Train of thought

Left:
John Campbell http://www.devilinmycloset.net/john_campbell_home.htm

Wednesday night I played a gig at the Corner Pub in Downtown Conroe. It is a fairly new venue and I had never been there before. I had met the manager, a very nice lady, last summer when I was playing a gig in midtown and she had told me about it before it was opened but seemed pretty excited about the venue. It was a good gig but I don't want to use this blog thing to do reviews of my own shows. That seems kind of lame. It kind of gets on my nerves to read a web site and see a musician going on and on about the crowd at a venue when all they are really doing is trying to blow thier own horn. But I do have to admit that the folks at this particular venue really know how to appreciate a good one-man-band when they see one (JUST KIDDING).

When I first walked in, I really liked the comfortable feel of the place and also the high ceiling. The acoustics turned out to be very good. I also had a mind flash of the first venue I ever had a gig at which was Yakofritz Coffee House in Down Town Nacogdoches some time around 1982. Both places are located in Historic Town Sqare type settings but what really reminded me of Yakofritz was the general shape. It was much smaller but had a high ceiling and was long and narrow. The Corner Pub is not as elongated, more of a rectangular cube shape.

They used to have a night, I think it was Tuesdays, where they would bring in three separate perfomers/bands and each one would play 45 minutes. I played there three times and got paid $20 each time. Even though it was my first paid gig ever, what was more significant to me was that was where I first saw John Campbell play live. He was doing an acoustic set on guitar and dobro that blew me away. He did alot of slide guitar in open tunings. Robert Johnson type stuff but different also. I remember one song he did was TV Doctor which Johnny Winter did on his album "Nothing but the Blues". I also remember him doing a Lighthin Hopkins tune, Mojo Hand & one about a Gyspy Woman. This was about the time that Stevie Ray was doing the Texas Circuit and not yet signed to a label. I saw Stevie 3 times and he was my Guitar Hero but John Campbell had just as much impact. There are not guys like him living in every town. He had toured as Freddy Fenders Guitar Player but he had run into some bad experiences in the business end of the music business and was living in Nacogdoches. I think he was taking some classes at the school. He also played with the College Jazz band for a short time (The Swinging Axes). He also had an electric band called John Campbell and the Blues Connection that played at the local bar where Stevie Ray would play when he buzzed through town.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I became friends with John Campbell. It was more that I was just a huge fan and would go up and talk to him at every show & also when I would run into him on campus or around town. Looking back on it, I know that I probably could have gotten on his nerves. I was always asking him questions about guitar/blues/music & he was kind enough to tolerate me. I think he probably appreciated that I was picking up on how huge a talent he was.

I remember one time he was sitting in with a sort of Country Bluegrass type band made up of old college proffessors. It was an electric/acoustic band with a drummer and a bass player & they had mandolin, fiddle, & several acoustic guitars. They were playing a old standard and when John Campbell took his solo it was right along the melody line but he also interjected some really mean sounding licks. There were probably about a hundred people there and I was sitting off to the side of the stage. John played his solo & then he looked up at me and made eye contact. He could literally see that I had my jaw dropped down & he just kind of looked down and smiled. He knew I was completely blown away but I also knew that he was looking over to me to catch my reaction for his solo which at the time meant a great deal to me. Hell, Even today, It means a great deal to me. For me it was a "moment"

I posted a link to a site about John Campbell up above under his picture.

He died about 13 years ago.

He was the kind of guy who would not give a predictable response in conversations and also liked to do things his own way.

There is a list of his recordings on the web site also. I think The last CD on the list, or at least part of it, was recorded here in Houston at Sugar Hill Studio and was released by Justice Records. A guy that worked for Justice actually gave me the CD about 10 years ago and it is a compliation of several different artists doing songs to benefit the homeless.

One of them is Odetta doing "Brother Can you Spare a Dime" which is an excellent recording of her voice. John plays Dobro Slide Guitar on that tune & I think Dr. John plays piano.