“I had originally recorded this song at the end of a session I was doing with my band back in California in the fall of 2020. We had a little bit of extra time and so I just wanted to get this one down for posterity. When I returned months later to listen to it I realized that with a little bit of tweaking and some additions of horns and piano it could really be an inspired tribute to one of my favorite guitar players.”
Having recently relocated to Austin, TX, Greene brought in Blues Music Award winners Jimmy Carpenter to play tenor saxophone and Lisa Mann to handle bass. Austin-based keyboard legend Red Young covers the piano part and Southern California-based Austin Beede (who has performed with Greene for years and appears on many of his studio albums) delivered on drums.
“When I sent the track out for Jimmy, Lisa, and Red to put overdubs on I was a little trepidatious. They’re all such accomplished musicians and this song and its arrangement are very simple and somewhat traditional. That said, you can really hear their years of experience and virtuosity on their instruments playing even the simplest of parts.”
Greene had been aware of Peter Green for some time but didn’t become a fan until the early 2000s.
“I had the unique opportunity of playing in Aynsley Dunbar’s band in 2001. Unfortunately, the band never played live, but we worked up a bunch of great material. We did some recording that ended up on Aynsley’s 2007 solo record ‘Mutiny’. Of the material that I developed with Aynsley were some of his songs from his time with Journey, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, and his British blues band Aynsley Dunbar’s Retaliation. We also did a couple of my tunes, and a song called ‘Another Kind of Love’ from the record that he was on with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.”
Aynsley Dunbar also played on John Mayall’s “A Hard Road” record which features Peter Green, then having just replaced Eric Clapton in the legendary band:
“That was really my first exposure to Peter’s guitar playing, although I’d heard his name thrown around for years. I immediately went out and got “A Hard Road” and fell in love with it. As much as I love the classic ‘Beano’ album featuring Eric Clapton, I prefer ‘A Hard Road’ in many ways because of Peter’s inspired playing and the song selection.”
Shortly after that, Alastair dug info all the early Fleetwood Mac recordings, and Peter became one of his biggest influences and heroes.
People familiar with Alastair’s work as a solo artist may be surprised at the traditional leanings in his approach to “If You Be My Baby”.
“Peter did veer off and get into some rock ‘n’ roll realms, but he definitely was a disciple of the blues and a huge B.B. King fan. Peter deserves to be talked about and mentioned in all conversations regarding 60s British blues, and blues guitar in general, in my opinion,” affirms Greene.
MORE ABOUT ALASTAIR GREENE
A native of Santa Barbara, Calif., Greene has ridden his Blues-soaked rock into the 21st century, traversing a constantly changing global (and musical) landscape. He’s well-equipped for the challenge, carrying the diverse musical interests he developed at an early age, intrigued by his mother's piano-playing and a record collection that included The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John. His father introduced the youngster to the sophistication of Bach and Beethoven, yet it was Greene’s grandfather, the late trumpeter Chico Alvarez – a member of the Stan Kenton Band in the 1940s and '50s – who inspired him to pursue a life in music.
As a youth, he took piano lessons and played the saxophone before discovering the guitar in high school. ‘80s heavy rock icons Iron Maiden and Def Leppard brought motivational thunder. Then, a vintage and seminal sound – the Blues – changed Greene’s course. Records by B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, The Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan exposed the burgeoning guitarist to a trove of musical treasure.
Greene received a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied for two years before returning in the early ‘90s to Southern California. Greene formed the Alastair Greene Band in 1997 and subsequently released eight solo albums (including two live sets and a compilation record) over nearly 20 years. 2017’s studio effort, “Dream Team”, landed a four-star review and Best Album of the Year nod in DownBeat; 2018’s “Live from the 805” was nominated for Rock Blues Album of the Year by Blues Blast Magazine, garnering inclusion on many ‘Best of 2018’ lists.
A much in-demand guitarist and vocalist, Greene traveled the world, touring with the legendary Alan Parsons Live Project from 2010–2017, as well as stints with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas and, most recently, Blues Music Award-winner Sugaray Rayford. His work with Parsons, in particular, sparked a conversation with renowned multi-instrumentalist and producer Tab Benoit at a Las Vegas blues event, the Big Blues Bender. In 2019, Greene signed with Benoit’s Whiskey Bayou Records label, where he released "The New World Blues" and "Alive In The New World", both albums produced by Benoit, and charted multiple times on Billboard.
CREDITS:
"If You Be My Baby"
Written by Peter Green & C.G. Adams
Fleetwood Mac Ltd
Running Time: 4:26
Artist: Alastair Greene
Independent Release
Alastair Greene - Guitar and Vocals
Austin Beede - Drums
Lisa Mann - Bass
Red Young - Keyboards
Jimmy Carpenter - Saxophone
Produced by Alastair Greene
Engineered, Mixed, and Mastered by Sean McCue at Coyote Road Studios
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