A Conversation with Albert Collins Video

Albert Collins in Concert Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

I was looking at the list of blues musicians that have written about and I realized that I have never posted anything by Albert Collins. Can you believe that, well I can't. I guess it is another case of so many great bluesmen, and so little time.

I stumbled upon this very cool video of Mr. Collins playing live and thought you too might enjoy it.

Albert Collins was born on October 1, 1932 and he passed away on November 24, 1993. He was a Texas based blues guitarist, singer and musician. He had many nicknames, such as "The Ice Man", "The Master of the Telecaster" and "The Razor Blade".

Albert Collins, Conversation with... (ft. Barrelhouse Live)

Notes from YouTube - You have to see this! Albert Collins talking to his lady, who's answering in a very typical way. Being a fan of Barrelhouse, I'm always looking for something relevant. And look what I've found today!

Albert Collins playing with Barrelhouse on Febr. 2nd 1978. Recorded by Sesjun / TROS, Dutch television. At the time, recording was released on the album "Albert Collins & Barrelhouse Live" and nowadays available on CD too.

Mr. Collins is remembered for his awesome live shows. I really like the following stories which were quoted in the Wikipedia entry on Albert Collins;

Collins will be remembered not only for the quantity of quality blues music that he put out throughout his career that has inspired so many other blues musicians, but also for his legendary live performances, where he would frequently come down from the stage and mingle with the audience whilst still playing.[1] This practice was illustrated in Collins' uncredited cameo appearance in the film Adventures in Babysitting. He insisted to Elisabeth Shue that "nobody leaves this place without singin' the blues", forcing the children to improvise a song before escaping.

Another instance of Collins' humorous stage presence was recounted in the film documentary, Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. Collins left the building, still plugged in and playing. Several minutes after Collins returned to the stage, a pizza delivery man came in and gave Collins the pizza he had just ordered when he left the building. Collins had gone to Milto's Pizza & Pasta through an adjoining alley and ordered while he was still playing.

Yesterday Was The Birthday of Albert Collins

Albert Collins was born on October 1, 1932, and he passed away on November 24, 1993. He was a blues guitarist, singer and musician.

Albert Collins - Iceman


Blues Blogs hosting Albert Collins mp3s

Lil Mike's Last Known Thoughts has two mp3s at the bottom of a very interesting post called Bailout Blues Ransom Note & Other Happy Rocktober Surprises.

Spacefood has funny post (depending how hammered you have been in your life) that includes several cool mp3s. One is Albert Collins' doing his song Just Drinkin'.

Check out Albert Collins@SqueezeMyLemon.

Albert Collins Video - 05 Too Many Dirty Dishes HD

This video is one of my favorite Albert Collins. Here he is playing some low down and dirity blues. Just the kind that I like.  The guitar solo is classic Albert Collins.






Albert Collins @ Amazon.com

New Release: Cold Tremors by Albert Collins

Cold Tremors

please click on image for info @Amazon.com

Track Listings

1. Intro
2. All About My Girl
3. I've Got a Mind to Travel
4. Things That I Used to Do
5. Frosty
6. Wah Heat
7. Can't See What You're Doing to Me
8. Cold Tremor
9. Johnny B Cool

Albert Collins was a blues guitarist who played his brains out. He was capable of getting more notes, more licks, more of that good stuff (as I like to call it) into every song. This is album is more of that.

Disc one features a much-recommended live album, that was recorded at the infamous El Mocambo in Toronto. The second disc features a 1969 gig Collins recorded at the Fillmore in San Francisco, when he served as an opening act for the Allman Brothers.

B.B. King & Jeff Beck - Paying the Cost to be the Boss

Speaking of B.B. King, here is a video of Jeff Beck and B.B. doing Mr. King's classic blues song, "Paying the Cost to be the Boss."

My daughter tells me that I walk around singing this song too often. But hey, what can I say? I mean every now and then you have to explain to people how it is you got to be the boss. Right? Enjoy the video.

Jeff Beck with B.B. King - Paying The Cost to be the Boss

Kind of curious how this video was titled, "Jeff Beck with B.B. King" it should be "B.B. King with Jeff Beck" seeing that they are playing a song that Mr. King made popular, and B.B. does all the singing. Mr. Beck does deliver on the guitar solo, and I think his playing complements B. B.'s song very well. The end of this video is a cliff hanger. Over the years B.B. has done many duets with other noted musicians. I think this is a little more lively than the version on B. B.'s CD "Duces Wild" with the Rolling Stones.

