Celebration of the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac

If you’ve been paying attention at all, you know that currently we’re on either Fleetwood Mac 8.0 or 9.0, more or less. Since its founding in 1967, the group in all its variations has produced 19 studio albums, several official live albums, numerous compilations and greatest hits, and dozens of bootleg recordings besides.

The constant over these 52 years has been work of the band’s original drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and that of bassist John McVie, who joined the group shortly after its formation. The name of the band was born when Fleetwood, McVie, and guitarist Peter Green were playing in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and Mayall penned an instrumental he called “Fleetwood Mac.”

On February 20, Mick Fleetwood and Friends are hosting an all-star Celebration of the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac. That would be Fleetwood Mac 1.0 and 1.1. The band was originally called Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Green is a guitarist of stunning stature, much revered for his blues, rock, psychedelia, and more.

Scheduled to participate in the celebration are Billy Gibbons, David Gilmore, Jonny Lang, Andy Fairweather Low, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, and Bill Wyman.

Peter Green led Fleetwood Mac through the beginning of the group’s discography before leaving the band in 1970:

1968  Fleetwood Mac
1968  Mr. Wonderful
1969  English Rose
1969  Then Play On

And on three fabulous albums with great American bluesmen:

1969  Otis Spann: The Biggest Thing Since Colossus
1969  Eddie Boyd: 7936 South Rhodes
1969  Blues Jam in Chicago Volumes 1 & 2

The Blues Jam albums featured a veritable Who’s Who of the Chicago scene, including Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton, Guitar Buddy, Honey Boy Edwards, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, S.P. Leary, and J.T. Brown.

Quick quiz: Who wrote “Black Magic Woman”? Peter Green, on the album English Rose. Green also issued a titanic experimental psychedelic album in 1970 titled The End of the Game. Green left the band after Then Play On and didn’t return to recording until his superb solo album In the Skies in 1979 and its fine follow-up the next year, Little Dreamer. In the ’90s, Green put together the Peter Green Splinter Group, paying homage to the original bluesmen such as Robert Johnson, Elmore James, and Sonny Boy Williamson with tours and nine albums.

Mick Fleetwood posted this:

“The concert is a celebration of those early blues days where we all began, and it’s important to recognize the profound impact Peter and the early Fleetwood Mac had on the world of music. Peter was my greatest mentor and it gives me such joy to pay tribute to his incredible talent. I am honoured to be sharing the stage with some of the many artists Peter has inspired over the years and who share my great respect for this remarkable musician.”

This would sure be a dream show to get to.

 

Mick Fleetwood Celebrates Peter Green
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