Stealin' - Denny Freeman

As an adolescent and young teen in Dallas, Texas in the late1950's, Denny Freeman heard on the radio the radical new sounds of people like Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and Chicago and Louisianna blues artists like Muddy waters and Slim Harpo. Freeman would go to concerts that featured folks like Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley, Ruth Brown, and the Clovers. In the 60's there was Jimi Hendrix and Cream, and the wonderful jazz of the time. All of it contributed to the music that Freeman would come to play. Primarily a guitar player, he has played piano and organ on his own and other folks records and gigs over the years. Jennifer Warnes has him playing piano on one track (The Well [Reprise]) on her latest release. His piano playing also appears on James Cotton and Jimmie Vaughan albums. He toured on Jimmie Vaughan's first solo outing as the piano player.
Denny has been the main writer on the songs on his four, mostly instrumental albums, and teamed up with Kathy Valentine of the GoGos and Clem Burke of Blondie, to submit music to Deborah Harry for the Blondie "No Exit" album. Deborah wrote the lyrics, and "Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room" was born. He also co-wrote "BaBoom (Mama Said)" with Jimmie and Stevie Vaughan for the Vaughan Brothers' "Family Style" album.
After touring for a year and a half with Jimmie Vaughan in the mid nineties, he toured w/ Taj Mahal and the Phantom Blues Band until late 2002, playing guitar. It was during this period that Taj' Grammy winning CD, "Shoutin' in Key" was released. "Playing with an American icon like Taj Mahal was a real honor for me. We went all over Europe and to Japan, and it seems that there are Taj fans in every nook and cranny, all over the planet."
After growing up in Dallas, going to college in north Texas, and a brief sojourn in L.A., Freeman moved to Austin, Texas in 1970. Jimmie Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, and Stevie Vaughan soon followed. If you were a musician, a part of the sub culture, or just had long hair, Austin was the place to be in that part of the world, at that time. It wasn't so much of a music town, Freeman observes. " It was the kind of place that musicians in the early 70's found hospitable. Lots of pretty girls, cheap rent, a laid back atmosphere, those things were especially helpful, in those days." The word got around and musicians are still moving there, today, although things have changed, like everywhere else, and cheap rent is certainly a thing of the past. The main thing, though, that these folks had in common, was that they came ready to play blues. Unhappy with the direction rock was heading after the demise of Cream and Jimi Hendrix, blues was the only thing that appealed to these and a few other people. But still it was a struggle. Of course, Jimmie, w/ his Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Stevie finally found some commercial success. Freeman lived and played with Jimmie and Stevie off and on through the 70's and 80's. There just weren't many players interested in playing blues, so the pool was small. "I first heard Jimmie Vaughan play in Dallas, when he was 16, and Stevie a few years later, in Austin, when he was around 17. It was obvious, even then, that we would be hearing from these guys. It took a while, but eventually most fans of guitar, the world over, came to know about them, too. We became friends, roommates, bandmates. Stevie still owes me $30 rent."
In 1975, the world famous Antones Night Club opened up. At first, the T Birds were the house band, providing backing for the famous Chicago, and other, blues artists that were booked. In the early 80's, another house band was formed, and Freeman had guitar and piano duties, backing up blues giants like Otis Rush, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Lazy Lester, and many, many more. "It was beyond anything I could have imagined. I never thought I'd see most of these guys, much less get to play with them. Some of the shows were recorded, so I'm even on records with my heros."
In spite of Freeman's work with Austin blues bands and blues artists in L.A., where he lived from1992 until late 2004, he doesn't consider himself a "blues guy". "I'd rather think of myself as a guitar player." The compositions on his four albums display a love of three chord rock n' roll, soul jazz, blues and old school r&b and soul music. "I'll always love listening to my old blues records, and trying to play it (blues), but I don't want to be stuck in that bag. I like to go out on a limb, sometimes. I also love ballads." Clem Burke plays drums on his latest CD, "Twang Bang."
Some of Freeman's early recordings (late 80's) ended up in low budget, mostly horror films. One, "Mortuary Academy", featured Paul Bartel and Wolfman Jack. He recently was in the studio (eraly 2004), playing on the new Percy Sledge album, "Shining Through the Rain", which includes a Denny co-write (w/ Fontaine Brown), "Love Come and Rescue Me", as well as his own new project. In October (2004), he was in the studio, with C.C. Adcock, and Scott Nelson and Mike Keller, working on Doyle Bramhall's forthcoming album, "Is It News?". (Spring release)
Denny played in the Bob Dylan Band from 2005 until August 2009, and plays on the Bob Dylan album, "Modern Times". Since the autumn of 2009, Denny has been playing in Austin, Texas a lot, mostly at the Continental Club, Antones, and The Gallery, and in DFW area clubs, and is preparing to record.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Gone After Hours - Frank Floorshow Culley

