An Evening With Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite At The Grammy Museum

The second collaboration between Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite (after their Grammy winning debut, Get Up!), is out today, and there was a performance and conversation Wednesday evening with the two bluesmen at The Grammy Museum to celebrate their brand new album,  No Mercy In This Land.

It was the eve of the new John Lee Hooker Centennial exhibit opening at The Grammy Museum, which was fitting, as Hooker was the one who introduced Harper to Musselwhite, and a good portion of the interview was spent discussing the legendary Mr. Hooker. I was fortunate enough to be seated next to Hooker's daughter, Zakiya ("Z"), who told me that she would be performing herself the following night at the opening. Grammy Museum Executive Director, Scott Goldman, hosted and moderated the event, and introduced Harper and Musselwhite, who came out to a warm reception, and in turn introduced their backing band - Jason Mozersky on guitar, Jesse Ingalls on bass, and Jimmy Paxson on drums. Harper explained that "The way we made this album was the same as in a circle like this, just in a different room," and they dug right into the opening and title track, "No Mercy In This Land." It's a swampy, traditional blues number that finds Harper and Musselwhite sharing vocal verses and trading licks on their guitar and harmonica respectively. The intimate audience loved it, and Musselwhite cracked, "Don't forget that we have a million dollar dance floor down here!", indicating the tiny space in front of the stage, but found no takers.

"I Found The One" was more fun, an upbeat one with old school rock and roll riffs (derived straight from the blues) and rim shot drums, on which Musselwhite's harp really shone. He is THE master of harmonica, and after its tight ending, the room erupted in applause. The next one found Harper sitting down with his trademark Weissenborn, which garnered its own applause just for being taken out (Grammy Museum events in the Clive Davis Theater tend to bring out the real music aficionados). "I know better than to not check in with my Captain before lift-off," cracked Harper to explain the tune discussion that happened before they got down with "The Bottle Wins Again". This one is a real toe-tapper, for real. I looked around at my immediate area, and every single foot I could see was tapping away - mine included. "Broken hearts and broken dreams, turns out they weigh the same" is an example of the blues Harper must have had while writing this one, and his lap steel wailed away right into another tight ending. It's great stuff. They're not really breaking any new blues ground, but they are certainly shoring up the blues foundation, making sure it lasts beyond their generations.

"Nothing At All" found Harper at the piano, and it was my favorite tune of the evening. A slow, dramatic number full of the minor notes that are a weakness of mine. It featured a subtle and sensuous harmonica solo from Musselwhite, and this one was the standout for me. Sure, because it's beautiful, but mainly because it sounds different than the typical 1/4/5 chord changes that traditional blues is known for.

When the clapping died down, it was time for the interview portion of the evening. Goldman brought up the fact that the Hooker exhibition was opening the next night, and that Musselwhite heard Harper opening up for Hooker in 1993, and said of that night, "I heard the blues in Ben's guitar playing, and that got my attention. We met good." Harper said of Hooker, "What comes to mind about his music was the deepest ease. And his grace - he gave me an opening gig before my first album had even come out." Musselwhite added, "I learned from John Lee that you get your money up front!" - to much laughter. Musselwhite is a pretty funny cat, cracking up the audience the whole time.

The obvious good friends talked of how their music deepened by being on the road together to promote Get Up!, and how their shared collective musical information made this new album even more possible - and necessary. "Charlie makes me exceed myself. He pushes me to go places I could not go myself," explained Harper, with tangible admiration for his friend and mentor. He added, "Charlie's harmonica steeps the music deep into the ground AND gives it flight. We're not re-inventing the blues, we're re-invigorating the blues. The blues has to shape-shift to stay vital."

