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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


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Showing posts with label Arkansas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arkansas. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2012

My Time After Awhile - Tiny Powell

Vance Powell was born in Warren, AR. on May 17, 1922. He was known to be a vocalist in the gospel group The Paramount Singers from the mid-1940's up until 1951, when he became a singer with The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. In the 1960's he decided to try his hand at being a blues artist on the West Coast cutting a few singles for small labels such as Wax, Ocampo, & Earlybird up until 1968. Not getting any recognition in the blues field, he soon rejoined The Paramount Singers as a member until 1973. Powell passed away in Oakland, CA. on February 5, 1984. There is a photo of Powell that was published in "Blues Who's Who" by Sheldon Leonard, but I was unable to find it on the internet. "My Time After Awhile" was later covered by Buddy Guy

Vance "Tiny" Powell:Vocals

Johnny Heartsman:Guitar

Gino Landry:Tenor Sax

Possibly Bobby Forte:Sax

Bobby Reed:Bass

Fred Casey:Drums
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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Sleeping Alone - Bobby Blues Ray


Bobby Ray is an accomplished musician. His gospel upbringing in the churches of Arkansas prepared him for his jump into the Northern California Soul scene during the 60's.
He played assorted venues opening for the likes of B.B. King, Lowell Folsom, Albert King, Muddy Waters, and Bobby "Blue" Bland. Bobby played numerous Soul venues but his heart remained with the blues through the years.
Ray is based in Sacramento, California. His earthy voice is loved by local musicians who idolize his talent.
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Sunday, April 29, 2012

Long Distance Call - Muddy Waters


On this track:
Pinetop Perkins ~ piano
Harmonica Smith ~ harp
Pee Wee Madison ~ guitar
Sammy Lawhorn ~ guitar
Calvin Fuzz Jones ~ bass
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith ~ drums
Sammy David Lawhorn (July 12, 1935 – April 29, 1990) was an American Chicago blues guitarist. He is best known for his membership of Muddy Waters band, although his guitar work accompanied many other blues musicians including Otis Spann, Willie Cobbs, Eddie Boyd, Roy Brown, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, and Junior Wells. He became the most frequently recorded blues sideman of his generation
Lawhorn was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents soon separated with his mother re-marrying, leaving the young Lawhorn cared for by his grandparents.[2] Nailing some baling twine to the side of their home he made his own diddley bow. Frequently visiting his mother and stepfather in Chicago, they bought him a ukulele to play, followed in turn by an acoustic and finally electric guitar. By the age of fifteen, Lawhorn was proficient enough to accompany Driftin' Slim on stage, and with further guidance from Sonny Boy Williamson II, began playing with him on the King Biscuit Time radio program.

Lawhorn was conscripted in 1953 and served in the United States Navy where, on a tour of duty in Korea, he was injured by enemy fire during aerial reconnaissance. He continued in service and was discharged in 1958, when he moved to Memphis, Tennessee. There he undertook recording sessions with The "5" Royales, Eddie Boyd, Roy Brown and Willie Cobbs. An argument arose with the latter over the writing credits for the song "You Don't Love Me." Finding work on his own in Chicago in 1958, Lawhorn soon relocated, despite having a guitar stolen at one of his early club performances.

By the early 1960s, Lawhorn had found regular work as a club sideman to Junior Wells, Otis Rush and Elmore James, which led to him sitting in with Muddy Waters band on a couple of occasions. By October 1964, Lawhorn was invited to join Waters band on a full time basis. Over the next decade, he subsequently played on a number of Waters' albums including Live At Mister Kelly's, The London Muddy Waters Sessions, The Woodstock Album, and Folk Singer.

Lawhorn's guitar work also featured when Waters' band supplied backing to John Lee Hooker, Big Mama Thornton and Otis Spann. Lawhorn's use of the tremolo arm on his guitar, and his overall playing expertise, saw him later credited by Waters as the best guitarist he ever had in his band. However, Lawhorn's career started to be hampered by his drinking. Variously passing out on stage over his amplifier, off stage whilst sitting in clubs, or missing shows altogether, it saw Waters lose patience and fire Lawhorn in 1973. He was replaced by Bob Margolin.

