Forgotten Fretmasters #9 - Alan Wilson

ah music in the late 60s so many divergent paths so many different sounds some bands went heavier some went more complicated and some well they went back to basics the blues explosion both in the united states and the united kingdom spawned some of the most amazing bands and musicians that often flew onto the radar one such band was the california outfit known as canned heat and before you wonder who they're the ones who made the classic quintessentially 60s hippie anthem going up the country the distinctive and hypnotic vocal on that song was performed by another singular musician who left us way too soon at that eerie age when we lost so many other musical titans like hendrix joplin morrison and cobain that singer was blues musician alan wilson and he's going to be our subject next on forgotten fretmasters [Music] hey friends and welcome once again to forgotten fret masters where we examine guitarists or musicians who for one reason or another might not have been as commercially successful as have the longevity of or left us sooner than some of the other guys who often end up on all the top 10 lists today we're looking at a guitarist harmonica player and singer from the legendary american blues band canned heat alan wilson whose unmistakable voice and incendiary guitar style would all anyone who saw him play although his career was extremely short wilson left us with some amazing stories and a legacy that was way ahead of its time but if you like classic rock stories like this be sure to join the guitar story and community and also be sure to share your experiences of this legendary musician below in the comments section and if you think other music fans would like the video also be sure to drop a thumbs up below alan christy wilson was born on independence day july 4th 1943 in the boston suburb of arlington massachusetts the second child of jack and shirley wilson they would divorce early in his childhood but alan would still remain close with both parents allen showed an extremely high level of intelligence and inquisitiveness and his analytical mind immediately began to pick records apart instrument by instrument and started to teach himself the parts on trombone and he would teach his friends how to play the other parts by ear despite his high intelligence though allen often struggled with societal norms and maintaining focus i'm sure that today he would most likely be diagnosed with at the very least attention deficit disorder probably coupled with high functioning autism he continued to explore music especially jazz all through his high school years starting a jazz ensemble called crescent city but soon a friend would play a muddy waters album for wilson and this would change his musical direction forever he was absolutely stunned at the authenticity simplicity and power of the vocals in sly guitar and alan would teach himself both guitar and harmonica he knew at a young age that his vocal style was different and he remembered being embarrassed when he was caught in his room singing by his family but as the years progressed allen became more and more comfortable with his voice and with the encouragement of friends he would continue to develop it allen's studious nature an unquenchable thirst for knowledge allowed him to skate through school with top grades earning college scholarships to boston u but after about a year and a half wilson would drop out to pursue a career in music allen found himself both performing and writing about the musical revival in the folk and blues that had been popping up all over new england in the early to mid 1960s wilson interviewed blues man booker white and through this interview he would learn a shocking fact that legendary blues man's son house was still alive sun house was known as a teacher to legends like robert johnson and muddy waters themselves and so much like what we do here on forgotten fratmasters wilson took it upon himself to track down sun house and return his name to notoriety although sunhouse's original recordings from the 1930s hadn't been altogether successful he was known to be a massive influence on the blues men who came later and as such occupies an exalted status to blues fans when allen and his friends found house however he had been mired in decades of alcoholism and hadn't played music in many years and so alan wilson literally re-taught the legendary blues man how to play his own songs leading to a wonderful rebirth of sunhouse's career culminating in a new record deal with columbia records and a successful tour playing small venues to mostly white folk and blues fans in new england sun house would go on to live to the age of 86 passing away in 1988. another friend to allen who was involved in the revival was john fahey he also introduced wilson to bluesman like skip james whose distinctive high-pitched vocal style was a major contributor to wilson's own vocal style to come faye would enjoy a career as a guitarist in a style dubbed american primitive due to the simple and folksy self-taught style at feyhey employed as fahey was working on a thesis about the father of the delta blues charlie patton he asked wilson to accompany him to california to help him with the musical theory part of the thesis this offer would change alan wilson's life wilson wood moved to california with feye but he neglected to pack one of his most important possessions his glasses this caused fahey to lay the moniker of blind owl on him which would eventually morph into blind owl as the scholarly and bookish nature