Back to Minneapolis

The American road trip is nearing its end and we are back in Minneapolis in readiness for the flight home tomorrow. But before the trip ended we had one more unexpected music experience. We were heading for Rock Island planning to spend the night there but the hotels were busy and expensive. So we went to nearby Davenport which is over the Illinois state border in Iowa. I picked up a free paper and saw that the great blues guitarist and singer John Primer was playing in town that very evening at the Redstone Room. We hurried along and he was every bit as good as we expected, playing with his Real Deal Blues Band. Numbers included 'Love Of A Woman', 'Before You Accuse Me', 'Real Mother For Ya' and 'Rainy Night In Georgia'. Supporting him was Iowa bluesman Kevin Burt who came back on to share 'Hoochie Coochie Man' with John. Now 79, John Primer's voice is as good as ever and his guitar playing was exemplary.

Next day we had a look around Dubuque in northern Iowa which is quite a pleasant town on the Mississippi close to where Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin meet. We drove towards Madison but ended up staying overnight in a small town called New Lisbon. On our final day we drove back to Minneapolis stopping off at its twin city St Paul, where the state capitol is located on my hunt for records. Finally we are staying in a rather expensive hotel, in contrast to the rather more modest places that have been our home for the last three weeks.