Lawson simply returned to playing in Chicago clubs, and remained in the recording industry with appearances on Junior Wells' On Tap, plus James Cotton's Take Me Back (1987). He also supplied his guitar skills to recorded work by Koko Taylor, Jimmy Witherspoon, Little Mack Simmons, and L. C. Robinson. His work in several Chicago haunts saw him play alongside his childhood idols in T-Bone Walker and Lightnin' Hopkins. Assistance proffered by Lawhorn to up and coming musicians of the time, saw John Primer become a disciple.

A combination of alcoholism and arthritis started to cause Lawhorn's health to fail. The latter was contributed to when he was bizarrely thrown from a third floor window by a burglar, which resulted in Lawhorn breaking both his feet and ankles.

Lawhorn died in April 1990, at the age of 54, although his demise was described on his death certificate as by natural causes
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Things That I Used To Do - Lefty Dizz


Queen Sylvia Embry bass, Ralph Lapetina piano, others are Ed Madden trumpet, Woody Williams drums. at the Checkerboard.
Born Walter Williams in Arkansas in on April 29,1937, Dizz (the nickname was bestowed on him by Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, appropriating it from drummer Ted Harvey, who used the name when he was “playing jazz in the alley”) started playing guitar at age 19 after a four-year hitch in the Air Force. Entirely self-taught, he played a standard right-handed model flipped upside down, without reversing the strings. His sound was raw and distorted and his style owed more to the older bluesmen than to the hipper West Side players like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy working in the B.B. King mode. By the time he came to Chicago, he had honed his craft well enough to become a member of Junior Wells’s band in 1964, recording and touring Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia with him until the late ’60s. At various times during the ’60s and early ’70s, he’d also moonlight as a guitarist with Chicago stalwarts J.B. Lenoir and Hound Dog Taylor, while sitting in everywhere and playing with seemingly everyone. While being well known around town as a “head cutter,” Lefty Dizz was always welcome on anyone’s bandstand. His personality, while seemingly carefree and humorous, masked a deep, highly intelligent individual who had also earned a degree in economics from Southern Illinois University.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Leaving Chicago - George Harmonica Smith


George "Harmonica" Smith (April 22, 1924 – October 2, 1983) (born Allen George Smith) was an American electric blues harmonica player
Born in West Helena, Arkansas, United States, but brought up in Cairo, Illinois, he began playing professionally in 1951. He was recruited to join Muddy Waters' band in 1954, making his presence between the short-lived Henry Strong, and James Cotton. He would rejoin Waters in 1966. He eventually made the decision to leave Chicago, and spent much of his adult life on the West Coast of America.

Smith played with the blues combo, Bacon Fat, and tutored its harmonica player Rod Piazza, and mentored guitarist (Blues Musician) Buddy Reed, before joining forces with Big Mama Thornton in the 1970s. He appeared on her album Jail (1975), and with another harmonica student William Clarke.

The few solo albums he recorded in his life reflected his admiration for the playing style of Little Walter.

George "Harmonica" Smith died in 1983, in Los Angeles, California at the age of 59.
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Friday, April 13, 2012

Love and Happiness - Al Green


Albert Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together". In 2005, Rolling Stone named him #66 in their list of the '100 Greatest Artists of All Time'. The nomination stated that "people are born to do certain things, and Al was born to make us smile." The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Green in 1995, referring to him as "one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music." Green has sold more than 20 million records.
Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He was the sixth of ten children born to Robert and Cora Greene. The son of a sharecropper, he started performing at age ten in a Forrest City quartet called the Greene Brothers; he dropped the final "E" from his last name years later as a solo artist. They toured extensively in the mid-1950s in the South until the Greenes moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when they began to tour around Michigan. His father kicked him out of the group because he caught Green listening to Jackie Wilson.

Green formed a group called Al Greene & the Creations in high school. Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, two members of the Creations, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1967, under the new name Al Greene & the Soul Mates, the band recorded "Back Up Train" and released it on Hot Line Music; the song was an R&B chart hit. The Soul Mates' subsequent singles did not sell as well. Al Green's debut LP Back Up Train was released on Hot Line in 1967. The album was upbeat and soulful but didn't do well in sales. This was the only album on the Hot Line label. Green came into contact with band leader Willie Mitchell of Memphis' Hi Records in 1969, when Mitchell hired him as a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell's band and then asked him to sign with the label.
In 2004, Green was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #65 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 BET Awards on June 24, 2009 .

