It was actually during the second set that Pat brought up "Roseville Slim" who played the remaining two sets with the band. They launched right into a smoldering version of "Got My Mojo Working" with Bruce wailing on the piano and Pat grinning from ear to ear as "slim" tore into his first solo on guitar.

Lang & Hayes. Brew Baker's, 4/18/98 Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.

At this point some people in audience still didn't know who this young kid was. "Roseville Slim?" A lady who was standing right in front of the stage asked me who that kid was? I said "Jonny Lang" and she just shook her said saying she hadn't heard of him before but added with quite a bit of enthusiasm "he's the next Mick Jagger." Seventeen year old Jonny Lang seems to have that effect on women of all ages. I guess she liked what she saw and heard because she was right up there, along with many others, the rest of the night waving her arms and fawning over the "kid."

If you take a look at the pictures that accompany this review you will also see that "slim" has a new haircut.

Bruce McCabe Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.

Kind of a punkish, spiked look, but there is still no way to get around his boyish young face (he was even featured on the cover of a recent issue of Seventeen magazine with his "old" younger look). Jonny was also wearing a new pair of tennis shoes tonight so we didn't get to see him going barefoot as he has been accustomed to lately.

There was some good chemistry going on between Bruce McCabe and Pat Hayes as they traded solos on keyboards and harmonica and guitar.

Lang & Pat Hayes Photo © 1998 by Ray Stiles All rights reserved

They play off each real well and it was fun reliving some of those old memories from over 2 decades ago when these guys were tearing up the West Bank. McCabe is also the current keyboard player in the Jonny Lang band as they had a few weeks off from their hectic touring schedule.

The entire evening featured some vintage Lamont Cranston material and a healthy dose of hard driving blues. Hayes even pulled out one of his old guitars to play some Elmore James style slide. Pat said this was the first guitar his brother Larry ever owned and it sure looked its age, all beat up but priceless with all the famous autographs on it. I think I saw Son Seals, Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Albert Collins, Paul Butterfield and several others.

"Roseville Slim" Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

When the band has some well know guests sitting in, as they did this night, they tend to step up their performance a notch and the result was one memorable experience of great blues music. What I also found interesting and very enjoyable was the maturity and poise Lang showed in his guitar playing. There was no "Pride And Joy" tonight, just straight ahead, traditional blues. When Jonny, 'err, make that "Roseville Slim" was given the nod by Pat to take a solo you could see there was some thought on his part before he rushed in to fill the gap. I felt there was more feeling behind his playing than when I saw him last year.

"Roseville Slim" Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp. All rights reserved.

At one point Hayes introduced an old song written by McCabe and himself called "Upper Mississippi Shakedown." This is an often requested favorite of the fans but what was interesting was that this song was written long before Lang was even born. Two generations of blues musicians all enjoying the same good music. The dance floor was packed but there was no room for dancing. Just like the recent past of a few years ago when "Kid" Jonny Lang and the Big Bang were having a hey day playing around town every week. You can see Jonny Lang again May 17th at the Heart & Soul benefit for Camp Heartland at Bunker's.

"Roseville Slim" Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp All rights reserved

"Roseville Slim" Photo © 1998 by Tom Asp All rights reserved