Derek

As arguably the best slide guitarist in the world, no words can do justice to the gift that Derek Trucks was endowed with from a very young age. I've seen him play multiple times and have been blown away every time by his ability to what John Mayer refers to as making "his guitar sound like a female singer from the 50's or 60's just belting it out."

Blue Wild Angel

The release of Jimi Hendrix's new album "Valleys of Neptunes" has caused me once again to relapse into that familiar state of psychological and physical dependence on the man who's contribution to the guitar has in my opinion, been unrivaled since his death. I have a habit of exhausting artists pretty quickly on my iPod but there's something comforting, and even...mothering about Hendrix that always makes him a good choice. He was the first guitar player to completely engulf me in a solo and has the rare ability to make the world around you dissolve only to have you snap out of your daze once the song is over thinking "what just happened?".
Here's one of my personal favourite Hendrix clips. Jimi playing "Machine Gun" at the Isle of Wight in 1970, one of the last big shows before his death.

A Musical Tragedy

After a few enlightening conversations and the recent induction of two good friends to the world of blogging (http://peterwjmiller.com/, http://jacobsfox.com/), I've been re-inspired to hop back on the blog train and continue to share with the world what I believe to be music worth listening to. So welcome back to your one-stop full serve window into music that moves you.

If there was a consensus on what people thought was the biggest tragedy in the history hip-hop music, I'd put the disappearance of Lauryn Hill up near the top. Everyone familiar with Lauryn's only studio album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is well acquainted with its ability to encompass all that is good in Hip-Hop music. She's got the voice of an angel, the flow, the lyrics and the beats for a great organic sounding hip-hop album. Here's a taste of her unplugged set at MTV.
COME BACK LAURYN!!!!!!!!!!!

Lenny

I recently rekindled my love affair with the great Lenny Breau after re-listening to one of the first guitar albums I can remember pulling out of my dad's stack of cds, "The Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau". It's a live trio album where Lenny touches on different genres, tempos, moods, picking styles, he plays spanish, blues, classical, indian, jazz, he plays guitar, he sings, and I wouldn't be surprised if he played bass and drums. Lenny is one of the most under-credited guitarists in my opinion, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if you mentioned his name to any great guitar player post 1960 they'd have some words to say about Canada's contribution to the guitar community. Take a look at this excerpt from a biographical documentary about Lenny called "Genius of Lenny Breau" and let me know what you think. It doesn't matter if you chicken pick, shred, or play the blues, this guy is bound to hit a chord.

Note: If this is the first you're hearing of Lenny Breau pick up "the Velvet Touch of Lenny Breau". But the truth is, listen to anything Lenny plays and you'll be converted.

Bessie Smith

Allow me now to share with you the motivation behind my love affair with Norah Jones. It wasn't until hearing her play one of my favourite Band songs, "Bessie Smith" that I decided it was time for me and Norah to become more...intimate. After that I dug a little deeper and began to understand what all the hype was about. Is there anything more attractive than a girl who sings, plays keys and covers The Band??? If you're not already a fan, hopefully hearing this will have the same effect on you as it did on me.
I also decided to throw in Ray Lamontagne's cover of 'Bessie Smith' for your listening pleasure. Any Ray fans? That unmistakable voice is a mandatory addition to LoveofMuzik. As a friend of mine put it earlier today, "it's like he's whispering REALLY loudly".

Note: If you're a Norah Jones fan or simply enjoy listening to good music, check out her side project "The Little Willies"...a little southern hospitality for ya.

John Mayer & The Guitar Solo

Say what you will about John Mayer, the man can play the guitar. The purpose of this post isn't to argue John Mayer's integrity as a musician nor his ability to write a song. The point I wish to make is that John Mayer has done more for the guitar than the majority of people give him credit for. Allow me now to support my conclusion with irrefutable premises, the likes of which will give the John Mayer haters a new perspective, the agnostics a push in the right direction and the lovers even more respect. My objective is to make those skeptics see the light.
Upon first hearing "Your Body is a Wonderland" I thought to myself, "He's like a boy band condensed into one single entity". So I chose to pass on the craze and stick to what I knew best, the blues. It wasn't until the John Mayer Trio album "Try" came out that I thought to myself..."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Here's where the part about him doing more for the guitar than he's given credit for comes into play.
John Mayer undeniably holds one of the most powerful positions of any current artist. He's managed to generate such a large fan base that no matter what he does, the crowd will love him for it. This makes the fact that he plays the guitar phenomenally well a significant part of his influence. He can hold his own with the most celebrated blues artists still alive i.e. B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton etc...and because of this, he's drawn the attention of the masses back to the good stuff. The stuff that tears ur heart out of your chest, the stuff that motivates you to play, listen and appreciate musicality and passion. The stuff worth investing in.
My point is this, not since Van Halen has a single artist with as big and broad a following made the guitar such an important focus of his music. What a rare occurrence it is to witness an entire stadium full of people explode over a guitar solo. Or an artist as main stream as John Mayer choose to "jam out" a song with his band of veteran musicians.
As a musician myself all I can say is this, thank you good sir for bringing the guitar back to the people, and reminding them of some of the most influential artists, writers and players of all time.

Now enjoy these videos of John having a good ol' time with blues legend Buddy Guy. Videos that exemplify my point famously.

Isn't She Lovely

A duo guitar rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" played by French guitarists Bireli Lagrene and Sylvain Luc. From a musician's perspective, this is some knock you on your ass s#%t. I mean really...these guys don't f%$k around...I'll just let the video do the talking.