Incredible and Alive: Infamous Stringdusters (FRESH LINKS)

Infamous Stringdusters

There are those occasions in daily life when nothing suits other than bluegrass music. Music that is genuine, heartfelt, earnest, melodic and intoxicating. One of those occasions has come upon me in recent days and without too much psychobabble it is probably because I’m not feeling very melodic or genuine at the moment. Forget even thinking about intoxicating.

Like soukous, the repetitive chords, the lightening paced picking and the building of a song the blends melody and rhythm into a orgasmic crescendo, bluegrass when done right is unbeatable and completely uplifting.

Here is a record of the Infamous Stringdusters performing live at the John Hartford Festival a couple years back. What I like about these guys is there commitment to the tradition but also their determination to jam. Many of these songs would make Jerry Garcia flip over in this grave with joy and anticipation.

I commend highly!

Track Listing (v1)

01 It’ll Be Alright’

02 Fork In the Road

03 Get It While You Can

04 Getting Down The Road

05 How Far I’d Fall for You

06 A Hundred Years From Now

07 It Don’t Mean Nothing

08 Deep Elem Blues

09 Keep On Truckin’

V1

Track Listing (v2)

10 The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake

11 My Destination

12 The Other Side

13 Steam Powered Aeroplane

14 Sunny Side of the Mountain

15 Uncle Pen

16 Instrumental

17 Cents

18 Walking On The Moon

V2

The Man: Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

I’m on the road for the next few weeks. Fiji today, Solomon Islands tomorrow. Not much time to go before I head off to all day meetings and then a flight back to Nadi later this evening. So will share a nice album from the greatest bluesman of all time, Mr. McKinley Morganfield.

 

Part of Universal’s Authorized Bootleg series, this disc combines 15 highlights from Muddy Waters‘ multi-night stint at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium in November 1966. These shows may have been held at a famous rock venue but these recordings have more in common with the performances Muddy gave on the blues and folk festival circuit in the mid-’60s. Muddy and the band are tight and professional, running through numbers they’ve played many times – of the 15 tracks, “Forty Days and Forty Nights,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” “Rock Me,” “Baby Please Don’t Go” are all repeated – and they don’t push, they’re so relaxed they even let the tempo almost drag at times. This means there’s not much kinetic energy here, but it’s not bland either: Muddy is always a powerful, compelling center and there’s some prickly ice-pick thin guitar popping up in unexpected places. The professionalism keeps the two sets here enjoyable but it’s those slight surprises that make this worthwhile. (AMG)

 

Track Listing:

1. Forty Days and Forty Nights
2. (I’m Your) Hootchie Coochie Man
3. Rock Me
4. Baby, Please Don’t Go
5. She Moves Me
6. Got My Mojo Working
7. You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had
8. Forty Days and Forty Nights
9. Baby, Please Don’t Go
10. Thirteen Highway
11. Rock Me
12. Honey Bee (Sail On)
13. Trouble No More
14. (I’mYour) Hootchie Coochie Man
15. Long Distance Call

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