Flashback pop classic of the Day | CANNED HEAT - Let’s Work Together

I blame Top of The Pops! Check the dancing! Bless! 

 

TURN IT UP! Dance around the sitting room in your pants!

CANNED HEAT- Let’s Work Together

Top Hat Crew's "Live Music Archives"

This Weeks Birthdays On Al Wilson’s Birthday | Canned Heat : Going Up The Country (Henry Thomas tribute) | Top Hat's "Live Music Archives"

We touched on Henry Thomas the other day and this popped up on the Facebook pages 

 

Love to see Al happy and laughing at Bob’s mugging with the flute . . . . young Wilson knew his blues history fo’ sho’ sadly some folks are just too sensitive for this ole world rest easy now Al safe in Bob’s back yard . . . . . . . meanwhile enjoy

 

"Top Hat's "Live Music Archives”

Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson was born 81 years ago today.

Wilson was a co-founder, leader and primary composer for Canned Heat. He played guitar, harmonica, sang and wrote several songs for the band.

Wilson was considered by many of his musical peers to be an expert on the blues musicians who came before him. Many considered him as possessing an exceptional ability for connecting musically with the elder bluesmen. His biggest influences included Skip James, Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Booker White. 

Skip James, in particular, was a highly exalted figure in Wilson's personal music journey. In high school, Wilson studied James' 1931 recordings with great enthusiasm. Subsequently, Wilson began singing similar to James' high pitch. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor, for which he would become known.

After Son House's “rediscovery” in 1964, it was evident that House had forgotten his songs due to his long absence from music. Wilson showed him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942. Wilson demonstrated them on guitar to revive House's memory. 

House recorded "Father of the Delta Blues" for Columbia Records in 1965. Two of three selections on the set featured Wilson on harmonica and guitar. 

In a letter to Jazz Journal, published in the September, 1965 issue, Son House's manager, Dick Waterman, remarked the following about the project and Wilson: 

"It is a solo album, except for backing on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on Empire State Express and harp on Levee Camp Moan. Al never recorded before, but he has backed John Hurt, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and many others. He is good, and the record will prove it."

During his time performing in Cambridge, Wilson met the American guitarist, John Fahey. From Fahey, he acquired the nickname, "Blind Owl," owing to his extreme nearsightedness, roundish facial features and scholarly nature. 

With Fahey's encouragement, Wilson moved with Fahey to Los Angeles with the aim of having Wilson assist Fahey with his UCLA master's thesis on Charley Patton. It was in Los Angeles that Wilson met Bob Hite, a fellow blues enthusiast and record collector, who would go on to establish Canned Heat with Wilson.

With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969.

The studio version of "Going Up The Country" was featured in the Woodstock film and has been referred to as the festival's unofficial theme song. Wilson also wrote and sang the notable "On the Road Again."

On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead on a hillside behind band mate Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon house. He was 27 years old. 

An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication. Although his death is sometimes reported as a suicide, this is not clearly established and he left no note.

Wilson's death came just two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrix and four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin.

posted on Facebook by . . .  

Deborah Roldan-Dixon

Background biography

Al "Blind Owl" Wilson was born on this day in 1943. 7/4/43

Alan Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970) was a co-founder, leader, and primary composer for the American blues band Canned Heat He played harmonica, guitar, and sang with the group live and on recordings. Wilson was lead singer on Canned Heat's two biggest U.S. hit singles. His death at age 27 prefigured that of other rock artists of the 60s.

Early years....

Wilson was born and grew up in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Massachusetts. Some of Wilson's first efforts at performing music publicly came during his teen years with a jazz ensemble he formed with other musically oriented friends from school. It was around this same time that Wilson developed a fascination with blues music after a friend played a Muddy Waters record for him. After graduating from Arlington High School, he majored in music at Boston University and played the Cambridge, Massachusetts coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. Wilson developed into a dedicated student of early blues, writing a number of articles for Broadside of Boston newspaper and the folk-revival magazine Little Sandy Review, including a piece on bluesman Robert Pete Williams.

Wilson was considered by many of his musical peers to be an expert on the blues musicians who came before him; many considered him as possessing an exceptional ability for connecting musically with the elder bluesmen. His biggest influences included Skip James, Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Bukka White. James, in particular, was a highly exalted figure in Wilson's personal music journey. In high school, Wilson studied James' 1931 recordings with great ardor. Subsequently, Wilson began singing similar to James' high pitch. Wilson eventually perfected the high tenor, for which he would become known.