Born 7 August 1917 or 1918, Salisbury, Maryland
Died 15 April 1991, Newark, New Jersey Born in Maryland, but raised in Norfolk, Virginia, Frank Culley was a pioneer of the R&B tenor saxophone in the post-WW II period. He demonstrated how the instrument could be an exciting component in the emerging R&B sound. Culley began learning the tenor sax at the age of 10 and made his first professional mark playing with Johnson's Happy Pals around Richmond, Virginia. He formed his own R&B group in the mid-40s, recording for the Lenox label in NYC and backing Wynonie Harris on King. In 1948, he was signed by the fledgling Atlantic label and led its first house band, backing the early stars of R&B as well as recording some thirty tracks under his own name, always featuring his band's superb pianist, Harry Van Walls. Culley's first release on Atlantic, "Coleslaw", was a # 11 R&B hit in 1949, coupled with a wild version of the Lionel Hampton number "Central Avenue Breakdown" (Atlantic 874). The follow-up was "Floorshow" (Atlantic 880), from the same January 1949 session. This song gave him his nickname, known as he was for being a histrionic showman. The next single, "After Hour Session" (Atlantic 888), went to # 10 on the R&B charts ; the flip, "Rhumboogie Jive" is available on the CD "Let The Boogie Woogie Rock and Roll" (Ace 718). After leaving Atlantic in 1951, Culley recorded for RCA Victor, Parrot, Chess and Baton without success. He retired from music in 1975 and moved to Newark, NJ, where he died in 1991.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Black Rat Swing - Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973) was an American blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist
Born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana, Minnie was one of the most influential and pioneering blues musicians and guitarists of all time. She recorded for forty years, almost unheard of for any woman in show business at the time and not so common in any blues artist. A flamboyant character who wore bracelets made of silver dollars, she was a very popular blues recording artist from the early Depression years through World War II. One of the first generation of blues artists to take up the electric guitar, in 1942, she combined her Louisiana-country roots with Memphis blues to produce her own unique country-blues sound; along with Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, she took country blues into electric urban blues, paving the way for Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, and Jimmy Rogers to travel from the small towns of the south to the big cities of the north.

According to some reports she was married three times, each time to an accomplished blues guitarist: Kansas Joe McCoy later of the Harlem Hamfats, possibly Casey Bill Weldon , and Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlers. Paul and Beth Garon's 1992 biography on Memphis Minnie, Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues, makes no mention of a marriage to Weldon, but only says that she recorded two sides with him, in November 1935, for Bluebird Records. It does describe the relationships and marriages to McCoy and Lawlers.

After learning to play guitar and banjo as a child, she ran away from home at the age of thirteen. She travelled to Memphis, Tennessee, playing guitar in nightclubs and on the street as Lizzie "Kid" Douglas. The next year, she joined the Ringling Brothers circus. Her marriage and recording début came in 1929, to and with Kansas Joe McCoy, when a Columbia Records talent scout heard them playing in a Beale Street barbershop in their distinctive 'Memphis style,' and their song "Bumble Bee" became a hit. In the 1930s she moved to Chicago, Illinois with McCoy. She and McCoy broke up in 1935, and by 1939 she was with Little Son Joe Lawlers. In the 1940s she formed a touring vaudeville company. Some of her most potent and enduring work was made in the early 1940s, such as "Nothing in Rambling," "In My Girlish Days," "Looking The World Over" and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues".

Later in the 1940s Minnie lived in Indianapolis, Indiana and Detroit, Michigan, returning to Chicago in the early 1950s. From the 1950s on, however, public interest in her music declined, and in 1957 she and Lawlers returned to Memphis. Lawlers died in 1961
After her health began to fail in the mid 1950s, Minnie returned to Memphis and retired from performing and recording. She spent her twilight years in a nursing home in Memphis where she died of a stroke in 1973. She is buried at the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Walls, DeSoto County, Mississippi.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Why Things Happen To Me - Big Sam

Big Sam Clark of Memphis, Tennessee, on his own label.
Big Sam Clark: vocal/piano.
The Wonder Boy: guitar
Melvin Lee: bass
Homer Jackson: drums
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

A Slow Blues Medley - Bobby Jones

Delta Groove is proud to announce the latest addition to its talent roster, veteran singer Bobby Jones. Jones has a deep history on the Chicago blues scene, going back to the late 1950s when he was the featured vocalist with the legendary Aces band of Dave and Louis Myers ; he also worked with famed guitarist (and featured Delta Groove artist) Jody Williams in the early ‘60s, the legendary Syl Johnson, and many others. Jones has moonlighted on the southern soul circuit in recent times as “Bobby Jonz”, but his roots and his true love are in the deep blues sounds from the heyday of the Chicago blues era. Jones recently returned to those roots and recorded as a featured vocalist on the Mannish Boys “Big Plans” CD on Delta Groove, and proved beyond any doubts that he’s still one of the most powerful and vibrant blues singers active today.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Your Funeral & My Trial - Nathan Rose Blues Ensemble

