You hear a song on the radio and are blown away by the sound. Looking up the artist you discover that they just recently died, and you’ll never see them in concert and there won’t be any new music.
For me the two artists that fall into this category were both from my college days. Stan Rogers, the great Canadian folk singer was a huge favorite in my crowd in college. I learned his songs around the campfires and found his albums at the Co-op. Unfortunately, he died in a plane fire my sophomore year before I really discovered who he was. The video of him in concert still gives me goosebumps.
The second was a little later in college, Steve Goodman (City of New Orleans, A Dying Cubs Fan’s Last Request). Someone in the house I lived in off campus had an album and we played it constantly. Again, without Wikipedia I didn’t discover that he’d died right about the time I played the album for the time. I would have loved his live show.
Hard to believe, Doc Watson. I’d heard OF him of course, but he never had or wrote any hits of his own or had much airplay. Very fine flatpicker of course. It would have been nice to see him perform live, in his prime or close to it.
I won’t say I discovered him too late, but I just missed seeing Bob Marley live. He was scheduled to play at my university in 1980 but had to cancel because of his cancer and died the next year.
I loved Sam Myers, who sang/toured with Anson Funderburgh’s band. I probably saw him perform 6 times over the years, so he isn’t a perfect match for this thread.
I was busy and missed his show when he was in Pittsburgh in 2005. He died a short time later. I really regret not seeing him one final time.
Although I became a fan of The Band in the late '80s, I really wasn’t aware of who sang what song and what their individual talents were. Consequently I didn’t make any concerted efforts to see the remaining members when they appeared numerous times and in various combinations in NYC until after Richard Manuel’s passing…really would have loved to have heard him live.
I don’t know Stan Rogers, but good call on Steve Goodman. A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request is brilliant.
Also in the folk genre, there was a Seattle trio called Uncle Bansai that I only discovered after they’d broken up. They reunited for occasional gigs later, and I’ve been to a few, but I wonder if I missed something not seeing them in their heyday.
A few years ago I splurged on a really good ticket to see Ennio Morricone with a 100-piece orchestra in New York City. He had to cancel because of poor health. At his age, I won’t have too many chances left. A search shows some upcoming tour dates in Europe; if I had the cash, I’d consider it.
I actually discovered Fairport Convention because of Sandy Denny’s death. I read her obit in Rolling Stone and it intrigued me, so I bought Liege & Lief. I now own every recording she ever did.
Tommy Bolin. I barely knew some of his work from Deep Purple and was really getting into Private Eyes when he OD’d. I’d love to have seen him, especially if he could have moderated the drugs a bit that were taking a toll, but then that’s always been true for a lot of artists… and probably always will.
SRV. But I was only 13, and just getting into the blues.
I did, however, have the enviable pleasure of seeing (and meeting) Danny Gatton a couple dozen times or so. He used to have a regular gig at a place called Tornado Alley in Wheaton, MD and I had a friend who worked there and would let me sneak in the back.
I became aware of Duane Allman just a few months after he was killed. He’s one of my three “If I had a time machine who would I see” artists.
(Art Tatum, George Gershwin)
