Happy Birthday to the Northern Irish singer Van Morrison, who is turning 80 today! His career in music started in the first half of the 1960’s, and he is best known for his time in Them, one of the best bands from the British Blues Boom, and of course for his long and successful solo career. The list of musicians he’s collaborated with includes John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Eric Clapton and The Band.
So we are talking about one of the greats in the history of rock here. And Van Morrison is still active. In fact, to celebrate his birthday, he is playing live today in Belfast, his hometown! Perhaps he is even on stage as we speak. So once again, Happy Birthday to Van the Man
In February I posted a birthday greeting to the American bassist Leland Sklar. Today I’d like to continue the theme from back then a little, and pay tribute to the session musicians we sometimes forget about. Because today drummer Russ Kunkel is turning 77. Once again it’s Russ who, and once again it is someone I can guarantee that many of you have heard without knowing it.
Russ Kunkel is a veteran session musician on the American west coast scene. He came to L.A. in 1966, and soon got involved on the vibrant music scene there. After playing on albums by Bob Dylan and B.B. King, he’s big break came when playing with James Taylor. Then he was on the roll, and appeared on albums with, among many others, Jackson Brown, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Stevie Nicks, Neil Young, Warren Zevon and Stevie Winwood
All these session musicians deserve to be celebrated. They are not the stars at the front of the stage, but without them the music we love wouldn’t have been the same. And today we celebrate one of them on his birthday, with a couple of songs he’s playing drums on. Happy Birthday to Russ Kunkel
Warren Zevon - Johnny Strikes Up the Band (1977)
Jackson Browne - Running On Empty (1977)
The bass player on both of these tracks are Leland Sklar. Remember him?
I did not find any version of this song from Norway in an instant. Are you sure you don’t mean Denmark? Anyway, this here is a fantastic version of this classic song
Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale (live in Denmark, 2006)
how it changes from hard to smooth here…
a few days ago a’ve seen a movie - Dog (2022) - and heard a song at the beginning.
i searched for the soundtrack and found a few singer-songwriter tracks
Chris Stapleton - Starting Over
Today I’d like do a little music history again, and celebrate the memory of one of the greats in blues, namely Jimmy Reed. He established himself in music in the mid 1950’s, with a series of songs that made it into the US top 100. The songs mostly charted in the lower regions of the charts, still two of his best known songs, Honest I Do (number 32 in 1957) and Baby What You Want Me To Do? (number 37 in 1960) made the top 50, which is not bad at all for a black musician in a US still racially segregated back then.
Jimmy Reed became an influential artist, and his songs have been covered by numerous artists through the years, most notably by The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley, but names like The Animals, The Yardbirds, Them, Grateful Dead, Wishbone Ash, John Cale and Steve Miller Band are also worth mentioning. Bob Dylan and Neil Young has also cited Jimmy Reed as an influence.
In spite of hevy alcoholism and poor health (years with undiagnosed epilepsy), Jimmy Reed managed to maintain his reputation. However, on the 5th of September 1976 his condition got the best of him and he passed away from respiratory failure, one day short of his 51st birthday. Now if I do my math correctly, it means that Jimmy Reed was born 100 years ago today!
To his memory, here’s a couple of his best known songs
Jimmy Reed - Baby What You Want Me To Do? (1960)
Jimmy Reed - Big Boss Man (1961, number 78 in the US charts)
Happy Birthday to the American singer and songwriter David Allan Coe, who is turning 86 today! He is a semi-legendary artist in US country. Along with among others Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, he was part of the outlaw country scene in the 1970’s. He had several hits in the country charts during the 70’s and 80’s. Still he never became a relly big name in country. There’s even some who argue that he is one of the greatest country artists ever.
The reason may well be that David Allan Coe has been a controversial person. One thing is that he had a pretty rough and wild lifestyle, with most of his youth spent in prisons or reform schools. In addition he’s been an outspoken person and has been been accused of racism, homophobia and misogyny. He rejects these claims by stating that he always speaks about individuals, not a group as such.
Well, whatever one may think of this, David Allan Coe is a good singer and he has written some fine songs. So let’s just celebrate the music today, and wish him a happy birthday
David Allan Coe - The Ride (1983)
In addition to racism, homophobia and misogyny, David Allan Coe has been accused of being an obscene and perverse person. And true enough, he has released a few low-key albums with rather explicit lyrics. If that makes him obscene and perverse is a story for another day. Anyway, since we are on the forum of what at best can be called a semi-porn site, I might as well include one of these songs too
David Allan Coe - I Made Linda Lovelace Gag
Now this song calls for a little more history. This time it is not music, but porn history. The movie Deep Throat (1972) is generally considered to be the first porn movie with a storyline with fully fledged dialogue. Now the plot is that the female protagonist struggles to get an orgasm. The plot twist is when it’s discoverd that her clitoris is in her throat, not at place it usually is. The poor woman’s sex life suddenly becomes so much more exciting and better.
The female protagonist in Deep Throat was played by…Linda Lovelace. The movie made quite a few heaedlines back in the day. So much that even teenagers up in the Arctics noticed. Meaning that Linda Lovelace may well be the first porn star ever
Tom Fogerty (1941-1990) of Creedence Clearwater Revival passed away 35 years ago today. Although his kid brother John was the main man in CCR, Tom’s rhythm guitar was a vital part of this great band’s sound. He wrote songs too, but only one of his songs (co-written with John) were recorded by CCR, namely Walk On the Water on their self-titled debut in 1968.
CCR had a fabulous album run, with six excellent albums between May 1968 and December 1970. That is six excellent albums in two and a half years! Then Tom Fogerty quit the band, due to frustration because none of his songs made the band’s albums and a troubled relationship with his brother. In hindsight, the younger brother John was the big talent in CCR. Still Tom deserves to be rememberd for his contribution. So here’s to his memory
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Walk On the Water (1968)
Tom Fogerty pursued a solo career after he quit CCR. Due to his past he had some minor success, but when trends changed during the 1970’s, he soon faded into obscurity. I’m not familiar with his solo career, but while doing some research for this I listened to some of the songs he did on his own. Seems there’s no big classics, still some fine songs well worth a listen or two. This one is from his debut album from 1972
Tom Fogerty - Beauty Is Under the Skin
Sadly the two brothers never reconciled. In Tom’s funeral John said this: “We wanted to grow up and be musicians. I guess we achieved half of that, becoming rock 'n roll stars. We didn’t necessarily grow up”
