Chuck Berry has too many classic songs, but this has to be one of my favorites, “Thirty Days (To Come Back Home).” Maybe it’s the boom-chick-boom-chonk rhythm guitar thing I love so much. Maybe it’s the escalating threats in the lyrics, where he calls on everything from the gypsy women to eventually levying the FBI … Continue reading Sunday Music: 30 Days (Chuck Berry)
Tag: blues
Sunday Music: Jazz At Harvard with Wynton Marsalis
Did you know Wynton Marsalis’ Harvard lecture series, “Hidden in Plain View” is on YouTube? I didn't. Get some music. Get some philosophy. Get some of that Marsalis magic in your soul. I was lucky enough to see him give a masterclass circa 2004. Now, I’ve seen my share of music masterclasses and most of them … Continue reading Sunday Music: Jazz At Harvard with Wynton Marsalis
There Are Stones In Your Passway. Get Past Them. 
My guitar teacher when I was 13 or so had a poster of Robert Johnson on the wall of the glorified music store closet he taught lessons out of. There you’d be, trying your damndest to stumble through Stairway, and Robert Johnson was just posted up, staring you down. At the time, the image burned … Continue reading There Are Stones In Your Passway. Get Past Them. 
Sunday Music: Conan And The Kids Have The Blues
YouTube has been trying to get me to watch this video for months, and I finally clicked play. What follows is Conan teaching a group of elementary-age kids how to write blues music. https://youtu.be/J7f26d-AIrM "My sister and my mommy / they just eat edamame" will now be stuck in my head for weeks.
Sunday Music: Born In The USA
I’ve got a great memory of playing this on repeat in the car with my kids, driving to a fireworks display somewhere while on a vacation several years ago… the impassioned singalong was good for giggles until maybe the 8th run. Still, this song. THIS song. It’s more than just a classic. It’s a soldier … Continue reading Sunday Music: Born In The USA
Podcast Of The Week: Artists Making Money – Joe Bonamassa with Cory Wong
Joe Bonamassa isn’t just a force of nature on the guitar, he’s also one hell of a business person. Listen to his interview with Cory Wong where he breaks down the business of the business behind being a touring musician, how he defines “giving 100%,” and why his estate plan has a clause promising to … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Artists Making Money – Joe Bonamassa with Cory Wong
Sunday Music: La Grange
Have mercy. I finally watched the Netflix documentary, “That Little Ol’ Band from Texas,” about ZZ Top. Billy Gibbons reportedly went and ran around outside in the winter to get his voice to sound the way it does on “La Grange.” Creativity, dedication to the craft, and world-building, this band deserves a Harvard case study. … Continue reading Sunday Music: La Grange
Sunday Music: “Our Love Is Nothing But The Blues / Baby, How Blue Can You Get?
B.B. King's Live at the Regal is one of those "if I had a time machine..." concerts. "How Blue Can You Get?" is pure heartache that explodes in the bridge. His voice and the audience response to this section is sheer brilliance: I gave you a brand new Ford You said, "I want a Cadillac" … Continue reading Sunday Music: “Our Love Is Nothing But The Blues / Baby, How Blue Can You Get?