Musselwhite returned the admiration, saying, "This relationship works because we're kindred souls, searchers, and lifelong learners seeking the heart of things." - and the music shows this off, absolutely. Harper's mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, was in the audience, and Harper shared stories about the making of their own collaboration, Childhood Home, and about how he used to trash her records by playing them to death. He finally got his own turntable and records "The little white Radio Shack one, remember, Mom?", and soon was listening to Hendrix ("Probably because we had matching afros, I had no business liking Jimi at 8 years old!) and The Who. He shared an anecdote about his mother coming home from work one day to find that a very young Ben had decorated his white bedroom walls - in Sharpie - with an entire The Who concert drawing covering three walls. She just shook her head and walked out. Kids.

Musselwhite was also an avid record collector of every genre imaginable ("Flamenco is some bluesy stuff!"). He joked that "'My baby left me' is a worldwide phenomenon - or 'She came back and it was worse'." Everyone laughed at that one. Haha. Harper added that he will say to Musselwhite something like "Have you heard the Furry Lewis song 'Turn My Money Green'?" and Musselwhite would answer, "Oh, I KNEW Furry Lewis." As a nod to his own wide appeal, Harper humble-boasted, "I promise you, I'm the only human being that has opened for Pearl Jam AND John Lee Hooker." He's probably right.

The majority of No Mercy In This Land was recorded live, and Harper explained that after being asked "When are you going to work with Charlie again?" in every language around the world, this record had to happen, and "I want to work with Charlie as much as I can from here forward." Watching them play together - and crack each other up constantly - you can see why. Goldman asked, "Is there more to come?" to which Musselwhite drolly replied, "Well, this one isn't even out yet ...", earning more laughter (but it IS out now!). Harper spoke to how he comes up with songs, mocking himself by saying "I'm just channeling - shut the fuck up - don't act like you know songwriting ... but silence doesn't make a good interview." After a decades-long and successful career, I think it could be time for him to hang up the faux-humility, as you probably DO know songwriting if, as he said, he's opened for both Pearl Jam and Hooker. Just saying.

When Goldman asked Musselwhite why he chose the harmonica, he answered, "It's the only instrument that you can't see what you're doing. It has a voice-like quality, and I feel like I'm singing without words, breathing the music." He talked about hanging out in Chicago ("Coming from Memphis, I already knew how to drink!") and watching Muddy Waters. A waitress (whom he may or may not have had a thing with) told Waters to check him out, and from then on he would be asked to sit in with "Mud" whenever he was in the audience, "And that was my ticket out of the factory!" Goldman followed up by asking, "What makes a deep player?" to which Musselwhite retorted, "That's a question that if you have to ask it, you probably won't get it." Burn. He quickly added, "Deep blues has the most feeling. It comforts you." After being kind of dissed, Goldman turned to the audience to see if anyone had better questions. One lady asked Musselwhite if he was familiar with Turkish blues - and of course, he was. Zakiya Hooker stood up and greeted her Dad's old friend, Charlie, and invited them to the Hoooker exhibition, and the respect given her from both was clear. As I was next to her, I raised my hand and asked that since they both have talked a lot about who inspired them and gave them their shots, was there an up and coming musician that they would like to inspire or give a shot to? Harper replied, "I paid mine forward permanently with Jack Johnson.", revealing uncharacteristic maybe jealousy and for sure selfishness (alluding to the fact that he initially gave Johnson a boost, and has been surpassed by Johnson in both sales and fame). I was rather taken aback, as Harper is usually known for his activism and helpfulness, but maybe that was a younger Harper's unjaded idealism. Regardless, he is where he is in a great place today, affirming that and concluding by saying that "My Grammys are cherished like nothing else."

The duo returned to their instruments for an unaccompanied version of "Trust You To Dig My Grave", where just when you think it's about the trust that these two clearly have for each other, Harper sings about "Don't want to be your first lover, I want to be your last", implying a different kind of relationship being sung about. Whoever it's about, it's good, and the friends and musical partners gave each other a big thumbs up at its conclusion. I give No Mercy In This Land a big thumbs up, and this insightful evening of music and conversation at The Grammy Museum gets BOTH thumbs way up. Any chance you get to attend ANY program at The Grammy Museum should be taken, as you always come away from it feeling more knowledgeable, and grateful that music programs such as theirs continue to exist in this crazy world. Perhaps there maybe IS a little mercy in this land after all.

