It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! Turn that TV off! It is time to fire up the turntable and crank up some great tunes! This week it’s all about the excitement of a stellar new solo release from the one and only “Guitar Hero” Steve Cropper called “Fire It Up.” The first solo release since 1969! Get some provisions, turn off all non-essential electronics, light up some incense if you want or at least burn a bit of sage to get rid of all those bad spirits as we have some blues and soul with a bit of rock ready to make your day. You need to hear this one! Steve “The Colonel” Cropper is the one! “Saucy” as he has been called…
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New Years Eve December 31, 1978. I was at a house party at an old friend’s house which was in rural North Carolina. This house was very isolated with a Stoneville, North Carolina zip code that was not actually in that small town so it was easy to crank up some music and invite a crowd to have a good time. That is exactly what was happening on this night. As I recall several of us had recently made the trip to School Kids Records in Greensboro, North Carolina to pick up the new “Briefcase Full of Blues” vinyl which was the debut from “The Blues Brothers Band” released on November 28, 1978. That album was the main event of this holiday evening. So where does this story start? Maybe all the way back to the early days of never missing an episode of Saturday Night Live in the 1970’s. For the folks who loved comedy and music it was the place to be on Saturday night because in those days there was about three channels and not much music happening on television on Saturday night….well there was always the black and white reruns of Boris Karloff and a local TV station horror movie marathon to keep you up all night. Yeah I loved that scene too. Great movies!
Back to the party. The house was FULL of people and everyone was into the Blues Brothers album on the turntable in the living room. It was cranked to about “11” on the amp and the whole house was in a major party mode and smiles were everywhere. It was BYOB and the cars were parked up the road as the large driveway was filled with cars and trucks. I can still feel that moment as I write this. People were dancing in the hallways and on the coffee table. The Blues Brothers Band was incredible and the blues music they were resurrecting was incredibly exciting. It was from this album that I learned the names of everyone in the band. Yes I was listening to Sam and Dave back then so I knew about the “Soul Man” line “play it Steve” but this album moved these artists to another place. The stand-outs on guitar were Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Steve “The Colonel” Cropper. I was already familiar with Donald “Duck” Dunn having seen him in concert with everyone from Jackson Browne to Eric Clapton. This band was amazing and that album was something special. This album and the movie that followed really marks the time it was released. Those were great times!
April 23, 2021. Steve Cropper releases “Fire It Up.” We are still here. Steve Cropper has assembled a great group of musicians for this project and is still laying down some riffs that illustrate why he is so highly ranked as a great guitar player. I am going to dig into his history from Booker T and the MGs until present and talk all about this great new album on my companion podcast episode this week. Be sure to check it out!
It is so cool to get a new solo album from a man who has participated on albums from A-Z and by that I mean Rod Stewart’s hits to Booker T and the MG’s. It would take a book to outline the hits that Steve Cropper has played on and I would encourage everyone to go listen to his musical contributions. Meanwhile this is a great album and you should go get your copy now! I am going back to my volume knob and crank it up.
Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.