On August 26, 2004, Green was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. He joined an impressive list of previous Icon honorees including R&B legends James Brown, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley

In 2009, Al Green was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. Green's biggest hit, "Let's Stay Together", was voted a Legendary Michigan Song that same year.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Help Me - Little Mack Simmons with the Blues Special Band


Little Mack Simmons December 1998 with Blues Special Band: Roberto Porzio & Omar Itcovici (guitars), Fernando Tejero (keyboards), Mauro Diana (bass), Adrian Flores (drums)
Little Mack Simmons (January 25, 1933 — October 24, 2000) was an African American, Chicago blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter.Malcolm Simmons was born in Twist, Arkansas. In his youth he befriended James Cotton, and they grew up learning to play the harmonica. Simmons relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 18 and worked on the railroad. At this time Simmons made his stage debut with Robert Nighthawk.

In 1954 he moved again to Chicago, put together his own backing band, and had a five year residency at Cadillac Baby's. He commenced recording in 1959, issuing records on a number of labels including Chess.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Simmons recorded several more obscure singles, often simply billed as Little Mack (or Mac). Simmons went on to provide the opportunity for others talents to be seen. He owned and managed Chicago's Zodiac Lounge from the mid to late 1960s. In addition, he owned a recording studio and recorded on his own labels, PM Records and Simmons Records. Simmons left the music industry at that time for the ministry, and was rarely heard in 30 years, notwithstanding an album he recorded in 1975 in Paris, France.

His return to blues music arrived with High & Lonesome (1995), which was an early success for St. George Records, an independent record label. Simmons' energetic style, accompanied by Studebaker John, belied his years. Come Back to Me Baby (1996), with featured sidemen John Primer, Willie Kent and Jake Dawson (guitarist) was also well received.

Simmons died in October 2000, of colon cancer, in his adopted hometown of Chicago, at the age of 67
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Delmark Records artist: Tail Dragger - Live at Rooster's Lounge

The concert begins with Wolf's Louise and Dragger and the band are tearing it up. This is an authentic Chicago blues club with an authentic Chicago blues band playing! Louise shows great guitar solos by Rockin' Johnny Burgin and Kevin Shanahan as well as well as great harp work by Martin Lang. Next up is Big Joe Williams's Baby Please Don't Go. Dragger works the crowd as the band stays tight. Shanahan plays a cool older looking worn red 335 and Johnny what looks to be a tobacco burst Epi Emperor. Johnny plays particularly articulate licks and Lang's harp riffs are right on target. The video and sound quality is strong and you can almost smell the inside of this club (if you've ever been in a club like this). There's a dart board behind the drummer and stains on the ceiling tiles. The walls have the 4x8 luan mahogany paneling that was popular in the 60's running both horizontal and vertical. The walls are painted red elsewhere and you can see the inside of the toilet from the stage. This is the real deal. She's Worryin' Me, a Dragger original, finds Dragger crawlin on the floor and some nice raw slide riffs from Shanahan. Johnny takes a nice soulful solo and pulls some particularly cool vibrato bends out of his bag of guitar tricks. Stop Lying, another Dragger original, gives Lang the opportunity to lay down some nice harp riffs and Shanahan again some cool slide riffs. The entire band including Todd Fackler on Bass and Rob Lorenz on drums are tight. Keep It To Yourself, an old Sonny Boy Williamson tune, puts Dragger right in the crowd and gives Lang the opportunity to shine again. Johnny squeezes out some fluid runs that are brief but tasty. Be Careful, another Dragger original, gives the band another opportunity to play a slow number and again Shanahan steps up with some beefy playing. His style isn't scorching fast... it's deep and telling. I love his use of trem bends in contrast to Johnny's articulate blues run solos. Wander, another Dragger original, finds Jimmy Dawkins replacing Shanahan onstage. On Bought Me A New Home, another Dragger original, Johnny takes an extended solo and so does Shanahan. The style difference between these two men parallel Bloomfield and Bishop in Butterfield's band of a few decades ago. Each has his unique style and they are complimentary to each other behind a traditional Chicago blues band. Ooh Baby Hold Me, an old Wolf song, finds the crowd dancing and Dragger charming the women. John Lee Hooker's I'm In The Mood is next up and Johnny pulls out some old Hooker riffs on his guitar. Dragger even changes the timing on the song a few times as Hooker was know to do often when not overproduced. I like the authentic feel of this song in particular especially in Dragger and Johnny's presentations. Everything Gonna Be Alright, a Little Walter tune, is next up. Johnny uses a trill stroke to play the basic melody throughout and it gives the song a real great feel. Last Up Is Little Walter's Blues With A Feeling. Lang gets his harp talking right off of the bat. Dragger shows some of his best vocals on this last song and the band is tight.
There is also some story telling by Dragger as a bonus track which gives you some insight into his life and history.
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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Floyd Jones - Stockyard Blues


