Willie Weeks Archives

Donny Hathaway’s “Live” album is an essential one for bassists. Of course, one of the highlights is the landmark bass solo by Willie Weeks on “Voices Inside (Everything is Everything).” Here’s Weeks recreating the solo in a live performance.

In this new episode of “From the Bottom,” Paul Thompson breaks down Donny Hathaway’s greatest song. Paul digs in on why it sounds so amazing, and, of course, checking out that amazing bass fill by Willie Weeks before the end!

A March 2007 show plucked from an Eric Clapton world tour captures the guitarist and his band at their height. Their performance is now available as Live in San Diego (with Special Guest JJ Cale). With Willie Weeks (Donnie Hathaway, George Harrison, David Bowie, Randy Newman) on bass, Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II on guitars, Chris Stainton and Tim...

Time and time again, I must pay homage to the movie that sparked the flame of my musical obsession… the one that introduced me to a style with more passion and groove than I had ever experienced, with an eclectic history and diverse idioms, and with more influence than any other American genre: Blues Brothers… 2000. While some may say...

Producer Mark Ronson knows his bass. Just listen to the name check on these lines from “Heavy and Rolling” a track of his chart-scaling fourth studio album, Uptown Special: “Smooth as glass/Smooth as Marcus Miller.” While Miller doesn’t appear on the album, bassists are everywhere on the album. Jamareo Artis keeps the groove going on the hit “Uptown Funk,” featuring...

For his 20th studio album – and first in three years – Eric Clapton decided to change things up a bit. The 67 year old guitarist switched labels, choosing his own Bushbranch imprint through the indie SurfDog label, and recorded an album with his longtime collaborators and friends. Two of the twelve tracks on Old Sock were penned by Clapton,...

Eric Clapton will be hitting the road in 2013 for a U.S. tour, set to kick off March 14th at in Phoenix, Arizona and culminating in the 2013 Crossroads Guitar Festival at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The guitar legend has once again enlisted bassist Willie Weeks to lay down the groove for his band. Weeks, who has worked...

Shout! Factory has brought back two albums by soul artist Donny Hathaway with the release of Live + In Performance, a two-disc set out this week. While the two albums in this combined set were big hits at the time they were released, they’d fallen out of print in the U.S. Both albums feature Willie Weeks on bass, including Weeks’...

After reading the previous column in this two-part series, I’m hoping you’ve had a chance to check out some music featuring the playing of Willie Dixon and Duck Dunn. Their old school approaches to playing blues compliments the players they accompanied and reflects how novel full-band blues recordings were in the 1950’s and ’60’s. Early on, blues recordings typically only...

A group led by Ronnie Wood, dubbed “The First Barbarians,” recorded a concert album in July 1974. Material from one of the two performances at London’s Kilburn Gaumont State Theatre used for the release (now available as a ). The concert was in support of Wood’s album I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Willie Weeks really grooves on this...

Legendary session bassist Willie Weeks will be hitting the road with Eric Clapton on a string of tour dates in support of guitarist’s latest CD, appropriately titled Clapton. The touring band will also feature Steve Gadd on drums, Chris Stainton on keys and Michelle John and Sharon White singing background vocals. The group will be kicking things off in Vancouver,...

We were in a Willie Weeks mood after featuring MarloweDK’s playalong with Weeks’ epic solo on Donny Hathaway’s “Voices Inside”. That brought us to this audience shot video of Weeks performing a solo during an Eric Clapton tour at Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, back in 2007. Steve Jordan is on drums. Willie Weeks y’all!