Oh Death, can you spare me for another year.
It has been a rough go for the classic rockers and country stars this past week. Chicken Hirsh, drummer for Country Joe And The Fish died at the age of 81. Toots Theilman, perhaps the greatest harmonica player that ever lived died after complications from a fall died on Sunday, he was 94. Phil Travers, sax player for UB40 also left us. He was a very young 62.
Death is never predicable, oh we would love to live as long as we would like and keep our glorious good looks and charm but time and age pecks away at every second and nothing we can do about it. I have seen pictures of myself in the past six years of playing live and even I have aged much older than I did before I hit 50.
Don Everly was part of the sweet harmonies with Phil Everly in the Everly Brothers, a duo that influenced you and me. Everybody had a copy of 15 Greatest Hits and I grew listening to the hits, When Will I Be Loved, Bye Bye Love, Problems, their cover of Roy Orbinson's Claudette. Their stuff for Cadence (Andy Williams did a great job keeping their music alive through Barnaby Records) is classic, the Warner Music years were spotty after a falling out with Wesley Rose but they managed to keep some great music with The Price Of Love, Man With Money, Love Of The Common People. The RCA years were the end part one, The Mercury Years had Dave Edmunds producing them, Paul McCartney giving them a gift with On The Wings Of A Nightengale, but their last album was a travesty and that was all. Once Phil died, Don was still around, and rumor had he had Phil's ashes with him. With Sibling Rivalry there was still brotherly love.
Tom T Hall was the greatest storyteller in country music, and the songs that he (and wife Dixie) wrote great songs for Dave Dudley, then branched out on his own with Salute to a Switchblade, Shoeshine Man, Homecoming and The Year Clayton Delaney Died. Perhaps, Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine is his ultimate song. I really didn't care for his list songs such as I Love or I Care, but they have some sort of nostalgic value, but his mid 70s hits like Faster Horses showed his expert storytelling into a hook filled country song. To me, his best moment was the Magnificent Music Machine, his bluegrass album which foretold the future. His Fox On The Run is the quintessential bluegrass songs ever, a cover the Manfred Mann song and he made it a bluegrass classic. If you can find that album, it is worth the search. Otherwise, the Hip O Collection covers all of the Tom T Hall hits, not exactly all of his best songs but that was albums are for.
And Charlie Watts. The heart of the Rolling Stones. He was the one that kept Keith and Ronnie in line, but as they went off into wherever the hell their mind carried them, Charlie kept the beat and time. When they were great, it was Charlie that was great and when they were bad, Charlie kept on and made them less bad. He didn't do any drum solos (another reason why I look at him a drumming influence) but his drumming on Get Your Ya Yas Out shows his greatness. He did so much with so little, later on, he would incorporate china cymbals for later albums (beginning on Emotional Rescue) as main crashes. He was a jazz drummer but then took a crash course in Chicago blues and the talents of Earl Phillips and Fred Below as influences. Charlie did play drums on the Howling Wolf London Sessions. Over the 50 plus years of being the Stones drummer, Charlie never missed one gig. And outstanding and perfect record.
In the array of drummers. Keith Moon was the most chaotic, John Bonham was the most bombastic and don't get me wrong they influenced me, but Charlie Watts was the most straightforward and tightest this side of Al Jackson Jr. He influenced me in more ways than one. Steve Jordan will fill in nicely but there is only one Charlie Watts. To which this is the end of the Rolling Stones as we know them.
What sad news about Charlie ….. the look and feel of the Stones will never be the same without him…. Irreplaceable.
RIP Charlie
Mick Avory (who drummed for the stones before Charlie joined them)
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