Gussow Calls It Quits?

So long and thanks for all the chops. Elwood the Apprentice pays tribute to the end of an era.

All good things come to an end. That’s what Adam Gussow said when he finally, officially called it quits on his YouTube tutelage last week (Jason Ricci retires with him, but in this case even JR’s teaching is dwarfed by the sheer volume of Gussow’s output since he decided, February 22 2007, to “give it all away“).

As a blues pup, having suckled at the digital teat of Gussow’s YouTube channel for a good 18 months, I couldn’t help but feel wistful to see Gussow move on — like I was losing a little piece of myself.

Gussow was there to put me onto chord synchopation (MBH007), Sonny Terry shuffles (MBH008), riffing the changes (MBH081), some really sweet tutelage on improv via the blues scale (MBH015), harping Ray Charles (MBH151) and best of all, Front Porch Blues. Quality stuff that changed the way I approach the instrument.

But the Good Doctor sat me down, gave me a comforting pat and let me take a few nips from the flask he keeps under his hat — I felt much better after that. Hell,  the truth of it is Gussow already gave far more than we could ever have asked. It’s not the end of the Gussow era; just the end of this Gussow era. And luckily there are folks like the Good Doctor here at the Harp Surgery who are poised to carry the banner.

In the meantime, check out my review of Gussow’s book, Journeyman’s Road.

p.s. Apologies to Jason Ricci. I’ll make it up to you in a future post…

Elwood is the guest blogger for The Harp Surgery’s Apprenticeship Series. In his spare time he’s a grad student in London. Follow him on Twitter, if you like.