.................................the blog nobody reads: The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson

The Transfiguration of Blind Owl Wilson

Posted on December 2, 2022

Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson brought an archaic weirdness to Canned Heat. Obsessed with traditional blues and well versed in the boogie dialect of John Lee Hooker.

I think I have mentioned waking up to Canned Heat at one of the first Glastonbury Festivals way back when and bought at least three albums after that not least 'Boogie' and this one the last Hooker n Heat

There was always something rather mysterious about them to me, Bob The Bear's weight belying his stomping good time blues, the Blind Owl's mystic short sightedness and introverted presence, Levine bearded hippy wonder reincarnated as an old blues guitarist and then Harvey Mandel and his Cristo Redentor where 'n the heck did they find HIM!?. . . . . I loved Let's Work Together (still do!) and Going Up The Country I bought as a single as wells On The Road Again which I learned to play. The band's Speed Kills message was always apposite (eventually) so was surprised to learn here about the imbibing of Sterno sounds truly dreadful and reminds me of the client who justified his drinking to me by explaining he didn't drink alcohol but found petrol did the trick (sic!). This article is really worth a read and nails the mysterious side of Wilson (who knew he was named Blind Owl by John Fahey no less?!Wilson wrote the liner notes to Fahey's legendary album Blind Joe Death) and well worth a listen to all those interested . . . . . . Boogie Chillun!

for those really interested his Wikipedia entry is a really good read and introduction to his legend, believed now to have been autistic and possibly suffering from Asperger's syndrome, Wilson was a chronic depressive and tried to kill himself several times. A profound conservationist despondent at the way the planet was headed. Expected on tour of Europe he was found dead of an overdose (reds or barbiturate poisoning) in his sleeping bag around the back of Bob Hite's house out in the hills of Topanga Canyon.

He was 27.