New Year's Eve is fast approaching, and for lots of folks that means... drinking. Plenty of drinking. And since there's no shortage of singers and songwriters who've had a little something to say about that particular topic, maybe some of the following tunes can serve as an appropriate soundtrack to your own joyous (or not?) imbibing of spirits. For example, there's... Jimmy Liggins with his succinct rendition of
Drunk, and there's...
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2011 -
67 comments
When most folks think of "Christmas music" it's doubtful that their next thought will be "the blues", but along with "my baby" or "bad luck" or "leavin' in the morning", bluesmen have long included Christmas as lyric inspiration. Which bluesmen? Well...
Sonny Boy Williamson,
Freddie King,
Blind Blake,
John Lee Hooker,
Lightnin' Hopkins,
Little Milton,
B.B. King,
Smokey Hogg,
Charley Jordan, and last but certainly not least, one of the most influential early bluesmen,
Blind Lemon Jefferson.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 20, 2011 -
23 comments
Happy birthday John Lee Hooker! Let's celebrate by listening to some of your older tunes! "Gonna take you down by the riverside, gonna tie your hands, gonna tie your feet, got the
mad man blues" ... "Now the
war is over, and I'm broke and I ain't got a dime" ... "You know I'm a
crawling king snake, baby, and I rule my nest" ... "Gonna get up in the mornin',
goin' down highway 51" ... "Well I
rolled and I tumbled, babe, I cried the whole night long" ... "
I feel so good, let me do the boogaloo"
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Aug 22, 2011 -
19 comments
Within that small and very specific sub-genre of musical Americana identifiable as the
train imitation, there is one amazing performance, from 1926, that set the standard:
Pan-American Blues. The man who recorded it did a fine and fanciful job of evoking the sounds of a
fox chase as well, and his rhythmically compelling solo rendition of
John Henry stands as testament to the potential for musical greatness achievable by one man and a humble harmonica. He was an African-American who was a founding member of the Grand Ole Opry, a musical institution that we rarely (as in,
never) today associate with black people, and his touching and tragic story, documented
here, is one that will be of interest to those concerned with the racial, economic and socio-cultural history of American popular music. He stands at one of its more unexpected intersections: his name is
DeFord Bailey.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 30, 2010 -
15 comments
Blues Houseparty is a fun, entertaining and highly recommended 57 minute documentary that takes us into a Virginia houseparty of 1989, where the assembled
Piedmont blues and gospel musicians and their friends pick guitars, sing, dance and engagingly reminisce on the houseparties of old. Amidst hearty laughs, barbecue and general good times, the guests recount personal memories of fun and rowdiness, corn liquor, 500-pound hogs, the devil's music and the Lord's music. There's a whole lot of cultural history on display here, a slice of black American life that is all but gone now. The mood is infectious, to say the least, and the music just keeps getting better and better throughout the film. The next best thing to being there!
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Dec 10, 2010 -
13 comments
Born in Big Sandy, Texas in 1874,
Henry Thomas was one of the oldest black musician who ever recorded for the phonograph companies of the 1920′s and his music represents a rare opportunity to hear what American black folk music must have sounded like in the last decade of the 19th century.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 11, 2010 -
21 comments
When the Rolling tones recorded an old blues tune called
You Gotta Move on
Sticky Fingers back in 1971, it was another instance of a tune by an old black man, known only to blues aficionados, suddenly becoming part of the consciousness of a gazillion people who probably never would've heard it otherwise. But let's pay a little visit to the man who originally wrote and recorded the song,
Mississippi Fred McDowell, shall we? Here's a jumping version of
Shake 'em On Down, his haunting
Going Down to the River, the gospel blues of
When I Lay My Burden Down,
Highway 61,
My Babe (you'll note the similarity to "This Train"),
Louise, and his version of the American folk/blues standard
John Henry. And don't miss the beautiful 1969 documentary featuring McDowell at Internet Archive,
Blues Maker, which features some superlative acoustic performances, and footage of the people and environment of the Mississippi delta country.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 23, 2008 -
40 comments
One fine old day in old LA, in the year of nineteen and sixty, one Frederick Usher met
Eddie "One String" Jones, heard him lay down some deep blues on his
diddley bow, and was so taken with Jones'
monochord masterpieces that he ran home, grabbed his tape recorder and recorded Jones in the alley. One other recording session ensued soon thereafter, which was
released as an LP in 1964. By that time, however, the mysterious Eddie Jones (if that was even his real name) was long gone, and was never heard from again.
