Legendary pianist Mose Allison has appeared on Mountain Stagefour times over the years — and this is his very first performance, recorded January 15, 1989. Born in Tippo, Miss. in 1927, Allison has always straddled the line between blues and jazz, never favoring one genre over the other. Commercially, this caused some categorization problems throughout his career, but his songwriting prowess earned fans ranging from The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and Jimi Hendrix to Tom Waits and J.J. Cale. Allison's songs have been covered by Bonnie Raitt, The Clash and The Who, who famously opened their Live at Leeds album with "Young Man Blues."
For this performance, Allison is backed by the Mountain Stage band. Host Larry Groce notes a highlight of the performance: Allison's original, "Gettin' There," which features the refrain, "I'm not downhearted, but I'm gettin' there."
Set List
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.