Below are a couple of my favorite B.B. King duet CDs.

Songs and musicians on "Duces Wild."

1. If You Love Me with Van Morrison
2. The Thrill Is Gone with Tracy Chapman
3. Rock Me Baby with Eric Clapton
4. Please Send Me Someone To Love with Mick Hucknall
5. Baby I Love You with Bonnie Raitt
6. Ain't Nobody Home with D'Angelo
7. There Must Be A Better World Somewhere with Dr. John
8. Confessin' The Blues with Joe Cocker Marty Stuart
9. Paying The Cost To The Boss with the Rolling Stones
10. Dangerous Mood with Joe Cocker
11. Keep It Coming with Heavy D
12. Cryin' Won't Help You Babe with David Gilmour & Paul Carrack
13. Night Life with Willie Nelson



Some complain about this CD not being based in the blues enough, but I have to say that I like how some of the musicians that perform on this CD help B.B. to update his sound, and move the blues closer to music like R&B and even rap. I know it is a point of contention amongst some blues fans, but rap and R&B overlap with blues music too, just as rock and roll does.

Songs and musicians on "Blues Summit."

1. Playin' With My Friends duet with Robert Cray
2. Since I Met You, Baby duet with Katie Webster
3. I Pity The Fool duet with Buddy Guy
4. You Shook Me duet with John Lee Hooker
5. Something You Got duet with Koko Taylor
6. There's Something On Your Mind duet with Etta James
7. Little By Little duet with Lowell Fulson
8. Call It Stormy Monday duet with Albert Collins
9. You're The Boss duet with Ruth Brown
10. We're Gonna Make It duet with Irma Thomas
11. I Gotta Move Out Of This Neighborhood/Nobody Love - B.B. King & Orchestra
12. Everybody's Had The Blues duet with Louis Walker

This CD is a bit more rooted in the blues as can be seen from the performances of noted blues musicians such as Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Koko Taylor and Albert Collins.



file under;
music, blues, B.B. King, Jeff Beck

Lights Are On Nobody Home - Albert Collins

Blues Book: Texas Blues Guitar

Texas Blues Guitar

click image for info

Book Description - Musicians Institute instructor Robert Calva covers rhythm and lead guitar in the styles of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King and Albert Collins. He teaches: 24 common blues licks; common blues "box" positions; shuffle blues, slow blues, Latin blues and straight blues; and more. The book includes standard notation and TAB, and the CD features 34 full-band tracks.

Book Details

* Paperback: 48 pages
* Publisher: Musicians Institute Press (June 1, 1999)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0793599644
* ISBN-13: 978-0793599646
* Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.4 x 0.2 inches

The Things I Used To Do

"The Things That I Used to Do" is a song written by Guitar Slim (aka Eddie Jones) and his 1953 recording of it in New Orleans, was arranged and produced by a young Ray Charles. It was released on Specialty Records in 1954 to become a bestseller, staying in the rhythm and blues charts for 42 weeks'. I can't find that version but Buddy Guy discusses him here

Wikipedia

Ray Charles's arrangement and piano accompaniment emphasizes the religious tone of intense but philosophical regret in the singer's voice, giving the song a gospel-influenced feel.

I would be interested of course in friends comments - which version is the 'best' and why?

The song has been covered by many artists, including

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Albert Collins

Junior Parker, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Big Joe Turner, The Grateful Dead and Buddy Guy

A Rare version by Jimi Hendrix


Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry - The Things I Used To Do
Uploaded by Red_Chuck. - Explore more music videos.

A very, very good version by Earl King

Texas blues

Growing up in Louisiana, in the shadow of the great state of Texas gives you a different perspective on things. Especially music. Especially blues music. I feel like I really understand what those great Texas blues musicians were singing about, you know what I mean?

People like Lightin' Hopkins, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker and Leadbelly. Living there for a few years, and going to college there only served to make me appreciate the state, the people and the great Texas Blues music even more.

