Leave your ego, play the music, love the people

His accolades speak for themselves.
Amazon UK Reckless
Bad News Is Coming



1996 Handy awards - Male Artist of the Year
Luther Allison, Joe Louis Walker, Coco Montoya, Otis Rush, Robert Ward

1997 Handy awards - Contemporary Blues -- Male Artist of the Year
Luther Allison, Big Jack Johnson, Keb' Mo', Coco Montoya, Joe Louis Walker

1998 5 Handy awards are:

- Blues Entertainer of the Year
- Blues Band of the Year -- Luther and the James Solberg Band
- Contemporary Blues -- Male Artist of the Year
- Contemporary Blues Album of the Year -- "Reckless"
- Blues Instrumentalist -- Guitar
- Blues Song of the Year -- "Living in the House of the Blues" (Reckless)


It's always good to see live performances

Luther Allison Otis Rush Eric Clapton Mo
Uploaded by Zone19. - See the latest featured music videos.

New Release - I Got Blues For You - The Homemade Jamz Blues Band

I Got Blues for You
Every since I first heard the Homemade Jamz Blues Band, I have been intrigued by them. To see young people play the blues the way they do is very inspritational and bodes well for the future of the blues music.

They burst on the scene by rocking the Blues world by winning second place in the 2007 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Where they competed with 100 other bands.

Their first album, which came out last year, Pay Me No Mind sold well and received a Blues Music Award nomination for Best New Artist Debut. They also appeared on the Today Show, were featured on NPR's "All Things Considered", and profiled on the CBS Sunday Morning News (which is where I think I first heard of them).

This new 2009 album, I Got Blues for You, showcases some incredible songwriting, Ryan's fantastic lead guitar, Kyle's booming bass lines, and Taya's hard-hitting drums. Click on the image above to listen to mp3 samples.

track Listing

1. Hard Headed Woman 3:50
2. Rumors 3:51
3. Dusk Till Dawn 5:57
4. Roots 3:30
5. Heaven Lost An Angel 7:59
6. Loco Blues 4:12
7. King Snake 3:51
8. Hobo Man 4:44
9. Alcoholic Woman 6:34
10. In The Wind 4:03
11. Grits Ain't Groceries 2:57
12. I Got Blues For You 3:36

The Homemade Jamz Blues Band @SqueezeMyLemon

Diddley Bow

The Diddley Bow is a musical instrument, associated with early or pre-blues music in America, whose origins are likely somewhere in Africa. It is made with a single wire strung up on a board, often over a glass jar, which acts as a resonator. I suppose if we believe in the idea of linear development, the next stage would be the cigar box guitar, followed by more sophisticated stringed instruments. On the other hand, perhaps the Diddley Bow and cigar box guitars were attempts to make guitar-like instruments on little means. Here's a Diddley Bow made with cigar box technology.

Here's Lonnie Pitchford...

One-string Willie

Sometimes life gets complex though...here's a two-string Diddley Bow


Of course if you reverse your Diddley Bow, you get a Bo Diddley and that's another trip altogether. Remember, you can't judge a book by lookin at the cover...
.

The Men Behind The Bluesmen: Theresa Needham

I've enjoyed putting together this series that I call "The Men Behind The Bluesmen," but when I think about it, I'm wrong to call the series that. Because all the blues musicians are not men, and all those who support them and help promote their music are not men either.

Teresa Needham is an example of a woman who helped the bluse music and the musicians who made it during her life. Wikipedia says of her;

Theresa McLaurin Needham (April 17, 1912 - October 16, 1992) was an American tavern owner who became known as "the Godmother of the Chicago blues". She was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001.

Born Theresa McLaurin in Meridian, Mississippi, she married Robert Needham and moved to Chicago in the 1940s. In 1949 she opened a basement club, Theresa's Lounge (sometimes also called T’s Basement), in an apartment building in South Indiana Avenue, in the South Side of Chicago. This attracted a predominantly black audience from the surrounding neighbourhood, but its appeal reached global proportions as a result of the calibre of music offered. It featured live entertainment with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy in the house band, and attracted touring musicians such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Earl Hooker and Howlin' Wolf.

The club relocated in 1983 when the landlord refused to renew the lease, and closed permanently in 1986. Theresa Needham died in Chicago in 1992.

Theresa Needham Tribute page @www.chicagobarproject.com

Don't be afraid of the dark

I have always stopped to listen to Robert Cray - always I think with good results. I guess I came across him in the '80's

Wikipedia says

According to the book Guinness Rockopedia, "the 1980s 'blues revival' revolved around Cray. His blend of soul,vocals and blues guitar work won approval from the 'old guard' - Eric Clapton, Tina Turner,Diana Ross - and a younger audience, who pushed him into the platinum bracket

There are so many good tracks that choosing a couple is a momentary whim - the ones I like at the moment.

