July 1: The Late Great James Cotton was born in 1935

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Distinctive wail…fat-toned style. Sheer propulsive power…Cotton can drive a song with his harp, squeezing out a flurry of notes. His true genius is his ability to select the perfect note. Cotton is a virtuoso of the blues.
– Blues Revue

Cotton is a key link on the chain of great blues harmonica players – Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Junior Wells. Sometimes he out-rocks the Rolling Stones.
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James Cotton – Slow Blues (Angel Of Mercy / Blues in my sleep):

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July 1: The Late Blues Legend Willie Dixon was born in 1915

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]The Blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.
~Willie Dixon

“The blues will always be because the blues are the roots of all American music.”
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Chuck Berry Inducts Willie Dixon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

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June 30: The Late Great Dave Van Ronk was born in 1936

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”] I’d heard Van Ronk back in the Midwest on records and thought he was pretty great, copied some of his recordings phrase for phrase. […] Van Ronk could howl and whisper, turn blues into ballads and ballads into blues. I loved his style. He was what the city was all about. In Greenwich Village, Van Ronk was king of the street, he reigned supreme.
-Bob Dylan (Chronicles: Volume One)
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House of the Rising Sun:

No Direction Home” – Bob Dylan House of The Rising Sun:

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June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Williams hasn’t just perfected a style, she’s mastered a subject. She doesn’t just write realistically and music traditionally, she describes and evokes Southerners for whom realism and traditionalism are epistemological givens. She writes for them, too–not exclusively, she hopes, but in the first instance. They are her people and her neighbors, with damn few media-savvy professionals among them. So reassuring shows of hip come no more naturally to her finely worked, cannily roughed up songs than pop universality. Situated in a subculture far removed from both Manhattan and Alternia, these indelible melodies and well-turned lyrics constitute a dazzling proof of the viability of her world and a robust argument for its values. Emotion makes you smirk? Local color has no place in your global mall? Well, you have Lucinda Williams to answer to. Because this is where she establishes herself as the most accomplished record-maker of the age. A+
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Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the fifth studio album by Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. It was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, California. The album features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris.

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June 29: Lowell George died 40 years ago in 1979

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]If his imprint on America’s rock n’ roll landscape measures this rocker’s worth, Lowell George was priceless. His contribution was deep and lasting. Lowell’s legend lives on in the band named after his little feet, through other musicians who continue covering his songs and emulate his slide play, and in the myriad fans who still love Little Feat for who they were, who they are and what they play. Lowell George wasn’t just the Rock n’ Roll Doctor; he was one of rock n’ roll’s best-loved slide guitarists and all-around charming characters.
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Tribute to Lowell George (R.I.P.):

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June 24: Happy 75th Birthday Jeff Beck

I don’t care about the rules. In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I’m not doing my job properly.
~Jeff Beck

Every time I listen to Jeff Beck my whole view of guitar changes radically. He’s way, way out, doing things you never expect.
~Brian May

Jimmy Page inducts Jeff Beck at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009:

Jeff Beck accepts the award at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction:

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