"L" Bands/Musos I Recall Seeing
If My Memory Serves Me Well we are at 86 and Counting....(not Crows)
“L” is for Love. Here we go continuing with the A-Z List (another “L” word) for your reading and listening pleasure.
As I started looking at this list of “L” artists, I was blown away by some of the talent.
I am a lucky man.
(As per usual artists in BOLD I have seen more than once…..some numerous times)
La Bomba
Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes
Lachy Doley Group-If you don’t live in Australia you may not know who this dude is. Check out this clip and you may want to find out more.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo- I Recall being in Africa in 1986, 1 month after Paul Simon’s controversial Graceland album was released. Still using vinyl back then, I went and collected as many of this group’s albums as I could carry.
Lairs
Lanie Lane
Larry Coryell
Laura Marling-Caught her in a church in Paddington, NSW.
Laurie Anderson-1983 and BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) showcase Laurie performing United States Part 1-IV. 8 hours of art over 2 nights. It was a marathon, but worth it.
Leah Senior
Lee Allen-From Dave Bartholomew’s band, with Little Richard, Professor Longhair, and many others, Allen was, as they say, part of the ‘wallpaper’ at Cosimo’s recording studio in New Orleans. Dr. John, T-Bone Walker, and Big Joe Turner also knew his tone and style were needed for their recordings.
As time marched on he recorded with younger rock and roll bands, such as The Stray Cats. He eventually became a member of the Blasters and that is where I saw him play at The Ritz in NYC in 1983. I had no idea who The Blasters were when I stumbled into The Ritz on this wintry Spring evening on my own. My friends were too tired to go out and all i told them for years was they missed it.
The Alvin Brothers, Steve Berlin and Lee Allen on saxophones, Gene Taylor on keyboard, it was a night of rock and roll the way it should be played.
Here is Lee doing his thing with Balta Bordy & The Bad Boys.
Lee Michaels-Do You Know What I Mean?
“Been forty days since I don't know when
I just saw her with my best friend
Do you know what I mean?
Lord, do you know what I mean?”
Lee played the Hammond Organ. He was usually joined by Frosty on drums who inspired Bonz from Led Zeppelin with his barehanded skin beating.
Hammond and Drums. What a duo.
Saw him a number of times and always thought he would be a big star. It never happened for him and Lee has run The Killer Shrimp Restaurant in Marina Del Rey, California since 1988.
Stop in for a cocktail, you know what I mean?
One killer bill was Rory Gallagher warming up for Lee Michaels. Whew.
Lee Rocker
Lee Scratch Perry
Lemon Squeezing Daddies
Lemonheads-Evan Dando and I had a couple of weeks of communication trying to set up an interview.
https://www.outsidemyinside.com/s/music-reviews-from-the-past
Those articles can be read at the link above. Worth a look and a laugh.
Lene Lovich-I think it was Danceteria in NYC.
Lenny Kravitz-I touched his arm as he strolled through Acer Arena being a rock star. My hand has been washed.
Leo Kottke
Leo Rondeau
Leon Redbone
Leon Russell-The Master Of Space and Time was his nickname.
This video is definitely worth every minute of your time. You are most welcome.
Leonard Cohen-The Sydney Opera House 2013 was my only time with Leonard. I left it late as loved his songs but was never drawn to a live show. I picked a good one with over 2 dozen songs and a 3-hour performance.
3 years later he was gone but I thank him for this remarkable evening.
Les Claypool
Les Dudek
Les Karski and the Nervous Investors
Les Paul
Leslie West and Mountain- Mississippi Queen!
Lester Flatt
Levon Helm-With The Band and solo one night at The Lone Star Cafe in NYC. The Lone Star was a smoky, sweatbox after that show. Remember when you went to gigs in clubs and you would come home just smelling of cigarettes?
Liam Finn
Lightnin Malcolm
Lil Band O Gold-2 nights in a row in 2012. The gig at The Factory in Marrickville was off the charts and the second performance at The Basement was pretty damn good too.
My review of that Lil Band O Gold gig can be found in the archives on this page.
Lil Ed And The Blues Imperials
Li’l Queenie and the Percolators
Lime Cordiale
Linda Ronstadt-July 19, 1974 as part of the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park, NYC, with Martin Mull and his Amazing Furniture in support.
She blew me away with her pipes and her energy. We all miss her voice.
Linda Bull
Lindi Ortega
Link Wray
Lionel Hampton
Lior
Lisa Hunt
Lisa Miller-I love Lisa Miller.
