Videos of the Day 3 December 2011: Huey Lewis and the News
I loved Huey Lewis and the News for their hard-rockin’ precision and their joy. Huey’s a great front man and solid harp player, and Johnny Cola knocks me out with this band each and every time he puts the sax to his lips–his ideas and…
Video of the Day 25 Novermber 2011: PT Gazell and Shine
This is a recent performance by PT Gazell with Shine in Barcelona. PT starts by playing the melody in his easygoing style, then ramps up the heat as he goes along. PT’s smoothly swinging approach to jazz on the diatonic harp is unlike anyone else’s,…
Why I Hate “X-Factor”
I’ve written before about how and why I love “Glee” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” I’ve also talked about why I keep watching “American Idol.” I haven’t mentioned “The Voice” and “Project Runway” in this blog, but by now you probably get the…
Arggh! 3 Pedals is 2 Much!
I love the sound of my three-RP setup, but it’s time to admit the ugly truth: all that hardware is damned hard to manage in performance. It looks like a lot of work to set it up and make it go, and it is. And…
Huntersounds RP250/255/350/355 patch set update released
I’ve just shipped the latest updates to the Huntersounds patch sets for Digitech RP 250/255/350/355 to current subscribers. This set contains patches designed for vocalists as well as a couple of new amped blues harp patches. The RP is a surprisingly capable vocal processor, and…
News Flash: Lowlands 3rd CD Sessions Coming Soon
I got an email from my friend Ed Abbiatti, who wants me to know that he’s put a new version of his band Lowlands together, and they’re getting ready to mix their new CD down later this month. In the meantime, he wants me to…
Breakthrough Practicing: Recording Matters
I’ve been practicing a lot to get my new solo act together, and that means recording and listening a lot, too. I’ve realized that every breakthrough I’ve ever had in my playing, all the way back to the early days of my rock harmonica work…
Video of the Day 6 November 2011: Larry Adler and Oleta Adams, “Embraceable You”
Larry Adler had a strong affinity for George Gershwin’s music–they were young virtuosos in the same time and place, New York in the 1930s, making big waves in the world, and quintessentially American in their music and their bouyant, self-confident optimism. This piece was recorded…
Waka Waka Waka Waka: Sunset Sam
“Cruisin’ (Sunset Sam)” was written by Michael Nesmith of the Monkees, who also wrote “Mary Mary,” which Paul Butterfield covered on his amazing record “East/West” in the late 1960s. The piece has a head-bobbing groove that I’ve loved since I first saw the video in…
Big Noise: Mississippi Queen
“Mississippi Queen” was recorded by Leslie West and Mountain in the 1960s. I always loved the original, and when amp modelers came along to give me all the grunt I could want, I made sure to develop an arrangement for it. This version is played…
