mp3s by Blind Blake

Blind Blake has the right stuff, you know the stuff that I am talking about. And the real amazing thing about him is that he is not on everybody's radar. I have to admit that I came to his music a little late in my blues education. It was not until I really started digging into the blues and the guitar work of some of the founders of the blues that I came across his music. It is a kind of ragtime for guitar, and it is good. Check it out.

You can read about him here; Blind Blake @ Answers.com

Hastings Street by Blind Blake & Charlie Spand

Diddie Wa Diddie

You Gonna Quit Me

file under;
mp3, music, blues, pre-war, Blind Blake

Blind Blake "Lonsome Chirstmas Blues"

Blind Blake @Amazon.com

Uncensored History of the Blues Podcast

I have just recently become aware of blues podcasting. It is something that I have wanted to explore in-depth for a while now, but just never got around to. But I recently found a podcast that prompted me to dive right in.

I wish I could write something elegant enough to explain how good the Uncensored History of the Blues podcast is. But words fell me. I don't know if it is the plain spoken presentation style of the host Mike Rugel or if it is the fact that he picks a topic and then presents prewar blues songs that illustrate the theme. One thing that I really like about this podcast is that it has a lot of historical value.

Both the themes and the music give you a glimpse into the past as well as the lives of the musicians. I have always thought that the best way to understand the blues, is to consider the time when the music was being made. This podcast does a good job of connecting the music to past events.

The site is discribed @ ODEO.com

Mike Rugel and the Delta Blues Museum take a raw look at the early history of blues music. Each show includes a series of pre-war blues tracks along with context and exposition.

Again words fell me, so without more delay please click on one of the links below;

www.deltabluesmuseum.org

Uncensored History of the Blues Blog - Song list and other information about each podcast.

Below are a few examples of podcast and song list:

Show 20 - Death Tributes Songs:

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Death of Leroy Carr - Bumble Bee Slim and Scrapper Blackwell
Death of Blind Boy Fuller - Brownie McGhee
Oh Death - Charley Patton and Bertha Lee
Death of Walter Barnes - Leonard 'Baby Doo' Caston
Death of Holmes' Mule - Charlie Turner and Winston Holmes
Death of Sonny Boy Williamson - Peck Curtis and Houston Stackhouse

Show 19- Bootlegger's Blues Songs:

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Bootleg Rum Dum Blues - Blind Blake
Bootleggers' Blues - Mississippi Sheiks
Jones Law Blues - James "Stump" Johnson
Sloppy Drunk Blues - Leroy Carr
Good Whiskey Blues - Peetie Wheatstraw
Bootleggin' Ain't No Good No More - Blind Teddy Darby
Alley Bound Blues - Curtis Jones

Show 15 - Blues of the Great War

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Army Blues - Kingfish Bill Tomlin
Uncle Sam Blues - Clara Smith
Army Camp Harmony Blues - Ma Rainey
Army Mule in No Man's Land - Coley Jones
Wartime Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson

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file under;
music, blues, podcast

3rd Generation Italian-American

LastFM

Geremia has built a reputation as a first rate bluesman, songwriter, a “scholar” of early jazz and blues , and one of the best country blues fingerpickers ever with his tools - six and twelve-string guitars, harmonica, piano and a husky soulful voice - and with an innate sense of the humour as well as the drama of the music, he keeps traditional blues fresh and alive with his performances.

Combining his interpretation of the earlier music of people like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Scrapper Blackwell and Blind Blake, with his original compositions, he has created a style which is very much his own and which has received accolades in the U.S.A. and Europe, too numerous to mention.

He's never gone electric

Country Blues

According to wikipedia;

Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) refers to all the acoustic, guitar-driven forms of the blues. After blues' birth in the southern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country (and elsewhere), giving birth to a host of regional styles. These include Memphis, Detroit, Chicago, Texas, Piedmont, Louisiana, Western, Atlanta, St. Louis, East Coast, Swamp, New Orleans, Delta and Kansas City blues.

Notable country blues musicians @ SqueezeMyLemon;

• Etta Baker


• Blind Blake


• Son House


• Charley Patton


• Blind Willie McTell

Country Blues @ Amazon.com

It's The Birthday of Howlin' Wolf

Howlin' Wolf was born on June 10, 1910 and he passed away on January 10, 1976. He was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player and band leader. His real name was Chester Arthur Burnett.

He was inducted into the blues hall of fame in 1980.

According to Wikipedia;

With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match [Howlin' Wolf] for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits." Many songs popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Back Door Man" and "Spoonful"—have become standards of blues and blues rock.

At 6 feet, 6 inches (198 cm) and close to 300 pounds (136 kg), he was an imposing presence with one of the loudest and most memorable voices of all the "classic" 1950s Chicago blues singers. Howlin' Wolf's voice has been compared to "the sound of heavy machinery operating on a gravel road". Although the two were reportedly not that different in actual personality, this rough edged, slightly fearsome musical style is often contrasted with the less crude but still powerful presentation of his contemporary and professional rival, Muddy Waters, to describe the two pillars of the Chicago Blues representing the music.

