Roy Buchanan in Central Park

He did a lot but he could've done a lot more if he hadn't fallen off the wagon and hung himself in a jail cell.

I guess that's why they call it the blues. How authentic can ya get?

The spirit of the crossroads had been trailing Roy Buchanan, haunting and pushing him for decades, urging him to drink it all in push it back out.

The spirit caught up with him without his guitar in that sad cell. Roy was unarmed.

I saw Roy live three and a half times. I never saw the spirit but I heard it and it taught me about the blues from a safer distance filtered through The Master of the Telecaster.

Let me tell you about all three and a half.

This might take awhile.

Let's start at the beginning.

The first awakening took place on the evening of the afternoon when Wild Bill and I drove by the Dakota and waved at Strawberry Fields or maybe it was years before that but it was close either way.

We were headed towards another part of Central Park and a concert featuring two bands NRBQ and the Roy Buchanan band. I had never heard of Roy at that time. Bill was turning me on to Roy. He was confident that I would "get it". You need that confidence when you're trying to turn somebody on.

Going to a concert in Central Park is one of life's great experiences. You're walking through a park. You're listening to important music (ya don't get invited to play at Central Park if  you haven't paid your dues).

The crowd is hip.

The park is lush and living.

You feel like you're deep in a country paradise.

Then every so often, you look up.

In the gathering moonlight you are surprised to see the skyscrapers of Gotham surrounding you.

You're in a park smack dab in the middle of the greatest metropolis. The park is the city and the city is the park. Start spreding the news.....

NRBQ opened for Roy. NRBQ stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quintet. They originally hailed from Louisville, Kentucky

I had heard of them.

They set the tone. They fit right into the surrounding urban rural metropolitan environment. They were comfortable. They might as well have been wearing pajamas. They played their usual spontaneous combination of rock, pop, jazz, blues, cover material, audience requests and Tin Pan Alley. Later they would actually perform in pajamas. They would hire Captain Louis Albano as their manager. They even became the unofficial house band for the Simpsons in seasons 10-12.  They shook hands with my mind.  They didn't bother to blow it away. They opened it up and cleared away some of the debris

The mind blowing itself would come later in natural progression come later as the evening grew darker and Buchanan took the stage.

I don't remember the exact segue from NRBQ to Roy but I'm pretty sure he opened with Haunted House and then maybe a couple of warm up rock a billy tunes before he began settling into the blues. Hey Joe started that transition which slid smoothly into I Am a Lonesome Fugitive.

During fugitive, I became aware that something big was going on here in my mind and heart. I was surprised by the vibe yet comfortable with it. I was more of a rhythm guy than a blues guy although I had certainly paid the dues for membership.

It was at this point that Roy mumbled the prologue/prayer that begins The Messiah Will Surely Come Again. As Roy made his way up and down the frets I began to contain the moaning, the arguing, the drinking, the jail cells, the whispering, the weeping, the howling, the praying, the conversing, the grief, the hope, the feedback, the virtuosity, the mystery, the triumph, the tragedy, the humor, the heartbreak, the bail money and the bliss that Roy was pouring out of his Telecaster with the help of his backup band.

I was "getting" the blues and once I "got" them, I was gonna keep that "get".

Wild Bill caught me getting the get and I knew that he had gotten it before we went to the show and the combination of gets and gots were the reason why he had got tickets for the show in the first place.

My eyes were closed and my soul was open.

I was awake.

I opened my eyes

I looked right into the city beyond the trees and could feel all the elements of the blues that Roy was telecasting. They were alive and pulsing within the Apple and that pulse was coming back to Roy and he was sending it back again.

The crowd, the city, the park, the moonlight, the darkness, we were as one fifty years ago. 

I was 26

I carry that unity 

with me today

somewhere

forever

even now.

Listen to 

The Messiah Will Surely Come Again.

Imagine moonlight

Imagine Central Park

Maybe you'll get another dose of what I got.

I'm confident you will.