Thank you to the wonderful Grammy Museum for all that they do, and to Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite for giving us the blues - in a good way.

*Photos courtesy of Alison Buck/Wireimage.com for The Grammy Museum

Steve McCormick And Studebaker At The Cinema Bar

I was feeling all bad yesterday because I wasn't able to be with my Mom on her 75th birthday. I'm taking off next week to hang with her in Minnesota, but still. Then I remembered that it was my friend Steve McCormick's birthday too, and he was going to be celebrating both his happy day and the release of his new EP, The Laws Of Love, with his band Studebaker and a whole bunch of Venice friends at The Cinema Bar. I just knew that would make me feel better. I was all the way right.

McCormick and everyone he plays with are truly musician's musicians. Like when you're around them, it's on another level, like when you're around IT guys and they talk about tech stuff ... you can't really wrap your head around what just comes totally naturally to them. It's heavily impressive.

The Cinema is tiny, so you're right up close to the expertise. The sound is never great, it's really too small for it to resonate like it should. Having said that, you're totally immersed in it, and that IS great. It was a bluesy kind of night, and that meant we got to hear our great pal, Stan Behrens (WAR), blow on his harmonica all night long. This guy. Not only is he a liver transplant survivor, but one of the best harp players in the world, who rips harder than ever after his new lease on life. Plus he's just a wonderful human.

All of Studebaker's members are top top notch, from Steve Postell's total shredding on guitar (that he plays very high and tight), soloing like Steve Vai in that little room, to Eric Lynn on the keys (and an amp he had to tape together last minute), it's clear that you are in the presence of masters of their craft. From the grit of the Chicago blues to gorgeous ballads of love (in fact, I feel like I might have seen two people catch each others' eyes for the first time and fall instantly in love - but I might be projecting...), every last note was a pleasure to absorb.

By now, my high spirits were restored. I went in the bathroom and in a bit of synchronicity of thought, right in the middle of the door was this graffiti, telling me what I already know.

Happiest of Birthdays to Mom and Steve! And thanks so much to Steve and Studebaker for the music, and for the elevation of us all of us Venice folks and friends that crammed into that room. Music heals.

Steve Earle - Mardi Gras At The Grammy Museum

I got a kind and last minute invitation to see Steve Earle play and speak last night at the Grammy Museum's "The Drop" series, and I jumped at the chance. I've long admired Earle's gift for storytelling and picking on that guitar, and this Americana Music Association event was on the release day of his new album, Terraplane. It was also Mardi Gras, and as Earle starred on Treme, I felt he'd be a good guy to spend the occasion with.

I was right. We sat there and listened to Earle spin yarns in that "I don't give a fuck" way of his (which he did also utter several times, and is one of the things I dig about him the most) in the silent Clive Davis theater, full of true Earle scholars, as is often the case at Grammy Museum events. It's for the hard core appreciators of the given evening's music, that is always clear. You always feel like you leave with an education, and Earle is a great professor precisely because he is also a scholar of music. Especially the blues.

The talk began with the Grammy Foundation's Scott Goldman asking Earle why a blues album now, to which Earle simply replied, "I had the blues." He's blunt like that, a plain talker. I appreciate that. He's also extra-prolific, with novels, plays, acting roles, and you name it also going on. It's evident and much written about that Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark were Earle's mentors, and he "debriefed them fucking constantly". "Their influences were Lightning Hopkins and Robert Frost, and I don't want to hang with people who don't get that." Me neither.

In discussing the new album, Earle said, "There is only the Chicago Shuffle and the Texas Shuffle. There is no L.A. shuffle, no offense." The album, as he described it, is one part Howlin' Wolf and Chess Records, one part Canned Heat, and one part ZZ Topp (whose Billy Gibbons was repeatedly brought up by Earle as a badass blues man). If that sounds good on paper, trust that it sounds even better on the stereo, and definitely sounds great in person. He added that, even with all those icons of the genre, "All the blues goes back to one Robert Johnson song."

