Stevie Ray Vaughan & W.C. Clark - Insturmental Jam

This is a performance video by Stevie Ray Vaughan that I only recently discovered. It features Stevie Ray Vaughan and fellow Texan musician W.C. Clark on the bass. As the song is an instrumental jam there is no song title.
W.C. Clark is a Texan blues, funk and jazz musician. He plays both guitar and bass. He first learned the guitar at around age fourteen and then moved on to playing bass. In the 1970's he formed a band called "Triple Threat Revue" where he played with Lou Ann Barton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He played in many bands in this period and also played with Stevie's brother Jimmie Vaughan in another band.
This instrumental jam is a true gem among SRV fans. It's really great to hear how well he fits in with the whole funk thing. Also his soloing and rhythm playing on this is spot on perfect. I know they probably rehearsed this prior to the performance, or more correctly, I'm assuming that, but who knows maybe it really is all improvised. All I know is that it is a really good performance and Stevie's abilities as a guitarist really shine through.

Eric Clapton - Motherless Children

This is a live performance by Eric Clapton. He is joined on stage by Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II. Bramhall and Clapton are playing slide on this tune while Trucks handles the rhythm part which is unusual as Trucks is known for his virtuous slide playing. The performance is from a concert in France from 2006. It's not professionally shot, but the audio is surprisingly good. Also this track is pretty rare for Clapton to do live.
The song is from Clapton's "461 Ocean Boulevard" (1974) album which was a highly successful album from Clapton, also containing Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff" his only #1 hit on the Billboard hot 100.
The lyrics to the song are traditional and ergo have no writer. The arrangement is credited to Clapton and Carl Radle.
The song is basically about mothers and the big impact and love they have on everyone around them. It's also about the void left should a mother die. So I thought it would at the very least be somewhat relevant on mother's day.
It's a great performance and the audio is surprisingly tolerable.

Enjoy ; )

Robert Cray - I'll Go On

This is a live performance from blues artist Robert Cray. Robert and his band plays the song "I'll Go On" from their 1995 album "Some Rainy Morning" (the performance is from 1996).
The song is an original Cray song as he composed both the song and the lyrics. I think it's a very good performance and a very good song. Cray portrays the role of both rhythm and lead player very well, and sings to perfection as well. The band is also very good.
It's a great performance of a great song.

Enjoy ; )

David Bowie - Let's Dance

This is a music video for the title track of Bowie's album "Let's Dance" released in 1983, and digitally re-mastered in 1999.
This is a great album by Bowie, it experiments with many different genres of music, it has a lot of funk influences, but also draws on more traditional rock and blues, and of course also the pop sound of the times.
The album is also famous for helping blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan getting discovered. Bowie had heard Stevie's 1982 Montreux performance, and was impressed. They met up backstage and chatted, and it turned out they were in to some of the same weird things musically. Bowie admired Stevies sound, and hired him to play lead guitar on his next album which was "Let's Dance".
Stevie only plays lead guitar, the rhythm guitar on the album is Nile Rodgers. And Stevie's lead playing is very toned down, and not a huge part of the album, but still helps increase the sound and the experience.
The album cut of the song Let's Dance is 7:37, much shorter than what is used in the music video which I assume is also the radio edit of the song. They still left in all of Stevie's parts however which shows how much his lead playing helped the album.
Stevie was also offered a spot in David's live band that was going to tour for the album, but he turned it down, and went onto recording his first solo record with Double Trouble "Texas Flood", and got the massive career in the 80's.
It's a great song, and a pretty good looking music video for the times. Stevie isn't in the video, and Bowie pretends to play a Stratocaster looking guitar while wearing white gloves, perhaps a nod to Stevie and the fact that no one could play like him, who knows? Or maybe just David being odd.

Enjoy ; )

U2 & B.B. King - When Love Comes to Town

This is a collaboration between the band U2 and B.B. King. The song was released in 1988 U2's album "Rattle and Hum", and it was released as the album's third single in 1989.
The song has been played live many times, all of them featuring B.B. King and his band. On the "Lovetown Tour" in 1989 the song was played as an encore on almost all nights of the tour. It was played at 46 out of the 47 shows, and was the main encore for the tour. This clip is also from the Lovetown Tour.
It's a great song with a nice and up beat rhythm. The Edge sticks to playing the rhythm parts on the song, and B.B. plays all the lead parts. The singing is shared between Bono and B.B., but it's B.B. rocking the house and getting the crowd in a good mood. He does a spoken word in the song, and really gets the audience going.
This version is on a very grand scale. B.B. was touring with a big band, featuring both choir girls and a horn section. It all helps build up the scale of the song and the performance, but it's still B.B. at the centre, giving the performance it's heart.
This is so uplifting, you can't be in a bad mood after listening to this.

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 ; )