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This Friday Night, February 10, 2012

The Brooklyn Blues Project Presents

http://www.facebook.com/BrooklynBluesProject

Blues Bonanza NYC !

With Special Guests

Suit & Tyree

http://www.reverbnation.com/suitandtyree

and

The Dry States

http://www.facebook.com/TheDryStates

Down & Gritty in

NYC's Lower East Side

Recoup Lounge

http://www.recouploungenyc.com/

210 Rivington St, New York, NY, 10002, US

Doors at 7:30pm Show Start at 8 sharp

http://www.facebook.com/events/228161110602372/

All this for only $5 ?!? YES!

For more info or just to say hello email us brookynbluesproject@gmail.com

"Like" us on Facebook! LOVE us live!

http://www.facebook.com/BrooklynBluesProject

See you all Friday night!. . .

--The Brooklyn Blues Project

BrooklynBluesProject.com

reverbnation.com/nicket

facebook.com/BrooklynBluesProject

Twitter @BrooklynBluesP

UPCOMING SHOWS

Recoup Lounge	New York, NY	Fri Feb 10 12	07:30 AM	Tickets
poisson rouge	New York, NY	Sat Feb 18 12	10:00 PM	Tickets
Freddy's Bar	Brooklyn, NY	Sat Feb 25 12	11:00 PM
Tea Lounge	Brooklyn, NY	Fri Mar 23 12	08:00 PM	Tickets
suzyques	West Orange, NJ	Sat Apr 07 12	09:00 PM	Tickets
> See More / Details

Kenny Neal to host blues festival

KENNY NEAL TO HOST BLUES FESTIVAL Renowned modern swamp blues master Kenny Neal will host and perform at a festival he's organized in his native Louisiana. KENNY NEAL'S FAMILY & FRIENDS HERITAGE BLUES FESTIVAL SATURDAY, MARCH 3rd 12 NOON - 10:00 PM WEST BATON ROUGE PARISH MULTI-PURPOSE ARENA 152 TURNER ROAD, PORT ALLEN, LA. TICKETS: $15 225-388-9125 Kenny, who was raised in Port Allen, outside Baton Rouge, says the event is all about "bringing the community together." He grew up with many of the people involved, including the musicians, vendors, and the arena owner. Attendees are asked to bring canned goods for the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, and there will be a Discovery Stage where all the musicians that are not on the festival can bring their instruments and perform with a rhythm section. Local schools will bring students to participate in activities which will introduce them to the blues, the local blues society will have a booth to promote their organization and sell CDs from the musicians, and of course, traditional Louisiana foods will be available. In addition, four of the original Excello musicians from the Slim Harpo Band (Lazy Lester, James Johnson, Rudy Richard, and August Ransom) will be inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. The lineup for the Main Stage includes well known Louisiana musicians such as Chris Thomas King and Henry Gray, and features many members of the musical Neal family, including sisters Charlene and Darlene, nephew Tyree, brother Lil Ray, and daughter Syreeta. For more information, and a complete list of performers, please click HERE. Kenny has won numerous awards for his highly acclaimed 2008 comeback album, Let Life Flow, as well as his more recent Hooked On Your Love. For more information on these CDs, or to listen to sound samples, please click HERE. In October, Kenny was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

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Downtown Blues - Frank Stokes

Frank Stokes (January 1, 1888 – September 12, 1955) was an American blues musician, songster, and blackface minstrel, who is considered by many musicologists to be the father of the Memphis blues guitar style
Stokes was born in Shelby County, Tennessee, in the largest Southern vicinity of Whitehaven, located two miles north of the Mississippi line. He was raised by his stepfather in Tutwiler, Mississippi, after the death of his parents. Stokes learned to play guitar as a youth in Tutwiler, and, after 1895, in Hernando, Mississippi, which was home to such African American guitarists as Jim Jackson, Dan Sane, Elijah Avery (of Cannon's Jug Stompers), and Robert Wilkins. By the turn of the century, at the age of 12, Stokes worked as a blacksmith, traveling the 25 miles to Memphis on the weekends to sing and play guitar with Sane, with whom he developed a long-term musical partnership. Together, they busked on the streets and in Church's Park (now W. C. Handy Park) on Memphis' Beale Street.

