Great article as usual Alan; however, huge gaffe in the first paragraph no less. "Jungle Love" isn't a Steve Miller tune. It was written by Lonnie Turner and Greg Douglas. I believe Lonnie played bass with Steve. Tisk tisk perhaps you should write for Rolling Stone instead ...

[Edited on 12/9/2016 by Charlesinator]

Great article as usual Alan; however, huge gaffe in the first paragraph no less. "Jungle Love" isn't a Steve Miller tune. It was written by Lonnie Turner and Greg Douglas. I believe Lonnie played bass with Steve. Tisk tisk perhaps you should write for Rolling Stone instead ...

if alan wrote for rolling stone i might read that magazine again! 😉

huge gaffe in the first paragraph no less. "Jungle Love" isn't a Steve Miller tune. It was written by Lonnie Turner and Greg Douglas.

Thanks. I didn't say he wrote all those songs and don't really consider it a gaffe. I see your point, though. The wording was inelegant. His bandmates wrote it but he created it, if you see what I mean... but yeah I'll ask them to change it.

Rolling stone still has some good music coverage. I really like most of what David Browne and David Fricke write.

Just busting your b*lls Alan. No wonder Steve has had so much success. I wish T-Bone had taught me guitar. 😉

Awesome article, and look forward to seeing/hearing the JALC show if it airs on local PBS(?) or NPR(?).

And nice to see Sonny Emory reference - yet another (Col. Bruce) Hamptonian alumnus. Granted, he's very well known in his own right outside of zambiland circles.

Zambi - Thanks. That's cool. I didn't know Sonny had played with Bruce. Will discuss with him if I have a chance tonight.

I will stream some of the show live on my Facebook page.

Sonny Emory played on Bruce's album Arkansas from ca: 1986, I believe recorded at Ricky Keller's (aka Lincoln Metcalf) home/studio. The album is like a zambi Pet Sounds. Master piece of a record.

Sonny and Yonrico got most drumming credits, I believe. I think that was also about the time Sipe first came into the fold ahead of the other ARU guys, but not sure Sipe got on the original 1986 recording (two ARU outtake tracks made it onto the 2000 reissue, so Sipe is on those).

Bruce played around town at the time under various "Arkansas" monikers... billed as the Arkansas Travelers, Arkansas Touristers, etc. I'm pretty sure Sonny played in some of those gigs too, but ask if he has any recollections of it. To my knowledge, no recordings of that time-frame (mid 1980s) really exist. All the stuff of legend now.

Also, I have a faint recollection of Sonny playing at one or more of Sipe's Zambiland Orchestra shows in Atlanta during the late 1990s/2000 time frame. Those often (not always) took place a week or so before Christmas, when gigging musicians were off the road at home. So he does have one toe in those Bruce circles.

Anyone see the Miller & Vaughan show at Lincoln Center? I checked out some of the live stream (thanks Al Paul) and as usual Jimmie Vaughan showed his talent. A solid overall band too. A couple of comments - Steve Miller's playing is technically excellent, but like Clapton and his straight blues efforts, his playing was too clinical for my taste in the blues. Curious about the live experience in person also. I saw one real blues show at Lincoln Center a few years back and found the venue too sanitized and formal (the Beacon would have been better suited). Still, along with the Stones great new album, always good to see The Blues getting the attention it deserves!

Steve Miller, seems like a real sincere student of the blues, his playing just doesn't quite do it for me.
That said, he sure made Paul Pena's life easier by covering Jet Airliner.

If anyone knows anyone who has any tapes of Paul Pena live (he did gig intermittently in the Bay Area for some years) please post. We have far too little Paul out there. He as a badass guitar player, and traded off guitar and piano chores in, you guessed it, T-Bone Walker's band.

Sound in Rose Theater was terrific Saturday night even from my less than desirable vantage point. Last minute decision to attend this show had me sitting in the top balcony behind the stage looking down on the band. The Lincoln Center venues lend themselves to a quieter , better listening crowd than what you would experience for a Blues show at The Beacon , City Winery or any other local venue. The show was just as much a T Bone Walker seminar as it was a concert . I was pleased to hear the songs in their purest form as T Bone might have recorded these tunes rather than the versions I'm most familiar with . Steve Miller and Jimmy Vaughan are music aficionados whom in this beautiful Lincoln Center setting can communicate with an audience on a very personal and direct level. Steve mentioned that this type of programming might occur every 6 months or so in the future. Based on the crowd reaction( including Gary Clark Jr and his very attractive wife) programs such as this will be very well received .

I really enjoyed the show. The venue was definitely a bit stiff. It also is beautiful and maybe the best-sounding room I've ever been in. And ushers asked people to put phones away if anyone tried to film... funny balance, right? People talking and filming and texting are super annoying, but sitting and being so quiet off putting.

I just kicked back and listened. I would have liked them to take a couple of songs at the end and let loose.. just jam.. the band was so good, it would have been nice to hear them off the leash a bit.

Steve's playing was tasty and he played really nicely with Jimmie, who not surprisingly had some more edge. I can certainly understand finding SM's playing too clean.