IT'S THE BLUES

2007-07-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

ANA POPOVIC.
Review & Photo’s by Mark Fredell

Well for better or worse it was Friday the 13th. And even though I don’t really buy into all the superstition and folklore about such things, I don’t go out of my way to walk under ladders or break mirrors either. It was Friday the 13th and it was a very stressful even sad day for Ana Popovic and her band while in route to their gig in the Twin Cities they received word that the drummers father had passed away so once they got to town they dropped him at the airport to head home to Chicago to be with his family then Ana and her bass player needed to decide what they were going to do. Now I don’t know how many options they considered but I do understand they tried to find a replacement drummer for the nights gig to no avail, then they decided to simply go it as a duo for the night and thank god for small favors. As I arrived in the club the sound man saw me and asked if I would do the intro since the usual MC (Paul Metsa) was not there for the evening of course I was happy to oblige so he took me back stage so we could let them know, now at this point I didn’t know anything was askew so as I greeted Ana she immediately told me the situation with much concern and I told her not to worry I would introduce her and she could let the audience know what was going on.

So when the time came I welcomed the crowd and told them that there was an unusual situation going on and that I would let Ana inform them of the details, I introduced her and she and her partner in crime took the stage, seated on a couple of bar stools sans drummer, she greeted everyone and told of the drummers loss, then said this was the first time she had ever been onstage like this (without her whole band). She picked up an acoustic guitar and off they went. Ana’s singing was terrific, her playing superb and astonishingly she was able with the help of her bass player to hold the notoriously disinterested Famous Dave’s crowd seemingly spell bound not just through the first set (which by the way clocked in at nearly 90 minutes) but she held the room for the second set as well culminating in a hugely enthusiastic standing ovation just shy of 12:30am that demanded an encore. For a young lady from Serbia that is without doubt and the rock (and jazz) side of the blues this particular night tragedy and all was perhaps one of the best performances I have seen her give, just she with guitar and voice and the accompaniment of electric bass. Sitting down it was relaxed and soft, beautiful in everyway. Ana Popovic showed why she has so quickly become one of the darlings of the newest generation of blues/rock players. She ended the night with the title track of her latest release ’Still Making History’ and said good night with these words, “thank you so much this night has made this tour for me, you are the best.” What an incredible night. See you in September Ana.

Jimmy Vaughan

2007-07-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Vaughan Like a Cadillac.

Style and substance and filled with class.
Review & photo by Mark Fredell

I forget where I first read it or heard it, but I remember one time hearing (or seeing) somebody comparing Jimmy Vaughan’s guitar playing to his younger brother Stevie Ray’s, they said that Stevie was like the Corvette of blues guitar players and Jimmy is the Cadillac. Of course the Corvette is fast and furious and has that sleek aerodynamic design. It runs from 0 to 60 in a few short seconds and yes it has style but it is a style designed more for the rebellious individual; that hot-rodder kid or the guy going through his midlife crisis and wanting to capture something that is just out of his reach. Stevie Ray was a remarkable player, filled with passion and creativity. He often appeared to get lost in his music seemingly becoming the vessel that it flowed through rather than the actual creator of it but don’t get me wrong he was that creator. His fluidity on the fret board allowed him to take his Fender Stratocaster to places most players can hardly imagine and boy could he play fast. SRV seemed at times to forget that in the blues the notes you play are important, but often it is the ones you don’t play that drive the emotion. That space, the air between the notes can speak volumes without a sound. Stevie could do this it’s just that most of the time he didn’t, he seemed to always be in a hurry to get there, though he perhaps never really knew where ‘there’ was.

Jimmy on the other hand is definitely the Cadillac; I would say perhaps a late 60’s or early 70’s Eldorado or a 50’s four door DeVille. Low and wide that’s the Cadillac ride. Steady, stylish and always in control, gliding through the turns, rolling down the straight stretches of highway like you are floating a few inches off the asphalt. Filled with plenty of power but holding it in reserve incase you might need it and always reaching your destination at precisely the right moment, without over stressing that engine. That is Jimmy Vaughan. Without question one of the finest guitarists on the planet today, he’s got style and finesse, dexterity and restraint. With impeccable technique Jimmy is the epitome of subtlety. He never seems to over play, he doesn’t demand the spotlight and he inspires awe among other players with his slippery, un rushed approach. On the 8th of July he and his Tilt-A-Whirl band took some time off a tour with Dylan (yeah Bob Dylan) to set up shop at the Cabooze on the west bank and show those in attendance that it doesn’t have to be fast to be great and it doesn’t have to be blaring loud to be heard. Jimmy played with passion and intensity and sang with real emotion and along with Lou Ann Barton and the band they lifted this particular Sunday night up into the realm of the sublime. It was incredible.

Joe Louis Walker

2007-06-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

JOE LOUIS WALKER
Interview By mark Fredell
As always this interview was broadcast live on KFAI radio on May 12, 2007. It has been edited for clarity and space.

Mark Fredell: On the phone with me now is one of the best guitar players in the land today, Joe Louis Walker. Good afternoon Joe, how are things going?
Joe Louis Walker: Hi, things are going REAL GOOD!
MF: Excellent. Now you are getting read to hit the road for a brief summer tour , is that right?
JLW: Yes it is.
MF: And you going to be at Famous Dave’s in Calhoun Square next Friday the 18th. I want to be sure to emphasize that because this is the first time in something like nine years that you’ve been in the twin Cities. (JLW: Something like that right) Yeah The last time I saw you in town was over at the old Blues Saloon in Saint Paul. Now I guess you’ve take some time off from the road is that right?
JLW: well yeah a little but you know I had moved over to Paris for a few years.
MF: Oh ok, now I thought I had read that you took some time off to spend with your kids, was that right?
JLW: Yeah, I took some time off then I moved over to Paris for a couple years, recorded an album over there and did some touring.
MF: Ok, now you actually have been very prolific with your time off as far as your recording goes. For a long time you were with Verve Records right?
JLW: Well yes, actually I was signed to Polygram which is Verve and then Polygram was bought by Universal and I was on a number of their imprints, I was on Blue Thumb and some others. But really I was on Polygram/ Universal for about ten years.
MF Sure. Now once that contract ran out you decided to be sort of a free agent right? Recording records then shopping them to different labels, how many releases have you done that way?
JLW: Oh I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you.
MF: I know it’s at least five.
JLW: Oh well I don’t really remember, but I know it’s been a few more than that. I know, well I’ve put out quite a few records, so I really can’t tell you when one ended and the next one started, but it’s been a lot.
MF: Alright, but you did do some musical exploring right? You put out the Latin flavored record.
JLW: Yeah, Pasa Tiempo.
MF: Then there was the slide guitar record She’s My Money Maker.
JLW: Yeah that was on JSP.
MF: Now JSP, That is the label you’ve had the most releases on since you left Universal.
JLW: Right, I had three one off records with them.
MF: Now I wanted to talk with you; you were on the Blues Cruise earlier this year and had a little bit of a health scare?
JLW: Yeah well see I had had my gallbladder out a while before the cruise and my stomach was still hurting me. Then when I got on the boat, the third day out my stomach really started hurting so they took me to a hospital in St. Thomas and I wound up there for nine days. It had turned out that I had caught an infection from when they took out the gallbladder. But they got it cleared up and I have a really good doctor now. They got rid of the infection with antibiotics and have really been wonderful with me, taking care of any little residual ailments that have come along with that. And I’m feeling 110% now. We’ve been playing around a little bit around here, in southern California playing festivals and such, and in the pacific north west. Just kind of playing all over and we played last night in Sweet Water and we start off this tour next week.
MF: Well alright, terrific. I know I can’t wait to see you next week, I’ve really been looking forward to it. Now I wanted to talk to you for a minute, you have always been one of those players that has always been really well respected by other players, yet it seems that with what I call the average weekend or blues fest blues fan, you aren’t that well known. But I think you’ve actually got a pretty interesting history as far as when you started out, and some of your associations and such, would you mind sharing some of your history with my listeners?
JLW: Well sure you know I started when I was real young, about 1962, one of my cousins had a band and I played with him till about ‘64. I was in the bay area and back then I played with Fillmore Slim, Charles Brown and people like that. Then eventually a guy named Mike Bloomfield moved in with me, when he moved to the west coast he lived with me and a guy named Johnny Cramer. Then in ‘69 I moved to Canada and about a year later I moved into the famous house in Carmelita that Michael (Bloomfield) had. I played quite a bit around there and I had a little record then with Voodoo Records when I was about 19. Then I moved to Detroit and got to know Muddy Waters pretty good and he let me open up for him for a while around there and up to Toronto. Then I had the house band at a place called the Matrix in San Francisco and I used to open up for Lightening Hopkins and Fred McDowell, he was the first on to show me slide, then I got to play with Earl Hooker, he let me play with him for a good while. There was Magic Sam and people like that, but you know when I was living with Bloomfield, after a while I needed a lifestyle change so I moved to Vancouver. You know I had quite a few of my friends that had died from various ailments and indulgences, so I joined a gospel group from 1975 to 1985, The Corinthians. I had gone back to gospel then after a while I got a little anxious and went back to blues around 1985, I signed with Hightone Records out of Oakland. I did five albums for them then after that Polygram signed me in the early ’90’s so I was with them for all of the ’90’s and was a lot of their imprints. Then I did a lot of one off’s like we talked about, I did one for Telarc, one for Evidence, the three for JSP and I did a whole bunch of compilations. I did a lot of collaborations, I did two with BB King, one that one a Grammy, ’Blues Summit’ then I did a live one with him called ’How Blue Can You Get’. I did a record with Branford Marsalis. Then I worked with Nick Lowe called ’What’s So Funny Bout Peace Love And Understanding’ I did the Beatles White Album tribute called ‘The Beatles Blue Album‘, I got to do ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. I did two Stones ones, Led Zeppelin, the music of Charlie Patton. I did a movie called ‘Hell hounds On My Trail’ The Music of Robert Johnson. It was really a whole bunch of stuff, I did a record called ‘Great Guitars’ which was really my most successful record I had I think ten different guitar players on there, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Cropper co-produced it with me. We had Robert Jr. Lockwood on there Gatemouth rest his soul, Taj, Matt Guitar Murphy, Little Charlie, Scotty Moore from Elvis Presley’s band. Lets see, umm, Ike Turner. Then on that album, I toured with different configurations of those people. Me and Buddy did some shows, me and Matt and Steve Cropper did some stuff. Me and Otis Grand and Ike did some stuff in Europe.
So you see I did quite a few things and most musicians that know me they know that I’m really sort of a chameleon, if I did just one thing all the time, people might know me more, but I’m quite versatile and not just for versatility sake, but that’s how I grew up. I grew up listening to all different kinds of music, but when I do blues it shows that that’s my first love. You plus I moved around a bit too, I lived in England for a while in the ‘80’s then I moved back here (the Bay area) then like I said I moved to France for a couple of years so I guess I did just a lot of various things.

MF: Wow that is a varied history, you know like I said, I can’t wait to see you. You know I came to you, for the sake of our listeners I first saw Joe at a little club in San Juan Capistrano called the Coach House as part of the Antone’s tenth anniversary tour in I guess 1986 and what Joe did was they had basically tow “house” bands for what I think was maybe 12 or 15 “headliners” and when they would switch over the bands, Joe Louis would move to center stage with his guitar and just tear it up… I thought you were great.
But I wanted to ask you, about that time, it has always been interesting to me that then, during your Hightone era, you were going along pretty well with I think your second release with them when they signed a then relatively unknown guitar player from Portland named Robert Cray. Well it seems to me that you got sort of a raw deal out of that, they (the label) seemed to turn all their attention to Cray and sort of left you out to dry.
JLW: Yeah well you know they’ll be the first to admit that, they did put a lot more energy into Robert than they did to me but you know I really can’t complain. Over time people have seen that really we are two totally different artists, you know they have seen the differences, it’s like when Bruce Springsteen came out they compared him to Bob Dylan. See all kinds of stuff happens like that and all you can do is keep doing what your doing. Now people realize that you know it isn’t over yet, I like to think that my best is a head of me.
MF: well Joe lets hope so, I want to thank you for joining me today, I can’t wait to see you next week. Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to join me here on the Showcase Of rhythm & Blues.
JLW: Oh it’s my pleasure. I want to let every body know that I will be on that Blues Cruise again next year so any one that missed me last time I’ll be there. Also I’m looking forward to playing Minneapolis next Friday, thanks Mark…

All photo's By Mark Fredell copyright controlled.

2007-03-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

‘Icepick’ James Harman.
Interview and photo’s by Mark Fredell

This interview originally aired live on KFAI radio in the Twin Cities on January 31, 2007 and has been transcribed for prit in the April issue of the regional music paper Blue Monday.

A little back ground, I first saw James Harman on stage at a Hollywood club around 1980 sittin’ in (along with the legendary Michael ‘Hollywood Fats’ Mann) with Los Angles’ top roots punk band X. Maybe it was the Roxy or the Starwood or perhaps the world famous Whiskey A Go- Go, I can’t remember which venue, but I do remember the indelible impression of witnessing this stout, hipster, blowin’ his harp and swingin’ his hips as John Doe, Exene Cervenka, D. J. Bonebreak and Billy Zoom thrashed and slammed out a propulsive beat and Fats fired off gloriously inspiring flourishes on his fret board. X with Harman and Fats was a revelation, I had been hipped to the blues a few years earlier, but was still mostly a ‘Punk Rock Kid’. But this singular event began a transformation in my mind that has broadened my musical horizons and helped to put me on the path that eventually led to where I am today. This show was the one and only time I had the privilege to see Hollywood Fats and James Harman on the same stage together, though I was lucky enough to catch the Hollywood Fats band some three or four times as well as seeing a couple of shows by the Blasters after Fats had taken over guitar duties when Dave Alvin left the group around ’84. And of course I began to check out Harman shows as well, those most dangerous gentlemen, The James Harman Band, in all incarnations have always been a force to be reckoned with, weather it was Jr. Watson, Kid Ramos, Fats, or Kid Teddy Morgan (among others) on guitar Jeff Turmes or Steven Hodges on bass and any number of drummers, throw in a keyboard player here and there and the occasional saxophone, this band has always rocked and swung hard. With Harman’s insightful, witty and provocative lyrics at the fore. The man knows how to turn a phrase weather it be a funny barb about love or a sarcastic jab at politicians, or even a heartfelt and somber good bye to a lost friend, James Harman is one of the most gifted and unique song writers the blues has ever known. And when he’s on the band stand he always delivers, weather it’s a hole in the wall out of the way working class bar room with 20 guys just off from a second shift or a sell out festival in Europe James Harman is a master show man.
I finally got to know him after going to see him perform over the years around 1991 right around the release of Do Not Disturb his Black Top Records debut, and I can tell you he has become one of my very favorite people in the world, he is funny and kind he’s got an amazing knowledge of the history and heritage of the blues and is usually happy to share it, his listen parties are legendary; know for having an amazing music collection of vintage 45’s 78’s and more he’d gather other, younger players in his home and school ’em on the real deal for hours on end. He’s got a quick wit and can have a short fuse, he might snap at you one minute and then he’ll buy you a beer the next. Though he can be difficult at times, I’ve never seen him to be mean spirited or deceitful, and that’s all he asks in return, be honest and come forward straight, and you and James will get along fine but he doesn’t tolerate side stepping or behind the back talking.
Icepick James Harman is the real deal, an song writers song writer and a showman’s, showman, a joker one minute and as serious and a tornado siren the next, I do love this man, and that’s why it was such a thrill to be able to finally interview him on KFAI, I was sitting in on a Wednesday for the House Party when Harold Trembly was in Memphis for the International Blues Challenge and I wanted to do something special so I called James, we have talked about doing this for some time but never did it before this, and what a charge I got when what had been planned to be about a 10 minute interview went on for just over 30 minutes, and though I didn’t ask him every thing I had hopped he answered every question no matter how inane or trivial honestly and openly and for that I am thankful to my friend James ’Drinkin’ Friend’ Harman.

