Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Here's to Truett Lollis, and all the rest

If he can play like Steve Ray Vaughn, that's a pretty good start.  If he happens to have a name like Truett Lollis, how can the kid miss?

My friends -- it was a father and son reunion, actually -- visited Northside Tavern the other night in Atlanta to check out the music.  Unscheduled, but on the stage at some point, was a 19-year-old shredder who played an amazing flourish of electric blues ala SRV.  The sort of jaw-dropping good that would make a house band guitarist wilt.

Now here's the cosmic connection.  While the kid was playing his Strat, the father and the son individually recalled a visit to a guitar store, maybe six or seven years earlier.  There was a young kid in the store, barely a teenager if that, sitting on an oversized amp playing Stevie Ray Vaughn like there was no tomorrow. 

(We realize that SRV is one of them most emulated guitarists on the planet and that there are, conservatively, 2,500 snot-nosed kids plugged in at this very moment trying be be Just Like Stevie. And hundreds more will be home from school in a few hours.) 

The kid in the tavern was a more polished player, for sure. Six years of practicing should burnish a few deeper grooves.  The music was the same, and the facial expressions and gyrations were recognizable.  Father turned to son.  There was no doubt.  Truett Lollis has made it to the stage.  Get at taste by clicking here.

Where he goes from here -- and all those others like him -- nobody knows.  MySpace and YouTube are littered with hundreds of blistering guitar solos by kids you never heard of, and probably never will. Can they learn to channel all that raw talent through their heart and soul and have it come out as real as a Georgia rainstorm?  At least this kid has a name. Remember it, just in case:

Truett Lollis...

1 comment: