medical procedure to correct atrial fibrillation (something my mom survived for nearly 30 years, though she needed multiple procedures).
Article from Bues Matters magazine by a writer who'd known Alvin for many years:
https://bluesmatters.com/alvin-finally-finds-freedom/
A few of the quotes from Alvin in that article:
There was a time when for me being on tour with a Rock & Roll band playing practically the same thing every night got boring, and believe me if that gets boring you have a big problem because where do you go from there? That’s where the road to freedom comes in.
-snip-
(On the music scene today) Good music is still there but the motivation now is to be a pop star whereas in the 60s the motivation was to be a musician. That romanticism to be a working musician and to lead a musician’s life was more intriguing to me than being a rock star.
-snip-
(On the subject of blues) I figured for a white guy to sing and play the blues you have to write and sing about what is personal to you. As much as I like to sing about getting the freight train from Mississippi to Chicago I have never done it. I can imagine the situation but the blues to me is generally real thoughts which go through my mind, like in Motel Blues and Bluest Blues. The blues is a way of getting melancholy moments out of your system. It is better than taking it out on your friends and pets.
And finally…….Music is magic when you think about what it does to people. When I think of music when I was a teenager, for example, when I hear Buddy Holly’s ‘That’ll Be The Day’, I can see myself standing on the waltzer at Goose Fair in Nottingham watching the girls, I can hear the loud, blaring music and see the flashing lights from the fairground rides and I can smell hot dogs and diesel fumes; the memories all come back from the song. And when I hear Del Shannon’s ‘Runaway’, I am standing in the Lacarno Ballroom watching the girls spinning round on the dance-floor with their petty-coats flying and their bee-hives bobbing, the memories, the smells and the atmosphere all come back, its pretty amazing. Being involved in music is a privilege and being able to create it, write it and then make it still gives me a big buzz.
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