I, Will Scharff, am a keyboardist currently residing in Sacramento, CA. This website is devoted to my music and any shows that I will be playing. If you like Jam Band, Blues, Latin, or any style of music, check out the videos. The bands I am currently playing with have a passion for music and love working with the audience. If you are a promoter and want to book any of the bands let me know, drop me a line on the contact page. There should always be new videos posted, and any current news.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Rob Blaine's Big Otis Blues Band

Rob Blaine- Born in Chicago 1981, moved to Michigan, grew up listening to Blues, R&B, Funk, Rock, Soul, because of his father. Began playing guitar at 15, started giging and playing out by age of 17 with his guitar teacher, Charlie Schantz's band.Playing the blues standards. Started his own band with his brother Buck and other friends, playing around Grand Rapids for the next couple of years. He moved back to Chicago in 2003, where since has been on 3 U.S tours, and one European tour. Touring with Little Milton before his untimely passing, and currently touring with the Chicago Rythme & Blues Kings (formerly Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows) featuring Gene Barge a.k.a. Daddy G., and his own band. Big Rob Blaine plays at Kingston Mines every tuesday and at B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted once a month.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Call it the Blues - Bill Magee Blues Band

Jimi Hendrix was playing as Jimmy James when Willie (Bill) Magee met, befriended and eventually joined up with Hendrix to form the band "Jimmy James and the Flames." In 1967, Hendrix went to England, and Magee took his newly formed band, the "Kansas City Playboys" on a tour around Europe.

The rest is history...now after a brief hiatus Bill Magee has felt the pull of the blues once again and come out of retirement. Catch a performance of his and see the best of Southern Blues music.

Nowadays, Bill Magee is one of San Diego, California's busiest working musicians. He can be seen around the greater San Diego Area.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Downsville Blues - Tomcat Courtney

The rest of world is about to discover what San Diego has known for 35 years; Tomcat Courtney is an authentic bluesman in the best of Texas country blues tradition. At the age of 78, Tomcat Courtney made his national debut on May 20th, 2008 with the release of “Downsville Blues” on Blue Witch Records.

A bittersweet return to his old hometown prompted the recording of "Downsville Blues", where his marvelously spare, down-home guitar style and full vocals ring with riveting authority. With mastery earned through years of honing his craft, fans and critics describe Tomcat’s guitar and vocal work as “real”, “authentic”, “distinctive” and “amazing.” An extraordinary songwriter, his gift for writing topical songs grabs the essence of time and place, and shines on as captured in “Downsville Blues”, a wistful hometown remembrance, "Disaster Blues" deploring Hurricane Katrina and "Railroad Avenue", a tribute to visiting an ex-girlfriend who lived along the railroad tracks.

“It isn’t about flash, it is about feeling,” recalls San Diego Entertainment writer Robert Hawkins. “Tomcat is a showman, but he doesn’t shred chords. He heals busted dreams by singing the blues.” Tomcat’s soulful voice resonates with the depth and strength of a man who has lived his lyrics; the old blues come alive in his guitarwork. The songs are rooted in a simpler time, purified by a musician who sanctifies the blues.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

"We Juke Up in Here" Racks Up Acclaim as Filmmakers, Musicians Hit the Road for Screenings, Concerts

"We Juke Up in Here" Blues Project Racks Up Acclaim as Filmmakers, Musicians Hit the Road for Screenings and Concerts

