Arockin’ Blues Jam on the City Block in Springfield, Massachusetts
It was a nice night for the residents of Springfield, MA to “experience” an evening with Jon Butcher. With the exception of a few raindrops here and there the night started off with a bluesy bang…legendary Boston guitar slinger Butcher with his special guest Jeff Pitchell.
“Rock Me Baby” got things started with Butcher’s unique approach breathing new life into a classic that Jimi, B.B. and so many others embraced and rocked out with. “Good Time” followed with a variety of solo blasts from everyone in the band, Pitchell and Butcher answering each other riff to riff…J.B. playing the opening line to Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” with Jeff would responding with the next line to the song… very fun to hear and it got the crowd dancing a little bit as well.
“Red House” followed, and pardon me for gushing but it was a phenomenal channeling of Jimi which got the Springfield crowd howling and screaming for more.
Pitchell and Butcher, now fully in control then paid tribute to the Allman Brothers with a rousing rendition of “One Way Out” and this particular version of the song really moved and grooved and again featured everyone in the band on a little solo part in the piece. From there we went into “Kansas City” only this rendition of the Wilbert Harrison blues/pop classic had Pitchell paying homage to one his favorite guitar legends, the late Stevie Ray Vaughn (Pitchell has a tribute band performing the music of Stevie Ray called “Texas Flood” – editor) His version of Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy” a favorite of this reviewer as well – was terrific. Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” closed out the set with an encore of “Purple Haze.”
It’s safe to say that Springfield hasn’t rocked out like this in a long time…and that Butchermania is spreading throughout the city.
Special thanks to Ed Wrobleski for this guest article.