[Harp-L] Fathers and Sons

[Cliff Chard <komododad@xxxxxxxxx>]

Picked up my first copy of F & S when it first came out.  I was 16 yrs old.
It changed my life.  I had patterned my playing, prior to that time after
Will Scarlett of Hot Tuna (who I still hold in the highest regard.)  After F
& S I worshiped Mr. Butterfield and lifted note for note, his solo on "Same
Thing."  As the years have gone by I have heard, and stolen from, many
different harp players but I have always had a copy of F & S in record, tape
or Cd, and have listened to it at least once a month.  I am always
astonished at Battlefield's inventiveness on that album and at how perfectly
he integrated himself with the whole.  Many a lesson in that album for
anyone who plays live concerning being a part of the band but not hogging
the solo time, standing out but not dominating, etc.  I feel that album was
the culmination and distillation of Chicago blues up to that moment.
     By the way, in 1968 a Marine Band could be had for as little as $3.50.
A Blues Harp ran about $7.00.  Of course, everything was cheaper, then.
Gasoline was .25 to 35 cents a gallon, a gallon of milk, straight from the
dairy, was less than a dollar, a loaf of bread was 35 cents, a prostitute
and subsequent medical care ran...well, never mind.
     Life was no better or easier then, though.  Nostalgia, and time has a
way of dulling the pain.  Friends and relatives died unexpectedly, there
were bad people around, parents went crazy and cooked their children,
tornadoes and hurricanes changed landscapes, etc.  Only music stands up to
its time and therefore can remain timeless.  Music created with earnestness
and talent never dies.
     Well, enough of my lecture.