The Queens Death and the Fallout For Musicians

 I’m reading lots of different opinions on the cancellation of gigs this last weekend. Many people understood and accepted it whilst others have become very angry and are demanding compensation.

I think this discussion is far more nuanced than some people realise.

We musicians are at the bottom of a very precarious food chain. Entertainment is a luxury. It’s the first thing to be kicked into the long grass when the shit hits the fan. Pubs, restaurants, bars etc have faced unprecedented hardship over the last few years and it shows no sign of letting up any time soon.

Pubs are shutting at an alarming rate. The cost of energy is making this winter seem insurmountable for a great many venues and that's a scary prospect for a lot of us. Therefore I appreciate the anger at having a gig cancelled over the death of someone you don't even know but we have to be understanding of the circumstances.

Pubs don't tend to cancel events for the sake of it. They weigh up their options and the pros & cons. Will the neighbours get upset and complain? This can lead to the cancellation of all entertainment at their venue. Will the punters not turn up or get offended? This can lead to a loss of revenue and therefore again, the cancellation of all entertainment.

We musicians rely on venues to support us. Venues rely on punters to support them. We must be flexible and understanding.

I'm not saying that we should charge less or play longer sets etc but a little understanding of the pressures faced by everyone will certainly help in getting us ALL through this tough time.

Yes of course there will always be venues that will try and rip you off but then I've seen plenty of bands who charge for their services and really shouldnt. There's always a few bad apples but let's all make sure that we aren't one of them.

Sorry for the epic nature of this but I feel it needs to be said.

A little more love and a lot less hate.

Cheers, Milo x

Lockdown Thoughts From A Musician

 Well it looks like we might soon be getting back to an actual normality after 16 months of absolute shite. Fingers crossed we shall be gigging to full (standing) houses again and being able to walk around without someone shouting "MASK!!!" every couple of seconds.

As a musician it's been a very rough time. I realise that many people have suffered losses far greater than mine and the thoughts of a person who still has his health, family and friends isn't of any great importance but there we go. Everyone has been put through the wringer (with the exception of Jeff Bezos) and it's worth remembering that the great majority of us suffer in silence. For every person using social-media as therapy, there are many more people putting on a brave face and ploughing on like everything is fine.

Small and medium sized venues have been devastated. Musicians have been forced to do online busking just to pull in a few shekels and still a great many people view what we do as a hobby. Not a real job. I can't tell you how angry this makes me feel. Government has thrown the entire industry under the proverbial bus.

Because of this, some of our old venues, pubs etc. have made the tough decision to scale back their live music programme. This is completely understandable. On the other hand, there are certain venues who have decided to cut their budget and try to get the same performers for (in some cases) half price. This is a total kick in the cannisters for anyone who's been struggling recently. One can only assume that these places are also paying half price for their booze and only paying the staff a similar cut price rate....

...somehow I doubt it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hugely appreciative of every venue that books me and I would be nothing without you but to simply halve my worth because I'm only a musician is bullshit. Surely it would be better for everyone to have half as many gigs but pay the right money?

After all, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

I'm sure there are a great many people with differing opinions and I absolutely accept that but I feel I should let my point of view be heard. 

Thank you for listening x

PS. Go and find me on Instagram, FB, YouTube etc. Please like and subscribe and all that stuff. It all helps in lieu of gigs x

School Days (R.I.P. Chuck Berry)

When I was in my first year of secondary school we were all tasked with giving a presentation on something. It could be anything we wanted so being of that age i chose guitars. I couldn’t actually play the guitar back then but that wasn’t the point, I was still obsessed by them.

As i gave my talk, the picture I showed to illustrate my love of guitars and guitarists was Chuck Berry. It was a great photo of him wide-eyed with a terrible multi coloured shirt and his trusty 345 around his neck. That photo basically became the template for my whole career as a musician.

A lot of guitarists work backwards to Chuck via the Stones etc. but i didn’t. Even before I learned to play, I loved his songs. His riffs, his lyrics, his stagecraft and that tempo. That awesome rock and roll shuffle. He was the man.

Later on as I got into more music from the 60s it became obvious the huge influence he had. I remember watching the woodstock movie and spotting half a dozen Chuck Berry guitar solos.

When ‘Hail Hail Rock & Roll’ came out I rented it a dozen times from the video shop. Finally I had a chance to watch his fingers and learn some of it. It also made me realise that he wasn’t the nicest chap in the world but I shrugged this off as i was only about 12.

Anyway, my point is that whether you like him or not, if you think his music is old-hat, even if you’d be happy to never hear a bad pub version of Johnny B Goode again; we can all agree that popular music as we know it would not exist without him. 

Hail Hail Rock & Roll indeed x

A Whimsical Top Ten of Blues Songs

Following on from the runaway success of my earlier post (a whole 20 people visited the page) I have decided to continue with the next chapter.
This one is going to be much tougher. I know a lot of blues musicians and I know a fair amount of blues. I can't think of any other musical form that can be so divisive while being so limited. Most blues tunes consist of three or four chords (ok, passing chords, substitutions blah blah blah) and most conform to one of a few set patterns BUT (and it's a big but, fnarr fnarr) it's how you use those limitations that matters.
This list is purely personal and I'm sure everyone has their own opinions and that's a great thing. Please share them with me. I'm always open to new blues.

1. Hush Hush - Jimmy Reed

Jimmy Reed is the king of the shuffle. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of bands that can properly play a Jimmy Reed shuffle. Lots try. Lots fail.
This groove is just so bad-ass. Tight, sloppy, groovy, nailed-on shuffle. You could study music for a thousand years and still not get it right.

2. Mojo Hand - Lightnin' Hopkins

Another example of sloppy tightness. This is one of my favourite tunes of all time. The lyrics are all kinds of menacing and the guitar playing is spot on. I love the way Lightnin' uses his right hand in such a laid back way. I've tried to play like this and discovered I can't. Mainly because I'm not Lightnin' Hopkins.

3. On The Road Again - Memphis Jug Band

This is a great tune. Full of movement and a great central riff. The chorus is a blinder and it amazes me it hasn't been covered more. You can just imagine someone like Levon Helm laying down a tight drum beat behind it. I like a lot of jug band stuff because I grew up on it but it seems to be treated as the comedy sidekick of more 'serious' blues. I think that does the music a massive disservice. Open your ears and minds and give it a go.

4. Milk Cow Blues - Sleepy John Estes

I bloody love Sleepy John. Put his records on and you can hear the licks, phrases and style that so many later blues players would absorb in to their own music. Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan and many others owe a big debt to him. I could have picked any of his stuff so I recommend you find an album and just put it on from start to finish.

5. Freddie King - Takin' Care of Business

Freddie King is the main man of electric blues, as far as I'm concerned. My uncle Rob gave me a cassette of his when I had just started learning the guitar and I listened to it constantly until my walkman finally chewed it up. His style was so cool. Far more direct than the Jazz or Soul leanings of many of his contemporaries. He's also one of the main reasons I play a Gibson semi. (The fact it's black is because of BB King)

6. Boomers Story - Ry Cooder

Ryland P Cooder has the sort of back catalogue that requires constant attention. I could have chosen something from 'Into The Purple Valley' or 'Paradise and Lunch' but this is the song and album I probably listen to the most. I love the songs and I love his guitar sound. What I wouldn't give to be able to make a guitar sing and growl like Ry.

7. Big Mammas Door (Might Return) - Alvin Youngblood Hart

Something a little more up to date. This song is the opening track on an album that all blues guitar players should own (Motivational Speaker) and what an opener it is. Open G dirty guitars giving it the big'un over the old train shuffle beat. What is there not to love about this tune? Dirty dirty dirty.

8. Done Changed My Way of Livin' - Taj Mahal

Two for the price of one because you not only get the awesome Taj but also Jesse Edwin Davis on the guitar. Another hard one to narrow down but I love the tempo and feel on this one. Not to mention Davis' cool-as-fuck guitar playing. The first three Taj Mahal albums (and the Risin' Sons album too) are great blues introduction. Laid back, cool and totally down with it. My favourite albums to play along with.

9. Scratch My Back - The Fabulous Thunderbirds

A bit of a cheat as this way I get to indirectly include Slim Harpo as this is a cover of one of his old tunes. I love the Fabulous Thunderbirds and I'm one of those rare people who loves Jimmie Vaughan more than his more famous brother. This band had that Texas, slicked back shuffle thing going on.
Although I don't know many blues players who wouldn't want to be in the Thunderbirds, I doubt many could resist the temptation to over play. That's the secret. Never over egg the pudding.

10. Hard Again - Muddy Waters

Sod it. I can't pick one track from this genius album. Johnny Winter on guitar, Pinetop Perkins on piano, James Cotton on harp, the list goes on. Not only does this have the best title of an album ever, it also shows just how powerful a force of nature Muddy Waters was.
If ever you want to feel ten feet tall and bad as can be, just pop this on your iPod and step out your front door. Chest beating, strutting blues at its best.

Honorable mentions to...

