Satan and Adam - Philadelphia Folk Festival 1993 (#3)

Satan and Adam (Sterling Magee and Adam Gussow) play "Ode to Billy Joe" at the 1993 Philadelphia Folk Festival. Gussow is playing a D harp in the key of E (third position). Guitarist Magee deploys what he calls his "three-octave sound" in concert with his homemade trapset. This video makes clear why one reviewer of the duo's first release, HARLEM BLUES, described Magee as sounding "like the heaviest and scariest parts of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters reincarnated as a whole band and then somehow crammed back into the body of one man."

If you'd like to purchase a copy of my new solo album, KICK AND STOMP (2010), please hit the following link. Only $10 for 14 tracks of harp-powered one-man band music, all for instant download. Liner notes included!:

http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com/kick_and_stomp.html


For a series of skill-graded video tutorials and tabs focusing on classic blues harmonica repertoire by Sonny Terry, Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, and others, please visit:

http://www.modernbluesharmonica.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Satan
• And
• Adam
• Gussow
• Sterling
• Magee
• Harlem
• blues
• Philadelphia
• folk
• festival

[qazqwe57]

Adam,

Is your setup here the same as you show in yr instructional videos? Image is a bit hazy but it looks like there´s two amps behind you, both bringing out yr sound?

[KudzuRunner]

@qazqwe57: I was using a 1948 National and a 1956 Bassman. The Bassman was a beast, but really had the punch on the big stage.

--Adam

[RedSmoky]

Ive been intrigued by this satan guy "the guitar player" for a few years now.

Been in the music business for over 30yrs and seen many a player buy the most expensive vintage strat/gibson jazz box etc to be a blues player.

This dude is for real and has the most interesting rythems etc.

A true blues player that actually inspires me. Totally Awesome stuff you guys did together.

[KudzuRunner]

@RedSmoky: I'm happy to agree with you about Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee. He's one of those rare guitar players--or musicians on any instrument, in any idiom--who really figured out a new approach. He's not derivative. He's innovative--somewhat like BB King, who fused T. Bone Walker and Django Reinhardt in a way that was entirely distinct from the Mississippi blues of his time. Sterling uses funk chordings and open-string chordings in a unique way. Glad you noticed that!

[bettifamily]

orrsum dude!

Best bit of third pos i've seen for long time... powerful riffs & sinchipation.

i got my next practise piece to work on!

[KudzuRunner]

Thanks. Yes, D-harp in 3rd position. I'm playing like a funk guitarist, essentially, at least on the rhythm part. The solo is....improvised.

[BluesParksCool]

that's some good stuff righ chere...

[tenichols10]

i hear the early ingredients of "thunky fing" during the first parts of the song

[jamesjeffreypaul]

Very different, but very affecting and "catchy."

[superchucker77]

This is some of the most masterful and enovating playing that I have ever heard.

Just Brilliant!

[Jazzman060606]

Same like Uking just in Germany ;-)

[oloPL]

I love the rhytm of your harp melody :-). Currently I sing this all day long!