Rory Gallagher - Banker's Blues

This is a live performance by Rory Gallagher, doing an acoustic blues classic on his own. It's a solo performance, just Rory and his guitar, it's so fantastic what only a select few performers can do when they sit on their own and do an self accompanied acoustic blues performance. It's a tradition of the 1920's and 30's, and so many people today aren't able to do it. Very few people listen to the roots of the blues, and perform them as well as Gallagher did.
The song Banker's Blues was originally recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, a legendary player of the acoustic blues era of the 1930's. He's not as famous as Robert Johnson, but still quite known within the guitar playing community. And both Gallagher and Clapton have cited him as an influence on their playing styles.
The song is about women and how they'll steal your money, if you have them in the bank, a quite simple theme. The song follows the same chord structure as "Key to the Highway", but is still different. It's sort of like Son House's "Death Letter" sounds like "Rollin' and Tumblin'", but they are different songs.
It's a great song, and a great performance. I've embeded a version of the original recording beneath, the sound quality isn't good, and you can hear the needle scratching the record, but it's still good.


Enjoy ; )

Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas

This is a video for the Chris Rea Christmas song "Driving Home for Christmas". It was released in December of 1988 as a single, and wasn't attached to any particular album. It did fairly well peaking at #53 on the UK single charts. It did really well in a lot of European countries (scheme below of rankings on various charts).
The song is about a guy driving home to his family or friends to celebrate the Holidays. The song also features a little solo by Chris, it's not a slide solo which is mainly, or at least one of the things Rea is attached to.
It's a nice little Holiday song in a mellow and not over-emotional tone and feeling, a really good Christmas song.

Chart	Peak position
UK Singles Chart (2007)[2]	33
Norway Singles Chart (2008)[4]	2
Swedish Singles Chart (2010)[5]	26
Dutch Singles Chart (2008)[6]	17
Finnish Singles Chart (1999)[7]	17
Danish Singles Chart (2007)[8]	19
Austrian Singles Chart (2007)[9]	35
Swiss Singles Chart (2009)[10]	41
German Singles Chart (2008)[11]	31

Enjoy ; )

Velvet Revolver - Set Me Free

This is a live performance from 2005 by the American hard rock group Velvet Revolver. The song was released in 2003 and originally appeared on the soundtrack for the Hulk film of the same year. The single then also made it onto the bands debut album "Contraband".
The main riff of the song was made by Slash, and it's what drives the song. On the record version there's two rather complicated guitar solos done by Slash.
This live version is really good because the band really goes nuts and gives 100 %. Slash is playing like crazy, and doing a fantastic job with the song, he even throws the guitar behind his head for a chunk of the performance, and makes the guitar scream at the end until the last chord is played. Dave Kushner even does a little solo at one point.
This is a pretty sweet hard rock song, and the band rocks it with this performance.

Enjoy ; )

Repost: The Dead Weather - Blue Blood Blues

I posted a live version of this song earlier, but it has been taken down from youtube, or has been disabled in some regions in the world, I don't know which! The fact of the matter is that I can't view the video embeded in the original post, so I'm reposting it.
I wrote more about the song and it's release in my earlier post which you can check out by clicking here.
This version is a little grittier, it's recorded live from live from the Third Man Records, the independent label that publish the song.

Ray Charles - Merry Christmas Baby

This is a performance from Ray Charles performing the R & B Christmas standard "Merry Christmas Baby", originally composed and written by Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore in 1947. It has been covered by many different artists, including; Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Springsteen.
It's a nice little soulful tune for the Holiday season.
Below is a version by Christina Aguilera and B.B. King. It's a very good version, but a bit short, and not as soulful as Ray's version.


Enjoy, and Happy Holidays

Chuck Berry - Let It Rock

This is a live performance by Chuck Berry, he performs the rock 'n' roll classic "Let It Rock". The song was originally released in 1960 on Berry's alum "Rockin' at the Hops", and it was only a b-side to the single "Too Pooped to Pop".
This however became more famous than the a-side. Probably thanks to other artists covering it, and its resemblance to Berry's most famous tune "Johnny B. Goode". It has been covered by The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Bob Seger and Motörhead to name a few. It is perhaps one of Berry's most covered songs, next to "Johnny B. Goode".
I've included a performance by Motörhead from The Late Show with David Letterman beneath, because I think they do a pretty well job with it.
It's a great song, and a great performance by both acts.


Enjoy ; )

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Hug You, Squeeze You

This is a live performance by blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He performs the song "Hug You, Squeeze You", an up beat happy blues song.
The song is a take off, or maybe even a cover of a John Lee Hooker song that at least have very similar lyrics. The John Lee Hooker version is simply titled "I Want To Hug You".
This is a song that Stevie didn't perform very often, and it's also in a key that Stevie didn't use very much. It's played in the key of E. As most people who are fans of Stevie probably know, he tuned his guitar down one half step. This means that the key you get when playing a straight forward shuffle blues starting on the lowest string is in the key of Eb. Stevie basically forms what on a regularly tuned guitar would be an F chord, and takes it from there. So this is one of those rare occasions where Stevie is playing in the key of E on a guitar tuned in the key of Eb essentially. I think this is the only song where he does this, but I'm not sure.
Any ways, it gives the song and performance a unique sound.
It's a great performance, and a great song.

Enjoy ; )