Kelly Joe Phelps - River Rat Jimmy (Live)
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Song starts @ 1:42.
This is an incredible rendition of that excellent song "River Rat Jimmy".
Played at the Bluebird Cafe, Nashville. This song has an interesting story behind it as evidenced from the lyrics. This song is originally off the album "Shine Eyed Mister Zen".
Remember, keep the music alive!
Hurting unbelievably since I stumbled upon the news of Kelly’s passing. I am envious of all who witnessed his rendition of River Rat Jimmy at the iconic Bluebird. I saw Kelly three times at The Jazz Cafe, London, each time howling for him to play it. I was fairly heartbroken the third (and sadly last time) I saw him and managed to corral the audience into shouting for the song, he paused to say,
“…..I never liked that rat anyway….”
The first time I met him, waiting outside his dressing room for him to sign my CD sleeves, he hugged me for thanking him for his music and influence, telling me the story of the song. The friend eventually died of a blood disorder.
In 2000, doing the Elvis thing, I travelled from Memphis to Franklin TN, to visit a firm Georgia Boot - whose engineering boots I had worn since 1988. We managed to randomly catch Malcolm McDonald at The Bluebird, making a detour to Nashville!
I now learn Kelly was from Portland Oregon, my favourite place in the States. My work boots are made there, as are my tailored motorcycle leathers, knife and card holder. In a way, not a day goes by when I am not effectively carrying a memento of him.
Thanks for making our lives that bit better, Kelly.
i was blessed to know Kelly back when he was just a kid living in Vancouver Washington. He worked at a local music store downtown there - I worked nearby and first heard him playing at a lunchtime gig he played. I took a few guitar lessons from Kelly. I still have some lessons he wrote out for me. Then for a while he used to play Jazz every week at a local cafe. Then lost track of him for a time - next time we connected he was doing his delta blues and we were sure he'd been possessed by an old black bluesman. It was so awesome to see him succeed and journey around the world with his wonderful soul filled music. An incredible human being as you must know from your meeting him. I was sorry to hear of his death, but his music lives on and the world is a better place for it.
@@magnushomestead3824
My apologies for being so late to reply to your lovely story - tales such as these cannot be regarded tritely. I have always maintained that some of the best guitarists come from a jazz background, did Kelly play gipsy style, like Reinhardt? I also find Kelly’s Johnson-esque transformation both enthralling and eerie. I am sure it was down to hard work and dedication, the story of him smashing a guitar out of frustration as he struggled to master a riff, says it all. I bet it was a Martin, too, that he so loved.
He sounds even more incredible on the recounting of your friendship with him. To this day and forever, I cannot say the word ‘virtuoso’ without hearing his music, nor seeing his face.
Thank you.
He was from Sumner Washington and was a good friend of mine from grade school until he passed.
@@jimmyfranklin3862
….just the fact his last residence in Portland meant the world to me. As did the fact I managed to see him the three times he played the Jazz Cafe in London.
Came to the comments and found he just died. What a loss. Every time I hear this song I'm transported back to childhood running through the woods and getting into mischief with my friends, and I get a little wistful for bygone days. Rest easy Kelly Joe.
I would not want to be any of the other guitarists in this room; whoever you are, you’re outgunned on every level.
Such a tragic loss. Goodbye and thank you Kelly Joe.
Saw him 3 times......First in Cleaveland......I think 2002....I was floored...walked out of the place after the show....thought I was on another planet.
Where ever Kelly Joe Phelps takes me I go willingly... And when I return I love my daughter more... Judge myself less... as death creeps ever closer, I am less and less afraid! And crying becomes a healing experience, as it was meant to be...
The most underrated musician of the last 50 years.
RIP Kelly...and rest in music away from the battles you faced here.
I miss RDL so much. No one had a smile like his. I see it still. That was a huge, devastating loss. I feel it all over again now, in this song. New insights. New senses speak of the loss.
You knew the subject of the song as a child?
@@thoyo yes, up until he died in 1979. Rick De Leon. Kelly was also a friend of mine.
@@Querencia7779 A blessing to have a fitting tribute to your friend. Was so sorry to read about Kelly Joe passing today in the comment section. My condolences.
@@thoyo thank you. Its been really, really hard. The date of Kelly’s death is wrong, but …oh well. Doesn’t really matter, I guess, Kelly wouldn’t care one iota.
this is one of my all time favorite country blues song but also one of the greatest live performances I've ever seen
incredibly inconveniently uncomfortably beautiful
They’re all looking at him thinking ( this is beyond musical genius, I’m seeing this dudes soul) KJP 🙌🏻
Couldn't of put it better myself...
@@johnmacward Couldn't have ... or couldn't've, but that's two contractions and a bit awkward. I know, grammar police, but it is better to know the difference.
Thankyou for everything, you have moved on and I am sad, but thank you for shine eyed mr zen, which focusses me
This is pure soul!
