Blues Rock

Larry Campbell: “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning” (with Teresa Williams) and “Texas Crapshooter”

Guitarist Larry Campbell has played with everyone. He was in Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour band, which ran from 1997 through 2004. He has played with Levon Helm, Phil Lesh, Judy Collins, Cry Cry Cry, Linda Thompson, Sheryl Crow, Paul Simon, B.B. King, Willie Nelson, k.d. Lang, Rosanne Cash, Buddy and Julie Miller, Little Feat, Hot Tuna and a host of others. He produced David Bromberg’s latest album. The list is impressive both for who is on it and the number of genres that are represented.

Ed Whitelock at PopMatters wrote that the latest album by Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, “Contraband Love,” features great song writing and 11 cuts of “prime Americana.” It is, he says, “a bit darker” than the couple’s first album. Elmore Magazine’s Iain Patience wrote that “the pair have delivered an album that echoes with edgier slices of life. Joy and sorrow, love and heartache spill out as they turn in a twelve-track disc that grabs listeners by the scruff of the neck and propels us to a riskier seam of modern Americana.” Check it out by clicking here (iTunes) or on the image (Amazon).
There is a great piece at Digital Dream Door on Campbell that was published just after he and his wife, the singer/guitarist Teresa Williams, released an album. It’s somehow appropriate that Campbell, who spent much of his career as a sideman, talks about the famous musicians with whom he has played and what they meant to him.

Campbell talks about having the feeling that he had arrived as a musician when he played “Blowin’ In the Wind” with Dylan. He describes a similar reaction when he played “Hesitation Blues” with Hot Tuna, “The Boxer” with Paul Simon and (with Williams) “Attics of My Life” with Phil Lesh. The final item is especially poignant. It’s the story of Levon Helm’s last show before entering the hospital near the end of his life.

Two thoughts come through from reading about Campbell and, to some extent, watching him in clips. I have the suspicion that he likes to not be the one most in the spotlight. Though he seems quite comfortable with the center position, I have a gut feeling that he is just as happy playing second fiddle.

The other reaction is far less speculative: He and Williams had a deep and personal connection with Helm. It is nicely presented in this Q&A with Williams and Campbell at Indy Week. It was a bit of a family thing. I had the pleasure of seeing Levon’s daughter, Amy, perform with Campbell at a winery on eastern Long Island a few years ago. So the family, in both the literal and musical sense, stayed together.

Above is Williams and Campbell’s version of “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning.” Below is “Texas Crapshooter,” which Campbell attributes to Doc Watson, who he calls one of his early heroes.

(Credits: Pop Matters and Elmore Magazine were used in the blue box.

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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