I am a Blues guy…I was inspired by hearing the 1st Paul Butterfield album at age 15, and ran down to buy my first harp. That album featured the guitar work of Michael Bloomfield and set the bar for my sense of what’s great. There was Danny Kalb in The Blues Project, then Eric Clapton emerged with Mayall, then Peter Green, and of course Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin launched. All added to my sense of what makes for great blues guitar. T-Bone, BB and the other 2 Kings, Buddy Guy, Earl Hooker and Chuck Berry too. I heard Johnny Winter’s 1st appearance in NYC, and Ten Years After. My reaction was like Salieri on Amadeus…”Too many notes!” So when SRV arrived, I had a firmly embedded framework to hear what he was putting down. Not a fan. I prefer his brother Jimmy’s more patient approach. Listen to “Part Time Lover” on the 1st T-Birds album for instance. Listen to “Texas” by Electric Flag. Refer to the above list of names, and above all…enjoy the music.
