waltertore
2233 posts
May 05, 2012
5:09 PM
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Katherine Stevens who has played drums with me for many years was in town this week. We did a session yesterday. The first set I was playing my old kalamzoo acoustic guitar. I screwed up on a technical recording thing on the acoustic set but it has a cool screwed up vibe to it that many of the old blues recordings had. Basically I plugged the acoustic guitar into my guitar amp and didn't reset the dials (I had it set for my electric guitar). The volume was way too low, treble way too high, bass way to low, and the drums came through the guitar amp mic louder than the guitar. It made for an interesting eq puzzle on that channel. Also I had to mess with the vocal mic eq to try and bring in more of the acoustic guitar. The acoustic session reminded me of playing with Lightning Hopkins. Here are a few. The second set was with electric guitar and both sets featured custom open door harps. More to follow. Walter
tired of the working man blues
alcohol turns her on
had enough running around at night
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on May 05, 2012 5:16 PM
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waltertore
2234 posts
May 06, 2012
11:13 AM
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some more acoustic guitar/harp with Katherine. Walter
never thought louisiana red would die
these dang blues
I saw my tears through her eyes
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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XHarp
485 posts
May 06, 2012
1:53 PM
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Walter, you are the veritable living legend. So what was it like playing with Lightnin' Hopkins. His recordings are amazing. I can never transcribe his licks or manage to count out the songs but I sure hear where Jimmy and Stevie got their influence.
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"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
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waltertore
2235 posts
May 06, 2012
3:21 PM
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XHarp: Thanks for the compliment! A legend? That touched me because I am pretty much ignored in blues circles. I sought out the old guys like lightning. My white peers that were waiting for the greats to pass to become "big names" are now the king bees. They did nothing for me compared to those guys. They are technically better but lack the way guys like Lightning carried themselves onstage and off. I never got into fighting up the ladder after the old guys passed away. I went with Spontobeat that carried me more and more away from the blues community. With Louisiana Red gone, most every older blues player I played with are gone. Sonny Rhodes is still around but in bad health I hear.
Playing with Lightning was a mixed bag. I loved his sound and the way he carried himself on and off the stage. Unfortunately he traveled without a band and when I backed him up when he would come to Tramps in NYC, the backup bands couldn't hang with his unorthodox time. I wanted to kill some of those guys the way they butchered his music. The best time I had with him was in the dressing room one night. He locked the door, opened a bottle of seagrams and pulled out his black strat. I asked him why he didn't play an acoustic anymore. He said it was too hard on his fingers. He proceeded to tell me stories of his youth on up to playing for the queen of england. I blew some harp and he did his thing. I was able to hang back and feel his changes pretty easily. That is the way I have always played. Being around him was a whole different experience than being around the big names today. He lived life in a way that would never work today in the blues scene. It is way to generic, polite, and full of SH*T for my taste.
I met lightning by waiting outside tramps from 10am until he showed up (around 10pm) in the dead of winter. When he walked out of the cab I introduced myself and said I was a huge fan of his music. He asked how long I had been out in the 20 degree weather. I said 12 hours waiting for him. He laughed, grabbed my arm and took me in with him. The owner of the club was from England and liked me. He introduced me to all the blues guys touring through and most had me sit in. With Lightning I wanted to meet him firsthand. Heck, with the guys on the scene today there isn't a 1 I would wait like that for. Thanks again. Walter
I am mixing posting the electric session as I type. Again it has a lightning feel too it. Katherine is a trained jazz/big band drummer and I have always messed with her head with my timming. This session really did. We had to stop early on and talk about it. I have only played with her twice in the past 6 years. I have been doing it on my own and my time has gotten more unorthodox she said. I have always been this way but a band makes you keep standard time. With just a drummer you can get more true to things because of the lack of chords and notes having to mesh.
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on May 06, 2012 3:23 PM
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jodanchudan
626 posts
May 06, 2012
4:11 PM
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Awesome stuff as usual, Walter - 'Tired of the working man blues' is utterly fantastic, 'never thought louisiana red would die' too. Love the laid back groove. I read what you said about screwing up something on the recording, but it all sounds great to me.
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waltertore
2236 posts
May 06, 2012
5:46 PM
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hi jodanchudan: thanks! I find the laid back grooves offer infinite possibilities due to the vast amount of space they have. Little/very subtle things and dragging the time really stand out with space and this is what is really turning me on lately. the fast songs are much easier to do but don't hold my interest like they use to because that stuff gets lost in the wall of sound. In my younger days everything was pedal to the metal. Growing older has given me some depth that works best most of the time with the less than full tilt grooves. I am mixing the electric session as I type. Things went pretty good technically wise considering I spent about 10 minutes on setup. Walter
here is one from the electric session:
these tired walking shoes
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on May 06, 2012 5:48 PM
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waltertore
2238 posts
May 08, 2012
1:25 PM
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Here are some of the electric guitar,harp,vocal, drum, songs with Katherine. Walter
all I wanted to do was music and art pt2
all I wanted to do was music and art pt1
no games no lies
hold my hand to the promised land
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walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
" life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
4,000+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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