My own little home town here put on a free day long City Fest, which had games/food/music from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., culminating in a Fabulous Thunderbirds concert, and fireworks show afterwards. I took my boys for the final two concerts and fireworks show. A good time was had by all. I first saw the T-birds in 1981 open up for Eric Clapton at Viking Hall in Bristol, TN. They are still rawkin after all these years.

All I can tell you is that these guys can still crank out the blues. With the exception of their encores (Tuff Enuf and Wrap It Up), it was an all blues show. Kim Wilson was smokin on the harp, and the highlight for me was their keyboard player - Gene Taylor. The old guy kept a cigar in his mouth, a long-neck Budweiser at his side, and he just played the keys off of a piano and organ. And on one particular song, Wilson starts off on a harp solo. One by one, the other band members drop out. Wilson goes on an eleven minute blues harp solo. Eleven freakin' minutes. I never heard the guy stop, breathe, or slow down. Then after eleven minutes, the band joins back in for the song finale. Unbelievable.

I tried to keep track of the playlist, but found myself lost in the show. Here's what I wrote down:


Too Hot To Handle
Born To Love You
Feelin Good
Rock This Place (best song of the show IMHO)
Look At That, Look At That
She's Tuff
You Ain't Nothin But Fine
Tuff Enuf
Wrap It Up

There were others, but I can't recall them at this point.

On a side note, the bluegrass band just before the T-birds, Rollin' in the Hay, was very good. As a bonus, they had one of the singers from the Wet Willie Band - Donna Hall come up from Mobile, AL to join them.

Wish you guys could have been here. It was free, and literally 5 minutes from my house. Doesn't get much better than that.

I'll post some pics below.

JD

And here's the keyboard player Gene Taylor.

Now Stevie Ray Vaughns bro Jimmy Vaughn used to play guitar for them in the tuff enuff and wrap it up days, does he still?

You are soooo lucky to have events like that in area Jeff! You have me green with envy :D

Sounds like is was a great show, good you were able to have your boys along making it a father/son event. Memories of events like that will last a lifetime!

-Dave

And a shot of me and the road crew.

Originally posted by THOR
Now Stevie Ray Vaughns bro Jimmy Vaughn used to play guitar for them in the tuff enuff and wrap it up days, does he still?

Thor - yep, Jimmy was in the band for the early years. He left around 1990 or so if my memory is correct (probably not).


Originally posted by Dave918
Sounds like is was a great show, good you were able to have your boys along making it a father/son event. Memories of events like that will last a lifetime!

Yep - that was really the best part for me.

Dave - the next event is City Stages in two weeks. Three days of non-stop music for $30. Los Lonely Boys will be here. Loretta Lynn will be here. And about 100 others. You can catch a Southwest Airlines flight here on the cheap. ;)

JD

LOL, Don't temp me! :D

-Dave

Jimmy Vaughn (SRV's older brother) started the T-Birds. I lived in Austin around that time ('70s) and we'd see them almost each month. Kim Wilson used to wear a turban (see their first album) on stage and they just cranked. He's become one of the premier harp players in the country and a blues icon. Had more hair then (like me).

The T-Birds were the house band at Antone's (now famous blues club -- used to be in an old shopping center). Story is that when Muddy Waters heard them while headlining there, and wanted to know who was THAT band.

If you want to hear more Gene Taylor, check out his work with The Blasters. Saw them in the same era, when Dave and Phil Alvin were together, and Lee Allen was in the group. I've seen few live bands rock like The Blasters (except Bruce Springsteen and Joe Ely). They opened for Joe Ely that night, and he stepped up his game to stay in it. A big time was had by all.