New Film on Mississippi Juke Joints Enjoys Global Attention (Clarksdale, MS) – Since its world premiere in April, the new blues documentary “We Juke Up in Here” has earned rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. In the coming weeks, the film will enjoy an even higher profile as its filmmakers and featured musicians embark on a series of high-profile screenings and public performances in the United States and abroad. “We Juke Up in Here” tells the story of Mississippi’s once-thriving culture of down-home blues clubs known as juke joints. It is available in a deluxe two-disc collection (DVD with CD soundtrack) fromwww.wejukeupinhere.com and at quality record stores. “We Juke Up in Here” is a joint production of Broke & Hungry Records and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. In late August, the film’s creators and several of its featured musicians will travel to Switzerland to participate in the Geneva Art Festival (www.genevartfestival.ch). The film will screen on Tuesday, Aug. 21 and Wednesday, Aug. 22 and will be followed by live performances by three of the film’s stars: Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood and – in his first overseas performance – Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. “We Juke Up in Here” and several of its featured artists also are slated to make prominent appearances in Philadelphia, Pa., in the coming months as part of a yearlong series called the Mississippi Blues Project (www.mississippibluesproject.org). Big George Brock will be the first of the film’s stars to make the trip out east when he and his band perform at the Philadelphia Folk Festival on Sunday, Aug. 19. Two months later, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and Terry “Harmonica” Bean will travel to Philadelphia to perform on the set of World Café Live. Their Oct. 22 performances will broadcast on the nationally syndicated NPR show. In February 2013, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, the film’s youngest musical star at 28, will also perform in Philadelphia. The film “We Juke Up in Here” also will screen in Philadelphia at a still-to-be-determined date in the coming months as part of the Mississippi Blues Project. The project is being produced and presented by WXPN Radio. In late October, “We Juke Up in Here” will have several public screenings. On Thursday, Oct. 25, filmmakers Roger Stolle and Jeff Konkel will present the documentary at the Brooks Museum of Art in Memphis before embarking on a three-day screening tour in Mississippi: Friday, Oct. 26 in Jackson; Saturday, Oct. 27 in Ocean Springs and Sunday, Oct. 28 in Meridian. (Click here for information.) “We Juke Up In Here” follows music producers Konkel and Stolle as they explore what remains of Mississippi’s once-thriving juke joint culture. The film is told largely from the vantage point of Red Paden, proprietor of the legendary Red’s Lounge in historic Clarksdale, Mississippi. Featured artists include Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Big George Brock, Hezekiah Early, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Robert Lee “Lil’ Poochie” Watson, Elmo Williams and Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood. “We Juke Up in Here” is a follow-up to the award-winning film “M For Mississippi.” The new movie reunites Konkel and Stolle with Damien Blaylock, their cinematographer and co-producer from the earlier film. Joining the production team for “We Juke Up in Here” was cinematographer and co-producer Lou Bopp. Since its release, “We Juke Up in Here” has been heavily profiled in publications across the globe. A sampling of reviews includes: "Must-viewing." – Friday Blues Fix (U.S) "Roadhouse nirvana." – Blues Rag (U.S) "Idiosyncratic alchemical magic." – Dusted Magazine (U.S) "Visually sexy film." – Real Deep Blues (U.S) "Superb!" – Folk Bulletin (Italy) "Beautifully produced." – Blues & Rhythm (U.K.) "Fascinating." – Les Inrocks (France) "Love at first sight." – Blues Magazine (France) "First class." – Blues News (Germany) The soundtrack to “We Juke Up in Here” also has received heavy radio airplay. The week, the soundtrack topped the charts on “B.B. King’s Bluesville,” the dedicated blues channel on XM/Sirius Radio. For more information about “We Juke Up in Here” or to arrange a screening or a performance by one of the film’s stars, contact Jeff Konkel at jeff@brokeandhungryrecords.com or Roger Stolle at roger@cathead.biz. ### (ALL PHOTOS BY LOU BOPP)

Stax / Concord artist: Booker T.& The M.G.s - Green Onions - Remaster Review

I just received the new remaster of Green Onions from Booker T. & the M.G.s. It's hard to put into perspective all of the contributions this band jointly and individually did for the evolution of music. This album is a classic with of course Green Onions being it's centerpiece. Some of the songs are definitely signature of the era that they were made. A number of others like I Got A Woman (Ray Charles); Twist and Shout (made popular by the Beatles); Stranger On The Shore (used as a BBC theme song and rerecorded by numerous artists); Lonely Avenue (Doc Pomus); The One Who Really Loves You (written by Smokey Robinson and made popular by Mary Wells); You Can't Sit Down(a contemporary pop song by the Dovells); A Woman, A Lover, A Friend made popular by Jackie Wilson and Comin' Home Baby (by the Donald Bailey Quartet). This cd is literally Jones and company 's interpretation of the days hits. Jones brought the organ to new popularity in pop r&b music and Steve Cropper came to notoriety with his signature riffs. The recording also includes a fresh bonus version of Green Onions and Can't Sit Down recorded live at the 5/4 Ballroom in LA in 1965. Pretty cool trip in the 60's machine.
Of special note is that this was the house band used to back many of the more significant Stax artists of the time including Albert King,Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Blues In My Bedroom - Lynn white

Lynn White was born on the 6th of August, 1953 in Mobile, Alabama. Began singing professionally in the late 1970's, with various 45s collected on the album 'Am I Too Much Woman for You' in 1981. In 1982, she recorded the single 'I Don't Ever Want to See Your Face Again' for the Sho Me label. The single was picked up by Willie Mitchell (best known for his work with Al Green), who reissued it on his Waylo Records and signed White to the label, resulting in a string of albums in the 80s.