Jones was born in Earle, Arkansas, United States, on 8 April 1908. Raised in the church, he developed an interest in music at an early age and learned to play guitar after his brother bought an old broken guitar for $3. When he was proficient enough he started playing for country dances, and by 1939 had arrived in Chicago. In Chicago he became one of a number of musicians, performing on Maxwell Street and in non-union venues, who played an important role in the development of the post-war Chicago blues sound, often performing with his first cousin, singer and guitar player Floyd Jones. By the late 1940s he was capable of playing any kind of music requested, and had learned to play piano, banjo and bass (including a home-made bass made out of a wash-tub, a broom-handle and a clothes line), in addition to guitar. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the best guitar player on the Chicago scene, and was warned by noted slide guitar player Muddy Waters not to “fool with that slide” when Jones sat in with Waters’ band one night.
Moody Jones (April 8, 1908 - March 23, 1988) was an American blues guitarist, bass player, and singer, who is significant for his role in the development of the post-war Chicago blues sound in the late 1940s.
Jones is most significant, and best known, for his association with his cousin Floyd Jones and harmonica player Snooky Pryor, and for the singles he recorded with them in 1948 which were among the first recorded examples of the new style. The track
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Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Drink On Little Girl - Forrest City Joe


Blues harpist Forest City Joe was heavily influenced by John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. He not only played like him, but sang like him as well. Unlike his idol, however, who was murdered on June 1, 1948, Joe lived long enough to record for the Chess brothers in the early days of their activities, when Chess was known as Aristocrat. Joe was remembered as a "great harp player" by Muddy Waters, who only missed playing at Joe's one major Chess recording session on December 2, 1948, when Joe was only 21. Joe had more of a country sound than most Chicago artists of the period, so it's surprising that the Chess brothers paired him up with J.C. Coles, a jazz guitarist of no seeming special account, who added little to a session but a few barely audible chords.

Joe Bennie Pugh was born in Hughes, AR, on July 10, 1926, to Moses Pugh and Mary Walker. He was raised in the area around Hughes and West Memphis, AR, and even as a boy played the local juke joints in the area. He hoboed his way through the state working road houses and juke joints during the 1940s, and late in the decade hooked up with Big Joe Williams, playing with him around St. Louis, MO. Beginning in 1947, he also began working the Chicago area, and a year later had his one and only session for the Chess brothers' Aristocrat label. He also appeared with Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy "Rice Miller" Williamson (aka Sonny Boy II) on radio shows in the West Memphis area.

When he returned to Chicago in 1949, he began working with the Otis Spann Combo, appearing at the Tick Tock Lounge and other clubs in the city until the mid-'50s. Pugh returned to Arkansas and gave up music, except for occasional weekend shows with Willie Cobbs, playing in pool rooms and on street corners, beginning in 1955. Pugh recorded for Atlantic Records in 1959, and was still performing until his death in 1960, in a truck accident while returning home from a dance.

Had Muddy played Forest City Joe's one and only Chess Records session, as was intended, chances are more of Joe's work would've seen the light of day, if only in an effort to scrounge up every note that Muddy ever played. But as it was, only "Memory of Sonny Boy" and "A Woman on Every Street" ever saw the light of day, and at this writing only the former has ever appeared on an American CD.

As to his extant music, "Memory of Sonny Boy" was among the first postwar tribute records from one bluesman to another (Scrapper Blackwell had done as much for Leroy Carr in the 1930s), starting a trend that continued for decade. And it's a great record, at least as far as the harp playing and the singing go. Joe's playing mimics Sonny Boy Williamson I's call-and-response harp playing, performing dazzling volume acrobatics, and his singing is also highly expressive. None of the rest is as strong, but "Shady Lane Woman" is a good, bluesy romantic lament, while "A Woman on Every Street" is the other side of the coin, and a better workout on the harp. "Sawdust Bottom" should have seen release, and "Ash Street Boogie" could've seen action if the accompaniment had been better realized. Alas, J.C. Coles was seemingly content to strum along almost inaudibly in the background -- ah, what Muddy might've done.... ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

