compared to what

The Alabama blues/soul band, Spoonful James, has started putting up some of their live gigs on archive.org, starting with a couple of Birmingham gigs from this past May: a short set at Sloss Furnaces, and a two set show at Ona’s Music Room. They were joined at the latter for several numbers by Taylor Hicks, [...]

John Bell (of Widespread Panic) held his annual charity gig, Hannah’s Buddies at the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida this past weekend and Taylor Hicks joined him with vocals and harp on Bill Wither’s “Use Me”. For the last 9 years, Bell has held this event to honor his goddaughter and to raise awareness [...]

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I’m not a tease, just differently clued.

But this time it’s true: last show of the first tour (depending on how you define tour), and we’ve got good audio. Check the downloads page for the Pearl River gig earlier this month, a one-of-a-kind show: [...]

A couple of things to listen to, while we wonder what might show up later. The November 2nd show is the last one schedule for now (as far as we know), so enjoy.
Brian Less’ hot boogie piano, or a gritty guitar solo from Josh Smith? You don’t have to decide, you can have both:
[audio=http://c2wspeakeasy.com/media/RP%20-%20rough%20cut%2044.mp3]
And something [...]

Last week, I told you about running into a new taper when I was in New Orleans, someone taping for a friend who was also a new taper. Well, tapers one and two have finished processing their first full concert, and have graciously offered it here to share. Here’s a sample (in mp3 [...]

The Taylor Hicks show was now a pleasant but fading memory, and I was in New Orleans for a few more days. Hanging out enjoying a beer at one point, I noticed that a person nearby had some very interesting equipment on the table. Now, last March I ran across some discussions on-line about taping [...]

At this point, it really is all about the iPhone.
After checking the merch table, I grabbed a gin and tonic and realized that I didn’t want to stand around for over an hour until the main show started. So, I found a bench to hang out on. It was as far as possible from the [...]

As much as any city I can think of, music and place are bound as tightly as they can be in my mental image of New Orleans.
Taylor Hicks, Open Door Cafe, Birmingham, AL, February, 2005
[audio=http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/6/3/1140363/mp3s/Louisiana%201927-cut.mp3]
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tyrin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
Louisiana, Louisiana
They’re tryin’ to wash us away
They’re tryin’ to wash [...]

Do you like good music? There’s nothing like getting out to hear it live, but if you’re reading this blog, my guess is you’ve downloaded a pretty healthy collection of live recordings, too. It’s an interesting hunger. With an artist like Taylor Hicks, we know the fix is out there, but the supply line is [...]