This just in: Review of “Bend in the Road” from La Hora del Blues:

Vicente Zúmel: “I madly love the impressive version the band makes of “Homesick”, a Homesick James Williamson (cousin of Elmore James) song, who recorded it in Chicago on January 23th 1953, with Lazy Bill Lucas on piano, Johnny Shines on guitar and Alfred Elkins on bass. Jeremy Spencer performs it with the same feeling of his best years with Fleetwood Mac. I deeply like “Cry For Me Baby” by Elmore James, where our man gives the best of himself with a simple but at the same time very juicy ‘slide’ phrasing that shine like a precious stone. Another great song is “Stranger Blues”, by Elmore James too, an habitual song in Spencer’s repertoire, he plays here with a Latin air. Finally I have enjoyed the arrangements and display he gives to “The Sun Is Shining”, with a few nice diminished ‘slide’ ornaments, that give warmth and joy to this classic coming again from Elmore James.

“An album I am sure will satisfy all good music lovers, from those who loved the original Fleetwood Mac, until the younger ones, who enjoy pop music, blues, rock, classical music, soul… So, if you like good music, this album is perfect for you.”

Read the full review:

La Hora del Blues Review

Homesick passed on in December 13, 2006, at 92 years of age, and regrettably, I never saw him play live. Anyway, the first Homesick James record I bought was a single on the British ‘Sue’ label -‘Crossroads’, backed with ‘My Baby’s Sweet’. I really liked his loping meandering version of ‘Crossroads’ with his erratic playing and wailing vocal, but I wasn’t too excited about the B-side.

I played the record to John Charles, the bass player in my band at the time, The Levi Set, and mentioned my feelings about ‘My Baby’s Sweet’. He was sitting in the armchair in front of my gramophone as it played, and after a minute or so, he smiled and said, ‘You know, I really like this one!’

Seeing his reaction and expression made me listen to it with fresh ears, and I decided to do it in our band. It is a loving, positive blues number and it ended up being a favourite of mine to perform throughout the years!

On Homesick James

Once I had heard and loved Elmore James, I was curious to hear recordings of his cousin, also a slide guitar player, James Williamson, nicknamed ‘Homesick’ James after he had a blues hit in the early 50’s called ‘Homesick’. I had long wanted to record this song since first hearing it over 45 years ago and I only recently did so as the opening track for my ‘Bend in the Road’ album

Homesick

(‘Homesick’ James Williamson)

I’m so darn homesick again, I don’t know what to do,

Homesick again I don’t know what to do.

Think about my little wife and my little baby and I get so lonesome and blue.

So, I get a li’l drink of whisky and I don’t do nothin’ but act the clown.

Mmm, get a little drink of whisky and I don’t do nothin’ but act the clown.

Think about my wife and my little baby and that ol’ homesickness gets me down, ah.

I’m takin’ the next train south, to be with my folks back home.

Takin’ the next train south to be, be with my folks back home.

I’ll be there with my wife and my little baby, and that ol’ homesickness will leave me alone.

Mmm.

Yes, I’m takin’ the next train south, to be with my folks back home.

Takin’ the next train south, be with my folks back home.

I’ll be with my wife and my little baby, and that ol’ homesickness will leave me alone.

Alright.

After much pitching (thanks to Sam Epstein) to recording companies who are suffering under the advent of digital downloads, DIY music publishing and bootlegging, and consequently require slavish touring and self-promotion, (all with the artist benefiting from little if any substantial ‘advance’ on sales), this “Bend in the Road” project has finally made it to press. We had recorded 32 tracks in Dave Feeney’s Tempermill studio in Ferndale, Michigan in only 21 days spread over the first six months of 2010 (which included mixing) but oh, how long it has been until this moment!

One day, towards the end of the recordings, Brett Lucas drew my attention to a theme that ran through much of the material – that of travelling and moving, and asked if it has some lifestyle significance. To my surprise, I had been unaware of this until he said that; but it is true, my lifestyle of the past 40-odd years has been strangely nomadic! (I should list the countries in which I’ve lived for a significant length of time, but that is for another post!)

Anyway, the numbers referred to are:

• Homesick
• Walked a Mile
• Stranger Blues
• Desired Haven
• Refugees
• Bend in the Road
• Gotta Keep Moving
• Happy Troubadour

One quarter of the songs!

And why is it called ‘Bend in the Road’?