Robert cray - Don't be afraid of the dark
Uploaded by bebepanda. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

I wish I could have made this


He and his band have produced lots of good albums - perhaps critically successful are
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Twenty

Honkey Tonk Women - A Compilation

I've always loved the Rolling Stones song Honky Tonk Women and would include it on my list of songs to be stranded on a desert island with. If I could only have one song, but have it done by several different musicians, then this might just be the one song that I would pick.

The lyrics to the song are very simple, and easy to transcribe;

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
She had to heave me right across shoulder
'Cause I just can't seem to drink you off my mind

It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

I laid a divorcee in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The lady then she covered me with roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind

It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme...
Alright!

It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
Yeah, it's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme...

In the Stones version that opening cow bell is just too cool, and always gets me going, and ready for the guitars.

Taj Mahal does a stripped down version that is just wonderful to listen to. I really love how he starts out humming, kind of makes you think about the songs rhythm a bit more. And I just love the harmonica part (but you probably already guessed that).



Then there is the Ike and Tina Turner version of the song. Man the background singers are worth the price of admission for this one. I love it, talking about smoking hot!


Honky Tonk Women mp3 by The Rolling Stones.

Honky Tonk Women mp3 by Ike & Tina Turner.

Honky Tonk Women mp3 by Joe Cocker.

Honky Tonk Women mp3 by The Flying Burrito Brothers.

Honky Tonk Women mp3 by Willie Nelson (feat. Leon Russell)

Honky Tonk Women mp3 by Humble Pie.

The Rolling Stones @Amazon.com

The Rolling Stones @SqueezeMyLemon

Cocaine Blues

There are various tunes called Cocaine Blues. It seems it's a popular subject. Here's the Reverend Gary Davis version.

According to Wikipedia, Davis first heard the song in 1905 from a traveling carnival musician named Porter Irving. Versions similar to Davis' have been recorded by many musicians. Here's a take I really like by the late great Townes van Zandt, from his CD Roadsongs.

Here's Bob Dylan playing a very nice version of it live. Check out Dylan's guitar picking on this one.


There is also a western swing tune based on the melody to Little Sadie, which was popularized by Johnny Cash.


George Thorogood plays this one too...


Then along came J.J. Cale. (I guess everyone knows the super-famous 1977 close cover version by Eric Clapton...).

Thanks To All The Visitors To SML

I had been thinking about what I would say as I approached 100,000 page views, and now that that milestone has been passed, really there's nothing to say but,

"Thank you!"

Thanks to my contributors Ron Moorby and Mister Anchovy, I hope you both understand how much you add to this blog and how much I appreciate your help around here.

Thanks to my regular readers, you know who you are. It is because of you all that we keep up this labor of love.

Thanks also to the casual readers, who just stop in every now and then, we also need you very much.

The best I can figure out, the 100,000 visitor to SqueezeMyLemon was someone from Newburgh, Indiana, who came to the blog via Google searching for the term "blues blogspot." A search term that we rank very high in.

Thanks again, and please keep visiting us here at SML (with your help, we may be around for 200,000 visitors) and in the mean time, keep your Mojo working!

Songs Of The Rolling Stones: All Blues'd Up!

While doing some research on a Rolling Stone's song I came across the mp3 album Songs Of The Rolling Stones: All Blues'd Up!.

I'm not sure how this album slipped under my radar, but I missed it back when it was released in July 9th, 2002.

And I would like to present it to you today, because I love how it highlights the blues music of the Rolling Stones and because their songs are performed by some great blues musicians.

Songs of the Rolling Stones: All Blues'd Up
(This Ain't No Tribute Series)

click image for mp3 album info

Track Listing

Please click song title below to play mp3 sample

1. You Can't Always Get What You Want - Luther Allison

2. Tumblin' Dice - Johnny Copeland

3. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - Junior Wells

4. Wild Horses - Otis Clay

5. Honky Tonk Women - Taj Mahal

6. Sway - Alvin Youngblood Hart

7. Ventilation Blues - Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown

8. Beast of Burden - Willie 'Popsy' Dixon

9. Under My Thumb - Lucky Peterson

10. It's All Over Now - Bobby Womack

11. Midnight Rambler - Larry McCray

12. Heart of Stone - Joe Louis Walker

13. Moonlight Mile - Alvin Youngblood Hart

The Rolling Stones @Amazon.com

The Rolling Stones @SqueezeMyLemon

Sexy Blues? ....

LastFM says

'Ana Popovic is not about recycling worn-out clichés. Her blues are fresh, positive and genre-expanding. Ana Popovic is a veritable anomaly in the blues scene, in professional circles she’s also called the feminine Jimi Hendrix.'

Blind for Love


Janiva Magness - anyone who performs this kind of music with high heels is fine with me. Lots of awards - see this.


Buy it here What Love Will Do