One Kind Favour - BB King

A timely reminder of why everyone loves/loved BB. This T Bone Burnett produced album sets him up with a killer backing band and strips away all the Las Vegas bullshit. The result is a truly joyous noise.

The Bright Lights E.P. - Gary Clark Jr.

Give it fifteen seconds and you'll know exactly why.

Thanks for reading. Please leave any comments and suggestions below.

I've made a Spotify playlist of these and the tunes from my previous list for you to listen to here https://open.spotify.com/user/milospilo/playlist/0yjKElH3UbGkCcKmfzEVPC

Enjoy!

A Whimsical Top Ten of Acoustic Singer/Songwriter Songs

In an effort to keep my brain distracted from other things, I have decided to jot down my favourite acoustic guitar tunes by my favourite songwriters and some little notes on them. Nothing special or earth shattering but there might be something in there that you've missed.
I'm not going to include blues tunes as I am going to do a separate list of them. Anyway, in no particular order....

1. Girl From The North Country - Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin')

When I first started playing the guitar I had two influences, my dad and Bob Dylan. Many more would quickly follow but it started with these two. We only had a few Dylan records in the house. The first one and Times They Are A Changin' so I had to go out and buy my own copy of this one. I guess because of that it made it more special. Anyway, it's a beautiful song and one I have tried in vain to cover a few times. There are many different versions out there but I still think this is the best one.

2. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson (Rumor & Sigh)

This is not only one of the greatest examples of solo acoustic playing but also one of the great story songs. I'm still amazed no one has made it in to a film. Thompson manages to fit more in to five minutes with a single guitar than most people do in their entire careers. Every time I hear this it completely envelopes me and not many tunes can do that.

3. Time - Tom Waits (Rain Dogs)

Speaking of story songs, this is another cracker. It's a lovely moment in life when you 'get' Tom Waits. Once that happens it's fairly natural to become obsessed. This is such a beautiful song that I really can't say much other than to tell you to go and listen to it....RIGHT NOW!!

4. Brave Awakening - Terry Reid (Seed of Memory)

This is a bit of a cheat as it only starts on acoustic before the rest of the band kicks in but it's my list so I'm going to include it. I could have picked any number of songs from this great album. The opening track is a belter and starts with one of the best acoustic guitar riffs but I'm choosing this one mainly because I've spent many a late night singing this at parties with drunken friends (you know who you are!).

5. Couldn't Love You More - John Martyn (One World)

I was introduced to this song via the Old Grey Whistle Test and I actually prefer that version to the studio cut. Either way it's a lovely song that doesn't over stay its welcome. The tuning he uses on this is a complete bastard but once you've learnt it, you won't stop playing it.


6. Helplessly Hoping - Crosby, Stills & Nash (Crosby Stills & Nash)

Harmonies.

7. Cautious Man - Bruce Springsteen (Tunnel Of Love)

It's tricky to narrow it down to one acoustic boss song but this one is just so good. It contains all the usual Springsteen themes and he weaves them together in to a heartbreaking meditation on heartbreak, loss and love. The lyrics are superb. This album doesn't get a lot of love because it's got some pretty dated 80s production but I highly recommend you give it another try.

8. Elephant - Jason Isbell (Southeastern)

While we are on the subject of great lyrics, you can't get any better than this. Another album where it's almost impossible to choose just one track but this morning I'm going with this one. Why this man isn't a superstar is beyond me.

9. Sweet Baby James - James Taylor (Sweet Baby James)

The first song I ever played in a folk club at the Penny Theatre in Canterbury in about 1991. Why I decided to choose a fingerpicked song with a million chords still remains a mystery but needless to say I screwed it up. I just loved the song so much. I'm a sucker for a lullaby and this is a near perfect one. It's a shame that Taylor slipped in to such a bland place as the 70s wore on . His first few records were terrific.

10. Oh My Sweet Carolina - Ryan Adams (Heartbreaker)

Any song that features EmmyLou Harris is immediately awesome as far as I'm concerned. When her beautiful voice appears for the first chorus it makes your hair stand up and your heart skip a beat. Probably Ryan Adams best acoustic record from his purple patch. The boy can definitely write a tune.

Honorable mentions to..

Wont Be The Last Time - Justin Townes Earle (Nothings Gonna Change The Way I Feel)

This is another beautiful song. The production is superb, the lyrics are sublime and the whole thing just feels so good.

Blue - Lucinda Williams (Essence)

I find it hard to choose my favourite Lucinda album let alone song so I shall just go with this for now.

and finally....... everything by Jackson Browne x

I made a Spotify Playlist of the tunes that you can find here https://open.spotify.com/user/milospilo/playlist/0yjKElH3UbGkCcKmfzEVPC