Relisten

View NotesPlayers:
Charles Atkins - keyboards and vocals
The Blues Boys
Jeff Dutrow - harmonica
Harty Wiedemann - guitar
Tommy Owens - bass
Ron Wilson - drums

Notes: 
Something different from my near endless series of practice sessions - a real live show!. This was probably the biggest gig that Charles had played so far. It was also about the last time I travelled with the band. Not much for me to do on this trip except to keep Charles company and see to logistics. I forget the name of this club but I believe it was someplace on Church Street in downtown Orlando. Nice place, good crowd (a "generous" audience as Clark the soundman deprecatingly said). I remember there were levels of seating going up from the stage area so you had that feeling of playing in close to the audience and Charles could get a good feel for their presence. And he responded! This is a high energy show; Charles can get pretty wild and he let it all out this night. Most of the covers have an intro, a personal note where Charles talks about the author or singer. Some of these are quite long - 18 minutes of Lovelight. The "2 more songs" to end the night was about 40 minutes. There's almost 3 hours on tape but that was not all as the soundman didn't keep up with flipping tapes. Like at the end of track 8 you can hear the start of Black Night (one of my favs that Charles and Jeff had worked up pretty good) and then the recording doesn't pick up till the next set. Song titles are my best guesses.

This was the new Blues Boys lineup that Harty put together. Jeff on harp was a strapping young man and he could blow hard all night. He and Charles became close friends and Jeff still stands by him from time to time. Tommy on bass was as laid back as they come. And as I remember, Ron had been with us for awhile and he was quite a strong drummer; ya didn't wanna stand too close to his ride cymbal all night. This was the lineup for the next few years with Perry Nelson later replacing Ron on drums. About this time Charles started referring to Harty as "Big Time" which we all found pretty funny. But to his credit, Harty kept things going for Charles, getting gigs and putting together a couple CD releases. Harty eventually became a promoter or booking agent for other bands which really fit his personality, right down to the tugging on his mustache as he wheeled and dealed.  Anyway, enjoy the show - SCopeland April 2007.