Albert Collins
By Taters on November 17, 2007 at 7:11 PM in Current Affairs
I’ll never forget June 9, 1971. It was my eighteenth birthday and our high school graduation party. The entertainment was
none other than Albert Collins - Texas blues guitar great. I was seated next to my
best pal – band mate, classmate and fellow guitarist, Robert Cray. We had lobbied hard to have Albert perform for us – and the work paid off.
We couldn’t wait! There was a delay and apparently they hadn’t arrived yet. I recall going outside for a smoke, and laughing to myself.
“What are they going to do, suspend me?”
Soon a white van pulled up with a U-Haul attached. A coupla scary lookin’ guys (Whom I correctly ascertained to be musicians) burst out of the van laughing, then came Albert. You could tell he was the man. Within a few minutes, they were set up and ready to play.
The band fired up a tune and warmed up. I think it was Jimmy Smith’s “Chicken Shack”
Soon a band member sauntered up to the mike and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s SHOWTIME!
Put your hands together for the one and only Albert Collins!”
And then a lean, dapper man with chiseled features and intense yet playful eyes, strapped on his telecaster, shrugged his shoulders a bit, (like a batter readying himself for a pitch) smiled and hit some notes on his guitar that I’m still trying to emulate. And then he tore it up. Cray and I looked at each other in disbelief.
What a sound! What phrasing, tone and technique. He was so powerful. Sure, I was familiar with the King’s – BB, Albert King and Freddie. And of course the bad ass rock guys like Beck, Clapton and Hendrix.
Yet Albert’s guitar was speaking to me in ways that turned my world upside down. (Some of you may remember Albert’s brief performance in “Adventures in Babysitting.” It was Albert who said no one leaves here without playing the blues or something to that effect.)
Anyway, it was a night that will always live with me. I knew then and there that I wanted to be like him.
We eventually became close friends (Albert gave me my first road opportunity, I moved to CA to play with him.) His beloved wife, Gwen wrote most of his songs that managed to capture Albert’s personality and his sense of humor. They really loved each other.
And he mentored me. He took me under his wing when I was in my twenties once he found out my father had recently passed. And he referred to me as his “baby.” You see, I was fortunate enough to have two “dads.”
He told a singer/friend of his that I worked with (Texas blues/soul man Frankie Lee, whom I played with for many years and we’re close) that he had better not hear of him mistreating me or “I’ll have to hurt you.” He wasn’t kidding.
I played with Albert on and off until he left us in 1993. We spent time in the US, Europe, South America and Japan. Often I would do double duty with Albert and Etta when we did shows together. Like the late great Sam Cooke said, “That’s Heaven To Me.”
Musically he was a profound influence on me and of course many other big timers such as Jimi Hendrix , Jimmy Vaughan, Robert Cray, Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan, to name a few. You see, Albert never met a stranger – even if he had just met someone, he made people feel as if they were most important person in the world to him. And guess what? They were. He always made time .
Albert told me it was important to get my own style (As opposed to emulating him and BB) and it was who you were off the stage that defined you.
BB King played tenderly at Albert’s hospital bedside in Vegas, when he left us all too soon in 1993, after succumbing to cancer.
He was so proud of me when I got the gig with Etta.
I recall a few years back when we were in London with Etta. We had word that Mick Jagger was coming to the show at the Towne & Country. After we had sound checked, a kid about fifteen told me he loved my playing and had been practicing my style. He asked if I could just hear him – we were busy and on our way back to hotel to get ready. The blond English kid implored me. He even had a little amp in a backpack. I told the guys to wait up a minute and they did. The kid had me down pat – even my mistakes. I invited the young man and his girlfriend (She witnessed the whole thing.) to the show that night, assuring management that I would make sure they wouldn’t drink. Mick and Jerry didn’t seem as important then.
So Albert, I hope I haven’t shamed you and I’m still trying to be a decent guy offstage – and to make time, like you did for me.
by Ronald Scott
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