Lower East Side Blues (feat. Jim Campilongo)

#137 in the Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumental Series, Lower East Side Blues, features a certified master of the telecaster, Jim Campilongo. Born in South San Francisco at just the right time to have his mind opened and blown by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Jim was deep in it and gigging by the mid '70's. He quickly became a San Francisco A-list guitar slinger but didn't really start to get national and international attention until he formed Jim Campilongo and the 10 Gallon Cats. I can clearly remember being here (SF) in the mid-'90s and everybody talking about Jim and his Roy Buchanan-esqe super tasty badassery. Being the big fish in the little pond was not enough for Jim so he pulled up stakes and bravely headed for New York City. A wise choice indeed. In 2002, his Electric Trio toured Europe and Scandinavia and recorded the album American Hips and in 2003 he formed the group The Little Willies with Norah Jones. Since then Jim has worked with artists as varied as; Big Al Anderson, Bright Eyes, Cake, J. J. Cale, Burning Spear, Nels Cline, Charlie Hunter, Peter Rowan, Martha Wainwright, Luca Benedetti & Capt. Picard himself Patrick Stewart. I can not tell you how many, great in their own right, guitarists I know that when they are in NYC make the pilgrimage to Jim's longstanding and legendary weekly residency at the Livingroom. I hope you enjoy this relatively brief example of a master at work and then venture beyond into the fifteen-album rabbit hole of Jim Campilongo. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Andrew "the kid" Guterman (Rick Estrin) on drums, and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA. Mixed by the Grammy-winning Godfather of Grunge, Jack Endino (Nirvana, Nando Reis) and masterfully mastered by Alex McCollough at True East Mastering.