In the mid 1910s, Stokes joined forces with fellow Mississippian Garfield Akers as a blackface songster, comedian, and buck dancer in the Doc Watts Medicine Show, a tent show that toured the South. During this period of touring, Stokes developed a sense of show business professionalism that set him apart from many of the more rural, less polished blues musicians of that time and place. It is said that his performances on the southern minstrel and vaudeville circuit around this time influenced Jimmie Rodgers, who played the same circuit. Rodgers borrowed songs and song fragments from Stokes and was influenced stylistically as well.

Around 1920, Stokes settled in Oakville, Tennessee, where he went back to work as a blacksmith. Stokes teamed up again with Sane and went to work playing dances, picnics, fish fries, saloons, and parties in his free time. Stokes and Sane joined Jack Kelly's Jug Busters to play white country clubs, parties and dances, and to play Beale Street together as the Beale Street Sheiks, first recording under that name for Paramount Records in August 1927. All told, Stokes was to cut 38 sides for Paramount and Victor Records. "The fluid guitar interplay between Stokes and Sane, combined with a propulsive beat, witty lyrics, and Stokes's stentorian voice, make their recordings irresistible." Their duet style influenced the young Memphis Minnie in her duets with husband Kansas Joe McCoy.
The Sheiks next recorded at a session for Victor Records where Furry Lewis also recorded. At this session, in February 1928, the emphasis was on blues, rather than the older songs that were also part of Stokes' repertoire. Stokes recorded again for Victor that August, playing "I Got Mine", one of a body of pre-blues songs about gambling, stealing and living high. He also recorded the more modern "Nehi Mamma Blues", which puns on the Nehi soft drink and the "knee-high" skirts that were fashionable at the time. Sane rejoined Stokes for the second day of the August 1928 session, and they produced a two-part version of "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do", a song well known in later versions by Bessie Smith and Jimmy Witherspoon, but whose origin lies somewhere in the pre-blues era. The Sheiks also continued to busk the streets, and play informally at parties.

In 1929, Stokes and Sane recorded again for Paramount, resuming their 'Beale Street Sheiks' billing for a few cuts. In September Stokes was back on Victor to make what were to be his last recordings, this time without Sane, but with Will Batts on fiddle. Stokes and Batts were a team as evidenced by these records, which are both traditional and wildly original, but their style had fallen out of favor with the blues record buying public. Stokes was still a popular live performer, however, appearing in medicine shows, the Ringling Brothers Circus, and other tent shows and similar venues during the 1930s and 1940s. During the 1940s, Stokes moved to Clarksdale, and occasionally worked with Bukka White in local juke joints.

Stokes died of a stroke in Memphis on September 12, 1955. He is buried there in Hollywood Cemetery.
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Bob Dorr and the Blue Band with Erick Hovey

Bob Dorr & The Blue Band started in Cedar Falls IA, in the early summer of 1981, simply as a way to satisfy the remaining contracted obligations of a band that had broken up in the spring of '81. Blue Band founding members Bob Dorr (vocals and harmonica) and Molly Nova (bass, violin, and vocals) assembled old friends to play the remaining three contracted dates of The Little Red Rooster Band, which Dorr and Nova had been part of from early 1977.

Drummer Bryce Loshman, who had played the last few performances of Little Red Rooster, agreed to play the three dates. E. Scott Esbeck, who could play bass and guitar, answered an ad posted in Stebs Bar. Then Dorr called two other old friends from the mid-'70s. "Wild" Bill Cannon was a one-man horn section and outrageous character (he'd been the sax player in the Watts 103rd St. Band, which had charted hits for Warner Bros. in the '60s); and Jimmy "The Kid" Price, an aspiring songwriter and newspaper writer, played guitar and sang a few songs. (Price wrote signature Blue Band songs "Madness On Main Street" and "Too Many Cold Nights.") These six people worked up enough songs to play the three contracted dates, decided to name itself Bobby's Blue Band, (a tongue-in-cheek, humorous spin on famous blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland's name) and played their first show June 10, 1981 at The Cooper Wagon Works nightclub in Dubuque IA.

