A few words about the concert at York last night.
Time to say goodbye to one of the guitars legends.
72 & still twangin'.
It took a little time to get going with Duane adjusting his tone & vol controls on the Gretsch during the first couple of numbers to get the sound right.
Then............ 3-30 Blues just about brought the house down !! you could see it in his face & the Richard Hawley band who were backing him as he traded licks with the very excellent sax player. Talk about nailing a tune !
The stories, the one liners, a man totally at ease with his music & surrounded by musicians who clearly adored him.
The twang of the Gretsch played through a pair of Fender Showmans with 2x15" cabs at times just left me in awe of what he can do with just his amps & what looked like a Boss eq pedal & a reverb pedal. No fancy floor boards with rows of pedals & effects here!.
Swapping guitars between a standard tuned Gretsch & a "F" tuned one & a Danno baritone guitar the time flew past.
Richad Hawley sang "Death row" as a tribute to Lee Hazelwood with Duane rattling the foundations of the theatre with his bass riffs with the Danno.
Vocals, with a pair of girl singers (Guitar man, Play me like you play your guitar) Tennessee waltz with Pete taking lead vocal & Richards 2 vocals.
Because they're Young, Rebel Rouser & as an encore the brilliant Hard Times with that young sax player blowing as if his life depended upon it to close the show to a standing ovation.
All the old Jamie hits were there mixed with a couple of the "vocal" numbers, was it really 52 years ago I bought "Some kind of Earthquake" & started a lifetime of "Twang"
An evening tinged with sadness as I walked away from the old Opera house last night. Is it really his last UK concert?
On a more cheerful note he confirmed that he is recording with Richard Hawley & hopefully not to long to wait to see the results of that.
Dick