Going down to the crossroads

Gary Clark Jr., "When My Train Pulls In" Crossroads 2013. 
Give it a moment to get past the warm up.

Of the people I saw, I don't think any of them were younger than 35.  We were a small group anyway, probably fewer than 20, hard to tell in the dark and with most of them behind me.

For a while waiting for it to start I thought about young people arguing on Twitter.  Katy or Gaga?  Beliebers vs. lil Monsters. Serena vs. Demi.  Dimensioners and Swifties.  All for their own music with no idea where it came from, who influenced whom.

Then with the striking of the first note all that melted away while the music slowly immersed us.  Over it sometimes a murmur of  recognition, an understanding laugh at an insiders joke.  Sometimes a quick clap of appreciation, but mostly silence from the small crowd (hmm is that a non sequitur?) as one after another of the great blues, rock and even country, guitar players of our day came to the stage putting his particular brand on the music and the concert.

Among them were names I had never heard before.  Gary Clark Jr., Doyle Bramhill II, Quinn Sullivan, at 14, shredding with Buddy Guy.

And, the familiar names:  Eric Clapton, Guy, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Allman Brothers, every one founded in the blues and jazz origins of American popular music, some raising goose bumps they were so good.  And Booker T, oh yes, raising the memory of dancing the slop and the mashed potatoes with Doreen Pryzbos to "Green Onions" in a dance joint, circa 1962.

And, some surprises:  All I have ever heard of John Mayer was his escapades with beautiful celebrity women.  The man can bend.  An awesome performance including a duet with Keith Urban in a powerful bluesy rendition of the Beatles' "Don't Let me Down."  Now there's a new appreciation for John Mayer.  In the past we excused the excesses of the great musicians, even when those excesses killed them, but that was before social media and haters.  Mayer can play; what he does outside of that as long as no one is injured or killed, well, that's his business.  And country's Keith Urban: I always wondered what the beautiful Nicole Kidman saw in a scruffy country singer. Now I think I know.

Who hasn't heard a guitar riff that remains in memory for the rest of life?  Clapton in "Cocaine" and "Sunshine" and "Layla."   Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider."  Booker T's "Green Onions."  It's a triggered memory thing, more great riffs in mind than a listener can possibly bring to recall on demand.  Oh, yeah, Duane Eddy; "Detour" and "Rebel Rouser."  No, he wasn't there, but he is alive and still playing, now in his 70s.  And here's another one from that era: Does anyone remember Eddie Cochran's "Sumertime Blues?"

One highlight of this concert was adding a new riff. Give a good listen to Gary Clark Jr., playing "When My Train Pulls In" in the attached video.  Almost guaranteed you will have a new riff to remember. 

Clapton organizes these Crossroads concerts every three years to benefit a drug rehabilitation center he sponsors in the Caribbean.  He invites players he likes, some of them surprising. In an interview before the concert showing, Vince Gill expressed as much surprise as anyone that he was included, but once he started playing it was understandable.

There were more and more and more, exhausting, and we only saw two and a half hours of a two-day concert performed in Madison Square Garden last April.  When it ended the few of us in the audience sat and stared at credits for a long time, then slowly walked out, music ringing in our ears, but in silence ourselves.

Many, but of course not all, of the great players of today were there but, only one was really missing. 

The production carried a dedication to the memory of JJ Cale.