Drum Solo

Very Cool



Amazon
Emphasis (on Parenthesis)

Avian swinger

You have probably seen this before but well!

Ten Million Slaves

He is a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include the guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, and vocals. Taylor's eldest daughter, Cassie, is featured on many of his releases. She also plays several instruments including bass and vocals.

By 1977, though, he “retired” from music and had a successful antiques business. He returned to music when he was nearly 50, and having immersed himself in the history of the folklore of the blues, he traced the migration of both the blues and the banjo from its roots in Africa to its “birth” in the American south.

His music is uncompromising and fierce. High octane stuff.

When Negroes Walked the Earth
1. Bowlegged Charlie
2. Country Boy, Girl
3. 500 Roses
4. Cuckoo - Otis Taylor, Traditional, Traditional
5. 12 String Mile
6. They Don't Want Me
7. Cold at Midnight
8. Tight Wire Blues
9. Naggin' Woman Blues
10. 9th Cavalry Blues
11. Tight Wire Blues
12. Pretty Polly - Otis Taylor, Traditional, Traditional





Amazon UK
Otis' Amazon page

The Seventh Son

Willie Dixon lived from 1915-1992. He was a great song-writer, performer and blues ambassador. He wrote many, many blues classics.

I'm Nervous


Weak Brain and a Narrow Mind

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.

Gritty and Uncompromising

Chicago Blues at its best

This Little Voice
300 Pounds Of Joy
So Unhappy
Tell Me How You Like It
What My Mamma Told Me
Hold That Train Conductor
Mississippi Kid
Come On In This House
You Ought To Be Ashamed
Walked All Night Long
So Mean To Me
Thrill Is Gone

Close To You
I Don't Like To Travel

Killing Floor



Amazon UK
Hold That Train

Blues with a Touch of Soul

He was in Otis Rush's band for several years in the 1960s, and played on Magic Sam's albums, West Side Soul and Black Magic.He recorded his own solo album, Blues with a Touch of Soul, for Delmark Records in 1971.Young also worked alongside Willie Dixon, Billy Boy Arnold and Jimmy Rogers

It's the Birthday of Junior Kimbrough and Mike Bloomfield

Today is the Birthday of a couple of prominant blues men.

Up first is Junior Kimbrough, who was born on this day back in 1930. He passed away after having a strok on January 17, in 1998.

Wikipedia states;

Born David Kimbrough in Hudsonville, Mississippi, Kimbrough lived in the North Mississippi Hill Country around Holly Springs. He recorded for the Fat Possum Records label. He was a long-time associate of labelmate R. L. Burnside, and the Burnside and Kimbrough families often collaborated on musical projects. This relationship continues today. Burnside called Kimbrough "the beginning and end of all music." This is written on Kimbrough's tombstone outside his family's church, the Kimbrough Family Church, in Holly Springs.

Beginning around 1992, Kimbrough operated a juke joint known as "Junior's Place" in Chulahoma, Mississippi, which attracted visitors from around the world, including members of U2 and The Rolling Stones. Kimbrough's sons, musicians Kinney and David Malone Kimbrough (two of Kimbrough's rumored to be twenty-eight children), kept it open following his death, until it burned to the ground on April 6, 2000.

Junior Kimbrough "Sad Days, Lonely Nights"


Album discography
---------------------
All Night Long
Sad Days, Lonely Nights
Do The Rump
Most Things Haven't Worked Out
God Knows I Tried
Meet Me in the City
You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough
Sunday Nights: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough
The Black Keys - Chulahoma (Songs written by Kimbrough and performed by The Black Keys)

Check out Junior Kimbrough @ MySpace.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It is also the birthday of Mike Bloomfield. A blues musician from Chicago who was one of the original members of the Paul Butterfield Band.

Sadly;

On February 15, 1981 Bloomfield was found dead in San Francisco in his parked car. According to his friends, the size of the heroin dose that killed him meant that he probably did not drive to this spot and overdose, rather that the lethal dose had been administered somewhere else and he had been driven to this spot to avoid complications for his drug-ingesting cohorts. The official cause of death was ruled an accidental drug overdose.

