Sheboygan Blues Society

The Sun Is Going Down

2012-01-08T15:51:00.001-06:00

A really nice rendition of this Gary Davis tune, played on a Fraulini, no less.

Honeyboy Edwards, RIP

2011-08-30T09:56:00.001-05:00

I Will Do My Last Singing in this Land Somewhere

2011-07-26T06:50:00.001-05:00

Nice rendition of a great Reverend Gary Davis song.

Shuffle Rag

2011-07-10T10:57:00.001-05:00

New Album by Tom Feldmann

2010-12-16T13:01:00.003-06:00

I really like this guy. Great voice, great guitar playing, and a genuine passion for the music. Tom's tribute album to the gospel tunes of some of the great bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Blind Willie Johnson, and Son House, is simply wonderful. From his solo numbers to the songs with the Get-Rites, they all exhibit a respect for their originators. Truly a well-crafted album.

Check out Tom's other work and his videos at www.tomfeldmann.com. You won't be disappointed.

Please support these performers who carry on the traditions.

Reverend Gary Davis

2010-11-15T16:54:00.000-06:00

A nice, though brief, bio of the Reverend.

Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff

2010-09-28T18:32:00.003-05:00

Even though it was more than a week ago, I thought I should make a few remarks about the Jorma concert at Lakeland College recently. In a word, great!

The duo played for nearly two hours, peppering the song selection with many classic blues numbers from the Hot Tuna repertoire like How Long Blues, Know You Rider, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, and Hesitation Blues. They did a powerful rendition of Jorma's own Mann's Fate, Uncle Sam's Blues, and a nice arrangement of Blake's That Will Never Happen No More. Throw in a nice version of Come Back Baby, 99 Year Blues, River of Time (Jorma's own), and many others. Jorma's arrangements of these old tunes is always interesting and inventive -- he doesn't copy the original masters. Though he plays with metal fingerpicks, his style is a real hybrid of Piedmont picking and flatpicking, which often gives his blues tunes a bluegrass tinge.

Jorma released an album some years ago, Blue Country Heart, where he played with a group of some great session musicians in Nashville. From this album, they played Blue Railroad Train, Just Because, Red River Blues, and What Are They Doing in Heaven Today. One of my favorites of the evening, though it's hard to choose as they were all great, was an old hokum tune by Thomas "Georgia Tom" Dorsey, Terrible Operation Blues, with Barry on ukelele. If truth be told, Barry Mitterhoff nearly stole the show -- he is a master on the mandolin, and was simply amazing. If you see this duo coming to your town, you'd be well served to check them out. A very entertaining evening.

Jorma Kaukonen Coming to Lakeland

2010-09-10T18:38:00.002-05:00

I've already got my tickets. Got your tickets yet? Can't go wrong at $15. Next Thursday, Sept 16. Be there.

New Ernie Hawkins CD

2010-08-30T18:43:00.003-05:00

I received the new Ernie Hawkins CD today, "Whinin' Boy," and it's fantastic. Ernie play's his customary Gibson J-200 but this time he's backed by a tasty band of washboard, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, tuba, harmonica and bass. It's music that harkens back to the great 20s and 30s of American music. Some of the tunes include "Makin' Whoopie," "Basin Street Blues," "Shuffle Rag," and "There is a Table in Heaven." Just wonderful music.

See Ernie Hawkins to order.

Harlem Street Singer

2010-08-18T06:35:00.005-05:00

Great news. A documentary about the life of Reverend Gary Davis is being made for a 2011 release. The production crew includes Woody Mann, a brilliant guitarist and one-time student of the Reverend, so this venture has real legitimacy. Anyone can still contribute to the production, and your donation will be acknowledged in the final credits.

Acoustic Traditions - Harlem Street Singer

Frank Vignola - Hot Club - Gypsy Mania

2010-08-02T14:56:00.001-05:00

Great playing, but seriously, these guys need a chill pill. Slow down, man.

Grafton to be added to the Blues Trail!

2010-06-21T17:36:00.002-05:00

See this new post from the Grafton Blues Association. Good stuff!

Clarksdale, Memphis, Chicago…..GRAFTON….you heard right. The Grafton Blues Association has been working with the Village of Grafton and the Mississippi Development/tourism group and the Blues Trail folks and all agree it is time to put Grafton on the Blues Trail! We wanted to get this information to you as soon as it was confirmed. Official press release to follow this week.

We have funds to raise and are asking for your help in spreading the word, and making a donation. ALL donations are needed. $5.00 can go a long way when 1000 folks make the donation!

Please share with on your stations, blogs, enews, facebook, however you communicate, we can use your help!!

The goal is to unveil the marker on September 18 at the 5th annual Paramount Blues Festival.

Please reply and let us know how you can help us get the word out and how we can help you help us. We truly appreciate any and all support getting this Paramount Records marker placed in Grafton.

Thank you for your time and stay tuned!......

Annette Hanshaw

2010-06-03T15:53:00.004-05:00

Though not really blues, I can't help but share my joy over discovering yet another great artist of the 1920s, Annette Hanshaw. I consider the music of this period, 20s and 30s, to be some of the best this country has ever offered the world, blues, jazz or pop.

I hope you enjoy her as much as I do. Check out her other videos and CDs.

Some Serious Picking!

2010-05-17T08:07:00.001-05:00

Paul Geremia Concert

2010-05-13T07:00:00.001-05:00

Blind Boy Fuller's "Jitterbug Rag"

2010-05-11T08:28:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday, Reverend Gary Davis!

2010-04-30T07:48:00.002-05:00

Born on this day, 1896 in South Carlolina.

Jeff Beck talks about his new studio album

2010-04-14T10:24:00.000-05:00

I don't usually listen to electric guitar any longer, but you gotta hand it to Beck, at age 65, still playing great music. Good interview.

I Am The Heavenly Way

2010-04-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Another great Ventresco video -- playing his Fraulini!

2010-04-03T14:52:00.002-05:00

By the way, the wider YouTube videos now don't fit in the Blogger window, so I guess you have to go directly to YouTube to see some of these in their intended format. Stupid computers!

The Great Hacksaw Harney

2010-03-30T17:54:00.001-05:00

It may not be blues ... but it's awesome!

2010-03-06T19:13:00.001-06:00

Tom Feldmann Coming to Sheboygan!

2010-03-01T11:43:00.002-06:00

For those of you already familiar with the music of Tom Feldmann from this blog know what a great talent he is. I'm really happy to say that I've learned that Tom will be at the Green Room Pub on Indiana Avenue in Sheboygan on Saturday, June 12!

Don't miss this show!

Take 'Em To The Door Blues

2010-02-23T11:47:00.001-06:00

From 1925, this nice little ditty. Check out the lyrics.

Live So God Can Use You

2010-02-08T18:38:00.000-06:00

Another great song by Tom.

Sheboygan Shakedown

2010-01-31T08:55:00.003-06:00

I wasn't able to make it to Memphis to cheer on the Hot Shots, but here is a performance of an original tune, "Sheboygan Shakedown," by the Hot Shots at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis last week.

CF Martin... one man's journey

2010-01-29T17:54:00.002-06:00

This was a nice find on the website of the American Spectator, "Martin and Me," by Christopher Orlet:

I have always envied those who grew up in musical households, where instrumental ability was second nature, like slowing down when you spot a cop on the highway. If fine literature was in short supply in my boyhood home, musical instruments were even scarcer. I may have been the first in our family to have owned a stringed instrument, let alone learn to strum a few chords. I suspect this was because our family tree sprouted in hard German soil, and while the greatest classical composers may have been Krauts, you do not find many folks with Teutonic names on the country-western charts, and even fewer in my CD collection. (Paul Westerberg is probably the exception.)

Read the rest here at Martin and Me.

Another Ventresco Video

2010-01-17T18:17:00.000-06:00

Lord, I'm Coming Home

2010-01-12T16:46:00.003-06:00

Another great rendition by Tom Feldmann. This guy just gives me chills -- he's incredible. He plays regularly in and around Wisconsin, so I encourage those of you who like his music to contact him and if you have any sway with local music establishments -- Z-Spot, Paradigm, etc. -- that he'd be a great performer to book.

One of These Days

2010-01-11T14:04:00.002-06:00

Check this guy out, Tom Feldmann. Terrific interpretations of old blues and gospels. This is one of my favorites, an original.

Americana

2009-12-27T18:04:00.000-06:00

Great old American tune, with Craig Ventresco on guitar.

Ernie Hawkins does 'Whinin' Boy'

2009-12-26T12:14:00.001-06:00

Another great tune by my favorite living guitarist.

Doo Wop

2009-11-22T16:14:00.006-06:00

Besides 20s and 30s blues and ragtime, my other love is late 40s and 50s Doo Wop -- what great music! Here are a few of my all time favorites:

Hokum Blues

2009-11-22T09:54:00.001-06:00

Tickled to Death

2009-11-22T09:50:00.001-06:00

New Fraulini Ad on the way

2009-11-22T09:01:00.003-06:00

Found this on Todd's blog yesterday. It's a great reproduction of the old time instrument catalogs. Great job, Todd!

Waverlys

2009-11-22T08:26:00.002-06:00

I installed some new Waverly tuners on my slothead Martin 000-15S over the weekend. What can I say, they look as great as they work!

Hesitating Blues

2009-11-22T08:11:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday USMC

2009-11-10T12:40:00.006-06:00

Not blues related, but important. Today is the 234th birthday of the US Marine Corps.
Semper Fi, Dad.

Great Article About Ernie Hawkins

2009-11-10T08:14:00.003-06:00

Here's a great article about perhaps my favorite living guitarist, Ernie Hawkins. Check it out.

Blues Art Journal

Big City Blues by Ventresco

2009-10-15T16:25:00.001-05:00

Springtime Rag by Ventresco

2009-10-15T16:20:00.001-05:00

Ventresco

2009-10-15T16:14:00.002-05:00

You're going to be seeing more posts from me about this amazing guitarist, Craig Ventresco. In this clip he is merely a supporting player, but where he does his old time vaudeville and ragtime tunes he will astound.

The Hotshots at the HarvestFest

2009-10-07T05:09:00.003-05:00

Good times were had by all with blues, ragtime and some hokum and jug music provided by Michael Ammons and the Water Street Hot Shots at the Sheboygan Harvest Fest last weekend. Lil' Rev was a special guest blowing that harmonica and picking that uke! If you missed it -- well, you missed it!

Austin Music Historian Discovers Blind Willie Johnson’s Grave

2009-08-10T11:38:00.002-05:00

From the Texas Psychedelic Rock website:

AUSTIN, TX - July 27, 2009 – Since his death in 1945, the grave of Blind Willie Johnson, one of the greatest bottleneck-slide guitarists of all time, has been unmarked. Now, thanks to 18 months of research and a dozen visits to the Blanchette Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas by Austinite Jack Ortman, the final resting place of this influential Texas musician will get the recognition it deserves.

Johnson’s music has always been revered by his fellow musicians. His songs have been covered by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, White Stripes, Bruce Springsteen, Hot Tuna, the Grateful Dead and countless other artists. More than 30 years after his death, Johnson’s recording of “Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)” was included on a Sounds of Earth record launched into space onboard NASA’s Voyager One. Nearly 60 years after Johnson’s death, Texas guitar legend Johnny Winter called that song one of his 10 favorite songs in a Guitar World interview.

Johnson’s childhood, like his untimely death, was heartbreaking. His mother died when he was a baby; his step-mother blinded him with lye when he was seven years old. (His song “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” was covered by Clapton on 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974.) One of Columbia’s biggest selling race recording stars during the Great Depression, Johnson recorded 30 songs between 1927 and 1930. When the economy ended his recording career, he became a Baptist minister. He operated a “House of Prayer” in Beaumont with his wife and continued to perform on street corners. In 1945, a fire ravaged their home. With nowhere to go and little funds, they slept on newspapers on their water-damaged bed. Johnson caught pneumonia but was turned away at a local hospital because he was blind (or black, depending upon the source). He died within a week: his final resting place unknown; his grave unmarked.

Determined to uncover that page of Texas history, Ortman began making the 230 mile trek from Austin to Beaumont every two or three weeks. “I’m into the history of music and musicians of the Golden Triangle − Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur, Texas” he explained. “During my research, I kept coming across information that Blind Willie had lived in Beaumont during the 30s and 40s. The sources also revealed that he died in Beaumont. My natural curiosity made me search further and I started finding information that no one was sure where he was buried. That was it, my moment of realization, and I thought, ‘What a perfect project for me’.”

Ortman began researching Johnson’s life, collecting books, articles, and CD liner notes. After reading an article in the Austin American Statesman by Michael Corcoran, and a chapter about Johnson in Corcoran’s book All Over the Map, he learned that Corcoran had found a copy of the Johnson’s death certificate that noted he was buried in Blanchette Cemetery.

Ortman headed for that cemetery and met Estraleta Sonnier, the new director of Community Cemeteries, an umbrella organization for several Beaumont cemeteries. He then hooked up with the Tyrrell Historical Library and the Jefferson County Historical Commission and was told Johnson was buried at Community Cemeteries, which had him searching two additional burial grounds. After a couple of dead ends at those cemeteries, he once again focused on Blanchette.

Johnson was buried in a pauper’s grave in the “colored section” of the Blanchette Cemetery, which has a chain link fence separating the white and black sections. When Ortman discovered his final resting place in July, Johnson had been dead for almost 65 years. Sam Charters, music historian, record producer, and author of The Country Blues, The Legacy of the Blues, and several other books on blues and jazz, searched for his grave in the mid 1950s. Corcoran abandoned his search in 2003. Ortman believed the time was right to try again and credits his success to a number of factors.

“Right from the beginning, I felt if I were to have any success, I needed the involvement of all the players,” he said. “My objective was getting to know the people at the cemetery and all the historical commissions on a personal basis. Discovering the location took combining the “Industrial Maps” of Beaumont from the 1920s to the 1960s; having a new director of the Blanchette Cemetery; utilizing overhead aerial photos from satellites in space; timing; and a lot of luck.”

“I think other researchers had been looking for a gravestone with Blind Willie’s name chiseled on it,” he added. “When I found out he was buried in a paupers grave, it changed the focus of my search. After I eliminated all the ‘marked’ and ‘paid for’ tombs and narrowed what was left as the paupers graves, I had found the last of the missing ‘Blues Founding Fathers’.”

Requirements for an Official Texas Historical Marker from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) are stringent and require applications to be submitted by a county historical commission. The Jefferson County Historical Commission is submitting Ortman’s application this fall. When approved, the THC writes the inscription, requires payment for the marker (approximately $1500, already pledged by an anonymous donor), and has a foundry cast the marker. Ortman plans to host an unveiling ceremony with the Jefferson County Historical Commission when the wait is finally over.

“Well deserved and 65 years overdue, Blind Willie Johnson will finally get the recognition he deserves as a seminal Texas musician,” Ortman added.

By Mary Lou Sullivan

Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues

2009-08-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

I must be on a roll!

Lookin' Good But Feelin' Bad

2009-08-06T17:35:00.003-05:00

Another awesome performance of an 80-year old tune by Fats Waller!

Dinah

2009-08-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

I just love these guys! I always knew I was born too late....

Stardust -- a reinterpretation

2009-06-21T19:47:00.001-05:00

Enjoy this video. What cool stylings of this great 1927 jazz-pop song by Hoagy Carmichael.

Congratulations to Michael Ammons and the Hotshots!

2009-05-15T09:29:00.001-05:00

Congratulations to Michael Ammons and the Water Street Hotshots for winning this year's Grafton Blues Challenge last weekend. They were the only acoustic group on the bill and took away top honors. Now it's on to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge.

Good luck!

Tonewoods

2009-05-13T08:31:00.006-05:00

I've never thought too much about the wood my guitars are constructed of, except from a visual aspect. I have a beautiful flamed maple parlor from Larrivee, for example. It's fun to play, and great to look at. So I hadn't thought about guitar materials outside of the woods we're all familiar with: rosewood, spruce, mahogany, maple. But if you start looking into the guitars of the 20s and 30s, you see guitars constructed from other woods, like oak and birch.

Recently I began the early steps into having a 1920-30s Stella-style guitar built for me by a Wisconsin luthier. One of the choices I had to make was the wood from which the back and sides of the guitar will be constructed. I could have gone with the old standard, mahogany. I have several "hog" guitars now, so I'm quite familiar with the sonic qualities of that tonewood.

But I discovered a few things during my research on the internet concerning tonewoods for guitar.
(1) Guitar players, and perhaps to a lesser extent, luthiers themselves, have a very narrow idea of what makes a good tonewood.
(2) Oak, despite the fact that it was commonly used decades ago, is held in low regard, primarily, I believe, out of ignorance.
(3) There do exist tonewood "heretics" out there who are all to happy to experiment with alternative woods.

One such heretic is luthier John Calkin. I discovered his article "The Heretic's Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods" in which he claims that the whole concept of a tonewood is a hoax.

"First of all (and speaking from a steel string guitar perspective), let's discard the notion that some species of wood make good instruments and that others don't. The concept of a tonewood is a hoax. Of the few things that we can do to a guitar and still call it a guitar, changing the wood it is made of will have the least impact upon the quality of the sound that it produces."

It is a thought-provoking article for those interested in this sort of thing, and I recommend reading the entire article via the link provided.

Then I came across a site by Neil Harpe, Stella Guitars. Neil is helping to save and revive many old guitars, including the old Stellas which I am interested in. On his site, he shows us the reconstruction of an oak-spruce Stella. Well, that pretty much sealed the deal for me -- my Stella repro is going to be oak and spruce, with reproduction fingerboard inlays like the Stella in Neil's restoration. Here is a photo of the finished restoration -- visit Neil's site for some great info, Stella shirts, reproductions of classic guitar catalogs, much more.

Slow Season

2009-03-08T09:42:00.010-05:00

I haven't been very active on this blog lately -- just not much going on.

There have been some notable blues deaths: John Cephas (shown at left) just passed away, and a few weeks ago Snooks Eaglin died at age 73.

I haven't made it to any local concerts -- I just can't take the smoke any more (damn smokers!) -- though I do have tickets for the Blue Note 70th Anniversary concert at Lakeland College later this month:

To mark the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the premier label in jazz, an all-star band featuring some of the finest musicians today is traveling the world celebrating this rich catalog of music. Led by Blue Note Records artist and pianist Bill Charlap, the group will explore classic tunes by Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and many others. Joining Charlap in this talented ensemble will be Ravi Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophone, Pat Martino on guitar, Lewis Nash on drums, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Peter Washington on bass and Steve Wilson on alto saxophone.

I've been playing my guitar, working out Reverend Gary Davis' version of "I'll Fly Away," a challenging version in the key of G. That's about it.

A Sign of the Times

2009-01-21T08:14:00.002-06:00

As another sign of the times the Hal Leonard Corporation has withdrawn its support for the Jazz Series at the Pabst Theater. Unless another sponsor is found, which is very unlikely, there will be no Jazz Series this year. This is unfortunate, as I've enjoyed the great talent the series has brought to Milwaukee the past years (see some of my old posts on concert reviews).

Archie Edwards

2009-01-07T09:28:00.004-06:00

I just ran across this bluesman, Archie Edwards (1918-1998). He's a bit rough around the edges -- guitar playing-wise -- but I'm enjoying his CD, The Toronto Sessions, Vol 1, recorded in 1986.

In June of 1986, Archie Edwards was in Toronto to perform a concert and was persuaded by producer Serge Sloimovits to go into the studio. The result was enough songs on tape to produce two albums, but the songs were never released. When Fred Litwin founded NorthernBlues Music in 2000, he heard about this nearly forgotten musical treasure and approached Sloimovits, from whom he bought the master tapes. The result is this historic CD.

Check him out if you enjoy really downhome Piedmont blues.

Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell

2008-12-11T06:28:00.010-06:00

Last December I purchased this book about Blind Willie McTell. At that time I wrote:

I have mixed feelings about this book thus far.

The first six chapters had my eyes crossed a few times trying to keep all the genealogy straight. Michael Gray, the author, goes into excruciatingly painful detail on the search through all the records to trace the relatives of Willie McTell, and cites tedious census entries. Perhaps entertaining for true genealogists, but terribly boring for a reader like myself. I would rather Gray had gone straight to the results, but then the book wouldn't have been as long, I guess. A genealogy chart might have helped keep things straight and made his narrative easier to follow.

So thus far, a hundred and some odd pages into the book, I'm disappointed. But don't get me wrong, if you're a lover of this music and Willie McTell's music in particular, it's still worth slogging through all the census lists and political sniping. And looking on the bright side, it can only get better from here -- I hope.

Well, I'm still struggling with this book, and my opinion now is that this is a waste of time. I've read a lot of praise for this book on other blues-related websites and forums, and I just don't understand it. You've heard the expression, "the book was so good I couldn't put it down." This is one book, once started, is hard to pick up again. A more boring, plodding, narrative I can't imagine. It is a morass of census data, geographical minutiae, and personal political sniping at the Republican administration:

He was buried at Zoar United Methodist Church. Its postal address is Stapleton (which is in Jefferson County), but it's on Zoar Church Road, which is, appropriately for Reddick, just inside Glascock and only half a mile from Warren and a further mile from McDuffie.

What? I would have been satisfied with the first sentence, I didn't need a detailed map. This is what the book is like -- endless meandering and pointless description. Then there's the author's personal political sniping, entirely pointless, but apparently since it's his book he feels a need to vent his own Bush-derangement, even though it adds nothing to the story he's trying to tell and simply detracts from the narrative:

Library staff see all the corner-cutting and encroaching bureaucracy, but what I see is that, discounting small obduracies in small branches, the library system in America stands for all the civilized values that George W. Bush and the boyz-in-the-hood equally would destroy at a stroke if they could.

As far as I'm concerned, the author has taken what should have been an entertaining story and turned it into an unreadable mess. I can't state this too strongly: I'm sorry I wasted the money and time on this literary abomination. And I haven't said that about too many books in my life. It's no surprise to me that no American publisher has picked up the rights to this book yet. And to think I had to pay a premium to get this book shipped from England! What a waste!

Have A "Blue" Christmas

2008-11-30T08:04:00.005-06:00

One of my favorite CDs for this time of year is "Blue Yule: Christmas Blues & R&B Classics," a compilation of blues and R&B tunes fitting for the season.

The disc includes songs by John Lee Hooker, Louis Jordan, Detroit Junior, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Charles Brown, among others.

This is a good antidote to the same old canned Christmas music which seems to be everywhere. Give me these blues tunes AND a little Handel and Bach -- and I'm good for the season!

That'll Never Happen No More

2008-11-27T09:03:00.003-06:00

Here's a really nice version of the Blind Blake classic by John Jackson, circa 1970.

And where can I get a pair of socks like that? Wow.

A Nice Little Ditty

2008-11-05T09:39:00.001-06:00

A nice little version of a Buddy Moss tune. Love the overalls.

"I Found A New Baby"

2008-10-23T06:59:00.003-05:00

Here's another video by our own Water Street Hot Shots.

Classic jazz tune, this version inspired by McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Performed by Ammons and The Water Street Hot Shots from Sheboygan, WI. Features the world's hottest sinkaphone solo. Recorded Sept. 27, 2008 at the Jacksonport Town Hall Bakery, Door County, Wisconsin.

Check out McKinney's Cotton Pickers for some amazing hot jazz from the 20s and 30s -- the great tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins played with this band, and their recordings are amazing.

Diddie Wah Diddie

2008-10-08T15:19:00.001-05:00

Oh, Glory How Happy I Am

2008-10-01T08:13:00.004-05:00

Oh, when I was out in the world of sin
I had no one to be my friend
Jesus came and he taken me in
Glory, hallelu
And he taken my feet out the miry clay
He placed them up on a rock to stay
I thank God that I can say
Glory, hallelu

Oh, Glory how happy I am
Oh, Glory how happy I am
My soul is washed in the blood of the lamb
Glory, hallelu

I was out in darkness and I could not see
Jesus came and he rescued me
He claimed me and gave me a victory
Glory, hallelu
And one day while Jesus was passing by
He set my sinful soul on fire
He made me laugh and he made me cry
Glory, hallelu

Uplifting Blues When You're Blue

2008-09-30T11:57:00.003-05:00

Probably my favorite hymn/gospel tune is "I'll Fly Away," and no one, to my mind, does a better job of it than the Reverend Gary Davis. So, since the time seems appropriate right now, with the recent deaths in my family, for some joyful noise, here it is.

A non-music related subject

2008-09-28T16:29:00.007-05:00

I'm going to go against my own self-imposed prohibition against non-music related issues on this post. I promise I won't make it a habit.

In the last four months I've lost a younger sister and, most recently this weekend, my father, to cancer. Aside from the utter wickedness and relentlessness of that disease, is there anything to be learned from these last four months of high emotion, regrets, hospitals, pain, suffering, and death?

What comes to my mind foremost is this: Time goes on and we don't know what next week let alone the next day will bring. I guess that's pretty self-evident. Yet, in the fast-paced, sometimes self-absorbed, world we find ourselves in, it's so easy to forget this immutable fact of life.

Don't postpone that trip with your friends that you've been meaning to take for the last few years. Don't work those overtime hours at the expense of time with your family or friends, or at the expense of your favorite hobby. Play that guitar. Do what is important, and do it today. You may not have tomorrow.

I wanted to take my dad to see the Lambeau Field renovations in Green Bay. We often talked about when “down the road” we would do that. But something always got in the way. We'll never take that trip now.

I wanted my sister, someone who, in her short existence, had never been on a plane, to experience that and to see a little of the desert in Arizona where I used to live. We'll never take that trip now.

There are other similar regrets.

For my dad, from a bumper sticker on his desk: On the Eighth Day God Created Marines.

Semper Fi, dad.

Darktown Strutters Ball

2008-09-17T10:52:00.002-05:00

Here's a great job with one of my favorite songs from the 1920s. And even a verse in Swedish! And here's a link to the band, The Piedmont Project, from Sweden.

Jazz Guitar at the Z-Spot

2008-09-17T07:05:00.001-05:00

Tonight, September 17, the Z Spot Coffeehouse on Indiana Avenue (Sheboygan) will host Rick Gustafson and Dave Sullivan on guitars from 6:30 to 8:30.

Thanks to Jon M. for the tip on this one!

The Water Street Hot Shots

2008-08-26T15:26:00.003-05:00

Imagine my surprise when I discovered this little gem today! Now all of you who love blues, ragtime and hokum can see and hear what you're missing on Sunday evenings at the Water Street Pub. In fact, I think I was there on this night, but my usual spot is just to the left of the camera shot, the last stool at the bar. See you there!

East River String Band w/ R. Crumb

2008-08-26T15:07:00.002-05:00

East River String Band doing Mississippi John Hurt's "Ain't No Tellin'."
That's R. Crumb on the left on mando. Very cool.

Eden and John's East River String Band

2008-08-26T14:44:00.005-05:00

Here is the website for the East River String Band, the great folks that brought you the two previous videos. I just love their stuff. And yes, that's R. Crumb who did the cover of their new CD, "Some Cold Rainy Day." How cool is that? You've got to check these guys out, they're tremendous!

Here's a brief "bio" from their website:

"John and Eden met at the comic book store Forbidden Planet. At first they did not get along, as John refused to admit that yes, Betty is way hotter than Veronica. Eventually John and Eden realized how much they had in common, such as their mutual love of cheese, and they fell in love. Obviously, the only thing left to do was form a string band and play old-timey hilbilly jug band music from the 1920's and 30's. Come and hear them play live and you will hear all of your old-time favorites songs."

Charley Patton's Screamin' and Hollerin' & Pony Blues

2008-08-21T20:11:00.003-05:00

I love these videos!!! What great versions of these songs. Check out their other videos -- all good stuff. Enjoy!

How A Larrivee Guitar is Made

2008-08-18T16:50:00.001-05:00

Check out this great 5-part series on how Larrivee Guitars are made. Very interesting and gives you a new appreciation for what goes into an acoustic guitar.

Robert Johnson RIP

2008-08-16T09:31:00.002-05:00

Robert Johnson died on this day in 1938.

Let's listen to some RJ today.

Paramount Blues Festival

2008-08-05T14:21:00.001-05:00

It May Not Be Blues, But ...

2008-08-03T07:43:00.011-05:00

... but it was a great show of classic jazz at Manning's Irish Pub on the north side of Sheboygan last evening.

Called by some "one of the greatest living clarinetists active on the American jazz scene," Chuck Hedges played with a trio of guitar and bass at the intimate setting of Manning's, going through several sets of tunes from the Great American Songbook. Cheek to Cheek, Stardust, Liza, Broadway, I Want To be Happy, and Dinah, were just a few of the great standards featured in their two long sets.Hedges' guitarist was Dave Sullivan, a Sheboygan native, who played a mean Gibson. This guy is really good. Dave plays regularly with Hedges in a quartet (called The Milwaukee Connection, with vibes, drums and bass) every Thursday evening at The Grove in Milwaukee, as well as concert appearances around the country.

Here is a snippet from the liner notes of one of Hedges' albums:

The genre is swinging chamber jazz, possibly what the pioneering Benny Goodman sextet might sound like today, if BG, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, et al, were still alive and playing. Amazingly, nothing here sounds dated. These cats have stayed current.

Leader, Chuck Hedges is featured, as a musician of high international standing. A Milwaukee area resident, Hedges has long commuted to his former Chicago home for a regular gig Monday Evenings 5:00 - 8:30 pm at Andy's. Several times a year, he flies to concerts and/or record dates around the world.

Sad to say that the crowd was sparse, however enthusiastic. It always surprises me to find such musical treasures in Sheboygan. I just wish more people would take advantage of them.

Sheboygan Blues Society

2008-07-13T13:18:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while -- let's just say that life intervened and I haven't had much time to devote to the site.

I will have some new postings in the coming week.

Thanks.

2008 Paramount Blues Festival

2008-06-03T07:15:00.003-05:00

It's not too soon to make your plans for this years Paramount Blues Festival, September 19-20, in Grafton, Wisconsin. Honeyboy Edwards make yet another appearance, and headlining the evening are Tab Benoit and Elvin Bishop.

Check it out HERE with our friends at the Grafton Blues Association.

Russell Malone at the Pabst

2008-05-11T18:34:00.003-05:00

Russell Malone is a jazz guitarist who cut his professional chops backing up singers like Harry Connick, Jr. and Diana Krall. He's also played with Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Natalie Cole, Wynton Marsalis, David Sanborn, Shirley Horn, and Christina Aguilera. But jazz had always been his first love, and he's now carved out his own successful solo career.

Saturday evening he played the final concert in the Hal Leonard Jazz Series with his quartet of piano, drums and contrabass. They played a great mix of original compositions and American standards like "Witchcraft" and "Ain't Misbehavin."

Not only is Malone a great musician, but his banter and connection with the audience was entertaining as well. To finish the evening he asked the crowd, "Does Milwaukee love the blues?" The crowd yelled back. "Then hang on to your hats," and he cranked his amp and broke into a blues solo that would make B. B. King or Eric Clapton proud. But the crowd wouldn't let them leave, and they returned for an encore of his own composition "Mugshot," from the Sweet Georgia Peach album.

Honeyboy Edwards

2008-05-11T09:15:00.001-05:00

Here is a good look at Honeyboy these days as he approaches his 93rd birthday. From CHRIS TALBOTT, Associated Press Writer.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — With his 93rd birthday a month away, David "Honeyboy" Edwards admits it's getting hard to walk long distances.

Fortunately for the man believed to be the oldest surviving Delta bluesman, fans and admirers never let him walk more than a few feet at a time. Every few steps, someone wants to shake his hand, offer a gift or share news of common friends.

"It's like this everywhere we go," Edwards' manager, Michael Frank, said during the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation ceremony Friday to honor the Shaw native. "He can't walk through a crowded room."

Edwards has a legacy that almost no living musician can match, and as the last Delta bluesman still standing he has found himself in demand. In the past year alone, he has released a new album, won Grammy and Handy Awards, appeared in "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," and done interviews for three documentaries due out in 2009 and 2010.

With all the activity, though, Edwards finds he is often tired these days. He was in Tunica on Thursday for the Blues Music Awards, in Jackson on Friday, and in Crystal Springs on Saturday to play a festival on a bill that included Pinetop Perkins, one of the few musicians who can claim to have known Edwards when he was a young man.

Edwards, who turns 93 on June 28, will get a day to rest when he returns to Chicago, and then it's off to Europe for 10 dates. He still plays about 70 gigs a year and the calls keep coming.

Even among the footloose group of blues musicians who gained fame in the 1930s and '40s, Edwards was known for his far-ranging travels.

"When I was young, I was everywhere," Edwards said.

Edwards learned the guitar growing up in Shaw, started playing professionally at age 17 in Memphis and by the 1950s had played with almost every bluesman of note — Tommy Johnson, Charlie Patton, Big Joe Williams, Sonny Boy Williamson I, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters — across the decades.

Edwards was honored by the Johnson foundation along with the late Ike Zinnerman, who is believed to be the teacher who helped Johnson become the envy of his fellow bluesmen and a touchstone for a generation of rock 'n' roll musicians.

Though much time has passed, little about Edwards' style has changed. His latest album, "Roamin' and Ramblin'," offers the kind of music Edwards would have played as he traveled first the Delta, then the region.

"Blues ain't never going anywhere," Edwards said. "It can get slow, but it ain't going nowhere. You play a lowdown dirty shame slow and lonesome, my mama dead, my papa across the sea I ain't dead but I'm just supposed to be blues. You can take that same blues, make it uptempo, a shuffle blues, that's what rock 'n' roll did with it. So blues ain't going nowhere. Ain't goin' nowhere."

Happy Birthday, Bob

2008-05-08T13:57:00.002-05:00

I'd be remiss if I allowed today, May 8, to pass without acknowledging Robert Johnson's birthday, born on this day in 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi.

He would only make it to 27 years of age, dying under somewhat mysterious circumstances.

April 29

2008-04-28T17:19:00.004-05:00

Duke Ellington was born on this day in 1899.
Otis Rush was born in 1934.
Leroy Carr died on this day in 1935 in Indianapolis.

Stacey Kent at the Pabst

2008-04-21T09:36:00.009-05:00

Sunday evening I got to see and hear jazz vocalist Stacey Kent and her group at the Pabst Theater. To be honest, I had never heard of her before seeing her listed as one of the performers for this season's Hal Leonard Jazz Series. Of course that's part of the beauty of signing on for the entire season each year -- you get exposed to performers you'd never seek out on your own. Okay, back to Stacey Kent.

Stacey and her husband (and arranger, producer and sax player), Jim Tomlinson, are great fans of the Great American Songbook -- Gershwin, Kern, Rogers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin -- you get the idea, so her albums and concerts are peppered with those great songs: Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered; What A Wonderful World; The Trolley Song; If I Were A Bell. Great stuff.

There also were several originals that were just spectacular, and to my mind are instant classics of the genre, The Ice Hotel, Breakfast On The Morning Tram, and So Romantic (in fact, I bought them all on iTunes this morning, as they were still bouncing around in my mind since last evening). All these are on her new album.

If you like the American Standards, and some great original material that is destined to become part of those standards, check out Stacey Kent. However she won't be around the States again any time soon, as last evening was their last American show for some time -- they departed for Europe this morning for a long 20-country concert tour.

Read the Michael Drew review from the Milwaukee paper HERE.

Happy Birthday, Billie

2008-04-09T06:20:00.002-05:00

A few days late, but Happy Birthday to my favorite female vocalist, Billie Holiday. She would have been 93 on Monday.

Lil' Rev at the Z-Spot

2008-03-29T10:26:00.009-05:00

Friday evening I saw a "Midwestern Traveling Musician and Storyteller," Lil' Rev, at the Z Spot on Indiana Avenue in Sheboygan. A multi-instrumentalist -- banjo, mandolin, a variety of ukuleles, guitar, harmonica -- Lil' Rev is a born storyteller for sure. Every song, every instrumental piece had a story behind it -- and of course, in reality, they do -- but we rarely get such an entertaining, engaging, repartee with the audience.

His music primarily comes from the great works of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, and it runs from blues, to jazz, to ragtime, country and bluegrass. He even did a verse in Yiddish! My personal favorite was his rendition of Leroy Carr-Scrapper Blackwell's 1928 "How Long, How Long Blues" on harmonica and baritone ukulele. It was great!

He finished the evening with a few duets with guest performer Michael Lee Ammons (of the Water Street Hot Shots) on his National Delphi.
It was an entertaining evening, made even better by the smoke-free, friendly confines of the Z Spot coffeehouse.

Check out Lil' Rev the next time he's in town. He'll be in Plymouth tonight (Saturday, March 29) and back at the Z Spot on Friday, April 11, according to his website.

Don't miss him.

Chris Potter at the Pabst

2008-03-23T07:36:00.004-05:00

Last evening I saw tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and his group at the Pabst Theater. Chris has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to Steely Dan. This YouTube clip features the same drummer and guitarist as he had last night. The keyboard player was replaced with bass. He played this same tune on bass clarinet and tenor sax, a jazz rendition of "It Ain't Me, Babe," the Bob Dylan tune. Great concert.

Recent Concerts

2008-03-17T18:23:00.008-05:00

I've been remiss in not posting many concert reviews lately -- no excuses, just plain laziness, I suppose. So, despite the fact that these weren't "blues" concerts, here are a few very brief sketches.

On February 14 I saw Esperanza Spalding Trio and the Gretchen Parlato Duo perform separately and together at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Spalding is a young double bass prodigy. With a drummer and pianist making up the trio, she put on a dazzling show. Amazing at all that she came to little old Sheboygan -- I am glad I didn't miss this one.

Opening for her was the up and coming jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato. She was accompanied by a guitarist from West Africa whose chops reminded me of some of the playing of King Sunny Ade -- I could really hear the West African influences in his playing. On a side note, apparently her father played with Frank Zappa a lifetime ago.

On February 23 I saw Jacky Terrasson at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. It was the first concert of this season's Hal Leonard Jazz Series. Jacky is an amazing pianist, winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition and two-time Grammy nominee. I've never been disappointed by any of the artists in the Jazz Series over the past few years. And this show was no exception. His playing reminded me of Keith Jarrett, one of my all-time favorite pianists.

Sam Chatmon Solo

2008-03-14T07:24:00.001-05:00

Republic Guitars

2008-03-07T10:19:00.004-06:00

I just added a link to Republic Guitars. They've got some very reasonably priced instruments for sale, and in particular I love those parlor size wood-body resonators they make, like the one pictured above. I'd love to get one of those.

And here's a video sample:

Check 'em out.

Keith Richards and the Blues

2008-02-25T18:46:00.003-06:00

One of my favorite artists -- Keith Richards -- with a little casual blues lesson.

Sweet Home Chicago - Like You've Never Heard It

2008-02-23T12:30:00.002-06:00

... on a ukulele, no less, with slide! Very cool.

Echo Productions

2008-02-21T06:38:00.007-06:00

Thanks to a tip from John in North East England, I searched out Echo Productions on the internet, and what I found just had to be shared.

First, they've made a trailer for a series of documentaries, "Gettin' The Blues," about the history of blues in the UK. The trailer is available for viewing, however I haven't been able to determine whether or not the actual documentaries have been completed. I suspect not. Still, the trailer is worth watching.

Second, the full-length documentary "Ramblin' Boy's: A Journey, The Martin Stephenson/Charlie Poole Connection" is available for viewing HERE. It is just over an hour long and very entertaining.

"Ramblin' Boys was our first feature length Documentary. It tells the story of local troubadour Martin Stephenson's journey to North Carolina in the USA during 2000 to produce a CD of field recordings from some long forgotten country musicians. On his way he discovered great old time country musician Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers." -- from the website

Thanks, John, for the tip!

The Blues Trail

2008-02-18T12:49:00.003-06:00

I want to alert you blues lovers to a great resource, The Blues Trail, at www.thebluestrail.com. I've added it to my links on the right side of this page.

Some outstanding information about "first generation" blues artists. Check it out!

Legends of Chicago Blues

2008-02-12T08:05:00.001-06:00

The Death of a Bluesman

2008-02-10T16:10:00.000-06:00

I ran across this obituary of Yank Rachell today. Upon reading it, it struck me as so typical of the great old bluesmen whose music we love. They made great music, got practically nothing for it, and died penniless. It's a sad story. But it's worth reading and learning how these great musicians lived, and died.

Bluesman Yank Rachell dies at 87

By Marc D. Allan / The Indianapolis Star/News

INDIANAPOLIS (Thur. April 10, 1997) -- James "Yank" Rachell, 87, who helped define the sound of blues-mandolin playing as a young man in Tennessee and as an old man in Indianapolis, died Wednesday.

Among the last of the old bluesmen, Rachell started his career in Memphis in 1929 with "Divin' Duck Blues," which he recorded with Sleepy John Estes and Jab Jones. His song "She Caught the Katy" was a blues standard performed in, among other places, the movie "The Blues Brothers."

Rachell played and recorded intermittently throughout his life, making records in the last few years with John Sebastian and local musicians such as Beki Brindle, Larry DeMyer and Dave Morgan.

"Our loss is his tremendous musicianship, his talents as a composer and arranger, and the personality and strength of character that permitted him to be getting better as his age increased," Sebastian said.

"He was so much more than a musical influence," Brindle added. "He was a friend and I just loved him so much. Whenever we played, even when we practiced, it was like an event. He helped me understand performing the blues. He helped me keep it real onstage, keep the humor in it, keep the personal contact with the audience in it. I watched him. I saw how he operated."

Born March 16, 1910, Rachell grew up in Brownsville, Tenn. He often told the story of trading a pig -- which would have made several meals for his family -- to get his first mandolin. It turned out to be a worthwhile swap.

"He was the only blues musician I know who maintained the mandolin tradition in the blues with great success," said John Ruskey, curator of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Miss. "The mandolin was at one time commonly found in the blues, before the introduction of the guitar, which came from Mexico. Mandolin is probably more of a blues instrument than the guitar is."

Rachell played in and around Tennessee from the 1920s through the early 1950s. He moved to Indianapolis in 1956 and gave up music. But when his wife died two years later, and he was approached about recording again, "I didn't have nothing else to do. I went on, me and Sleepy John and Hammy Nixon," he said in an interview earlier this year.

Rachell described his approach to the blues as "real soft and tone, so people can talk and hear the music and eat and enjoy themselves."

In the past few years, Rachell recorded with Sebastian ("I Want My Roots") and Morgan ("Pig Trader Blues") and made occasional concert appearances.

Jay Zochowski, who occasionally features Rachell's music on his Saturday afternoon radio show, "Nothin' But the Blues," on WFYI-FM (90.1), said Rachell never wavered from his down-home, country style.

"The first time I saw him was 11 years ago, and I knew this was the real thing by the way he played, by the way he sang, by the feeling he expressed," Zochowski said. "You could feel it and he could feel it and he could transmit that feeling in his music. It was the honest, real blues."

Rachell's health was fragile in his later years. He walked with a cane, read with help of a magnifying glass and underwent kidney dialysis three times a week. He suffered from arthritis but managed to control the pain when called upon to perform.

Rachell continued to perform in part because he needed money. Like many older blues players, he wound up receiving a fraction of the royalties due him. In a January interview, Rachell, who estimated he made 30 to 40 records early in his life, explained his financial situation.

"I played so many times and didn't get nothin' for it, you know," he said. "I got so much royalty money owed to me now. It'd be great if I could get it, but I can't get it. She Caught the Katy paid me pretty good. That's the only record I made I got royalties out of."

Later in January, friends including Sebastian, Brindle and DeMyer held a benefit concert for Rachell that raised $5,200. Brindle said Rachell used the money to pay bills.

Arrangements are pending at Boatright Funeral Home.

New Release from Blind Blake

2008-02-06T07:55:00.000-06:00

Okay, not exactly new, but it's the next best thing for those of us whose favorite artists have been dead for decades, a newly-discovered recording, made in 1932:

One disc that eluded collectors was Paramount 13123, recorded at Blake’s penultimate session of January 1932, a time when Paramount’s fortunes were fast crumbling. By then the company was shipping only minuscule quantities of records to select dealers and distributors, and few have survived to the present day. Paramount 13123 finally came to light in 2007 when it was retrieved from an old steamer trunk in a trailer park in Raleigh, North Carolina, and acquired by Old Hat Records.

Water Street Hot Shots Celebrate 8 Years of Blues at the Pub

2008-02-04T11:14:00.001-06:00

This should be a no-brainer -- Sunday evening, February 10, at the Water Street Pub to celebrate eight years of acoustic blues in Sheboygan with Michael Ammons and the Water Street Hot Shots:

Please help us celebrate 8 years as Sheboygan's acoustic blues band. All the Water Street Hot Shots will be there. Also free food and drink specials. Don't miss your chance to be a part of this historic event. Thanks Water Street!

See you there!

It's All About the Music

2008-02-04T11:02:00.002-06:00

While this isn't necessarily blues related, I couldn't pass up this unique video, as it combines music, cool guitars, and a bit of cultural dissonance.

Check out the video HERE.

Papa Charlie Jackson

2008-02-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

I just picked up two volumes of Papa Charlie Jackson (1890-1838), and a more interesting example of country blues-ragtime-hokum would be hard to find. Jackson tuned his six-string banjo to standard guitar tuning, so you get what sounds like a peculiar guitar-banjo mix which is hard to sort out at first listening. However, it grows on you, and Jackson was such a superb musician and singer that it thoroughly works to great effect.

Listen to short samples at this Amazon site where mp3s of his music can be purchased.

Here is a brief bio from Wikipedia:

Born William Henry Jackson, he originally performed in minstrel and medicine shows. Jackson was playing all around Chicago in the early 1920s. He was noted for busking at the famous Chicago Maxwell Street Market. He soon recorded "Papa's Lawdy Lawdy Blues" and "Airy Man Blues", the first commercially successful, self-accompanied recordings, by a male singer of the blues. One of his following tracks, "Salty Dog Blues", became his most famous song. He soon began cutting records with Ida Cox, Hattie McDaniel and Ma Rainey.

The late 1920s saw Jackson reach the pinnacle of his career, recording "Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It" (a two-part song) with Blind Blake. A few more recordings followed before the 1930s, but then Jackson left Paramount Records and moved to Okeh Records, recording with Big Bill Broonzy.

His importance in the history of the blues has been lessened by several factors. His flair for unique and irreverent material, similar to that of Charley Patton, along with his fast upbeat tempo which made his records sell, did not fit into the traditional blues category. His records were of poor quality since about half of his 66 sides were recorded with an acoustic horn, not a microphone. The rest contained a lot of "hiss" since Paramount used inferior quality materials in their pressing of records. Also, his banjo was not viewed as a traditional blues instrument. However, no one has duplicated his unique performances.

And here is another bio from the AllMusic Guide:

Papa Charlie Jackson was the first bluesman to record, beginning in 1924 with the Paramount label, playing a hybrid banjo-guitar (six strings tuned like a guitar but with a banjo body that gave it a lighter resonance) and ukulele. And apart from his records and their recording dates, little else is known for sure about this pioneering blues performer, other than his probable city of birth, New Orleans; even his death in Chicago during 1938 is more probable than established fact.

Jackson spent his teen years as a singer/performer in minstrel and medicine shows, picking up a repertory of bawdy but entertaining songs that would serve him well for decades. In August of that year [1924], Jackson made his first record, "Papa's Lawdy Lawdy Blues" and "'Airy Man Blues," for a Paramount label. He followed this up a month later with "Salt Lake City Blues" and "Salty Dog Blues," which became one of his signature tunes; he later re-recorded this number as a member of Freddie Keppard\'s Jazz Cardinals, also for the Paramount label, a common practice in those days as the notion of contracts and exclusivity was almost unknown in blues recording. Jackson made his first duet records in 1925, "Mister Man, Parts 1 and 2," with singer Ida Cox, again for Paramount, and later cut duets with Ma Rainey and future Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel.

He was already regarded as one of the Paramount label's more successful recording artists, and all but a handful of his recordings were done for Paramount over the next decade.

Jackson reached a musical peak of sorts in September of 1929 when he got to record with his longtime idol, Blind (Arthur) Blake, often known as the king of ragtime guitar during this period. "Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It" parts one and two are among the most unusual sides of the late '20s, containing elements of blues jam session, hokum recording, and ragtime, with enough humor to make it the 1920s rival of tracks such as Bo Diddley's "Say Man" as well. More is the pity that better sources haven't survived for both sides, but what is here is beyond price; there may not be a dozen guitar records in any genre that are more important or more fascinating.

Jackson switched to guitar on some of his late-'20s recordings, and occasionally played the ukulele as well, although he was back to using the five-string hybrid in 1934, when he cut his final sessions. For reasons that nobody has ever established, he parted company with Paramount after 1930, and never recorded for the label again, even though Paramount lasted another two years before going under amid the hardships of the Great Depression.

Papa Charlie Jackson remains a shadowy figure, considered a highly influential figure in the blues, though not quite a major blues figure, apart from the fact that he was the first male singer/guitarist who played the blues to get to record. His recordings are all eminently listenable, although most are not blues, but fall into such related areas as ragtime and hokum.

Sam Chatmon

2008-01-10T05:28:00.000-06:00

Sam Chatmon, born on this day in Bolton, Mississippi, in 1897 was a member of the family's string band when he was young. He performed on a regular basis for white audiences in the 1900s.

The Chatmon band played rags, ballads, and popular dance tunes. Two of Sam's brothers, fiddler Lonnie Chatmon and guitarist Bo Carter, performed with guitarist Walter Vinson as the Mississippi Sheiks.

Chatmon played the banjo, mandolin, and harmonica in addition to the guitar. He performed at parties and on street corners throughout Mississippi for small pay and tips. In the 1930s he recorded both with the Sheiks, as well as with sibling Lonnie as the Chatman Brothers.

Chatmon moved to Hollandale, Mississippi in the early 1940s and worked on plantations in Hollandale. He was re-discovered in 1960 and started a new chapter of his career as folk-blues artist. In the same year Chatmon recorded for the Arhoolie record label. He toured extensively during the 1960s and 1970s. He played many of the largest and best-known folk festivals, including the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. in 1972, the Mariposa Fest in Toronto in 1974, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1976.

A headstone memorial to Chatmon with the inscription "Sitting on top of the World" was paid for by Bonnie Raitt, through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in 1998, and was dedicated at the Hollandale Cemetery.

Howlin' Wolf

2008-01-10T05:27:00.000-06:00

Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, died on this day in 1976. He's buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois.

Ishmon Bracey

2008-01-09T14:37:00.001-06:00

Ishmon Bracey was born on this day in 1901.

From Wikipedia: Bracey was born in Byram, Mississippi, and started playing at local dances and parties around 1917. He also worked as a waterboy on the Illinois Central Railroad. He first recorded in Memphis in 1928 for the Victor label, with Charlie McCoy on second guitar, recording two sessions in February and August that year.

At that time his style had not fully formed and his performances varied considerably, probably in his attempts to become more commercially successful. Bracey's blues "Saturday Blues" and "Left Alone Blues", used interesting variations in the usual three line verse form. Bracey was one of the few Mississippi bluesmen who sang with a nasal tone without embellishment. In "Saturday Blues" he used on of the conventional infidelity themes, but he changed the form of the verses to fit a newer melodic concept. His lyrics loosen up enough to sing about skin creams and powder advertised as being able to lighten dark skin.

When he recorded in 1930 his voice had darkened and he tried to use a falsetto voice in "Woman Woman Blues" with an octave leap in the second line, but the effect was clumsy and unsteady. He recorded again in 1931 for Paramount Records with a group called the New Orleans Nehi Boys, which included guitarist Charles Taylor. Bracey's total recorded output is only 16 songs, and original copies of his 78-rpm records are among the most valued items sought by blues collectors. "Trouble Hearted Blues" and "Left Alone Blues" are his best known songs.

He was an associate of Tommy Johnson, and the pair performed together in medicine shows in the 1930s. By the time he was "rediscovered" in the late 1950s, he had become a preacher and a performer of religious songs, and was uninterested in recording or discussing his time as a blues performer. However, he did help in the rediscovery of his contemporary Skip James.

Buddy Moss in Prison

2008-01-03T15:21:00.001-06:00

There have a been a few discussion threads running on a Stefan Grossman's Woodshed and on Weenie Campbell about the photo shown above. The caption on this photos reads: "May 1941. Music-making in the convict camp at Greene County, Georgia."

It appears that the guitar player is bluesman Buddy Moss. See the bio below:

This [Buddy Moss'] first recording session consisted of eleven tunes, and by mid-September 1933 he was recording another twelve songs. This time, however, Curley Weaver and Blind Willie McTell were accompanying him. The summer of 1934 saw Moss outselling everyone in the industry and continued to do that when he teamed up with Josh White in 1935. Moss was arrested that year however for either murdering his wife or fighting to the death with one of his rivals, depending on which source you read. He was released from the Georgia prison system six years later due to good behavior and a good word from James Baxter Long, Blind Boy Fuller's "manager." This may have been due to the fact that Blind Boy Fuller was dying and Long needed another star.