Mark Fredell: James Thanks for joining me. Your out there hanging out in California still.
James Harman: Oh Yeah Thanks Slim, yeah you know every winter, you know I tour spring, summer and fall but you know I stopped ground touring in 2000 it’s all flying now but yeah I stay in California in the winter producing other projects and really keeping away from the cold, you know that’s my philosophy in life, I don’t do cold.
MF: Oh I know you’re a good old southern boy right, Aniston Alabama is you home town, I was reading in your bio. You know I have to say it feels a little odd to me, you and I have know each other for a lot of years and it’s a little weird to interviewing a friend.
JH: Well for you maybe.
MF: Thanks. Anyways, I’ve always wanted to ask you, or I guess talk to you about your liner notes, it’s something I always look forward to when there is a new James Harman release is those great liner notes.
JH: Really? I’ve never really thought that much about it, it’s really just what I’m feeling about those songs at the time.
MF: Well you know it’s always insightful, it’s always interesting and it seems to always put a smile on my face.
JH: Well I believe anything your write it’s like, a song a poem or what ever it’s like the rule is it’s like a woman’s dress. It’s got to be long enough to cover the subject and short enough to keep it interesting.
MF: See there you have it as I tell any one I meet that’s not familiar with you, I say James Harman knows how to turn a phrase, But listen I wanted to say I guess the only extensive Bio information on you really that I’ve come across was in the notes to those Dangerous Gentlemen the Rhino Records release came out in the early 80’s, well no in 87 I guess but it was recorded in the early 80’s.
JH. Well I don’t record albums I record songs, when ever I’ve got 3 or 4 songs ready to record I record them so it’s not usually bands I get together the guys I feel are right for the songs and record them then when I have enough done for a full package I put it together. I’m not trapped in that ridicules game of the band you know make the record in three weeks and put it out there I’m not gonna do that.
MF: Fair enough. Now though my question about that release, well those liner notes anyways, that’s where I’ve gotten the most info about you other than your web site, and it says in there I guess you dad was in law enforcement?
JH: Yeah, he was a police captain in Aniston, Alabama.
MF: Ok, well lets talks about when you were a young man, I bet still wearing those little boy shorts back in the fifties you used to cut class and head over I guess to the wrong side of the tracks to go play your harmonica.
JH: Oh sure you know it was before that, there was no cutting class yet I was just a little kid and had found some old guys that played and sang blues downtown and I found it interesting so I would go down and hang around them and play a little. There was this one guy, the main one his name was Radio Johnson and he used to play the guitar with a knife. I’d find him in this one alley behind the store where I’d buy my model cars, I’d come out and get on my bicycle and I’d hear them out there playing, and I’d stay and listen and then some times stop and play with them. So every now and then another policeman would see me down there and they’d call my dad on the radio; they’d say like captain Harman Jimmy’s in they alley of so and so playing with those guys again.
MF: Wow that’s something else and I suppose back in those days that was not musically the right place for you to be was it.
JH: Well I guess it could have been dangerous because of the people that might of walked by and not liked what they saw but, it wasn’t dangerous as far as my father was concerned see he was never a racist or anything he always had me going in the right direction. You know he’s the one that got me going on all of it, my mom got me on the piano when I was four and my dads harmonicas were in the piano bench so when I got done with my piano lesson I could take the harmonicas out and play them, so it all came at the same time plus I was singing in the church choir. We’re talking about from childhood not teenager you know. By the time I was sixteen I had stopped singing in the church and was singing for money.
MF: Alright. And that’s about when your life on the road started. You went from Aniston too? Didn’t you go to Florida first?
JH: Yep. Went to Panama City Florida and then To Miami Florida, then Chicago, New York, New Orleans, then California. I had to start over in each of those places trying to make a stand, you know I’d had nine 45’s out through the 60’s and toured non stop, playing dances for radio stations then nightclubs and such and really have been on the road ever since, it’s really all I’ve ever done.
MF: And you’ve got plenty of stories to tell about it too, I know I’ve heard plenty of them. But for the one listener who doesn’t know who James Harman is, all I’ll say is you need to find out cause he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with in the blues world.
JH: Aw shucks.
MF: Well now I mean it you are. I mean you’ve put out some great stuff, I think every record is a masterpiece. And even though you say it all the time and we just talked about it, the way you record and how you do a few songs at a time then eventually figure out which ones will work together, well they always seem to fit together perfectly.
JH: Well that’s the art don’t you see the art of making what we used to call an album, now it’s a Cd release, but if your gonna put a dozen songs on a release, they need to fit together well so you can have a motif, you know an over all picture of what that means; so that’s the art of doing this.
MF: So talking about releases, do you have anything in the pipeline now, I guess your last release was Lonesome Moon Trance came out in ’03...
JH: Well no I had a release after that it was the re-release of Strictly Live In ’85, which had three extra songs you know cause it was digitally re-mastered so you could fit more songs on it. Because Strictly Live In ’85 was mastered for an Lp., back then you could only have about 22 minutes on a side, so two sides is 44 minutes and a Cd will go an hour, so you know when I transferred all those four shows to a digital disc I was able to pull out three more songs that fit on to the disc. You didn’t get that?
MF: No that’s the one gapping hole in my collection…
JH: Well it’s not the one gapping hole but it is A gapping hole…Anyways Lonesome Moon Trance and Strictly Live I actually have nothing to do with because my ex-partner (wife) of 35 years has seen fit to separate and break from me and so as a result I am getting nothing from either of those two albums.
MF: And such is the life of a blues musician I suppose.
JH: Yeah you’d think I’d be to smart for that but I made a great mistake, it wasn’t like keeping an eye on the record label guy it was keeping an eye on your best friend and partner.
MF: Well what’s in the pipeline now can we look forward to a new release?
JH: I’ve been busy producing other people really, I haven’t thought about putting out something on me in a while. I just produced this Danish artist Peter Nandy (? I couldn’t catch the last name clearly there was some static on the line I think this was it) from Copenhagen he’s a good friend of mine. And we’ve been doing some stuff that hasn’t come out yet. Eventually I get to throwing some tracks down and putting an album together, I haven’t really thought about it though. I only fly to about 40 or 50 festivals a year right now so it’s not like I’m out on the road 250 nights a year; it’s well see in the rock world you tour to promote the sales of your record in the blues world your record is just your calling card to get you work so it’s backwards. So there’s no point in touring if you don’t have a release but I’ve got that many festivals that call me and want me so I go play them without a new release and they seem to want me and still pay me so that puts me in a place with less pressure and I’m all about the path of least resistance. You know though I’ve probably got forty or fifty songs in the can at all times.
MF: Well of course you are ever vigilant in your writing I know that.
JH: Well you know your either prolific in writing or your not, when I’ve got three or four song ready to record I call in who I want to hear on them and we record them. That’s why I have so many different players on my albums. You know if you look at the one you just named, Lonesome Moon Trance, there’s probably 25 guys on that one.
MF: Yeah there’s a whole bunch of great guitar players, including Bob Margolin among others as well as all the rest of them.
JH: Well there’s no use in using a lame guitar player, there’s no percentage in that (laughs…)…
MF: Point taken, score one for Mr. Harman.
JH: See when your growing up and your playing with your friends and you playing parties and you all having fun and it’s all a great time then the minute you cross over that line and you start really making money and it becomes your work, eventually that point will come when the guy that can sing recognizes that he can sing and the guy that writes the songs weather it’s the same guy or not recognizes that he can write the songs. Well eventually poor old Tom the bass player from boy scouts is gonna get kicked out and their going to hire a real professional player cause they want it to sound good. It’s not a forward game it‘s more fun if you keep it that way. See I have some friends that are lawyers that have a band for fun on the weekends, you know hey what a hoot. But if your really in the ’music business’ it’s different, it is a business. See it’s a matter of learning the definitions, a band is not a group of friends, it’s a group of professional musicians playing behind an artist. An artist is a person with a recognizable voice. A song comes on the radio and you go, that’s Bobby Bland, well that’s an artist, now who’s in his band? You see. No one ever went crying down the hall did you hear Bobby Bland broke up… See people when they say band they mean group, cause there orientation is based on pop groups and you know that’s never gonna work anyways, cause look the most successful pop group of all time couldn’t stay together cause a few of them brought their girlfriends to rehearsal. Think about it.
MF: Yeah, well that’s the truth, and if there is one thing that James Harman always does it’s speak the truth.
JH: Hey there’s no point in lying, life’s to short.
MF: I know I’ve got 20 plus years of experience of you truth’s. And I’ll tell you it’s been 20 some very colorful and insightful years. I’ve learned a lot from your insights. Your one of just a handful of people in this blues world that I have always looked too to kind of help guide my direction on my journey of learning about this stuff. Not being a player and simply being a fan who wants to do what I can to promote it, your one of the guys I’ve always looked to as sort of a guiding light.
JH: Well thank you, I appreciate that. You know all I’ve ever tried to do is be a guy with a good song who could sing and if you got some inspiration out of that, well that’s a good thing.
MF: Oh absolutely. You know I got to ask you this; I heard, going back to the Strictly Live In ‘85 recording. You know for those of us that are from the west coast, that was one of those really legendary roots times you had some really great almost legendary players in the band at that time with Hollywood Fats and Kid Ramos on guitars among others, but some one told me that they’ve actually seen film of those shows, that there is some video out there.
JH: well you know there was probably so fifty or so videos shot from our shows we had no control over that then. There was also some five or six videos that we produced back when it seemed like videos might be a viable thing in the early eighties. You know we made it wasn’t anything real serious just like 35 millimeter film and it was on MTV and some of the movie channels late at night. You know video then was a different thing and nobody really cared about a blues band anyways, so we took our most commercial song and tried to get some attention. We had the Big Dance off of the Thank You Baby album on Enigma from eighty two or three, The Big Dance was trying to be a hit record, then of course Those dangerous Gentlemen album on Rhino you mentioned on there we had My Baby’s Gone. Those were just absolutely directed at the radio, there not blues records by any means. Their blues like the Rolling Stones would have played. We were trying to get on the radio so we could sell more records and do bigger shows. So there’s plenty of film now on this Youtube thing people are always sending me this amateur shot film of the band, now I get nothing from that, I have nothing to do with it, I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t sign on it to say they could do it, but this is the digital age of bootleg and nobody cares anymore. You know if some one on some dance floor at a show had a camera and filmed the band I have no control over that.
MF: Ok fair enough, but that kind of leads me to my question, which well one of my new obsessions is collecting video and film of blues, cause with the advent of DVD there is just so much stuff coming out now.
JH: Yeah your right and most of it, nobody is getting paid. See right now there is a DVD out that was a VHS five years ago and a CD ten years ago Live at Buddy Guys and it came from a TV show that I appeared on but I did not agree to ever have it released for sale. See the guy that well some body on the production crew it was a TV show in Chicago that I was on, they interviewed me then came to the show that night and shot a three camera shoot of the show and put it o TV well some one on that crew got a hold of the tapes and released a Cd and then the Video, I never agreed to that and I’m not getting paid for it. The show I agreed to it to be aired twice in Chicago and that was it, the guy put out the Cd then the video and now a DVD people are asking me all the time about it and they the guy that put it out well he’s a criminal and he’s robbing me, I never got a dime and I’m not the only one he’s done this with a bunch of guys.
MF: Oh I see. Well of the film footage that you have done though, those videos and such, it seems that that’s kind of the new wave of things, or even some of the labels now are putting out DVD’s or Cd’s with a companion DVD is that something you may consider down the line?
JH: No I won’t do that, I’m to old and fat now. When I made those films 25 years ago I looked ok but now I’m an old weird looking fat guy with a long white beard and that’s just not the image I want to capture. You know at 60 years old with arthritis in both my knees, it’s just not what I want to see on film. Now when you’d see me in the sixties, seventies or eighties or even the nineties, that was alright, is was still dancing around and looking pretty good. But now as an old guy it becomes less and less important to me I have no interest in filming what I do.
MF: Alright. So is there anything else on your plate, I know you said your doing 50 or so festivals a year. And what about Europe are you still getting over there to play?
JH: Well there’s tours in April or May I’ll be in Scandinavia then later in the year I’ll be down in central Europe. I usually go there every year, but in 2006 I did not go because I had done three European tours in 2005 I played twelve or fifteen country‘s even Liechtenstein you know a few that you don‘t usually go too. yeah so last year I did no Europe at all I did East Coast, Midwest, Canada and West Coast. I’ve already got some stuff going. I know there’s stuff being booked now there’s a big show in Delaware, one in Boston and then Detroit and Canada, then I’m sure you had mentioned one (MF: Yes a festival down in Iowa), Well that’s probably the Mississippi Valley Festival in Davenport I might be on that, I don’t really know for sure, I don’t know if that’s with my band or as a special guest with some regional band or maybe with Mark Hummel on one of his Harmonica blow down tours we do a lot of that. We do a lot of them, we’ll saddle up, the last one we had Kim Wilson then the one before was Lee Oscar, we’ve had Paul DeLay, you know they’re fun.
MF: Yeah I’ve talked to Mark about that and I want to try and help him find a venue back here to bring that show.
JH: You really should and make sure you have him bring me on it, he always gets different guys, it’s usually three to five harmonica players and their all friends and then a great backing band (Hummel’s band The Blues Survivors). Hummel’s got a great band a really solid rhythm section, and you know every body does their set each guy does a short maybe twenty or thirty minutes set then we all get up together and have a blow down, and you know what’s sillier than four or five harmonica’s on stage together maybe 4 or 5 clarinets. You know you don’t have five piano’s or something but we all get up there and play and it works cause everybody‘s polite everybody knows how to play with each other and we have a good time.
MF: Yeah, those Cd’s that Mark has put out from those shows it seems like a lot of fun from those.
JH: Oh yeah, you know we were on the Legendary Blues Cruise The first one to Mexico last year was Mark and his band and Kim Wilson and me and Kid Ramos was there back some one else Jeneva Magness I think. So of course when we did our last show, we got him up there with us so we had Rusty Zinn and Kid Ramos Bob Welsh the piano player, well he also playes great guitar, so we got him up there too playing guitar. It was just a lot of fun we had all had plenty of drinks and just played, lots of jammers.
MF: Well James, I don’t want to take out any more of your time. I want to thank you so much for taking a half hour of your day to chat with us here.
JH: Aw it’s a gas Mark your always fun, it‘s always great to talk to you.
MF: Your just such a great guy and you have a special place in my heart. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you I guess it was out in that little bar in San Pedro or some place about a year and a half two years ago.
JH: No no that was Lameda, a place called Ricky Jeans?
MF: Yeah that sounds right.
JH: Yeah I played there with Zola Moon twice, that was a little Crap bar. You know I don’t play out here much at all last year I only played three shows in California with my band. I Played the San Francisco festival, the Doheney festival and the Merced festival up in central valley. Three gigs in all of California in a year, I don’t play in California, I got priced out of all the clubs years ago. (MF: So I just got lucky then) Yeah well that was just an oddball thing Zola’s an old friend, believe it or not she used to open for me back around ‘78 and ‘79, she had just quit singing country and tried singing rhythm and blues. She was young and she’d open for me and now she looks just exactly the same and she sounds just great. But yeah that’s the reason I was there normally I wouldn’t have been in that place.
MF: Alright we James it’s just such a kick to finally get you on the air and share some of that great banter that you have all that knowledge and wisdom. You hold a special place in my heart I just want you to know that. Oh and I want to thank you for your tips about my Billy Boy Arnold interview. Thanks again.
JH: Aw Mark it’s been a treat thanks a lot.

And there you have it my conversation with one of the most talented and unique members of the blues world, Icepick James Harman. no matter what you might think, if you haven't heard or seen Harman you are not hip to some of the best in contemporary blues in the world today. James Harman is a genuine master!!!

JB Rest in peace...

2006-12-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

JAMES BROWN

MAY 3,1933 ~ DECEMBER 25, 2006

REST IN PEACE

GODFATHER

AND KEEP IT FUNKY...

A conversation with Billy Boy Arnold

2006-11-27T15:03:00.000-08:00

A while back I had the priveledge to visit on the radio with Billy Boy Arnold. He had come to town to do a show with Mar Hummel and the Blues Survivors, it was Billy's first time in the Twin Cities in nearly 17 years, so it was a real honor to have the chance to spend some time with him...

Talking about Sonny Boy. The real Sonny Boy.
Interview and Photo's by Mark Fredell

Billy Boy I want to hear stories. James Harman gave me a few points to talk to you about and one of them was to ask you about John Lee Williamson. I guess your were 13 or 14 when you met him?

Yeah, The real Sonny Boy Williamson I was 12. See when I was 11 years old I heard one of his records and was inspired by the way he played the harmonica and was fascinated at the sounds he was getting and I found out he was living in Chicago. I was working at my uncles store at 31st. and Giles and one day I saw a guy pass by with a guitar so I ran out and asked him did he know Sonny Boy and he said yes Sonny Boy just lives right down the street here (That guy with the guitar was none other than Lazy Bill Lucas.) at 3226 Giles, so I went in the store and wrote it down. Then on Saturday me and my cousin and another kid Patshay Jones, my cousin Archie we used to go to the movie theater on Saturday. So one Saturday we were getting ready to go to the movie show and I said lets all go over to Sonny Boys house and they said no, no lets go to the movie first then after we can go over there to Sonny Boys house. So we went to the movies at 63rd and Halsted we got out around 2 in the afternoon maybe 2:30 then we took the elevated train down to 33rd street right around 33rd and State, right between Sate and Wabash and we walked over to Giles and it was a rainy day. It had rained and it was just clearing up, you could still smell the rain in the air. So we got there and we rang the door bell; now we had never seen him so we didn’t know what he looked like but we rang the bell and a well dressed real dark skinned man came to the door and he said can I help you? We said we want to see Sonny Boy, he said this is Sonny Boy. We said we want to hear you play your harmonica, he said come on up I’m proud to have you. So we followed him in he lived on the second floor and we all went up stairs and up there was a piano with Johnny Jones along with a young lady there at the time and he said to them, they came to see Sonny Boy. So I asked him I said Sonny Boy how do you get your harmonica to make that wah wah wah sound? He said you have to choke it. So I told him you know I can play just like you, if you play your record, I can play just like you, but I didn’t know how to choke . But you know he was amazed that I knew the lyrics to his song he said, he told Johnny, he said this boy’s gonna be better than me. Then he demonstrated to show me how to choke the harmonica. Then he hooked up his amplifier and he played every song that we asked him to play. He’d do one then say does that sound like me and we say yeah that sure does sound like you. He took a lot of time with us , my cousin would take the microphone and say stuff in it like calling all cars calling all cars, you know like a kid would do. Then a guy came in with a guitar, his wife said somebody let that man in with the guitar. They were working on a new song, the title was ‘You Sure Make A Man Feel Good’. So, you know we being kids, we told him well we’re going to leave, I shook his hand and said well I’ll see you mister John Lee Williamson and he got a big kick out of that and he said come over any time and I’ll show you every thing I know, he said any time just come on by.
So I met with him another occasion, me and my cousin went by. See he traded comic books with the kids in the neighborhood and we came by, and I had seen his marine band harmonica so I knew what to buy, I didn’t have one but I’d seen his so I knew what to by, they were well worn you know like they had really been through the mill. So anyways we went by and I showed him my new marine band harmonica. So he said where’d you get the money to buy this, how did it cost you? I said 2 dollars and fifty cents. He said where did you get the money, I said well I sell Chicago Defenders after school on Friday and on Saturday’s I work at my uncle’s store. And he told his friend, he had another friend there with him and told him, you see now he sells papers and buys harmonicas and records. Then he told me he said now look don’t steal, if you ever need anything, if you are short for anything, come and see me I’ll give it to you, he said don’t steal. If I ain’t got it, he said his friend; he’ll give it to you. So then, it was kind of late, this was about maybe three weeks or so before he got killed. It was getting kinda late and he had called a cab, he said I sure would like you to see me play, me and my band, but you’re so young they won’t let you into the club but I sure would like you to see me play. So the last time I saw Sonny Boy he was getting into that cab to go to his show.
Now of course being kids, I didn’t come back for maybe three weeks, me and my cousin. We rang the bell and the lady on the first floor she looked out and said who are you looking for and we said we’re looking for Sonny Boy. She said haven’t you heard, Sonny Boy got killed. She said they killed him, they crushed his brain; she said his wife was down in Jackson Tennessee, she’ll be gone 2 weeks, then she’ll be back. I came back about a week or so later and she was back, she had some people with her a lady and a man and I got there and she said, this is the little boy who was taking lessons from Sonny Boy and she told me, oh he had one of your harmonicas, he looked for you to come back, she said let me pay you for it. I told her no you don’t have to pay me for it, he was my friend. The I said I wonder who would want to kill Sonny Boy, she said I don’t know, I said he was a real nice guy; she said evidently somebody didn’t think so. She said whoever it was there had to be more than one person cause Sonny Boy was a good man and he could wup the average two men, that’s what she said. And so at the age of 34 Sonny Boy was wiped out, he had been recording for about ten years. He was a major blues artist like BB King is today, at that time and he was the same age as Muddy Waters and Elmore James and all those guys. But you know he started out, he had a natural gift if you listen to ‘Good Morning Little School Girl’ you can hear where his talent was. You know his first record was a smash hit ‘ Good Morning School Girl / Sugar Mama’ and after that he just put out hit after hit after hit. So Rice Miller, Sonny Boy number 2 knew him, his wife said that he used to come to there house down in Jackson Tennessee and they called him Boy Blue. So Sonny Boys record was so popular, it was so big with the black audience I can’t even describe; the white audience didn’t even know who he was, but with the black audience he was extremely popular. Cause he was the only major solo harmonica player on records and if it hadn’t have been for John Lee Williams there would have been no Little Walter, no Billy Boy Arnold, no James Harman, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, now the reason why is because we would have never been inspired, see no one had done what Sonny Boy did. See what he did was he made the harmonica so popular that people wanted to do that. Muddy Waters, when Sonny Boy made Good Morning… Muddy Waters was trying to play the harmonica, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Boyd, see Eddie Boyd was kind of a snob, he didn’t want to play blues, he wanted to be a jazz man; but Good Morning School Girl was such a phenomena that everybody jumped on the harmonica kick. So that’s how it happened.

His relationship with Bo Diddley.

Now I wanted to ask you, you are just one of a handful of guys, still around that are one of the direct links that connects blues to Rock & Roll, now it was back in the early fifties I guess 51 to maybe 53 that that you were playing on the street corners with Bo Diddley. Now where you aware that you guys were doing, creating something totally different and new.

Well I was aware that Bo Diddley had something special. Of course then he wasn’t Bo Diddley, see he was named Ellis McDaniels and we were called Ellis McDaniels and The Hipsters and I was aware that he had something different from most people. See he wasn’t a straight blues player he had something extra a little jazz and calypso thing he’d do. He had an acoustic guitar with a tremolo on it and he played that hambone beat. So when we went to Chess Records, we didn’t have a song called Bo Diddley and his name wasn’t Bo Diddley. Now how that came about, when I was 15 years old we were playing on a street corner and Roosevelt Jackson , he was the bass player, well once he said hey Ellis, there goes Bo Diddley, pointing to this little short bow legged guy on the opposite side of the street. Now that guy was a comedian at the Indiana Theater, see back at that time movie theaters were every where, television had just came in in 1948. So then at the Indiana Theater they showed movies all day, then every Saturday night they had what they called the midnight ramble. And at the midnight ramble they had singers, dancers comedians and they featured a major blues artist. Well the blues artists that they featured the most was Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie see I used to pass by there and I saw that they had a big life sized portrait of them, now they wouldn’t be there together maybe Big Bill would be there three or four weeks then Memphis Minnie would. So anyways when he said there goes Bo Diddley, that was the funniest thing I think I had ever heard in my life I just cracked up I had never heard that before and I just laughed and laughed. So anyhow when we went to Chess Records we were Ellis McDaniels and The Hipsters and we didn’t have a song called Bo Diddley, he was playing the hambone beat on the guitar with the tremolo. And he was just making stuff up, singing papa’s gonna buy you a diamond ring, if that diamond ring don’t shine he gonna take it to a private eye. So then I said to him why don’t you say Bo Diddley. then Leonard Chess said wait a minute, what does that mean, what does Bo Diddley mean? is that something derogatory would that offend the black people, would they get angry? I said no it just means a little bow legged comical guy. So then he started singing, Bo Diddley gonna buy his baby a diamond ring… Now I wrote three or four of the versus of that song right there in the studio. Cause really we didn’t have a song we made it up there in the studio and I wrote, I know three but I think it was four of the lines, but I didn’t get the credit because you know I was just 17 or 18 and I didn‘t know to say wait a minute I‘m helping to write this song. Then to our surprise when the record came out, we thought it was going to be by Ellis McDaniels, but a couple weeks later it came out Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley. Now if I had never said, why don’t you say Bo Diddley, the name Bo Diddley would have never appeared on records.

Just talkin’ bout the blues.

Maybe you could talk a little about those early days, all the great players and maybe even why some hit it big and some didn’t…

Well you know the blues is about telling a story. You know and you had some great story tellers, like Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon and such, but the you know a lot of the players for them guys didn’t ever step out cause they weren’t good singers. Hubert Sumlin, or Matt Murphy, there great guitar players but they can’t sing, and you need to be able to sing the blues you gotta tell the story. Jody Williams he left music pretty early, he never really presented himself as a star then he quit. But you blues is about the story, jazz is about the music and that’s where the great players can step out. But if ya don’t sing your not gonna make it real big I blues.
And you and your own career, did you do a lot of sessions for people in those days?
No, no not at all, I did I think two sessions with Ellis (Bo Diddley) then I went over to Vee Jay and got my own career as a recording star. Over at Chess they had Little Walter and he had surpassed everyone you know, even Sonny Boy. Walter was the main guy over there and I didn’t record with anyone after Bo. Only did my own thing.
From this point we chatted a little about that nights show and a few other non specific things and then we were done….

It was a real treat to have the chance to visit with this true legend of the blues world, and when you consider that Billy Boy Arnold was there at the very beginning with Bo Diddley, as well as penning what has become a certified classic song which has been covered by countless blues and rock artists over the years, ranging from John Hammond, The Yardbirds and David Bowie just to name three to record I Wish You Would. Billy is a true gentleman and a wealth of blues history. I thank him sincerely for the time he spent in studio with me. It was a blast.

Later that night, the show was a lot of fun Hummel and the band were as good as ever and Billy was solid as a rock...

2006-09-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

Passing of another legend

I recieved this in an email today.

From Hawkeye Herman:
It is with a heavy heart that I report to you that 96 year old blues legend Henry Townsend passed away this evening at St. Mary's Ozaukee Hosptal, Mequon, WI at approximately 10PM (CDT) just hours after having been the first person presented with a 'key' in Grafton's Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame. The last surviving blues artist to have recorded for Paramount Records.The Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame, currently under construction, will be a stylized piano keyboard. Forty-four keys will each have the name of a famous Paramount recording star.It was in Grafton, Wisconsin that Henry Townsend recorded two songs for Paramount Records in 1930; "Doctor, Oh Doctor," and "Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub."Mr. Townsend made the trip to Grafton to be honored by the Village of Grafton as the first inductee on the Walk of Fame along with his son, Alonzo, his son's fiance, Kendra, and two members of his band. Mr. Townsend arrived in Grafton on Thursday, Sept. 21st in good spirits, but confined to a wheelchair. He was to perform at the first annual Paramount Blues Festival as the honored guest. He was to be honored again on Sunday, Sept. 24th, at a noontime Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame ceremony. Myself, members of the Grafton Blues Association, Alonzo, Kendra, and the band members all went out to dinner together on Thursday night. Henry was talkative, happy to be in Grafton, and excited about the weekend events that lay ahead.However, the following day, Friday, 9/22, he was not feeling well and it was necessary for him to be hospitalized. The hospital staff took immediate and great care of him. He wanted to get out of there and perform on Sat. a the festival. But it was not to be. He condition did not improve and the doctors refused to release him on Sat. so that he could perform. He was extremely disappointed. He told band member Jeff Shuman, "They didn't say I couldn't perform today." Shuman had to go and get the doctor and have him come back to Mr. Townsend's hospital room and explain to him that this meant that he could not leave the hospital to perform.An announcement was made at the festival that he would not be present to perform. Alonzo Townsend spoke on behalf of his father, and apologized to the crowd for his father not being present, and that it was wonderful that Grafton had chosen to honor him, and that he hoped that he would be able to make it to the Walk of Fame ceremony on Sunday. It was not to be. Alonzo Townsend attended the noon ceremony on Sunday and accepted the honor for his father. (see photo below)Henry Townsend is one of the few musicians who has recorded in every decade for the past 80 years. He was the last surviving Paramount blues artist. Born in Shelby, MS in 1909. As a youngster, he ran away from home to St. Louis where, as a teenager he heard Lonnie Johnson and other legends develop the blues sound. Henry was influenced by local barber Henry Spaulding's recording of "Cairo Blues," and his boyhood friend, David Perchfield. In 1929, an audition was arranged by Sam Woolf, owner of a music store in St. Louis. Townsend recorded for Columbia in 1929, and for Paramount in 1930. It was piano great Roosevelt Sykes who brought Townsend to the attention of Paramount records.Henry Townsend became the 'Godfather' of St. Louis blues. Performing on piano and guitar his entire life, and nurturing the younger generations in the world of the blues. His last release was "The 88 Blues."Sadly submitted by Michael "Hawkeye" Herman9/24/06 in Grafton, WI------------p.s.Since I am on the road and unable to take the time to submit this message to other interested parties and web sites ... you all have my permission to post this message and photo wherever blues fans might congregate online and in the media.

She's Back...

2006-08-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

SHANNON CURFMAN HITS THE STAGE….
By Mark Fredell

Wednesday afternoon I got home from work and as I usually do I turned on the old computer and checked my email(s) and surfed around a bit. While I was checking in on my My-space page (yes I am one of the masses), I came across a rather intriguing bulletin posting that read like this:

SURPRISE SHOW!
If you happen to be near Shaw's Bar and Grill in Minneapolis tomorrow (Thursday) evening located at 1528 University Ave. N.E. around 9:00 you should stop on in. I hear someone and her band will be doing a surprise pre-tour show :o)

It was from my old friend Shannon Curfman.
Many of you may remember Shannon from some 8 years ago when she hit the local scene at the tender age of 13 as one of the next “big things” to come out of the Fargo meets Minneapolis music world. A friend of Jonny Lang, Shannon even then was an emotive soulful singer, she did hit it big, signing to Arista Records, touring the world with the likes of Aerosmith, BB King, Buddy Guy and others, even scoring a TV concert special ( I think on the family channel). Then things took a turn and she fell off the radar. There were issues with the label(s), artist integrity, boyfriends, you know the usual stuff that every 14, 15, 16.… your old girl goes thru. Well now it’s 2006, Shannon turned 21 in July, has a new band, is working with an independent label and is about to hit the road for the first time in close to 6 years. It has been a whirlwind ride for this very talented young lady but she seems to have kept things together pretty well and yes the Shannon Curfman Band played a surprise show at Shaw’s in Nord-East Thursday August 17.
Now of course she did come through town a few months back on a short tour sharing a double bill with another young female singer song writer named Lennon, but that show was simply a sit down two guitar affair for Miss. Curfman. This one on the other hand was the first time in front of an audience for her new band before hitting the road (actually as I write this) for shows that will take them from coast to coast now thru mid November. They’ll be playing festivals and clubs in towns from California to New Jersey, North Dakota to Florida even coming back to the cities for a show at Bunkers in October. They used the opportunity at Shaw’s to kind of work off the first show jitters and try some of the new material in front of a mostly familiar and friendly crowd. All in all it was a fun night, they did just one set about 90 minutes long and I must say Shannon’s voice seems a strong and expressive as ever, her guitar playing is even better than before and the new band is really pretty good. They seem to get along well and it shows that Shannon is in charge. There was nothing flashy or fancy just some catchy bluesy rock tunes old and new and maybe 70 people there to listen. It was good to see her on stage again I hope things keep going in the right direction for this nice young lady and once again I will be able to say I knew her when. Good Luck Shannon!

Another Elder Statesman of the BLUES.

2006-08-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

It Ain’t Nothing But A Party.
Story and photo’s by Mark Fredell

August 1st 2006, It was hot and steamy in the mid west the air was thick like you were walking thru a damp sponge. I had made the trip from my place in Saint Paul Minnesota down to Chicago the day before and man was it ever sweltering, this nation wide heat wave was showing no signs of loosening it’s grip anytime soon. Chicago was very near 100 degrees with lots of humidity and the night ahead promised to be even hotter, I was in town for this night and this night only as it was the celebration of Buddy Guys 70th birthday. I knew it would be busy but had hopes (un answered hopes as it turned out) that the AC in Legends would be up to the task; NOPE… I arrived with my brother-in-law Marquel Jordan at about 10 minutes before 8 and the place was already filling up and hot. Quel (Marquel) is the tenor sax player and sometimes singer for Brother John (Kattke) Band. And as one of the two host bands for the Legends Monday night blues jam they were invited to be the house band for the party this night. I found myself a spot near a column with a small ledge enough for the plate of food I eventually ordered and stood there and sweated. As Marquel and the band got set up the crowd grew thicker and the room got warmer, then at 9 o’clock it was show time and they began, brother John is a solid guitar player, though he toured with Buddy as the keyboard player on the Damn Right I Got the Blues Tour back in the early 90’s he’s also a pretty good singer, they stuck to mostly straight bar room blues for the first few numbers then in the middle of a song, The man of the hour took to the stage strapped on his black and white poke-a-dot strat and they cut deep into Muddy Waters ‘She’s Nineteen Years Old’. then there were two more slow blues and Buddy thanked everyone for coming out to help celebrate his birthday. He seemed genuinely moved saying that for a while he never thought he’d make it this long. He closed by stating “Ah man, I don’t want to play right now I just wanna go down stairs and get high.” He left the stage and disappeared to the dressing rooms; only to emerge a short time later and greet some of his well wishers. The band continued to play, John pulled Marquel to the vocal mic and he cut loose on some classic soul tunes, some Al Green, King Floyd and others, then it was time for the first break. Brother John asked for Buddy to return to the stage and they brought out a huge cake, the whole room sang the birthday song, he blew out the candles and a lovely waitress in the house brought him his present (from the staff) a custom painted Fender Strat with his image, the Chicago skyline, some classic club signs and more painted on it, as well as his name in flaming lettering in the frets of the neck. Buddy seemed to tear up a bit as he thanked every once again. By this time Koko Taylor was in the house sitting in the VIP area, also in attendance were Wayne Baker Brooks, Nick Moss, Mathew Skoller and other Chicago blues veterans. As the staff was serving up cake there was mixing and mingling, Buddy took up a seat at the front of the bar and signed autographs, then after a while the Brother John Band retook the stage and it wasn’t long before the birthday boy was back up, guitar in hand, singin’ and playing with passion and intensity that only he Buddy Guy can conjure. After another three songs he was off again, and the band tore through another fine set of blues and soul keeping the room grinning from ear to ear. At the midway point of this second set both Skoller and Moss were invited up and they played some very satisfying straight (no chaser) Chicago blues. Skoller blew some tasty harmonica while Moss’ guitar was in the pocket. As the second set wrapped up, the crowd began to thin a bit and before to long Buddy himself departed for the night, leaving perhaps a hundred or so diehards in the room to soak up one more stellar set from Brother John and company, the highlight of which had to be Marquel’s awe inspiring version of Sam Cooks ’A Change Is Going To Come’ the band wound down just past 1:00am and as I hung out for them to pack up, the temperature in the room was finally approaching bearable though the heat generated from the stage is what has left the biggest imprint in my mind. To be able to share in the reaching of such a milestone for some one that is arguably one of the most important members of the blues world is a memory that will stay with me forever. Happy 70th Buddy Guy and here’s a wish for many more years ahead for you.

It was a great surprise

2006-08-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Ron Thompson gets and gives a surprise.
Story and Photo’s by Mark Fredell

You may not know the name Ron Thompson but if you’re a fan of the blues of the past 30 years the odds are good you’ve heard him play. Based in the bay area of California since the mid 70’s Ron has played with, recorded with, and simply shared space with some pretty heavy hitters over the past 4 decades. He spent a few years in the early eighties touring and recording with John Lee Hooker, he’s also worked with Santana and Mark Hummel to name just two others, and was for a brief time in a (side project) band with Mick Fleetwood (yes that Mick Fleetwood). Well like so many others, I was (until August 5th ) one of the many that had read is name in the liner notes of countless recordings but had never seen him in person before this show.
And what a show it was. Originally slated as a double bill with another Bay area guitarist Ron Hacker; Hacker unfortunately was under the weather and couldn’t make the trip, but Thompson and his band the Resistors made up for it in spades. Starting off solo with his acoustic guitar (pick-up literally duct tapped in place) Ron and the guys performed with an inspired fervency. A passionate and energetic performer, Ron dances and moves with almost reckless abandon. Not only playing guitar, but piano and harmonica, at times all at once. He’s a good singer too. The music was a blend of straight blues with lot’s of slide ala Elmore James, J.B. Hutto and Robert Nighthawk to some solid roots rockers from the likes of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis to the Blasters and even a rendering of the Mink DeVille inspired ‘Cadillac Walk’. They played (mostly) fast and hard, slowing the tempo only a few times during their first 2 sets. Set one ran just over 90 minutes which anyone that frequents the clubs these days knows is a long one, then within about 15 minutes they were back at it hitting just as hard for set 2, rockin’ & rollin’ till about 5 minutes before midnight. At this point the majority of the audience figured it was over and headed out the door, which as it turned out was a BIG mistake, after a very brief 5 minute break Ron and the Resistors took the stage one more time. During the first song I had to, well lets say ‘take care of some business’ and while I was indisposed that first song ended and I could hear Ron talking to the people though I couldn’t make out what he was saying. So imagine my surprise as I came back into the show room to see not just Thompson and his band on stage but also Chris Isaak and half of his band as well. Lime green outfit, guitar in hand singin’ an old blues rocker. Chris and his guys who one by one hit the stage until you had both bands filling it sang and danced and played for a full half hour then like in a flash of light they were gone. Ron thanked everybody for coming out and the evening ended. What a great surprise. Ron Thompson and the Resistors were great. And to be treated to a star the magnitude of Isaak in such a setting made it a doubly good treat.

It's a site to see

2006-07-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

SURFING THE WEB...?

I recommend a visit to http://www.rocknrollpoet.com/ to discover the passion, vitality, sincerity and diverse musical talents of Michael Ubaldini. Mike’s an artist that defies categorization...the Los Angeles times stated he is better than Bruce Springsteen at probing the national soul. He began picking out tunes on guitar at the age of seven playing Hank Williams and Ray Charles songs his father taught him. Influenced early on by the likes of Otis Redding, Elvis, Creedence Clear Water Revival, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent, Muddy Waters, The Beatles and Bob Dylan, as well as other writers and poets. In early 1980 he formed his first band "The Earwigs" at the age of 16, and recorded the 45 inch single "Here Come the Earwigs". They subsequently disbanded in 1984.

From his heart and soul 'Michael' with his cranking band (or with only his acoustic guitar and harmonica) goes against the grain of today's fabricated pop and 'watered down' Punk and Country formula music. Michael plays and sings his songs with a passion and integrity rarely heard these days. He lives and has lived his songs. Singing them with honesty, integrity and sincerity. He inked a record deal with EMI in 1994. His debut CD 'Mystery Train' produced by Lee Rocker of the Stray Cats which featured Michael's original material and guest guitarist Brian Setzer. Brian invited Michael to open several shows. In 1999 Michael abandoned his electric guitar and released the indie classic 'Acoustic Rumble' a haunting disc that received rave reviews in the United States and was the LA Times pick for #1 Disc of the year (1999) as well as, 10th best of the entire decade. In May 2001, after releasing the artistic follow up 'American Blood', the 'Rock N Roll Poet' strapped on his electric guitar and toured the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. When arriving home he formed a new band and the result was 2002's 'Rock N Roll Saloon'. Critically acclaimed in the United States and Europe it was picked by the Orange County register as "One of the top records of the year!".

2005 would turn out to be a big year for Michael with the release of "Avenue of Ten Cent Hearts", an impressive mix of 15 solid Ubaldini originals showcasing his wide range of musical styles. A favorite of fans and critics alike, it earned Michael five star reviews in the United States and Europe. He also won two Orange County Music Awards for Best Roots rock and Best Live Male Performer. A tour of the American South, and the United Kingdom which finished at The Cavern Club in Liverpool England, home of the Beatles.

Now in 2006 Michael Ubaldini is back with a new release ‘Empty Bottles & Broken Guitar Strings’ 20 tracks of rootsy American rock & roll!
He’s not Blues, but Michael is definantly bluesy. As a singer he is rough and reliable, a solid guitar player and simply one of the best “unknown” songwriters in the land today.

Michael is a Rock N Roll Poet.

He is a true...American Rebel.

all photos courtesy of Micheal Ubaldini's web site.

Another Blues Legend Leaves Us

2006-07-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

MR. MAGNIFICENT!!! FLOYD DIXON DIES AT 77

It Saddens me to read the words; Floyd Dixon died Wednesday, July 26, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, of kidney failure. He was 77. One of the major artists of the 20th century he was sorely under appreciated and to a degree over looked even in the blues community when he should have reigned supreme. It was in the late forties and into the fifties that Floyd along with Charles Brown, Ray Charles and Louis Jordan helped to transform swing music into Rhythm & Blues. Legend has it that Dixon was the man that told a then struggling Ray Charles he needed to stop trying to sound like Nat Cole and create his own sound, and along side Charles and the others Floyd helped lay the foundation for what would eventually become Rock & Roll. He began recording in 1947, and had his first minor hits in 1951 and 52 with Telephone Blues and Call operator 210 before striking gold with the now classic Hey Bartender.
He was born in Marshall, Texas on February 8, 1929. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 13. A self-taught pianist, Dixon began his career by singing mostly cool, after-hours piano blues in the Charles Brown mode. Soon enough, however, Dixon charted his own territory with a more rocking, jumping style.

From traditional, slow blues to booming R&B, pop and proto-rock and roll, he truly created a sound and style that was his alone. Dixon recorded and performed throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s touring with just about every other major blues artist of the time. He nearly left music for good in the late 70’s living quietly in Paris Texas until he got a call to perform in Sweden. Then in 1980 he joined the European Blues Caravan tour with his old friends Charles Brown and Ruth Brown. He spent the early and mid eighties on the road once more even touring with the then unknown Robert Cray and Little Charlie & The Nightcats. As things slowed once more in the later 80’s he landed in the Los Angeles area and this is when I had the privilege to meet and get to know him a little. I was hosting a blues radio show in Barstow California and living in Huntington Beach at the time and Floyd was a bit of a fixture playing small bars and hitting the blues jam circuit. It was at one of these jams that our paths first crossed. then In 1992 I had the brilliant idea of producing a one day blues festival in the high desert and Floyd was on the short list of artists I wanted to perform. He wound up being my headliner and though the day was a financial disaster for me.

Mr. Dixon was incredible, closing out a long day of music in grand style having to follow some great acts, not the least of which was Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers. Floyd was up to the task and played his heart out.
In 1993 Dixon received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Career Achievement Award. This helped him secure gigs at major outdoor blues festivals, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Sacramento Blues Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival. Then in 1996 a new album, "Wake Up And Live!," was released on Alligator Records. The album won the 1997 Blues Music Award from The Blues Foundation for "Comeback Album of the Year." The CD reintroduced Dixon to old fans and brought him many new ones. 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, scheduled for a fall release on HighJohn.

Floyd “Mr. Magnificent” Dixon was always a class act. With style and grace, he was a humble and caring man and always had a warm smile to share with a fan. He will be greatly missed.

2006-07-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

A True Blues Imperial!
My conversation with Lil’ Ed Williams.
By Mark Fredell

So the weekend of July 7th was a guitar enthusiasts dream come true; on Saturday that weekend you had two great shows by two of the best players in the land Tinsley Ellis was stopping by Famous Dave’s and Lil’ Ed (Williams) & the Blues Imperials where playing at the Narrows in Navarre, I once again hosted the Showcase of Rhythm & Blues on KFAI radio and had the pleasure of getting to do a short interview with each of them. Tinsley and I talked for maybe four minutes since he was actually driving at the time but I caught Ed as he and the band were getting checked into their hotel and that chat lasted a bit longer and went a little something like this….

Mark Fredell: On the phone with me right now is Mr. Lil’ Ed. Ed how you doing brother?
Lil’ Ed: Hey Mark, we’re doing good, how you doing?
M.F.: Just great Man.
Ed: Awe good.
M.F: Now I haven’t seen you since last month at Buddy Guys club in Chicago.

Ed: Yeah that’s right.
M.F: Now I know you were going to try and get down here to the station but of course traffic and all that road construction I guess we’ll just do this on the phone. So how was last nights show? You were somewhere in Wisconsin right?
Ed: Yep we we’re in Myrtle Wisconsin, we had a really good time. I had a chance to present the people some stuff from my new Cd.
M.F: Right that just came out in the past few weeks right, tell the people a little about it?
Ed: Right it just came out it’s called Rattleshake, and I’ll have some of them with me down at the club tonight.
MF: Now so the people can know your playing at the Narrows to night in Navarre, what time will you be starting?
Ed: I think around nine or nine thirty, something like that.
MF: Ya know for the people that don’t know it astonishes me in the blues world, as good as you and the band are that there are so many blues fans that haven’t actually seen or heard you, I hear things like oh yeah I’ve heard OF him but they don’t necessarily know what you sound like. But maybe you could share with us a bit about who your influences are where your sound comes from that kind of thing?
Ed: Well you know my influences are really all the old guys, you know my uncle ( J.B. Hutto) started me off. And after then he got me listening to guys like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, all those guys you know. Yeah all those guys are basically my influences.
MF: Right. You know you keep it real simple you know it’s real, straightforward gutbucket blues in the finest tradition of Chicago blues (Ed: YEAH…) It’s real Chicago party music.
Ed: That’s right, I like it like that.
MF: Now for all those out there that haven’t seen this man he’s got a great grin, he’s got a smile that goes from ear to ear, his teeth just shining and he’s usually grinning like that as he’s doing some sort of back bend or duck walk across the stage ( Ed laughs on the other line… Yeah that’s right). Its great, but you know that tone you have I gotta say it’s almost eerie, not just how much you look like you uncle (Ed. Well thank you) but your sound you sound so much like him too. The sound you get is almost like a highbred of J.B. and Elmore James.
Ed: Well yeah, you know those are really the two guys I focused on you know J.B he started me off teaching me and then when I heard Elmore, wow, I just loved his style and his tone and I wanted to combine those two together you know.
MF: Well Ed to my ear at least you did it, and it’s a good thing (Ed: Thank you.) Ah E you know I love you guys, and I can’t say enough about what a great show this band does. I was trying to remember the first time I saw Lil’ ed & the Blues Imperials and I don’t recall if it was at the Long Beach Blues Festival in the late 80’s or if was on that Alligator Records anniversary tour you guys all did so many years ago (Ed: Oh yeah that was fun that tour, I don’t remember which one we met at I guess I’m getting old…) Well it was one of them but what I remember it was like the top of my head got blown off simply from the sheer energy and joy you all put into every song on stage.( Ed Laughs…) Anyways Ed what are some of the highlights on this new record?
Ed: You know I really like this new record because it’s got a lot of more of me than what most people think I am, I got a little bit of country and western, blues style, there’s a little bit of soul and even a little rock & roll in there. So this is really more about the stuff I like to listen too you know cause I listen to all types of music now a days. You know back then (when I was starting out) I listened to mostly all the old blues guys cause I was trying to learn it but now, I like to listen to all types of music I like to feel it and hear what’s going on cause every body has something different to say.
MF: Alright then. Now Ed you gotta tell me about, tell the story about your first recording session. Now you had already been playing for some ten or 11 years when you were invited to record for Alligator Records for their ’New Blue Bloods’ record right?
Ed: Oh Yeah, yeah Bruce (Iglauer) had come in when we were playing in a bar called B.L.U.E.S. in Chicago. And on a break he came to introduce himself to me and you know I didn’t really know him I didn’t know Bruce at all. But he introduce himself and told me he wanted us to do a couple of songs for a compilation record he was putting out, which was cool with me you know cause me and my brother (the Imperials bass player Pookie) was trying to, um we were gonna safe up some money and cut a 45 cause records were still out then. So we set the date and got down to the studio about 5, you know I was working at the carwash and my brother was too so we got there in our work clothes cause we didn’t have time to go home and change so there we was boots and all we set up and started playing. At first Bruce told us to just play like we always do, just have some fun and play some songs, well none of us had ever been in a studio before, so that’s exactly what we did, and we finished a song or two and all the people in the control room were hollering and hootin’ so I started doing duck walks and back bends (MF: all in the confines of the studio… Laughter…) Yeah that’s right, right there, just getting wild and crazy. So then after a while he (Bruce) cam out and he said man this is great, lets go ahead and do an album, we shook hands and just kept going, we had cut 30 songs in about three hours, just kept the tape rolling. (MF: I heard that some where in there some one made a beer run too…) Yeah they did I’m not sure who that was.

MF: I guess your first couple of albums were done pretty much the same way weren’t they? Just go to the studio and cut every thing live…
Ed: That’s right, that one (Rough Housin’), Chicken Gravy & Biscuits, then on What You See Is What You Get we did just a couple of overdubs and then the next one to. This one (Rattleshake), this last one we pretty much just went in and cut it. No overdubs or retakes on this one really.
MF: Now the thing I want to know Ed is when are you going to work that deal with Bruce to release all those extra songs from those first sessions?
Ed: I don’t really know, probably when we’re both old and grey and both can’t walk.
MF: Well ok but that’s along time off. Ed I want to thank you for taking some time to spend with us here at KFAI I’ll see you tonight at the Narrows in Navarre, Now we’re gonna get back into the music with the title track form that second record of yours Ed what was that called?
Ed: Oh thanks Mark. That was Chicken Gravy and Biscuits….
MF: That’s right, Chicken Gravy and Biscuits thanks again Ed see ya later my friend…

Later that evening I headed out to catch the first couple sets from Ed and the Imperials it was great as usual though the first set was hampered a bit by some amplifier troubles though once they got them worked out Ed and the guys put on a typically stellar show.

This interview aired live of KFAI Radio in the Twin Cities on July 8th, 2006 and was also published in the paper Blue Monday.

The Passing of another Blues Legend

2006-07-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sam Myers Passes

Monday July 17 2006

Blues vocalist and harmonica player Sam Myers died on July 17 of throat cancer, in Dallas. He was 70.
A native of Laurel, Mississippi, Myers went to school in Jackson, where he played trumpet and drums and got a non-degree scholarship to the American Conservatory School of Music in Chicago. At an early age Sam was attending school by day while hitting Chicago's South Side at night where he met and sat in with Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, and Elmore James. He played drums with (Elmore) James from 1952 to 1963. In 1956, he wrote and recorded his best-known song, "Sleeping In The Ground," which has been covered by Omar & The Howlers, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, and others.
In 1986 he joined the Texas band Anson Funderburgh and The Rockets, and the band collectively won nine W.C. Handy awards; their last album was Which Way is Texas? in 2003. Myers' last release was his 2004 solo album, Coming from the Old School. In February he was presented the Blues Ambassador Award by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
He is survived by a sister, a brother, a son, and two grandchildren.

CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL 2006

2006-06-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL 2006
Wrap up and photo’s by Mark Fredell

So I made it, Chi-town, all set for another long weekend of end to end blues. After a leisurely train ride on Amtrak (I know it’s not like riding the blinds or jumpin’ the freight, but it’s as close as you can get these days) I arrived late Wednesday afternoon and settled into my digs. I’m one of those luck one’s that has some family in the windy city so I get to crash in the guest room. Living on the south side I rely on the ‘L’ train for my main source of transportation riding the red line from the neighborhood, down town to the Jackson stop then it’s a quick few blocks to Grant Park long time site of the Chicago Blues Fest…I leave the house around 10:30am on Thursday the festival runs from Thursday the 8th thru Sunday the 11th. I’m not sure what it is as I arrive but the feeling seems different from years past to me, now granted I did get there early ( I like to roam around a bit and get a feel for the lay of the land, plus it gives me chance to try and find some old friends.) Anyhow the vibe seems a little somber on this first day. Granted the line up is perhaps the most eclectic in years and though of course all the music is good there really aren’t as many ’can’t miss’ performances as I’ve experienced in the past couple years, that being said there were some spirited moments on the first day and a couple of acts that I was very anxious to see…For the benefit of those that haven’t made it to this huge scale event, let me give a brief description, visualize an intersection (in this case it’s Jackson & Columbia) then block off each street a block away in each direction (that’s a long urban block not one of those little mini blocks some are used to. Then disperse the stages, food vendors and assorted merchandise tents, tables, port-a-pots, all anchored by the Petrillo Band Shell on one side and the famous (Married With Children) Fountain on the other side and that’s the setting so you are guaranteed to work off all those extra calories from the deep dish pizza and Chicago dogs. All this right at the edge of lake Michigan the first two days tend to start off a bit quiet in terms of attendance compared to Saturday and Sunday, and this year was no exception. After some time talking with old friends and new and generally assessing some of the changes I came to assume that part of the difference is due to the lack of the major sponsor. After a long association Best Buy has pulled out of the festival and has left a gaping hole. They used to host one of the better stages as well as provide an expansive merchandising tent filled with Cd’s and DVD’s in which they hosted artist signings after performances and I think it may be partly due to their departure that this years line-up seems padded with a bit more filler than usual. Now that’s not to say that there weren’t some highlights.Just a few of those highlights included a duo performance with Larry McCray on the Louisiana Bayou Station & Social Club stage (an addition to replace the Best Buy stage) this set was before he headed to the Petrillo Stage with his band as one of the days 3 headliners. Stripped down and funky Larry and his partner (I showed up late so I never did get his name) brought down the house so to speak. Then there was Fernando Jones & the Chicago Blues Ensemble, an assemblage of students from Columbia College that though ruff around the edges at times made up for it in sheer enthusiasm. There was the set billed as the lost treasures on the Gibson Guitar stage that featured Charlie Love & the Silky Smooth Band , with guests John Hill, Liz Mandville Greeson, Delores Scott and Osee Anderson and others… Osee was the cat I wanted to see on this stage, he’s a great guitar player, very progressive and some one I first became acquainted with some 15 or so years ago while still living in Southern California he was great, the whole set was really good. Then of course the 2 can’t miss sets for me anyways where Super Chikan and Saffire The Uppity Blues Women, now thankfully Chikan will be playing a few times throughout the weekend since he was having a little trouble getting in for some reason and started nearly 40 minutes late but it was Saffire that I was most eager to see. Call them feminist, socially conscience activist blues diva’s or just call them UPPITY I love these gals I heard from plenty of sources about various macho men at the site this first day that can’t stand them, and granted they do draw a majority female following and not just a few lesbians as well, but I guess I am one of those enlightened men that’s secure in my masculinity enough to enjoy Saffire’s feminist stance and not be offended. They played a long 90 minute set and at one point I wandered off to see my friend Marie Dixon (the wife of the late great Willie Dixon to tell her about them, she didn’t realize they were on the line up and wanted to see them so taking my hand in hers off we went, right up to the front of the stage where upon spotting Marie the gals stopped mid song to introduce her then there were greetings, smiles and back to the music, then more interruptions to talk to Marie then more music this went on for about 15 minutes until Marie was ready to return to the Blues Heaven tent.There was plenty of other good music, the crowd was growing bigger as day turned to evening and the main stage got set for the opening day headliner Miss Bettye LaVette. And thus day one of Blues Fest 2006 came to an end.
So Friday arrived and for me anyhow things got underway at about 1:00pm with an inspired set by Louisiana Red backed by a trio of local players including Kenny ’Beady Eyes’ Smith on drums (he’s of course the son of legendary Muddy Waters Drummer Willie ’Big Eyes’ Smith) Red was in great spirits and sang songs filled with passion and fire, seated for most of the set he was moved to his feet a few times as he picked his guitar, played some wicked slide and brought the small but enthusiastic crowd to it’s collective feet.After Red I was off to the ‘new’ Louisiana stage for a set by a duo put together for the fest.. Vasti Jackson and Henry Butler,

Vasti, took to the stage first with his new National Steel guitar in hand and simply tore up some classic delta blues, this native of Macomb Mississippi knows his stuff, he then introduced New Orleans keyboard master Henry Butler, explaining they had met years ago and had often talked about working together and finally have, Vasti co-produced and wrote some songs for Butlers latest release. As the blind Butler took his seat Jackson said his goodbyes saying he would be back at which point Butler asked where you going, just sit right down and lets play one for these folks. Vasti quickly obeyed and they cut into some rollicking ’Nawlin’s R&B. After the first one with Henry, Vasti bid farewell for now and Butler worked his magic on the 88’s with a gumbo of rollicking grooves smiling and swaying as he got the fans up and dancing in the street’s. I unfortunately needed to leave before Vasti’s return as I wanted to catch some of Chris Beards set.So off I went, Henry Butler’s piano strains ringing in my ears as I headed for the Gibson Guitar stage, set to start at 2:00, it was nearly 2:30 by the time I arrived and they were still setting the stage and this is where things began to slide down hill. Fortunately Beard’s band took the stage pretty quickly after I got there. They did an instrumental before introducing Chris, whom out in the crowd was having some trouble with his remote guitar kit cutting out on him, as he made his way to the stage the problem got resolved and it seemed his fingers were on fire riffing on Albert King, Freddie King and other greats. Now I cut this set short since as Chris and company started late and I was eager to see little Smokey Smothers and Elvin Bishop at the small and intimate setting of the Juke Joint stage so after Chris’s third song off I went.Bishop and Smothers scheduled to begin their set at 2:30 and as I got to the stage area nearly 2:50 I spy Bishop signing autographs by the back stage area then off into the tent ( set up as the band area back stage) the crowd was the thickest I’ve ever seen in front of this small stage (this is my forth trip to this event) and the people seemed; like myself eager to catch Elvin before his headlining set with his band later in the evening. After trying to find a good spot for my camera, and then standing around another 20+ minutes as Bishop and Smothers sat in the shade of their tent I simply gave up, they were now nearly 45 minutes late and the crowd was still growing. I’m sorry but at an event like this with four stages going at once and people trying to catch as much as they can there is no excuse to be that behind schedule if the performers are simply sitting back stage… So off I went to catch a bit of Super Chikan. By now though I was a bit irate so I figured I’d take a pass on the rest of the players I was gonna check out, so no Eddie Bo or Dwayne Burnside or the others and off I went to hit Legends (Buddy Guy’s club of course) to get some beers, some much better food than you’ll get at any festival and some great music. First from Phil Guy (Buddy’s brother) and then one of my very favorites Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials… the room wasn’t to crowded and it was out of the sun so my spirits improved, after a while it was back home to rest up for day three.

