Veterans Memorial
Building
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
By Phillip Smith; Oct 13,
2018
Sunday, October 7th,
The Artisan’s Sanctuary in Marion,
Iowa presented Savoy Brown live at
the Veterans Memorial Building in
Cedar Rapids. I’ve been a big fan of the legendary Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown for quite a while, and was absolutely
thrilled to have finally caught one of his live shows. Playing as a trio, Simmonds was accompanied onstage by his bassist Pat DeSalvo and drummer Garnet Grimm, both of whom have been
playing with the band for the past several albums and worked with Simmonds on prior solo albums as well.
Opening for Savoy Brown was The Satterfield – Erickson Project, composed of master guitarists Billy Satterfield from Chicago, and Craig Erickson from Cedar Rapids,
bassist John Hall, and drummer Tim Crumley. I loved their fabulous tribute to the great Otis Rush (April 29, 1935 –
September 29, 2018) with “I Can’t Quit You”. It was
indeed a real treat to hear. Their performance
of the classic Allman Brothers song,
“Whipping Post” had me totally captivated too.
The dual guitar jam was magnificent.
Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown grabbed my attention quickly, opening their set with a
pair of wonderfully swampy blues-rockers: “Hoodoo Me” and “Living on the Bayou”,
both tracks from the recent 2017 Witchy
Feelin’ album. That is such a
terrific album, and those were definitely excellent songs to lead off with. Digging a little deeper, Simmonds delivered the goods with “Poor Girl” off the 1970 album Lookin’ In.
This was followed by the deliciously heavy electric blues of Willie Dixon’s “I Ain’t Superstitious”
and Bukka White’s “Shake ‘em on Down”
from the 1967 Shakedown album with Simmonds breaking out the harmonica. It was a pleasure to hear the title track of
the 1972 album Hellbound Train
too. The groove was intense and hypnotic. Simmonds
wound things to a close with “Memphis Blues”, and the cool slide boogie-induced
riffs of “Tell Mama”.
The music was superb and I
walked away from the venue wearing a smile.
I would love to see more shows like this in the future for Cedar
Rapids.
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* all Photos by Phillip Smith
The Satterfield - Erickson Project
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| Billy Satterfield , Craig Erickson |
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| Billy Satterfield, Craig Erickson, John Hall |
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| Craig Erickson |
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| Billy Satterfield |
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| Billy Satterfield |
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| Tim Crumley |
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| Craig Erickson, Billy Satterfield, John Hall |
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| Satterfield - Erickson Project |
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| Craig Erickson , John Hall |
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Craig Erickson
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| John Hall |
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| Billy Satterfield |
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| Tim Crumley |
Savoy Brown
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| Kim Simmonds |
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| Kim Simmonds , Pat DeSalvo |
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| Kim Simmonds |
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| Pat DeSalvo |
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| Kim Simmonds |
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| Pat DeSalvo |
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| Garnet Grimm |
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| Savoy Brown |
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| Kim Simmonds |
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| Savoy Brown |
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| Kim Simmonds , Pat DeSalvo |
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| Pat DeSalvo |
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| Kim Simmonds |
