Blast From The Past

As I was doing some radio airplay tracking for a client on a folk dj mailing list group, I came across a post from John Platt who hosts "City Folk Sunday Breakfast" on WFUV. He noted that he had Steve Katz and Danny Kalb, formerly of the Blues Project, in for an interview in support of their new acoustic blues collaboration with Stefan Grossman, "Played A Little Fiddle". As a 12 and 13 year old growing up in the 60s and in discovery of FM rock, the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat and Tears were two groups that meant a lot to me. So naturally when I heard about this interview, it was like throwing a huge bone to this puppy.

Now, as I've noted elsewhere on my website, I was a big Al Kooper fan. His vocal style didn't exactly get rave critical reviews (but that didn't matter to me and to this day it still doesn't), but to me he was real and passionate. One other prominent vocalist in the Blues Project and BS & T was Steve Katz, much different in style, with a warm voice like velvet, one that always caused me to lean into the speakers whenever songs like "Steve's Song" or "Sometimes In Winter" were played. Al, bless his heart, is still out there doing his thing with another new album due from him soon, but Steve has been off my radar for years. So, it was great to hear this interview and especially to hear him sing again, both in clips from the CD and as an extra treat in the interview, a live acoustic performance of "Sometimes In Winter". His voice retains that warm beauty and reminded me what it was like to hear him back when I was 13. I sure would have loved it if he’d done "Steve's Song" as well, but hey, you take these bones when you can get them.

I do ponder this: judging by some of the e-mail I received on my pieces about 60's FM radio and the over 1,000 plays my podcast on this topic registered just this year alone, it's obvious that 40 years later, the music of this time is still endearing, passionate and meaningful to so many of us boomers. It reflected an important time in history, one of intense cultural and social change. I just wonder if the music that the 13 year olds are growing up with today will have the same lasting effect.

Thus, I now have to buy this Grossman/Kalb/Katz CD and the Blues Project Anthology. Because now, I've got "Flute Thing" playing in my head, too.