February 2012
2 posts
Legends Tour - June, 2012
I will be touring with the Legends Tour in France, from the 6 - 9th of June, 2012, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share the stage with:
John Helliwel / Jesse and Bob Siebenberg from SUPERTRAMP
Jon Anderson from YES
John Wetton from KING CRIMSON
Martin Barre from JETHRO TULL
Les Holroyd from BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST
Dates & Venues:
Reims on the 6 June 2012 at the...
Dave Briggs
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...
January 2012
5 posts
On Mike Vernon
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...
On John McVie
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...
Green Cheese
Mick Fleetwood and I became good friends on the road, sharing many hotel rooms and him often driving me home as I didn’t drive and he ended up living nearby. The following is a comic-style depiction of an experience together after a gig in Wales.
On Mick Fleetwood
Over the years, through thick and thin, Mick Fleetwood has always been a supportive friend. I first met him at Peter Green’s Putney flat, where Peter was living with his parents and had arranged for us to meet. The band had not yet been formed, but Peter had worked and recorded with Mick before in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and had liked his drumming style.
Of course, what was most striking...
Detroit: On Brett & Team
At the beginning of 2012, I thought it appropriate to give credit to the team of musicians (and the female vocalist) that accompanied me on my forthcoming ‘Bend in the Road’ CD, due for release in spring of this year. The following entry is an excerpt from the CD’s liner notes:
Being an ‘elder statesman’ in the music field, I have been asked if I had considered working with younger,...
December 2011
8 posts
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year 2012 to family, friends and fans! Here’s the opening verse of my favorite New Year’s poem, written by Minnie Louise Harkins (1875-1957) I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year ’Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied, ’Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God ...
Happy Christmas!
Wishing fans and friends a lovely Christmas as you enjoy the festivities, and the peace and meaning of this time.
The Korg Sound on Sound - and Monday Morning...
The ‘Precious Little’ Team of Giants
After having given a lot of acclaim for musical ‘greats’ I have had the pleasure to meet and/or play with, I felt it important to spotlight some lesser-known, but in my opinion equally talented musicians.
I will start with the team of not-so-little, but dedicated Norwegian blues players who accompanied me on the ‘Precious Little’ CD back in 2005 and on some gigs in the ensuing couple of years....
Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven
The last time I met Eric was in 1989 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Dorothea and I were living at the time. He was on a tour of Brazil and staying at a hotel in Copacabana, where we met him. We conversed for some time, and at Dorothea’s request, he talked about his son, Connor. This was just a few months before Connor’s fateful accident in New York. I sent Eric my condolences in a letter, and...
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Meeting Eric Clapton - Melody Maker Awards
One of the next times I met Eric Clapton was after the 1969 Melody Maker awards, which we attended in order to pick up the trophy.
At the time, I had wanted to record an album of Buddy Holly’s songs but I heard from Jenny Boyd (Mick Fleetwood’s wife at the time and sister of Patti Boyd who was then married to George Harrison) that Eric Clapton was about to do the same. I told her that I would...
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Meeting Eric Clapton - 1967
I have had some opportunities to meet Eric — a congenial and respectful man. The first time was when Peter introduced me to him at the Windsor Jazz and Blues festival in 1967 — Fleetwood Mac’s first gig. We were in a backstage tent, and Eric was there in his latest psychedelic, Afro-permed splendour. I felt a little in awe, as I always admired him for stepping out and playing what he...
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From my Sketchbook: Backstage with B.B. King
Once while I was backstage at a concert, B. B. drew me aside and sat down with Lucille on his knee plugged into a small Fender Champ. He said something like, “You know what? I tried to play slide like that and I couldn’t get the hang, so I learned to make the sound with my fingers like this…” and, playing the intro to Elmore’s ‘The Sky is Crying”, he demonstrated how he would bend the...
November 2011
4 posts
B.B. King and Slide Guitar
In 1969, Fleetwood Mac had the privilege to tour England with B. B. King and his band. We covered the major cities and venues, including the Royal Albert Hall. How his band appreciated the beautiful countryside impressed me; they were whooping and hollering and snapping away on their cameras. It seemed the grass was greener on the other side of their fence, but it takes all that English rain to...
Freddie King - Our meeting in 1967
In November of 1967, Peter Green and I went to the Nag’s Head in Battersea to see Freddie King. It was his first tour of England. The venue took place on the top floor of the pub and it was packed to the gills but fortunately, Peter and I secured places right in front of the stage.
