MetaFilter posts tagged with Blues and rockandroll

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

nebulawindphone — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:51:03 -0800

"She was a rock star," recalls Ira Tucker Jr., who grew up watching Tharpe with his father's gospel group in the 1940s and '50s. "You know, like Beyonce today and people like that. That's what Rosetta was to us." Sister Rosetta Tharpe wasn't the first one to bring black popular music into the church. (Here's the great Arizona Dranes playing barroom honky-tonk piano on the gospel side I Shall Wear a Crown in 1927.) But her fierce stage presence and her original blend of gospel, boogie-woogie, swing and smoking hot blues guitar was a crucial forgotten influence on what we now recognize as rock and roll. (Many more recordings inside. Enjoy!) If you're here for the electric guitar action, you'll want the Red Foley duet and the '60s TV appearances. My personal favorites are the stunning acoustic duets she recorded a decade or two earlier with the Sanctified gospel shouter Marie Knight — try "Up Above my Head" and "Daniel in the Lion's Den." But her range was incredible, everything she recorded was excellent, and comparing her late electric recordings with the earlier versions is a hoot if you're into that sort of thing. Early success with Lucky Millinder's big band: The Lonesome Road (scantily clad dancing girls at 0:45!), Four or Five Times, Trouble in Mind Mid-40s boogie-woogie gospel mega-hit: Strange Things Happening Every Day With Marie Knight in the late '40s: Up Above My Head, Beams of Heaven, My Journey to the Sky, Daniel in the Lion's Den [scroll down to the 7th set] With jubilee singers The Dependable Boys: Everybody's Going to Have a Wonderful Time Up There, My Lord's Gonna Move This Wicked Race, Down By the Riverside Her SCANDALOUS! return to blues in the '50s: Don't Leave Me Here to Cry Duet with country and rockabilly star Red Foley: Have a Little Talk with Jesus Straight-up church choir gospel from the '60s: I Do, Don't You, Seeking for Me, Lily of the Valley TV appearances from the '60s blues revival: Didn't It Rain, Trouble in Mind, Up Above My Head, Down By the Riverside Bonus — the Harmonizing Four singing at Tharpe's stadium-concert-slash-wedding in '51: Mighty Long Way. Sadly, no video. But how rock-star is that?

The blues had a baby and they called it rock & roll

madamjujujive — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:19:00 -0800

John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]

The Show Must Go On

Miko — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 08:24:53 -0800

After the Storm Sometime this weekend, you may be able to hear one of the best expressions of New Orleans’ role in music and culture available in any mass media. It's American Routes, a weekly show carried on many US public radio affiliates. Programmed and hosted by folklorist and UNO professor of folklore and culture Nick Spitzer, the show normally broadcasts from a studio in the heart of the French Quarter, but has found a temporary home on a Creole/Cajun French/English public radio station in Lafayette. Spitzer told the NYT that he began planning the music for this week’s show as he was fleeing the flooding city in his car, playing Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans." This week’s show highlights New Orleans’ recovery from disasters past, emphasizing the city’s role as the greatest single wellspring of American music. The Crescent City, after all, has either birthed or nurtured everything from jazz, R & B, cajun and the related black-influenced zydeco, soul, blues, gospel, and rock and roll.) With an encyclopedic knowledge of American vernacular music, an utterly democratic spirit, and an unmistakeable respect and love for American musical forms and the people who create them, Spitzer has stepped forward several times this week to serve as a compassionate and optimistic spokesman for the irrepressible creative spirit of a suffering city and a culture in diaspora.

Long John Baldry, 1941-2005

docgonzo — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 15:21:19 -0800

He was the patriarch of the British Invasion. In 1962, he released Britain's first blues album. Before they hit it big, the Rolling Stones opened for him. He was on the Beatles first television special. Later, he was in the memorably-named band The Hoochie Coochie Men with Rod Stewart on lead vocals. His next band, Bluesology, featured one Reginald Dwight, who later changed his name to honour his mentor. Moving to Canada in the 1970s he eventually settled in Vancouver, where he died today after suffering from a chest infection. Ladies and gentlemen: "Long John" Baldry has passed.

mediareport — Wed, 10 Jul 2002 01:08:21 -0800

The King of the Jukebox who disturbed the status quo They called rock music jump blues during the World War II era, and this amazingly talented clown was its master, with over fifty Top 10 R&B hits -- eighteen reached #1 -- between 1942 and 1951. Chuck Berry identified with him "more than any other artist." James Brown said, "He was everything" and considered him one of the earliest rappers. A pioneer of music video, the first black artist to cross over from the "race" market to a white audience and a central link between big bands and rock, he was a primary influence on Bill Haley, Ray Charles and B.B. King, who once said, "I wanted to be like him." Rest in peace, Louis Jordan. [Dozens of one-minute song clips here]