William Elliott Whitmore was late. I didn't have a cell phone number for him. He didn't call me.
I decided to fill the slot and offered an opportunity for Elam and KM to do a set together. The plan was to keep the fest on schedule. Hillstomp was on next.
Here's a little video of KM and Elam setting up during Radio Moscow.
I mainly knew of Cotton through the Tweed's Blues forum. Always at good time at the fests. Rick joined in on the drums. They practiced in my truck with Rick pounding on the center console.
I knew Robbie from the Black Keys message boards and learned about his band the BirdDogs. I'm so happy they made the trip from MI. Their truck had various troubles and I know they bought at least one tire.
You can see the cold and the rain in this first clip
KM Williams has never been consistent with his billings. CD titles are also under various names.
Reverend KM Williams
Rev. K.M. Williams
KM Williams
Trainreck
KM Williams Country Blues Preacher the Trainreck
you get the idea.
Kids, remember this when you name your band. I think it's best to be consistent.
I was recording audio and video all day at the fest and somehow managed to screw up both for the start of KM's set.
The start of the Deep Blues Festival. I think it was in May that I contacted Rick Saunders with the idea of having a small festival. I asked him about using the name "Deep Blues". His website of that name included so many of these bands I was enjoying. Rick was encouraging, and I contacted about 18 bands about their interest in coming North for this event. I planned on hiring four or five for an evening show. When every single band said they wanted to play, I decided to expand this to an all day show.
I spent a crazy amount of money on production, venue, hotel, food, electricity, toilets, stages, etc in addition to the band payments. I would need a thousand people to attend just to break even, let alone making any money for the charity we were hoping to benefit. After 90 days of drought, the day of our fest had an all day rain. We had one hundred paid tickets. That's Deep Blues.
There's plenty of stories and things to share about the fest. More than I can remember or want to write about here. We had artwork designed by Justin DeGarmo.
A comic written
OK. back to the recordings. Here's Johnny Lowebow to start off the very first fest.
Chet Weise came up for the first Deep Blues Festival in 2007 to perform as a solo artist using the stage name Sweet Velvet C. He arranged a pre-fest show at the Turf Club with Chooglin'.
When I booked KM for the Deep Blues Festival, I asked him how many nights he wanted to come up to stay. He said he wanted to be there all week. I agreed and got him a hotel room and helped work out a couple days to busk before the fest. Here he is in front of Knoke's Chocolates in Hudson WI.
I have a separate audio recording that's about two hours. The video is only one hour.
Oops. I've tried to put these up in chronological order. Somehow I skipped this 2006 Hank III show. Oh well, I hope I don't make too many errors over the next 1500 or so shows.
This was at First Ave in Mpls MN. Murder Junkies opened and I did not record. I only recorded the country set and not the Assjack.
audio only
Set I
-country set only Straight To Hell Thrown Out Of The Bar Smoke & Wine Trashville Pills I Took Dick In Dixie I Don't Know Country Heroes Devil Is My Friend Crazed Country Rebel Longhaired Redneck If You Don't Like Hank Williams My Buckets Got A Hole In It Cocaine Blues Mississippi Mud Hoe Down and band intros Not Everybody Likes Us Working Real Hard D Ray White Nighttime Ramblin' Man
At First Ave in Minneapolis MN. I was going out to shows that summer to hand out flyers for the Deep Blues Festival. I didn't record the opening bands. I also didn't stay to record the Assjack set.
Dan's dad offered me a ticket to Lallapalooza in Chicago.
I met Chuck and Mary at the ticket office. It took a little while to find them on the guest list, but we got our credentials and went into the fest.
Chuck explained he had no idea if I would be able to get backstage access, but I just hiked along with them. Jamie was working as the tour manager and Chuck was able to get him on the phone to meet us and get us backstage. We hung out in the VIP area and talked for about an hour, waiting for the show. MIA had just finished performing and most of the people in that area seemed to be with her. I think Southern Comfort must have been a sponsor and they were offering drinks. I don't recall anything other very special than some shade and some places to sit.
When the show was ready to start, I was able to follow along to the side stage access. We were on a second level platform. My recording starts with some conversation with Chuck.
audio only
Set I
Thickfreakness Girl Is On My Mind Just Got To Be 10 AM Automatic The Breaks Stack Shot Billy Busted Set You Free Everywhere I Go Your Touch Grown So Ugly I Got Mine No Trust Have Love Will Travel
Moreland and Arbuckle at Dick's Bar in Hudson WI. We did another benefit for the Bridge For Hudson Youth. These guys played three sets totaling about two and half hours of music.
I traveled down to Davenport IA to attend the IH MS Valley Blues Fest. It was a three day event. For day one, I made sure to get there in time to see Robert Belfour.