The following decade Lynn formed her own label, Chelsea, where she released 'The New Me' in 1990.'Home Girl' followed in 1991, and two years later Lynn returned with 'Cheatin'. Two more 90s LPs appeared before White seemingly disappeared from the Soul music scene.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Lonesome Bedroom Blues - Willie Nix

Willie Nix (August 6, 1922 — July 8, 1991) was an American Chicago blues singer and drummer, active in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in the 1940s and 1950s
Born in Memphis, as a child he learnt to tap dance, later working as a teenager as part dancer, part comedian, with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. This led to work in various variety shows in the 1940s, and Nix later became a part of the blues scene that grew up around Beale Street (see Memphis Blues). His musical work saw him appear on local radio with Robert Lockwood Jr., and work alongside Willie Love, Joe Willie Wilkins and Sonny Boy Williamson II, billed as the Four Aces, who toured the Deep South. Further Memphis based radio work in the mid 1940s, saw Nix appear with both B.B. King and Joe Hill Louis, and later the same decade Nix worked with the Beale Streeters. In 1951, Nix made his first recording for RPM Records in Memphis, and a year later he later recorded for Checker Records.

He recorded for the Sun Records label and others in the 1950s, including the Chicago, Illinois based duo of Chance and Sabre. Nix wrote the songs "Nervous Wreck" and "Try Me One More Time", and reworked others such as Catfish Blues and Curtis Jones' Lonesome Bedroom Blues. He variously worked with Big Walter Horton, Elmore James, Johnny Shines, and Memphis Slim during his active years.

By the end of the 1950s, Nix returned to Memphis, and spent a short time in prison before the 1960s started. The next twenty years saw Nix perform sporadically, and as his health declined, his behaviour became more eccentric. He did not record again, although his mid 1950s work is held in high regard for his lyrical dexterity and compelling beat.

Nix died in Leland, Mississippi, in 1991
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Prayer of Death- Charlie Patton

Charlie Patton (between April 1887 and 1891 – April 28, 1934), better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man (Palmer, 1995). Musicologist Robert Palmer considers him among the most important musicians that America produced in the twentieth century. Many sources, including musical releases and his gravestone, spell his name “Charley” even though the musician himself spelled his name "Charlie."
Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta. Most sources say he was born in 1891, but there is some debate about this, and the years 1887 and 1894 have also been suggested.

Patton's parentage and race have been the subject of debate. Although born to Bill and Annie Patton, locally he was regarded as having been fathered by former slave Henderson Chatmon, many of whose other children also became popular Delta musicians both as solo acts and as members of groups such as the Mississippi Sheiks. Biographer John Fahey describes Patton as having "light skin and Caucasian features." Though Patton was considered African-American, because of his light complexion there have been rumors that he was Mexican, or possibly a full-blood Cherokee, a theory endorsed by Howlin' Wolf. In actuality, Patton was a mix of white, black, and Cherokee (one of his grandmothers was a full-blooded Cherokee). Patton himself sang in "Down the Dirt Road Blues" of having gone to "the Nation" and "the Territo'"—meaning the Cherokee Nation portion of the Indian Territory (which became part of the state of Oklahoma in 1907), where a number of Black Indians tried unsuccessfully to claim a place on the tribal rolls and thereby obtain land.

In 1900, his family moved 100 miles (160 km) north to the legendary 10,000-acre (40 km2) Dockery Plantation sawmill and cotton farm near Ruleville, Mississippi. It was here that both John Lee Hooker and Howlin' Wolf fell under the Patton spell. It was also here that Robert Johnson played and was given his first guitar. At Dockery, Charlie fell under the tutelage of Henry Sloan, who had a new, unusual style of playing music which today would be considered very early blues. Charlie followed Henry Sloan around, and, by the time he was about 19, had become an accomplished performer and songwriter in his own right, having already composed "Pony Blues," a seminal song of the era.

Robert Palmer describes Patton as a "jack-of all-trades bluesman" who played "deep blues, white hillbilly songs, nineteenth-century ballads, and other varieties of black and white country dance music with equal facility".[6] He was extremely popular across the Southern United States and also performed annually in Chicago, Illinois and, in 1934, New York City. In contrast to the itinerant wandering of most blues musicians of his time, Patton played scheduled engagements at plantations and taverns. Long before Jimi Hendrix impressed audiences with flashy guitar playing, Patton gained notoriety for his showmanship, often playing with the guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back. Although Patton was a small man at about 5 foot 5, his gravelly voice was rumored to have been loud enough to carry 500 yards without amplification. Patton's gritty bellowing was a major influence on the singing style of his young friend Chester Burnett, who went on to gain fame in Chicago as Howlin' Wolf.

