo, but it wasn’t. Buffy responded immediately, reading portions of it out loud to me. When she was through I read it and responded even more! The simple, truth of the book was that we receive the life we create and the life we “see”. If everything looks crappy to you, it will be. If everybody’s out to screw you, they are. I’m not saying that if something bad happens to you it’s your fault, what I’m saying is whatever happens to us, we have a choice to make, as to how we play it. I am a terrible golfer, so if Tiger Woods and I get the same shot, he’ll see more in the shot than I would. (conversely, if we both faced a musical challenge, I’d take him to the woodshed!! That was said with a smile and love!!:))
I realized, some time ago, that because of my path, I have a platform. What do I say? If I have a chance to address the world, what do I tell them? As an entertainer, there must be something beyond; “Hey!!...Ho!!...Wave your hands in the air!!...Do you feel alright?!?!, Let me hear you say yeah!...”. No I don’t believe in the musician/politician. I’m not the guy to pontificate on government policy or the better way to run the world. I’m not even the guy to tell you which brand of soap is better. I do have something to tell you though. #1. You are loved. Plain and simple, believe it or not! Run from it if you will, but it is true. Someone, somewhere, loves you, values you, needs you and wishes/prays the best for you. #2. Someone watches you. Not in a voyeuristic way (well...some of you...) no, seriously, someone watches you to determine how they lead their life. They watch the decisions you make, the hands you play, and they pattern their paths after yours. YOU have a platform, wether you realize it or not! #3. EVERYONE is more like you than not; that’s important so I’m gonna write the whole sentence again in caps; EVERYONE IS MORE LIKE YOU THAN NOT! What I mean is; everyone is scared, in love, nervous, shy, hurt, insecure, unsure, happy, lost...all the feelings you have. We spend a lot of time looking at the differences in each other, “how is “X” different from me?” When all the time the easier question is; “How are we alike?”
In my short time on this planet and in my limited ability to understand, I’ve watched ‘ignorance’ be the cause of a lot of trouble. Often times, the cause of aggression has been not understanding, plain and simple. Every war has ignorance as it’s source. People are persecuted because they are misunderstood. They’re beaten, marginalized, imprisoned, murdered and even crucified. The bottom line is, all it takes to change this truth is US. See you in someone else and you’re less likely to want to hit them with a brick. If you see YOU in someone else, it gets real hard to wish bad upon them! Now I grant you, this philosophy could make the Super Bowl pretty crappy! Ha! (I refuse to type ‘LOL’ as a way of showing you that I am smiling or laughing) but other than sporting events, wishing/working towards a more peaceful world is a noble, beautiful thing!
This blog is not really about ‘conversion’ so much as it’s about explanation; daily, I post quotes on my Facebook page and my Twitter page. They are positive quotes from people I admire. They are intended to point your mind North of this plane. If you read them and they don’t hit you, that’s cool, it’s just ideas. Sometimes I post videos and it’s the same intention. You don’t have to actively engage my “musings”, I just want to get them in the air. The more ‘positive’ energy in the air, the harder it is for the ‘negative’ to get through! If you see me quoting Ghandi or John Lennon, even if you’re not moved to thought, just know that I’m just trying to pollinate the air with positive. There’s plenty of opportunity in our world for negative, sometimes it seems like grains of sand on a beach! The truth is, I think, that we’re better than we think, more than we imagine, braver than we fear and all we need is a little push...nudge...:)


5 Books it wouldn’t kill you to read;
The Traveler’s Gift
The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
The Secret
Three Cups Of Tea
The Chosen

A shout out to the past!...

