One of my favorite bands, one that many have never heard.

And here's one in which they exhibit their sense of humour:

https://youtu.be/pI-J87OMqp8?si=w1038_lNqV7gGs1l

Here’s a clip of the current NRBQ line up performing a song from the band’s early days, found on the album they did with Carl Perkins. I love the Telecaster playing of guitarist/singer Scott Ligon.

When I saw them live at a club in Portland a coupla years back, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos joined the band onstage to add his sax playing to the sound. Steve currently lives in Portland.

https://youtu.be/5KItRaAK9GI?si=hqHif0pUySupCv-i

@bassbuyer: Yeah, if record company owners could figure out how to know which bands and/or solo artists were going to capture the hearts and minds of the general public their jobs would be much easier.

My musical taste runs to cult-level music makers, so I get to see them live in smaller clubs, which I prefer anyway. But though they have to slog around the countryside more for a smaller payoff, cult artists often have longer, more musically productive careers than do those who rise to the top of the entertainment business, often falling back down as fast as they rose. There are a lot of "Whatever happened to?" musical acts around.

@ezwind: I’ve been meaning to get myself a copy of the lone 1970 Wildweeds album for some time now. It is on Vanguard Records, and all but one song on the album were written by Al Anderson.

I have Al’s 1972 debut solo album (on LP and CD), also on Vanguard. Players on the album include Terry Adams and Tom Staley (drummer in the original NRBQ line up), as well as Terry’s brother Donn (on trombone).

I also have Al’s next three album (Party Favors, Pay Before You Pump, After Hours) on CD. I need to get his last one, Pawn Shop Guitars from 2007.

Terry Adams also has quite a few solo albums, on LP and CD. I have them all, of course. They’re very different from Al’s, reflecting his Jazz influences.

NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino was a well known record collector with a massive collection. He was instrumental in getting the legendary album by The Shaggs reissued on LP in 1980. Their lone album Philosophy Of The World was considered to be "the worst record of all time", a Garage Band classic. The Shaggs were a trio of three sisters (Dorothy, Betty, and Helen Wiggin), all absolutely untalented and incompetent. Frank Zappa was known to love the album, in a perverse way.

You guys on the East Coat make me green with envy! NRBQ came out to the West Coast infrequently.

Here they are on some TV show, being introduced by David Sanborn, who sometimes performed with them live:

https://youtu.be/p-6qGgL7kyk?si=hsHDaGtehM4DbC0u

While the band and it’s member took songwriting, singing, and musicianship seriously, they also possessed something missing from many bands: a sense of humour.

Al Anderson has made a number of mighty fine solo albums (as has Terry Adams). Here is a video of him performing live:

https://youtu.be/mBdQNL1sdeg?si=rP_r_HRvFSYVrxrQ

Agree with you on your every point @pdspiegel. But Tom Ardolino was on drums, not bass (that’s Joey’s instrument). I saw the line-up you cite twice live at The Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd in the 80’s and 90’s, and more recently at a club in Portland Oregon. Though Terry is now the sole remaining member of that line-up (Al Anderson left the band in 1994, moving to Nashville to concentrate on songwriting. Tom died in 2012, and Joey has been receiving treatment for cancer for many years, incapacitating him), they are still great! Apparently Terry is a key element in their sound and style, but the new members more than hold their own.

NRBQ made a lot of records (I have 20 on LP, a bunch more on CD), many available used at very low prices. But live performance is where they really come alive. Other peers of the band that love ’em include John Hiatt, Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson, and Los Lobos.

Man @stuartk, that’s Lou Ann when she was much younger!

By the way, Lou Ann was the singer in an Austin band named Triple Threat, which featured a young guitar player named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Lou Ann tours regularly with Stevie’s older brother Jimmie. She strikes me as being "one of the boys", in both drinking and, ahem, carousing.

Her debut album on Asylum Records (entitled Old Enough) was produced by Jerry Wexler, and features the fantastic Muscle Shoals studio band known as The Swampers. A musically great album, and it sounds better than do many of Wexler’s other productions (Aretha Franklin for one), perhaps because it was co-produced by Glenn Frey.

When Lou Ann performs the song live, a "knowing" smile will occasionally cross her face. I wanted to post one of her live performances of the song (especially one with The Fabulous Thunderbirds), but none had the "Share" option underneath the video screen on YouTube. A search for one of those videos is suggested!