After Son House's 'rediscovery' in 1964, it was evident that House had forgotten his songs due to his long absence from music. Wilson showed him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942. Wilson played House's old recordings for him and demonstrated them on guitar to revive House's memory.[8] House recorded "Father of the Delta Blues" for Columbia Records in 1965. Two of three selections on the set featured Wilson on harmonica and guitar. In a letter to Jazz Journal published in the September 1965 issue, Son House's manager Dick Waterman remarked the following about the project and Wilson: "It is a solo album, except for backing on two cuts by a 21-year-old White boy from Cambridge by the name of Al Wilson. Al plays second guitar on Empire State Express and harp on Levee Camp Moan. Al never recorded before, but he has backed John Hurt, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and many others. He is good, and the record will prove it."

Canned Heat.....

During his time performing in Cambridge, Wilson met American guitarist John Fahey. From Fahey, he acquired the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness, roundish facial features and scholarly nature. In one instance when he was playing at a wedding, he laid his guitar on the wedding cake because he did not see it. As Canned Heat's drummer, Fito de la Parra, wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was.". With Fahey's encouragement, Wilson moved with Fahey to Los Angeles with the aim of having Wilson assist Fahey with his UCLA master's thesis on Charley Patton. It was in Los Angeles that Wilson met Bob Hite, a fellow blues enthusiast and record collector who would go on to establish Canned Heat with Wilson.

With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Although Canned Heat's live performance was cut from the original theatrical release of the Woodstock film, they were featured in the 25th anniversary "Director's Cut." The studio version of "Going Up The Country" was featured in the Woodstock film.

Wilson also wrote and sang the hit record "On the Road Again." In an interview with Down Beat magazine he remarked that, "... on "On The Road Again" [second LP] I appear in six different capacities – three tamboura parts, harmonica, vocal, and guitar, all recorded at different times." On the double album Hooker 'N Heat (1970), John Lee Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson is capable of following Hooker's guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form. Yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker concludes that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life". Hooker is also known to have stated "Wilson is the greatest harmonica player ever."

Death.....

On September 3, 1970, Wilson was found dead on a hillside behind band mate Bob Hite's Topanga Canyon home; he was 27 years old. An autopsy identified his manner and cause of death as accidental acute barbiturate intoxication. Wilson reportedly had attempted suicide a few months earlier, attempting to drive his car off a freeway in Los Angeles. He was briefly hospitalized for significant depression, and was released after a few weeks. Although his death is sometimes reported as a suicide, this is not clearly established and he left no note. Wilson's death came just two weeks before the death of Jimi Hendrixand four weeks before the death of Janis Joplin, two artists who also died at the same age. Along with his talent and intellect, Wilson had a reputation for social awkwardness and introversion which may have contributed to his depression. 

Retrospectively, some close to Wilson believe that he may have been on the autism spectrum.

Wilson was a passionate conservationist who loved reading books on botany and ecology. He often slept outdoors to be closer to nature. In 1969, he wrote and recorded a song, "Poor Moon", which expressed concern over potential pollution of the moon. He wrote an essay called 'Grim Harvest', about the coastal redwood forests of California, which was printed as the liner notes to the Future Blues album by Canned Heat. Wilson was interested in preserving the natural world, particularly the redwood trees. When he died, so too did the Music Mountain organization he had initiated dedicated to this purpose. In order to support his dream, Wilson's family has purchased a "grove naming" in his memory through the Save the Redwoods League of California. The money donated to create this memorial will be used by the League to support redwood reforestation, research, education, and land acquisition of both new and old growth redwoods.

Stephen Stills' song "Blues Man" from the album Manassas is dedicated to Wilson, along with Jimi Hendrix and Duane Allman.

Remembering Henry Thomas (1874–1930?) | BULL DOZE BLUES : HENRY THOMAS

Henry Thomas

we have looked at Henry Thomas before and I first heard of him through The Lovin’ Spoonful reference presumably via John Sebastian who knew his early roots and blues and I of course loved him by proxy ever since, the kind of blues I always related to, with that down home jug-band rural feel that always struck me!