Patton settled in Holly Ridge, Mississippi with his common-law wife and recording partner Bertha Lee in 1933. He died on the Heathman-Dedham plantation near Indianola on April 28, 1934 and is buried in Holly Ridge (both towns are located in Sunflower County). Patton's death certificate states that he died of a mitral valve disorder. Bertha Lee is not mentioned on the certificate, the only informant listed being one Willie Calvin. His death was not reported in the newspapers. A memorial headstone was erected on Patton's grave (the location of which was identified by the cemetery caretaker C. Howard who claimed to have been present at the burial) paid for by musician John Fogerty through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in July, 1990. The spelling of Patton's name was dictated by Jim O'Neal who also composed the Patton epitaph.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Matthew Davidson Band News - Bistro Byronz & Pics from the Weekend

The Matthew Davidson Band had a blast performing last Saturday at Pierre Bossier Mall. Thanks to KMSS Fox-33 and Pierre Bossier Mall for inviting us! Check out some photos from the event in the newsletter below. Kyle McClanahan, Greg Walton, Matthew Davidson and Zack Ebey Photo by Fred McClanahan Next on the schedule is a duo performance by Matthew and Greg this Friday, Aug. 10 at Bistro Byronz from 7:30 - 9:30 pm. Call for reservations to avoid waiting for a table. We hope you will join us! We hope you will forward this newsletter to your friends! Be sure to check out these links: "Back to School is Cool" at Pierre Bossier Mall About Matthew Davidson - "It was truly a pleasure working with Matthew. I think that he has a great future ahead of him. ~Robin Hood Brians, Robin Hood Studios, Tyler, TX - July 2012 "Matthew Davidson is blessed with a God-given, born-in-the-bone, talent. His musicianship is far beyond his age. When I play with Matthew, it's like playing with a musician with many years of experience. Always a perfect gentleman, Matthew's personality shines through in every performance. He obviously loves what he is doing!" ~Joe Osborn, famed "Wrecking Crew" bassist who played on numerous hit records of the 60's - 70's with Glen Campbell, The Carpenters, The 5th Dimension, Simon and Garfunkel and many more Photo by Barbara Beaird Media: SB Magazine - May, 2012 Gretsch Guitar Website - March, 2012 The Shreveport Times - Robert Johnson Award - Jan. 2012 Gibson Guitar Website - Jan. 2012 International Musician - Sept. 2011 K94.5 FM - July 2011 - May 2012 For booking contact: Ella Davidson (318) 286-4636 ella@matthewdavidson.net www.matthewdavidson.net www.facebook.com/gomatthew In This Issue Back to School is Cool pics New bassist Madison Park El Chico The Battle on the Border Upcoming Shows MDB's new bassist - Zack Ebey We'd like to welcome Zack Ebey to the band. We've been working towards a teenage bassist since MDB started - getting younger every time! Thanks to Bruce Flett and Chris Campisi for paving the way for Zack. We knew it was a good sign when Zack showed up at his first rehearsal and already knew all of the songs on the list that we had sent him. Zack is 17 years old and will be a senior this year at Calvary Baptist Academy. Madison Park El Chico - Sat, Aug. 18th Battle on the Border - Sat., Sept. 8 The Matthew Davidson Band will be performing immediately after the second game! Click HERE for more details. Upcoming Schedule: Fri., Aug. 10 - Matthew and Greg at Bistro Byronz - 7:30 - 9:30 PM Sat., Aug. 18 - Madison Park El Chico - 6:00 - 8:00 PM Sat., Sept. 1 - Private Party - Dallas, TX Sat., Sept 8 - "Battle on the Border" - Independence Stadium - performing after the second football game - appx. 9:15 pm Sat., Oct 13 - Fireant Festival - Marshall, TX - 8:00 - 10:00 PM

Just A Closer Walk With Thee - Tuts Washington

Isidore "Tuts" Washington (January 24, 1907 – August 5, 1984) was an American Louisiana blues pianist, who exemplified the New Orleans rhythm and blues style, also made famous by musicians such as Professor Longhair.

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Washington taught himself piano at age 10, and studied with New Orleans jazz pianist Joseph Louis "Red" Cayou. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was a leading player for New Orleans dance and Dixieland bands. His unique style of play blended elements of ragtime, jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie.

After World War II, Washington joined the band of singer/guitarist Smiley Lewis; they released several well-known songs on Imperial Records including "Tee-Nah-Nah," "The Bells Are Ringing" and "Dirty People." He then moved to St. Louis to play with Tab Smith. He returned to New Orleans in the 1960s, continuing to appear at restaurants in the French Quarter, clubs such as Tipitina's, and at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. For years he had a regular gig playing piano at a bar in the Pontchartrain Hotel. Although he avoided recording for most of his career,he released the solo piano album New Orleans Piano Professor on Rounder Records in 1983.

