Look What I Found!

Al Kooper (@l k%per) has led a fantastic life in music. He's been on the launch pad of some exciting bands and players and, though I have never met the man, I believe he would be the first to tell you. To some, he has become a bitter veteran, bemoaning the lack of respect he receives. How bitter? The name of his 1998 autobiography is called, "Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock 'N' Roll Survivor".

However, with a legacy that includes: Gary Lewis, Bob Dylan, The Blues Project, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Super Sessions, Lynard Skynard and the Tubes, no matter your personal thoughts, you have to give Kooper his due.

I happen to follow the guy because I have enjoyed the musical highlights he has played on or produced. Because of that I get an e-mail prompt for his latest adventure, the blog he does on the Morton Report called, "New Music for Old People." The premise is, well, I'll let Al tell you.

"This column is like the title says - its intention is to fill the gap for those of us who were satiated musically in the '60s and then searched desperately as we aged for music we could relate to and get the same buzz from nowadaze. iTunes was the answer for me in 2003 and I have been following the new releases every Tuesday ever since I realized there was an endless stream of music I could enjoy there. I also include older items that I felt were obscure originally and might not have been heard back then. The reason I am writing this column is to make sure others don't miss this wonderful music. These are not top ten items; but they SHOULD'VE been!

I listen every Friday, as the blog comes with a dozen tunes, give or take a few. The blog utilizes a Grooveshark player that streams the music to you. Today, however, was a banner edition where I was turned on to two artists that I enjoyed (Audra Mae and the Almighty Sound and Ray Bonneville) and one who completely floored me with her sound and her so, so, soulful voice.

Chris Whitley came into my life with the release of his 1991 album called, "Living With the Law." It immediately captured me with it's sonic quality that delivered lyrics of a life less lived than experienced. Drenched with the sound of Southern race radio mixed with a healthy voodoo concoction of steamy sex and the conscience of a  repressed religious lawbreaker that sometimes borders on the dreamlike. I followed Chris through his music output until his too soon death in 2005 from cancer. There were gems in the later catalog, to be sure, but "Living With the Law" IMHO was his triumph.

Now we tie in Al Kooper. The third artist that blew me away was Trixie Whitley, Chris' daughter. Trixie has played and sang on a few of her Dad's works, released three solo EPs and is a member of Black Dub, a collaboration between herself and Daniel Lanois, Brian Blade and Mark Howard. I have no idea if music is transferred by genes or environmental stimulus but on her solo album titled, "Fourth Corner," there are enough references to Chris to make me feel that there is a such thing as the Whitley Sound.
                                            
The passion and worldliness in her voice belies her age, but there is a sense in the listening that her career will be the opposite of her father's. Unlike his first album, the transcendental "Living With the Law," Trixie's work with Black Dub and on her album "Fourth Corner," says that this Whitley's best is yet to come.