Home Page    Warning!    Guitar Licks    Blues Artists    Blues Mp3    Blues Video    Blues Lyrics    Jazz Lyrics    Concerts    Eric Clapton    Jimi Hendrix    Lucky Mojo    Blues Jam    Blues Guitar       Blues Harp    Concert Mp3    Peace Quotes    Guitar TAB    Music Books       Search Site    Contact Us Blues Improv Bluesmen Eric Capton ZZ TOP Band Albert Collins Jimi Hendrix Bonamassa Lynyrd Skynyrd Santana Chuck Berry The Beatles R. Gallagher Freddie King B. Springsteen Rolling Stones Johnny winter Buddy Guy Bonnie Raitt	And they shall beat their swords into Guitars Lean to Play 5 minute Guitar Solo! Blues Licks * Blues Chords Guitar Guru * Blues Riffs Bass Guitar * Blues Jam Trax Brennan Totten By Chuck Benedon I was at a jam session in a small town in Southeast Wisconsin. I noticed a guy who was watching the players with a certain curious interest. Between sets, I went over to him and said, "You're a player, aren't you?" "Yeah" he responded. "But, I haven't played in a while." I asked if he had brought his guitar, which he had not. He said he was new to the area and preferred to come the first time and just watch. A week or two later, he showed up with his guitar, a '70's era Gibson 175. He had a certain authenticity to his playing that piqued my own curiosity. As he came out more often, we had opportunities to play together at the jam and became friends and started to talk about playing some gigs together. That was over ten years ago, and we continue to be good friends with the Blues being part of the glue that binds us, today. We used the jam to learn each other's styles and nuances in playing. I grew up on R&B and early 60's rock, with some mix of blues, as it appeared in R&B. During the early '70's I played cover rock such as Clapton, Stones, Allman Brothers, and others with a mix of Blues from Albert King to Freddy King. So, I was as much of a rocker as I was any kind of blues player. Then one Sunday evening at the jam, Brennan brought a friend along. He was Harry "The Harpoon" Yates. Yates didn't have an axe with him, but did play guitar. He asked for mine, which was open tuned, at the time. He said he was fine with that, as he actually could only play open tunings. He wasn't joking. He and Brennan played Blues in a way I had not heard in a long time. Harry put a spin on the harp that reminded me of Sonnyboy and Little Walter. His slide guitar along with Brennan's percussive rhythms and soulful solos convinced me that from that point, all I wanted to do was to play Blues. For the next 5 years, I wouldn't even listen to any other musical form, because I wanted to learn REAL Blues and didn't want other styles to corrupt my playing. I swapped Harry for one of his Dobros and he showed me some 20's and 30's style licks and off to the land of Blues... I went out and bought every old recording I could find and played some over and over until I understood what the true essence of the blues is. Robert Johnson, Blind Blake and Elmore James became my traveling buddies in the car. With Brennan's help and guidance, by his being there and especially in my vocals, I think I've become a true Bluesman, something I am quite proud of. Brennan is a humble and noble guy. It wasn't until I knew him for quite some time, that I found out he had toured Europe, playing with the likes of Big Joe Turner, George "Harmonica" Smith, and Jonathan Richman, and appearing on bills with Blues legends like Albert Collins, and Lowell Fulson. He was a record producer for Rounder and is an extraordinary technician in the studio. He is mentioned in the latest book on Elmore James, because Brennan was the only guy who ever figured out how Elmore got his sound. Today, Brennan and I are best of friends and have hosted jam sessions in the outskirts of Milwaukee for about 10 years, with some short breaks between gigs. Our playing has a reciprocity that is as good as any, as our solos have become flawlessly intertwined, even though after playing together for over 10 years, we have maintained our own unique playing styles. Our bass players of choice, whom we have worked with for many years, are Mike Haasch and P.T. Pedersen. P.T. was Charlie Musslewhite's bassist during the seventies and is a solid natural blues bassist. He gets the call, every year, for the Chicago Blues Fest and has sat in with a myriad of nationally known blues artists. Our drummer of choice is our good friend and long time master of percussion, Tom Utschig. Tom played with Luther Allison for a short period. We have done some studio work and Brennan and I are currently going through our catalogue of recordings and trying to decide which one we might use for a CD. By Chuck Benedon   Read more Blues Heroes Stories from the bookTouched By the Blues Bluesmen Blues Guitar | Blues Lyrics | Blues Mp3 | Blues Concerts | Blues Video Guitar TAB | Concert Mp3 | Blues Music | Blues News | Allman Bros. Eric Clapton | BB King | Jimi Hendrix | Albert Collins | SRV | ZZ TOP © 1998-2005 Blues for Peace Corporation. All rights reserved.	Blues News Eric Clapton Jimi Hendrix Allman Brothers SRV Albert Collins