The Snowy White Blues Project

I don't normally buy older releases, not that 2009 is old, but I had heard of this record for a while and finally located it a couple of months ago.  My first encounter with Mr. White was on a warm, late September evening in 1977.  My butt was firmly planted on the right hash (oh, that's funny, I said "hash") mark of the 45-yard-line of Tampa Stadium, home of the brand new Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team.  That's right, on the field.  A massive stage in the end zone, huge banks of speakers located high in the adjoining stands, large dirigibles of pigs and cars floating overhead...this was the next stop of Pink Floyd's "Animals" tour.  I vaguely remember through the haze of youth, alcohol, and combustibles wondering aloud who the "other" guitarist was on stage with the band.  Turns out it was Snowy White.  If you are one of my older readers and had the 8-track of "Animals", it was his lead guitar on "Pigs on the Wing", not Gilmour's.  I know, that sounds strange, but that was the way of the industry in the 70's.  Floyd's keyboardist, Richard Wright, then employs Snowy on his 1979 solo album, "Wet Dream."  After that, he joins one of my favorite rock bands, Thin Lizzy, as a replacement for wild man Brian Robertson, recording two great records, "Chinatown" and "Renegade", and the subsequent live album.  He also played guitar on Phil Lynott's solo album, "Solo in Soho." 

If you know your R'n'R history, you know drugs were a big part of Lizzy's history, and Snowy wasn't immune.  Couldn't do much as the 80's wore on, until old pal Roger Waters tapped him to be his guitarist for The Wall tour in 1990.  Waters has kept him employed over the years, and if you saw last year's tour you heard Mr. White in action.  In between, he has stayed busy with his own projects, most of which I haven't heard, until this one.  Being out of the loop as I am, I didn't know there was a live album last year to support this record.  Hell, being out of the loop before that smoky Sept. Eve '77, I did not know that Snowy was good friends with one Peter Green, the guy with the bluesy Fleetwood Mac (not the version with the wives), and also played with John Mayall before getting the boot in lieu of some guy named Clapton.  This explains the British blues style of  "In Our Time of Living," which caught me off guard since I was expecting more electric blues/rock.  But once the initial shock wore off, this became a fine blues record to play for a group friends, because it's not too old sounding and certainly doesn't have that screamin' gee-tar that turns off the musical wimps in the gathering.  Here is Snowy performing one of my personal faves of the record, "Red Wine Blues", a track that features his lead vocals.  That's another plus for this album as most everybody aptly and ably sings some lead. 

During this tour break before Waters takes the show to Europe, Snowy will release another project late February with the White Flames called "Realistic."  The drummer is the only holdover from the Blues Project, so I expect a slightly different offering, one I hope I can acquire some time before 2012!