It's the Birthday of Roosevelt Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes was born on January 31, in 1906 in Elmar, Arkansas. And he passed way on July 17, 1983. He is one of my favorite blues piano players, because of his upbeat style.

Roosevelt Sykes singing "Gulfport Boogie"


Roosevelt Sykes @Amazon.com

Bob Brozman — Old Man Blues

Gospel blues

blues playlist: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Didn't it Rain, 1964


I have been trying to get my mind around exactly what the Gospel Blues are. I have posted links to various artist, and to various videos that I think of as Gospel Blues, but the difficulty is in the fact that I grew up in a time and place when music was not put into as many categories as it is today.

Some of the music that I heard in church (like the video above) was no different then some of the music I heard coming out of the local Juke Joint. And on some occasions it might have even been the same person singing in church that was singing in the Juke Joint. I doubt that Rosetta Tharpe ever performed in a Juke Joint, but I have no doubt that she would have been right at home.

For me there is not much difference between some blues music and some gospel music. The only way that I separate Gospel blues and the blues is by who is singing it and where they are singing it.

Wikipedia has a great list of Gospel blues musicians.

Gospel blues @ SqueezeMyLemon

Ronnie Earl and The Broadcasters - Peace of Mind

There don't appear to be any videos fron this album - but a flavour can be got

Peace Of Mind

This joint is jumpin'

Time for some Fats Waller. I love his spirit!


All that meat and no Potatoes

Leon Redbone "Sugar"

Notes from YouTube; Redbone survived the crash of a small plane in Clarksburg WV on Feb. 12, 1979 and now travels to engagements exclusively by car.

Don't know how true the above statement is, but it seemed like an interesting fact about Mr. Redbone.



Leon Redbone @Amazon.com

Clarence Fountain: Stepping Up & Stepping Out

Founder member of the Blind Boys of Alabama - he is now working with Sam Butler on Solomon Burke's record label






Stepping Up & Stepping Out

New Release - Lonnie Johnson: A Life In Music

A Life in Music Selected Sides 1925-1953





Lonnie Johnson @Amazon.com

Bireli Lagrene - Gypsy Trio

Biréli Lagrène (born September 4, 1966) is a French guitarist and bassist. He came to prominence in the 1980s for his Django Reinhardt influenced style. He often performs within the swing, jazz fusion and post bop mediums.






Gypsy Trio

New Release - Eric Bibb - Booker's Guitar

Booker's Guitar



Notes From YouTube;

ERIC BIBB CHANNELS DELTA GUITAR MASTER BOOKER WHITE TO CRAFT BLUES FOR A NEW ERA

Bookers Guitar set for retail on January 26, 2010. The story is as legendary as Robert Johnson at the crossroads, as old as the blues itself. A traveling musician has a chance encounter in the most unlikely of places with something mystical and powerful, and everything changes.

Suddenly, everything is up for grabs, and the music already rich and historically resonant takes a whole new direction. So it was for itinerant troubadour Eric Bibb one night in a London hotel after a gig just a few years ago, when he was approached by a fan carrying a guitar case. Inside the case was a relic from the past that made the hair on the back of Bibbs neck stand on end: a 1930s vintage Resophonic National steel-body guitar that had belonged to Delta blues legend Booker White.

In a moment that could only be described as intoxicating, Bibb found himself holding Bookers guitar, and catching a brief but revealing glimpse of all the stories locked within it. The encounter inspired a song, and the song became an entire album one that captures the spirit of the original Delta blues of the early 20th century and reinterprets it for a new era.

Bookers Guitar is set for release on January 26, 2010, on Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group.

Eric Bibb @Amazon.com

Black Joe Lewis Big Booty Woman

It's the Birthday of Bobby "Blue" Bland

Robert Calvin Bland (born January 27, 1930) better known as Bobby “Blue” Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul.

Bobby "Blue" Bland singing "Members Only"


Bobby Blue Bland @Amazon.com

Bobby Blue Bland @SqueezeMyLemon

Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara: Tell No Lies

Review

"Tell No Lies" is the new sound of Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara. The sound of a nation with no borders, a place that needs no passport, no visa. This is where the deep roots of African music nourish the raw electric groove of rock and roll, where Gnawa spirit rhythms come up against Chicago distortion, where snaky N'awlins rhythm has a West London howl, and a Sahel Wail.