Bobby's Blue Band actually experienced great success on those initial three shows. Buoyed by that success, most of the band members decided to stay with it. But Jim Price could not afford the time for a full-time band along with his day job and school. Guitarist Jeff Petersen, fresh from the breakup of another IRRMA HOF band--Headstone--joined the group in September of 1981.

After nine months, saxman Bill Cannon, who was already in his fifties while the others in the group were in their twenties, returned to his day job and was replaced by a number of sax players including Danny Duke and Phillip "Bunky" Marlow, until Iowa City sax player Bob Thompson joined the band shortly after the breakup of Bo Ramsey's Sliders in 1984. Coming along with Thompson from The Sliders was sound engineer Phil Maass, who also became the band's road manager for nine years. Maass still mixes sound on special shows and is the band's technical advisor today.

After two albums, Scott Esbeck returned to college and was replaced by veteran Cedar Rapids guitarman Ron DeWitte (who is already in the IRRMA HOF for other groups) in early 1984. When Bob Thompson stopped touring with the band after major inner ear surgery in late 1986, he was replaced by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Dan Magarrell (who is also being inducted into the IRRMA HOF this year with The Mother Blues Band). Magarrell was the primary songwriter of the band for his nearly nine-year stay.

By day, he drives a tractor, working his tranquil farm, by night he picks an electric guitar. Aside from being a farmer, American Midwesterner Erick Hovey is a complete and exciting musician with a rootsy, modern blues sound. With his four releases and live performances, Erick has firmly entrenched himself as an outstanding guitarist, a poetic sensible composer, and a superb lyricist with a clever sense of life reality. Erick Hovey is undoubtedly one of a kind, a player who celebrates the virtues of space, time and presence. He is comfortable on all grounds of roots traditional music like blues, swing, country, pop, and Americana. There's a signature sound at play here, a discernable voice of rich tones and texures, sweet melodies, expressive phrasing, real feel, and always the blues. Fans have no trouble instantly connecting with Erick’s unique, free laidback style.
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Treat Me Like I Treat You - Chris Beard

When you grow up in a house filled with the blues, when your father grew up on Beale Street, when music was in your DNA, then blues is who you are and what you do.
Chris Beard is a modern blues guitarist and singer like few others. His personal connections to the blues were forged with the living blues men he’s sat with since childhood.
Born in 1957, Beard is the son of Joe Beard, a fine blues guitarist who grew up on Beale Street in the 1950’s before moving to Rochester, NY. When family friends like Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Buddy Guy stopped by, young Chris became their willing pupil.
After years playing the clubs in and around Rochester, Chris was offered the opportunity to record. In 1998, he released his debut recording, Barwalkin’, on JSP Records. That record earned Beard a W.C. Handy nomination as Best New Blues Artist. Chris produced his follow-up disc, Born To Play The Blues in 2001 to the critical acclaim of the blues press and earned Beard the title, Prince of the Blues. Then, in 2005, Beard released Live Wire, a stirring combination of live and studio performances for Northern Blues
“Blues is my roots,” says Chris. “I grew up as Joe Beard’s son in the house of the blues. I grew up around Buddy Guy and Matt Murphy. The influence of Buddy has been major. All he has to say to me is ‘Keep on doing what you’re doing.’ Matt always told me that the guitar has to become an extension of you. That will always stick with me.”
But on this new record, Beard, a world class guitarist, devoted time and energy into establishing his unique and compelling voice.
With the combination of Beard’s assertive voice and his exciting guitar, this record is a seamless combination of traditional blues with a contemporary edge.
On the title cut, Chris called upon his dear friend Ronnie Baker Brooks, another talent who grew up in a blues house. In fact, Beard and Brooks teamed up to write three of the first six songs. Ronnie once told me how Bernard Allison gave him the confidence to play the blues. Ronnie paid it forward by giving Chris the confidence to write again.
Who I am and What I do
Backed by two different bands with musicians that Beard has toured and recorded with for many years gives Beard the confidence to stretch voice and guitar. At the same time the in-house production of he and his brother Duane built the record with the right sound.
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Levitt Shell - Memphis Tennessee

Sometimes as a part of seeing a concert or in this case watching a video I am just taken by the presence of the venue. I have noticed this venue a number of times and this time as a part of the Eden Brent posting that I just completed I have decided to write about it.

History Of The Shell

The Overton Park Shell was built in 1936 by the City of Memphis and depression-era WPA (Works Progress Administration) for $11,935. The Shell was designed by architect Max Furbringer, who modeled it after similar band shells in Chicago, New York and St. Louis. The WPA built 27 band shells - our Shell is one of only a handful that are still standing.
Music in the 1930s

The Shell's history has special meaning for a town that takes its music seriously. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Shell was the site of the memorable Memphis Open Air Theater (MOAT) orchestra performances, light opera and musicals. In 1947 the Memphis Federation of Musicians launched its Music under the Stars series, free to the public.
First-ever rock and roll show

On July 30, 1954 Elvis Presley took the stage before headliner Slim Whitman. Elvis stole the show in what music historians call the first-ever rock and roll show. And it happened at the Shell in Overton Park.
Staying alive

Over the years, there have been numerous efforts, some to revitalize the Shell, and some to destroy it.

In the 1960s, the City turned the Shell over to the Memphis Arts Center, Inc., which planned to raze the Shell and build $2 million theater. But Noel Gilbert, beloved long-time conductor of the Memphis Concert Orchestra, organized a petition, gathering 6,000 signatures to save the Shell.

In 1972, the Shell was almost demolished to make room for a parking garage.
The Raoul Wallenberg Shell

In 1982, the NCCJ (National Conference of Christians and Jews) proposed raising funds for restoration and were able to rename the Shell in honor of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish humanitarian and diplomat who bravely and creatively saved the lives of more than 15,000 Jews by issuing them Swedish "protective passes" and building 30 "Swedish houses", on which he hung Swedish flags and declared Swedish territory to provide protection.

Unfortunately, the NCCJ campaign never provided the requisite funds. By 1984, the parking lot plan began to move forward - until Mayor Dick Hacket pledged, following an Arts in the Park concert at the Shell, to fund the Shell's renovation if a private group would spearhead an arts program.

Despite the gallant efforts of John Hanrahan, a private citizen who almost single-handedly led the fight to keep the Shell alive, no progress was made. In the summer of 1985, the Shell lay dormant for the first time in its history. When Hanrahan died in 1986, his friends and family formed Save Our Shell, Inc. and the Shell enjoyed a rebirth. Over the past 20 years, Save Our Shell has presented hundreds of free programs in the Overton Park.

In 2007, the Shell was renamed Levitt Shell at Overton Park and renovation was begun. It opened again with free music for all on September 4, 2008.

Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair - Eden Brent

Eden Brent (born 15 Nov, 1965 in Greenville, Mississippi) is an award-winning American musician on the independent Yellow Dog Records label. A blues pianist and vocalist, she combines boogie-woogie with elements of blues, jazz, soul, gospel and pop. Her vocal style has been compared to Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie and Aretha Franklin.

Brent studied jazz and music at the University of North Texas, graduating with a Bachelors degree in Music.

Along with other awards, Brent garnered two 2009 Blues Music Awards - one for Acoustic Artist of the Year, the other for Acoustic Album of the Year (Mississippi Number One). In 2006, she won the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge.

Brent has appeared around the country at recognized venues and events including the Kennedy Center, the 2000 Republican National Convention, the 2005 presidential inauguration (sharing the bill with B.B. King), the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the British Embassy, Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival, the Edmonton Blues Festival, the annual B.B. King Homecoming, and aboard the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
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Caldonia - Boog-A-Loo Aimes

Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, who died at the age of eighty-one in February of 2002 in Greenville, Mississippi, was a master of the boogie-woogie piano style. Born in rural Georgia, he taught himself to play the piano by listening to songs on the radio and playing with them. When he was fourteen, his family moved to Detroit, where he played gigs regularly in the 1940's at local clubs. He eventually led a popular local band in Detroit. He also worked as a session player in the Motown Studios when Motown was just beginning.