As it was Mardi Gras, Earle gave a little insight to the day, having learned much during his time spent in New Orleans while acting on Treme. Mardi Gras is really about the Mardi Gras Indians (who were originally street gangs protecting their turf) out to settle scores before the next day that begins Lent. He also mentioned that there will most likely be a New Orleans style album from him one day. About the release date, Earle shrugged, "Records come out on Tuesdays, but I think it's auspicious."

Earle also spoke of his upcoming memoir that will be "Less Keith, more Patti." It's about his mentors, Townes and Guy, about the street people that helped him, and about his Grandfather, who began 12 Step meetings in Texas ... "So, it's a book about recovery." I expect there will be many readers. When asked why a memoir now, Earle said, "I have a son with autism and his school is expensive. The publisher said memoirs pay more."

The Grammy nights are great because they just kind of let the performer go, and let it flow where they want the conversation to go. Earle told us he's recording an album with Shawn Colvin in November. He told us about his Camp Copperhead in the Catskills, where he holds an intensive four day songwriting (his job, after all) workshop. He told us that he's playing Letterman for the last time on Monday night. He told us that his tour starts April 15th, and he'll be playing the Stagecoach Festival out here. He told us he's a better performer now because of his acting. He told of how he saw Bruce Springsteen (who he thinks is THE best performer in rock) play an arena like it was a coffee house, and he went home and wrote Guitar Town the very next day.

Of Guitar Town, he said that a lot of songwriters (even Garth Brooks) tell him that they came to Nashville because of that record. "And I apologize." He said Nashville isn't really a town for singer/songwriters (which Earle often called his "job"), they just churn out from the machine. He came to Nashville himself in 1974, "and we all came because of Kris (Kristofferson, of course), but he was already gone being a movie star by then."

"I write chick songs so my audience doesn't get hairier and uglier, but they're not about the girl, they're still about me." That got a laugh, but I also got it. All songs are about the writer's experience and feelings. Earle explained, "I've got to keep myself interested if I'm gonna keep an audience interested. I'm not Andy Kaufman, an audience makes a difference. What I have in common with my audience matters more than how I'm different. And it keeps me in a job." Well, this audience loved that.

Speaking of Van Zandt and Clark, Earle gratefully said, "I was the beneficiary of a real life, old fashioned apprenticeship, which doesn't happen much anymore." True. "Songwriting as an art form is the job that Dylan invented ... it happened because Lennon wanted to be Dylan, and Dylan wanted to be Lennon."This is a man who knows his music history.

I've always enjoyed Earle's rebel streak, and his line of the night for me was when he said, "I loved corporate money. I love to take their money and write a song about Revolution." Yes. YES!

Then it was time for some of those songs we'd been talking about. Earle began strumming his guitar and releasing a huge sigh, almost of relief that the talking part was done and he could get down to his job now. He opened with "Ain't Nobody's Daddy Now" off the new album. And it ruled, as you knew it would.

"This is as close as there is to a chick song on the record," said Earle by way of introducing "You're The Best Lover That I Ever Had." It was great, and steamy and these chicks appreciated it. "Gamblin' Blues" was more for the dudes (and Lightning Hopkins), and they dug it too.

"King Of The Blues" had heads bobbing and toes tapping, and after hearing those stories, really having a grasp on where it came from, rounding out the song's experience beautifully. He told his oft-told tale of Van Zandt riding a horse in a snowstorm (which he fully intends to replicate) as an intro to his great ballad, "Fort Worth Blues", so visual and literary both. Earle ended with the crowd favorite and classic, "Copperhead Road." At song's end, the audience (that matters!) leapt to their collective feet and applauded until Goldman broke it up to say Earle would be signing his cd in the lobby.

As I watched the long line of people waiting to meet Earle and share their Earle stories, I remembered that Earle had said during the show that people always asked him if Van Zandt was Pancho or Lefty. Earle laughingly answers, "He was both." Observing Earle the performer and Earle the person with his fans, I suspect that like the King of The Blues Earle sings about ... Earle too is both.

What a great evening of music ... that didn't end there! We high-tailed it back to Venice to catch Lacey Kay Cowden and Matt Ellis at The Townhouse, and listening to their songs ... you might think that Earle is now a mentor himself. Beautiful, literary, cinematically visual songs that might break your heart, might teach you something about yourself, but for sure will cure any blues you thought you had.

Fait les bon temps rouler!

*Steve Earle & The Dukes great new Terraplane album is available now. Everywhere.

*Lacey Kay Cowden's Townhouse residency continues next Tuesday!

Keb' Mo' in Hollywood - The Real Deal

I finally got to see Keb'Mo' play live last night at Ohm Nightclub (Hollywood and Highland) for a pre-Grammy party for the Whole Planet Foundation Benefit, helping people through global microlending programs. It was a great party, with a whole bunch of great performers (Rocky Dawuni- awesome, Magnolia Memoir, The Mariachi Divas, etal), but when Keb'Mo' played, it was REALLY something special. Playing a bunch of songs from his newest (and Grammy nominated) album BluesAmericana, he mesmerized the room.

It almost got the room to shut up for a performance even. Almost. He is just the real deal. So, so good, so so true, so so legit. I loved it. I also loved that it seemed like half the party was friends who had also made the trek from Venice.

A great night, for a great cause. The very best kind of outing.

*Many thanks to Clamorhouse for being our gracious hosts.

Gary Clark, Jr. At The Greek

My good friends at KCRW hooked me up to see the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gary Clark, Jr. play last Saturday evening at The Greek. I'd first seen Clark, Jr. at Lollapalooza a couple years ago, but only caught the last song or two, which definitely left me wanting to hear more.

What a beautiful, crisp night to kick off November at the lovely Greek ... the only bad news was that the thing started at 6 and I didn't know that. 6?! It must have something to do with the Greek's battles with their neighbors, but that's really early, and meant that we missed all of the TTB. Bummer, because I've heard really great things.

Gary Clark, Jr. and his band showed off their super-chops all evening, with extended bluesy solos that had the crowd whistling and shouting at the end of every one. He played most of the songs off his debut album, Blak and Blu, and it seemed like all of them were fan favorites.

All bundled up in this Tahoe-looking setting, Clark, Jr. was still able to shred the bejezus out of "When My Train Pulls In" with a heavy solo that left jaws dropping. The 50's sounding "Please Come Home" featured Clark, Jr.'s falsetto that literally had girls screaming like bobby soxers.

"I have no business playing slide guitar when Derek Trucks is here, but I'm not gonna let him scare me," said Clark, Jr as he lit into "Numb". He was awesome on slide ... but when he brought out Trucks for a blistering jam, I kinda got what he meant. WOW - and then I was even more bummed that we were late. Duly noted.

An extra-obnoxious dude (in a tank top in the chill night air, but feeling no pain due to his giant beers) came in two hours late and sat directly in front of me, then turning to ask if I'd mind if he stood up the whole time - when absolutely no one else was standing in our section. I told him I would mind, and that he might want to think about being less selfish. Neanderthals can really affect your concert experience, right? It was also getting really cold, so we decided to split after hearing "Blak and Blu".

It's interesting, as technically virtuosic and deeply soulful as Clark, Jr.'s playing is ... later that night when we tuned into Prince's 8 minutes on Saturday Night Live - we were up and dancing in the living room. Way more into it on t.v. than we'd been at The Greek a couple hours before. No one could have told me to sit down, and no one would have been sitting down, you know what I mean? Like great shows don't automatically equal greatness. But then I'm super biased, Prince is the hometown hero.

A great weekend of music all in all, live and in technicolor HD - both great. We're spoiled people in this world with so much good music to listen to - and see every night if you want to. Thank goodness!