This year, we’ve been able to hang with Cool John a lot, for which we are very grateful. Back in April, Cool John and his wife Shirley were both with me at Byron Bay Bluesfest. Our conversations focused on food, in particular, the abundant seafood practically crawling onto the plates of folks living in Beaufort, SC. Shirley described a typical Saturday. Cool sat by and nodded as Shirley walked me through the steps. First netting the shrimp, then checking the crab pots, afterwards pulling oysters from the seabed all resulting in the cornucopia know around those parts as a low country boil. My mouth watered.

Last week, Cool came to Rocky Mount to play a show. Corn captured Cool’s solo on “Hey Joe” in full. The performance was so remarkable we have posted it to YouTube. Since then, the video has played in our office at least ten times a day. At around five minutes long, that’s almost an hour of Cool John a day.  Hardly enough.

What do a low country boil and a “Hey Joe” solo have in common? Cool John Ferguson, possibly the world’s greatest guitar player.

— Aaron