Here’s a clip from my album’s liner notes on this particular song.

I came across a poem with this title written by an obscure poet named Praveen -no surname (sounds Indian). I found the theme and flow fascinating for a song, and after working over and boiling the lyrics down to make them more ‘song friendly’, I was happy with the results. It has come to have a special meaning to me during certain ‘bends’ in my own life’s road, and has proven to be a favourite for many.

Bend in the Road

When you feel you have nothing left to give,
And it seems like the song has ended.
And it seems there’s no reason left to live
As the darkness of night has descended.

Where can you go to find the strength you need to keep on trying?
Where can you find the hand that’ll dry those tears your heart is crying?

So you’re filled with hopelessness and sorrow
Looking at what seems to be the end.
A voice will whisper ‘Wait until tomorrow
‘This heartbreak is only a bend in the road.
‘A bend in the road.
‘It’s just a bend in the road’.

For the road will continue past the bend,
And you’ll sing as you go on your journey.
And hope in your heart will burn again,
As you see the light for which you’re yearning.

Where can you go to find the strength you need to keep on trying?
Where can you find the hand that’ll dry those tears your heart is crying?

Be comforted to know that Someone loves you
Closer than any other friend.
He’ll whisper to your heart to reassure you
That happiness is just around the bend in the road.
It’s just a bend in the road.

The cover of the double vinyl is the watercolour painting I did, which was used on my New Year’s post. Upon seeing the painting, Sam Epstein insisted it should go for the vinyl LP cover, making it unique and giving it a vintage vibe! I’m glad he did, as I believe it works.

Write up on my new Special Record Store Day release:

On April 21, Jeremy Spencer, original member of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, will release a special limited edition, double vinyl album for International Record Store Day. Its package packs a “vintage vibe” by way of Jeremy’s handmade touch fusing his artistry as consummate slide guitarist, songwriter, singer, interpreter, and illustrator. His evocative watercolor graces the timeless, gatefold cover recalling enduring albums when records were the sum of their parts and made with consequence. Within is a correspondingly crafted collection of songs coming from the deepest core of his heart. It’s an intimate journey, but one that will connect profoundly and repeatedly with listeners. He sounds as authentically tasty and fiery as he ever was, only displaying a far wider guitar palette, insight and conviction that have continued to evolve since his long absence from the public eye.

Now, back to an experience involving Danny Kirwan — well, maybe two. First one very short. He had just joined the band at Peter’s behest, and we had done our first gig. I believe it was at the Blue Horizon club in Battersea. As we were walking out at the end, he said to me ‘Look, I feel like such a c***t!’

I said nothing in reply, but I feel now that it was his reaching out in acknowledgment of a necessary move made by Peter (in agreement with Mick)  which, deep down, I understood. That was, that Peter needed support from another guitarist who could back him up on his songs and who could write his own material.

The time came and the album ‘Then Play On’ was in the thinking stage and Pete asked me if I had any material to contribute. I didn’t – at least what I considered could have fit in with what he and Danny were coming up with. I had only a batch of 50’s music parodies —although I did not want to call them that, as I sincerely loved that music. The only way I could get away with doing it was seemingly to parody it, as 50’s music was abhorred by the youth of the 60’s (a state of affairs I have noticed over the years, where a teenage generation generally seems to abhor the music of their previous decade!)

After some discussion involving the possibility of an extended-play of these parodies to accompany  ‘Then Play On’, it was decided that I record a solo album to go out at around the same time. So, Danny, Mick, John and I went into De Lane Lea studios with engineer Martin Birch, and recorded the album in a couple of weeks.

One reason I chose to work with Danny as accompanying guitarist was that I thought his melodic sensibilities would complement the material, and another was that he would sometimes drop by at my flat to work on simple, quaint tunes together!

Working on this album seemed to bring out a happy-go-lucky side of Danny, and the sessions were fun and relaxed. We especially enjoyed doing doo-wop style backup vocals together!

Danny Kirwan! In writing these vignettes, I’ve tried to think of significant experiences involving these people. Peter and I had seen Danny play at the Blue Horizon club with his band ‘Boilerhouse’, an apt name, I think, for him as a person, as he appeared to be someone seething or rather boiling underneath! I don’t mean that in a negative or critical context, please understand, but he impressed us both with his feel for the blues, and that feel came from within.

