Ken Follett's first guitar was bought second hand when he was 14 years old; and, he would play American
pop songs Blowing in the Wind, Puff the Magic Dragon, and Go Tell it on the Mountain. He never had lessons but learned from his brother-in-law a player in a jazz band, and then Follett taught his little brother to play, and much later, his own son. Eventually the brothers and Follett's teenage son Emanuele formed a band.
They played Beatles songs after lunch on Sundays, eventually added a drummer and played
in public. This first band was called Kevin Small and the Trousers, they played rock at the Greyhound, a West
London pub.
Follett left rock n roll for the blues, joining another band. His agent Anthony Harwood was the guitarist, the
band was called Damn Right I Got the Blues. The band plays Chicago blues from the 1950s and the 1960s, such as Hoochie Coochie Man, My Babe and Twenty-Nine Ways; and contemporary numbers like I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll. The band recorded Hoochie Coochie Man, the track is available on the CD Stranger
Than Fiction, a charity album releases by Don't Quit Your Day Job Records in San Francisco.
Emanuele eventually joined the band as lead guitarist, proving once again that life just goes around in circles!
Join our book discussion March 3rd for Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle.
10 AM to 11:30 AM, in the Community Room at
Clarkston Independence District Library.