So long, Wolfman, so long
February 25, 2015 10:59 PM   Subscribe

Today we bid a sad farewell to the last of the old-school Mississippi Hill Country bluesmen: Mr. Robert Belfour was a purveyor or that gritty, driving, riff-based, often one-chord Hill Country style pioneered by people like Mississippi Fred McDowell, and in more recent years popularized by artists like RL Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill. Let's take a listen, then, as we pay our respects to the "Wolfman", to some of his rocking, soulful blues. Here's Black Mattie, I Got My Eyes On You, Hill Stomp, Go Ahead On, My Baby's Gone, Done Got Old and You Got Me Crying. And here's an hour-long recording from February 2013, via NPR: Robert Belfour: Live In Concert.
posted by flapjax at midnite (13 comments total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh, here's one I meant to include in the FPP but left out: Pushing My Luck
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:43 PM on February 25, 2015


Robert Belfour's two Fat Possum CDs - Pushin' My Luck (2003) and What's Wrong With You (2000) - are wonderful and you should buy them both today. I was hoping we might get one more CD before he passed, but I guess it was not to be.

I was lucky enough to see Belfour play live at Red's in Clarksdale once and it remains one of my most fondly-remembered gigs. When he locked into a riff, it became utterly mesmeric. Rest In Peace, Sir.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:25 AM on February 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


At first I thought this was Wolfman Jack, and I was sad that he died. Then I realized it wasn't, and altho I was sad about the loss of this gent, I silently thought "yay!" that Wolfman Jack was ok. Then I felt like I remembered something a long time ago about Wolfman Jack dying, so I Googled it and....dear reader, I lost two Wolfmen on this day.

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posted by nevercalm at 12:50 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


🎼•
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:58 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


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Don't usually do no say in a music thread esp. a passing and 'spects to the OP. ( Bard, I whisper)

So I leave some skip , which pops gave me.
Four minutes twenty.
posted by clavdivs at 1:08 AM on February 26, 2015


My old band shared a bill with him about ten years ago in Memphis. There was hardly anyone there, but Mr. Belfour was incredibly gracious and put on a beautiful performance. It was only random happenstance that we were put on the same bill, but it's still probably the only real brush with history and greatness I'll have in my musical career.
posted by Dokterrock at 1:40 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


A steady droning back beat is always good for what ails you. I love this stuff.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 3:08 AM on February 26, 2015


I never met him but absolutely love his CDs. It's sad that I apparently own his whole recorded output as a headliner(?) Hopefully someone will put together a more thorough discography.

Those two albums - when I've got the blues, they're what I reach for first.
posted by newdaddy at 5:07 AM on February 26, 2015


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posted by allthinky at 5:59 AM on February 26, 2015


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posted by pt68 at 8:01 AM on February 26, 2015


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posted by unwordy at 9:49 AM on February 26, 2015


Wolfman was a fixture in Memphis, both on Beale Street and at a little coffee shop called Java Cabana, where he used to play for many years. I just saw him play last year. That Mississippi Hill Country style is distinctive and primal, and he was one of the best at it.

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posted by vibrotronica at 11:39 AM on February 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


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posted by doctor_negative at 12:01 PM on February 26, 2015


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