Charles Atkins
The Practice Sessions
Tom's Studio, Tallahassee, FL
April 24, 1993

ca1993-04-24.flac16

Taped by: SCopeland
Transfered by: SCopeland

Recorded via Yamaha 16 track SBD > 2 track cassette mono 
Digitized using Griffin iMic and Final Vinyl at 32 bit (transferred to wav/flac at 16 bit) using my G4 iBook.  

June of 07 already, and it's hot at my favorite place -  Torreya State Park.  SCopeland 

01 Best Call intro
02 Best Call walkthru
03 Best Call walkthru
04 Best Call walkthru
05 Best Call
06 Best Call tonality
07 Best Call
08 Best Call
09 Key to - chords
10 Key to - restarts
11 Key To Your Heart
12 Key to - pieces
13 Last Time I Was Lonely #
14 Key to - C messed up
15 Key to Your Heart
16 You Can - drums
17 You Can Make It
18 You Can Make It
19 You Can Make It
20 You Can Make It
21 Rock Me Baby
22 Lovin' You is All I Crave (All My Days)
23 Movin' On
24 Tobacco Road
25 Tobacco Road
26 Tobacco Road
27 Sun Rises in the East
28 I Feel Good
29 I Feel Good
30 Downhome Blues
31 Charles Talk on Musician's Attitude

@ 1.9 hours; 1.13 gig aiff or wav

# new, first time recorded

Players:
Charles Atkins - keyboards and vocals
The Blues Boys
Larry Laseur - harmonica
Harty Wiedemann - guitar
Tom Henning - guitar

with Brian Baker on drums
and Louie on bass

Highlights:
Tracks 5 or 7, 11 or 15, 13, 21, 27, 31


Best Call, aka You & the Blues, a lesson in how to learn a song. Starts right out with Charles pushing Harty to do an intro, who struggles on the first few takes. Track 5 has some strong vocals. Charles can be tough at times and he is determined that the Boys will get it, till they finally work thru and get close on track 8. Then it's onward and learn another - Key To Your Heart. Track 9 he explains the chords and structure. Good vocals on 11; good song for Charles with the pacing and long vowels he can rumble around in. Larry does some nice fills on harp. Last Time I Was Lonely - must be break time, you can hear Tom unplug at the start. Pure Charles - somewhere between gospel and blues. I could listen to him sing these tunes for hours. This one has Charles on organ, Larry harp and Brian drums.
 Charles is not satisfied so it's back to Key to Your Heart. A couple slips but track 15 is most complete version. The next song to develop - You Can Make It - is something they made up the week before. Catchy rhythm, fun for Charles to sing with Larry backing but they have trouble finding an ending. 
A series of covers next: Track 21 starts out with just Charles piano, Larry harp and I think Tom on guitar; the drums kick in after a minute and then rock me baby. Charles has a lot of authority in his voice on this one. That would be Harty playing slide towards the end. All My Days is OK but too bad something shifted and the vocals got too hot altho it straightens out by the end. Not sure why there are 3 covers of Tobacco Road; guess Charles wanted to be sure the vamp was down and they have the parts right. Sun Rises in the East is one of my favs in concert; track 27 is a comfortable but strong version.  I Feel Good - Charles gets to channel James Brown; always lots of dancers for this one so the Boys need to be tight, which is not so easy on this song. Downhome Blues - lots of blues bands cover this, but I never really cared for it. Charles likes to sing it tho (Larry backing here) and it's a simple one to do at a gig for when the guys start to tire. Great speech by Charles on Musician's Attitude. He and the Boys go back and forth about dancers (and drinkers), tempo and venues.



