Whats playing on your system today?

Up The Line by The Gary Smith Blues Band. Gary switched from drums to blues harp and vocals in 1969, the year I worked with him in a San Jose band. Later that year he joined The Charles Ford Blues Band, who had just moved down from Ukiah, CA. The band’s guitarist was Robben Ford, who ended up moving to L.A. and playing with Miles Davis (!), George Harrison (!), Joni Mitchell, L.A. Express, and many others. Before he did, The CFBB recorded two albums each with Charlie Musselwhite and Jimmy Witherspoon. Gary was mentored by Musselwhite and Paul Butterfield, both of them living in the Bay Area. He also studied the recordings of Little Walter, James Cotton, Sonny Boy Williamson, and all the other greats.

By the time of this 1991 album, Gary had become a GREAT harp player and band leader, and his bands on the album (one on each side of the album) are SO fine. Very few white bands really understand how to play Blues well (Sonny Boy Williamson to The Hawks’ Robbie Robertson in 1965, shortly after returning from a UK tour on which he was provided bands comprised of local players, including Eric Clapton: "They [the UK musicians] want to play the Blues so bad. And that’s just how they play it." ;-), as can be verified by listening to the likes of Canned Heat and Blues Traveler (shudder). Gary’s two bands on Up The Line are comprised of excellent Blues players, and his harp playing is absolutely world-class. Guesting on the album are Nick Gravenites (The Electric Flag, with Mike Bloomfield) and Musselwhite. Up The Line is a really, really good Blues album.