If you haven't yet discovered Rosie Flores.....
.....it would be my pleasure to bring her to your attention. She's well known and respected by her peers, but has a disappointingly-low profile with the music buying public. I won't bore you with her long backstory, but this short conversation with Otis Gibbs should give you an idea of what she is all about:
https://youtu.be/4BGJuTaDqmw?si=YGagHy7dLNzOwMVbation
By the way @dekay (a song could be written with that rhyming line
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@wolf_garcia: One of my all-time favorite live shows was Rodney Crowell at The Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd. in 2001. It was just Rodney on acoustic guitar and vocals, Steuart Smith on electric guitar, and Jerry Scheff on electric bass. I’d seen Jerry’s name on albums for years (starting with Elvis Presley, but later with the likes of Dylan, Willie DeVille, T Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello, and Crowded House), but had never seen and heard him live (most of his work has been in studios). Hearing him live was a stunning shock: the best bassist I’ve ever heard on stage, by a considerable margin. So inventive, but always musical and in service to the song. For me that’s what superior musicianship is all about. Rodney and Steuart were pretty good too.
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@dekay: The last time I saw Rosie live was in 2015, at Pappy And Harriets in Pioneertown, the infamous club associated with Gram Parsons, located in the foothills just north of the I-10 freeway that connects Palm Springs/Palm Desert and Los Angeles. I went to see Jim Lauderdale, and Rosie was sitting at a table in the audience. Late in his set Jim called her up on stage, and she did a coupla songs. A feisty little singer, songwriter, and guitarist! I saw her a few times around L.A. over the years, and she never put on a less than joyous show. She sure doesn’t look her age (74), does she? Her last album---Simple Case Of The Blues---features accompaniment from Kenny Vaughan (from Marty Stuart’s great band The Fabulous Superlatives, my current favorite combo) and Charlie Sexton on electric guitars, Dave Roe (Johnny Cashes last upright bassist) on bass, and Jimmy Lester (one-time member of Los Straitjackets, who accompany Nick Lowe on his new album) on drums. Whatta band!
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I’ve mixed and recorded hundreds of live shows (and a local TV interview show connected to monthly concert series) and when I got into the "coffee house" scene, not having been previously connected to it (except as a musician or attendee), it was a serious eye opener. The people I hadn’t paid much attention to or was oblivious of turned out to be some of the best, most talented, and most astonishing musicians I’d ever discovered. Julian Lage, Lucy Kaplanski, Ellis Paul, Anais Mitchell...I could go on and on...the "coffee house" world, or as a talented pro guitar friend called it "the unpopular music business," is amazing. Generally almost nobody makes any serious money (Ellis Paul had a song in a movie that paid for a house, Lage is doing great, Anais wrote the musical Hadestown and won dozens of Tony awards, but those are exceptions) but certainly not for lack of talent. Support that scene...if you don’t have a venue start one... |
@slaw: I don’t remember that Steve, but like Rosie (see the below video) my memory has holes in it. I remember faces, but have a Hell of a time with names. Here is part 2 of Otis’ interview with Rosie, in which she talks about The Palomino (the great C & W/Rockabilly/Punk club in North Hollywood. That’s where The Pretenders played in L.A. on their first USA tour. The joint was packed. I saw a LOT of shows there, and played there myself a coupla times.), Buck Owens, George & Tammy (Tammy Wynette was for years my favorite singer, so it was nice to hear Rosie express the same), Gram & Emmylou, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Lee Lewis, many others. Great stuff!
https://youtu.be/m8OP0mb8lso?si=Ry6WknZnZvIBGPfh
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@bdp24 , I believe you mentioned her a few years ago in a post to draw attention to her. |
@tomcy6: Your comment raises a topic that has crossed my mind over the years. Artists or bands who remain favorites of a cult level audience---not ever becoming huge stars, in many cases have longer, more productive careers than do more "successful" artists or bands. A guy like, say, Buddy Miller, John Hiatt, Rodney Crowell, Richard Thompson, Jim Lauderdale, or any of the many female singer/songwriters who don’t have Top 40 hits, keep making one great album after another. The above are some of the better known cult audience artists; there are plenty more who are less well known but also very talented, and deserving of a larger audience An artist or band who have a huge hit record are forever expected to duplicate that success with every subsequent release, and when he/she/they don’t (it’s inevitable), the music business writes them off as has-beens. NRBQ are one of the greatest bands in the entire history of Rock ’n’ Roll, and in spite of never having a hit record have continued to make great music for over fifty years. In those fifty years, hundreds of bands who had a giant record came and went. The upside for me is that cult artists perform in smaller venues, clubs or small theaters. As an audience members I feel more connection with the artist in smaller venues, and ticket prices are more affordable. The last time I saw The Stones was at The Staples Center in L.A., and I felt like I was watching them on TV. My gal and I left after three songs. Not only was I far removed from the action and sound, but who wants to watch Mick Jagger running from left to right across the stage? I saw NRBQ in a Portland club awhile back, and though the band members have changed over the years (only pianist/singer/songwriter Terry Adams remains from the classic line-up. Guitarist/singer/songwriter Al Anderson left the band to focus on songwriting, moving to Nashville. Drummer Tom Ardolino died, and bassist/singer/songwriter Joey Spampinato has been under treatment for cancer a long time. By the way, Joey is Keith Richards’ favorite bassist, and he offered him the bass chair in The Stones when Bill Wyman quit. Joey declined the offer, electing to stay in the true Best Rock ’n’ Roll Band In The World), they remain one of the handful of best live bands I’ve ever seen and heard, and continue to create quality albums.
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), Rosie’s s/t album was produced by Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam’s producer back then), with James Intveld (a Neo-Rockabilly favorite, and her boyfriend at the time) playing bass and singing harmony, Greg Leisz on lap and pedal steel along with dobro, Donald Lindley on drums (on loan from Lucinda Williams), and Billy Bremner (of Rockpile and The Pretenders fame) playing electric guitar. A fantastic album!