University of Virginia Library

Everybody Gets In

Fortunately, one of the nice
things about rock concerts is that
everybody who comes to see one
usually gets in; after a good bit of
hassle (and a gracious act on the
part of friend 'High Hat'), such was
the case here.

Ry Cooder, blues guitarist,
appeared first, and while his
performance was passable and
showed good potential, there were
several things basically wrong with
his approach to the blues. He
attempted to translate songs by
Leadbelly and Sleepy Joe Estes,
among others, into a full band of
bass, drums, piano, and guitar, and
at the same time his vocals tried to
imitate their style, He should have
either played blues in his own style,
with the band, a la Johnny Winter;
or played alone and used the
original styles. What did come out
was more browns than blues.