The Definitive Collection
mp3 Album by Howlin' Wolf

click image

Wikipedia also provides the following Trivia about Howlin' Wolf;

• French singer/song writer Francis Cabrel refers to Howlin' Wolf in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on the 1999 album "Hors-Saison". Cabrel cites the artist as one of a number of blues influences, including Charley Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon, Robert Johnson (musician), Blind Blake, Willie Dixon and Ma Rainey.


• In Marvel Comics Presents #65 in 1990, in a story written by Peter Gillis; in it, the superhero Starfox finds Howlin' Wolf alive and playing on an alien planet. Starfox then reveals that he had scooped Wolf off of his deathbed, healed him using alien technology, and given him the ability to transform into a literal werewolf.


• Irish Rock band That Petrol Emotion titled the first song on their second album "Babble," "Chester Burnett."


• American New Wave act The Knack named their second album "...But the Little Girls Understand," which is a lyric from the Willie Dixon penned Howlin' Wolf hit "Backdoor Man."


• American music performer Captain Beefheart (née Don Van Vliet) has a voice that sounds very much like that of Howlin' Wolf.


• In Hey Arnold, a Nikelodeon cartoon, Howlin' Wolf is given reference by the postman in the alias of a fictitious Blues singer known as 'Raspy Wolf' a blues artist who was supposedly known for singing in a raspy voice.


• Writer Nathan Singer's time-travel novel, "Chasing the Wolf," has Howlin' Wolf as a primary character.


• A song entitled Wolf Like Me by experimental rock band TV on the Radio was a tribute to Howlin' Wolf


• Lowell George calls Burnett the man who invented Rock & Roll in an introduction and dedication to his "Apolitical Blues" which also includes his great story of his experience and awe when he met Burnett.

Howlin' Wolf @Amazon.com

Howlin' Wolf @SqueezeMyLemon

Books about Howlin' Wolf

iTunes Store Music

Catfish Keith - finger picker

See the full interview here

I started playing in the mid 1970's. I was born in East Chicago, Indiana, in 1962. When I was six or so my family moved to Davenport, Iowa. That's where I grew up, mostly. None of the other kids at school were into what I was; you may remember this was the era of disco and heavy metal, nobody I knew was really into blues or folk music. I was always fascinated by acoustic finger-style guitar. I just loved the sound of it! Artists such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and especially Leo Kottke and John Fahey fuelled my interest in early blues, ragtime, and all kinds of roots music styles. When I discovered Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Blake, Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Barbecue Bob, Charlie Patton, Bukka White and so many others, a great treasure trove of music was revealed... and I just went deeper and deeper into it. It is still very exciting to me how so much music and quirky, individual, improvisational delight can be made in the hands, voice and heart of one person.

MP3's

Blues Instruments - The Guitar.

I've read in Gerard Herzhaft's Encyclopedia of The Blues and other places that the guitar, became popular and cheap just as the first bluesmen began to develop their sound. At the time among white rural musicians the banjo and the fiddle were just as important as the guitar if not more popular.

The guitar was more flexible and allowed for making blue notes and the creation of a true blues scale. Because the guitar was a cheap instrument and it could produce a wide range of effects it dominated the playing of the early black musicians. The early bluesmen, did not play the guitar the way it was played by classically trained musicians, just as they also played the harmonica in a different way then in classical music. Most black musicians were not trained in classical music at the time anyway.

The early bluesmen, such as Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson adapted fingerpicking, in which the melody is interwoven among the alternating bass notes and flatpicking, which helps to create the idea of a lead guitar. In flatpicking, the musician plays the melody line, note by note, with a pick. This allows the guitar to accompany a singer in a call and response technique which is familiar to almost every fan of the blues. Where the singer sings a line, and then the guitar repeats that line or vice versa.

It is reported that Lonnie Johnson probably invented this technique thus forever codifying the guitar's place in both blues and later rock and roll. The idea of flat picking lead to the electric guitar, which really allowed the bluesmen and women to express themselves. Thus you get guitars crying and displaying emotions as seen in the playing styles of musicians like B.B. King, T. Bone Walker and later Stevie Ray Vaughn.

To read more about the many blues guitarist check this out Blues Guitarists @ wikipedia.

A little guitar trivia; The guitar has come to be called many different colloquial names over time such as:

axe,
box,
guit-box,
guit-fiddle,
guit-box-fiddle,
guit-axe,
bread-box,
bread-winner,
bread-box-winner,
bread-box-fiddle.

This post is brought to you by ActoGuitar.com, a guitar learning community with free guitar video lessons.