Then over the weekend there is this beautiful video . . . . . . 

"Henry Thomas ('Ragtime Texas'), who was born in Big Sandy (TX) in 1874, was one of the oldest African American musicians to record for the phonograph companies in the late 1920s.
With a repertoire of rags, minstrel, dance and folk tunes, he was more of a 'songster' than a bluesman.
Thomas' BULL DOZE BLUES (Vocalion 1239), recorded in June 1928, is also notable in that the singer, in addition to the guitar, also accompanies himself on the quills (traditionally made of cut Southern Cane tubes), which are very rare in African American music.
Easy to hear that Thomas' record was also the blueprint for Canned Heat's 'Going Up the Country', which was released 40 years later with altered lyrics. 

According to music experts like Prof. David Evans it is very likely that the street musician who appears in a short sequence at Maxwell Street Market in Heinrich Hauser's film 'Chicago. Weltstadt in Flegeljahren' (1931), is Henry Thomas. The people in the background are probably the protagonists of a medicine show. “ 

there is this from Dime Store Radio on Facebook! 

Remembering Henry Thomas (1874–1930?) He was an American country blues singer, songster and musician. Although his recording career, in the late 1920s, was brief, Thomas influenced performers including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Grateful Dead, and Canned Heat. Often billed as "Ragtime Texas", Thomas's style is an early example of what later became known as Texas blues guitar.

Thomas was born into a family of freed slaves in Big Sandy, Texas, in 1874. He began traveling the Texas railroad lines as a hobo after leaving home in his teens. He eventually earned his way as an itinerant songster, entertaining local populaces as well as railway employees.

He recorded 24 sides for Vocalion Records between 1927 and 1929, 23 of which were released. They include reels, gospel songs, minstrel songs, ragtime numbers, and blues. Besides guitar, Thomas accompanied himself on quills, a folk instrument fabricated from cane reeds whose sound is similar to the zampona played by musicians in Peru and Bolivia. His style of playing guitar was probably derived from banjo-picking styles.

His life and career after his last recordings in 1929 have not been chronicled. Although the blues researcher Mack McCormick stated that he saw a man in Houston in 1949 who met Thomas's description, most biographers indicate that Thomas died in 1930, when he would have been 55 or 56 years old.

Dime Store Radio 

#henrythomas #blues #tajmahal #cannedheat #dimestoreradio

Canned Heat - Going Up The Country

Lovin’ Spoonful - Henry Thomas -Hums of The Loving Spoonful ( J.B. Sebastian tribute to the blues master

Start The Week | CANNED HEAT : Rollin' And Tumblin’ | Monterey Pop '67

 Years ago now but certainly since this memorable early appearance,  I went to my first rock festival (Glastonbury?) and experienced Canned Heat amongst many others

I woke that morning at about three a.m. (night? still dark) in the early hours anyway and way before dawn and this is what I heard!

Its a fine way to start your day and hope it starts yours too with jump leads!

thanks to Rock_N_Roll_Fantasy V.S.Rock Facebook page

If you don’t like my taters then don’t be touchin’ my vine . . . . . . . . oh you know it!

The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson - Aquarium Drunkard

The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson

Posted on December 2, 2022

Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson brought an archaic weirdness to Canned Heat. Obsessed with traditional blues and well versed in the boogie dialect of John Lee Hooker.

I think I have mentioned waking up to Canned Heat at one of the first Glastonbury Festivals way back when and bought at least three albums after that not least 'Boogie'  and this one the last Hooker n Heat

There was always something rather mysterious about them to me, Bob The Bear's weight belying his stomping good time blues, the Blind Owl's mystic short sightedness and introverted presence, Levine bearded hippy wonder reincarnated as an old blues guitarist and then Harvey Mandel and his Cristo Redentor where 'n the heck did they find HIM!?. . . . . I loved Let's Work Together (still do!) and Going Up The Country I bought as a single as wells On The Road Again which I learned to play. The band's Speed Kills message was always apposite (eventually) so was surprised to learn here about the imbibing of Sterno sounds truly dreadful and reminds me of the client who justified his drinking to me by explaining he didn't drink alcohol but found petrol did the trick (sic!). This article is really worth a read and nails the mysterious side of Wilson (who knew he was named Blind Owl by John Fahey no less?!Wilson wrote the liner notes to Fahey's legendary album Blind Joe Death) and well worth a listen to all those interested . . . . . . Boogie Chillun!

for those really interested his Wikipedia entry is a really good read and introduction to his legend, believed now to have been autistic and possibly suffering from Asperger's syndrome, Wilson was a chronic depressive and tried to kill himself several times. A profound conservationist despondent at the way the planet was headed. Expected on tour of Europe he was found dead of an overdose (reds or barbiturate poisoning) in his sleeping bag around the back of Bob Hite's house out in the hills of Topanga Canyon. 

He was 27.

article here . . . . .

Happier times . . . . . . . . .Going Up The Country (Beat Club - Germany)

Let's Work Together 

note the Sterno!

Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson - Canned Heat - Plain & Fancy

CANNED HEAT's

AL 'BLIND OWL' WILSON 

ROCKASTERIA

Canned Heat meant a great deal to me ever since waking up to them at three in the morning ( I think) at one of the UK festivals in the late sixties

I bought their albums and several singles and tried my best to copy the blues sound they helped keep alive. The thing that fascinated me was Al and Bob who formed the band - Al's high and lonesome blues vocal and Bob The Bear's growling hard rockin' blues. 'Going Up the Country' versus 'Lets Work Together' both of which I bought when they came out . . . I loved them  . . . . . they were US and there was a touch of amateurish blues fans like we all were. but this is a tribute to Al who shone and shot across the night sky like a little starry rocket, gone to soon. This from Plain & Fancy who have shared a beauty of a biog from the website (see below) and two discs of sheer unadulterated Blues! If John Lee thought you were keeping the torch alive then that's good enough for me

Can you dig it? I think you can!

with John Lee Hooker

Al Wilson - Blind Owl 1966-1970 - Rockasteria

Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson Biography

Cofounder with Bob 'The Bear' Hite of Canned Heat

Alan Wilson is widely remembered as a pioneer of blues-rock during its crucial development period of the 1960s. Wilson’s devoted fans considered him one of the most brilliant, innovative, and sadly under-recognized artists of his era. His recording career spanned only three years, cut short in 1970 by his untimely death. Despite this, he left behind a rich legacy of inspiration to fellow artists, music scholars, and listeners alike.

Born July 4, 1943, Wilson was the second child of Jack Wilson and Shirley Brigham Wilson. His parents divorced when he was four years old and he and his sister, Darrel, remained in their Arlington Massachusetts house with their father and their maternal grandmother, Julia Brigham. Jack married his second wife, Barbara. Barbara and Jack raised Alan and Darrell along with the three children they had together. Shirley also remarried and raised three daughters with her husband, Joe Konecny. In 1954 Shirley moved to New York State, and remained in contact with Alan, Darrell and the Wilson family, visiting back and forth over the years.

Alan’s exceptional intelligence was obvious at a young age. His musical inclinations became apparent when Barbara bought him a jazz record, and he immediately began analyzing what he heard. He learned to play the trombone and taught friends how to play the other instrumental parts of the arrangements.

As a teen, he played trombone in a jazz band he formed called Crescent City. It was the beginning of a lifetime of music scholarship and instrumental prowess. He shared his interest in jazz during summer visits with Joe and Shirley, bringing his favorite LPs to enjoy. Shirley and Joe both played piano and Joe taught vocal and instrumental music in the local school district.

Though his musical explorations began with the trombone and focused largely on instrumental jazz music, Wilson soon discovered the related genre of blues. The first blues record to move him deeply was a Muddy Waters LP, which he appreciated for the power and authenticity of the vocals as well as the slide guitar and harmonica. He began to teach himself both these instruments. Over the years he developed an interest in other genres, including Asian forms, African-American gospel, classical, rock, and pop music among others, but his own primary form of musical expression was the blues. Eventually he would give up trombone, and focus on the guitar and harmonica.

Although Alan’s unusual singing voice would be apparent in the unofficial theme song of the Woodstock Festival, “Going up Country,” some of his first singing attempts took place behind a closed bedroom door at home. When a family member overheard him, he was embarrassed. With a style that took its cue from high-pitched blues singer Skip James, Alan’s vocals would end up making Canned Heat’s hit songs instantly recognizable.

In 1961, Alan attended Boston University after graduating from high school. His academics earned him a National Merit Scholarship and a scholarship from the Town of Arlington. 

