KirbysCovers

Tonight's Video of the Day – Roadhouse Blues by The Doors. 🎸

A little trivia: when The Doors recorded Roadhouse Blues, rockabilly legend Lonnie Mack played bass and John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful supplied the harmonica. Sebastian couldn't use his real name in the credits because of contractual restrictions, so he appeared under the name “G. Puglese.”

Released on Morrison Hotel in 1970, the song helped mark The Doors' return to a harder blues-rock sound. Here's my acoustic take on it.

Enjoy!

“Ocean Front Property” was written by Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran and Royce Porter and became a #1 country hit for George Strait in 1987. But here's the fun part: the album itself made country-music history. Ocean Front Property became the first album ever to debut at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. Billboard documented the #1 debut in February 1987.

🎵 Did you know? “Undun” was originally the B-side of The Guess Who’s 1969 hit “Laughing.” DJs began flipping the record over and playing “Undun,” and it became a hit in its own right, eventually reaching #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Even better, Randy Bachman has called “Undun” his favorite song that he wrote during his years with The Guess Who. Its unusual jazz chords came partly from what Bachman had learned from legendary guitarist Lenny Breau, who was his friend and neighbour in Winnipeg.

And here's my favourite bit: Burton Cummings learned flute specifically for the recording. Bachman recalled that because Cummings already played saxophone, they realized the fi*****ng was similar, bought him a flute, and he learned enough to play that memorable solo.

ony Joe White said hearing Bobbie Gentry's “Ode to Billie Joe” inspired him to start writing about the Southern life he actually knew. One of the results was “Polk Salad Annie,” based partly on his Louisiana upbringing and the poke greens his family sometimes ate. The song was slow to catch on, but eventually became a U.S. Top 10 hit — and Elvis Presley later turned it into one of his live concert staples.

Here's a fun one for tonight because the story behind Crazy Little Thing Called Love is almost as entertaining as the song itself.

Freddie Mercury wrote the song in 1979, and according to Roger Taylor, he wrote it in the bath in about ten minutes. Brian May described it as Freddie's tribute to Elvis, which certainly explains that unmistakable 1950s rock-and-roll/rockabilly flavor.

There's another guitar connection I particularly like: Freddie himself played acoustic guitar on the studio recording. Queen says Freddie joked that the song's simplicity came partly from his limited guitar ability. Brian May even switched away from his famous Red Special to help capture the more authentic rockabilly sound.

And the little song Freddie knocked together so quickly became enormous: it reached #2 in the UK, spent seven weeks at #1 in Australia, and became Queen's first Billboard Hot 100 #1 in the United States.

My acoustic version is actually pretty busy — walking bass, bass runs, stops and starts, rhythm work and lead picking all wrapped into one guitar.

🎸 Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen

Here are this week's 5 new and refreshed acoustic guitar lessons from KirbysGuitarLessons.com, featuring classic country, folk, 60s pop, swamp roots and classic rock.

🎸 This week's five lessons:

Don Williams – Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good
A laid-back country classic with a relaxed acoustic arrangement that fits Don Williams' Gentle Giant style.

Steve Miller Band – Jet Airliner
A classic-rock favorite with driving rhythm, chord changes and the familiar energy of Steve Miller's 1977 hit.

Tony Joe White – High Sheriff Of Calhoun Parrish
A Southern story song blending folk storytelling with Tony Joe White's distinctive Louisiana swamp sound.

The Hollies – On A Carousel
A great 60s pop song featuring rhythmic changes, the recognizable Am-F-G riff and plenty of opportunities to work on timing.

The Kingston Trio – Tom Dooley
The folk classic that helped propel the Kingston Trio to national fame, arranged here for acoustic guitar.

Each complete lesson includes a video tutorial along with the chords, lyrics and playing details for my arrangement.

🎸 Find these lessons and hundreds more at:
KirbysGuitarLessons.com

New and refreshed lessons are added regularly, along with acoustic demos here on Kirby Covers.

👍 Subscribe and follow along as I continue rebuilding and expanding the lesson collection.

Which of this week's five would you play first?

Prine wrote “Angel From Montgomery” for his 1971 debut album, but remarkably, he wrote the song from the perspective of a middle-aged woman who feels trapped in an unhappy, ordinary life. Prine later explained that he wanted to write about an older person and decided the character would be a woman after concluding he had already written enough songs about older men.

The title comes from the narrator's wish for an angel from Montgomery to carry her away from the life she's living.

The song became even more widely known through Bonnie Raitt, who recorded it for her 1974 album Streetlights. It became one of the songs most closely associated with Raitt, and she and Prine performed it together on numerous occasions over the years.

Quite an accomplishment for a young songwriter in his twenties writing convincingly from the perspective of someone whose life was completely different from his own.

“Sundown” was released in 1974 and became Lightfoot’s only #1 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also reached #1 in Canada and helped make the album of the same name one of the biggest successes of his career.

But the song isn't simply about watching the sun go down. Lightfoot acknowledged that it came from a turbulent period in his personal life and was connected to his relationship with Cathy Smith. The jealousy and suspicion running through the lyrics give that laid-back groove a much darker edge than you might notice on a casual listen.

Another interesting connection: Smith later became infamous for her involvement in the 1982 death of John Belushi, years after her relationship with Lightfoot.

Quite a story sitting behind one of Canada's most recognizable songs.

Here’s my acoustic take on Sundown. 🎸

Johnny Cash released I Walk The Line in 1956, and it became his first #1 country hit. One of the fascinating things about the recording is its series of key changes — listen closely in his recording and you'll hear Cash hum before the verses to establish the pitch for the next key.

Written as a pledge of faithfulness while Cash was on the road, it became one of the songs that defined that unmistakable Johnny Cash sound.

Here's my acoustic take on this country classic. 🎸

The song was written by Graham Gouldman, who later became a member of 10cc. Gouldman got the idea while regularly travelling on Manchester's No. 95 bus route — but there's a great family connection to the song.

His father, playwright Hyme Gouldman, helped him get started by coming up with the famous opening idea about the rainy bus stop and sharing an umbrella. Graham said that once his father gave him that opening, the rest of the song came together remarkably easily. He even worked out the middle section while travelling to work on the bus.

And it certainly worked: Bus Stop reached No. 5 in both the UK and the United States and became The Hollies' first U.S. Top 10 hit. It did even better up here in Canada, reaching No. 1.