Hubert Sumlin & David Johansen - Killing Floor

Wikipedia

"Killing Floor" is a song by American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Howlin' Wolf, featured on his 1966 album The Real Folk Blues. One of Wolf's best-known songs, "Killing Floor" has been covered by a wide variety of artists – including such high-profile acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin – and is frequently noticed as one of the most influential blues songs of all-time.
The Wolf's long time guitarist, Hubert Sumlin still performs this song. He played it with Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray at The Crossroads Guitar Festival.

The song's title references the slaughtering area of a slaughterhouse. The name also features as the title of an action-adventure novel by Lee Child (Killing Floor); the connection is likely to have arisen from the main character Jack Reacher's search for blues guitarist Blind Blake and the apparent link in musical genres.

I shoulda quit you, long time ago.
I shoulda quit you, baby, long time ago.
I shoulda quit you, and went on to Mexico.
If I hada followed, my first mind.
If I hada followed, my first mind.
I'da been gone, since my second time.
I shoulda went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me.
I shoulda went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me.
I was foolin with ya baby, I let ya put me on the killin floor.
Lord knows, I shoulda been gone.
Lord knows, I shoulda been gone.
And I wouldn't've been here, down on the killin floor.

It's the Birthday of Ma Rainey

Mother of the Blues


Today is the birthdate of Ma Rainey. She was born in Columbus, Georgia on April 26, 1886. She wasn't the first recorded female blues singer, but by she very well could have been. She had been performing for years bofore she was ever recorded.

She was on stage as early as 1900 (Encyclopedia of the Blues, Gerard Herzhaft). She was multitalented, she sang, danced and acted in a traveling vaudeville show. In 1904 she married the dancer William "Pa" Rainey and adopted the nickname of "Ma" Rainey.

Her show was a part of the Tolliver circus and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. During this time she took a young Bessie Smith under her wing and gave her advice.

During her time women were the marquee names in blues music, and Ma Rainey was the most celebrated of them all. That is why she is often called the "Mother of the blues." She had been singing and performing for more than 20 years before she made her first recording for Paramount in 1923.

Her best know songs include, "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Her vocal delivery was tough and her music included jug bands, guitars, and she also played with bluesmen like Tampa Red and Blind Blake. She also sang with early jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Fletcher Henderson.

You can read all about her here, Ma Rainey @ Wikipedia

And if you would like to hear some of her music, consider the following;



Ma Rainey @Amazon.com

It's the Birthday of Ma Rainey

Mother of the Blues


Today is the birthday of Ma Rainey. She was born in Columbus, Georgia on April 26, 1886. She wasn't the first recorded female blues singer, but she very well could have been. She had been performing for years before she was ever recorded.

She was on stage as early as 1900 (Encyclopedia of the Blues, Gerard Herzhaft). She was multi-talented, she sang, danced and acted in a traveling vaudeville show. In 1904 she married the dancer William "Pa" Rainey and adopted the nickname of "Ma" Rainey.

Her show was a part of the Tolliver circus and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. During this time she took a young Bessie Smith under her wing and gave her advice.

During her time women were the marquee names in blues music, and Ma Rainey was the most celebrated of them all. That is why she is often called the "Mother of the blues." She had been singing and performing for more than 20 years before she made her first recording for Paramount in 1923.

Her best known songs include, "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Her vocal delivery was tough and her music included jug bands, guitars, and she also played with bluesmen like Tampa Red and Blind Blake. She also sang with early jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Fletcher Henderson.

You can read all about her here, Ma Rainey @ Wikipedia

And if you would like to hear some of her music, consider the following;



Ma Rainey @Amazon.com

Today is the Birthdate of Ma Rainey

Today is the birthdate of Ma Rainey. She was born Columbus, Georgia on April 26, 1886. She wasn't the first female blues singer to make records, but by all rights she should have been.

She was on stage as early as 1900 (Encyclopedia of the Blues, Gerard Herzhaft). She was multitalented, she sang, danced and acted in a traveling vaudeville show. In 1904 she married the dancer William "Pa" Rainey and adopted the nickname of "Ma" Rainey.

Her show was a part of the Tolliver circus and the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. During this time she took a young Bessie Smith under her wing and gave her advice.

During her time women were the marquee names in blues music, and Ma Rainey was the most celebrated of them all. That is why she is often called the "Mother of the blues." She had been singing and performing for more than 20 years before she made her first recording for Paramount in 1923.

Some of the song for which she is know for are, "See See Rider," "Bo-Weavil Blues," and "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." She had a tough vocal delivery and her music included jug bands, guitar dous, and she also played with bluesmen like Tampa Red and Blind Blake. She is also know as an early jazz singer for her work accompanying musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory and Fletcher Henderson.

You can read all about her here, Ma Rainey @ Wikipedia

And if you would like to hear some of her music, consider the following;

file under;
music, blues,Ma Rainey