Click here to see the photos.

Derek Trucks Band played the Wies Center for the Performing Arts at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2009.

The first time I was at the Wies Center was for a Bela Fleck and Edger Meyer concert on Valentine’s Day 2004 which was my first ever date with my wife.  Not to mention, the first concert we ever went to together was Derek Trucks Band on January 24, 2004 , just three weeks prior to our first date.  So I could think of no better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year for us.

Derek Trucks Band came out and began the show rocking their cover of Bob Dylan’s “Down In The Flood”.  “Down in the Flood” which can be found on their new album, “Already Free”, is a roots rocking and foot stomping song that begs for your attention.  During the song, it was immediately clear that something was different…. They hired professional lights for additional visuals.  I have been to many many many Derek Trucks Band shows and was the first time I have seen them use a state of the art lighting rig.  It occurred to me that this Band is really hitting stride and getting a bigger fan base at a fast pace right now.

An amazing instrumental “Soul Serenade” led right into the more traditional blues rock “Get What You Deserve” off the “Already Free” album as well. “Days Is Almost Gone” and the not so Valentine’s Day appropriate “Get Out Of My Life Woman” are two more notable songs from this set.  The band has really settled in and got a few of these new songs rocking live.

After “Get Out Of My Life Woman” Mike walked off stage using his crutches and Derek wound things down a bit while starting up “My Favorite Things”.  If you have seen any of the Derek Trucks Band’s recent renditions of this song, you’d know that the mellowness of the jazzy tune would not last. 

They have really taken this song places that only a few jazz greats can take it.  In the live setting, this song really takes flight and then makes very fast and drastic turns into avante garde jazz territory.  You can tell the whole band enjoys wailing on this song and stretching its boundaries further each time.  Derek again did his guitar wizardry during this song, experimenting with natural and pinch harmonics and detuning the low E-string all the way such that it hangs off the fret board and then pulls the string back across the bridge pickup and pulls on the string to create more tension as he plucks the sting.  As he winds the low E-string back in tune, he cranks the tuner in a fast motion as he plucks the string several times resulting in a gritty sound like a truck revving it’s engine. 

Their set ended with a new cover song, “We’re A Winner” by The Impressions (written by Curtis Mayfield) which tells you how confident they are about the song that they already have it in the set closing position in the setlist.  It is a soul song and it starts off slow but builds and builds until it unleashes a fury of Derek’s guitar licks that throw the whole band into overdrive.  It is a cool song that really fits well with the rest of the material they have been playing.

The encore was Freddie’s Dead which featured revolving solo spotlight until everyone had their turn ripping it up.  Yonrico’s drum solo was the most energetic and thunderous of them all during this song and it ultimately got him so excited that he jumped into the air and landed back in his seat while keeping the beat the whole time. It was great to see this song again, I have not seen it since at least 2003. 

Seeing Freddie’s Dead got me thinking there are a lot of older Derek Trucks Band songs that I have not seen in many years and I would love to see some of them dusted off and played on tour. 

Lead singer Mike Mattison’s right foot/ankle was in a soft cast for this concert and he had it propped up on a road case for the show and had to use crutches to move on and off stage.  Hopefully Mike will be feeling better fast and back to dancin’ and groovin’ soon.

The setlist for the evening was:
Down In The Flood
Down Don’t Bother Me
Don’t Miss me
Soul Serenade
Get What You Deserve
Sahib Teri
Days Is Almost Gone
Already Free
Meet Me At The Bottom
I Know
Get Out Of My Life Woman
My Favorite Things
We’re A Winner

Encore:
Freddie’s Dead

Click here to see the photos.

Guitar Blues Tour With Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna), Robben Ford (Miles Davis, Phil Lesh, Greeg Allman) & Ruthie Foster played the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Friday, 02-06-2009.

Ruthie Foster Solo (Acoustic)
The show started off as a quiet intimate evening as Ruthie Foster took the stage playing acoustic solo with her big smile and contageous happy personality.  One thing about Ruthie that was immediately apparent is her incredible warm bluesy voice.  Ruthie’s voice was a refreshing take on the blues because her roots are tied tightly to gospel music and she never really let go of that, in fact her most recent album “The Truth According to Ruthie Foster” is a disc that is mostly comprised of gospel/blues songs.

Jorma Kaukonen Solo (Acoustic)
Jorma Kaukonen took the stage after Ruthie and he too played a selective acoustic solo set.  The high point for me was when Jorma Kaukonen played his trademark song “Embryonic Journey” which is an instrumental acoustic guitar masterpiece originally recorded for a Jefferson Airplane album. A close second favorite song was his rendition of the old-time folk song “Know You Rider”.