Freddie was backed by Chicken Shack, a popular blues band at the time, which comprised Stan Webb on lead guitar and...
Meeting Peter Green - Part 2
Part 2:
I think it was a Thursday night, when John, Ian, Phil Smith and his brother Maurice, Fiona and I drove off, with Norman Hood at the wheel, to the club that was situated under the train lines at Snow Hill, Birmingham. People were only just starting to enter and I approached John Mayall who was standing in the middle of the club surveying the ‘battlefield’ it seemed! He was aware that...
Meeting Peter Green - Part 1
In early spring of 1967, the Levi Set, consisting of John Charles on bass, his brother Ian on drums and myself on guitar, received a surprise announcement from a friend, Phil Smith that we were to be auditioned by none other than Mike Vernon.
At that time, Mike Vernon’s name was to the blues enthusiasts synonymous with the great recording producers of Stateside blues. His name appeared on most...
May 2010
7 posts
I want to play the Blues in China
After I played the 2007 Notodden festival with Steve Winwood, the lead singer of Goodtime Charlie, a Norwegian R&B band, approached me. I had mentioned to him that I wanted to play in Eastern Europe because of the youthful interest in ‘classical’ blues. He told me that I would enjoy playing in Shanghai of all places! He said that the youth in that city, such as students there numbering in...
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Playing with the Blue Flagships
During my time in Switzerland some years back, while staying by Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstaettersee), I had the privilege to play with a band called the Blue Flagships led by sax player, Duke Seidmann, who played horn-driven jump/swing music from the late nineteen forties. They were dedicated! The drummer, Peter Mueller was a 30 odd year-old disciple of 50’s Chicago blues drummer, S. P. Leary, and...
Practice at Todd's
Thank you, Todd and Katie, for letting us practice in your basement. — That’s Brett on my left, James on the right and Todd on the drums.
Hello from Detroit!
I’ve been here the last couple of days for some further recording. – Back in January, I recorded 16 tracks here for an upcoming CD or rather towards two CDs.
I’m back to put more music down and thoroughly enjoy working with a great team of musicians: Brett Lucas on acoustic and electric guitar, Todd Glass on drums and James Simonson on bass; Jim Kissling is the sound engineer. — A great...
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A Brazilian Fejoida – the second time was the...
I first went to Brazil in 1975 at the behest of a musician friend, Samuel Halbert, a Texan country singer who was doing missionary work there at the time. We recorded an album together with Os Meninos de Deus called Amor Nunca Falha, and it fared fair. At least, the outstanding track, ‘Eu Vou Seguir’ made it to numero um in Portugal, written and sung by Fernando Adour, the Polydor producer who had...
“Done with Bonaparte!”
A song that moved me very much recently while watching Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lour Harris’ Road Running DVD was ‘Done with Bonaparte’. Beautiful. Then it goes into ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Some special musical moments.
April 2010
5 posts
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I like…Picnics
I am a total picnic fan! Why pay through the … nose for a fancy meal with a waiter hovering over you and an ambience, music and possibly company (as in other guests) that are not to your liking?
Come rain or shine, my wife and I (sometimes with friends) enjoy a picnic, even in the rain sitting in the car overlooking a beautiful pastoral scene, as we have done many times in Ireland. We prefer to...
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Maria de Santiago
Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico, is a beautiful place, and there - back in 1998 - I got the initial idea for the tune of Maria de Santiago. It suffered a couple of attempts at lyrics and returned to being an instrumental until, at the behest of Kjetil Draugedalen, the Norwegian producer of Precious Little, turning into the definitive dedication to a Patron Saint of Latin America!
Yes,...
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Due Credit
I like to mention people and their influence. I must tell a story from when I worked in an accountant’s office for Bison concrete in Lichfield for two years after leaving Art College. That was 1965 to 1967. (The job was far from being my cup of tea, and I even had to take the morning tea around to the office workers!) but it paid enough to be able to buy a decent guitar on the hire purchase and...
Here it comes...
I’ve had some time over the weekend to put together some posts and I’ll be posting them, a couple posts a week.
March 2010
6 posts
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Welcome to my blog
I’m trying something new for all my fans, I’m hoping to get this blog up and running so that I can keep you updated on the happenings with me. Look forward to more coming soon!
And don’t forget to check out my newly updated jeremyspencer.com