Tuts Washington died on August 5, 1984, after suffering a heart attack while performing at the World's Fair in New Orleans. In 1998, Night Train International Records released a live recording by Washington, Live at Tipitina's '78.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

When I'm Gone (She Treats Me Mean And Evil) - Joe Hill Louis

Joe Hill Louis (September 23, 1921 – August 5, 1957), born Lester Hill, was an American singer, guitarist, harmonica player and one-man band. He is significant, along with fellow Memphis bluesman Doctor Ross, as one of only a small number of one-man blues bands to have recorded commercially in the 1950s, and as a session musician for Sun Records.
Louis was born Lester (or possibly Leslie) Hill on September 23, 1921 in Raines, Tennessee. His nickname “Joe Louis” arose as a result of a childhood fight with another youth. At the age of 14 he left home to work as a servant for a wealthy Memphis family, and also worked in the Peabody Hotel, Memphis, in the late 1930s. From the early 1940s onwards he worked as a musician and one-man band
Louis’ recording debut was made for Columbia in 1949, and his music was released on a variety of independent labels through the 1950s, most notably recording for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records, for whom he recorded extensively as a backing musician for a wide variety of other singers as well as under his own name.

Joe Hill Louis - "Boogie in the Park" (1950)
"Boogie in the Park" (1950) by Joe Hill Louis. It featured Louis playing an overdriven, distorted electric guitar solo while playing on a drum kit at the same time.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

His most notable electric blues single "Boogie in the Park" (recorded July 1950 and released August 1950) featured Louis performing "one of the loudest, most overdriven, and distorted guitar stomps ever recorded" while playing on a rudimentary drum kit at the same time. It was the only record ever released on Sam Phillips' early Phillips label before founding Sun Records.[3] Louis' electric guitar work is also considered a distant ancestor of heavy metal music.

His most notable recording at Sun Records was probably as guitarist on Rufus Thomas’s “Bear Cat”, recorded as an answer record to Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog”, which reached No. 3 on the R&B chart[9] and resulted in legal action for copyright infringement. He also shared writing credit for the song “Tiger Man”, which has been recorded by Elvis Presley, among others.

Around 1950 he took over the “Pepticon Boy” radio program on WDIA from B. B. King.

He was also known as “The Pepticon Boy” and “The Be-Bop Boy”
Louis died on August 5, 1957 in John Gaston Hospital, Memphis, at the age of 35, from tetanus contracted as a result of an infected cut to his thumb, sustained while working as an odd job man.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Heart of Stone - Dan Patlansky

The word “legend” is loaded with meaning – especially when one thinks of Blues-legends. It conjures up images of seasoned older players that have been touched with a rare gift, and whose talent has been salted through the onslaught of years in the music business..

To achieve legend-status as a Blues-musician at the age of 30 is almost unheard of. Enter Dan Patlansky – an artist who shares the muse that touched Hendrix, Zeppelin and Stevie Ray Vaughan. What Dan Patlansky can do with a six-string Fender Stratocaster at the age of 30, most critically acclaimed guitarists will never quite achieve in a lifetime.

Dan Patlansky is a conglomerate of charisma, charm and musical genius - and all of this comes wrapped up in an unassuming, startlingly attractive package that bespeaks his Judeo-Spanish heritage. And yet, he doesn’t seem to realise the extent of his extremely tactile appeal – both on stage and in person. Humility suits him well and is as much an extension of his being as his Fender. There are no airs and graces here – just sincerity and an incredible musical talent.

In only a little over a decade on the music scene, Dan Patlansky has become one of the busiest and most respected blues artists to ever come out of South Africa. His music can best be described as vacillating between slick, soulful blues and the renegade psychedelic angst and raw emotion of Hendrix or Zeppelin – fire encased in ice...if you will.

After his debut, “Standing at the Station”, an independent album that amazed critics and garnered Dan a reputation as a Blues-phenomenon and his subsequent “Readers Choice” vote as “Best Blues Guitarist in Southern Africa” – Dan released a second album, “True Blues” which was produced and released by EMI on the famed “Blue Note label” in 2004. Dan is one of the only South Africans to ever achieve “Blue Note” status. And the accolades kept on coming.

In 2006 Fender Guitars recognised Dan’s fiery playing and offered him an endorsement deal to promote Fender Guitars and amps. Dan is one of only six Fender endorsed guitarists in South Africa.

In February 2005 and again in July 2006, Selwyn Miller, New Orleans based manager of David Gates and Bread, Randy Crawford, and Petula Clark amongst others, brought Dan to New Orleans to showcase this amazing talent. In his time living in the city of the Blues, Patlansky performed at legendary venues such as Maple Leaf, Rock & Bowl and Checkpoint Charlie with many Blues giants such as Henry Gray (Howlin’ Wolf’s Pianist), Snooks Eaglin, The Batiste Famil and Rockin Dopsie Jr.

Whilst abroad, Dan performed live on both television and WWOZ radio. What this South African boy achieved in a few months, and the following he built up, many thought would have taken years.

