George Thorogood and The Destroyers are coming to The Paramount in Huntington on September 8th, 2023. Back in April George had to cancel some dates on the road because of surgery that he needed. George recovered quickly from the surgery and is already back out on the road. George had nothing but good things to say about The Paramount. He certainly is looking forward to being back in the room and ready to take the stage. He even reminisced about a St Patrick’s night gig he played there.

That lead to me to inquire of George how he finds the energy to do such killer shows. He seemed somewhat surprised at the question. He spoke about playing music for a living being a childhood dream and “A one in a million shot in the dark.” “Well, there’s a couple of thousand people out there who paid good money who think you’re really a cool guy and they want you to play your guitar real loud and real long. Gee, that’s tough.”

I’ve been lucky enough to speak to George on a number of occasions. We often speak about music history. George has spoken to me about Hank Williams, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry and so many more. I decided to ask George specifically about three artists who I felt may have influenced him. George set me straight on my thoughts in that area. But, he did say he would take it when I felt I heard their influence in his playing. George has an extensive knowledge of Rock and Blues artists. Typically when we speak, he will direct me to check out videos on YouTube of certain artists. This time George told me to check out Ted Nugent doing “Land Of A Thousand Dances.”

From there it led in to talking about George and his approach to covering songs. George began to speak about natural talent and mortals. He even equated musical skill to athletic skill. Then he spoke a bit about Pete Rose and how he worked hard to succeed on the baseball diamond. He spoke about how Pete had “A passion, a dream and a desire that was just unstoppable.” I feel George was being genuinely humble here by telling the story of someone else in another profession. That was when George took that opportunity to compliment me because my own band will be opening the show at The Paramount on September 8th, 2023.

We also had the chance to speak about the songs that George has written. We discussed how he originally wrote all these different songs of his with other singers in mind, “I Drink Alone” thinking of George Jones, “Bad To The Bone” was written for Muddy Waters. We spoke about how you can find the songs George wrote on his recent release “The Original George Thorogood.” We even discussed the idea of more new music from George and The Destroyers.

We had the chance to talk about being influenced as well as influencing. George related an experience of him telling Keith Richards about how he was influenced by him and Keith’s reaction to that. Then he spoke about his own reaction to people telling him similar things. But from there we spoke how when players plug into their amps it just takes over. And that’s what happens at a Destroyers show. So, make sure you check out George Thorogood and The Destroyers at The Paramount on September 8th, 2023.

©2023 Cox Media Group