Name one artist who had some hits, but...

[oldguy]

You never followed, or did much research on. Someone who played guitar.
I was born in 1954, and heard a lot of this guy growing up...........liked his music, never saw him, never bought an album, but when I started checking his bio, it's pretty amazing.

http://www.johnnyrivers.com/jr/biography.html

So name an artist you've always liked, but never reseached, or paid much attention to..................and where are they today?

[Robert]

Frank Marino. Where is he today? In an interview from 2005 he said:

"I guess I could say that I’m kind of back in the music business. I was out for a while and doing very little in a professional manner. From '93 to about '98 I just kind of walked away. Then around '98 I started doing a few gigs and a few records and it started to be a little more every year. Now I guess we have this “Real Live” record and we’re back out there doing our thing."

[oldguy]

Frank Marino. Where is he today? In an interview from 2005 he said:

"I guess I could say that I’m kind of back in the music business. I was out for a while and doing very little in a professional manner. From '93 to about '98 I just kind of walked away. Then around '98 I started doing a few gigs and a few records and it started to be a little more every year. Now I guess we have this “Real Live” record and we’re back out there doing our thing."

Yes! I always thought of Marino as a "Robin Trower on steroids type of guy".
They were both unfairly pigeonholed as Hendrix imitators, but I liked Frank's guitar work better than Trower's.

[aeolian]

I actually am quite familiar with this song writer and performer. If you were around during the British Invasion you will have heard many songs he's written. Check out some of the songs listed as written by him in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Gouldman

[oldguy]

I actually am quite familiar with this song writer and performer. If you were around during the British Invasion you will have heard many songs he's written. Check out some of the songs listed as written by him in Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Gouldman


Very interesting read, aeolian! He's written some pretty big hits, and I'd never heard of him, but I'd never checked who wrote those songs.......:thwap:

[Bloozcat]

It is said that you learn something new every day...

I never knew about Graham Gouldman... how enlightening.

Now, whenever I hear For Your Love, Look Through Any Window, Bus Stop, et al, I'll know who it was who wrote those songs.

[Bloozcat]

I've always thought that Gram Parsons was an interesting artist. His influence and influences are sort of a backdrop to 60's/70's music. I'm a big Emmylou Harris fan, and her 70's music (which is my favorite) is heavily influenced by Parsons.

I have a good friend who was born in Winter Haven Florida, and spent his early days there at the time that Gram Parsons lived there also (Parsons was born in Winter Haven as well). Interestingly, my friend's father was in citrus industry as was Parson's, so there was sort of a tie there. Winter Haven being a small community at the time, my friend and particularly his older brothers, knew Parson's. It's all the stranger that this friend and I go to Waycross Georgia every year to deer hunt. Parsons spent the rest of his youth in Waycross after leaving Winter Haven, and is still considered somewhat of a folk hero there. As comprehensive as the information here is (link below), I think my friend knows even more about Parsons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram_Parsons

[evenkeel]

Both the Johnny Rivers and Gram Parsons references are really good.

Although not a big "hit" maker Nick Lowe is a guy I've always liked a lot, but have never seen in person. Great, albeit a bit quirky, songwriter. Very well respected producer. Part of Little Village and Rockpile. Just a very interesting, varied career.

[duhvoodooman]

I never paid much attention to Robin Trower when he was at his peak popularity in the mid-70's, even though his style was right up my alley. Have enjoyed Bridge of Sighs and Twice Removed from Yesterday since I bought the double CD last year.

Warren Haynes is another excellent player I haven't listened to much, outside of seeing him a couple of times with the ABB. Don't have any of his stuff with Gov't. Mule, other than some bootleg stuff Nelskie sent me. Which I enjoyed greatly.

Brian May is another. Fabulous tone and very lyrical, but have just never gotten into his stuff.