Saturday morning hit and I was off again, after the trials and tribulations of Friday I was hopeful that things would run a bit smother on Saturday, after all this is when the real crowd’s show up and the park is jammed with bodies. What I was probably looking most forward to were the two ‘masters set(s)’ featuring Robert Lockwood Jr., Honeyboy Edwards, Henry Townsend & Homesick James, now they have done some variation of this each time that I’ve attended the Fest over the past number of years but these four hadn’t been together so far as I know since they did a brief tour some five or six years ago. This was promising to be good; with them actually partaking in two different sets on two stages, the first on the large ’front porch’ stage scheduled for 90 minutes then a half hour set on the smaller juke joint stage. Now as I arrived about five minutes before the first set was slated to start there was almost no one at the front porch stage then I heard the announcement, that this performance had been moved into the ’route 66 roadhouse’ a tent set up for the workshops and seminars, so I head that direction and of course there are probably 800 people crowded around the tent all clamoring to catch a glimpse of the players, you can barely hear the music coming out and there was absolutely no hope of any pictures for me. Since it’s essentially shooting into a dark room. So I hang around a bit and listen to what I can, I get to greet Honeyboy as he arrives, by the way this particular performance had each man playing individually with the exception of Homesick who was accompanied by John Long his one time pupil and the cat that actually started out the days music for this stage. After hanging round a while longer I headed down to the Gibson stage to catch Big George Brock confident that I would get to capture at least a few shots of the ’masters’ all on stage together on the juke joint stage at 2:30. Brock was terrific, wearing is bright baby blue suit, singing gutsy deep delta blues with a modern day delta band and blowin’ some fine harp too boot. From there it was off to the Louisiana Bayou stage to catch the solo set from Ronnie Baker Brooks. He was inspired, I’ll be honest I didn’t know he had it in him, of course he can light up a stage with his electric guitar and solid rockin’ band but he had some 500 or so festival goers mesmerized as he picked and sang by himself on this little stage, he tore it up… after this first of two sets this day by Ronnie it was back to the Gibson stage to capture a few minutes of today’s Super Chikan set and of course he was solid as ever, the only act to play everyday of the festival… from there it was of to the juke joint to catch the second ’masters set’ only to learn that there wouldn’t be a second one…. Hmmm. Bummer… Well then I guess I will get to see more of Henry Grey and the Cats than I had originally planned, as they are taking the stage at the other end of the block. I watched Henry and the Cats for about 40 minutes then I need some fuel so off to the food stands before I headed out to the lawn at the front porch stage for a mesmerizing set by a solo James Blood Ulmer, I ate, I smoked a cigar, I swayed to his hypnotic rhythms he was great. At the same time Ronnie Baker was at the other end of the festival with his band doing his second set of the day. So after nearly 40 minutes with Ulmer, I headed down the block stopping by the juke joint stage to get a taste of Corky Siegel and Sam Lay (on guitar no less) then off to catch the last few minutes of the Ronnie Baker Brooks Band. Finally for me on Saturday it was back to the juke join stage for another day of the new jam station, this time featuring harp players and one cat on didgeridoo none other than Australian Harmonica master Harper, also on deck were Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith and his son Kenny, Dave Specter and Aron Burton among plenty of hap players who’s names I didn’t catch. After this it was off to the house for me and my evening of quality time with my three year old niece…I had committed to baby sit and she would up keeping me up past 3am.

So once I finally hit my pillow it seemed like no time before I was up and headed out the door to hit the Blues Brunch at the Jazz Record Mart where I caught Lurrie Bell among others. Then it was back to Grant park for the final day of the 2006 Chicago Blues Festival.. This one was gonna be a relatively short one for me, not to much happening for my taste’s today, though I did catch the second set of the weekend from Louisiana Red and of course some more music from Super Chikan as well as an inspiring blend of gospel and blues from the Lee Boys (the think the Robert Randolph Family Band with a couple more voices) some wicked lap steel guitar and great five part harmonies. Then there was a phenomenal set by an old acquaintance named Earl Thomas who on his latest Cd sounds more or less subdued, locked into the late 70’s soul grove but on stage can transport an audience back to STAX records circa 1966...

He was awesome! The last 2 performances for me where a bit of a set by yet another very late starting Catherine Russell, out of New York, Catherine has a solid voice but was doing more contemporary jazz than blues and was, I felt, one of the oddest fits that I saw this year. Then there was what was billed as Blues: Chicago’s Global Muse - A Silk Road Experiment between John Primer, Yoko Noge, Tatsu Aoki and Taiko Drums. This set was fascinating built on blues riff’s and rhythms Primer along with his Japanese counterparts played an incredible hybrid musical mosaic and at the same time really rocked the block….
Well that’s it, I completely skipped the headline stage this year, choosing to focus my attention on the other (smaller) stages there was a strong emphasis on soul blues this year and with the multiple sets by many artists and a general lack of variety… the stuff that was good was VERY good and the rest was simply alright. So until next year go out and hit a festival or two in your area.
And remember, peace, Love and Blues…

THE VISUAL ARTS...

2006-04-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Lets talk Visuals
By Mark Fredell

So far my friends; I LOVE the DVD revolution… There has, in just a few short years been so much great stuff released on DVD that it has become one of my main passions. Whether it’s Rock, Punk, Soul or of course Blues, the DVD format seems to have unleashed a treasure trove of new and vintage film footage of varying degrees of quality and I simply can’t get enough of it. It is starting to become almost commonplace for labels to release a live recording either with a bonus DVD included or with a companion DVD available separately, some of the first of the former that I bought were one’s by Joe Bonamassa 'So It’s Like That' which in addition to the Cd had a full length concert DVD which also contained an extensive photo gallery, a Bio -documentary and a video clip for one of the songs from the new release (it accompanied) all in all a pretty good bargain for the price of a single Cd release. Then there, was the 2 disc release of Bobby Rush ‘Live At Ground Zero‘, with both the live Cd and the DVD of the same performance complete with all of Bobby and companies standard ‘Shtick’ it’s a great show.

One of the best of these 2 for one releases that I’ve come across so far has got to be ‘A life in the Blues’ by Charles Brown. Recorded in 1990 at the Lone Star Roadhouse in New York this is a fantastic release by one of the greatest blues artists of all time. This one is interesting on many levels not the least of which is that it was actually recorded (let me quote directly from the liner notes) “this set at the Lone Star Roadhouse on 52nd street in New York, was recorded for telecast to an audience in Japan on a digital high-definition television system that was so experimental at the time that there were only a few receivers (costing upwards of $30,000.00 each) on which it would be able to be seen and heard.” “ Not long after the Lone Star recordings were made, this particular High-definition TV system was abandoned, when another system was selected by U.S. broadcasters as the industry norm instead.” The notes go on to say how the tapes then sat in storage for some 12 years or so and by the time they were rediscovered they couldn’t readily find a machine capable of mixing and editing those tapes. It took some time and effort before they finally discovered a playback machine that with some work was functional enough and an engineer that knew how to use it that they were able to bring this remarkable footage out into the world. These three are just a few of the Cd/DVD combo packs I’ve discovered and there are more out there with various ideas and concepts Blind Pig has released a few new live recordings that also have a companion DVD available, by both Papa Chobby and Magic Slim & the Tear Drops. One of the more novel ideas is the Cd/DVD release from Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers ‘For The Chosen Who’ with the Cd being a recording featuring the band and a number of special guests and the DVD being a making of documentary style disc. One of the most resent releases to have both a Cd and DVD available (separately is the wonderful release on Delmark called ‘My Head Is Bald’ by Tail Dragger. This one recorded live at Vern’s Friendly Lounge on Chicago’s rough and tumble west side Tail Dragger is great as he roams around the bar microphone in hand and being backed by one of the best bands you could assemble in the country, just imaging being a blues fan and walking into this little dive of a place and not knowing till you crossed the threshold that waiting inside to play for you were Billy Branch, Lurrie Bell, Bob Stroger, Kenny Smith, and Jimmy Dawkins among others… This is real, gritty urban blues the way it used to be.

One of the other great things about this new technology has been the various sources that have gone back into their archives and pulled out lost or un-know gems from the past. Just check out the three volume American Folk Blues Festival series which any and every blues fan needs to own. There is also an ever growing set of releases from a German TV series called “Ohne Filter Muzic-Pur” which over the years has played host to countless artists from the worlds of rock, country, blues and more. For the blues lover, these producers have already released one hour ‘ In Concert’ sets by Duke Robillard, Joe Louis Walker, Albert Collins

and others. Then there’s two of the latest additions to this influx of visual blues in the ’Live At Montreux’ series and ‘Chicago Blues Jam’. The Live at Montreux series distributed by Eagle Eye Media covers the gamut of acts that have appeared at the Montreux Jazz festival in Switzerland over it’s fourty year history. Thank goodness that festival founder Claude Nobs had foresight enough to (apparently) film every artist to ever take his stages from the very first show to the most recent. And in the set so far are Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Curtis Mayfield, Jeff Healy Band, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Gary Moore and Otis Rush to name just a few. The Gary Moore and Otis Rush sets are especially interesting for the special guests that pop up. Moore is of course a terrific guitar player and even at the time of the main performance showcased here which was in the midst’s of him supporting his ‘Still Got The Blues’ release he still fell more on the ’ROCK/blues’ side of the fence but there are three songs that feature the Iceman himself Albert Collins. Then on the Otis Rush disc from his first appearance there in 1986, Rush not only puts on a passionate set with a stripped down band (no horns at all) but he is joined on 4 track by Eric Clapton and on the fourth with Clapton none-other than Luther Allison joins in the fray and it’s a real barn burner.

The other newer addition to the influx of audio meeting video is a series called ’Chicago Blues Jam’ which originated from a Chicago TV series of that same name. this series, six of which I have in my collection is pretty interesting a little annoying at times and filled with rare musical gems. There’s unfortunately very little information about the show or the artists included in the packaging and though the film quality is top notch it appears they have either lost or destroyed the original source tapes. Each disc here re-packages a single complete episode minus the commercials though complete with the commercial/edit spots and even the gratuitous plug for the host club (Buddy Guys Legends). Yet they are still a lot of fun to watch they seem to have all aired in ’94 (at least that’s the year on the half dozen I own) the format is consistent, opening credits, intro from the host ’Buzz’ then the feature artists does 2 or 3 songs before they cut to a pre recorded interview segment, then commercial edit and there is another artist for one or maybe 2 songs depending on the act, then commercial break and back to the feature act, a couple more songs more interview, then the other band again, then the feature and it wraps up. There are slight variations from time to time but they stay pretty consistent over all. The remarkable thing to me is the list of artists they featured, just on the half dozen in my collection (so far) feature Billy Branch and The Son’s Of Blues / Keb Mo, Son Seals / Howard & The White Boys, Hubert Sumlin / Rod Piazza, Rod Piazza / The Blues Instigators, Fenton Robinson / James Harman, James Harman / Howard & the White Boys, there are also sets featuring Lonnie Brooks, Junior Wells, Magic Slim and others. I would certainly have preferred if these discs had contained more of the performance footage but I will assume that once these shows were put together those tapes got recycled and that footage is now gone forever; too bad, but what remains is good stuff and considering that some of these acts don’t tour any longer and others have gone on to that blues band in the sky there are some genuinely rare treats to be had here…

Well there you have it, my overview of just some of the Visual mediums BLUES that there is to be had these days, so if you want to sit back in your living room and have your own private concert when ever you like I suggest you hit your favorite music retailer or surf the web and get yourself some of these fine releases or any of the thousands of others that are out there now.

A CD REVIEW...

2006-04-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

A CD REVIEW. THE MESCAL SHEIKS...

Well I’ve been a bit busy lately and have had things sort of piling up on my stereo, my DVD player and my desk, but I am finally getting a handle on things, and getting caught up, and figured I would start writing some reviews, I have a few DVD’s to get to and some Cd’s and such. I have time for one right now but I promise to get some more posted very soon so lets get started…

First up is a band out of Los Angeles called the Mescal Sheiks, I was turned onto them from a friend on myspace. Yes I am a part of that odd and interesting cyber universe and I’ve discovered it’s a pretty good place to find new music, some old favorites (not to mention some really awesome, classic style Pin-up models) and it’s constantly growing. Anyhow the Cd is called ’This World Is not My Home’ released on BlueCap Records and I like this little gem… Initially I wasn’t sure about it, I knew that the playing was solid, but at first listen the vocals, seemed a little thin, but then after a couple of re-plays you realize that the singing is actually terrific and suited perfectly to the rural, southern - soul, blues R&B, gospel feel of the disc. Caleb Hangan sings with a relaxed confidence that is a little deceiving, he’s solid throughout with deep emotion and subtle expressiveness. The band to with it’s core of Rick Solem on Keyboards and vocals, Rick Smith on Harmonica and Dean Sterling Guitar and Vocals - they are augmented here with various bass, drum, percussion, and horn players as well as some extra backing vocals, they are a well equipped and talented bunch, providing heartfelt backing, whether it’s a straight blues or a more ethereal old school southern R&B sound they seem to be just right for each songs style and intent. Never overstated or over powering, they seem to always be right in the pocket keeping a steady groove and driving the vibe home straight through your ears and into the deep reaches of your soul. The Mescal Sheiks are an interesting and talented group and with a bit of luck should receive some great recognition as their music takes hold…
The Cd can be purchased through their website at: www.mescalsheiks.com

MY CHAT WITH MARIE DIXON...

2006-03-30T08:05:00.000-08:00

THE WIDOW OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FIGURES IN THE WORLD OF BLUES TOOK A FEW MINUTES AND VISITED WITH ME ON THE AIR IT KFAI RADIO AS A PART OF BLACK HISTORY MONTH... The following is the transcription of our talk which also apears in the paper Blue Monday, published here in Minnesota.

Interview and photo’s by Mark Fredell

So it was the middle of Black History month and I had filled in for the Lovely Denise on The Showcase Of Rhythm & Blues the first 2 Saturdays of February. When on Thursday the 16th I got a call asking if I might be able to sub once more that following weekend and as I love being on the air and I adore Denise I of course said yes, then the bombshell; seeing as it was Black History month I was asked if I might be able to do something to honor it… So now a dilemma, the week before I had invited my young friend (and fellow KFAI volunteer) Miss. Kim to come and co-host with me which she did splendidly so I gave her a call and asked if she’d want to join me again she agreed then I asked if she could perhaps go on line and get some info about Coretta Scott King and maybe Rosa Parks that we could talk about for a bit as a part of the theme, she again agreed. The next day while at home I was thinking about the show and realized that given the nature of the station and the fact that both of these great women had both recently passed away I knew other shows on the air had or would be doing some extensive things about them. So i thought maybe I could come up with something a bit different, when it hit me, lets see if we might be able to chat with one of my very best friends in the blues world Mrs. Marie Dixon, this would be great, she could talk a bit about her late husbands career and the legacy he left which she helps to maintain through the work of the BLUES HEAVEN FOUNDATION. So I gave her a call and she was there… Saturday arrived and 30 minutes into the show, with Willie Dixon playing over the air I dialed her up and we spent the next 15 minutes or so Talking about Willie, the blues, Blues Heaven and a bit more, and these are the results…
Mark Fredell: Well it’s Saturday evening a minute past 6:00 pm and your tuned to KFAI in the background is the legendary Willie Dixon and on the phone is his lovely wife Marie, Can you hear me Marie?
Marie Dixon: I can hear you Mark hello, thanks for having me on the show.
MF: Now for those of you that don’t know, Willie Dixon was perhaps the most prolific song writer in the history of the blues and what better time than in the midst of Black History Month to get the person that knew him best on the air and talk about him a little. After all he’s not here to defend himself. (laughter) So first of all Marie how are you doing?
Marie: I’m doing very good and it’s such a pleasure to be speaking with you.
MF: Thank you very much, I’m so glad to have you on the air. Why don’t you do me a favor and for the benefit of those listening just give us a little bit of the history of Willie Dixon what he did and what he meant to the blues.
Marie: Well, Willie was a great inspiration to the blues and he wrote so many great tunes and was a major influence and inspiration not just to the blues but also the rock world. You know he wrote such songs and Hoochie Coochie Man, Back Door Man, I’m Ready, Wang Dang Doodle and so many more and they were done, recorded by so many great artists. And he was also a musician and producer and so much more. But lets talk about what Willie wanted in his last days of life and that was a foundation to help blues artists and to help bring on the next generation of the blues. He started his vision for a foundation back in the late 70’s and he established the name ‘Blues Heaven Foundation’ in 1982, but he unfortunately wasn’t able to put it in a permanent location but shortly after he passed (in 1992) I was, in 1993 able to purchase the building of the legendary Chess Studios at 2120 S. Michigan Ave in Chicago the location that housed Chess Records for so many years and it now houses the Blues Heaven Foundation. I’d like to elaborate a little on what Blues Heaven does for people, we help artists, blues artists with medical expenses that don’t have medical insurance each year we give a scholarship away to a student; a full time student here in Chicago thats interested in a music education, I give (award) the scholarship each year at the Chicago blues festival. We also sponsor and perform harmonica workshops, I just did a beautiful one today with more than 200 children from Cincinnati Ohio.
MF: Was Billy (Branch) there?
Marie: No Billy wasn’t there today but we had Fernando Jones. And it really went over great, the kids really loved it you couldn’t have asked for a better group of children, well teenagers, they loved it and they all wanted to meet me and take pictures. We also, the foundation also helps younger up and coming artists - musicians to get there publishing to form their own publishing company this was something that Willie felt was really important, was to help musicians get the publishing and to show them about copyrighting their music. That was something missed during Willie’s early days, but he fought hard to get all those things back. But now at Blues Heaven if you’re a young artist we insist that you get your own publishing Co. and Copyright your own music and that you register your music with the library of Congress. Also we have a blues garden right there beside the building which is 2122 South Michigan and we try to every Thursday night, for one hour, free to the public during the summer, have a live performance from various musicians when they are not out on the road so anybody that’s in the area Thursdays during the summer months we’d love to have them stop by and enjoy an hour of free blues music.
MF: Well that’s wonderful. Now as you were saying, well you and I Marie we’ve known each other a long time (Marie: yes we have) and I can remember vaguely when Willie had first founded Blues Heaven and it seem to me that the concept then was mainly focused on like you said helping artists either get back or establish their publishing rights and also to help older Blues artists with medical expenses and legal expenses and so forth but for me at least one of the more interesting things that the Foundation does now is the blues in the schools program. Could you tell our listeners a little about that?
Marie: Well we have a lot of great people involved like Billy Branch and Roy Hightower, Fernando Jones of course and many others but what we do is, we go into the schools that invite us and we teach the children a little about the blues and Billy or Fernando will do a harmonica workshop.
MF: And you, Blues Heaven gives away a like thousands of harmonicas each year don‘t you?
Marie: Yes we do, we support the blues in the schools with the harmonicas.
MF: and these aren’t toys they are actually Honer harmonicas with the Blues Heaven Logo on them.
Marie: Right.
MF: Now what else is coming up for Blues Heaven, and you personally and even Willie’s legacy?
Marie: Well we’re getting prepared for the Chicago Blues Festival, but there will be more harmonica workshops going on in the building at 2120 S. Michigan up until the Chicago blues fest in June. And then of course well open the garden around that time too. And we also have lots of Blues memorabilia at the building that people can come and see so if any of your listeners are in Chicago they can come by, we’d love to have them stop by.
MF: Well of course that is really one of the key address in the history of the blues in particular and popular music in general. Now I can’t overstate how kind and supportive the Dixon Family has been too me and my endeavors in the blues no matter how large or small, you’ve always been there. I remember you watched me fall on my face and you and the family helped to pull me back up and I certainly appreciate it, and I know had Willie still been around then he would have been right there with you.
Marie: Oh yes Mark I remember that festival you did out there in California, and you had so many great artists I remember you had Floyd Dixon and Papa John Creech and so many others, who else?
MF: Right I put on Floyd and Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, the Nighthawks, Harmonica Fats and Papa John, and of course Shirli…
Marie: Yes my daughter Shirli and there was another Shirli wasn’t there?
MF: No your thinking of Sherri, Sherri Clark, and of course our good friend Cash McCall.
Marie: Yes of course Cash McCall. And you know you were trying to help support the blues and it had some problems, but it turned out great we all landed on our feet Mark and it was a wonderful show.
MF: Yes we did and I had a lot of fun that day anyways. So I don’t know is there anything else you wanted to say, what is the website, there is a website right?
Marie: Yes the website is http://www.bluesheaven.com/ and you can go there to get more information.
MF: Excellent, and now all I can say is that Ms. Marie Dixon in the years since Willie passed away, you have stood strong and been a staunch supporter of everybody in the blues; and it’s fascinating at the Chicago blues Festival to hang around the Blues Heaven tent and just see some of the people that stop by just to say hello to you. It ranges from people like Koko Taylor and Hubert Sumlin and Henry Grey to tourists from Nagasaki Japan, or Stockholm Sweden, all coming up just to say hi and shake hands with Marie Dixon.
Marie: Yes and it’s always such a pleasure, you know blues is something I have always enjoyed even though it was pretty much forbidden for me to listen to as a kid but yet I always loved it and I grew up listening to John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and the great BB King and I had not a clue who Willie Dixon’s Big Three Trio was but it happened to turn out to be the man I married.
MF: Yes mamma and of course I’ve told you before that he is the reason I am here to, I told you that story (Marie: yes you have)… Well I want to thank you so much Marie for joining us here today and we’re going to let you go I have cued up the song that you actually requested that I play, can you tell the listeners about this song?
Marie: Well of course. You know Willie had this vision that it Don’t make sense if you can’t make peace, he said you know, you can give a man life using another mans heart, you can give sight to the blind using another mans eyes, you can submerge a submarine for weeks at a time but it don’t make sense if you can’t make piece… And he goes on to tell the story that there are so many things that man can do but they can’t seem to make peace. I remember one of the last conversations we had about it, it was in I guess 1991 less than a year before his death, and the war had just started and he said to me you know this song needs to be out I don’t understand why we can’t live peacefully why can’t we all just make peace with the world. And during that time near the end he asked me if I would see that that song stayed out there. Well I’ve been very fortunate MCA records did release it on what they called the Willie Dixon’s Original Wang Dang Doodle Cd, and a Rock group came in to the Foundation last year around April last year and they recorded it and group called STYX, they did it in a rock style. They did a great version of it. So you know we are trying to spread the word because even if there are wars, we want to tell the people that it don’t make sense if you can’t make peace. And I do ask anytime I get on a program like this I ask lets just try and keep this out there you know lets make peace, you know Willie was a very peaceful man and anyone who knew him, you probably saw that last year at the Chicago blues fest anyone that came up and spoke about him they all said how kind and peaceful he was, and that’s what he tried to do he made that his project to try and change the world the best he could.
MF: Well, he was a pretty big man, had those broad shoulders but that was a pretty big task even for him…
Marie: Yes it was but you know he let everyone he could lean on him and if he couldn’t help you he certainly wasn’t out to harm you.
MF: And you know in that respect he certainly did help a lot of people and his legacy will live on in music as long as there is recorded music. So I’m gonna let you go Marie I want to thank you for taking some time to visit with us and share some of Willie’s legacy here as part of Black History Month.

Marie: Well it was my pleasure, I want to let everybody know that Blues Heaven is a nonprofit a 501c3 and your tax dollars are always appreciated. (MF: Well Marie thanks again and I love you.) I love you too Mark and I look forward to seeing you in Chicago this June.
MF: Well I’ll try and get there, I’ll talk to you soon, and now here is Willie Dixon with It Don’t Make Sense You Can’t Make Peace…

SHOPPIN' THE BLUES WEB

2006-01-29T07:24:00.000-08:00

A TREASURE TROVE ON THE WEB.
By MARK FREDELL

I’ve made a decision, in these day’s of fewer tours, and smaller blues sections in your local record (Cd) retailer I’ve decided to periodically cruise the web and try and find you, my loyal readers some cool, interesting and even rare merchandise on the world wide web. For years now in the blues world, the best place to buy your favorite bands latest Cd or even those rare out of print ones was from the band stand when they came to your town, well, that regular trip may be getting more and more infrequent and as a result you might not have ready access to that great guitar player or singer or harp maestro that you used to enjoy. And with more and more of these bands self releasing their music, the distribution can be shotty at best some times and unless you are fortunate enough to live within driving distance of a well stocked independent record shop it can be next to impossible to find a blues music selection that goes beyond a handful of weird off label compilations of BB King, Muddy Waters & John Lee Hooker, all regurgitating the same 12 to 25 songs over and over, lest we forget the glut of Robert Johnson packages which the last time I checked I believe I counted 17 different releases on nearly as many labels all containing some variation of the same 29 songs.

Anyhow it is with that in mind that I’ve decided that I will go cyber shopping from time to time and I will share with you those hidden gems on the net that can help to quench your appetite for the blues, weather it’s a label site that can provide you with their entire catalogue of material, a specialty web shop that offers deals on stuff you may even have trouble finding at the most well stocked shop or the artist sites themselves, I will try and give you some helpful tips and steer you toward some real treats.

First off let me take you to http://www.themightyflyers.com/ the official website of Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers. Now you might be thinking that Rod and the Flyers would be doing just fine in the Cd distribution world but the fact is that most of the music that elevated them from serious road dog club band to world class, world touring blues legends has been mostly out of print and unavailable for quit some time. Rod who is now entering his 40th year as a professional blues man has recorded for labels big and small and the real pivotal stuff he and the Flyers did in the early 80’s was (mostly) for local Southern California label Murray Brothers before they signed to the now defunct Black Top Records and so on, since the mid ‘90s they have put out releases on a number of labels including Big Mo, Tone Cool, Blind Pig and most recently Delta Groove Productions.

Well I visited the Mighty Flyers website a few weeks ago and imagine my surprise when I found no less than 5 reissued Cd’s that I didn’t yet have in my collection; and believe me when I tell you there are some real treats here, let me start off by saying that this band which is considered by many to be one of the absolute best blues bands in the world today is in actuality the first to my knowledge to announce that they will no longer be hitting the road for tours of North America, a few months back, Miss Honey (who does most all of the internet ‘stuff’ on behalf of Rod and the Band) sent an email to their fans that declared their fall/winter tour would be the last one in the foreseeable future, due to the cost, lack of venues etc. etc. and that from this point forward they would only be appearing near their home base and at “fly in/ fly out” gigs such as festivals and special events and that if these events allowed the opportunity they might pick up and extra show here and there if possible now for Piazza fans in particular, and blues fans in general this should come as very bad news. If this band can’t afford to go out on the road and play for the legions of fans that have supported them for; in some cases decades, then what will become of the less known acts that have been struggling to stay afloat?

But I digress, let me tell you a bit about what I found at their web -site; though it is sorely lacking in content, such as Bio info, band history and so forth, the merchandise page contains for sale all of the Tone Cool releases, the live record from Big Mo, the Black Top stuff from the 90s (which has been out of print since that label went under.) but the real find here is some rare and some very rare re-releases from some labels I had not heard of before. There is the Cd ‘UNDERCOVER’ which though billed as a Black Top release , was actually recorded for Right Hemisphere Productions and features the classic Jimi Bott / Alex Schultz version of the Flyers though at this time Junior Watson was still the lead guitar player. In this version of the release it is augmented with 5 bonus live tracks including an 8 plus minute trademark piano boogie. Then there is what in the early days of Cd’s was called a two-fer in the form of the Cd release of ‘RADIO ACTIVITY’ and ‘FILE UNDER ROCK’ compiled here on one disc this is classic roots music once more featuring Junior Watson on guitar this time with Bill Swartz on drums, it was this band that before these recordings was called the Chicago Flying Saucer Band whose one and only release is repackaged here as well and features guests ‘Icepick’ James (Harman) George Smith and Shakey Jake. Then there is the reissue from Walhalla Records of the second Bacon Fat record ‘TOUGH DUDE’, now for those that don‘t know, Bacon Fat was the band that Rod shared with George ‘Harmonica’ Smith, Smith was not only Rods mentor but a major influence on a generation of west coast harmonica players including Kim Wilson, William Clarke, James Harman, Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel and more, well Tough Dude is here and though not quit as strong as the first Bacon Fat release Grease One For Me (which unfortunately is not posted here) it is a remarkable piece of history which sits well next to the 2 greatest treasures I found here this day, and those are the releases from GEMA / Black Rose Records of Rod Piazza’s first 2 recordings, originally issued by ABC/ Bluesway, THE DIRTY BLUES BAND was a group of young white kids from Riverside California that had been turned onto the blues by way of the Animals, The Stones and The Butterfield Blues Band, and these 2 disc’s feature as both a fascinating glimpse of a then very young Piazza (just 19 at the time of the first release) and as an example that the so called white blues revival was not limited to great Brittan and Chicago, these recordings are vibrant and alive and in spite of the fact that the only common player on them is Rod, I think it’s a testament to his ability and maturity even at such a young age as a band leader that both the self titled ‘DIRTY BLUES BAND’ and it’s follow up ‘STONE DIRT’ are both solid representatives of a real talent in the making, it was right about this time that Rods association with George Smith began and it was a relationship that would last till Smiths death and one which Rod still honors at every show. Then it was by about 1974 that the core of the Mighty Flyers came together, with both Miss Honey, and Bass player Bill Stuve entering Rods world then slowly but steadily the Flyers were born, If you’re not to familiar with Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers there might be better music to start with, but if you love the harmonica or are a long time fan, you need to check out these rare gems. Oh and by the way when you place your order go ahead and in the comments box ask for Rod to autograph them for ya since it might be quit some time before he makes it back to your town.

RENEE AUSTIN BOWS OUT WITH DIGNITY...

2005-12-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

I got up this morning like every other, of course with it being Christmas/New Years break for my daughter she was planted in front of the TV and ready for her breakfast, I do love to cook her breakfast so once she was good and eating, I headed up here to my computer to check my email, my myspace page to read messages, bulletins and the like and try and get a little bit of work done.
As I was settling in I got a notification in my main email and went and checked it out; it was sent from the ‘archangel’ on behalf of one of my dearest friends and one of the best singers I have ever heard, the following is the body of that email:

(from Reneé Austin)
I want to start by thanking all of my friends, family, fellow musicians, and fans for all the love and support you have given me over the years. As most of you know I released my second CD with Blind Pig Records “Right About Love” on August 16th. It is a piece of me that I am very proud of and a culmination of lots of hard work from many people.

As some of you know I had to have surgery on September 13th to remove a lump on my thyroid gland. I feel blessed to be able to tell you that I am doing fine and the lump turned out to be cancer free. I regret to inform you all that as a result of the surgery my left vocal chord has been left paralyzed and is not working. The result of this is I can talk softly but I cannot sing.

In the last couple of weeks after lots of medical opinions and various hospital visits my condition has been diagnosed as likely permanent. This means that I probably will never be able to sing again. I am working hard with a speech therapist to see if I can beat the odds and God willing raise my voice in song once again someday. Until that time comes I must say goodbye to you all as a singer and thank you again for all of the love and support you have given me.

I thank God for the opportunities He gave me to live out my dream even if only for small window of time. I trust that He has a plan for my life and whatever that is, I will put my heart and soul into it just as I did my music.

From the bottom of my heart – please know I thank all of you for your kindness to me and I will remember it always. May God Bless each of you.

