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George Thorogood has what he calls the best rock ‘n’ roll story of all time.
It’s hard to argue with him.
It involves him being approached by The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Watts, not long after he released his first album.
That would be the self-titled George Thorogood and the Destroyers, which came out in 1977 and became a surprise hit. How much of a surprise? His record company, Rounder, actually couldn’t keep up with the demand. So the success found the singer-guitarist keeping some pretty cool company. His introduction to the blues, in some ways, had come courtesy of The Rolling Stones back when he was a teenager. The liner notes on their early albums was where he first saw names such as Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed, which led him to further explore the genre. So it was a thrill when he eventually got to meet the Rolling Stones for the first time. This was prior to ever seeing therm perform and prior to him joining them as an opening act in 1981. Much to Thorogood’s amazement, his reputation preceded him. Drummer Charlie Watts walked up to him clutching his first album and a pen and politely asked for an autograph.
“How do you like that?” says Thorogood, in a phone interview with Postmedia. “Not only did I get to meet the Rolling Stones before I saw them play, the first thing one of them said was ‘Can I have your autograph?’ I don’t think you can do any better than that as a kid growing up and wanting to be in this line of work. I challenge anyone to top that story.”
Eventually, during one his many stints opening for the Stones, Thorogood asked the band for autographs in return. The members all signed a scarf. During his performance that night, Thorogood threw it out into the audience.
“I’m not sure what it’s worth,” Thorogood says. “But somebody got a thrill for sure.”
Stories like these run throughout the guitarist’s history. Of course, after more than 50 years as a performer and 15-million albums sold, Thorogood doesn’t really need to enhance his story with famous names. But it’s a reminder that the Delaware-born blues-rocker has secured his own place in rock ‘n’ roll history and won the respect of his peers, whether it be opening for the Stones, or appearing at Bob Dylan’s star-studded 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration in 1992 and opening for him at the Hollywood Palladium in 2009.
“With the Rolling Stones, it was something I had been focused on since I was 15, 16, 17 years old,” says Thorogood, who will headline this year’s Oxford Stomp at Prince’s Island Park on Friday. “So it tool awhile to happen. When it happened, I of course was thrilled. But on the other hand, it was like a baseball player spending lots of time in the minor leagues and knowing they were going to get to the big leagues sometime. That’s what it was like. This was inevitable that I was going to do at least one show with them because I studied the same type of music and I had the same kind of approach to my live act to someone like Mick Jagger does. We didn’t copy them, but we were in the same kind of form. I was very happy. I was very pleased. But I thought I belong here.”
Playing with Dylan, he said. was a “whole different story.”
“To be tapped by him, for him to ask for us, to play at the Palladium in Los Angeles, that was a thrill beyond what I can describe,” he says. “The Beatles idolized Dylan. He’s the top guy. We was Jimi Hendrix’s guy. For someone of that calibre to say ‘I want George Thorogood and the Destroyers on my show,’ you can only imagine what that must feel like.”
Of course, Thorogood and his Destroyers have long had a reputation as a killer live act, so it’s perhaps not all that surprising when the Charlie Watts and Bob Dylans of the world show their appreciation. Even before he released his debut, Thorogood had a reputation for popularizing deeper cuts of his heroes. That first album featured two originals by Thorogood, but also choice tracks originally performed by Elmore James and Robert Johnso. It also featured One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, which had been released by John Lee Hooker in 1966 and would go on to be one of Thorogood’s most beloved songs. One year later, Thorogood released Move it On Over, which included his take on the Hank Williams’ title track and Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love.
But Thorogood has always rejected the notion that he is a cover artist. When he is asked about his penchant for bringing “obscure” material to the masses, he seems particularly happy with the choice of words.
“In all the years I’ve been doing interviews — 40 or 50 years of doing interviews — you’re only the second one to use the ‘obscure’ and the other one was me,” he says. He has a set response when someone asks why he only does cover songs.
“I don’t do covers,” he says. “Joe Cocker does covers, so does Linda Ronstadt and they do a really good job of it. We try to do obscure material. It’s kinda like Indiana Jones, you know, a rock ‘n’ roll archeologist. It’s like digging up these songs and exposing obscure material to the world. That was our plan for the first two records, anyway.”
Oxford Stomp takes place July 12 at Prince’s Island Park featuring George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Tom Cochrane and Serena Ryder. Doors open at 3 p.m.