R.I.P Dr. John

Another New Orleans music legend has passed away.  Malcolm John Rebennack better known to the world as Dr. John passed away today from a heart attack at the age of 77.

Most of the world know him for his hit song "Right Place, Wrong Time"

To call him a one hit wonder would be selling the six time Grammy Award winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted artist short. He also received an Honorary Doctorate from Tulane University.

"Such A Night"

"There Must Be A Better World Somewhere"

"Craney Crow"

He will be missed!

Happy Birthday Dr. John!

Today is Dr. John's birthday. He was a participant in my first battle of the bands post this month which you can revisit here.

He turns 74 and with a long career that means a lot of great music. This is how we celebrate!

This song is probably my all time favorite Dr. John song..

I want to dig deeper maybe pull a clip of Dr. John playing with some Louisiana All Stars called The Voices of the Wetland All Stars featuring Tab Benoit, George Porter, and Cyril Neville...

Here Dr. John performs "There Must be a Better World Some Place"..

Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoyed your visit!

Battle of the Bands Number 8: When the Saints Go Marching In

I'm back for my eighth installment of Battle of the Bands. Here is how it works:

Listen to the song clips in the blog post. In the comment section vote for the one you like the best. Feel free to explain why you voted the way you did. The battles take place on the first and 15th and winners will be announced on the 7th and 21st. I will normally post the winner in the comments. Of course have fun and enjoy!

If you are still looking for more musical fun after you vote, you can check out these sites for more battles:

Far Away Series

Your Daily Dose

DiscConnected

Tossing It Out

STMcC Presents "Battle of the Bands"

A Writer's Life in Progress

Curious as a Cathy

The Creative Outlet of StratPlayer

The Sound of One Hand Typing

Alex J. Cavanaugh In

This rounds song:

Since today is All Saints Day I thought I would choose "When The Saints Go Marching In." The precise origins of the song are unknown, the song originated as a hymn. Louis Armstrong is credited for the first recording of the song as he made it more of a jazz standard.

First Challenger:

Starting off  Dr. John because in this competition you have to have someone representing New Orleans...

Second Challenger

It would have been too easy to pit two great brass bands against one another. I want contrast! New Jersey is quite different from New Orleans. Bruce Springsteen is quite different from Dr. John. 

Ladies and Gentleman The Boss...

Anyway these are my picks for this competition. Vote in the comments! Happy All Saints DAy!

R.I.P Johnny Winter

I was going to blog about something else but the sad news of Johnny Winter passing away trumped everything. He toured relentlessly but I never got to see him. I'm kicking myself now since I  didn't see him. Something always came up. I always thought I would catch him next time. Now there is no next time. The relentless touring musician was working on those next times when he passed away in a hotel room on the road.

"Be Careful with a Fool"

Here he jams with Jimi Hendrix...

"Mississippi Blues"

The blues world lost a great one. Johnny Winter leaves us with an album on the way. On September 2, 2014 Step Back is scheduled to be released. The album features guests like Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Paul Nelson, Brian Setzer, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie West, Jason Ricci, Joe Perry, and Dr. John. Thanks Mr. Winter for leaving us something to long for, your guitar playing will be missed. Johnny Winter may you rest in peace.

All Saints Day

In honor of All Saints day and being pretty close to New Orleans I thought I would dedicate my post to "When The Saints Go Marching In."


Here is a classic version by Louis Armstrong...

From a jazz great to a blues great here is B.B. King's version...

Here is the funk master James Brown with his Motown version...

Bringing it back to New Orleans with Dr. John...

Maybe a royal version by the king himself Elvis..

and I'll end with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band giving a great brass, funky, New Orleans version of the great song..

Enjoy your All Saints Day and enjoy the music!

A lot of BluesI

I wrote a preview about the concert I am going to see tonight. It is headlined by The Outlaws, and features sets by blues guitarist Tommy Castro and the Kenny Young Band. You can read that on the examiner where I preview a lot if blues shows and write occasional reviews.I have a video of one of the Outlaws bigger hits on that. Here they perform "Freeborn Man" from 1977...

Here is a tune by Tommy Castro...

Last weekend I was able to see Keb' Mo' and I had heard a bunch of good stuff about him. He was incredible. You can read my review here. The article has three videos linked to it. However, I really liked this song...

Where I live there are a lot of great shows within a short drive. I covered Keb' Mo' while someone else covered Dr. John and The Blind Boys of Alabama now that sounds awesome too. You can read that review here.Of course here are some bonus tracks...

This one he performs with the great Eta James...

and here are the Blind Boys of Alabama....

Cool well I hope you enjoy and I will be back soon with more!