After a year and a half, anxious to play music rather than study it, he quit school. To make ends meet, he worked with his father as a bricklayer and occasionally gave guitar or harmonica lessons. It was an exciting time, for Alan was immersed in the fertile musical environment of the “folk revival” that was happening in local Cambridge, Massachusetts in the early 1960’s.

Around this time, Alan’s interest in the blues led to his participation in the revival of old blues artists and their music. When newly rediscovered bluesman Booker White played a series of Cambridge gigs, Wilson took the opportunity to interview him. From White, he learned that the seminal 1920s bluesman Son House, teacher to Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, was still alive. As a result of this interview, efforts to locate Son House were successful.

When Son House came to Cambridge, Alan helped resurrect guitar parts and songs that the elderly man hadn’t played in decades, due to his decline into alcoholism. Thanks in large part to Alan’s assistance and inspiration, House recorded a classic album for the Columbia record company and enjoyed a successful career playing for “blues revival” audiences. Alan would later appear on two of Houses’ albums, “Father of the Delta Blues” and “Delta Blues and Spirituals,” playing harmonica and guitar.

Another figure involved in this scene was the quirky, iconoclastic guitarist John Fahey, who had been involved in the rediscoveries of Skip James and Booker White. In later years, he would become known as a founder of the “American Primitive” guitar style. In 1965, Alan had been listening to Fahey’s records, and at a gig in Cambridge the two struck up a friendship that would change Alan’s life.

Fahey was attending UCLA and writing a thesis on Charlie Patton, who is nowadays known as the “father of the Delta blues.” Recognizing Alan’s interest and scholarship, he asked Alan to accompany him back to California to help him with music theory and notation for the thesis in exchange for room and board. Alan accepted the offer and moved to Los Angles with Fahey.

On the journey, the forgetful Alan Wilson left his eyeglasses in Massachusetts. Because of his poor vision, Fahey began calling him “Blind Al”, in the style of old-time blind musicians such as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Blake, and so on. Eventually, because of Alan’s roundish facial features combined with his scholarly nature, the name became “Blind Owl”. In later years, it became Alan’s blues moniker with Canned Heat.

In Los Angeles, Fahey introduced Wilson to a record store manager named Bob Hite who had an encyclopedic knowledge of music, and a record collection that some have recalled as one of the world’s largest at the time. Hite sang the blues in a classic “belter” style comparable to that of Big Joe Turner. He was a natural musical complement for Alan. The two men could not have been more different, however, in terms of their personalities. Hite was loud and outgoing; Wilson was quiet and introverted. Alan was the meticulous creator of music; Bob was the over-the-top showman. Their partnership, though, provided an unlikely balance, and was the basic chemistry for Canned Heat.

Hite and Wilson decided to form a jug band along with Fahey. When someone proposed the idea of going electric, Fahey lost interest, and would be replaced by a short succession of electric guitarists culminating with Henry Vestine. With influences from Albert King, Albert Collins, B. B. King, and other masters, Vestine made his guitar speak a psychedelic blues language that fit perfectly with Wilson’s concept for the band and the music of the era.

The band decided to name themselves after an obscure record by 1920s-era bluesman Tommy Johnson. Thus, they were originally “The Canned Heat Blues Band”, but after discovering that local interest in blues was tepid at best, decided to shorten this to “Canned Heat.” With a lineup of Hite on vocals, Wilson on bottleneck, rhythm guitar, and harmonica, and Vestine on lead guitar, they were made complete by bassist Larry Taylor and drummer Frank Cook. In this incarnation, they played local fraternity events, private parties, and the like. Eventually they played a party where they caught the attention of Hollywood agent Skip Taylor, who became their manager.

In 1966, the band had recorded a batch of demos for R&B producer Johnny Otis. For the time being, the songs were shelved, and would eventually be released on Janus Records in 1970 as Vintage Heat. But their first official LP release came when Skip Taylor secured a recording contract with Liberty Records.

The album, Canned Heat, stayed true to the band’s blues roots, presenting material going back as far as the 1920s in a modern, electric band format. It included songs like “Big Road Blues”, “Catfish Blues”, and “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”. The only item featuring Wilson’s vocals was a version of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me”.

