Linden, AB: Center Street Blues Jam

Linden, Alberta is a town about an hour’s drive northeast of Calgary with a few more than 800 residents. Two of those residents are pictured with us in the photo above.

Before we left Vermont, I made a post on my guitar forum (Blues Guitar Unleashed, aka BGU) about where we were headed, and I suggested that interested blues guitarists who lived in or near our vaguely defined trajectory could get in touch if they were interested in a “drive-by jam.” I heard back immediately from Larry (aka LuckyLarry), “Let’s do this!” he said. And so we did.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted heartily by Larry and his wife Barb, of course; also (and even more heartily, if that’s possible) by canine household members Rasta, Bella, and Mattie. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening getting to know each other both socially and musically, with Sue, Larry and I playing many different things from medium tempo blues shuffle in E to Crossroads, Flip Flop and Fly, and even Stormy Monday.

The next day, the newly formed LuckyLarry Trio worked on just two songs – Peter Green’s version of Need Your Love So Bad and Buddy Guy’s version of Mose Allison’s Your Mind Is On Vacation (But Your Mouth Is Working Overtime). We all learned much by repeated rehearsing and recording, listening, learning and trying again. (There may or may not be recordings of these songs that still exist – unconfirmed rumors are flying in all directions.)

In between sets, Sue and Barb also traded vegan and vegetarian recipes and took turns making dinner which Larry and I gladly evaluated and thoroughly enjoyed. We also had time to bond with the dogs, who graciously allowed us to share their favorite couch.

Complete set of Linden photos may be found here.