In the 1960's Boogaloo returned to the South. He began teaching Eden Brent, a young resident of Greenville, in the 1980's . They eventually began playing together and continued this partnership which was the focus of a 1999 award-winning documentary by Mississippi Educational Television called Boogaloo and Eden:Sustaining the Sound.

Eden and Boogaloo play boogie woogie together "Boogaloo" Ames was named the 2001 Artist's Achievement Award Winner of the Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts in the state of Mississippi. He was also a recipient of a Folk Art Fellowship from the Mississippi Heritage Commission and an Apprenticeship in 1993. He played many blues festivals and was a living library of jazz and blues songs. His photo appeared in a book called American Music. He and his partner Eden Brent performed on July 27, 2000 at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, D. C. on Mississippi Day.

His piano playing style earned him his nickname "Boogaloo" in the 1940's.
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Mayne Stage/ Act One Pub Newsletter 2.8.12

February 8, 2012 JUST ANNOUNCED MUSICAL CELEBRATION OF CHICAGO'S 175TH YEAR OF INCORPORATION MARCH 2, 3 & 4 IMPROV EVERY TUESDAY WITH ONE GROUP MIND 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 The largest stage to see improv in Chicago! UPCOMING SHOWS VALENTINE'S DAY DINNER SPECIAL with CARLO BASILE 2/14 @ 5PM CHICAGO DANCE CRASH KTF PRESENTS LOVE IS A (DANCE) BATTLE FIELD 2/17 @ 8PM BRAZILIAN CARNAVALWITH SWING BRASILEIRO 2/18 @ 9PM HAYMARKET OPERA PRESENTS "LA DESCENTE D'ORPHEE AUX ENFERS" 2/24 @ 7:30PM HAYMARKET OPERA PRESENTS "LA DESCENTE D'ORPHEE AUX ENFERS" 2/25 @ 7:30PM FAMOUS BROTHERS' HONKY-TONK HOOTENANNY 2/26 @ 7PM FEAR NO ART PRESENTS THE DINNER PARTY 2/27 @ 7PM PUTTING ON THE RITZ PRESENTS VOICES OF CHICAGO 3/2-3/4 SURABHI: A MELTING POT OF MUSIC 3/9 @ 7:45 WINDY CITY GAY CHORUS BENEFIT & CONCERT 3/10 @ 4PM WINDY CITY GAY CHORUS BENEFIT & CONCERT 3/10 @ 8PM "WE GET ALONG" AMY & FREDDY'S CD RELEASE CONCERT 3/15 @ 8PM SEXFIST WITH WHITEWATER RAMBLE 3/17 @ 8PM *ST PATRICK'S DAY FOOD & DRINK SPECIALS!* CLASSICAL CONVERSATIONS 3/21 @ 6:30PM MAYNE + BROADWAY: A CABARET CONCERT SERIES 3/25 @ 2PM AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH GREGORY PORTER 4/1 @ 7:30PM LEE RITENOUR 4/4 @ 8PM THIS IS TANGO NOW 4/6 @ 7PM THIS IS TANGO NOW 4/6 @ 9:30PM THIS IS TANGO NOW 4/7 @ 7PM THIS IS TANGO NOW 4/7 @ 9:30PM AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH EDDIE PALMIERI 4/22 @ 7PM AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH EDDIE PALMIERI 4/22 @ 9:30PM CHICAGO DANCE CRASH KTF PRESENTS BAT DANCE 6/1 @ 8PM CHICAGO DANCE CRASH KTF PRESENTS THE 2012 KTF OPEN INVITATIONAL 8/24 @ 8PM CHICAGO DANCE CRASH KTF PRESENTS KANYE VS DYLAN: A NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS 11/2 @ 8PM Greetings! We've got an ecclectic lineup of shows this weekend. First up, we have Double Header - two back to back nights of comedy (Friday and Saturday) which showcase two of the most sought after local comics, Kelsie Huff and Adam Burke. Then on Sunday we have a show that will please all of our Broadway fans! The concert is called Broadway Score by Score: An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Weber - a musical revue performed by local cabaret peformers Ken Barker, Ane Burnell, Laura Freeman, Heather Moran and Daryl Nitz. I'd also like to take the time to draw your attention to a show that Mayne Stage is coproducing that we are VERY proud of. Voices of Chicago is a musical celebration of the rich diversity of Chicago music in celebration of the city's 175th year of official incorporation. We are showcasing the best of the best jazz performers in the city including, but not limited to, Audrey Morris, Kimberly Gordon, Jeff Hedberg and Lynne Jordan. Cheers! Chris Ritter General Manager UPCOMING SHOWS AT MAYNE STAGE! DOUBLE HEADER FEATURING KELSIE HUFF FRIDAY, FEB 10 @ 8PM (COMEDY) DOUBLE HEADER FEATURING ADAM BURKE SATURDAY, FEB 11 @ 8PM (COMEDY) BROADWAY SCORE BY SCORE: THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBER SUNDAY, Feb 12 @ 7PM UPCOMING SHOWS AT ACT ONE PUB MERCEDES(SINGER/SONGWRITER) 2/8 @ 9PM-midnight FREE ADMISSION 1/2 off bottles of wine STEVE GIBONS (GYPSY JAZZ) 2/9 @ 9PM-midnight FREE ADMISSION $5 specialty cocktails The Dylan Andrews Trio (JAZZ/ IMPROVISATIONAL) 2/10 @ 9PM -midnight FREE ADMISSION

