Eric Clapton - Have You Ever Loved a Woman

This is a live performance by blues guitarist Eric Clapton performing his version of the classic blues standard "Have You Ever Loved a Woman".
The song is a blues standard written by Billy Myles. It was first recorded by Freddie King in 1960. It was released as a single by Freddie King, but didn't become a huge single.
It was then since covered by Derek and the Dominos, ergo Clapton on guitar, for their 1970 album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs". Clapton has since made the song a regular on his live sets, and it appears on the following live recordings by Clapton: "E. C. Was Here", "24 Nights", "Live In Hyde Park", "One More Car, One More Rider", and "Crossroads Guitar Festival 2004". So basically almost all live recordings by him.
This version is from the unreleased film "Nothing But The Blues" directed by Martin Scorsese. It's a great performance by Clapton, this set-up has a horn section and Clapton is playing a Gibson ES-335. I love how he on this performance actually sings using octaves in his voice, it sounds really good.

The clip above is a piece of footage from the 2004 performance of the song. It's Billy Preston's organ solo which is one thing the other performance is missing. It's a great solo, and whenever Preston does an organ solo on this he just gives 110 %, a great little piece of footage to go along with this clip.
It's a great song and a great performance by Clapton. (And check out the organ solo too, it's well worth it!)

Enjoy ; )

Willie Nelson & Ben Harper - Midnight Rider

This is part of the television concert "Outlaws and Angels" which was also released as an album in 2004.
This clip features performances from Willie Nelson with: Ben Harper, Lee Ann Womack, Toby Keith, and Merle Haggard.
I really love the first performance of this clip which is Willie Nelson with Ben Harper playing the song "Midnight Rider". Ben Harper delivers an amazing piece of lap steel guitar playing. I really love the sound of that slide playing, it's great.
The song "Midnight Rider" was originally done by The Allman Brothers Band. The song is off the band's 1970 album "Idlewild South". The song was written by Gregg Allman and Richard Payne. It has become a fixture in the band's live performances, and renditions by Joe Cocker, Gregg Allman himself, and Willie Nelson have all reached the charts as singles.
I really love this performance, it's really good, and again that slide playing, man that just sounds so good.

Enjoy ; )

John Legend and The Roots featuring Common & Melanie Fiona - Wake Up Everybody

This is the music video to John Legend's version of the classic R&B song "Wake Up Everybody". On this version Legend is joined by The Roots, Common, and Melanie Fiona.
The song was originally performed by the R&B group Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. It was released in 1975 and did relatively well on the charts.
The song has been recorded several times since it was first released. In 2004 a version was recorded with a long list of artists. It was in support of the 2004 presidential election and encouraged young people to go vote. This version was produced by Babyface. The same year blues artist Keb Mo also did a version of the song.
The newest version is this one by Legend and gang. This version is from 2010. It's a great song and this cover sounds really good with The Roots laying the rhythmic foundation.

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - I Shot the Sheriff

This is a live performance by Eric Clapton playing his version of the classic reggae song "I Shot the Sheriff". The performance is from the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival.
The song was originally written and performed by Bob Marley and his band The Wailers. It appeared on their "Burnin'" album. The story of the song is quite simple; A man who admits to having shot the sheriff also claims that he has been falsely accused of shooting the deputy sheriff.
Clapton's version was released in 1974 on the 461 Ocean Boulevard album. Clapton's version is the most commercially successful version of the song peaking at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This also meant that this was Clapton's only top charting hit in the US. And with the music standards dominating today I seriously doubt he will ever have a hit that becomes equally big. But that says more about the terrible taste of music consumers to day and nothing about Clapton.
It's a great performance and the band and Clapton really have a nice feel on it in their playing. I also really think that Doyle Bramhall II's rhythm and background playing on this makes for a very good performance. He plays something in the beginning with a wah pedal that just sounds awesome. Clapton has expressed his enthusiasm about Doyle in his autobiography alongside Derek Trucks. Also Clapton's guitar solo on this is long and played like only Clapton can. Truly a great performance of a great song.

Enjoy ; )

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army & Death Letter

This is a live performance from the Grammy Awards, don't know what year, haven't looked into that. They play their probably most recognizable song from their career "Seven Nation Army". The song was released as a single in 2003 and was the opening track for the band's album titled "Elephant". The song reached the tops of modern rock charts and also won a Grammy Award for best Rock Song in 2004.
The song is known for it's lower register toned bassy guitar riff. It is in fact a riff that sounds like a bass, but it's played on guitar. Jack uses his semi-acoustic 1950's style guitar and runs it through a Digitech Whammy Pedal that drops it one octave giving the sound it's bassy guitar riff.
The song is played in Open A tuning, and he uses slide on it which I think just sounds amazing.
Towards the middle of the performance there's a break and they start playing their version of the classic blues song "Death Letter". I really like this version and I love how agressive Jack's slide playing is, I really love it and you can hear the roots dating back to Son House. I earlier posted Son House's version of Death Letter CLICK HERE for that performance. It's a great performance from a great band.

Enjoy ; )

Motörhead - Whorehouse Blues

This is a performance from the 2007 at Montreux, Motörhead performs their song "Whorehouse Blues" from the 2004 album "Inferno". The song is an acoustic blues song reflecting on 30 years on the road sometimes being and hanging out with the low end of society. Motörhead is a hard working band, and a band that lives for the road. They've had a career that's been going up and down, and sometimes it was even difficult to get gigs in some parts of Europe. So Motörhead certainly hasn't had it easy all the time.
On the song Lemmy plays harmonica in a traditional straight forward blues style, Mikkey Dee (the drummer) plays rhythm guitar whilst keeping a simple beat with a bass drum, and Phil Campbell plays along the rhythm and also does a solo. This is a very good acoustic blues track, of you like this kind of thing you'll enjoy it.

Enjoy ; )

If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day - Eric Clapton live

This clip is taken from Clapton's 2004 performance at the Crossroads guitar festival. It's a great version of this Robert Johnson classic, and showcases what Clapton does best, and have been doing since the early 60's: Electrifying the classic blues tunes and spreading the blues to a wider audience. Clapton also once said that it takes more than one person to duplicate what Johnson was doing in the 20's and 30's, and with this full orchestra he definetely does justice to the original.

Enjoy ; )