Jon Taplin's Blog

Still Kicking It

I’m in Boston at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Club 47, which was the first folk club in the Cambridge area. The club opened in 1958 in a basement off of Harvard Square and was responsible for beginning the careers of Joan Baez and Bob Dylan in the early 60′s. Tonight there was a Hoot with many of the musicians who inspired me to go into the music business; Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur and The Charles River Valley Boys all were in fine form. The notion that these wonderful musicians in their mid 60′s are still playing and singing with such passion is pretty inspiring. The hoot reminded me of the wonderful afternoon I spent this summer in Chicago at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival– There Eric, Stevie Winwood, Jeff Beck, Robbie Robertson, BB King and Buddy Guy put on one of the great shows of my lifetime. That these two strains of American music–folk and blues–are still so alive and being praciticed with such skill is a wonderment. Having watched many of the musicians go through incredible bouts of self destruction in the 70′s and then emerge with all their chops is a testament to the powers of music to regenerate life. More importantly is to watch the older musicians hand down the secrets to a new generation. Jeff Beck appeared with a 21 year old female bass player named Tal Wilkenfeld, who is without a doubt the most brilliant bass player since Jaco Pastorius. Check out this video from the festival and buy the amazing DVD hereCrossroads Guitar Festival