"Wicked Games" by the Scottish artist Jack Vettriano. Inspired by the Chris Isaack song on the Down South Radio Hour this week. ( http://www.portlandgallery.com/index.php?page=single&id=3234 )

This whole band smiled all night, what a crowd..Charlotte is a great place to see a concert for sure. (Note...look for Derek Trucks to talk to us a little bit this summer on the Down South Radio Hour! ) Thanks to all in the Derek Trucks band. You are the best. http://www.derektrucks.com/

The whole Derek Trucks Band. The bottom line is this. Real people, real talent. The cds don't do them justice, you just need to see them live. I attended live shows throughout 2004 and this show is one of if not the best of the year for me...although the Robert Earl Keen and Little Feat shows were very close....buy the cds, go get yourself a ticket and see these people. The wife & I had a wonderful night and you should too...

The Derek Trucks Band with Susan peeking at the crowd from the back stage. One of the coolest things about this picture is the fact that 16 year old Duane Trucks is playing drums! The next best part is he is damn good. This is the next generation and it is sounding good already.  

Last Night in Charlotte. Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks trade licks at the Visulite Theatre. ( http://www.visulite.com/ )

As I was putting my Warren Haynes Christmas Jam ticket in my book of ticket stubs...yes I have kept them from every show that issued a ticket since the early 1970's ...I saw these picks and thought they would make a cool picture. (L to R) This is the Herco pick Stephen Stills gave me in Greensboro at a show...the story is below under his picture, the next one came from John Prine in Greensboro last year, and finally Peter Mayer
( http://www.petermayer.com/) gave me this pick in Raleigh in 1998 at a Club Trini performance.

Did someone say "bootleg?" Here is the "taped-off", pun intended, section of tapers behind the mixing console. This was a contest to see who had the tallest microphone tower. (This was early in the setup process..the show setup was very impressive seeing all those towers sticking up) I have never seen this many tapers and Tascam DAT machines at any show although a recent Bruce Hornsby show was close. The couple in the middle are from Conn. They flew down for the show. They had just been to the EC "Crossroads" show in Texas and were telling me of rumors about Cream doing a performance in May for charity at Royal Albert Hall. Now that would be cool. Look for this Warren Haynes Christmas Jam 2004 show to appear on: http://www.archive.org/audio/etree.php Judging from the quality of the equipment present there will be some very good copies coming.

More Feat pictures...Fred, Ron Holloway...a sax legend, Warren Haynes, Paul, Kenny on bass, and Ritchie on drums. Get the bootleg when it becomes available. This shot was taken during the last Feat song..."Spanish Moon" Warren smoked a lead guitar lick, Ron was awesome, and Feat, well I don't need to explain how great they are. 

Little Feat at the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam (http://www.xmasjam.com) on December 18, 2004. I just got in from a road trip to Asheville. What a show, hours and hours....a sold-out crowd, general admission seating...the line to get in was wrapped around the Asheville Civic Center. Feat was on tonight. I have seen them so many times I have lost count including a show a month ago..this was a smoking performance...maybe it was the fact that Warren Haynes introduced them as one of his favorite bands when he was growing up in Asheville. They blew the crowd away with a continuous jam of many of the staple Feat tunes. (L to R) Fred, Shawn working the crowd, Billy, Charlie Musselwhite, Paul, Ritchie on drums, and Kenny on bass. Missing is Ivan Neville on keyboards who played several numbers with Feat and others

The band Living Color performs at the 2004 Warren Haynes Christmas Jam. Man were they loud!  

Here is the cd cover from the Bahamas Sam (http://www.bahamassam.com/) stories as heard on http://www.radiomargaritaville.com each week. Pat is a friend of mine (from the early 1970's) from Mississippi and has spent many, many years on the water from Mexico to the Bahamas. Even though the stories are designed for children there are some very interesting tales about many of the places she and her husband Norman have travelled through the eyes of Sam... the "cat who lives on the boat." These two could tell travel stories for a long time. Tune in and listen!

Can you feel the intensity in this picture? Chris walked on stage and said "My name is Chris Duarte and this is my band. We are from Austin, Texas and we are here to play our asses off." Trust me, he blew me away. I think I heard some licks from Steve Ray, Jimi, and some channeled intensity from another universe. What a night.Listen for Chris on the Down South Radio Hour..we cut some cool promos during the break and I'll be puttting his band in the show real soon. Thanks Chris and all the people who make the Mojo Room the place to see a show!  

Here is a photo from my seat at the Mojo Room (http://www.danriverregion.com/bluessociety/) ...PS the Mojo Room is larger, new, and improved, a great place to see a show....in Danville, Virginia Sunday night December 5. This is Chris Duarte and his band. If you haven't heard of him you will soon...a band like this can't hide for very long.. He is spectacular! His band hails from Austin, Texas, one of my favorite music towns! You need to go see these guys.... Here is one of his web sites...(http://www.chrisduartegroupfans.org/) He is opening for BB King on December 7th in Youngstown, Ohio...

On the Down South Radio Hour This Month

Tune into http://www.radiomargaritaville.com for some holiday music this month on the Down South Radio Hour. This weeks show features many sound bytes from your favorite Coral Reefer Band members and several from some of the many bands I have seen this year like Little Feat, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robbin Thompson, Robert Earl Keen, and many others. I hope you enjoy the holiday music! Drop me a line at dsrh@triad.rr.com with your comments or requests. I'll see you down the road.

This is one of those people I wish I could spend an evening with listening to some road stories. What a nice guy. Thanks John Jorgenson. 

John can play many instruments and this performance was a very cool one indeed. Read his bio on his web page. He has played with so many of the great performers they are just too numerous to mention here. This band is worth a road trip. Maybe I'll go catch him again at Merlefest in 2005. In the meantime don't miss John's movie appearance in http://www.sonyclassics.com/headintheclouds/ where he plays Django Reinhardt. He told some cool stories about the movie last night.

John smiles as the crowd roars their thunderous approval to the bands performance. An awesome sold-out crowd was present. Seated to the left of John is Brian Sutton of Asheville, NC, (http://www.bryansutton.com/) a noteable bluegrass player who has toured with many top name artists. Go check your Jessie Winchester cd credits for Brian Sutton. He is a real player.

The John Jorgenson Quintet last night at the Art Center in Carrboro, NC. http://www.johnjorgenson.com/ What a show! Down further in the blog I have a picture of him playing on stage with Elton John. This show features John playing all Gypsy Jazz guitar music from his latest cd "Franco-American Swing" You just have to hear it to appreciate the technical talent John and his band have. John and the guys also played several Django Reinhardt songs true to the origional performances. Look for some future segments of the Down South Radio Hour (http://www.radiomargaritaville.com) to hear John introduce some of his songs.