Today, I came across a youtube video with over an hour of footage of Sonny Boy during his time in Europe...most of which I've never seen. Great stuff; thought I might share for those who might not have come across it.
Sonny Boy is a perfect example of relaxed effortless playing and grooving with his body. Notice that there is never any competitive volume situations with other musicians, the music is always flowing This was a time when there wasn't an obsession with equipment or blues costumes.
Man that's good stuff. Seen it all before but never get tired of it. When I first became aware of these videos of him I was blown away. His relaxed playing, the way everyone in the band works together, the groove. Its just great stuff.
The highlight for me is 9 Below Zero at about the 23 minute mark. I love the way he points at the audience and says "what would you do?".
I actually don't care for his playing on Blacksnake Blues with Victoria Spivey at about the 34 minute point. To me this is a case where the harp is interfering with the vocals.
Jpmcbride .. i agree about his playing on blacksnake. I was thinking the same thing. His playing fell flat a few times actually. Especially with Muddy, that's obviously not the type of groove he was used to playing to?