Touring was cut short due to Hurricane Katrina and he was deprived of the opportunity to play with legendary and world renowned slide guitarist, Sonny Landreth. During the evacuation of New Orleans, Dan was separated from “The Red,” probably his most prized possession. She is the 50 year-old Fender Stratocaster that Dan used to compose and play his music on. He had to leave her in New Orleans and he thought Katrina took her along with the greater part of the French Quarter…but fate stepped in. The American band that played with Dan in New Orleans were scheduled to play with him in South Africa a year later…when he met them at the airport, they were carrying “The Red”. It seems that the muse has not only touched Dan with an extraordinary gift, but she is looking out for him as well.

Dan followed his first two albums with two more releases Real (2007) and Move My Soul (2009), each garnering wider acclaim than the former – solidifying Dan’s status as a world-class Blues musician. He continues to perform all over the country and globe in the company of world-renowned musicians, including Guy Buttery, Albert Frost, Steve Fataar (ex Beach Boys / Flames), Cedric Sampson, Valiant Swart, The Late big voice Jack (who performed with Mango Groove and the Dave Mathews Band) and Alistair Coakley, to name only a few.

His epic talent as a Blues-musician aside, a little-known fact about the man is that he can sing…Dan’s voice has a gut-wrenching quality that compliments the renegade approach to the Blues. Imagine a young Tom Waits and Marianne Faithful (post-Lucy Jordan) producing a musical heir – and you’re close to understanding the emotive quality of Dan’s voice. When he grabs hold of his Fender he becomes a modern-day knight slaying dragons on stage and bemoaning the carnage all at once. He is one of those rare talents capable of whisking an audience into a netherworld of sonic orgasms.

David Batiste Sr. once said that “Dan Patlansky is one of the most renowned and fiery blues artists in the southern hemisphere and one of the greatest I’ve ever seen.” Anyone who hears him play will agree. Meanwhile, Dan Patlansky just carries on playing and blazing musical trails across South Africa and the world, as effortlessly as a summer breeze. One might call him an enigma. Perhaps. But would one call him a legend? For sure
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Johnnie Bassett has passed

Blues guitarist Johnnie Bassett, a much-loved statesman of the Detroit scene, died late Saturday. He was 76.

Bassett had been in declining health – recently diagnosed with cancer — and was moved last month to hospice care at St. John Hospital in Detroit.

In a long and storied career, the musically versatile Bassett had been a go-to player on the city’s bustling club scene of the ’50s and ’60s, and was a member of the Fortune Records house band the Blue Notes.

He accompanied a litany of brand-name artists, including fellow Detroiters John Lee Hooker, Little Willie John, Smokey Robinson and Nolan Strong, and was friendly with a young Jimi Hendrix during the latter’s early, blues-oriented Seattle years.

“This is one those artists where everything just came together — jazz, soul, blues, R&B,” said publicist Matt Lee. “We’ll never see his like again.”

The past two decades saw the laconic Bassett emerge as a singer and front man at the encouragement of musician R.J. Spangler, who spotted the guitarist playing on a low-key side stage at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival in 1991. Together they formed the Blues Insurgents, and Bassett enjoyed a late-life second wind as his name became acclaimed in international blues circles.

Spangler declared Bassett to be the best Detroit bluesman of all time.

“He had the tone, and the feeling, and the ability, and the subtlety in his playing that far suprassed all the others,” he said. “The same fire and musicianship that you heard on his early sides as a session guitarist — he still displayed that right up to his death.”

He became known as Detroit’s Gentleman of the Blues, with a playing style that fit the moniker.

“He told me many times that unlike these guys who play really loud, he liked to turn his amp down and draw the listener in,” said Lee. “That’s how you’d know somebody is really listening.”

Bassett was a living link to a vintage blues era. Lee recounted a 1991 show at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theater, where Bassett opened for Chicago great Buddy Guy.

“Buddy stood on the side watching,” Lee recalled. “He turned and said, ‘That’s how they really played the blues.’.”

In a Free Press interview in June — tied to his new fifth album, “I Can Make That Happen” — Bassett remembered that he had aspired to comedy as a child. He embraced the guitar at 18 when his brother bought a guitar and amplifier at a pawn shop, turning to the blues he’d grown up listening to on the radio.

“I didn’t emulate anybody, but I listened to everybody. Originally I had no aspirations of being a musician,” he said.

“Being a musician — it got me. I didn’t get it.”

His new record opens with the song “Proud to Be From Detroit,” which includes a career-defining line: “I’m proud to be from Dee-troit,” he sings, “a town with a style all its own.”

Bassett told the Free Press in 2009 that even in the blues idiom “I like to keep my music fun and upbeat.”

“I like jump-type stuff because it gives you energy. There’s enough draggy blues to be found, if you’re so inclined. But when you put a little jump into it, people come alive. They need upbeat music to help take them to a better place. I know I do; that’s why I play upbeat blues.”

Bassett is survived by his wife, Deborah Bassett; daughters Benita Litt, Cortney Campbell and Lynn Tolbert; and a son, Kenneth Pringle. Funeral arrangments are pending.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”