Valentine's Day Dinner Package at Act One Pub! Tuesday, February 14 with Carlo Basile performing Spanish Guitar Make your reservation HERE! Tickets to all performances can be purchased online at www.maynestage.com or by calling 866-468-3401. Reservations to Act One Pub can be made online at www.actonepub.com or by calling 773-381-4550.

New Release by Tip Of The Top - From Memphis to Greaseland - Review

I have just receiver a copy of the new release by Tip Of The Top called From Memphis To Greaseland. You like traditional Chicago style blues...this thing smokes! The release is made up of 13 original and cover tracks. This recording really gets that Chicago sound down and doesn't overplay. It sounds fresh and vibrant. Little Johnny Lawton goes a great job on vocals and has great guitar style. Akarsha "Aki" Kumar blows a mean harp and the rhythm section (Frank DeRose on bass and Carlos Velasco on drums) are tight. They have special guests including Johnny "Cat" Soubrand and Chris "Kid" Anderson guitars as well as Sid Morrison piano. This entire recording is very tight and these guys swing. This may be the freshest Chicago style blues recording that I have heard in a while. I have no problem suggesting this to anyone for a good dose of original Chicago blues.
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Oh My Baby's Gone - Ray Sharpe-

Ray Sharpe (born February 8, 1938, Fort Worth, Texas, United States) is an American R&B and rockabilly singer, guitarist and songwriter.

He grew up influenced by country as well as blues music, and many of his recordings are classed as rockabilly – he was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever". His recording career started in Phoenix, Arizona in 1958, when Lee Hazlewood produced his single, "That's the Way I Feel" / "Oh, My Baby's Gone". His second record, "Linda Lu" / "Monkey’s Uncle" – both sides written by Sharpe, produced by Hazlewood, and featuring Duane Eddy and Al Casey on guitars – was much more successful, reaching #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. “Linda Lu” has subsequently been covered by many artists, including the Rolling Stones, Flying Burrito Brothers, and Tom Jones.

Subsequent single releases on a variety of record labels were less successful. These included recordings made in 1966 with King Curtis, which featured Jimi Hendrix on guitar. However, Sharpe’s songs have been recorded by acts ranging from Roy Head and the Traits to Neil Young and J. B. Hutto, and he has continued to release records, as well as performing regularly in the Fort Worth area.
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Daniel in the Lion's Den - Bessie Jones

Bessie Jones (February 8, 1902 - July 17, 1984), gospel singer from Smithville, GA. She learned her songs from her grandfather, a former slave born in Africa. She was a founding member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers. Alan Lomax first encountered Bessie Jones on a southern trip in 1959. Jones made her way up to New York City two years later and asked Lomax to record both her music and biography.

Jones told an interviewer in Alachua, Florida in the early 1980s, that she was born in Lacrosse, Florida, (Alachua County), when that area was a tung oil production area. Jones also said she hadn't been to a doctor since 1925 and that she wore many copper bracelets which protected her from disease.

Jones' 1960 song "Sometimes" was heavily sampled in American electronica musician Moby's 1998 single "Honey".
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Hey Bartender - Floyd Dixon

Floyd Dixon - Blues pianist, vocalist ( February 8,1929 - 2006)

This critically acclaimed performer - best known for his 1954 song “Hey Bartender” - stood alongside Charles Brown, Ray Charles and Louis Jordan as one of a few artists who helped transform swing music into Rhythm & Blues.

A wonderful exponent of what is often referred to as West Coast blues, more piano based and jazz influenced than much of the blues and R&B referenced in the Primer, Floyd is a leading practitioner of this 'California style'. Both the state and the style played host to a great many post war Texas bluesmen, and the jazzy T-Bone Walker approach became a mainstay of the genre.

Born J Riggins Jr., Dixon began playing piano and singing as a child and in Texas he was exposed to a range of blues and gospel influences, as well as a little jazz and hillbilly.

His family moved to Los Angeles in 1942 when Floyd was thirteen and it was here that Dixon came into contact with Charles Brown, a major musical influence throughout his working life. To an extent Brown took the young piano player under his wing and when Johnny Moore's Three Blazers split up, Dixon had learned more than enough to act as a natural replacement for the Brown sound - he made a number of early Brown style recordings with Eddie Williams (the original Blazers' bassist) and with Johnny Moore's new Blazers line-up for both the Aladdin and Combo labels.

Floyd also recorded extensively with his own trio, signing with Modern Records in 1949 and adding the influences of jump blues stalwarts Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn to the urban sophistication of Charles Brown. He had his early successes with Modern, securing a top ten R&B hit with 'Dallas Blues' and following it up with the slightly less successful 'Mississippi Blues' (1949). He switched to Aladdin and in the following year scored another hit with 'Sad Eyes', followed by 'Telephone Blues' and 'Call Operator 210'; on the last recording, he was backed by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers.

Dixon switched to the Specialty label in 1952/3 (and the Atlantic subsidiary Cat in 1954) and, although the groove was much the same, he recorded some of his better known material around this time. 'Hey Bartender' is possibly his best known tune and his original version was picked up on by Koko Taylor and by the Blues Brothers on their multi million selling first album.

Dixon continued to record for a selection of small West Coast and Texas independent labels throughout the 50s and 60s and he was in constant demand as a live performer. By the 1970s however, the self styled Mr. Magnificent dropped out of the music scene to enjoy a quieter life back in his home state of Texas. It wasn't until 1975 that he made a comeback of sorts, beginning with a tour of Sweden, where he became the first artist to be featured on the Route 66 re-issue label. In the 1980s, he toured as part of the European Blues Caravan with Ruth Brown and Charles Brown.

In 1984 he was commissioned to write a blues for the Los Angeles Olympic Games ('Olympic Blues') and in the 90s his powerful performances were a fixture on American blues and jazz festivals. His older recordings are now available again and in the mid 1990s he secured a contract with Alligator Records. The “Wake Up And Live” album is well worth the admission price, with Floyd still singing and playing with an artistic fire and passion that remains undiminished - his support band is excellent and, although he reprises material from his earlier years such as 'Hey Bartender', the exercise never slips into revivalism.

In 1993 Dixon received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Career Achievement Award. Living Blues Magazine recognized him in 1997 as Most Outstanding Blues Musician (Keyboards) and as Comeback Artist Of The Year. Praise indeed for his “impeccable piano technique, fabulous timing, and a voice like a foghorn”. He also received the W.C. Handy award for Comeback Album Of The Year for “Wake Up And Live”. He never stopped performing, and he recorded another CD, “Fine, Fine Thing,” for the HighJohn label in 2005. In June 2006, Dixon recorded a live CD/DVD with fellow pianists Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray,
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She Keeps Me Guessing - Eddie Burns

Eddie "Guitar" Burns (born February 8, 1928, Belzoni, Mississippi) is an American Detroit blues guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter. His career has spanned seven decades, and in terms of Detroit bluesmen, Burns is deemed second only in stature to John Lee Hooker.
Burn's father was a sharecropper who performed as a singer in medicine shows, although Burns was mainly raised by his grandparents. He was self taught in the harmonica and made his first guitar.

