Lost Classic - Blackfoot – Highway Song: Live

Attention young people: the next time you roll your eyes at the old guy at the end of the bar complaining about how rock was better in his day, chances are he saw Blackfoot at least once. If they’re from America maybe he saw Blackfoot give heavy duty headliners like Ted Nugent or The Who a run for their money. Maybe he even saw them when Def Leppard opened for them on one of their first US tours. If the dude is from England chances are he saw Blackfoot open for Iron Maiden on the Number Of The Beast tour. Europeans will rave about seeing them with the Scorpions. The verdict is in and it’s unanimous – old rock guys love to drink whiskey, crank their favorite Blackfoot albums and lecture young people. I should know. I am one of them. But I was never lucky enough to witness Blackfoot in their prime so I have to make due with their awesome live album from 1982.
At that time Blackfoot was a pretty big deal in the UK. They were acquiring an audience of rock fans but also had the support of the metal media and were probably the only band that could have played with either Motorhead or ZZ Top and win over both crowds. Blackfoot is usually labeled a Southern Rock band but I’m not convinced that’s an accurate description. There are some shared sensibilities with Lynyrd Skynyrd (Rickey Medlocke played drums in an early line up of Skynyrd and currently plays guitar for them), Molly Hatchet and Doc Holliday but what really sets Blackfoot apart is their Native American heritage. Drummer Jakson Spires (RIP) was Cherokee, bassist Greg T. Walker is a descendant of Eastern Creek Florida Indians and Medlocke is part Sioux. Guitarist Charlie Hargrett is from New York City. Can you really call these guys “Southern?” I’m not sure. And they certainly don’t sound like the Allman Brothers.

Blackfoot’s specialty is pure high energy rock n roll and they never did it better on wax than on Highway Song: Live. It doesn’t matter what you call it – Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, whatever. The end result is that it flat out KICKS ASS and makes you wish you were at this gig. The playing is incredibly tight and they blast one song after another barely pausing for breath in between. The rhythm section of Spires and Walker is so deep in the pocket. Jakson hits his drums hard but plays with a lot of taste and is never flashy. He and Greg really lay down the groove and play exactly what the song calls for. The guitar team of Rickey and Charlie is one that every band should study. These guys play so well together it sounds like one huge instrument. Rickey does most of the solos but Charlie gets some good leads in, too. Their tone is also classic Les Paul (or Gibson Explorer) into cranked Marshalls. Loud as hell but not so distorted that you can’t hear the notes.

Barnstormers like “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” “Good Morning,” “Road Fever” and “Train Train” are pure audio adrenalin. These guys sound so excited to be playing in front of an appreciative audience and want to make sure everyone wakes up the next day hungover and with ringing ears. “Dry County” has great raunchy lyrics that mention “liquor in the front and poker in the rear” that excites the crowd. “Fly Away” was a hit single for them and the crowd loves singing along on it. I’m surprised that no one has ever used this song in a travel commercial. It’s a great tune that really makes you want to bust out of the normal daily grind.

There are a couple of blues tunes. The only slow song on the album is a faithful rendition of the standard “Trouble In Mind” and an uptempo arrangement of the boogie classic “Rollin and Tumblin.” Rickey introduces it as a John Lee Hooker tune but it’s usually associated with Muddy Waters or Elmore James, but John Lee did record it under the name “Rollin Blues.” The album concludes with their anthem “Highway Song.” It has a similar build up like “Freebird” but Blackfoot gets there in about half the time. They give you enough time to pull out your lighter to wave around during the slow part but once it starts to speed up I’m sure most concert goers found another use for the flame.


--Woody

Buy here: Highway Song: Live