Robben Ford Discussion

[AndyR]

....Eric Clapton's Crossroad Guitar Festival 2010, that is.

Here's a nice review and slideshow from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/28/arts/music/28guitar.html?scp=1&sq=crossroads&st=cse

Too much stuff for me to go into detail, so I'll touch upon a few highlights.

Ernie Ball had a small side stage set up outside of the main stadium in something called the "Guitar Center Village," where various artists put on a series of clinics.

We saw Stefan Grossman, then another hot acoustic player whose name escapes me (my bro tells me the dude is a popular Nashville session guy.)

>>>Pete Hutlinger

And then...ALBERT LEE !!!

We were right at the front of the stage, so Mr. Lee was sitting about 10 feet in front of us.

He performed a series of instrumental tunes using backing tracks, and also sang a couple of songs.

He also gave us a brief autobiographical blurb, and talked about how he became associated with Ernie Ball, and talked about his signature guitar.

Then he gave a primer, and demonstration, on the use of the delay effect.

As if his super-arpeggiated playing wasn't enough on its own, the delay effectively doubled the amount of notes we were hearing...absoulutely mind-boggling !!!

And Mr. Lee is one of the most humble and gracious chaps you'll ever meet...this was the highlight of the day for me.

We returned to the main stadium for the duration of the day, for one great performance after another.

A performance schedule can be found at :

www.crossroadsguitarfestival.com

John Mayer was great...

Derek Trucks/Susan Tedschi were great...

Vince Gill/Keb Mo'/Earl Klugh/Albert Lee/Sheryl Crow/James Burton were great...

Buddy Guy/Jonny Lang/Ron Wood were great...

Jeff Beck was GREAT!!!

Citizen Cope is a rather morose dude, eh ?

I know I'm leaving a lot of folks out, but you get the idea.

It was kinda sad to see Johnny Winter, as he is only a shadow of his former self.

I explained to my 20 year old nephew that 40 years ago, Winter was faster than anybody he had seen this day.

Eric Clapton and Stevie Windwood perfomed the penultimate set, with lots of great tunes including some Blind Faith chesnuts.

The final started with Robert Cray Band, flanked by Jimmie Vaughan and Clapton, all seated as they played.

Then B.B. King sauntered out onto the stage and sat down.

Mr. King has become quite loquacious in his dotage, but he can still play and his voice still sounds great (he's just a blues singer, after all.)

Then the other performers filtered onto the stage to wrap up the show.

All in all, it was quite the event!


Andy

[frank0936]

I saw Albert give almost that exact same clinic 10 or so years ago. It was very informative and you are dead right about Albert. He is so easy going and very generous with his time. I got the feeling he would have gladly stayed and talked to us all night, but the store owner wanted to go home!
Frank