This Is The Blues - Robert Jr Lockwood


Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American Delta blues guitarist,[2] who recorded for Chess Records among other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known as a longtime collaborator with Sonny Boy Williamson II and for his work in the mid-1950s with Little Walter.
Robert Lockwood was born in Turkey Scratch, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas. He started playing the organ in his father's church at the age of 8. The famous bluesman Robert Johnson lived with Lockwood's mother for 10 years off and on after his parents' divorce. Lockwood learned from Johnson not only how to play guitar, but timing and stage presence as well. Because of his personal and professional association with the music of Robert Johnson, he became known as "Robert Junior" Lockwood, a nickname by which he was known among fellow musicians for the rest of his life, although he later frequently professed his dislike for this appellation.
In 1961, Lockwood moved with his wife to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio where he resided until his death. In the early 1960s, as "Bob Lockwood, Jr., and Combo," he had a regular gig at Loving's Grill, located at 8426 Hough Avenue. In the 1970s through the 1990s, he performed regularly with his band the "All Stars" at numerous local venues, including Pirate's Cove, The Euclid Tavern, and Peabody's. For the last few years of his career, Lockwood played at Cleveland's Fat Fish Blue (corner of Prospect and Ontario in downtown) every Wednesday night at 8 p.m.; the "All Stars" have continued to perform there after his death.

His Cleveland period also saw the release of some of his most noteworthy studio recordings as a band leader, first with a pair of albums playing solo and with his band of the time on the Trix Records label, and then with Johnny Shines for two LPs on the Rounder label. The latter showed both men determinedly playing the music they were interested in, rather than the familiar requests of the blues audience - an attitude Lockwood maintained. Although he seldom performed without his band, he also recorded a solo album of his own material, along with a few Robert Johnson standards, under the title Plays Robert and Robert. Lockwood has dealt briskly, sometimes brusquely, with the Johnson legend. It's typical that when he gave one of his infrequent album recitals of Johnson songs, for Plays Robert and Robert (1983), he puckishly chose to use a 12-string guitar.

In 2004, Lockwood appeared at Eric Clapton's first Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Texas. A live recording with three other blues musicians in Dallas in October 2004 – Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas – was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. or Henry Townsend and Robert Lockwood Jr. It was the first Grammy win for the musicians. His last known recording session was carried out at Ante Up Audio studios in Cleveland; where he performed on the album The Way Things Go, with long time collaborator Cleveland Fats for Honeybee Entertainment.

Lockwood died at the age of 91 in Cleveland, having earlier suffered a cerebral aneurysm and a stroke. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland
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Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hot Pants Baby - Detroit Jr.


Emery "Detroit Junior" Williams, Jr. (October 26, 1931 – August 9, 2005) was an American Chicago blues pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. He is known for songs such as "So Unhappy", "Call My Job", "If I Hadn't Been High", "Ella" and "Money Tree". His songs have been covered by Koko Taylor, Albert King and other blues artists.
Born in Haynes, Arkansas, United States, Detroit recorded his first single, "Money Tree" with the Bea & Baby label in 1960. His first full album, Chicago Urban Blues, was released in the early 1970s on the Blues on Blues label. He also has recordings on Alligator, Blue Suit, The Sirens Records, and Delmark.

Detroit Junior began his career in Detroit, Michigan, backing touring musicians such as Eddie Boyd, John Lee Hooker, and Amos Milburn. Boyd brought him to Chicago, Illinois in 1956, where he spent the next twelve years. In the early 1970s, Detroit toured and recorded with Howlin' Wolf. After the death of Wolf in 1976, Detroit returned to Chicago, where he lived and performed until his death from heart failure in 2005.

He was survived by his wife Ella, and brothers Keith and Kenneth H. Williams.
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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Washboard Willie & Calvin Frazier


Calvin Frazier (February 16, 1915 – September 23, 1972) was an American Detroit blues and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Despite leaving a fragmented recording history, both as a singer and guitarist, Frazier was an associate of Robert Johnson, and recorded alongside Johnny Shines, Sampson Pittman, T.J. Fowler, Alberta Adams, Jimmy Milner, Baby Boy Warren, Boogie Woogie Red, and latterly Washboard Willie. His early work was recorded by the Library of Congress (now preserved by the National Recording Registry) prior to the outbreak of World War II, although his more commercial period took place between 1949 and 1956
Calvin H. Frazier was born in Osceola, Arkansas, and originally performed with his own brothers. Befriending Johnny Shines, in 1930 they jointly travelled to Helena, Arkansas where they met Robert Johnson. The threesome moved on to Detroit, Michigan, performing hymns on local radio stations. Frazier and Johnson returned south where they played along with the drummer, James 'Peck' Curtis.