I managed to “learn” this song by downloading and watching this video I don’t know how many times...
I met him in France in about 2013...humble fantastic guy.
My favourite singer and guitarist in one by miles.
Wishing he comes back soon
You could have gone to Homespun tapes and bought KJP lesson sets. He does 2: one set on slide, the other on normal guitar style. This video's version is the same as on Homespun in an odd tuning. There's a more recent version of RRJ on YT that he plays in std tuning that you can pick up how to play, since the video quality is much better than this one. Both are similar but different. Always fun to play KJP's less difficult pieces. This one isn't too hard if you can do decent Travis picking.
BTW, did you know he used an odd tuning for this version? Did you figure that out or just try playing it in std tuning?
@@johncaputo5538
Actually I did that...Thanks!
@@johncaputo5538
Yeah, I can play it in CGCGCF.
It wasn’t too hard to work out the basic structure.
I can play it pretty comfortably...
But I’m still working on some of the delicious licks that he plays like they’re nothing.
Personally I think this version is light years ahead of the standard tuning one.
He probably played the st tuning version at gigs because he didn’t want to do such a radical detune mid gig!?
Did you learn it?
Love this so much, come back and watch it every time I need to remind myself how musical one person can be. Coming up from the core it is...
Transcendent. Favorite song of his. Gorgeous.
Incredible! We need more Kelly Joe Phelps on youtube. What a musician, what a poet!
Thank you so much for uploading this. My favourite song of Kelly Joe's, without a doubt. So tender and full of love.
I made a gigantic playlist of every live concert of his shortly after he passed, and it's the one song that appears in every concert after he wrote it. Dude pulls my heart out of my chest every time.
Willy Porter said, after finishing his set in Portland, opening for KJP, "Prepare to see God."
What a man! What a Song!
Songwriter Kelly personified!
God I am so happy and touched, I have tears in my eyes... Thanks Kelly.
I have the CD and love it but this version is so personal and stream of conscious. He is in touch with memories and just letting them flow. This song brings me tears because Kelly Joe evokes emotions that connect with my own childhood memories. Amazing stuff.
This sums it up nicely Laura.
Yes! Shine Eyed Mr. Zen was my introduction to KJP
Sorry. When I listen to him I feel like a six year old in church. Before cynicism and intellect ruled and I had a sence of the holy and the world was magical...
@@fatfox6706
It still is...
@@fatfox6706 "Before cynicism and intellect ruled and I had a sence of the holy and the world was magical" God, that was beautiful..
Every other musician near him knew that they were seeing something where one tries to grasp it, at the moment.
Thank you for this. It's the first thing I'd ever seen or heard from this man. Amazing, and more intense than any of the other versions I've heard so far. (But it's only been a few days...) I love how immersed he is in this performance, and the little ad libs:. "and make a bridge to walk across, ain't nothin' to walk across to (...) and it's dark, and it's dark, and it's dark, and it's dark..."
Killer stuff, very moving.
DrEyescope it’s powerful, raw and real and for that reason I love Kelly Joe.
RIP
Well the 2 thumbs down must be closed minded pop radio fans. This is as good as it gets for an honest performance, lets see Brittany Spears do that in this setting, oh not gonna happen as no autotune. to use. KJP WOW WOW AND MORE WOW
Those are probably ex wife reviews
RIP KJP.. ❤️
Who are the other folks onstage with him?? They look at Kelly in awe!
Greg Trooper, Eric Taylor & Steve Earle…
look at gregg troper as kelly sings
Check out his "Piece By Piece" performance, also at Bluebird Café, on RUclips. He was in the cosmos that night!! Unfortunately, I don't think he performs anymore.
He does perform dude, seen him 3 times in last 5 years
Really? I saw him 6 years ago in France and haven't heard anything from him since. I heard he had some muscular trauma/condition in his right hand. When did you last see him?
@@NoLefTurnUnStoned. It seems he recovered by 2016 already. He lives reclusive life now, for sure :(
@@gazaustinmusic8321 where have you seen him? He came and played for us here in 2013 and that was his last tour. His website is now gone and the last entry on his Facebook page is in 2016.
@@TLRatSaltaire yikes, actually was probably 2014 touring brother sinner and the whale, time flies.
How long have you had this buried in your closet!! Thanks for posting.
@tangent48 How about buying the song and supporting the artist instead of scrounging?!
I own it all. My wife bought me a turntable just now for christmas, so I looked him up on vinyl. I found the album with Crow's nest on it for $183, from England.
"When the bowstring would break?"
Where was that video taken from? Anybody?
Bluebird Cafe in Nashville I think
I thought this was from the bluebird cafe? A song circle?
sorry 9 years ago
silvi01977 ....I had the cd 9 years ago and it was stolen from my car and i really would like to at least hear it again. So just bite me i never meant a major confab get a life troll
It is not an unworthy sentiment. I love him to pieces and cannot believe I will never see him again live.