Wednesday in Helena, Arkansas was, of course, amazing. The theme of our day was the anticipation of the night's jam. We were scheduled to start our jam around 8 or 8:30, but when young blues musician Evan Hawks walked up around 6:30, Jack and he started playing immediately. It was really a treat to hear how Evan has advanced in the last year, he was awesome last year, and after spending a year jamming with professionals every chance he got, he is even better. His granddad had even written a song with Jack in mind, y'all will hear it soon because we're recording it when we get back to Texas. It is super timely, about our Texas drought. After a few songs, I was pulled up and the three of us jammed together as folks rolled in.
By 8, we had quite a crowd, and by 9, the tables were full. There were a lot of great musicians who came and played, as well as stayed a while and listened to the other jammers. Dave Reilly came and stayed for the whole jam but didn't play at all last night, but Bob Corritore jammed with the BBP on Hard Times, as well as played with my favorite of the night, C.W. Gatlin. Rock-a-billy hall of famer, the lead guitar player for Conway Twitty back in the day. And even better than such a notable musician showing up and jamming, he opened his set with one of my all time favorites, "Sitting here wondering will a Matchbox hold my clothes!" I think originally this song traces all the way back to the beginning of the blues and Blind Lemon Jefferson. I have enjoyed many versions of this song, but seeing CW play it last night is now my all time favorite performance of it....so much better than just on youtube.
Other musicians who jammed last night included Mark Chapman, Les Lindy, Bruce Zimmerman, Mose Taylor, Cody Taylor, and Darcy, Harry Gold, Kelly Raney, Tommy Ray Gatlin, Loren Seely, and others to whom I apologize for not remembering their names. It was so much fun.
This blog comes from a beautiful courtyard in the 400 block of Cherry Street, with the background music of Bunky's breakfast players who are jamming on the street since Bunky's isn't having breakfast this year. Too beautiful for words here....more later.
No comments:
Post a Comment