In 1935 Frazier was involved in dispute in Memphis, Tennessee where he was wounded and another man was shot dead. Frazier returned to Detroit, and married a cousin of Shines. He played guitar as an accompanist to Big Maceo Merriweather, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Baby Boy Warren before being recorded in 1938 by the folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. His recordings included "Lily Mae", a revised version of Johnson's "Honeymoon Blues"; and "Highway 51", another variant, this time of Johnson's track, "Dust My Broom".

His unique style combined slide guitar work with unusual lyrics, and a vocal phrasing that was difficult to decipher. He released three singles under his own name in 1949 and 1951 on the Alben and New Song labels, including "Got Nobody To Tell My Troubles To", which he recorded in Toledo, Ohio in 1951. Between 1951 and 1953, Frazier was a recording member of T.J. Fowler's jump blues combo, then recorded with Warren in 1954, whilst his final sessions in the studio appear to be in 1956 backing Washboard Willie. Without any tangible success on record or otherwise, Frazier nevertheless performed around Detroit until his death.

Calvin Frazier died in Detroit of cancer in September 1972, at the age of 57.
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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Dirty No Gooders' Blues' - Amina Claudine Myers


Amina Claudine Myers (born March 21, 1942) in Blackwell, Arkansas; (a small community on US 64 in western Conway County) is an American jazz pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and musical arranger
Myers started singing and playing the piano and organ as a child in church choirs in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas, where she grew up, and directed choirs at an early age. She graduated in concert music and music education at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 1960s. After graduation, Myers moved to Chicago where she taught music, attended classes at Roosevelt University and worked with musicians such as Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons. In 1966 she joined the AACM in Chicago, focusing on vocal compositions and arrangements, and recording her first jazz album with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre in 1969.

In 1976 Myers relocated to New York City, where she intensified her compositional work and expanded it into the realm of Off-Broadway productions. She also continued performing and recording as a pianist and organist with Lester Bowie (African Children (1978), The Fifth Power (1978), The Organizer (1991) and Funky T. Cool T. (1991)) and Muhal Richard Abrams (Lifea Blinec (1978), Spihumonesty (1979) and Duet (1981)). In 1985 she joined Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Notable collaborations also include recordings with Bill Laswell, Marian McPartland, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Arthur Blythe, Frank Lowe, Leroy Jenkins, Jim Pepper and Ray Anderson.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

That' All - Sister Rosetta Tharpe


Sister Rosetta Tharpe (March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American pioneering gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment. She became the first great recording star of gospel music in the late 1930s and also became known as the "original soul sister" of recorded music.

Willing to cross the line between sacred and secular by performing her inspirational music of 'light' in the 'darkness' of the nightclubs and concert halls with big bands behind her, her witty, idiosyncratic style also left a lasting mark on more conventional gospel artists, such as Ira Tucker, Sr., of the Dixie Hummingbirds. While she offended some conservative churchgoers with her forays into the world of pop music, she never left gospel music.Like my Facebook Page, Post your video on my Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! Share your favorite posting and get more exposure for your favorites band! ”LIKE”

Monday, March 5, 2012

Delta Groove Artists: Tail Dragger and Bob Corritore - Longtime Friends in the Blues : Review


