Thursday evening I was able to catch legendary Blues man, Charlie Musselwhite's show in Windsor, California -- a small town about 50 miles north of San Francisco in the beautiful Sonoma County wine country. (It seems lots of world-class musicians make their home in the San Francisco Bay Area!) This was an outdoor concert -- it was a spectacular day -- and I think all 26,000 of Windsor's residents (plus all their friends!) were THERE.
(I think someone in the town of Windsor had a little fun with the young man from Billboard who called to arrange a ticket and press/photo pass for me. When the young man called to tell me I was all set ... ticket and press/photo pass waiting for me at "Will Call" -- it didn't occur to me until I hung up the phone ... this was a FREE CONCERT!! There were no tickets, or press/photo passes, OR Will Call!) :-)
Gary was not able to join me, so seeing as it was an outdoor concert (and he's prone to lifting his leg on anything (1) green or (2) vertical which is generally "OK" outdoors) my handsome 3-year old Champion Dalmatian, "Dagger," was chosen to stand in as my "escort."
Charlie Musselwhite grew up in Memphis, and played the Blues in Chicago for many years. He was a close friend and partner of one of my favorites, the late John Lee Hooker. He is a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Monterey Jazz Festival, winner of 18 W.C. Handy awards, the recipient of 6 Grammy nominations, and was honored with the title "Blues Artist of the Year" in 2004. He plays a little guitar, but he's best known for his harmonica playing and his smokey blues voice. He has recorded dozens of albums and has contributed to many other musicians' recordings -- he appears on Bonnie Raitt's grammy-winning album "Longing In Their Hearts," among others, and even played the harmonica on INXS' "Suicide Blonde."
If you're a fan of "The Blues Brothers," as I am, you may be interested to know that Dan Aykroyd based his character Elwood Blues on none other than Charlie Musselwhite.
Needless to say, Charlie and his band put on a SHOW. With the amount of dancing and stomping and jumping going on at the Windsor Town Green Thursday night, I wouldn't be surprised if it registered on the Richter Scale! My only complaint was that it wasn't long enough!! I wanted MORE! (Dagger gave the show "two paws up.")
Charlie Musselwhite and his band are touring the US (and beyond) over the next several months ... then he'll be joining Mavis Staples, the North Mississippi Allstars and others for a tour billed as "Solid Blues" beginning in October. Check out his schedule at: http://www.charliemusselwhite.com/?page=shows
Lesley
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Great background info! and what a cute dog!
Posted by: Kate | July 16, 2007 at 04:35 PM
That was a great review, I especially liked your "escort" for the evening !
Posted by: Julie | July 16, 2007 at 07:57 PM
i am such an idiot...i thought that the posts on the side of your main page were all your concerts!!!!!!!!! i posted to like 7 people who weren't you!!!!!!!!!!! sorry if i ruined your chances! these were great shots...can't believe you took these with a phone!
Posted by: dione | July 23, 2007 at 08:00 PM