Good stuff - a good sound!

Tell No Lies

New Release - David Booker - Take out Your False Teeth Mama!

Take out Your False Teeth Mama!



A reviewer at Amazon.com said;

Didn't know what to expect by the title. Listen to the samples- the whole songs are really great.

These are blues, with some country, folk and more blues feeling and sound. Very enjoyable to listen to. Really like #7- Bring Back My Cadillac.

Click image above to listen to samples

1. Fatman Blues
2. Take Out Your False Teeth
3. Beans on Toast and a Porkoie Hat
4. God of Clubs
5. Juke Joint Blues
6. Romance Without Finance
7. Bring Back My Cadillac
8. All I Got Left Is the Blues
9. Swamp Witch
10. Ad Man Blues

Bassekou Kouyate : I Speak Fula

music OMH review

The quartet play with a virtuosic style that also proves extremely hypnotic. Even when taking a back seat to the calming vocals of Jamana Be Diya or Torin Torin, the continuous thrumming in the background is a thing of beauty, providing energy and momentum to the music but also existing in a trance-like state of consonant harmonies.

The instrumental episodes are more improvised, very much of the moment,

I remember seeing this performance on Jools - excellent

I Speak Fula

Dinah Washington - Send me to the Electric Chair

Another good recommendation from Twitter. Dinah sings Bessie - it does not get much better than this!

Electric Chair Blues

Judge your honor, hear my plea, before you open up your court,
I don't want no sympathy--I just cut my good man's throat,
Found him with a travellin' Jane--I warned her before,
I had my knife, and, well, it's plain,The rest you ought to know

cho: Judge, judge, good kind judge,
You can send me to the 'lectric chair,
Judge, judge, hear my plea,
You can fry me 'cause I don't care.
I cut him with my Barlow,
Stabbed him in the side,
Stood there watchin' over him,
While he wobbled 'round and died,
Judge, judge good kind judge,
Please send me to the 'lectric chair.

Judge, judge, good kind judge--send me to the 'lectric chair,
Judge, judge, hear my plea, let me fly away from here,
Don't want no bonded man to go my bail,
Don't wanna spend no 99 years in jail,
Judge, judge, good kind judge,Send me to the 'lectric chair.

Blues Quote - Sleepy John Estes

Today is the birthday of John Adam Estes more commonly known as Sleepy John Estes. He was born on 25th January in 1899, and passed away on 5th June 1977.

Now look here mama you ask me to be your kid,
She said you can, only if you keep it hid,
Please don't let my husband or main man catch you here.

I woke up with the blues three different ways
One say go and other two say stay

~ Sleepy John Estes

Sleepy John Estes @Amazon.com

Poor Boy

John Fahey lived from 1939 to 2001. Not only was he an excellent and inventive guitar player, he was also the fellow who tracked down and "rediscoverd" blues great Bukka White by sending a postcard to Aberdeen Mississippi.

Thierry Lang - Lyoba Revisited

Observer

There is a distinctly European style of contemporary jazz – calm, folky, softly elegiac – that we associate with Germany and Scandinavia. We can now add Switzerland to the list with these exquisite 11 short pieces for piano, flugelhorn, bass and four cellos.

I like cool jazz pieces like these, they get rid of the stresses of the day.

Lyoba Revisited

I Feel Like Going To Church - Church Blues Video

I have posted this video before and I still don't really have words to describe how happy it makes me feel. You just have to watch it, and as you watch it please consider how far this music has come.

Can't get that stuff no more.. Church Blues!!


Notes from YouTube - The BJ Trio Live in Östersund Old Church, Preachin' the Blues.. Some videoclips here from our latest visit in the Old Church, always very nice to play the acoustic blues in churches. Here we had a huge crowd in the small church, more than 300 people had come to see us play!! Awesome, thanks everyone who came!!

