I’m not the right person to ask – I listen to way more music in languages I don’t speak than I do to music in English. My obsession with Derek Trucks is actually kind of an anomaly.
That said, if you want to know what the best guitarist in Africa sounds like, check out this live album by Habib Koite and Bamada.
Just sticking with the Bloomfield thing, a track that I love and that nobody I know has really heard before is Iron Horse from the Merl Saunders and Friends album Keepers. It’s by far the funkiest thing I think that he ever played, even while staying well within his blues based comfort zone.
This is just plain mean. Amazon lists this for $25. There’s only one left. There is no offer of buying all or part of it on MP3. My wallet is squirming around in my back pocket.
Twickster are you trying to push my buttons?
I think what I will do though is hold off until **Wordman ** has the time to respond. Then I may sample a few of your suggestions and let you know if you’ve given me any new music addictions.
My musical tastes are all over the map. My Ipod is full of classical, jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass. Recently, I’ve been exploring Country Blues, so the recent DTB (Already Free) was a bit of a departure for me. It is growing on me, though.
I’ve got a good story (I have a story for every occasion) related to this. Last summer, so local folks, the Blue Shoe Project, put on a small Blues Festival in Colleyville. It was a nice evening and it was free, so my wife and I went. Tutu Jones was one of the performers. Good stuff.
The organizers of this festival were the people behind the Last of the Great Mississippi Bluesmen album. I bought the CD. I’ve since bought music of several of the players on that CD. One of them was Henry Townsend. I bought *Cairo Blues *and just fell in love with it. I don’t have the music vocabulary to describe the way he plays, but it’s simple and complicated at the same time. Robert Lockwood and Pinetop Perkins are two other great ones.
I’ve recently become a huge Mark Knopfler fan. I was just a regular fan before. I think I have all of his solo albums now. Besides his impeccable guitar playing, I love his story songs.
Bonnie Raitte – she can do no wrong. I feel about her the same way **Twickster **feels about Derek Trucks. I’ll be her *Rainy Day Man *anytime.
I got Already Free a couple days ago. Even though DT showed off some Indian licks on the OP’s link, I was suitably impressed. Hey, that’s not Mississipi, that’s Mali! And Mumbai, too.
I have another slide guitar question, but I have a little digging to do before I ask it. I’ll probably start a new thread for it. (a hint…ghost notes)
Okay - Monday was Oakland, yesterday was LA (meeting went until 2:30am Eastern/my time!!), today is Phoenix and tomorrow is SF, then flying back to the East Coast on Friday - this is my way of saying “oy!” 
- I have to go to a dinner meeting tonight, but if I get back to the hotel at a reasonable time, I will post something, at least to provide a bit of the “why” behind my two earlier recommendations (unless, BubbaDog, you come back to say that you either know all about them or don’t think they are a good fit with what you are looking for.)
But, kinda like **AskNott’s **post (and by the way, happy to discuss ghost notes and controlling them on slide if that is what you are looking for), I wonder if this stuff is better moved to a new thread. I know of a lot of Dopers who have thoughtful POV’s about **BD’s **question but may not know to come into this Slide thread to offer their ideas and explanations.
So unless I hear differently, when I do get on, I’ll start a different thread that references this one but focuses on **BD’s **request…hope that’s cool.
Okay - back to the chain gang…
Talk away, I’m all ears. My wallet though, took a happy beating today. I bought tickets for the DTB show in my area this April.
Fine with me
It’s good stuff, but it’s a completely different style of guitar – not the big powerful bluesy guitar we’ve been talking about here, more like precision-notes. (Sorry, I totally lack the language for this.)
I gotta check this out when I am back home and better connected…
Add to the “Damn, what a great freaking song” list: “Down Don’t Bother Me.”
I concur! So much so that I dialed it up while I type this and finish lunch.
See here: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Lessons/Lesson-Of-The-Day/slide-tilting-open-e-311/
Arlen Roth is both a monster player AND known for being one of the most prolific instructors. Any of us who started in the 70’s and 80’s remember his Hot Licks ads in the guitar magazines.
Well, he’s working with Gibson right now online and has lesson of the day clips. A number of them deal with slide - lord knows, as I have tip-toed back to slide to give it yet another try after hearing DTB I have really looked to these little vids for inspiration.
Now - this particular clip is some master class stuff: tilting the slide to grab a different partial chord while in an open tuning. But lots (most) of his lessons are far more Beginner or Intermediate…but watching this one is very cool ;).
Non-players - sure he uses some technical jargon, but the lesson is only 5 minutes and the playing speaks for itself and is very interesting (I think - you let me know!) because you hear the slide work isolated without a band so you get a chance to listen for nuance…
bump to report on my annual pilgrimage to worship at the shrine, which was last night.