was noticed by his other friends one story told was that when a band wilson was playing and was performing at a wedding allen inadvertently placed his guitar down after the set right into the wedding cake because he couldn't see two feet in front of him one friend introduced to wilson by fey he was a record store manager named bob heit who had an encyclopedic knowledge of music in one of the largest record collections around height and wilson were polar opposites of each other with heights loud and boisterous personality allowing wilson's introverted and quiet nature to remain so naturally the pair would form a band together in 1965 originally calling themselves the canned heat blues band the name was taken from an old blue song by tommy johnson called canned heat blues which told the story of a desperate poor alcoholic who was forced to drink sterno a cooking fuel which was colloquially known as canned heat like most bands of the period canned heat would go through a number of lineup changes and revolving doors around the focal point of heightened wilson with the early group recording a failed first album in 1966 that would eventually be released later as vintage heat in 1970 but eventually in 1967 they settled on a lineup that included henry vestin formerly of zappos mothers of invention on second guitar bass player larry taylor who was a member of the moon dogs and had done vast live session work for acts like chuck berry and jerry lee lewis and experienced drummer frank cook now would be a good time to look at allen's gear department allen would play a few different guitars over the years but it's not really known if he actually owned all of them or if they had been provided as props or borrowed from other musicians an early guitar that he probably did own was a white fender mustang but he was also photographed playing a late 60s blonde fender telecaster and a cherry gibson es 335 but his main axe and the one that he is most known for was a 1954 gibson les paul gold top sometimes with a small red stp oil sticker between the pickups the early stop bar tailpiece construction with hot p90 pickups seemed to suit wilson's imperfect perfection way of playing the guitar one song that really shows off this guitar's raw tone is on a live version of heat's well-known hit let's work together look down in the description for a link to that video this iteration of heat would enter the studio to record their first proper album that would be released as canned heat in 1967 and do moderately well on the charts for a band as niche as they were reaching number 76 the album was a collection of reworked blue standards but where canned heat was really making strides was on the live circuit where they were known as a volatile and fun band among the hippie circuit their tour was nearly ended early by a drug bust in 1967 in which the band were unknowingly partying in a hotel room with a couple of undercover drug agents but wilson was not included in this bust as he had been get this outside collecting leaves one of wilson's favorite pastimes was simply communing with nature and his escape from the hustle and bustle from the everyday world was to get out into nature by himself he never had the quote way with women that his band mates did and never truly felt at home in the rock and roll lifestyle but his love of the music is what kept him going wilson's love of nature extended to even sleeping outdoors and camping in the famous redwood forests of california after bob hite gifted him a camper the candy's popularity as a live band would see them performing at some of the most story live moments of the late 60s the first was 1967's monterey pop festival which many blues fans saw as the band's coming out party the show put canned heat on the map and catapulted them to a new level of stardom they were featured in downbeat magazine with the music publication saying quote technically vestine and wilson are quite possibly the best two guitar team in the world and wilson has certainly become our finest white blues harmonica man together with powerhouse vocalist bob height they performed the country in chicago blues idiom of the 1950s so skillfully and naturally that the question of which race the music belongs to becomes totally irrelevant shortly after frank cook would depart to be replaced by drummer fido de la parra who incidentally is the only member to carry on the name and perform his canned heat to this day in december of 1967 heat would play a double top bill with the doors and de la par remembered to this show as the beginning of what he calls the classic lineup of canned heat with all of the band's top hits coming in the next few years it was also the time that the band's management decided to lay nicknames on all the members of the band in addition to wilson's blind owl height became the bear vestine became sunflower and adolfo de la parra became fido their second album boogie with canned heat included the wilson song on the road again my personal favorite heat song and that song would go on to break a hole in the worldwide charts and turn canned heat into a household name it was also the world's first exposure to alan wilson's distinctive vocal style and incendiary harmonica runs the song was built around a hypnotic droning chord progression which also showcased wilson's fascination with indian music and although it was officially penned by wilson it was based upon songs by blues man floyd jones who in turn had based his work on a song by the aforementioned tommy johnson called big road blues after the breakout