Recently I was looking for a certain CD, (actually, I’m always looking for a specific CD). Joe’s Garage by Frank Zappa. Nothing really obscure, just something that came out several years ago. First I checked iTunes, no luck. Then I checked Amazon and found it but I wanted it sooner. I called the closest store, Best Buy and spoke with a very friendly salesperson who had no idea who Frank Zappa was and actually had me spell the last name. In a matter of minutes, I realized how much we’ve lost with the death of the record store. When I started falling in love with music, I was a constant at record stores near where I grew up. That’s how I first found Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, etc. When I started working with Buddy Guy and traveling the world, I became an avid collector and was constantly in search of the best record store in what ever town we were in. Not only was I able to satisfy my desire to hear and own every record in the universe, but record stores were also incredible reference points. Employees knew and loved music and could direct me to the best recordings by artists that I was interested in. They could also point me toward similar artists or new artists. I learned about the historic independent labels like Chess, Kent, RPM, Sun and Ace, among others, by hanging out at record stores and talking to employees and other customers. I learned about European and Asian reissue labels like Pea-Vine by talking to people at independent record stores. I’ve got a lot of CDs and records and some of them are really prized to me; my CD copy of Folk Festival Of The Blues, my T-Bone Walker CD The Hustle Is On, too many of BB King’s Kent/RPM albums on CD to mention, my Otis Spann CD with Fleetwood Mac backing him; “The Biggest Thing Since Colossus”. The point is I wouldn’t have known about these records if it wasn’t for independent record stores. Places like Grimey’s in Nashville, Ear X-tacy in Louisville, Twist & Shout in Denver, Amoeba in San Francisco, Dobell’s in London (I once went in there looking for a CD that Robben Ford had recorded with Jimmy Witherspoon, the clerk’s pithy reply was; “I feel sorry for Jimmy Witherspoon.”), Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, Revolver in NYC, the list goes on and on. Some of these stores are still around, but many are gone. The ones that remain are selling more T-shirts, incense, and assorted knick-knacks just to stay afloat. As we move into a much more digital era of music, we think nothing of buying a song on iTunes and other than the sound we’ve bought nothing! When I listened to BB King records I read the liner notes to learn who Sonny Freeman was (find out!), when I listened to Stone Crazy, I read the liner notes to learn that it was Phil Guy playing that amazing rhythm guitar. When I bought a Jimi Hendrix record the salesman might tell me to check out Eddie Hazel in Funkadelic. If I bought a Earl Hooker CD, they might say check out Robert Nighthawk. The point is it’s more than just having something to hold in your hands, it’s a cultural element that we’ve lost. Also, when I buy a song from iTunes, I never speak to a soul during the entire process. Yes they might have some kind of graphic that says; “people who bought this also bought...”, but it’s not the same thing. We do have some great resources on the web that can help, such as allmusicguide.com, Rhino records website or Wikipedia, but there’s just something about having someone who’s excited by music suggesting music to you that makes a difference.
You can walk into Wal-Mart and buy a Beatles CD, but you’ll be hard pressed to find John Lennon’s Walls & Bridges album or a salesperson that even knows such a record exists. They might not even know who John Lennon is! Best Buy is more likely to have 3 copies of Tom Petty’s greatest hits than one copy of Damn The Torpedoes but “We can order that for you...”. I realize that my line of work might make it more likely that I would be interested in this stuff, but I was into it before I started playing guitar and my love of music dates much farther back in my life than the first time I thought about being a guitar player. I’m not against progress, but support your local independent record store. It’s more than just a physical thing you’re buying, it’s a spiritual thing as well!

A 'Strapping' Birthday gift!!

Recently, I celebrated my birthday in Chicago. I was joined by my wife and some of my dear friends. Three of my friends make up the group we refer too as the “MF Mafia”, Chuck MF Lanza, Kempf MF Poole and Keith MF Throneberry. For my birthday, my friends got me an awesome gift; a new guitar strap from renowned strap designer Jodi Head (http://www.jodihead.com )! The purple strap you may have seen me with for the last few weeks, with my initials on it. As a cool added touch, they included my wife and daughter’s initials on the inside of the strap so they’re always with me, right next to my heart! Old Number One is enjoying her new “outfit” as well! Hope you get a chance to come out and see us soon!