Mike Bloomfields If You Love These Blues


Wikipedia states;

Michael Bernard Bloomfield (July 28, 1943, Chicago, Illinois — February 15, 1981, San Francisco California), an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation entirely on his instrumental prowess.[citation needed] Respected for his fluid guitar playing, Bloomfield, who knew and played with many of Chicago's blues legends even before he achieved his own fame, was one of the primary influences on the mid-to-late 1960s revival of classic Chicago and other styles of blues music. In 2003 he was also also ranked at number 22 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Between Midnight and Day

There are lots of reasons I need to get to know this guy who seems to have interests in Blues and Reggae. On his debut solo album Between Midnight and Day (1995) he investigated the repertoire of Charlie Patton, Booker White, Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters and Sleepy John Estes.

In 2002, Harris collaborated with Ali Farka Toure on his album, Mississippi to Mali, fusing blues and Toure's music from northern Mali. Harris has also lived and traveled widely in West Africa, an influence that has permeated much of his work.

He helped Billy Bragg and Wilco to write the music for "Hoodoo Voodoo" on Mermaid Avenue, an album consisting entirely of songs for which the lyrics were written by the late Woody Guthrie.



Corey Harris - live at Sighisoara Blues Festival 2008

Corey Harris & Keb Mo > Sweet Home Chicago (HQ)
Uploaded by beepbeep44. - See the latest featured music videos.

Amazon
Fish Ain't Bitin'
Mississippi To Mali

Fresh Fish Blues

San Jose Jazz Festival, Aug 7-9

Sounds good to us - see their Web Site.

An excellent lineup including

Allen Toussaint is an amazing pianist. Lots of talent. He is from Fitz's home state of Louisiana.



Winard Harper is a drummer.



Greg Abate is an excellent sax player.



The Wild Magnolias are a funk/jazz band from Louisiana. They are Mardi Gras Indians, been around for a while.


Black Joe Louis is also going to be at this event.


From the web site it looks like it will be a nice event. We wish we could go to it.

How Many?

I Feel Like Going To Church - Eric Bibb - Now is The Needed Time

This morning I only have this one small prayer, I sure wish that he would come by here, now is the needed time.

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Listen to some tracks by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and you would say, that's rough and ready Piedmont blues, complete with whoops and hollers. Here they are playing Easy Rider.


But there they are playing with Pete Seeger. They played, and recorded, with Woodie Guthrie as well. There friendship and musical association with these guys kind of makes them what you might today call "cross-over" artists. Some of their tunes are downright folkie-dolkie, yet they retain elements of their blues tradition, and managed to develop a style as a duo that became tremendously distinctive.

Listen to Down by the Riverside, with Pete. Fantastic material!


I remember seeing them at the El Mocambo back in the 70s. I had never seen anything like it. That show really opened my mind to the possibilities of music.

Here's I'm a Burnt Child


I have to post a version of Sonny Terry's fantastic Hootin' the Blues. I sat ten feet away from him one time and watched him play that, and all I could think was, man that isn't possible.

Let's not discount Brownie's role in this either. His guitar is fantastic on this tune.

Harmonica Virtuoso

Blues Song In The Spotlight: Robert Johnson-I Believe I'll Dust My Broom

According to Wikipedia;

"Dust My Broom" is a blues standard originally recorded by Robert Johnson, the legendary Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. It was released on the ARC Records label under the title of "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom. The song was later recorded and released on the Trumpet Records label by blues singer and guitarist Elmore James and became a surprise rhythm and blues hit in 1952. James version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

Robert Johnson's version of "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", had been originally derived from Kokomo Arnold's adaption of "Sagefield Woman Blues". Elmore James took the song from Johnson.

James closely followed Johnson's lyrics and included a bottleneck guitar blues riff used frequently by Johnson but not on his recording of this song. James' first recording was in 1951 for Trumpet Records with Sonny Boy Williamson playing the harmonica and Odie Johnson on bass. James also recorded it under the title "Dust My Blues". He became closely associated with Johnson's song, using the melody for some of his own songs as well and playing it in bottleneck or slide guitar, while Johnson's original was finger picked.

Lyrics:

I'm gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
I'm gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
Girlfriend the black man you've been lovin
girlfriend can get my room

I'm gonna write a letter
telephone everytown I know
I'm gonna write a letter
telephone every town I know
If I can't find her in West Helena
she must be in East Monroe I know

I don't want no woman
wants every downtown man she meets
I don't want no woman
wants every downtown man she meets
She's a no good dooney
they shouldn't allow her on the street

I believe, I believe I'll go back home
I believe, I believe I'll go back home
You can mistreat me here babe,
but you can't when I'm back home

And I'm gettin up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
I'm gettin up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
Girlfriend the black man you been lovin
girlfriend can get my room

I'm gonna call up Chiney
see is my good girl over there
I'm gonna call up China
see is my good girl over there
I can't find her on Phillipine's island
she must be in Ethiopia somewhere



Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings

Robert Johnson @Amazon.com

Psychedelia pioneers

Last FM

The Pretty Things were a 1960s and 1970s rock and roll band from London. They pioneered a raw approach to rhythm and blues (and later, psychedelia) that influenced a number of key bands of the 1960s British invasion, particularly The Rolling Stones, and David Bowie whose first hero was Phil May.

Dirty Pretty Things - Bang Bang You're Dead
Uploaded by Dirty-Pretty-Things. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Amazon
S.F. Sorrow

Folk's Blues Revivalist

Amazon UK
Shake 'Em on Down

New Release - Ana Popovic - Blind For Love

click image

Track Listing

1. Nothing Personal
2. Wrong Woman
3. Steal Me Away
4. Blind For Love
5. More Real
6. Putting Out The APB
7. Get Back Home To You
8. The Only Reason
9. Part Of Me (Lullaby For Luuk)
10. Lives That Don't Exist
11. Need Your Love
12. Blues For M

According to Amazon.com;

Still Making History signified Ana Popovic's first official entry into the U.S. market and it was a smashing success. The album spent a total of 19 weeks on the Billboard blues chart and hit a peak position of #3! After tirelessly touring the U.S. and Europe for the last two years Ana finally returns with her follow up effort Blind For Love produced by David Z (Prince, Jonny Lang) and Mark Dearnley (AC/DC, Paul McCartney).

Here Ana offers up a little something for everyone including rock, blues, jazz and funk and is joined by members of her regular touring band - Ronald Jonker - bass, and Andrew 'Blaze' Thomas - drums, plus special guests Tony Braunagel on drums and Mike Finnigan on Hammond B-3 from the Phantom Blues Band.

Ana Popovic @Amazon.com


Ana Popovic @SqueezeMyLemon

Pussycat Moan

She died in 1999 and is belatedly recognised as one of the most important blues artist of her generation - famous for boogie-woogie piano.





Amazon
No Foolin'!

The King

The late Clifton Chenier, king of zydeco


He sure could squeeze out those blues.

Pine Grove Blues

It's the Birthday of Carlos Santana

Ultimate Santana

Carlos Santana was born on 20 July in 1947. He is a Mexican-born American Grammy Award-winning rock musician and guitarist. And in my opinion one of the great living bluesmen of our time.

"Rolling Stone also named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"

Australian Blues Guitarist

Blues is Tough

Charlie's website bio says

"Blues is tough," Charlie Musselwhite explains. He could just as easily be talking about himself. Described by the San Jose Mercury News as, "the second coming of Led Zeppelin, with Tom Waits on vocals," Charlie and his band embody the direct and timeless power of the blues.

