I never saw Rory Gallagher play. That and not seeing Phil Lynott remain my two biggest musical regrets.
See, I love Blues music. But I am anything but a purist. More like I know what I love and I love to listen to it. Which is why back in 2019 I happened to be at a Erja Lyytinen gig. The support band that night was Bluesman Mike Francis, and it was interesting that my review of the gig made mention of the fact that he was “steeped in – and enthralled – by the music.”
I’ve spoken to Mike many times since and you can’t fail to notice how much he loves not just his craft, but rather like me, all of the sounds and textures. I respond well to those types of people. The type, who, as Eric Church put it once said are the type “who do it for nothing for nothing because it lives in your soul”.
Music should be a vocation. Here, it is.
It helps, of course, if you’re superb at it. Which Francis is. This three-minute homage to Stevie Ray Vaughan underlines that. Catchy lyrics, yes, but let’s be honest you’re here for the solo, aren’t you? And it doesn’t disappoint.
He knows it himself. A sweet blues melody is more than sung about here. It’s delivered, both with love and supreme skill.
“When Stevie played the blues, you couldn’t beat that sound.” Yeah, maybe (I never saw him either). But Bluesman Mike Francis has a damn good go.
https://kycker.ffm.to/Stevie
