I Feel Like Going to Church - Ida Goodson Video

click image to see 83 pictures of Ida Cox

I think this video shows how gospel music has its roots in the blues, and also how the blues got some of its power from gospel singers. Ida Goodson is a very good example of a blues musician who lived in both worlds.

You can read all about her at Wikipedia, they have a nice write up on her.

This is in my mind a perfect example of how blues and gospel music are related from the mouth of someone who would know.



Here is an mp3 of the roliking Something has got a hold on me from the Music from the Florida Folklife Collection.

I also enjoyed this write up in the Piney Flatwoods Girl blog.

A book at Amazon.com that mentions Ms. Goodson is;

It's the Birthday of Buddy Guy

Today is the birthday of George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936). He is a five-time Grammy Award-winning blues and rock guitarist and singer. Known as an inspiration to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and other 1960s blues and rock legends, Guy is considered an important exponent of Chicago blues. He is the father of female rapper Shawnna and son Michael.

I would love to have written a long and lengthy post on him, but to tell you the truth I've been beat to the punch. I really enjoyed reading my online friend blues blogger's recent Buddy Guy post. And I hope you will too.

A Conversation with Albert Collins Video

Albert Collins in Concert Art Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

I was looking at the list of blues musicians that have written about and I realized that I have never posted anything by Albert Collins. Can you believe that, well I can't. I guess it is another case of so many great bluesmen, and so little time.

I stumbled upon this very cool video of Mr. Collins playing live and thought you too might enjoy it.

Albert Collins was born on October 1, 1932 and he passed away on November 24, 1993. He was a Texas based blues guitarist, singer and musician. He had many nicknames, such as "The Ice Man", "The Master of the Telecaster" and "The Razor Blade".

Albert Collins, Conversation with... (ft. Barrelhouse Live)

Notes from YouTube - You have to see this! Albert Collins talking to his lady, who's answering in a very typical way. Being a fan of Barrelhouse, I'm always looking for something relevant. And look what I've found today!

Albert Collins playing with Barrelhouse on Febr. 2nd 1978. Recorded by Sesjun / TROS, Dutch television. At the time, recording was released on the album "Albert Collins & Barrelhouse Live" and nowadays available on CD too.

Mr. Collins is remembered for his awesome live shows. I really like the following stories which were quoted in the Wikipedia entry on Albert Collins;

Collins will be remembered not only for the quantity of quality blues music that he put out throughout his career that has inspired so many other blues musicians, but also for his legendary live performances, where he would frequently come down from the stage and mingle with the audience whilst still playing.[1] This practice was illustrated in Collins' uncredited cameo appearance in the film Adventures in Babysitting. He insisted to Elisabeth Shue that "nobody leaves this place without singin' the blues", forcing the children to improvise a song before escaping.

Another instance of Collins' humorous stage presence was recounted in the film documentary, Antones: Austin's Home of the Blues. Collins left the building, still plugged in and playing. Several minutes after Collins returned to the stage, a pizza delivery man came in and gave Collins the pizza he had just ordered when he left the building. Collins had gone to Milto's Pizza & Pasta through an adjoining alley and ordered while he was still playing.

Shemekia Copeland Video

In yesterdays post I mentioned that Shemekia Copeland is scheduled to perform at the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival. And then it dawned on me that Ms. Copland is one of the young guns in the blues world that I have never written anything about.

She's a three time W.C. Handy Award Winning blues singer and the daughter of blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland. She started her career at the age of sixteen. Her debut album "Turn the Heat Up!" came out in 1998 was well received. Her second album, "Wicked", was released in 2000 and featured a duet with one of her heroes, early R&B diva Ruth Brown. After that she was produced by Dr. John on her recording "Talking to Strangers", and in 2005 she released "The Soul Truth", which was produced by Steve Cropper.

So I thought I would share one of her YouTube videos as well as links to her websites and music.

References;

Official Shemekia Copeland website

Shemekia Copeland's MySpace page

mp3 samples @ Shemkia Copeland.com

Music by Shemekia Copeland

Shemekia Copeland music @ Amazon.com

Turn the Heat Up!

Wicked

Talking to Strangers

The Soul Truth

A bluesman you probably don't know: Hip Linkchain

Tragedy is part and parcel of the blues, of life and everything really. And I have said it many times, you have to live the blues to play the blues, consider one Hip Linkchain.

Cancer took, the guitarist and song writer, Hip Linkchain's life before he got to be big on the blues scene, that is why I say "you probably don't know" him. His best album Airbusters was released before he passed away in 1989. It might have made all the difference, and brought him fame and fortune. But that was not to be.

He was born in Mississippi, like many other bluesmen, named Willie Richard at birth, he got his odd stage name because the white residents of the area called his seven-foot-tall dad, Linkchain. His dad got that name because he wore logging chains around his neck. The son was called "Hipstick" which led to Hip Linkchain. He learned to play the blues from his father and brother. During his time in the Delta he got to hear Elmore James, Little Milton, and Sonny Boy Williamson before he made that migration up to Chicago in the early 1950s.

During the 1950s and 1960s he played with harpists Dusty Brown, Willie Foster, and Lester Davenport, trying to make a name for himself in Chicago. In 1959 he played with Tyrone Davis in a band called the Chicago Twisters. Around 1981 he debuted with his album Change My Blues.

Airbusters




Airbusters was released by Black Magic records in the late 1980's, and for my money is his best album. There were two recording sessions using two different bands, but still it is a very good showing all told. I think this album shows all of Hip Linkchain's talents, his singing, guitar work and his song writing are all on showcase here. The songs are executed with a craft that blues fans will appreciate and because most of the songs are Hip Linkchain originals, you may hear some blues that you never heard before.

Like many bluesmen, Hip Linkchain never got the recognition that his talents would have brought him if he had lived. But I think that we blues fans of today can do much to keep his memory alive.

I Feel Like Going to Church - Ida Goodson Video

click image to see 83 pictures of Ida Cox

I think this video shows how gospel music has its roots in the blues, and also how the blues got some of its power from gospel singers. Ida Goodson is a very good example of a blues musician who lived in both worlds.

You can read all about her at Wikipedia, they have a nice write up on her.

This is in my mind a perfect example of how blues and gospel music are related from the mouth of someone who would know.



Here is an mp3 of the roliking Something has got a hold on me from the Music from the Florida Folklife Collection.

I also enjoyed this write up in the Piney Flatwoods Girl blog.

Alberta Hunter Videos

YouTube has a few cool videos of Alberta Hunter. Most of them when she is older. I like "Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning" because her voice is more powerful and colorful then in some of the other videos. But having said that, you have to watch this first one, which can not be embedded. It shows what a powerful force she was.

Alberta Hunter performing "My Castles Rockin" (DVD Preview)

If she could sing like that at 82, then imagine her in her prime. This next one is kind of funny. They way only the blues can be.

'My Handy Man'


Nobody Knows The Way I Feel This Morning


Notes from YouTube; - After a very hard youth (she ran away from home at the age of 12), Hunter managed to become one of the best and most popular entertainers of the 20's. Her discography spans the whole 20's decade and the first half of the 30's. This recording was made for Gennett on December 24th, 1924. She was accompanied by Clarence Williams' Red Onions Jazz Babies. On the label, Hunter appears under the pseudonym Josephine Beatty.

Ida Cox - Blues Songstress Mp3s Videos

I'm still in the mood to present female blues musicians. I hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am. LOL. You know I have to have some fun with this myself. Today I want you to consider Mrs. Ida Cox (1896 - 1967). She was a singer, composer, and a recording artist.

Originally from Georgia she got her start in minstrel shows during the 1920s. She was popular during the 1930s also and did her last recordings in the 1960s.

According to her bio

She began her career at the age of 14 working in theaters. She was very popular during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1939 she sang at the Cafe Society and appeared at John Hammond's "Spirituals To Swing Concert". She toured until 1944 when a stroke forced her to retire. In 1961 she came back for on final recording.

During her career she worked with Charlie Christian, Lionel Hampton, Fletcher Henderson, Oran Page, Jelly Roll Morton, Tommy Ladnier, and Coleman Hawkins.

She was very progressive and made a lot of strides for both women and blacks during her life. Her song "Last Mile Blues," condemned capital punishment, and gave a voice to thousands of repressed African-Americans and secured her as one of the most renowned singers of the Harlem Renaissance.

Her songs include "Wild Woman Don't Have The Blues," "Death Letter Blues," "Ida Cox's Lawdy Lawdy Blues," "Mama Papa Turn Your Key," "Graveyard Hound Blues," "Georgia Hound Blues," "Coffin Blues," "Rambling Blues," "Worn Down Daddy Blues," and "You Stole My Man"




Video


THE LADIES SING THE BLUES - PART 4 Great Bio info


Notes from YouTube; Part Four of DVD "The Ladies Sing The Blues" with some of the best American Vocalists and their greatest performances. Here Ida Cox with Jesse Crump - "When You Lose Your Money-Blues" and Sister Rosetta Tharp - "That Lonesome Road".

Mp3s

Ida Cox And Her Allstar Band

Ida Cox Jesse Crump

Ida Cox Allstar Orch

*update* - Thanks to the Lovely and talented Ms. Edith Frost for letting us know that our friends over at Honey, Where You Been So Long recently posted Ida Cox's 1925 Coffen Blues mp3. So go over there and snag that puppy while it is still hot.

References

Ida Cox entry at findagrave.com

Ida Cox @ The African American Registry

Ida Cox @ Wikipedia