From The Archives Of Something Blue October 23, 2022

1. DJ Hairy Larry presents John Shepherd and Happy Hour
2. Something Blue – Friends – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a band from Wynne singing a Muddy Waters song.

It was Blues Fest 2010 and John Shepherd and Happy Hour were closing the show. It was a special performance because Kyle Harrison had played earlier in the day and he joined John for the last half of the set. This gave us two amazing blues guitarists from Wynne, Arkansas, on the stage playing together.

And I want to emphasize playing together. Too often having more than one guitarist at a time turns into cutting heads, which is ok, but doesn’t sound as good as hearing great blues guitarists working together.

From The Archives Of Something Blue October 16, 2022

1. DJ Hairy Larry presents Bebop Beatniks
2. Something Blue – Turn – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear some Creative Commons Jazz played on the Twitch Porch.

From The Archives Of Something Blue October 9, 2022

1. DJ Hairy Larry presents Houston Steele and Bad Habit
2. Something Blue - Anyday - 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we're going to hear a Keith Sykes song played at the Craighead Forest Bandshell.

When Houston Steele started playing with Braden Byrd and Billy Spence we started getting them to perform at the bandshell. He's a fantastic guitarist and vocalist with a wry sense of humor that he uses to connect to his audience. He's been playing around Jonesboro and all over the country for decades doing mostly country and rock hits. He can also deliver on the blues as we're about to hear today.

From The Archives Of Something Blue September 25, 2022

DJ Hairy Larry presents Jazz Writers Big Band playing “Downpour”

01. DJ Hairy Larry presents Jazz Writers Big Band playing “Downpour”

02. Something Blue – Art – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear an original jazz composition performed at the Delta Jazz Workshop.

The Jazz Writers Big Band either writes or arranges every song they play. That means someone in the band is working hard writing all those notes and articulations for every song. And then the band has to learn new arrangements all the time. It’s hard to explain just how much work goes into a project like this.

From The Archives Of Something Blue September 18, 2022

DJ Hairy Larry presents NJHB playing "Catamaran"

01. DJ Hairy Larry presents NJHB playing "Catamaran"

02. Something Blue - Streak - 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we're hearing one of my jazz pieces recorded live at the Craighead Forest Bandshell.

NJHB is a different kind of jazz band without established personnel or repertoire. As usual when we played at the Craighead Forest Bandshell on June 2, 2013, it was the first and only time we played with this group of musicians.

So for this show we had Matt Jackson - bass, Mike "Zif" Lovell - guitar, Suzanne Michell - vocals, drums, and percussion, Carl Holden - guitar, Jay Shepherd - guitar, "Shugga" Shane Chastain - Roland Fantom, Addison Boling - drums, and Hairy Larry - Fender Rhodes, vocals, percussion, and dancing.

From The Archives Of Something Blue September 4, 2022

01. DJ Hairy Larry presents Sonny Burgess and The Legenday Pacers playing “Today I Started Loving You Again”

02. Something Blue – Ranger – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear a country song performed by a rock and roll band at KASU Bluesday Tuesday.

We would get a lot of top acts at Bluesday Tuesday but the toppest of all was the international touring act, Sonny Burgess and The Legendary Pacers. They would play their Sun hits from the fifties as well as a lot of blues and rock and roll standards. And then, every so often, Sonny would sing a country song.

From The Archives Of Something Blue August 21, 2022

DJ Hairy Larry presents the Over The Hill Gang playing “Basin Street Blues”

01. DJ Hairy Larry Presents the Over The Hill Gang at KASU Jazz Thursday

02. Something Blue – Lover Man – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear some classic jazz recorded at KASU Jazz Thursday.

The Over The Hill Gang performed around Jonesboro for many years. Their repertoire included Dixieland, Ragtime, Swing, Blues, and Gospel. I knew some of the musicians in the band and I thought they would be a good fit for Jazz Thursday.

From The Archives Of Something Blue August 14, 2022

DJ Hairy Larry presents Giant Steps playing "Black Orpheus".

01. DJ Hairy Larry Presents Giant Steps at KASU Jazz Thursday

02. Something Blue - Amber - 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we're featuring a bossa recorded at KASU Jazz Thursday.

The core group of Giant Steps was Craig Baker, trumpet; Joy Sanford, piano; Tom Mason, bass; and Mike Overall, drums. For Jazz Thursday they added Michael McGowan on tenor sax to fill out their quintet. These are all seasoned jazz professionals who lived and worked in Northeast Arkansas. Michael McGowan traveled in from Texas but he is a former Jonesboro resident.

From The Archives Of Something Blue July 31, 2022

DJ Hairy Larry presents Billy Lee Riley playing “How Come We All Ain’t Got The Same”.

01. DJ Hairy Larry Presents Billy Lee Riley
02. Something Blue – Kid – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re hearing some original delta blues recorded right here in Jonesboro.

Billy Lee Riley was a true Arkansas legend, starting his career at Sun Studio in the fifties and making more hits and playing on other people’s hits in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Then in the nineties he had two hit blues albums, “Hot Damn!” and “Shade Tree Blues”. So I was more than pleased when he agreed to play at the 5 Decades Of Great Music fundraiser for the Craighead Forest Bandshell on May 25, 2000.

Besides Billy Lee Riley we also featured delta legends Joe Lee and Matt Lucas who also had 5 decades under their belt. Joe Lee played a jazz set, then Billy Lee Riley played the blues. We had an Allstar band where I got to play with all three of them. And then Matt Lucas took us home with a contemporary rockabilly act, Crossfire, and Billy Lee Riley hit the stage again singing his classic rock and roll recorded at Sun in the fifties.

It was a great show and everybody had a real good time. Today we’re going to hear a Billy Lee Riley original, recorded at 5 Decades Of Great Music, called “How Come We All Ain’t Got The Same”. So here’s Billy Lee Riley now introducing his own song.

deltaboogie.com/features/fivedecades/billylee.htm

DJ Hairy Larry presents John Shepherd playing “Low Earth Orbit” on the Twitch Porch.

01. DJ Hairy Larry Presents John Shepherd
02. Something Blue – Ladybugs – 29 second spot

Thanks Marty, today we’re going to hear John Shepherd joining me livestreaming on Twitch.

I am featuring jazz guitarists on Something Blue this week so I thought I would talk about playing jazz with John Shepherd on the Twitch Porch.