Good show. Seriously, if you think his CDs are worth listening to, you have got to go see him live.
Arrived somewhat early (we’d had dinner in the bar across the street, which was painfully clamorous, though the food was good, and since it was raining, a walk around the neighborhood was cut short), so I … bought a t-shirt. I realize most of you are thinking, “okay,” but I have never, in damn close to 40 years of concert-going (since the Who on the Who’s Next tour in 1970) bought a t-shirt. When I was a girl, it wasn’t de rigeur to do so, and I’ve just never seen the point/picked up the practice. Till now. (Nice dark gray t-shirt, with a medium gray outline of a guitar, neck end up, on the front, says “The Derek Trucks Band” down the neck of the guitar; tasteful “dTb” logo at the nape of the neck on the back. I’m wearing it now. :D)
There was an opening act (grumble grumble grumble) – under any other circumstances, I’d have really enjoyed them, but last night they were merely delaying my husband’s appearance on stage. Ruthie Foster, out of Austin – three black women (Ruthie on rhythm guitar, her bassist, and her drummer) and a white guy on lead guitar. (Poor quixotic fellow, to bother to play lead guitar when DT was backstage.) Good tight band, nice mix of influences (blues, reggae, funk, soul), and she has a hell of a voice.
Intermission, which took more than 15 minutes. (Ai yi yi people, stop torturing me) – then dTb took the stage and played for almost two hours.
They opened with “Down in the Flood,” then went to “Sailing On.” Then their usual mix – their songs, old and new, and songs by others, some I’ve never heard them play before and some I’ve just plain never heard before.
Highlights: Great funkified version of “Blind, Crippled, and Crazy” from Songlines. A nice version of “Already Free,” which is treated pretty much as a throwaway on the album of the same name – they filled it out and gave it some respect.
Only other song from Already Free was “Sweet Surrender” – nice rough-hewn version – followed immediately by a Coltranesque “My Favorite Things” to close the show. Oh. My. God. They were recording last night, and y’all better cross your fingers that this makes it onto a CD at some point, because Oh. My. God. Long, amazing freaking version where DT went into another place and took us all with him. I almost started crying at one point just because it was so … yikes … and then later I was laughing a little – again, just excess of emotion. Wow. Wow wow wow.
First encore: song I didn’t recognize. Second encore: “Joyful Noise.”
Great, great freaking show.
One final, not entirely relevant note: They didn’t play “This Sky,” which is my absolute favorite song of theirs, and one I still haven’t heard them play live. Guess I’ll just have to keep going to their shows until they do.
That sounds wonderful - thank you for the update!
Your poor husband, while still a talented musician is suffering from the delusion that he’s married to my girlfriend. She seems to be suffering from a similar delusion. Best to let them sort it out on their own.
I missed this thread the first time around, but I’m grateful to see it now.
I’ve always kind of liked Trucks’ playing, what little of it I’d heard, but being more of a jazz/blues fan, haven’t paid too much attention. I mistakenly took him for a Duane Allman clone with the slide, and a Clapton clone without the slide (well, not quite a clone, but the Clapton influence is unmistakeable to my ear - not that that’s a bad thing, mind you, Trucks’ playing is very heartfelt).
This song, however, alters my perception of him immensely. With the slide on his finger, the kid’s a monster. A snarling, streetlamp swinging, schoolbus-crushing, doomsday apparition (was that over the top? Sorry. :p)
Seconded. Thanks for the tip. 
Duh – this is obviously a brainfart for “Sweet Inspiration.”
I’m not sure – don’t we owe it to both of them to intervene?
BTW – did you end up checking out Habib Koite? What did you think?
Sounds like you caught a great show, twickster! I haven’t seen the band in a little while, but they’re doing a free show in Lincoln Center in August and I’m very much looking forward to it.
Yep, and while his music doesn’t seem to focus much on his guitar playing I like his band. Its the percussion ensemble that really gets the rythm into your head.
And for Wordman, check out the performance here.
He plays a very interesting guitar. Some kind of electric-acoustic with sound holes in the upper shoulder of the guitar. And just as interesting his accompanying guitar player appears to be playing the same guitar only upside down to facilitate a left handed style.
The second man plays this upside down guitar in other videos too. This one shows him just a little more prominently than others.
Cool music - thanks for the easy link. That’s a Canadian-made Godin guitar - they are advertised quite a bit in the guitar mags. Here’sa link to their website - I don’t have experience with them, but perhaps **Le Ministre **might see this and chime in- I want to say he has experience with them, beside simply being Canadian himself…