my personal journey through 60 years of live music
Drums
My Personal Journey Through
60 Years Of Live Music

I have been collecting live music for over forty years, focusing on artists who released a studio recording between 1955 and 1985. For those that did, I have searched extensively for any live recording that they may have made. In the end, I have collected at least one live recording from nearly 1,000 different artists from across many genres of music. I believe that this is one of the largest collections of live music in the world. While I would love to share each and every one of these recordings with you, copyright laws prevent that. So, I have done the next best thing and written a book about my collection. You may not be able to listen to the recordings themselves, but you will find out where I got them, what they entail, and how they sound.

I supplemented my collection by writing comprehensive biographies of each of the artists in my collection, which are available here. Unlike Wikipedia and other biographical sources, I have focused on how the artists became musicians in the first place, the evolution of their individual careers, and once established, what they released, including chart placements and release dates.

band performing

I have also paid particular attention to the live histories and any live recordings from those artists. This factual information has then been supplemented with information about my live recordings from the same artist, including detailed descriptions of where and when they took place, what songs were played, who played them, and the quality of the recording.

This is unique source material for anyone who shares my passion for live music. Not only will you learn about each artist, but you will also discover everything I know about their live history, including all live recordings that they made, whether I own them or not. This is the most comprehensive list of reference material on this subject in existence and it all available to you for free!

The true essence of any recording artist is their ability to play their music live. I have focused on artists who were active between 1955 and 1985, capturing the very birth of rock and roll and numerous other genres. At this time, performers rarely manipulated their on stage sound with enhanced vocals or prerecorded tapes. They played their music to the best of their abilities, warts and all. This is what true performance is all about.

My intention regarding this site is to have as accurate information as possible. So, if you find any errors please contact me and if I can verify the change, I will edit the biography. I certainly welcome all feedback. I am also interested in live recordings from any artist I have not listed during the period I have researched. If you have something that you think would be appropriate in my collection, please send me the appropriate information. Finally, I also have taken the liberty of ranking my favorite live artists of all time. I have listed them on the ranking tab, along with an explanation as to why I ranked them at a particular spot.

While I have been working on this project for most of my adult life, I have loved every minute of it and hope you find some value in what I have done. Now, a little bit of personal history. I was born in Fall River, Massachusetts but spent most of my life in Delaware, where I still reside. I have a BA Degree in History from the University Of Delaware and worked for a large bank for 39 years before retiring as a Senior Vice President in 2018. I play guitar and have been a fan of music from the time I can remember. Yes, I am one of those people who actually watched The Beatles on Ed Sullivan in 1964 and have been hooked since. Please explore the Foreword tab to find out more about this project and how I got to this point. Thank you for your interest!