Robben Ford with band (Electric)
Robben Ford came on third and cranked up the volume up a little bit from the previous sets playing electric guitar with a bass player and drummer.  The song that struck me the most from his set was “Riley B. King” which he joked was a love song for BB King.  I had known (and love) the song from Keb’ Mo’s album “Keep It Simple” but have never heard Robben Ford play it. Robben Ford’s set also included two songs with Ruthie Foster.  One song featured Ruthie on keyboards and the second featured Ruthie on acoustic guitar.  In addition, Robbe’s set included two songs with Jorma Kaukonen on a beautiful Gibson ES-335 electric guitar.

Robben Ford, Jorma Kaukonen, and Ruthie Foster with band (Electric with Ruthie Foster on Acoustic)
Together this group of talent played two Bob Dylan Songs that were really well played.  The first being “Serve Somebody” which is one of my favorite songs on the Dylan and The Dead CD.  This song drives the rhythm home like a moving train constantly churning and turning.  The impressive guitar leads and solos were traded off between Robin and Jorma while Ruthie laid the ground works on rhythm guitar.  The second Dylan tune, the encore for the night, was “Don’t Think Twice” which had all three of the singers trading verses and sharing chorus vocals.  Jorma’s voice lends well to the true Dylan sound while Ruthie’s vocals were in a very nice tone and sung the tune similar to Susan Tedeschi’s take on the classic song.

I was able to find a partial setlist on Jorma’s website:

Jorma Kaukonen Solo (Acoustic)
1. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?
2. Follow The Drinking Gourd
3. Heart Temporary
4. 99 Year Blues
5. I Know You Rider
6. Embryonic Journey
7. Full Go Round

Jorma Kaukonen, Robben Ford, Dewane and Gabe:
1. Rock Me Baby
2. I Wish You Would

Robben Ford, Jorma Kaukonen, and Ruthie Foster with band:
1. Serve Somebody (Bob Dylan Song)

Robben, Ruthie & Jorma (No Band, Encore): 
1. Don’t Think Twice (Bob Dylan Song)

Click here to see the photos.

Jerry Joseph hit the Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg, PA on 01-30-2009.  What was originally billed to be the Denmark Veseys turned out to be an intimate two set solo acoustic show with Jerry Joseph.  Round Table Presents continue to bring in quality music in the Harrisburg area, Jerry Joseph is one of the most under-rated singer songwriters out there now and has been at it for many years.

Jerry Joseph has had a career like a nomad jumping from one project to the next and making his mark along the way.  His career started off with a band called Little Women as a fan of the Grateful Dead and reggae they often mixed genres and styles of music.  He currently tours solo, with his band Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons, the Stockholm Syndrome (with Dave Schools), as well as Denmark Veseys.  Jerry Joseph is great friends with Widespread Panic and he often appears on stage with them and/or plays late shows in cities that Widespread Panic plays.  The first time I encountered Jerry was at a Panic show where he rocked the song “Chainsaw City”.  Jerry Joseph gets around….

On this night in the Abbey Bar, Jerry was alone all by himself other than his acoustic guitar.  Jerry Joseph is a prolific and profound writer often picking politically charged arguments as the song centerpiece.  His songs started on the softer side of Jerry’s catalog noting that his guitar needed warmed up before he could start rocking since he had just shuffled in from the cold only moments ago.  It took no time at all it seemed before he started belting out and pounding on that guitar.  The first set seemed like it flew by in a matter of moments, before you knew it  the politically fueled Zombie Blues in your face like a spitting drill sarge, “Who’s Your daddy now!?”.  The night finished off with an appropriate ending as Jerry rocked out “Three Mile Island” which happens to be located in a close proximity to the venue.

The setlist for the night was:
Set I:
Pogues Weather
Jump>
End Of The World>
Jump
Frost Heaves>
World Will Turn
Revelator
Charge
Two Balloons>
Zombie Blues

Set II:
White Dirt
Spy
Syracuse
Evasive
Wisconsin Death Trip
Isabella Bird
Golden American
Staple Gun>
Show Biz Kids>
Staple Gun
Bossman Piss>
Welcome To The Other 95%>
Way Too Loud>
Welcome To The Other 95%

Encore: Three Mile Island

The whole show can be downloaded or streamed here:  http://www.archive.org/details/jjj2009-01-30.akg481  Thank your tapers!