[Bloozcat]

Another of my all time favorites who most everyone knows of. Not for the songs he wrote and performed himself so much, but because of all the other famous artists who covered his work and made it famous. There are millions who know his songs because of the rock n roll era, but never knew the man himself.

I present the late, great, Willie Dixon.....:AOK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Dixon

[Duff]

There are a lot of muscians like this that I knew of but didn't get any of their recordings.

One that I always look for lately at FYE, etc. is Johnny Winter, might have spelled that wrong. I have always liked to play blues music and have been into the blues a lot in the last couple years now that I practice playing guitar seriously.

I believe Johnny Winter is a major bluesman but have not listened to his music at all, unless I would notice the songs if I was able to find any of his disks.

So, I'll buy a Johnny Winter disk as soon as I find one.



Another example is Jeff Beck. I just bought a used CD by him in mint shape at FYE, no affilliation, called "Blow by Blow", produced by George Martin and an instrumental which I figured would be a good thing since he is known to be a major guitar player. True to form the CD is really great with a drummer that is really impressive, as well as JB and the rest of the band. It is like the sum is greater than the parts type of thing where the band compliments the individual players in a tight way that produces a combined sound that is really together, with no feeling that you have individual muscians competing against each other or hogging up aural space and time. Really worth the 7 dollars I paid for this mint condition used CD. They also had "Wired" which I really want but they want 29 used for it and it only has like 5 or7 songs on it.

I also had NO INTEREST in getting the disk "How the West was won", Led Zepplin; even though I'm a LZ fan for sure. This disk is awesome and live with jams that last really long, like "Whole Lotta Love" is 35 something minutes long and so are some other songs. It is a great CD and I'm really glad I got this 3 CD set. Got it used in mint shape too, for 18 which I think is good.

There are others, like SRV that I only within the last six months bought my first CD and now have a bunch of them. Always liked SRV and my nephew turned me on to him over fifteen years ago but I never got a disk until just recently and am really into his playing and singing now and consider him one of the best fast blues players, equal to or better than Eric Clapton in my opinion and I respect Clapton majorly.

Great thread that gets you thinking.

Duffy

[sunvalleylaw]

Man that is a tough question for me. I have been racking my brain. I know and have performed a Johnny Rivers tune, so I have that covered, but for myself, . . . I guess Mick Ralphs and Bad Company in the '70s and early '80s could qualify. They had a second run with some new folks in the late '80s and 90s but I did not pay attention.

[Bloozcat]

Duff,

Johnny Winter is without a doubt, a bluesman extrodinaire...

I have 13 Johnny Winter albums that date back to about 1970, most on vinyl. I've seen him in concert 3-times. For many years he was my favorite guitarist.

The first time I listened to Jeff Beck as a solo artist (apart from the Yardbirds) was when the Truth album came out in 1968. I had only been playing guitar for about 2-years at the time, and a drummer friend of mine turned me on to the album. It was also the first time I ever heard Rod Stewart, who was the singer on that album. This is also where I became familiar with Ron Wood. As I mentioned in one of my posts above, there are two Willie Dixon songs on that Truth album; You Shook Me, and I Ain't Superstitious.

When Rod Stewart and Ron Wood joined up with the former Small Faces (and changed the name to just "The Faces") a couple of years later, I already knew who they were and really liked them. First Step, Long Player, Gasoline Alley, and the solo effort, Every Picture Tells A Story, was Rod Stewart's heyday as a rocker. After that period, he faded into sort of a caricature of his former self.

Man, what a great era that was in music...:AOK:

[Duff]

Very cool Blooz! I guess I heard more of Jeff Beck than I thought I did, if he was on that "Faces" album. I need to get some Johnny Winter CD's, if they exist.

Duff

[marnold]

Probably Todd Rundgren. He's best known for his hits "Hello, It's Me" and "Bang the Drum All Day." Most recently he was touring with the New Cars as the replacement for Ric Ocasek. He always seems to be one of those guys that everybody knows but we're not sure why.