[Harp-L] Steve Guyger

[Robb Bingham <robbingham@xxxxxxxxx>]

I went to a neat old restaurant next to the  Delaware
river the other night to see Steve Guyger. The river
was pretty badly flooded so I had to make like George
Washington and fight my was across. Guyger was worth
it. Really good. I don?t want to romanticize liquor
but listening to him was like sipping a very fine
single malt scotch on a cold night next to a big stone
fireplace: Very soon my toes, belly and heart were
warmed up. 

His long time band kicks serious @ss, [4 piece] and
all three are the real thing. His guitar player, Steve
Freund, is, as a lot of you know, a Blues force of his
own, as both guitar player and singer. They traded
licks back and forth all night and seemed to fuel each
other. A real treat to observe. Unlike the back-handed
slam some people mean when they call someone a
~technician~, I had the feeling I was watching a
master Blues ~craftsman~. He made it look fun- yet
serious business. And in the end there was a
craft-of-beauty to behold. Kinda like watching someone
hand build an elegant oak dining room table. 

He followed no program- just built layers of groove
like a mason building a big brick wall. He?d call out
tunes or keys, or just start playing and his cement
truck of a band poured out the rest. All through it
you could feel his love for [what I?ll call] Ray
Charles type music [not to mention Jimmy Rogers, whose
influence is unmistakable]. There was almost a ~Rhythm
and Blues meets Post War Blues~ in everything he did
[well, except when he does a tasty Chromatic, 3rd
position, instrumental ~Ode To Billie Jo~].

He uses one of his three Fender ~Concerts~ for both
small and big gigs. He uses no effects, pre-amps,
stomp boxes or feedback mediation. He sets it pretty
much as you?d figure [lotta bass, not much treble] and
says he?s never turned it past 3, ever; just mics it
for bigger events [he just did a gig with Piazza and
Gruenling last week. He leaves the settings and throws
a mic on it. Boom. No muss. No fuss.] He uses an
un-modified [crystal] old JT-30, un-modified harps
[though he has a ~couple guys who fix em sometimes~]
and no tube subs in the Concert. He couldn?t care less
about overblows and has no respect for speed [though
Sugar Blue is a friend whom he respects a lot]. We
didn?t discuss the other fast guy. :->

Steve Guyger is a great example of someone who can
rattle off the people he tried to imitate [Both
Walters, Jimmy Rogers, both Sonnyboys- 10 others], yet
he remains a total original. I sincerely suggest you
buy all his CD?s and see him perform whenever you can.


Later,
Robb

PS: ~Popper~. Is that a Jewish name? [Pooper. Pauper.
Papa- - - Hmmm]


		
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