Gospel Blues Music Books @Amazon.com

Snooks Eaglin — New Orleans

His vocal style was reminiscent of Ray Charles; indeed, in the 1950s, when he was in his late teens, he would sometimes bill himself as "Little Ray Charles". Generally regarded as a New Orleans R&B artist, he played a wide range of music: blues, rock and roll, jazz, country, and Latin. In his early years, he also played some straight-ahead acoustic blues.

Alvin Youngblood Hart "If Blues Was Money"

I know one thing, if blues was money, I'd be rich. Wait, a minute, I am rich, rich in the blues that is.

Notes from YouTube: Alvin Youngblood Hart (solo) If Blues Was Money
Live at JM Randalls Williamsburg, Virginia circa 2003



Alvin Youngblood Hart @Amazon.com

Johnny Winters - Be Careful With A Fool

Vicksburg Blues

Yes, this is Little Brother Montgomery. I love the restrained piano work in that performance. He could boogie too. Here's the Little Brother Boogie


Mr. Montgomery was born in Louisiana back in 1906 and lived until 1985. He eventually traveled the world playing his blues.

I was looking for something else in my CD collection when I came across a collection of his tunes I haven't listened to in ages. I like his playing style a lot. I could listen to it all day. Here's one more: Prescription for the Blues. Dr. can you find something in your satchel to ease my troubled mind?

Leon Redbone "Lazy Bones"

Leon Redbone @Amazon.com

Chris Cain

An interesting history on his web site

Charlie Musselwhite "Finger Lickin' Good"

Note from YouTube: From the album "Takin' My Time" (1974).


Takin' My Time [Rare]






Charlie Musselwhite @Amazone.com

Skip James

What a wonderful Blues name Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James ( was an American delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.





Skip James Amazon UK Store

It's the Birthday of Leadbelly

Important Recordings 1934-1949

please click image

Today is the birthday of singer, songwriter Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, born in Mooringsport, Louisiana, 1888.

He is best known for his versions of "Goodnight Irene" and "Rock Island Line." He was an inmate at Angola Prison in Louisiana when a white man named Alan Lomax arrived, asking to record any songs the prisoners knew. Lomax was traveling across the south making field recordings for the Library of Congress. Lomax helped him obtain a pardon and took him to New York where he was a big hit.

Over the years I have written several post on Leadbelly, click here for Leadbelly @SqueezeMyLemon.

file under;
mp3, blues, music

beth packer and the black cat bones

From their myspace site

We're a young 4 piece blues band called Beth Packer and the Black Cat Bones. Formed by regulars to the acclaimed blues jam at Soho's "Ain't Nothin' But A Blues Bar", we have played in some of London's best venues offering blues music including Charlotte St Blues, The Troubadour, the Hootananny in Brixton and Ain't Nothin But. Our repertoire takes classics and lesser known gems from the bare roots of the blues through to 60's soul.

New Release - Mississippi Blues

Today Sonny Landreth is releasing his new album "Mississipi Blues".

Mississippi Blues

Them with Van Morrison

I have been a fan of Them and Van Morrison since the start. It is always worth listening to some of the classics.

A customer review from Amazon UK

Van could do it all from slow soulful numbers(One more time) to fast, raw songs such as (route 66, Gloria and baby please don't go) if you like the Rolling Stones or anything bluesey you'll love this. In his earlier days Vans voice was brilliant sounding spitting image of Jagger.
This album has only 5 songs out of about 50 i don't like thats how good it is.
Listening to the album you feel as though it was recorded all while they were doing a live gig!!

Them Ft; Van Morrison: Baby Please Don't Go @ Yahoo! Video

The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison

Blues Book: Instant Blues Harmonica

Instant Blues Harmonica 9 Ed: Minutes Away From Blues and Rock Improvisation!


Book Description - David Harp has taught thousands to play the harmonica, and in this revised edition with 30 percent new material, he makes it even easier. An illustrated instruction book, a CD of play-along music, and a "Mojo Deluxe" harmonica encourage would-be wailers to play the blues.

Book Details

* Paperback: 64 pages
* Publisher: Musical I Press; 9th edition (May 1, 2001)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0918321727
* ISBN-13: 978-0918321725
* Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 1.6 inches

And now for something completely different...