Wikipedia says

Musselwhite was reportedly the inspiration for Dan Aykroyd's Blues Brothers

Amazon UK
Up and Down the Highway: Live 1986

I Feel Like Going To Church - Black Delta Religion

I love the music and I'm just doin' it.

Maryportblues, Cumbria, UK

From the web site
The 11th Maryport Blues Festival takes place over the weekend of July 24th, 25th & 26th July, when the small Cumbrian harbour town of Maryport will once again be alive with the best in blues music.

This year, over 40 bands and 150 individual musicians from all over the globe will be performing in the main stage marquee, in the pubs and clubs and on an outdoor stage and on the street, to thousands of visitors from all over the UK.

Headliners Jethro Tull and John Mayall are supported by Ruby Turner and The Blues Band amongst many others.

Blues Song In The Spotlight: Robert Johnson- Malted Milk

lyrics:

I keep drinkin' malted milk , try'n to drive my blues away
I keep drinkin' malted milk, try'n to drive my blues away
Baby, you just as welcome to my lovin', as the flowers is in May

Malted milk, malted milk, keep rushin' to my head
Malted milk, malted milk, keep rushin' to my head
And I have a funny, funny feelin', and I'm talkin' all out my head

Baby, fix me one more drink, and hug your daddy one more time
Baby, fix me one more drink, and hug your daddy one more time
Keep on stirrin' my malted milk mama, until I change my mind

My door knob keeps on turnin', it must be spooks around my bed
My door knob keeps on turnin', must be spooks around my bed
I have a warm, old feelin', and the hair risin' on my head



Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings

Robert Johnson @Amazon.com

Cadillac Walk

This is Mink DeVille from 1982. His guitar player on this tour was none other than Toronto's own Paul James.

New Orleans Jazz Trumpeteer

Influenced by Louis Armstrong with many years of experience. I came across this delightful chap at AllAboutJazz



Traditional and delightful.



Amazon UK
Livin' a Treme Life

Ready Made - Italian Blues

Amazon
Ready Made

The Happy Blues

This is Etta Baker. Piedmont Blues

New Release - James Cotton - Mighty Long Time

click image

Track Listings

1. Straighten Up Baby
2. Everything Gonna Be Alright
3. Black Nights
4. Blow Wind Blow
5. Sugar Sweet
6. Moanin' At Midnight
7. Baby Please
8. Hold Me In Your Arms
9. Call It Stormy Monday
10. Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy
11. Northside Cadillac
12. Mighty Long Time
13. Evan Shuffle

According to Amazon.com;

Digitally remastered edition of this album from the Blues great, originally released in 1997. James Cotton's long career began way back in the '50s where he studied harmonica at the house of Sonny Boy Williamson and recorded his debut single with Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He played and recorded with the great Muddy Waters and made his debut album for Vanguard in the mid '60s. He made Mighty Long Time for the Antones label in 1997, which features an all-star backing band that includes Jimmie Vaughan from The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Luther Tucker and Wayne Bennett. 13 tracks. Floating World. 2009.

James Cotton @Amazon.com

James Cotton @SqueezeMyLemon

Jump down turn around, pick a bale of cotton...

Here's Leadbelly,


Hokie Joint


İstanbul Blues Kumpanyası
This one is a very different take on picking a bale a day...

Gypsy of the Blues

From his website

There are few wild lions left in this world and there are few true blues men working the scene. Eddie Kirkland must be experienced!

His heart and soul are one, what he believes; he feels. What he feels he transforms to music.

It was racism in the military, he said, that led him to seek out the devil.

At 85 years old - wow!


Amazon UK
Eddie's MP3

I Feel Like Going To Church - Ruthie Foster - Up Above My Head

I love Ruthie Foster's music, her performances are filled with skill and style. Here she is doing "Up Above My Head" a song made famous by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. This song appears on Ruthie's CD The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster.

The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster

Ruthie Foster @Amazon.com

All Lady Blues

A lady who seems to be enjoying herself and to be part of an all female Blues Band is pretty good.

