I've always liked the story of how Peter Green 'gave' his 1959 Les Paul to Gary Moore in exchange for whatever Moore managed to sell his own guitar for and then some twenty five years later Moore recorded his tribute CD 'Blues For Greeny' using the very same guitar.
This says so much about the blues. It has everything. It's certainly not about the money – that's for sure. The guitar itself is loved with an unmatched intensity - think of the many Lucilles and all those other battered, blow-torched,stickered and paint sprayed gems still being lovingly carried around from gig to gig for years and years. Then there is the mutual respect amongst the musicians, young, old, male, female – always totally unaffected - remember the likes of Clapton and Jeff Beck hanging around the Bag o' Nails in Soho just to watch some young guy call Jimmi Hendrix use blues licks they'd never seen before and Keith Richard going quietly mad trying to play in the same invented key as his hero Chuck Berry. Respect is unashamed and everywhere, Even heroes have heroes. You seldom stumble over rancour at a gig – even if God is sitting in the audience.
For the Hat, that says much about the essence and the great delight and magic of the Blues Festival tradition. It is that glorious opportunity to put all those ingredients in to one place and one melting pot at the same time. You can dash hither and thither, rub shoulders with your heroes, trade chops, drop your jaw in awe – and sometimes you even get a smart T-shirt as well. Occasionally random and chaotic, sometimes divine serendipity and sometimes, if it all falls into place, you get that talk-about moment to tell later to anyone who'll listen.
Appropriately, at the Hebden Festival this year, some of the best moments were definitely the most chaotic and they were at the brilliant packed out Midnight Jam Sessions. As I supped my glass of best in a dark corner, it was a joy to watch the stage simply over-flowing with all the day's talent in one place, under the kindly eye of Paddy Maguire, bursting with fun, flair and flash – and there was not a single diva in sight. Everyone had a ball and the audience went barmy. The first Hebden Bridge Blues Festival got that absolutely right. Respect, talent, love and fun and you get to take away a small but precious piece of the blues.
The second festival dates have been fixed for next year, the line up is being sorted and venues ear-marked. I know that you really want to hear that on one of my stealth deep cover sorties into the bunker, I happened to learn that Paddy's Midnight Jam Sessions are coming back. I do hope they are not going to be 'new and improved'. We liked them just the way they were....and the T-shirt's not bad either. Now what did I do with that Les Paul copy of a copy that I picked up cheap somewhere...?
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat