Guitar man

Thank you, thank you, thank you for showing up on Saturday! I was actually a bit nervous about my first time back after a two week break. But you all made me feel right at home from the very first song. As a completely independent artist, I hafta figure out a way to make a living with the online gigs.

Guitar Man , George Benson 's second offering for Concord stands in contrast to 's Songs and Stories , though is not an about face. While the earlier album focused on Benson 's proven, decades-long formula for pop and smooth jazz -- a group of of easy grooving tunes featuring his silky voice and shimmering guitar work -- this set focuses primarily on Benson as a contemporary jazz guitarist. While slickly produced by John Burk , this full-length is an ambitious but readily accessible collection with lithe, languid grooves and stellar playing. Another highlight is his very contemporary but digified reading of John Coltrane 's "Naima," which is simply gorgeous.

Well, I quit my job down at the car wash, Left my mama a goodbye note, By sundown I'd left Kingston, With my guitar under my coat, I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis, Got a room at the YMCA, For the next three weeks I went hauntin' them nightclubs, Just lookin' for a place to play, Well, I thought my pickin' would set 'em on fire, But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man. Well, I nearly 'bout starved to death down in Memphis, I run outta money and luck, So I bought me a ride down to Macon, Georgia, On a overloaded poultry truck, I thumbed on down to Panama City, Started checkin' out some o' them all night bars, Hopin' I could make myself a dollar, Makin' music on my guitar, I got the same old story at them all night piers, There ain't no room around here for a guitar man We don't need a guitar man, son. So I slept in the hobo jungles, Roamed a thousand miles of track, Till I found myself in Mobile Alabama, At a club they call Big Jack's, A little four-piece band was jammin', So I took my guitar and I sat in, I showed 'em what a band would sound like, With a swingin' little guitar man.

Cale 's albums usually sound interchangeable, and his 12th release, Guitar Man , is no exception. Although he has recorded Guitar Man as a one-man band effort, it sounds remarkably relaxed and laid-back, like it was made with a seasoned bar band. That doesn't mean there's much excitement on the album, but Cale 's music has never been about excitement -- it's more about laying back and letting the music flow. Of course, that approach results in remarkably uneven records, and Guitar Man is no exception. There's a handful of very good songs, but there's nothing on the level of his previous classics.