success canned heat would become the house band la club the kaleidoscope playing with other noted california bands like jefferson airplane the grateful dead buffalo springfield and sly and the family stone later in 1968 he would embark on a successful european tour where on the road again was enjoying massive chart-topping success in multiple countries it was followed up by can heat's next album living the blues which included another wilson fronted smash in going up the country which would become the all-time bonafide anthem of the hippie movement and become a touchstone in american popular culture in the late 1960s guitarist henry vestin deep in the throes of a drug and alcohol problem would leave the band suddenly in 1969. leading to a shocking moment during which two guitarists who were jamming with canned heat one named harvey mandel and the other named mike bloomfield both men were offered the job mandel accepted first and so joined can heat but wow i think about cane heat with mike bloomfield on guitar good god anyway heat's continued success and pocketful of legendary gigs would lead them to be one of the natural acts to populate a legendary new festival that was being put together in rural new york to be called an aquarian exposition three days of peace and music the ambitious project would be the biggest festival in music history and i think we all know what happened next but going up the country would become known as the official anthem of woodstock despite the festival having a joni mitchell pen song with the same name as the festival that became a huge hit for legends crosby stills nation young the band would record arguably its greatest album with legendary blues man john lee hooker hooker was a fan of canned heat's work and even called wilson the greatest harmonica player ever hooker was also struck at how easily wilson was able to hang with him on guitar as hooker is usually not a follower of normal song form and tends to meander through the chords the album is probably one of the greatest blues recordings ever put to tape i mean that sincerely yes canned heat was certainly riding high in the hippie wave of the late 60s with their music fitting perfectly with natural simple and laid-back vibes of the movement but despite all this success the introverted allen wilson was not doing well wilson had always been prone to depression and self-deprecating thoughts his inability to find a romantic partner unwillingness to cope with the social norms were weighing on him self-doubt was a constant companion it was clear that today we would probably say wilson fell somewhere on the autism spectrum but unfortunately the awareness of such conditions was not where it is today and most close to him didn't understand why allen had so much trouble with even the simplest social norms that others found naturally easy friends would later report that wilson had expressed suicidal thoughts as well also in accordance with a new focus on pollution and natural preservation wilson started a non-profit organization called music mountain which aimed to grow awareness to nature and especially a conservation of the california redwood forests wilson would continue to spend much of his time outdoors but he often found sleep hard to find even under the stars and had developed a habit of taking barbiturates before bed to help him sleep and shut his mind off from the problems and thoughts of depression wilson was notorious for his forgetfulness and disarray so when the band showed up at lax on september 2nd 1972 embark on a european tour they weren't overly worried when wilson didn't show up friends were dispatched back to bob heights home in topanga canyon where alan often spent time outdoors especially sleeping on an idyllic tree-covered hillside in the back of the property but rather than finding their usual disorganized oversleeping friend they found alan wilson dead in his sleeping bag a handful of barbiturates in his pocket he was only 27 years old the medical examiner ruled his death accidental as no suicide note had been left friends were doubtful as they had seen and heard wilson's decline into depression but however it happened it was a tragic loss of a truly gentle and wandering soul with unquenchable thirsts for knowledge and a total unconditional love for the blues music and musicians that he honored with his performances today we should celebrate alan wilson's legacy and use his story as a teaching moment for awareness and acceptance of those battling mental illness and those sometimes with undiagnosed social and autistic disorders that are even today still widely misunderstood in the end we can only hope that alan was able to find the peace that he so desperately craved but that is another episode of forgotten fret masters thank you so much for joining us this time and please consider subscribing to the channel to see more stories like this this is the ninth episode of forgotten fret masters and we have dozens of other videos that run the entire gamut of rock and blues history if that sounds good to you join our community and be sure to comment with any experiences you may have had with alan wilson and canned heat thanks for watching and we will see you next time

Channel: The Guitar Historian

Views: 193,959

Keywords: Alan Wilson, Canned Heat, Bob Hite, Blind Owl, Goin Up The Country, On The Road Again, Woodstock, Monterey Pop Festival, John Lee Hooker, Hooker n Heat, Forgotten Fretmasters, Guitar Historian, Mike Bloomfield

Id: 4fFz05ITBKg

Length: 16min 58sec (1018 seconds)

Published: Fri May 21 2021