A new song about Bob, for Bob and all the Bobcats | By a hotel pool in Seville, reading David Hepworth’s excellent book on the rise and fall of the Rock Star, Uncommon People, this popped, unbidden, into my head… Elston Gunn was Bob’s nom de plume with his band The Shadow Blasters, and the name he used when he auditioned for the piano chair in Bobby Vee’s band. Bobby Vee insisted that Bob had actually spelled it with three N’s, and the job was not forthcoming when they found out Bob could only play in C! Musically it’s channelling Bob’s crackerjack band from around the turn of the Millennium — Tony Garnier on bass, David Kemper on drums, Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton on stringed instruments, mostly dynamite guitars. There was a swaying, wild quality to the arrangements that year, prompted by Bob’s own desire to play lead guitar, a brave thing to do considering he had two of the finest guitarists on Earth on the stage with him. It’s written in the style of Bob’s liner notes and poems from 64/65. I think this could have a better vocal, but it was becoming too time consuming…
Call me Elston Gunn [Part One]
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