Enjoy this Retro Clip

From Maya Ziglar's MySpace Site

I was the drummer for Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs. Formed in Hollywood in 1986 the members included: Maggie Mayall, Debbie Davies, Dana Robbins, and Julie Jones. We toured througout the US and opened for musicians such as John Mayall, Coco Montoya, Walter Trout, Paul Butterfield, and Mick Fleetwood. We had our video done at the world famous Palamino Club in Hollywood where such legendary artists as Linda Rondstat got her start. Maggie has just released this CD with some of our tunes on it. Thought someone should hear it. We are no longer together so I am currently looking for serious blues players, particularly females who are looking to blow people away because I want to do what God intented--Play!

Give me back my wig

What is it about certain songs that captures the imagination of many musicians. I know Give me Back my Wig as a Hound Dog Taylor boogie, a great party tune with a fantastic one-note guitar break that gets me every time. I took a look on YouTube and discovered that it has been performed by a lot of musicians.

Here's Hound Dog Taylor...


Here the Tejas Brothers start out with the Doug Salm classic She's about a Mover, and finish with Give me Back my Wig. Great accordion, eh? Bet you didn't think I could sneak any Tex/Mex into this post, did you!


Stevie Ray Vaughan


Time for a female perspective, no?

Blues Song In The Spotlight: Robert Johnson - 32 - 20 Blues

Lyrics :

If I send for my baby
and she don't come

If I send for my baby
man, and she don't come

All the doctors in Hot Springs
sure can't help her none

And if she gets unruly
thinks she don't wan do

If she gets unruly
thinks she don't wan do

Take my 32-20 now and
cut her half in two

She got a 38 special but I believe its much too light
She got a 38 special but I believe its much too light
I got a 32-20, got to make the camps alright

If I send for my baby
and she don't come

If I send for my baby
man, and she don't come

All the doctors in Hot Springs
sure can't help her none

I'm gonna shoot my pistol, gonna shoot my Gatlin gun
I'm gonna shoot my pistol, gotta shoot my Gatlin gun

You made me love you
now your man has come

Ah-oh
baby where you stay last night

Ah-ah
baby where you stayed last night

You got your hair all tangled
and you ain't talkin right

Got a 38 special boys, it do very well



Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings

Robert Johnson @Amazon.com

Dutch Mason

Tonight I'd like to feature another Canadian bluesman, the late Dutch Mason, Prime Minister of the Blues.



Who do you love?


Here's an excellent little bio of a Canadian treasure

It's the Birthday of Blind Boy Fuller

Blind Boy Fuller a blues guitarist and vocalist was born on this day, July 10 back in 1907 in Wadesboro, North Carolina. He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists.

Books about Blind Boy Fuller @ Amazon.com

Blind Boy Fuller mp3s @ Amazon.com

On my Mind

I can't believe he died 5 years ago - I did have the privilege of seeing him once and it was as good as you might expect.



1. All I Want To Do – With Angie Stone
2. You Are My Sunshine – With Chris Isaak
3. It All Goes By So Fast – With Mary J. Blige
4. You Were There – With Gladys Knight
5. Imagine – With Ruben Studdard & The Harlem Gospel Singers
6. Compared To That – With Leela James
7. Big Bad Love – With Diana Ross
8. I Will Be There – With Idina Menzel
9. Blame It On The Sun – With George Michael
10. Touch – With John Legend
11. Shout – With Patti Labelle & The Andrae Crouch Singers
12. Surrender To Love – With Laura Pausini
13. Busted (Live) – With Willie Nelson
14. America The Beautiful – With Alicia Keys

Ray's Amazon Store

Morgan Davis

Time to feature another Canadian bluesman Morgan Davis.

Reefer Smokin Man


Davis was actually born in Detroit, but moved up to Toronto Canada in 1968. He's been living in the Maritimes since 2001.

Here's Waffle House Blues

Keeper of the Blues

He works a lot in schools - you can just hear his infectious enthusiasm in the second track that works so well in classrooms.