According to Wikipedia;

Texas Blues began to appear in the early 1900s among African Americans who worked in oilfields, ranches and lumber camps. In the 1920s, Blind Lemon Jefferson innovated the style by using jazz-like improvisation and single string accompaniment on a guitar; Jefferson's influence defined the field and inspired later performers, like Lightnin' Hopkins and T-Bone Walker. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, many bluesmen moved to cities like Galveston, Houston and Dallas. It was from these cities that a new wave of popular performers appeared, including slide guitarist and gospel singer Blind Willie Johnson and legendary vocalist Big Mama Thornton. Duke Records and Peacock Records were the most important labels of the scene.

In the 1960s, however, the record industry moved north, reducing Texas's importance in the blues scene. The area's importance returned in the 1970s when a Texas blues rock sound developed, led by Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, ZZ Top and the The Fabulous Thunderbirds. This set the stage for the revival of the 1980s, which produced Stevie Ray Vaughan and moved the blues capital of the state to Austin.

Notable Texas Blues performers

• Albert Collins


• The Fabulous Thunderbirds


• Lightnin' Hopkins


• Blind Lemon Jefferson


• Billy Gibbons


• Freddie King


• Leadbelly


• Delbert McClinton


• Guitar Shorty


• Big Mama Thornton


• Jimmie Vaughan


• Stevie Ray Vaughan


• T-Bone Walker


• Johnny Winter


• Canned Heat


• Mance Lipscomb


• ZZ Top

Coco Montoya hot blues guitar

Coco Montoya (b. Henry Montoya, January 1, 1951 in Santa Monica, California) is a blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - his career began in the mid-70s with Albert Collins as a drummer.





Some good staples on this album


The Essential Coco Montoya

The Essential Coco Montoya

Hey Joe!

Roy Buchanan’s musical career started in California, he came from humble beginnings - his father was a sharecropper. Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially-mixed revival meetings his family would attend. “Gospel,” he recalled, “that’s how I first got into black music”. He in fact drew upon many disparate influences while learning to play his instrument (although he later claimed his aptitude was derived from being “half-wolf”).



This comes from a review that sums up my feelings about him

This blues guitarist so expertly wrenched notes from his guitar that it sent shivers up my spine. Using a volume knob technique to create an almost violin like effect along with typical blues guitar techniques, and a whole lot of emotion, Mr. Roy Buchanan took the song I had only known because of Hendrix and created a slow blues, absolutely heart wrenching version unlike anything I had ever heard. It was raw, real and authentic that I was immediately blown away. I watched every video of Roy Buchanan I could find that night.
Roy's playing seemed to come primarily out of emotion like blues, but with a noticeable technical expertise that was exciting but not showy. Plus, when he would work the volume knob on his guitar, he could actually make it sound like the guitar was crying. Well this works as an exciting technique, but it also allowed him to create very vocal sounding solos that had swells, dynamics and emphasis, just like a vocal soloist would use and that added so much soul to the solo.

Another track from Germany



and with Albert Collins



He's been going a while - in the UK you can look at the following albums that I like
The World's Greatest Unknown Guitarist and Guitar on Fire: The Atlantic Sessions

blues on MySpace

I've been trying to put together a list of all the blues on MySpace pages that I have come across. I like going to the MySpace pages of blues musicians because you can listen to their music as well as get other info on them. Like their touring schedual, and who knows they may be online at the same time that you are.

Here are a few pages (in no particular order) that I have come up with so far;

Shemekia Copland's MySpace Page

Koko Taylor's MySpace Page

Robert Cray's MySpace Page

KebMo's MySpace Page

Muddy Waters' MySpace Page

Robert Johnson's MySpace Page

Charley Patton's MySpace Page

Memphis Minnie's MySpace Page

Homemade Jamz Blues Band's MySpace Page

B.B. King's MySpace Page

John Lee Hooker's MySpace Page

Albert Collins' MySpace Page

Howlin' Wolf's MySpace Page

I plan on updating this list, organizing it better and giving you all a better idea of what these pages have to offer, in a month or so. But if you know of any blues musicians that have MySpace pages but are not on my list please let me know.

Albert Collins - If Trouble Was Money

What if trouble was money???

I might not be a millionaire, but I know one thing, I would be a rich man and that's for real!