Matt Schofield Trio — “Ear To The Ground”
Why would any idiot need a 160GB iPod Classic? So that when a song from a forgotten album pops in his head that song is within arm’s reach no matter where he is. Besides, I pride myself in not just being any idiot.
I was at my sister-in-law’s house tonight trying to rid their computer of a nasty Trojan-style virus (unsuccessful for the second consecutive night, damn the stars!) when a song by Matt Scofield Trio jumped into my head. It actually got primed last night when I was tweaking a playlist of modern blues artists and decided to throw that one into the mix and that act blossomed into a full-on obsession to hear the song.
In addition to being frustrated by that stupid virus (why does anyone use Windows anymore?) was that every time I pressed play to hear “Ear to the Ground,” someone interrupted me to talk about something. I know it’s not great manners to hide behind your iPod when you’re on a social call, but I wasn’t on a social call. I was working, and I work better to music. Well, better may not be accurate but I’m a happier worker when I’m listening.
I just went back to a previous post about this song and realized a lot of what I said then resurfaced in my mind as I was listening tonight. The song is very Clapton-esque. In my original post, I placed it as vintage ’70s Clapton. I’d like to amend that. It’s more ’80s Clapton than ’70s. Think “It’s In The Way That You Use It” or his remake of “After Midnight.” Scofield’s song isn’t quite as slick sounding, but Jonny Hammond’s organ and Scofield’s tone evoke the Journeyman era of Clapton’s career.
I love it when a song gets all over me and I love it when I can reach for my iPod and hear it to my heart’s content. I politely begged and insisted to TWTWIM that I be able to listen to the song uninterrupted on the car ride home and have listened to it two additional times tonight. I don’t know if it will still be percolating when I wake up but if it is, my iPod will be there waiting.
Filed under: Tags: Bloggin' the Blues, Music of the Moment
Damn, that’s some good stuff. Listening to clips now, I’m getting a very strong Allman Bros. vibe. This’ll go on the ever-expanding list . . .
This one is most highly recommended, Tom. I think you’ll like it. They’ve got an interesting sound/band configuration, the material is pretty good, and these guys can flat out play their ass off.