Tahoe Onstage photos by Clare Foster
Music lovers enjoyed a special treat last weekend at Moe’s Original BBQ in Tahoe City when Eric Lindell and his talented friends performed.
A resident of New Orleans, Lindell is cutting a record this week at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California. He and his bandmates also scheduled a few shows while in the region. A Northern California native and a close friend of North Shore’s Peter Joseph Burtt, Lindell has appeared a handful of times at the venue.
Also onstage were bassist Randy Bermudes, who plays with Charlie Musselwhite’s band, Mike Hood, a honky-tonk style keyboardist from New Orleans who now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and drummer Chris Dejohn, a Baton Rouge native who has lived in the Bay Area for about 10 years.
“Eric was working on three or four songs that he will use for the recording session and I mostly tried to stay out of the way,” Burtt said.
However, Lindell gave his longtime friend the microphone so Burtt could sing his song, “Take Me Back,” which also appears on one of Lindell’s albums.
“I worked in a whole new verse that I stole from one of my new songs because I knew it would fit the rhythm of the song,” Burtt said. “That’s the kind of stuff I love to do when I’m with him. Because he gets out there and freestyles so much and that’s such an exciting way to perform.”
Burtt and Lindell played together earlier this year at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Burtt said he played eight nights in a row, mostly with Eric Lindell and the Grand Nationals band. He also played in a trio that opened for Dragon Smoke, a “superjam” comprised of Lindell, Dumpstaphunk’s Ivan Neville and Galatica’s Stanton Moore and Rob Mercurio. Burtt, who had been scheduled to play solo, instead was joined by Sam Revena and Zeb Early, who play with Burtt’s Tahoe band (Peter Joseph Burtt & The King Tide) and happened to be at the Jazz Fest.
