Crucial Technique is a tribute to Davey Williams — a Birmingham native known globally for his innovative guitar playing and improvisational gifts -- who died from cancer on April 5th, 2019.
All of the proceeds from this recording will go towards the completion of a GoFundMe that is raising money to defray some of Davey's personal debts and properly archive a treasure trove of unreleased music. Donate and find at more HERE:
gf.me/u/r2zj8x
These songs came into being on my radio show, Blood on the Knobs. In addition to playing his music and having an somewhat emotional conversation about his life and work, I gathered a small group of friends to pay tribute to Davey via a series of short improvisations.
The musicians -- J. David Black, First Kentucky Post, Leah Hamby, Rodney D. Hasty, and Clay Mills -- all performed magnificently... So I thought it would be special to isolate the performances, beef up the audio, and put them to good use.
I was surprised by how the songs worked well together. A crucial skill to improvising music is simply listening... And I wonder if each performance was subconsciously answering the one that came before.
Bearing those connections in mind, i thought it would be fun to also present the performances as a single piece of work. So I've done it in two different ways: "Scraping Through (for Davey Williams" features these four performances as a whole, while"Torn Together (for Davey Williams)" features all 4 performances played simultaneously (shout out to Ornette Coleman).
Thanks,
--jim.
You can hear the original broadcast on Substrate's Mixcloud page:
www.mixcloud.com/substrateradio/blood-on-the-knobs-4719-for-davey-williams/
Blood on the Knobs broadcasts live every Sunday night from 10pm - 12am CST (or later).
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