I never thought I would be writing these words, but I’m dangerously close to falling down an Al Kooper rabbit hole.

Prior to The Landlord OST, my only knowledge of Kooper was of his infamous involvement in the Highway 61 and Blonde On Blonde recording sessions, the copious amounts of soundbytes he has given about his time with Dylan, and his work with Stephen Stills and Mike Bloomfield on The Super Session.

As a teen who was just feeling his way around the indie rock scene, I have always distrusted The Super Session record from afar, mostly because it seemed to be the definition of the bloated establishment that I was running from. To this day I have never listened to it, but my days may be numbered.

A few months back, someone played me The Kooper Session (see what he did there?) that Kooper recorded with 15 year old guitar wunderkind Shuggie Otis. I really like it. The song below is in heavy rotation. Feel free to tell the dudes that run the Sub Pop Singles Club.

One Room Country Shack – Al Kooper & Shuggie Otis