Bman's Blues Report

I just received the newest release, Beale Street Saturday Night , from Omnivore Recordings and it is raw and pure. Opening with Walkin' Down Beale Street by Sid Selvidge , the listener hears a blend of soul, jazz, blues and gospel with piano, slide guitar and horns. Fred Ford is up next with Hernando Horn , an exceptional old style blues track featuring exceptionally rich sax work. Grandma Dixie Davis , accompanied by piano is freewheelin and loose. No...this isn't Joe Bonamassa. Sleepy John Estes hits the ground running with Big Fat Mama/Liquor Store . Taking a breather in the track to tell the stories. Prince Gabe has a much more polished vocal presentation and again with story telling dialog. Furry Lewis is easily distinguished on Furry's Blues . A classic with Furry accompanying himself on guitar. Teenie Hodges lays down Rock Me Baby , raw and uncompromised. A more primitive version of the track by Alex with whistling and hammer claps like an old work song is ex...

I just received the newest release, Live In Japan , from Sleepy John Estes with Hammie Nixon . If you like primitive blues/country blues, this is tough to beat. The release is comprised of music previously released in Japan only in the late 70's on LP just shortly before Estes death on 1978. The releases, earlier titled Blues Live! Sleepy & Hammie Meet Japanese People and Blues Is A-Live. This is an extensive 21 track set and I won't even attempt to describe it track by track but will attempt to give you a flavor. The release opens with Corrina Corrina , with Estes singing lead and playing guitar and Nixon on vocal and kazoo. Broke and Hungry , an original track is a perfect for illustrating the gripping qualities of Estes unique vocal style. Always a crowd favorite, I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You , finds the duo trading lead vocals, again with Estes on guitar and Nixon on kazoo. This is of course one of many "fun" songs on the release and ...

Son Bonds (March 16, 1909 – August 31, 1947) was an American country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a working associate of both Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, and was similar in his guitar playing style. According to Allmusic journalist, Jim O'Neal, "the music to one of Bonds's songs, "Back and Side Blues" (1934), became a standard blues melody when Sonny Boy Williamson I from nearby Jackson, Tennessee, used it in his classic "Good Morning, School Girl"." The best known of Bonds's other works are "A Hard Pill To Swallow" and "Come Back Home Born in Brownsville, Tennessee, Bonds was also billed on record as "Brownsville" Son Bonds, and Brother Son Bonds. Sleepy John Estes earlier recorded work had used backing from Yank Rachell (mandolin) or Hammie Nixon (harmonica), but by the late 1930s he was accompanied in the recording studio by either Bonds or Charlie Pickett (guitar). Bonds also backed Estes ...

John Henry Barbee (vocal & guitar), Sleepy John Estes (guitar) and Hammie Nixon (jug) John Henry Barbee (November 14, 1905 – November 3, 1964) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was born William George Tucker in Henning, Tennessee, United States, and changed his name with the commencement of his recording career to reflect his favorite folk song, "The Ballad of John Henry". Barbee toured in the 1930s throughout the American South singing and playing slide guitar. He teamed up with Big Joe Williams, and later on, with Sunnyland Slim in Memphis, Tennessee. Travelling down to Mississippi he also came across Sonny Boy Williamson I, and played with him off and on for several years. He released two sides on the Vocalion label in 1939 ("Six Weeks Old Blues" / "God Knows I Can't Help It"). The record sold well enough to cause Vocalion to call on Barbee again, but by that time he had left his last known whereabouts in Arkansas. Barbee explai...

John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 – June 5, 1977), best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee In 1915, Estes' father, a sharecropper who also played some guitar, moved the family to Brownsville, Tennessee. Not long after, Estes lost the sight of his right eye when a friend threw a rock at him during a baseball game. At the age of 19, while working as a field hand, he began to perform professionally. The venues were mostly local parties and picnics, with the accompaniment of Hammie Nixon, a harmonica player, and James "Yank" Rachell, a guitarist and mandolin player. He would continue to work on and off with both musicians for more than fifty years. Estes made his debut as a recording artist in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, at a session organized by Ralph Peer for Victor Records. His partnership with Nixon was first documented on songs such as "Drop Down Mama" ...

John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1904 – June 5, 1977), best known as Sleepy John Estes or Sleepy John, was a American blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist, born in Ripley, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. In 1915, Estes' father, a sharecropper who also played some guitar, moved the family to Brownsville, Tennessee. Not long after, Estes lost the sight of his right eye when a friend threw a rock at him during a baseball game. At the age of 19, while working as a field hand, he began to perform professionally. The venues were mostly local parties and picnics, with the accompaniment of Hammie Nixon, a harmonica player, and James "Yank" Rachell, a guitarist and mandolin player. He would continue to work, on and off, with both musicians for more than fifty years. Estes made his debut as a recording artist in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, at a session organized by Ralph Peer for Victor Records. His partnership with Nixon was first documented on songs such as "Drop Down ...

Hammie Nixon (January 22, 1908 – August 17, 1984) was an American harmonica player. Born Hammie Nickerson in Brownsville, Tennessee, he began his music career with jug bands in the 1920s and is best known as a country blues harmonica player, but also played the kazoo, guitar and jug. He played with guitarist Sleepy John Estes for half a century, first recording with Estes in 1929 for the Victor Records label. He also recorded with Little Buddy Doyle, Lee Green, Clayton T. Driver, Charlie Pickett and Son Bonds. During the 1920s Nixon helped to pioneer the use of the harmonica as a rhythm instrument in a band setting, rather than as a novelty solo instrument. After Estes died in 1979, Nixon played with the Beale Street Jug Band (also called the Memphis Jug Band). Nixon's last recording, "Tappin' That Thing" (Hmg Records), was recorded shortly before his death in 1984, in Jackson, Tennessee John Adam Estes (January 25, 1899 or 1904 – June 5, 1977), best known as Sl...