The "Playing For Change" people have a new album out and they've been releasing tracks on youtube and I've got to say I think they are doing fantastic work and producing some of the best "real" music around. They started recording buskers around the world and using various forms of portable playback so they could, in effect, play with each other even though some had never met. It worked amazingly well. Now a few bigger names have got involved and in part I'm in two minds about this but on the other hand it has produced fantastic tracks like these.
The big name in this one is Dr. John though he plays a minor part in the whole performance. I think the fusion of styles and cultures really captures the New Orleans spirit, Prof Longhair could just as easily pop up and be happy. I've never seen Mac do a good live show which is a shame as clearly he has it in him:
This one has Buddy Guy as the big name, among quite a few, there is a bit of a tuning problem with one of the musicians but it is possible that she is simply not used to performing with playback/headphones as that is not always a simple skill especially for people new to it. However it is great to see that people are still recording music like this. Buddy Guy did one of the best live sets I've ever seen with a fantastic example of blues showmanship and a rock solid band.
Just to put all of this in perspective this is where it all started, buskers on the street and a fantastic performance of Sittin On the Dock of the Bay by the late Roger Ridley: