kudzurunner
669 posts
Sep 03, 2009
6:06 AM
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John Popper and Blues Traveler are playing a free concert on the Grove Stage on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford on Sunday, October 11th.
That's perfect fall weather around here. I don't know how many forum members live within reasonable driving distance, but that might be a good opportunity for an MBH get-together of some sort. It's also possible that I can contact Popper beforehand--I don't have his email, but I'm betting I can get it--and get him to hang out with us a little. (Life on the road doesn't always allow this, but sometimes it does.)
If you live in the (general) area and might be interested, please let me know via this thread.
--Adam
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dfwdlg
52 posts
Sep 03, 2009
10:46 AM
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I can't make it to Mississippi, but Kim Wilson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds are playing on Sept 5th at the Bedford Blues fest in the Dallas TX area.
Any chance you can call him and tell him to come to my house for a visit? The 4th is my birthday and that would be such a great present! I only live 5 minutes from the festival.
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superchucker77
186 posts
Sep 03, 2009
1:06 PM
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This is something that I will definitly try to make it to. Seeing John Popper for free and locally is awesome.
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Brandon Bailey
Superchucker77's Youtube
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kudzurunner
670 posts
Sep 03, 2009
1:50 PM
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Here's the band's tour itinerary. University, MS is the Ole Miss on-campus post office. This is one of only two free shows the band is playing on the tour. The other is apparently in New Orleans.
http://www.bluestraveler.com/site.php?content=tour_dates
Last Edited by on Sep 03, 2009 1:51 PM
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kudzurunner
712 posts
Sep 24, 2009
8:22 PM
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bump.
I'm looking forward to the show. If others from the forum are planning on coming down, we can have a rendez-vous maybe an hour before the show and talk harp.
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toddlgreene
15 posts
Sep 25, 2009
5:23 AM
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I will try to catch them in New Orleans-too busy the weekend of the 11th with shows, kiddie birthdays and such. Saw them last year in Gulfport(MS) and they were fantastic. I wish I could make it up there, especially if it included hanging out with you guys and maybe even JP for a while!
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I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
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kudzurunner
730 posts
Oct 03, 2009
5:08 AM
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I've emailed Blues Traveler's management and asked if those of us who attend the show might steal a few minutes of his time to shake hands and get a photo or two. I'll let you know what I hear.
I'll be there in any case. If you're planning on coming down, please email me (asgussow@aol.com) and send me a cell # and the time you plan to arrive. (I assume the show is late afternoon.) I'll try to arrange a rendez-vous point.
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OzarkRich
10 posts
Oct 03, 2009
8:32 AM
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Really wish I could attend there and Helena that weekend but we've got extra events at the church that weekend and I've got a crew working overtime both days as it is. I did get to attend the fest in Columbia MO last weekend. I hope to get some pictures posted.
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kudzurunner
741 posts
Oct 12, 2009
4:58 AM
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I never heard back from Popper's road manager, but the road can be a crazy place and I realized in retrospect that I knew so little about the band, all told, that I'd probably embarrass myself if given an audience with them.
Nevertheless, I did attend the show with wife and son, and I'm glad I went.
Popper's rig consisted of a smallish amp, looking a bit like a Texas crude but not exactly like that, sitting on top of a 4 x 12" Mesa Boogie cabinet. The MB had a pair of what looked like ribbon mics branching out and flattened against the upper pair of speakers.
Popper's mic is the most bizarre looking thing I've ever seen. It appears to be a Shure SM-58 or the equivalent, bound with an entire spool of shiny black duct tape to a skinny ram's horn shaped.....thingie, that extends almost to Popper's knees. It's incredibly unwieldy, but Popper wields it. Here's a photo:
http://images.jambase.com/festivals/floydfest/2009/lawrence/bt_sm.jpg
His tone was exactly the tone that I've heard on the few cuts of his that I've heard. It was pretty clean. Popper often played his solos with one hand--the left--gripping harp and mic. As far as I can tell, his entire rig gave him essentially the same sound that he'd have had playing through the vocal mic.
The band entered to Wagner's "The Ride of the Valkyries" blasted through the PA. I guess they were poking fun at their own reputation, or supposed grandiosity.
Popper's playing--and this is the first time I've seen him live, since jamming with him in Washington Square Park in 1990 or so, before the band released its first CD--is absolutely distinctive. He doesn't overblow. He doesn't play octaves or otherwise create "bigger" sounds, and/or richer tones, using tongue blocking. (He may occasionally hit an octave while comping, in other words, but he is, for all effective purposes, a lip-purser.) He doesn't use his hands to create wah-wahs or other tonal effects. He doesn't have a "big sound." He almost never sustains a note in the lower or middle octave (holes 1-6). I never heard him wail on the 4 draw or do anything else that sounded like a blues harmonica cliche. He doesn't particularly seem interested in blues tonality. When he hits the 3 draw, he just....hits it and moves on. Maybe it's bent a little, maybe it's not. During the set I heard, he didn't play in anything but second position.
Those are all the things he doesn't do.
What he does do is create a completely original and distinctive harmonica voice on the upper four holes. That's what he owns. And within that territory, in the rock idiom, there's nobody who can touch him. His speed is beyond fast. He has amazing touch on the top two holes, and there, although he's not particularly interested in rock tonality, he's very interested in producing Hendrix-type effects. But he's very melodic at the same time. The fifth or sixth song of the night was that Charlie Daniels tune, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." He nailed every note at a sickeningly fast tempo.
None of what I've said here is particularly new or original, except I guess that by starting with what Popper DOESN'T do, I've clarified to myself the degree to which--at least with the band--he's a kind of minimalist, working within a surprisingly restricted terrain and then doing an incredible amount with that. Every time he descended into the lower part of the harp, my ear got irritated with all of the stuff he WASN'T doing, didn't care about, was missing, etc. But the moment he kicked up to top speed on the upper end, all I could do was grin. The man is still on the top of his game.
And of course he's a fantastic rock singer, with a completely distinctive sound and a wonderfully flexible instrument. Last night his voice suddenly began to come apart on "Runaway"--he had a cold, he explained after the song--and he was forced to make a series of split-second note choices to compensate for the sudden loss of power. He was hoarse but it still sounded great. He's one of the great rock singers, for my money.
Last Edited by on Oct 12, 2009 5:10 AM
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toddlgreene
29 posts
Oct 12, 2009
5:08 AM
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Good writeup, Kudzu-you're spot-on with his upper-register mastery. Once I read somewhere how he described his hi-speed technique as blow-blow-draws...hard to do with speed an accuracy, but he's got it down, for sure. Besides his harp prowess and unique powerful voice, he's also a great lyricist/storyteller. He has the gift of gab, and translates it well into his songwriting. BT playing a free show here in New Orleans on October 29th in Lafayette Square(which is within a block from my office)...I will be there.
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I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
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MN
170 posts
Sep 05, 2012
1:42 AM
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Reviving this ancient thread to ask what key/position Popper does "Devil Went Down to Georgia" in.
I just got the Amazing Slowdowner App for my phone and was going to try to load up Charlie Daniels' original version and see if I can learn the fiddle parts. Many thanks in advance.
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Moon Cat
101 posts
Sep 05, 2012
1:53 AM
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That was a great review Adam I love the way you write about music.
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Thievin' Heathen
28 posts
Sep 05, 2012
4:26 AM
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I was starting to plan my trip to Oxford. 3 years late.
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HarpNinja
2638 posts
Sep 05, 2012
7:11 AM
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I think he uses a C harp in 3rd position on that tune. He does a lot more position playing on the John Popper Project.
BT had a new CD come out this summer...mostly a very overdriven harp sound...no crazy effects at all, and only a few "clean" songs.
There was a time a year or two ago where I was doing that tune live. I couldn't cram in all the embellishments, and I totally couldn't play it now, but what a cool tune!
FWIW, he has a few tracks recorded with overblows...just the 6ob. Something Sweet and a cover of version of Creep come to mind.
Something he doesn't do enough of, but is great at, is playing vocal melodies on the high end...on the fly. By this, I mean hearing a song and busing out the vocal melody mid tune. There are versions of him playing to a Paula Abdul tune on a radio show and sitting in on a version of I Will Survive where he does this. He had a good ear.
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Mods
Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
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KingoBad
1161 posts
Sep 05, 2012
8:02 AM
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MN,
Really???!?!?
Why don't you just start a new thread and ask your question instead of reviving barely related threads that confuse us more than help you?
I understand mistakenly adding to a conversation that took place years ago like it was today.... But this was a revival of the most barely related kind...
Just start a new topic!
Hopefully I'm being helpful and not hurtful. Sometimes I just can't stop myself....
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Danny
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eharp
1967 posts
Sep 05, 2012
3:25 PM
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did you get a chance to meet him?
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easyreeder
342 posts
Sep 07, 2012
8:21 PM
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I'm glad this got bumped, I hadn't seen this thread before and it was worth a read. It also got me thinking about a song that might be worth learning. Thanks MN.
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MN
172 posts
Sep 08, 2012
12:49 AM
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Happy to help, easyreeder.
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