Turntable Tuesday

“Mr Luck” The Ronnie Wood Band. A Tribute to Jimmy Reed

October 5, 2021

It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! This week on Turntable Tuesday I am opening a brand new release for the first time from The Ronnie Wood Band. I just saw Ron play on stage with the Rolling Stones only three nights ago and it was incredible. This new “Mr Luck” album is fantastic! Turn that TV off! BUY MEDIA! Silicon valley corporations don’t create music they just stream it and rake the profit in. Crank up your local speaker or get out there and support your favorite band! What are YOU listening to right now?

  • Ronnie and Keith!
  • Ronnie on stage in Charlotte
  • Fun Times
Three photos from the Rolling Stones show last Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Want a Stones set list from the 2021 Rolling Stones shows or some of his other art? Here is the link: https://store.digitalstores.co.uk/ronniewood/*/Setlists/

The cover of the special blue vinyl edition of ‘Mr Luck.” There are some limited presses of blue vinyl as well as the black vinyl versions.

If you would like to listen to my companion podcast you can listen here or subscribe for free on any of the streaming services you use. My podcast is easily searchable on any streaming service where you get your podcasts by searching “Andrew Talbert.” Look for the World Wide Music Media logo. I’ll talk to you on your mobile device!

The back cover of the album on the piano stool with the track listing and additional art from Ron. All art on this album is from Ron Wood.
A blue sticker designating the blue vinyl copy from the shrink wrap. I took the wrap completely off to look at the gate fold of the album.
Speaking of gate folds…here is a photo of the inside of the album. As you know you don’t get this package on a mobile device. This is a great package for the collector who likes the music of Ron Wood and classic blues from Jimmy Reed.
One of the album sleeves. This is a great photo from the concert at Royal Albert Hall. The photography for this album is credited to Brian Rasic and Watt Casey. (Getty Images) This album was recorded on November 1, 2013 and just released on September 17, 2021.
Ron walks you through the gate fold photos and talks a little about the album.
“Mr. Luck.” So smooth and the guitar work is stellar from these masters.

“Mr. Luck” is the second of a total of three live recordings from Ron Wood paying tribute to his musical influences. The first album was called “Mad Lad” A Live Tribute to Chuck Berry. Mr. Luck is the second release and was recorded in November of 2013 at Royal Albert Hall with a crack team of players. The band features an impressive lineup of special guests including Mick Taylor, Bobby Womack, Mick Hucknall, and Paul Weller. The band pays tribute to one of Ronnie’s biggest influences from the blues genre – Jimmy Reed. Jimmy Reed was an electric blues master who had an amazing career as a member of the Muddy Waters’ band and as a solo artist. When you listen to the Rolling Stones and other British bands who started in the 1960’s you will hear the influences of early blues music which was played in the United States and was incubated in Africa. Most of you who will read this already have most of this background in your musical memory.

I am not going to walk through a review of this album here as I will save my comments for my companion podcast episode particularly the album track list and history of the songs. What I will write here is I spent many of my “formative” years living in various places in Mississippi. That is where I grew up listening and experiencing blues music in places like Greenville, Greenwood, and Clarksdale to mention a few. To hear blues music I later traveled to Memphis, Chicago, and back to my native North Carolina where the roots of blues music is still being performed even today.

We continue to hear many of the next generation of people inspired by this music play tributes of the sort Ron is doing in his seventh decade on the planet and having spent a lifetime making a fortune being an absolute master as a musician traveling the world. We are fortunate to hear these tracks of so long ago played by stellar musicians like the group on this 2013 live recording. I have always listened to Jimmy Reed music and own most of his original collection of songs. I have seen musicians from a long list like rocker Steve Miller to blues musicians from a long list play these tracks for years. If you are not already listening to this collection you should give it a try. You can really feel the beginnings of rock music and hear the riffs that find their way to contemporary music.

Although I will never say what my favorite genre of music is I can tell you blues is very close to the top if not number one. Why? Emotion. Passion. Those two things make you feel the music. This music can be so simple but yet so complex at the same time especially when you hear the brilliance of some of these guitar players all the way back decades ago. This is why so many great rock and roll musicians love this music. As McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters wrote “The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll.” I’ll talk to you more on this topic and this amazing album on the companion podcast episode.

“Big Boss Man” Jimmy Reed

Big boss man, can’t you hear me when I call
Big boss man, can’t you hear me when I call
Well, you ain’t so big, you’re just tall, that’s all

Got me working, boss man, working ’round the clock
I want me a drink of water, but you won’t let Jimmy stop
Big boss man, can’t you hear me when I call?
Well, you ain’t so big, you just tall, that’s all

Well, I’m gonna get me a boss man, one gonna treat me right
Work hard in the day time, rest easy at night
Big boss man, can’t you hear me when I call?
Well, you ain’t so big, you’re just tall, that’s all

Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.