Fans of rock ‘n’ roll and of its greatest participant, Chuck Berry, get ready. On December 17 you can dive into the artist’s new posthumous concert record, Live From Blueberry Hill.
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However, today (November 17), a month before the release, fans can check out a sneak peak from the forthcoming LP and listen to the live recording of Berry performing the jam “Let It Rock.”
“I’ve been out here so long, I’ve dwindled down to just: ‘Call me Chuck,’” Berry says before diving into the rocking tune. The crowd laughs and the guitar lines ring out.
According to a statement about the forthcoming live concert record: “Taken from performances recorded between July 2005 and January 2006, Live From Blueberry Hill features Berry tearing through classics like ‘Roll Over Beethoven,’ ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode’ on the stage that he performed on more than 200 times during the final decades of his life.
“With his Blueberry Hill Band — daughter Ingrid Berry on harmonica, son Charles Berry, Jr. on guitar, bassist and band leader Jimmy Marsala, pianist Robert Lohr, and drummer Keith Robinson — in tow, Chuck’s Duck Room performances were a rare opportunity to witness the godfather of rock and roll savoring his own talents and putting a raucous, freewheeling spin on classics that are now permanently woven into the fabric of modern music.”
See the newly released recording from Berry, who Bob Dylan called “the Shakespeare of rock ‘n’ roll,” below.
The performances came together in 1996 when Berry said to Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill, which opened in 1972, “You know, Joe, I’d like to play a place the size of the ones I played when I first started out.”
After deciding that Blueberry Hill was the place for these shows, Edwards built “The Duck Room,” a new stage named after Berry’s signature stage move. Throughout the next 17 years, Berry would perform 209 shows with his “Blueberry Hill Band,” the longest-running band in his 60-year career, consisting of longtime Berry collaborators and family members, including daughter Ingrid Berry on harmonica and son Charles Berry, Jr. on guitar, along with bassist and bandleader Jimmy Marsala, pianist Robert Lohr, and drummer Keith Robinson.
Berry’s musical accomplishments stretch far and wide. He was the first member inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he is a recipient of both a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honor. And similar to Dylan, John Lennon said that Berry’s name was synonymous with rock and roll itself.
Berry, who died in 2017 at 90 years old, released his final studio album, Chuck, in 2017. He’d released his first album 60 years earlier in 1957.
Throughout the years, artists like Lorde, Motorhead’s Lemmy, Robbie Robertson of The Band, fellow St. Louis native Nelly, and more made the pilgrimage to St. Louis to see Berry perform. He would play his final show at The Duck Room on Oct. 15, 2014, nearly three years before his death.
Live From Blueberry Hill Track List:
1. Roll Over Beethoven
2. Rock And Roll Music
3. Let It Rock
4. Carol / Little Queenie
5. Sweet Little Sixteen
6. Around And Around
7. Nadine
8. Bio
9. Mean Old World
10. Johnny B. Goode
(Photo courtesy Shore Fire Media)
