Adventures in Music and Writing
By Peter Guralnick
Looking to Get Lost is a great book of stories and partial biographies of the lives of a great number of performers Here is the list:
- Robert Johnson
- Skip James
- Ray Charles
- Merle Haggard
- Bill Monroe
- Lonnie Mack
- Dilbert McClinton
- Joe Tex
- Dick Curless
- John R. Cash
- Tammy Wynette
- Lee Smith
- Doc Pomus
- Colonel Thomas A, Parker
- Henry Green
- Leiber and Stroller
- Willie Dixon
- Chuck Berry
- Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint
- Solomon Burke
- Jerry Lee Louis
- Howlin’ Wolf
- Eric Clapton
What I really enjoyed was the reference to influences and interactions with other artists and the paths that took me down. I may add more context to that statement as I read on but for now here are some tunes this book inspired me to listen too.
Don’t Start me talking – Sonny Boy Williamson
The version listed was by Sonny Boy Williamson and its one of my all time favorite. The Chicago Climax Blues Band updated version while true to the original adds a little more polish.
Two More Bottles of Wine – Delbert McClinton with Emmy Lou Harris
I really didn’t know much about Delbert McClinton other than The Blues Brothers paid homage to him by covering B-Movie. You have to respect Delbert McClinton for doing what he wants to do and loving live performing vs the recording business. That may explain his lack of mass market success in terms of hits. EmmyLou Harris recorded “Two More of Wine” by Delbert McClinton. Here are the two of them doing it so you can get a feel for the song.
A couple of versions worth a listen include EmmyLou’s version which features piano intro and lead or Delbert’s version featuring twangy guitar intro.
Lesson In The Pain of Love – Delbert McClinton
I was thinking Delbert McClinton was a blues star given my previous exposure but clearly he’s more on the country swing side of things. This song is perhaps one of my favorites in that genre:
Another search for Delbert songs had me finding a duet of a song Delbert McClinton wrote “Easy From Now On” ” made popular by EmmyLou Harris. Admittedly this took me down a path with little to nothing to do with the book but you may enjoy.
Easy from Now On – EmmyLou Harris
As long as I’m thinking of EmmyLou Harris I have to say I’ve always loved the song “Easy from Now On” even though I thought it was called Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. That’s actually the album title so I guess EmmyLou liked that line too.
This is sort of where I really went off the rails. Nothing to do with the book but more a stream of consciousness brought on by the memories of listening to a Neil’s record collection in Louisiana. So being a cajun from Lake Charles (right near the Texas Louisiana border) Neil’s tastes leaned towards country swing with fun lyrics. Here are a few of my favorites from Neil’s collection to finish off with.
It Should Have Been Me – Commander Cody
Here is another version with some interesting guitar work in it.