The first one is exactly what I like - 3 divas belting it out, it would be impossible to sit still.





Tell Me What You Say
I Claim Nothing But the Blues

West Coast Blues

Kenny Sultan is best known as the guitarist in the perenially popular blues duo of Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan. West Coast Blues is Sultan’s first album of solo instrumental blues and spans the gambit from sexy shuffles to toe-tapping rags, with the odd slide number thrown in for variety. Kenny Sultan is a best selling author of guitar blues videos and music books.

New Release - Otis Taylor - Pentatonic Wars Love Songs

I have been meaning to post something about Otis Taylor for a while now. I enjoy his music a great deal and want to introduce him to new fans.

I really like his music because as one reviewer stated;

No one ever accused blues singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Otis Taylor of overindulging in the brighter and happier aspects of the human condition. His songs are often peopled with characters whose emotional landscape - no matter how raw or dark - is laid bare for all to experience, and the story is often less than pretty.

And his new release gives me such a chance to introduce the raw blues power that he delivers.


click image

Amazon.com's product review states;

Taylor's new recording, Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs, throws a light on the complexities of love in all of its forms. In addition to Taylor's trademark haunting vocals and simple but stirring guitar riffs - a combination often referred to as trance blues - the album also features guest appearances by Irish blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore (previously heard on Taylor's Definition of a Circle in 2007) and jazz/hip-hop pianist Jason Moran.

Within these songs of love are tales of tragedy and loss, misunderstanding and deception - but often a glimmer of hope as well. "That's just my nature," says Taylor. "I may write love songs, but they aren't always going to be happy and pretty. Look at songs like `Teen Angel' or `Ode To Billy Joe.' Those are love songs, but they aren't exactly happy. So why shouldn't my songs be considered love songs?"

"This is a different kind of endeavor for me," he says of the new recording. "I found myself saying, `What can I do after making a banjo album? What will people want to listen to?' My answer was love songs. I'm doing things here that I didn't have the opportunity to do on previous albums, things that people wouldn't normally expect from me, compared to what I've done so far. I think it's one of my best works because it has such unusual elements."

Otis Taylor @Amazon.com

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.

B3 Blues

Readers of my other blog mister anchovy's will know that I am a fan of the colour instruments. You know what I mean, accordions, concertinas, squeezeboxes, harmonicas, and let's not forget organs. I love the sound of the Hammond B3 heard through it's sweet sister the Leslie.

Here's Root Doctor performing Hip Hug Her.


Here's , a fabulous player!


The Hammond Organ was invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 as a church organ replacement for pipe organs. This electric organ features mechanical devices known as tonewheels that rotate in front of pickups. These are adjusted by drawbars, so sometimes the B3 is called a drawbar organ. Although the B3 comes with speakers, most players hook the instrument up to speakers known as Leslies. The Leslie is a combo speaker-amp that features a rotating horn that creates the characteristic sound we know and love. You can look up all the technical stuff if you're interested. For me it's all about the sound.

Here is the late great Jimmy Smith playing his signature piece, The Sermon. Smith, who played by ear, learned horn lines on his B3. He took the B3 to new heights.


Of course the Hammond Organ was prominent in a rock context too. Everybody knows Booker T and the MGs Green Onions.

The "Memphis Group" personified the STAX sound. Even today, it's totally infectious. Booker T played a smaller organ, the Hammond M3 without a Leslie.

Lonesome Sundown

My Home is a Prison


I love the video of the 45 rpm vinyl. We had some people over to the house the other day whose teen-aged kids had never seen a record play. Man, I feel old.

Working Real Hard

Soul Blues

Amazon UK
Blues for the Soul
Give It Up to Love

I Feel Like Going To Church - Fred McDowell - Woke Up This Morning

Woke Up this Morning with My Mind on Jesus by Mississippi Fred McDowell (MP3 Download)



Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus) by Blind Roosevelt Graves (MP3 Download)