As an eleven year-old listening to Marty Wilde, one of my favourite recordings of his was entitled ‘Danny’. It was a song written by Weismann and Weiss for Elvis to be included in his movie, ‘King Creole’, a movie based on the Harold Robbins novel ‘A Stone for Danny Fisher’. The song was not included, and when one hears the outtake, one can understand why! It just doesn’t have the bluesy delivery that the song requires. In my opinion, it took Marty Wilde and his Wildcats (and most likely, his producer or even Big Jim Sullivan, the guitarist) to give the song what it needed. An aside here is that a couple of years later, Conway Twitty recorded the song under the title of ‘Lonely Blue Boy’, and the arrangement and vocal was based on Marty Wilde’s version! I think that they should have stuck with the original title, though. It has more ‘mystique’!

Anyway, all that retro-trivia to say, when I think of Danny K., I think of that song. I want to record it someday. Here are the lyrics:

My name should be trouble
My name should be woe
For trouble and heartache
Is all that I know
But Danny, yes, Danny is my name.

My life has been empty
My heart has been torn
It must have been rainy, oh yes
The night I was born
Oh Danny, oh Danny is my name

I’m so afraid of tomorrow
So tired of today
They say that love is the answer
But love never came my way

I’m writing a letter
To someone unknown
So if you should find it
And if you’re alone
Oh Danny, yes, Danny is my name
(Oh-oh-oh yes)
Oh Danny, yes, Danny is my name
Oh-oh-oh-oh

I met Dave Briggs at the 2005 Notodden Blue Festival. He was the guitarist for Scotty Moore’s spot, and I noticed he was a no-frills, steady player behind the star, who is famous for having been Elvis Presley’s guitarist ‘back in the day’.

Dave talked to me afterwards, expressing his respect and appreciation for the influence I and Fleetwood Mac had on his early days as a musician. I took note of his self-effacing manner along with his unassuming musical ability, and when considering a back-up guitarist for a solo ‘In Session’ DVD I was about to make for Secret Records, Dave came to mind. I am glad he did. Despite the recording company’s wishes, I didn’t have the confidence to perform without back-up. The duo combination worked, as is well appraised in this recent email excerpt from Olle Wiman, a Norwegian friend:

‘Talking about DVDs, I recently bought your Jeremy Spencer in Session DV. Wow, I just love this sort of soft low-key Blues. All one needs, it seems, is two very good guitar players and a very good voice. Mr. Dave Briggs is, like you, brilliant and you two really work so close together…’

I have talked of him in previous posts, but I recently had the pleasure to renew contact with the legendary blues producer, Mike Vernon. It had been 33 years since I last met him when I recorded in his and his brother Richard’s Chipping Norton studios — beautiful premises by the way, a recording artist’s dream with excellent facilities, hotel-style lodging and good food! Sadly, they had to close it in the 90’s with the growth of digital project studios.

Anyway, Mike had checked this website, decided to contact me and after some email communication, we chatted over the phone. He was as chipper and enthusiastic as ever, and in 2010 produced an acclaimed album with young British blues guitarist, Oli Brown.

A copy of this portrait was a Christmas gift for him and he said he would display it in his memorabilia room.

I owe a lot to Mike Vernon, and it would be wonderful and an honor to work on an album with him producing again!

I first met John briefly at a couple of his gigs with John Mayall in mid 1967, and he was always pleasant, unassuming and friendly. After I joined Fleetwood Mac, I became more acquainted with him as he would drop by to visit friends in a flat where I was temporarily staying. He was not in our band at the time, and I well remember standing in the hallway of that flat trying to persuade him to join us, as he was becoming dissatisfied with Mayall’s jazzy direction and wanted to play our style of more down home Chicago blues. His gigs with Mayall were providing him with good steady income and we (Fleetwood Mac) were only just starting, but a foray into free-form jazz at one of Mayall’s gigs gave him the impetus to follow his musical convictions and fortunately join us!

It was always a pleasure to play and record with such a master of bass guitar and I have fond memories of our experiences and interesting conversations together while on the road, and we shared an interest in reading, which continues to this day. (He recently told me that he has made it a project to read all of Charles Dickens’ books! Phew!) A few years ago, I had the pleasure to renew my friendship with John after almost thirty years while visiting the Hawaiian island of Maui, where he, Mick and I were filmed for a documentary on Peter Green.