ALAN WILSON (MUSICIAN)

'Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson' (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970) was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica and wrote most of the songs for the band. Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Topanga Canyon, California of what his autopsy reports as a barbiturate overdose. While some colleagues maintained that he had committed suicide, he left no note and there is no conclusive evidence to support this. He performed at two of the greatest concerts of the 1960s, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. His unique high tenor vocals made him instantly recognizable among other vocalists of the era, and are clearly heard on the film (''Woodstock'', which chose Canned Heat's "Going Up the Country" as the unofficial theme tune to Woodstock).
After Eddie 'Son' House's 'rediscovery' in 1964, Alan Wilson taught him how to play again the songs House had recorded in 1930 and 1942 (which he meanwhile had forgotten).
He used to sleep outside, so he could be closer to nature and often carried plant samples around with him in his pockets. He loved to read books on botany and ecology.
Wilson was a fanatical conservationist. In 1969, he wrote and recorded a song, "Poor Moon", which expressed concern over potential pollution of the moon. He wrote an essay called 'Grim Harvest', about the coastal redwood forests of California, which was printed as the liner notes to the Future Blues album by Canned Heat.
On the double album Hooker 'N' Heat (1970), John Lee Hooker is heard wondering how Wilson is capable of following Hooker's guitar playing so well. Hooker was known to be a difficult performer to accompany, partly because of his disregard of song form. Yet Wilson seemed to have no trouble at all following him on this album. Hooker concludes that "you [Wilson] musta been listenin' to my records all your life".
In July 2007, Wilson's biography, "Blind Owl Blues", by music journalist Rebecca Davis Winters, was published.

Contents

Alan Wilson Discography

External links

Alan Wilson Discography

★ ''Father of the Delta Blues: The Complete 1965 Sessions'', w/ 'Son House' 1965

★ ''Guitar Vol.4: The Great San Bernadino Birthday Party'', w/ 'John Fahey' 1966

★ ''Vintage Heat'' 'Canned Heat' 1966, Janus Records

★ ''Canned Heat'' 'Canned Heat' 1967, Liberty Records

★ ''Fred Neil'' w/ 'Fred Neil' 1967, Capitol Records

★ Boogie with Canned Heat 'Canned Heat', 1968, Liberty Records

★ ''Living the Blues'' 'Canned Heat', 1968, Liberty Records

★ ''Woodstock'' w/ 'Canned Heat', 1969, Warner Bros. Records

★ ''Hallelujah'' 'Canned Heat', 1969, Liberty Records

★ ''Slim's Got His Thing Going On'' w/ Sunnyland Slim, 1969 World Pacific Records

★ ''Cookbook: Their Greatest Hits'' 'Canned Heat', 1970

★ ''Live at the Kaleidoscope 1969'' 'Canned Heat', 1971, (Originally released as Live at Topanga Corral), Wand Records

★ ''Future Blues'' 'Canned Heat', 1970, Liberty Records

★ ''Live '70 Concert in Europe'' 'Canned Heat', 1970

★ ''John The Revelator: The 1970 London Sessions'' w/ 'Son House', 1970, Vequel Records

★ ''Hooker 'N' Heat'' 'Canned Heat' w/ John Lee Hooker, 1971, Liberty Records

★ ''Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memories'' w/ 'John Fahey', 1992, Takoma Records

★ Other Canned Heat Complimations e.g. The Boogie House Tapes Vol.I and II.

External links

★ Alan Wilson site

★ Lyrical and structural analysis of an Alan Wilson song based on earlier folk blues recordings.