Here's the Old Piano Roll Blues, a tune from the 20s, played on the chemnitzer concertina.


This was played by a fellow in Minnisota who posts on YouTube as fleetingdays.

Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger "Ramblin' Boy" 1965

Just stands on its own - he is doing a UK tour

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;

The Dirty Robbers Blues Band

Part of a review from last June

ANOTHER great Friday night at Telford’s Warehouse, saw the recently formed band, The Dirty Robbers, tear through a great hour of classic blues and r&b from the 50s and 60s – led by the extremely talented Oliver Darling on guitar and vocals. He is a fine player – both as a soloist and rhythm player.

Oliver Darling is probably best known for his stint in The Cadillac Kings, and more recently in Mike Sanchez’s band – joining him are Matt Foundling (piano), Craig Rhind (bass) and Jesse Webb (drums) – together they make a most exciting sound, dominated by Darling’s guitar prowess and Foundling’s sparkling boogie piano, and the tight rhythm section – the sound helped by the fact that all add vocals as well.

Mike Bloomfield - Janis Blues

Happy Birthday To Robert Wilkins

January is also the birth month of Robert Wilkins, he was born on th 16th of January in 1896, and he passed away, on May 26, 1987. He was a seminal blues guitarist and vocalist, of African American and Cherokee descent.

According to Wikipedia;

Wilkins was born in Hernando, Mississippi, 21 miles from Memphis. He worked in Memphis during the 1920s at the same time as Furry Lewis, Memphis Minnie (whom he claimed to have tutored), and Son House. He also organized a jug band to capitalize on the "jug band craze" then in vogue. Though never attaining success comparable to the Memphis Jug Band, Wilkins reinforced his local popularity with a 1927 appearance on a Memphis radio station. Like Sleepy John Estes (and unlike Gus Cannon of Cannon's Jug Stompers) he recorded alone or with a single accompanist. He sometimes performed as Tim Wilkins or as Tim Oliver (his stepfather's name).

The Guitar of Robert Wilkins

It's the Birthday of Alan Lomax

This is also the birth month of Alan Lomax;

Alan Lomax (January 15, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American folklorist and musicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the West Indies, Italy, and Spain.

Every time I think of Mr. Lomax, I thank God for him. He is one of the most important men in the world of blues as far as I am concerned.

Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook


Alan Lomax @Amazon.com
Alan Lomax @Wikipedia
Alan Lomax @SqueezeMyLemon
Alan Lomax @YouTube

Robert Nighthawk

A worthwhile bio on Cascade Blues

Robert Nighthawk was a rambling man who often traveled to Chicago, playing to his heart's content on Sunday afternoons at the famed open-air market along Maxwell Street. But, his heart belonged in the Mississippi Delta and it continuously called him home. Because of his wandering ways, Nighthawk's recorded output is minimal. But, without his influence, the sound of the Blues and modern guitar may have taken a different turn altogether, leaving names such as Elmore James and Earl Hooker with little if any meaning today.

Robert Nighthawk Store

Happy Birthday To Earl Hooker

An Introduction to Earl Hooker

please click image

Earl Hooker, the cousin of John Lee Hooker was born on January 15, 1929 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and he passed away on April 21, 1970 in Chicago, Illinois.

Hooker was a Chicago slide guitarist in the same league as Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, and his mentor, Robert Nighthawk. Some Chicago blues guitarists even consider Hooker to have been the greatest slide player ever.

I think his CD An Introduction to Earl Hooker, makes a fine introduction to the man's music.

Track Listings

1. Blue Guitar
2. Swear to Tell the Truth
3. Blues in D Natural
4. Galloping Horses a Lazy Mule
5. Universal Rock
6. Rockin' with the Kid
7. Rockin' Wild
8. How Long Can This Go On?
9. These Cotton Pickin' Blues
10. The Leading Brand
11. Nothing But Good
12. The Bright Sounds
13. Off the Hook
14. Square Dance Rock Pts. 1-2

Robert Cray BBC

An Amazon customer

I would say that this Live album captures Robert Cray at his very peak with songs from his very best albums.

That would take some going - I will buy this!





Robert Cray Live At The BBC