I just had the opportunity to review the new recording by Bob Corritore and Tail Dragger. Longtime Friends In The Blues will be formally released on March 20, 2012. Tail Dragger wrote 9 of the ten tracks included on this Chicago Blues infused release. The band is made up of numerous veteran artists. In addition to Tail Dragger on vocals and of course Corritore on harp, Henry Gray plays Piano, Kirk Fletcher and Chris James play guitar, Patrick Rynn plays bass and Brian Fahey plays drums. The recording begins with I'm Worried and Tail Dragger takes no time in demonstrating his trademark vocals and his Howlin' Wold influence. Sugar Mama finds Tail Dragger and Henry Gray trading off on vocals. This track shows some particularly cool guitar riffs and of course always Corritore staying tight with his harp. Birthday Blues is a great uptempo blues with strong soloing by Corritore. She's Worryin' Me is a great tune with Corritore winding his harp up a little and great understated guitar work under the mix. Cold Outdoors is another solid track with some strong piano work by Gray and of course solid vocals by Tail Dragger and some great harp voicing from Corritore. So Ezee is a cool driving blues and possibly the best track on the release. The tempo is just solid and Corritore is right on the back of Tail Dragger blowin his harp and the guitars kick in some really great riffs. Through With You is the first slow blues on the release and is very effective in grabbing the sound. All of the instrumentalists get a chance to show their stuff and Dragger leads the way. Done Got Old picks the tempo back up and gets the groove going really well. This is real Chicago! Boogie Woogie Ball, another of my favorites, gives Gray a chance to take the lead and he doesn't hold back. He does a great job on hammering out a great boogie on the keys and leaves space for some nice guitar soloing as well as the rest of the band to strut their stuff. Please Mr. Jailer, another slow blues track finds Tail Dragger beggin the jailer to have mercy on his girl. This is another strong track and another where Corritore blows some great licks. You like Chicago blues? This is the place!

As a side note Corritore and Tail Dragger first met at a Howlin' Wolf tribute in Chicago the day after Wolf died back in 1976. Gray performed and recorded with Wolf for 12 years.

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This track isn't on the release but is representative of the music on the cd. Enjoy!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Call Me If You Need Me - Magic Sam and Shakey Jake


Shakey Jake Harris (April 12, 1921 – March 2, 1990) was an American Chicago blues singer, harmonicist and songwriter. Harris released five albums over a period of almost 25 years, and he was often musically associated with his nephew, Magic Sam.
James D. Harris was born in Earle, Arkansas, but relocated with his family to Chicago, Illinois, at the age of seven. He played in several Chicago blues ensembles in the late 1940s. He also worked as a mechanic, and a professional gambler (from whence his nickname came - "Shake 'em"). His debut recording did not take place until 1958. His single, "Call Me If You Need Me" / "Roll Your Moneymaker", was released by Artistic Records, featured Magic Sam and Syl Johnson on guitar, and was produced by Willie Dixon. Harris was not paid for the session, but won $700 shooting craps with label owner Eli Toscano.

In 1960, Bluesville Records teamed Harris with the jazz musicians Jack McDuff and Bill Jennings, for the album Good Times. His later recording of Mouth Harp Blues returned to more traditional blues ground. Harris toured, and was part of the American Folk Blues Festival in 1962.

Throughout the 1960s Harris and Sam appeared regularly in concert together around Chicago, and Harris's patronage of younger musicians helped secure Luther Allison's recording debut. Harris moved on in the late 1960s, and recorded with Allison in Los Angeles on Further on Up the Road. He also played with other harmonica players, such as William Clarke.

Harris subsequently recorded for World Pacific. He also owned his own nightclub and a record label, but was forced by ill health to eventually return to Arkansas, where he died, at the age of 68, in March 1990
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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Green Onions - Roy Buchanan


And now we have a Booker T and the MG's song done by the greatest unknown guitar player in the world...Roy Buchanan. And I will dig out some of my concert photos of Roy eventually and post them..I promise! Hard to believe he's been gone over 20 years.
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Life And Troubles - Blues Queen Sylvia


Sylvia Lee Burton Embry (June 14, 1941 - February 28, 1992) grew up in Arkansas. She had been a vibrant part of the Chicago blues scene. Blues Queen Sylvia had a big husky voice in the tradition of Koko Taylor and Big Mama Thorton. She was backed by such greats as Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Dawkins and Louisiana Red.
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Friday, February 24, 2012

My Sweet Woman - Drifting Slim (Elmon Mickle)


Driftin' Slim (February 24, 1919 – September 15, 1977) was an African American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.

Born Elmon Mickle in Keo, Arkansas, he not only recorded as Driftin' Slim, but also as Model 'T' Slim and under his real name. His recordings were released on the - amongst others - Modern, RPM, Blue Horizon, Styletone, Milestone, Kent, and Flyright record labels.

By the turn of the 1970s, ill health had forced Slim to retire from the music industry and when he died, a chapter of American music — that of the one-man band — had virtually died with him. Slim died in Los Angeles, California, in September 1977.
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