Howlin Wolf Video - May I Have A Talk With You

Wolf begins by asking that age old question, have you ever been loved, have you ever loved a woman...

Uncle Johnny Williams on "The Blues"

This is the best explination of what the blues are that I have ever heard. Right from the mouth of a bluesman.

Notes from YouTube; Uncle Johnny Williams talks about how the blues were born. Scene from the new movie, "Electrified: The Story of Maxwell Street"

Electrified The Movie
Cheat You Fair The Movie
Electrified Blues

Lightnin' Hopkins talks about the blues

Back in 2006, I wrote the following about Lightnin' Hopkins;

If you want to learn how to play blues guitar, a good place to start would be to buy ever piece of Lightnin Hopkins' music that you can find and to study it nonstop. Lightnin's nimble dexterity, his ability to create some of the coolest boggie riffs, his often funny improvised lyrics that fit into whatever situation the bluesman found himself in, all combine to make him one of my favorite blues performers.

Or if like me you just like listening to someone who knows how to play a guitar, then you might want to check this out;

It was true then and it is true now.

Check the man out in his own words.

Lightnin' Hopkins talks about the blues



Lightnin' Hopkins sings Green Onions



Lightnin' Hopkins Mojo Hand 1962

Hubert Sumline Videos: The man in his own words.

I've been meaning to post these forever. I could write a few words about this, but as you know I like to let the bluesmen speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Notes from Youtube: Blues legend Hubert Sumlin talks about his punishment as a child for getting into some devilment with his father. He reminisces about Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, Robert Jr. Lockwood and Charley Patton and he gives "Seventh Hour Blues" editor, Anthony Sapienza, a guitar lesson. Featuring "Smokestack Lightnin'" and "Killing Floor". Filmed by Anthony Sapienza.




Interview #2 in the series w/ blues legend Hubert Sumlin for Guitar Center's King Of The Blues '07.



Interview #3 in the series w/ blues legend Hubert Sumlin for Guitar Center's King Of The Blues '07.

Koko Taylor ft. Little Walter - Wang Dang Doodle

You probably will have to stop the playlist a couple of post down the blog to enjoy this.

This video is too cool. Not only is it of Koko Taylor, with Little Walter on harp, but there are a few other surprises. Feel free to leave me a comment naming all the bluesmen that you see in this video. The only bad thing about it is that it is out of sync. But it is so rare that can be forgiven.

Blues a poem by Elizabeth Alexander

This post is going to be a little something different. I really like Elizabeth Alexander's poetry and she wrote a poem that has a title that was made for this blog. Although the body of the poem may not fit the way we normally think of the blues. While not what most would call a traditional blues themed poem, you just have to keep reading it.

Oh and it really captures how I have been feeling lately.

Blues
by Elizabeth Alexander


I am lazy, the laziest
girl in the world. I sleep during
the day when I want to, 'til
my face is creased and swollen,
'til my lips are dry and hot. I
eat as I please: cookies and milk
after lunch, butter and sour cream
on my baked potato, foods that
slothful people eat, that turn
yellow and opaque beneath the skin.
Sometimes come dinnertime Sunday
I am still in my nightgown, the one
with the lace trim listing because
I have not mended it. Many days
I do not exercise, only
consider it, then rub my curdy
belly and lie down. Even
my poems are lazy. I use
syllabics instead of iambs,
prefer slant to the gong of full rhyme,
write briefly while others go
for pages. And yesterday,
for example, I did not work at all!
I got in my car and I drove
to factory outlet stores, purchased
stockings and panties and socks
with my father's money.

To think, in childhood I missed only
one day of school per year. I went
to ballet class four days a week
at four-forty-five and on
Saturdays, beginning always
with plie, ending with curtsy.
To think, I knew only industry,
the industry of my race
and of immigrants, the radio
tuned always to the station
that said, Line up your summer
job months in advance. Work hard
and do not shame your family,
who worked hard to give you what you have.
There is no sin but sloth. Burn
to a wick and keep moving.

I avoided sleep for years,
up at night replaying
evening news stories about
nearby jailbreaks, fat people
who ate fried chicken and woke up
dead. In sleep I am looking
for poems in the shape of open
V's of birds flying in formation,
or open arms saying, I forgive you, all.




From Body of Life by Elizabeth Alexander, published by Tia Chucha Press. Copyright © 1996 by Elizabeth Alexander.

Request From Down Under For Bessie Smith

A reader from Australia said, "I love reading your blog! As an Australian it's somewhat a gateway to a subculture of American blues."

This kind of jarred me out of this malaise that I am in (notice no updates since I don't know when).

He went on to request some Bessie Smith mp3s (because my old links are broken), though I am too lazy to actually post some myself or fix the broken links, I can oblige by doing a search and reporting my results and linking to them.

Over at the cool blog Badminton Stamps you can find an mp3 to one of my favorite Bessie Smith songs "Take Me For a Buggy Ride." I don't think this song is really about riding in a buggy, kind of like this blog is not named after the act of making lemon aid ;)

Speaking of Lemons, I now call Mrs. F my lemon. So it gives a whole nother meaning to "Squeeze My Lemon."

More links to blogs that have some Bessie Smith mp3s;

Louis Armstrong w/King Oliver featuring Bessie Smith - Big Butter and Egg Man
Album: High Society
Posted at: Lil Mike's Last Known Thoughts & Random Revelatons

Bessie Smith - Hustlin' Dan
Album: Moistworks Dan
Posted at: Moistworks

Bessie Smith
- Graveyard Dream Blues
- Down Hearted Blues
- Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do
Albums: Various
Posted at: Doors Of The Kingdom. This is an excellent post, you have to check it out, great write up and many mp3 links to download.

And finally, YouTube has some good Bessie Smith Links you can check them out here. Make sure you check out the "St. Louis Blues" Video, it is too cool. Also of note is the video, Careless love blues.

One of my favorite videos over at YouTube about Bessie Smith is not a song by Bessie Smith, but it is a song about Bessie Smith:

Norah Jones performs The Band's "Bessie Smith"

HOWLIN WOLF STORY

I really found this video interesting.

From the notes for this video;

Please help the Howlin' Wolf Blues Society of West Point, MS. Inc.

P.O. Box 1334
West Point, MS. 39773
Fax: (662) 495-2007
tel: (662) 494-2921

email: rramsey@wpms.net

The Blues and Gospel: An Example

Here is a post from the archives, had to make some minor edits, it is one of my first post in the Gospel blues series. Over the next few Sundays I plan to post more of these from the archives, and I hope you all enjoy them.

I would really appreciate it if you let me know if you like this series. Please leave a comment.

This clip is a cool example of how blues music and Gospel music are closely related. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is also one of my favorite guitar players. If you want to learn how to play blues or Gospel music, she is a great model to study.

The link below will take you to YouTube where you can watch the clip, because embedding has been disabled by request. But please click through, you won't be disappointed.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Chicago Blues Allstars



According to a commnet left at YouTube about this video, the Blues Allstars are; "Lee Jackson Guitar, Lafayette Leake piano, Clifton James on drums, Willie Dixon Bass, and of course Big Willie Horton on Harmonica."

Gospel Blues @SqueezeMyLemon

Sister Rosetta Tharp @ Amazon.com

Those old Video Clips and a story about Lucille

I was reading what another blogger had to say about "SqueezeMyLemon" and he mentioned that I have too much YouTube for his taste. Good thing he did not mention that I don't update often enough (LOL).

Well I like to surf YouTube for those old clips of the bluesmen that you might not find yourself. And there have been many words written about these guys, so I think it is interesting to hear and see them speak about themselves in their own words.

There are a lot of mp3s in this blog if you go back through the archives. But personally I'm trying to get away from collecting files, most music can be found somewhere online these days. And I assume that it will continue to be that way for years to come.

Having said that, I do need to find another good file sharing service. So that I can share some more mp3s from my collection with you all. If you want to help me out by suggesting something, I'm all ears.

Now check out this cool old video clip from YouTube that you might not have found yourself. Consider this story about a guitar named Lucille;

Why BB King's Guitar is Named Lucille