[NOTE: see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on May 24, 2008 -
22 comments
Dreams and Songs of the Noble Old, a film by Alan Lomax, takes a loving look at the talents and wisdom of elderly musicians, singers, and story-tellers from southern American folk traditions. All the musicians featured in the film have soul and musical energy to spare: great, great performances and engaging reminiscences make this film a real treat. Please see the [more inside] for a collection of links to several of the outstanding performers featured in the film.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Mar 25, 2008 -
15 comments
Kid Bailey was a Mississippi Delta bluesman blessed with the kind of slightly gravel-tinged voice that emanates authority. His recording career was a very short one, however, consisting of
precisely one day, and yielding
precisely two songs. Very little is known about Bailey himself, and the identity of the 2nd accompanying guitarist on his only known recording remains a mystery, though there has been some
some speculation. I've been doing a little speculating myself, regarding some of Bailey's lyrics, and any of you blues linguists who might want to help fill in the blanks, please see the [more inside].
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Feb 21, 2008 -
16 comments
Got My Mojo Working was written by the little-known
Preston Foster and
first recorded in 1956 by the only slightly better-known
Ann Cole. It was, of course,
the Muddy Waters version that became the hit and a signature song for him: he sang it throughout his
entire career, and it has become one of the best-known blues standards of all time. The song itself just has a lot of mojo, you know, so naturally plenty of others have covered it through the years: a small sampling from the YouTubes would include
Carl Perkins,
Willie Dixon,
Elvis Presley,
Clarence Gatemouth Brown,
JJ Cale,
Pinetop Perkins and
Louis Jordan. Hell, even
Bobby Darin couldn't resist the mojo!.
NOTE: Check hoverovers for link descriptions. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Jan 6, 2008 -
19 comments
Each of the following
MySpace Music pages features bios and/or photos and/or videos and/or miscellaneous related materials and/or up to four songs by each of the following Delta Blues (and related) artists:
Ishmon Bracey,
Mance Lipscomb,
Son House,
Blind Willie Johnson,
Charley Patton,
Blind Boy Fuller,
Skip James,
Bukka White,
Blind Willie McTell,
Mississippi Fred McDowell,
Robert Johnson,
Babe Turner,
Blind Lemon Jefferson,
Howling Wolf,
Jessie Mae Hemphill,
Tommy Johnson,
Reverend Gary Davis,
Big Joe Williams,
Mississippi John Hurt,
Ramblin' Willard Thomas,
John Lee Hooker and
Oscar Buddy Woods. And here's some general Blues pages, featuring various artists:
Delta Blues,
Pre-War Blues and
Blind Blues. You see, Delta Blues lovers, I comb MySpace so
you don't have to!
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 18, 2007 -
22 comments
A little over 30 years ago singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell had her limo driver conduct her to the humble home of
bluesman Furry Lewis. Joni was out to cop a little inspiration, which she apparently did, as she subsequently named a
song after him. At that point, the name of Furry Lewis was suddenly made known to millions of people who'd never heard of him before.
Perhaps a few of those folks even sought out Lewis'
recordings. Course, back then there were no CD reissues, no YouTube, no mp3s floating around in the ether. But
you can check out
Mister Furry Lewis now: no need to have your limousine take you to the ghetto! Oh, but as far as Joni's tune, well, Furry
wasn't all that pleased about it.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 30, 2007 -
48 comments
There's a whole lotta Mefiers interested in the upcoming
Led Zeppelin reunion, and it got me to thinking, let's pay a little visit to the Poet Laureate of the blues,
Mr. Willie Dixon. After all, without him, there wouldn't have been a
Whole Lotta Love, or a
Bring It On Home, or... hell, there might not have been any Zep
at all... His music has been
interpreted and
reinterpreted by an
astonishing number of
musicians. The man wrote a
whole lotta songs. Oh, and, he played a little bit of
bass, too. He was a whole lotta
great.
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Sep 13, 2007 -
28 comments