Canned Heat’s first nationwide tour included the historic Monterey International Pop Festival. The national tour was suspended briefly due to a drug bust in Denver. The arrests did not include Alan, who was outside collecting leaves while the other band members partied in their motel rooms with, unbeknownst to them, undercover drug agents.

This retreat into nature was not uncommon for Alan. It may have been his shyness and social awkwardness that made him feel more comfortable when surrounded by nature, or reading books on botany. He felt ill at ease with the rock and roll lifestyle, not knowing how to relate to women as his band mates so easily did.

Alan had a special love of trees, and now that he lived on the West coast, found a virtual heaven on earth in the ancient coastal redwood forests. In 1969, Bob Hite gave him a camper for his birthday, knowing how Alan would go off into the woods during his time off tour. He usually spent his nights outside in a sleeping bag, often cooking his dinner of brown rice over a portable stove. He also had an interest in yoga, and was known to practice yoga positions and breathing exercises often which he felt improved his harmonica playing.

In late 1967, drummer Frank Cook was replaced by Fito de la Parra, whose affinity to the blues would prove essential to the “classic” Canned Heat sound. This lineup recorded their third album in 1968, Boogie With Canned Heat, and released a single containing an unusual raga-like harmonica blues, “On the Road Again.” Alan not only sang the lyrics, but played a variety of instruments, layered in multiple tracks. This song expressed his deep interest in classical Indian music. Musicologically, it has certain key affinities with pentatonic blues, which Alan recognized and used to good effect here.

Surprising everyone and breaking out as a hit in Texas before spreading nationwide, “On the Road Again” peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it reached number 8 on the singles charts, forecasting Canned Heat’s immense popularity there and in Europe. This was quite an achievement given the tunes unusual sound compared to other popular music of the era.

At this point, Wilson’s musical expertise was guiding the group’s musical direction. The 1969 album, Living the Blues, featured  “Going Up Country” which reached number 11 on the singles charts and would become the unofficial theme song of the Woodstock Festival movie soundtrack. For decades, it has been used in movie soundtracks, television commercials, and other media worldwide, and for many represents the “hippie” era of the 1960s. Other songs on the album showed the band’s interest in experimentation and psychedelia.

The success of the hit “Going Up Country” and the band’s previous performance at the Monterey Folk Festival no doubt secured the invitation of Canned Heat to appear at the Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York, in August 1969. Just prior to the event, lead guitarist Henry Vestine, whose performances had begun to suffer from drug and alcohol abuse, left the band and was replaced by Harvey Mandel, a Chicago guitarist noted for his innovative approach to blues and jazz-influenced rock. The  Harvey Mandel era of the band saw the release of the Future Blues album along with successful and lucrative tours across the US, UK, and Europe. 

Despite the band’s commercial success, on a personal level, Alan Wilson was suffering. An extremely sensitive individual, he had long been prone to depression, and struggled to interact with others on mundane social levels. An inability to find a suitable romantic partner also weighed upon him, and at various times he considered leaving Canned Heat.

To contribute something for the world of a nature he loved, which he saw increasingly endangered by pollution and urban sprawl, Alan decided to create a conservation fund. Music Mountain, as it was called, was an organization to raise money for the preservation of the coastal redwood, his favorite tree species. The liner notes for the album Future Blues, written by Wilson, celebrate the beauty of the redwood forest and beseech the reader to contribute to the Music Mountain cause.

By the time lead guitarist Henry Vestine returned to the band in 1970, Wilson had begun expressing suicidal thoughts. He sought help through a therapist, as well as inpatient treatment for a period in a psychiatric hospital. Though he was treated with some of the antidepressants of the time, he also continued to self-medicate a sleeping problem by using illicitly obtained barbiturates.

Fulfilling a lifelong dream for the band, Canned Heat teamed up with John Lee Hooker in May 1970 to record a double album. This also served as an effort to engage Wilson, providing him with some musical satisfaction and the accomplishment of recording with one of his artistic idols. The resulting album, Hooker N’ Heat, was critically acclaimed.

On September 2, 1970, Canned Heat was scheduled to leave for a European tour. Alan didn’t show up at the airport, which didn’t raise immediate alarm because he was often late and disorganized in the past. This time, however, he would not appear. On the morning of September 3, a group of friends found him dead in Bob Hite’s backyard. He was 27 years old.

