Washed Up Sideways @ Temptation Fall's - 28/06/2021
Updated: Aug 17, 2021
Right after Clairede finished her set the next artist was one that I had not heard or heard of before, WashedUp Sideways. He comes with great credentials: Clairede related that he was her RL guitar player for 12 years and was the longest term guitar player she has had in her career. They are still good friends
WashedUp started with "Rock This Town" a great old-time rocker with a twist of the blues thrown in.
I always find it interesting when I distinguish between rock 'n roll and the Blues, because they really are closely related, with rock being like part of the second generation of a large family. The Blues is the root of so much of today's popular music and yesterday's folk music (especially in the USA), that if the Blues did not exist, we would not have many the musical genres or artists of today. That includes Rock, Pop, Jazz, Country, Rap, and Hip Hop.
It all comes from the cotton field call and return rhythms and other forms of chants, vocalizations and laments that the slaves used during their arduous days in the southern United States. Keith Richards has said that the Blues is the one great thing that America has given to the world. And he would be absolutely correct, in my estimation.
Now its hard to see that the next offering of the evening, Billy Idol's "White Wedding," comes from these roots but it does, and the roots were related to us by WashedUp while doing what Blues players do best: they take what has come before and they make it their own and they take it to the next level, and WashedUp is very good at it. From the jazzy beginning of James Taylor's "Boom Baby Boom" through a rendition of one of my all time favorite tunes, T Rex's "Bang a Gong" and into another fave of mine, Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" WashedUp makes each selection his own, stays in his vocal range and does a great job with his skill as an accomplished guitarist.
He closed out his set with "Love Me Two Times" by the Doors and a great interpretation of "You Can Leave Your Hat On", while a few of us donned fedoras to have some fun with the finale.
I loved WashedUp's mix of tunage. It wasn't ALL pure Blues, but it certainly was all based there and so he definitely deserves high praise from this Blues Freak.
A BIG THANK YOU TO WASHEDUP SIDEWAYS FOR TIME WELL SPENT TAKING US TO THAT NEXT LEVEL!