Initially influenced by exposure to the music of Sonny Boy Williamson I and Big Bill Broonzy, Burns relocated from the Mississippi delta via Waterloo, Iowa to Detroit in 1948. Originally Burns excelled playing the harmonica, and his debut single, "Notoriety Woman" (1948), featured this ability accompanied by the guitar playing of John T. Smith. Burns tells how he met John Lee Hooker here: "Well see, John T. and me was playing at a house party this particular Saturday night. We was in Detroit Black Bottom...so Hooker was on his way home from somewhere - I guess he was at some other party, house parties used to be real plentiful here. Hooker heard it, knocked at the door, and they let him in. He introduced himself and he sat down and played some with us. And then, he liked the way I was blowing harmonica...he had a session coming up on Tuesday, this was on a Saturday. And so then, he wanted to know if I wanted to do this session with him on Tuesday. And I told him, yes, naturally. So that's how John T. and me went down to cut for Hooker. When we got through the man wanted to know what I had. I had one song, "Notoriety Woman." And so he said I'd need two, and I sat there and made up "Papa's Boogie."" However, by the following year Burns was playing guitar accompaniment on recordings by John Lee Hooker.

Billed at times as Big Daddy, Little Eddie, or Big Ed, Burns performed regularly in Detroit nightclubs, but had to supplement his earnings by working as a mechanic. In those early years Burns's own recording was not prolific with just a handful of tracks released on several labels. His output veered from Detroit blues to R&B as the 1960s progressed, when he issued a number of singles in that decade on Harvey Fuqua's Harvey Records label. Now permanently billed as Eddie "Guitar" Burns, he appeared on Hooker's album The Real Folk Blues (1966).

In 1972 Burns undertook a European tour and recorded his debut album, Bottle Up & Go in London, England.[2][4] This was followed by an appearance at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1973. Two years later Burns toured Europe again, this time as part of the billing of 'American Blues Legends'. Burns self penned track, "Orange Driver", was recorded by The J. Geils Band (Hotline, 1975). In August 1976, Burns performed his song "Bottle Up & Go" live on the British television program, So It Goes.

In 1989 Burns released an album titled Detroit on Blue Suit Records, where his ability on both guitar and harmonica were displayed. In February 1992, Burns appeared alongside Jack Owens, Bud Spires, and Lonnie Pitchford at the seventh annual New York Winter Blues Festival. By 1994, Burns had been granted the Michigan Heritage Award.


His brother, Jimmy Burns, is a soul blues musician, who lives in Chicago, and played guitar on Burns 2002 album Snake Eyes. Burns most recent offering was Second Degree Burns, released when he was 77 years of age
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Mean Old World - Michael De Jong

Born to a Dutch father, who fled to France during World War II, and a French mother, de Jong spent much of his early youth living in Holland. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1949 where he lived for the next 35 years, moving back to Europe in 1984 before settling in Holland in 1988.
With his dark, somber lyrics set to Americana-meets-the-blues arrangements, Michael de Jong has brought a new edge to the rock of the Netherlands, where he enjoys his largest fan base.
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Eddie Cusic - At His House - Leland - Mississippi

Eddie Cusic was born in 1926 in Leland, Mississippi. He grew up farming with his family and was first inspired to play the blues from hearing men play at suppers and other get-togethers in his community. Like many Delta musicians of his generation, his first attempts to play were done on a 'diddly-bow', a one string instrument consisting of a piece of bailing wire attached to a wall and played with a knife or bottle neck. He eventually moved up to a Sears Roebuck guitar and began playing with other local musicians. However, despite regular gigs throughout the 1950's and 60's, Cusic was still struggling to provide for his family. It was during this time period that took a job at a local quarry and for the most part stopped performing.

When Cusic returned to active performing in the 1980's, he came back to the music as a solo acoustic performer. He has been a mainstay at the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville for many years and more recently has been a featured performer at the Sunflower River Blues Festival, the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife and the Chicago Blues Festival.
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