I'm not sure where to begin on this one. This was one of the greatest concerts I have ever attended and it was maybe the second or third show that Maddog and I ever tried to record so there are a few warts on this one, but ....

Back in the late '80s, I was just starting to discover the real blues and how it shaped Rock n Roll. My buddy Maddog had seen Roy a few times before and literally drug me to this show with me putting up a hissyfit the whole way. "I've never even heard of this guy ... wah, wah". Then he played me a few things he had of Roy and I began to think that the show wouldn't be so bad after all.

OK fastforward to the night of the show. It was April in Evergreen CO which is about 20 miles due southwest of Denver in the Front Range foothills. I remember it was lightly snowing when we arrived in Evergreen with about a half dozen quarts of Colt 45 Malt Liquor (I never drank Colt 45 after this night:-). We managed to drink most of the quarts prior to going into the show. We were both very poor at the time and it was a lot cheaper drinking quarts in the parking lot than buying drinks in the bar. We found a table next to the front window and began to fiddle with the deck to get it ready for the show when we notice someone outside was looking into the window and watching what we were doing with the deck. Maddog and I look up and its none other than Roy himself looking at us with that patented scowl through the window !!

Well, we were able to throw a coat over the deck and avoid any confrontations with any of Roy's or the bar's management. When the first set started, we were pretty far back from the stage being a little tenative that Roy might stop in the middle of a song and rat us "bootleggers" out. But, soon the alchohol took over and Maddog and I were totally engulfed and engaged with the show.

The show itself was unbelieveable. When Roy started rocking my brains out with Short Fuse, I just snapped and became and instant Roy Buchanan fan for life and I still had 2 hours of music to euphorically enjoy. The crowd was so intense !! It's like everyone was just transformed and couldn't get enough of Roy that night. I love this recording because you can just feel the electricity all night between Roy and the crowd. Maddog and I hadn't quite figured out that you need to keep your mouth shut when recording a show. Hence, you can hear Maddog's "woo-hoos" all-night and his drunk buddy (me!) screaming "Roy!!" in between most songs. But, the set list (two full sets !!) and Roy's performance were literally unforgetable. By the second set, Maddog was just a few feet away from Roy and the sound is very nice on the recording, the sound quality from the first set is very listenable.

I think I got home around 3am still reeling from the show and the beer. My alarm went off around 6am and got to my desk in downtown Denver at 8am - still very drunk. I remember staring at my computer screen for about 2 hours not being able to do much else (like move) and finally going home "sick with the bottle flu".

And I guess the final piece of the story was hearing about Roy's death just a few months later when I was driving to work. I was shell-shocked but also very grateful that I attended this show and got to see one of the best before it was too late.

This show has been around but this is the first time the show has been available from the master tapes which were just recently discovered after a long period in storage. Who is Roy Buchanan? Why, just take a listen to this and you tell me all about this guitar genius.

The date may not be quite correct as there is a show from Vancouver on 1988-04-08 that circulates. If the 7th is not correct, the date may be from a day or two earlier, but it's pretty close to the 7th.

Roy Buchanan
April 7, 1988 (1988-04-07)
Little Bear Saloon
Evergreen, Colorado
USA

Set 1 [50:40]
01) [01:55] Tune-up
02) [02:24] Short Fuse
03) [04:21] Can't Judge a Book By the Cover
04) [05:07] Country Boy
05) [07:31] Down By the River
06) [04:38] Beer Drinkin' Woman
07) [10:58] When a Guitar Plays the Blues
08) [03:45] Honky Tonk
09) [04:00] Jack the Ripper // fade out
10) [05:51] fade in // The Messiah Will Come Again

Set 2 [1:00:55]
11) [02:18] Tune-up
12) [03:53] Peter Gunn
13) [05:49] Baby Baby Baby
14) [03:03] Susie Q
15) [06:46] Green Onions
16) [04:04] Greensleeves > ? >
17) [07:37] Drownin' On Dry Land
18) [05:46] Sunshine of Your Love
19) [03:36] Goose Grease
20) [04:17] Hey Joe
21) [03:41] Purple Haze
22) [00:44] Encore Announcement
23) [01:31] ? >
24) [07:40] Rock n Roll

Total [1:51:35]

Roy Buchanan - Guitar
Carey Zeigler - Bass
Vincent Santoro - Drums

Recording:
Hand held Aiwa mic > unknown portable cassette deck > master cassette - set 1 BASF CR-E II 90 Set 2 Maxell XLII-90

Transfer:
Sony TC-WE475 > Sony DTC-ZE700 > E-MU E-DSP Soundcard > 16/48 wav > Wavelab (tracking and tweaking) > you !

whotrader-155-rb-1988-04-07