The backyard of Bob’s home in Topanga Canyon had been one of Wilson’s regular haunts when the band was in Los Angeles, with a hillside covered in trees and bushes where he liked to sleep. It was there that he was found in his sleeping bag. In his pants pocket were a few of the barbiturates he habitually used to get to sleep. The Los Angeles coroner ruled his death “accidental acute barbiturate intoxication.” Some close to him felt that his death was no accident, recalling his recent depression and hospitalization. Others, like the coroner, thought that evidence of a suicide was insufficient, and that the circumstances point to a tragic accident.

We will never know what Alan Wilson was thinking that night, as he unrolled his sleeping bag and looked up at the stars one last time. What we do know is that he was a talented musician and musicologist who promoted the revival of early Delta blues and left his own permanent mark on the blues and the music of the late 1960s. He was an environmentalist at the beginning of the modern environmental movement. He struggled with emotional issues and social awkwardness, and his life was cut short either accidentally or recklessly as a result of drug use. We also know that he was and still is loved, remembered and missed by his living relatives, including Barbara, Shirley and Joe,  his sisters and brother, Darrell, Heidi, Lisa, Nicole, Sharon, David, Jayne, and all his nieces and nephews who never got to know him. We hope that this web site is a fitting tribute to his life.

Alan Wilson bio

Canned Heat - On The Road Again

Canned Heat - Going Up The Country 

Canned Heat - Lets Work Together

Canned Heat - At Woodstock - Refried Boogie 

Al Wilson and Canned Heat - My Time Ain't Long

I feel like revisiting this . . . . . after the 'divide and rule' pressure of late from the right wing politicians on this nation of ours and the Brexit split across political parties created I feel as some weird kind of distraction technique I smell a rat and the split has done nothing to aid communication and solidarity, a distraction away from the austerity model, lacks of any significant pay rises in over eight years for the public sector and the bankers and the panjandrums wielding the whip and divying up the spoils behind our backs somehow. You remember what the banks did? They have their hands in our pockets still. The NHS belongs to us, we paid for it and before they privatise it totally to Branson and his ilk let's try another tack . . . . 

that this song summarises what I think the answer is may be a given but let it sink in and hope that things improve . . . . . . I doubt it! But I can hope can't I? Let's work together . . . . . . . . it made me feel more positive for a moment despite a dreadful feeling of doom and gloom . . . . . . . 

The political answer to the current malaise of divisiveness  and split between the parties left and right taking moral decisions , . . . . . . . the answer is here and this is my Friday message to the planet

LET'S WORK TOGETHER!

Canned Heat

Boogie . . . . . 

CANNED HEAT

Bought this when it came out as a single over here in the UK and after seeing them at a festival (can't recall which one but it was early late sixties early seventies and recall them waking me up as found myself being subsumed by the mud!) bought several albums afterwards but it wasn't long seemingly that Al Wilson (harp player and vocalist here) and Bob 'The Bear' Hite had died. Wilson had little to no success with the opposite sex despite being in a burgeoningly famous blues band and suffered severe depression all his life and was found at 27 dead from a barbiturate overdose weeks before Janis and Jimi and Jim Morrison. Hite, always struggling with his weight, was found later in 1981 dead from a heroin overdose. Guitarist Henry Levine the stalwart, after Harvey Mandel had come and gone, and after the deaths of his colleagues tried his best to keep the band going and they had a strong loyal following amongst the biker community but died exhausted and cancer ridden in Paris in 1997.

 I did take to heart their earlier overtures to abstinence with 'Speed Kills' as they had lost a few friends to the dread amphetamines but I think the last single I bought was 'Let's Work Together' which is a classic peon to democracy and socialism if you will. A troubled blues band with more chops than most. Yet it was this track that was an unexpected surprise hit worldwide

singles bought when they came out no.369

saw them live at festivals over here several times which inspired me to buy a couple of albums but left them behind somehow when Bob 'The Bear' Hite and Al Wilson died, a blues monster band of odd fellows for sure but somehow they didn't quite make it over here except for this - a hit everywhere which is odd somehow as it is not the most obvious chart material nor 'Going Up The Country' and the ubiquitous anthemic 'Let's Work Together'. There was nothing quite like waking up in a muddy field listening to these guys . . . . . . . . .