Lissie
Little Birdy
Little Buster and The Soul Brothers-If you were a blues fan on Long Island, you probably saw Little Buster, although he did not see you.
Little Charlie and The Nightcats-California Blues is done the right way. Charles Baty was a fabulous guitarist and Rick Estrin on harp and suits was the man.
Little Feat-This band is one of my favourite bands of all time. Hitchhiked from Oswego to Loudonville on 27 September 1978 with my gal Diane.
With the song “Willin’” in our heads, we got picked up in an 18-wheeler.
The truck driver could take us almost all the way to our destination. We got cozy in the cabin and I was humming me and Bobbie Mcgee as we drove down the Thruway.
A bit past Syracuse, and not too far into our journey, I noticed the truck veering slowly to the left and then the drive corrected. This happened a couple of times and I asked if he was OK.
He said, “Hand me that roll of paper towels.” From within the inside of the roll of towels, the gear jockey shook out a vial of little white pills and swallowed a handful.
“Give me weed, whites, and wine, and show me a sign….”
This concert is in my top 10 of all time.
So glad I got to see them with Lowell once.
Little Heroes
Little Richard
Little Steven
Living Colour
Living End
Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Spiegel
Lo Carmen
Lonnie Brooks
Lonnie Mack
Looking Glass
Lonnie Holley
Los Lobos-The Wolf has survived and in 2022 got to catch them on the road with Tedeschi Trucks Band at 4 separate gigs. As good as they have ever been. Same as it ever was.
Los Straitjackets
Lost Ragas
Lou Ann Barton
Lou Reed-Saw him a few times and always enjoyable. He and Laurie Anderson were curating music for The Vivid Festival (2010) in Sydney one year. I said to her as we headed off to the city for a day out with the kids, “Maybe we will see Lou and Laurie wandering around?”
She said, “I would not know Lou Reed if I tripped over him".”
We parked the car near The Rocks and took a shortcut through a Hotel. Walking towards us in a bright yellow rain jacket, looking like he was ready for a strong Nor’easter, was one very famous rock star.
Julie was behind me so I turned and gave her the sign to check this dude out. She caught up with me and said, “That was Lou Reed!”.
I guess she did not need to trip over him.
Loudon Wainwright III
Louis King
Louis Tillet
Lousiana Red
Lowell George
Lucie Thorne
Lucinda Williams-From taking my sister to see Lu and The Jayhawks for her 50th at Lupo’s on Rhode Island to quite a number of shows here in Australia. Lu packs a punch and always has some of the best guitarists in her band.
Looking forward to reading her memoirs, or better yet, listening to her Lousiana drawl read it to me.
Check out my write-up of an interview I did with Lucinda in 2015. You can find it on the home page of my Substack website under Music Reviews From The Past.
Turning Heartbreak Into Legendary Songwriting With Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams caught up with Tone Deaf from Nashville where she had just completed a fabulous show with Roseanne Cash and Emmylou Harris. Williams sounded elated from the glow of that trio performing together, eager to talk about her new double record,
Lucky Luke And His Shooting Stars
Lucky Oceans-Original member of Asleep At The Wheel, ace on the pedal steel, and a damn fine human being. He gave me a great bagel recipe too!
Lucky Dube
Lucky Peterson
Luka Bloom
Luke Winslow King
Lukas Nelson and POTR-Sounds like his Dad but I am not over the moon with his recorded releases to this day. He has time.
Lumineers
Lurrie Bell
Luther Dickinson-Luther is a self-confessed guitar ‘ho’. He has played with so many people and the North Mississippi Allstars are the band he and his brother Cody operate.
My first visit with him live was at The Adelaide Guitar Festival in 2007.
Many times after and in 2022 we caught up in Mississippi at The Hill Country Picnic.
Luther is one of my favourite slide players. There is a list if you need to know.
Lyle Dennis Express
Lyle Lovett-Went to this gig with my friend Eddie in 1994. Think he lined up the tickets for me, as he has worked in the Industry for decades, and we had fabulous seats. It was Lyle and a large mostly acoustic and string-influenced evening. This music was not in Eddie’s wheelhouse but he stayed awake and is still my friend.
We had a similar thing happen to us with the North Mississippi Allstars in New Orleans. It was a 1 AM gig and I could tell he was not interested and exhausted from a day of eating, drinking and music.
I love you Eddie Mcgill!
Lynyrd Skynyrd-Sad but true, I only saw them after the plane crash. It was in Australia and it was dreadful, especially when they unfurled the Confederate Flag on stage.
As Ronnie Van Zant said……nothing as free as a bird….see clip.