I should be so Lucky

I went to see Lucky Peterson last night and shook my tail feather (Do it right, do it right, do it right, do it right!, Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!). Peterson was discovered by Willie Dixon and taught by Jimmy Smith among others; he is the real deal. Fresh from a three day residency at Ronnie Scott's one can only wonder what he made of playing a working man's club in the north of England (and yes once again you could occasionally hear the bingo caller in the next room), but it didn't seem to bother him. Accompanied by guitar, drums and trumpet he mainly played the organ and delivered a wide range of genres, from noodly jazz (never really my favourite) through belting versions of soul classics especially 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone'. This will give a flavour of the sort of shapes that I was throwing:

He was joined for a few numbers at the end by Mrs Peterson, Tamara Tramell, who most notably did a very Annie Mae Bullock inspired version of Proud Mary. She wore more clothes though; this was Yorkshire in January.

Peterson did switch to slide guitar for a fine medley of Muddy Waters' 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and Robert Johnson's 'Dust My Broom'. The latter song is of course most closely associated with Elmore James, who may possibly have been taught the song directly by Johnson. In one of those connections beloved of your bloggist, today is the one hundredth anniversary of James' birth. Here's one of his other songs that I am currently finding resonates with me: