Sunday, July 04, 2010

Fenton on the Fourth

Happy FOURTH OF JULY everybody!
Today is shaping up to be a hot and sticky day -- it's already 71 degrees with 84 percent relative humidity at 7:25 a.m. -- so I am listening to some excellent BLUES music to match.
FENTON ROBINSON would provide a good introduction to the genre for people unsure if they like electrified blues.
I am listening to his 1974 album, "SOMEBODY LOAN ME A DIME" and his guitar playing and vocals are elegant.
"Somebody loan me a dime, I wanna call my old time used to be," he sings on the title track, a Robinson composition he originally recorded in 1967.
BOZ SCAGGS famously (infamously?) covered the song two years later (complete with a stunning DUANE ALLMAN guitar solo) without crediting Robinson, resulting in a legal battle.
Too many people might only remember Robinson for the controversy.
That would be a damn shame. His version of blues fits perfectly on those hot and sticky days, when you only want to move a little, but you want to enjoy your music a lot.