James McMurtry and Jimmy Thackery at Blueberry Hill on 02/24/99

We got to Blueberry Hill early after helping a friend move.
Managed to get one of their killer burgers before heading down
to the still-kinda-new Duck Room. I had no idea who James McMurtry
was, but what a suprise. I was told he is the son of writer Larry
not that it matters. Him and his band kind of reminded me of The
Bottle Rockets sound wise, but his lyrics were more in the style
of a Dave Alvin. Plus he played a killer guitar. One of those
that mixes his lead and rythym work at the same time. Not an
easy thing to do, but sounds so cool when you can pull it off.
I don't know if the rest of the audience knew who he was but
when he quit, everyone stood and cheered. 

Next up - Jimmy Thackery! One of my all time favorites, and one
of the true guitar greats. I've met him a few times when I helped
with the Blues Fest here. One of my favorite stories is when an
old friend (you know who you are) and I walked into the Oyster
Bar, and I walk over to him to say hi. Right then my friend says
"So what is this Jimmy Thackery guy like?" to me. And he says,
"Well, that's me!" All I could do was laugh. Anyway, he takes the
stage and everyone is on their feet again. He lays into one of
his instrumental tunes that lets him stretch out. He doesn't hold
back. Throwing in all of his tricks. I've seen 'em all, behind
the back, with the teeth, etc. However Jimmy isn't an imitator,
he is an original and it is amazing. At one point he did this
part where his guitar sounded like a Leslie on the strums but
then he threw in an upstroke that sounded like a Link Wray 
chicken pick. Everyone was like "How'd he do that?" I figured
it had to be a guitar synth, but I didn't see one anywhere on
stage. He kept going like that all night. Each song better than
the last. My only regret? I had to work in the morning. If you
like butt kicking blues guitar, from one of the best; Look no
farther!