Stay Soulful,

Reneé

As I read my heart broke, it felt as though I had been punched in the stomach and I cried a bit.
I met Reneé nearly 10 years ago here in the Twin Cities and immediately fell for her, and in the time since she has earned my undying admiration, respect and love as one of the truly finest people I have ever encountered on this planet, She is a genuinely compassionate spirit, filled with joy and love for every one she passes.
A few years ago when my daughter (then about 2 and a half) was in the hospital for 8 nights and 7 days, Reneé came by to have lunch with us one day and wound up staying nearly 6 hours going into the play room, finger painting, using the play dough, playing with the Lego’s, the kitchen toys and countless other things simply taking some of the stress off of me. My daughter loves her very much, they’ve spent time playing Barbie’s together, She is one of her very favorite baby sitters and good friends. We planned her 4th birthday around a show Reneé did here in town at an all ages venue and every one had a wonderful time.

As a performer Reneé is amazing; sweet and sexy, with a voice that could peel the paint off the walls as it lulls you into submission, she would capture you in her spell as she weaves in and out of styles, blending seamlessly, R&B, Blues, Soul, Gospel, Country, Rock and more, she’d dance, sway, flirt, play guitar, piano, tambourine all the while wowing nearly every person in every venue she ever performed with her nearly 5 octave range. She won hearts and ears town by town, stage by stage, and all the while stayed down to earth and when she’d return home would be eager to get together for lunch or to just chill, go to the park with my girl (her ’netters) or maybe just chat on the phone telling me stories of being on the road, driving ‘round in that Econo-line with the boys in the band, and with her success that traveling got more intense and stressful, now I don’t know what caused this lump in her throat, if it was just one of those things or if she over stressed it singing, or what, but I do know that the music world has (it seems) lost one of it’s brightest up and coming stars, thankfully we, (me and my family) still have one of our dearest friends.

I ask you if your reading this, show Reneé Austin your support, she has a little page in myspace at www.myspace.com /reneeaustin that you can send her your well wishes, or you can go to my web store to check out and maybe purchase and item with her image on it (any proceeds will go straight to her) at www.cafepress.com/blueswearetc . And for sure visit amazon.com or one of the other Cd sites and pick up one or both of her Blind Pig releases, Google her and look over some of the great press she’s received in the past few years since the release of her first Cd on Blind Pig (which by the way got her nominated for a WC Handy award - the Grammy of the blues world) I promise you won’t be disappointed.
My Friendship with Reneé Austin has made me a better person and after reading that email, I sent her one then I called her on the phone we talked for a bit then after we hung up, I cried a little bit more, they say these things happen for a reason and Reneé is looking forward to discovering the reason for this challenge in her live and take it on full force. If you don’t know about her, do some research and find out, she truly is one of the very finest people on this earth and I for one am privileged to be able to share it with her…
WE LOVE YOU RENEE…

A Girl Guitar Slinger?

2005-12-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

GENUINE GUITAR SLINGER.
Review by MARK FREDELL

originally prineted in the paper Blue Monday January 2006 issue

It was a rather normal cold December night (the 10 to be specific) there was a bit of snow on the ground and the air temp had finally crawled up from the arctic freezer to near normal temps (right around 25 to 35 degrees Fahrenheit) so as I headed out to catch some live music I was able to grab my usual jacket rather than my north pole parka, I had my comfortable gloves instead of the ones designed to save your fingers in case you freeze to death so they can print you for identification, along with a standard stocking cap in place of the fur lined Elmer Fud looking head gear suitable for mushing across the tundra in the Iditarod that had adorned my head for the previous week of frigid weather; okay you get it had been cold and if your reading this you already knew that, after all this is Minnesota and we are a hardy lot used to this kind of thing; right? So I headed out at my usual time right around 8:00pm off for another night of blues at famous Dave’s the was some stiff competition in town on this particular night for the blues entertainment dollar however with both BB King and Tab Benoit make quicker than usual return visits to the cities. Mr. King of course was here back in March and Tab had been here earlier in the year as well, anyhow I was headed to Dave’s to see one of the few female guitar masters on the scene today, Miss. Joanna Conner, billed with one of Chicago’s newly rediscovered legends Jimmy Burns, unfortunately Joanna told me when I arrived that Jimmy had to cancel the afternoon before so it would be a full night of her and her rock solid band. A bit disappointed as I have not seen Mr. Burns in person yet, I settled in and got ready for the show. Joanna who moved to Chicago from New York at the age of 17 learned her rough and tumble blues at the feet of some of the masters, playing with the likes of JB Hutto, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks and countless others, she plays guitar like one of the boys, no apologies, no compromise just full tilt aggression, attacking the fret board with power and skill weather pulling out a fiery BB or Albert King riff, a blazing Buddy Guy style solo or working her slide like a player possessed with the sprits of Elmore James, Bukka White and Dwayne Allman simultaneously. Joanna can play and as the band tore into their first number she and the guys had the thin though enthusiastic crowd in the palm of their hands. Starting off with a pair of instrumentals the band was able to showcase what they had in store for the night whit fierce solo’s from all and then the solid vocals from Joanna who is an effective and emotive singer, add to this the fireball that is Quintus McCormick on second guitar and vocals and this band is capable of devastating any room and denigrating all comers in a head cutting contest While Joanna is rock solid weather playing lead, slide or rhythm, Quintus is like a stick of Dynamite ready to go off when you least expect it, he sings with pure intensity and his playing is subtle yet explosive at the same time and the pair together are a volatile combination. As the night went, on the first set ended with standing ovations and then of course the inevitable thinning of the crowd, and as the band retook the stage for set 2 they continued to play their hearts out while the audience grew more and more disinterested making it hard for them to keep the energy up on stage, they however did a more than respectable job of it with Joanna inviting a friend that had made the trip with the band from Chicago to join then on stage and lend some vocals to a couple of classic soul tunes, all the while the band maintained a mastery of the music and total domination of the stage, of course the crowd continued to thin, some people drifted in as others flowed out yet Miss. Conner’s and company never gave in they played with 110% from start to finish ending the night at about a quarter to 1:00am. And as we said our goodnights Joanna assured me she’ll be back as soon as they’ll have her and once more , leave no one untouched by her own brand of rock laced hard driving urban blues.

RUMBLE ON LINK WRAY!!!

2005-12-01T06:51:00.000-08:00

LINK WRAY,
THE ORIGINAL RUMBLE!!!

Link Wray Dead at age 76...
I just got word this weekend that rock guitar pioneer Link Wray has passed away earlier this month (November 5th 2005) at his home in Copenhagen Denmark. For those that aren’t aware, Link Wray is one of the most identifiable and influential guitar players in the history of Rock & Roll, even though he’s not a household name his sound has been an inspiration to legions of players since the late fifties. Often called the first heavy metal guitar player Links sound was different than anything that had come before filled with shrill squeals and rhythmic bravado he set the pace for the underground players of the 60’s & 70’s the likes of the stooges, the MC5, and even a lot of what Richards (with the Stones) and Townsend (with the Who) were doing. Wray was a ground breaker mixing Rockabilly, Blues, Jazz and even Surf among other styles into his sound you might remember his memorable guitar instrumentals featuring prominently in the film Pulp Fiction. He was an awe inspiring live performer and though it was quite unfortunate that I was un-able to see him on his last stop in the Twin Cities; as it happened it was February 18th 2003 when he was scheduled to perform at a club called the Fine Line when his opening act managed to set the club on fire with some flash explosives as a part of their set, thankfully no one was hurt though the club suffered nearly a million dollars in damage, and all this just 3 days before the tragic night club fire that killed 119 people in Rhode Island ( we here in the cities that were in the club at the time definitely count our blessings) But I did have the chance to see Link perform a few times in the late 70’s when he was playing with Rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon as well as 2 times in the 80’s solo with his own band, every time he hit the stage he poured himself 100% into every note he played. Link Wray was the original BAD ASS GUITAR MONSTER and there are guys today that can only dream of touching a small fraction of his intensity.
Rest well Link and keep that band up there rockin’!!!!

TWO LEGENDS ONE STAGE... A SHOW REVIEW

2005-10-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

It was quite a night.
By Mark Fredell

I’m not sure where to start, I suppose the date will be fine it was Friday the 21st of October and The Cedar Cultural Center was having a fundraising show. Now the Cedar is a wonderful venue, a community based non-profit concert hall that is a host to all kinds of world, folk, avant-garde and other music’s; it’s nothing fancy simply a large dance hall with a good sized stage to one side, terrific sound system and for most shows they place folding chairs throughout for seating. It’s nice on many levels, it’s mostly volunteer staffed, they serve food, buffet style and have a good choice of beers and wine plus as a community venue it is all ages and there seem to always be at least a few young people in the audience (including my daughter from time to time). They always seem to do a good job even if at times the volunteers seem a bit lost or perplexed about what they should be doing at any given time, they always get the job done in the end. On this night they had a pretty daunting task at hand as for this fundraiser the Cedar was playing host to 2 of the last direct links to the delta blues of Robert Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Willie Brown and even Muddy Waters, and Willie Dixon, these two me, both 90 years old, born three months apart in 1915 with-in one hundred miles of each other and so many other notable blues legends not the least of which are Waters and Dixon both also born the same year in the same region. But even though Muddy Waters often sited Johnson as a major influence and Dixon would eventually become one of the cornerstones of the modern blues world, neither have as direct a connection to the so called King of the delta Blues as David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards or Robert Lockwood Jr. Robert Johnson was pivotal in the development of both of these men’s musical lives for Lockwood it began at the age of 11 when Johnson was the (sometime) live in boyfriend to his mother and began showing the youngster some guitar techniques though just a few years his senior, Lockwood looked up to and respected Johnson’s skills and learned his lessons well eventually heading out as a young teen to accompany his “stepfather” at local fish fries and juke joints. It was this relationship that caused the younger Robert to be dubbed Robert Jr. a moniker he has long disliked considering his father by blood was also named Robert and in reality he is Robert Lockwood Junior, putting the Junior before his sir name has always been a thorn in his side so to speak. At the time of Johnson’s somewhat early death Lockwood was already on his way to becoming a legend in his own right, his guitar skills kept developing and through the influence of players like Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian and others, he began to integrate jazz phrasings into his deeply rooted delta playing eventually developing a sound and style all his own, he became the guitar player behind Sonny Boy Williamson on the King Biscuit Radio show and eventually landed in Chicago where he was one of the most sought after session players at Chess, backing not only Sonny Boy but Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Muddy and countless other Chess records stars. Eventually Lockwood progressed from a standard six string to Twelve string electric guitar and today he stands alone as a master of twelve string electric blues. On this night, with his seniority as the elder of the two 90 year olds Lockwood closed the night out with just over an hour of spectacular guitar wizardry accompanied only by a bass player, Robert displayed his mastery with style and grace weather digging deep into the delta blues of his mentor and friend Robert Johnson or amazing the crowd with his dexterity on some remarkable jazzy instrumentals reminiscent of Les Paul and even Wes Montgomery, Robert Lockwood Jr. is a truly phenomenal instrumentalist and it’s easy to see even at this advanced stage of his life and career why so many of the biggest and best in the blues wanted his guitar to accompany them, he’s not a great singer or even a particularly good singer but he delivers the songs with confidence and authenticity. Robert Lockwood is one of just a very few surviving American musical treasures that connect the beginnings of the blues to today.

One of the others of course is the other genuine legend on the bill this night David Honeyboy Edwards, who also born in 1915 was making a name for himself by his late teens as a guitar player and singer around the delta, when he met up with Robert Johnson and the two developed a friendship that allowed them to travel and play together, making Edwards one of the few men to have the opportunity of such an experience. As a gambler, a ladies man and a traveling troubadour, Edwards was popular though out the delta and beyond when he landed in Chicago around 1944. He fast became a fixture on Maxwell Street, playing for tips with some of the other early legends in town like Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Rogers, Elmore James and others. It was 1948 or 49 when on a trip back down south that Honeyboy met up with a then teenaged Walter Jacobs blowing harmonica and persuaded the young man to head up to the north with him, and of course the rest is history, Jacobs became Little Walter, hooked up with Muddy Waters and changed the blues forever, meanwhile Edwards stuck to his guns and kept mostly to playing for tips on street corners his acoustic guitar in hand and recording only very sporadically for decades, he would occasionally hook up with a band or small combo but invariably returned to his solo delta blues sound.
Now for the past 30 plus years he’s been managed by Michael Frank owner of Earwig Records (whom also accompanied Honeyboy on harmonica this night) and has enjoyed an ever increasing level of success and notoriety as one of the second generation fathers of the delta blues, and for this show he was plugged in with a funky off brand electric guitar yet the sounds were pure delta blues, weather playing straight or slide Honeyboy tore it down then built it up again whipping the house into a frenzy singing some standards and a few originals and then telling some stories about Chicago in the late ’40’s it was a terrific set of music by a passion filled performer who even at 90 years old is today busier than ever before; traveling world wide to help keep the delta blues alive. If there was any let down from this night it was that these two giants of blues didn’t get onstage together and play a song or two but aside from that it was a spectacular night of authentic living blues history. Thank you Cedar Cultural Center.

PREVIEW AN UP-COMING SHOW

2005-09-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

This his a short preview for a show at the Cedar Cultural Center on the west Bank of Minneapolis.

A SHOW TO TAKE NOTICE OF.

Two of the last surviving roots bluesmen of the twentieth century.

Friday October 21st. 2005 The Cedar Cultural Center is hosting what should be a very special night of blues from the delta. A virtual history lesson of the idiom of the blues conducted by two of the surviving originators of the music that spawned Muddy Waters, BB King, Eric Clapton, John Hammond, Big Jack Johnson and all the others that have come since. As Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Otis Rush and others were considered the second generation of Chicago blues artists, these 2 men Robert Lockwood Jr. and David “Honeyboy” Edwards are two of the last of the second generation of delta blues kings, raised up and weaned on the music of Tommy Johnson, Charlie Patton, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson and many others, these 2 men are perhaps the last direct links to the legendary Robert Johnson.

Edwards hobo’d the countryside’s with the legendary musician and Lockwood by age 11 was receiving guitar lessons from his part time “stepdad” (Johnson) who was romantically involved with his mother, it was the older Robert that taught the younger, timing and rhythm on the guitar as well as the subtle technique which he has adapted and cultivated into one of the most remarkable styles in the past 60+ years of recorded music.

As a session player, Robert Lockwood as much as any other guitar player helped to shape the sound of modern blues; recording behind Rice (Sonny Boy Williamson II) Miller, Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Eddie Boyd and countless others his signature sound, subtle and filled with jazzy grace not only complemented the recordings it helped to inspire these and other artists he worked with to push the accepted boundaries of the times. Playing a 12 string electric Gibson, Robert Lockwood is a rarity with a great jazz sensibility steeped in a deep traditional blues foundation he is as likely to amaze with an astounding flurry of notes reminiscent of Wes Montgomery as he is to give the audience chills as he recalls the bone shaking intensity of Robert Johnson’s Devil Got My Woman or Crossroads Blues. Weather solo or with his band of seasoned musical vets, Robert Lockwood Jr. is the real thing.

As for David “Honeyboy” Edwards he is also a genuine living legend with a history in Chicago that goes back to the late 40’s and another 20 odd years before that riding the rails throughout the southern delta with among others Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Rice Miller (S.B.W.II) he was a student of the blues of Charlie Patton, Big Joe Williams and in particular Tommy Johnson as he writes in his autobiography, ‘The World Don't Owe Me Nothing‘, "...it was in '29 when Tommy Johnson come down from Crystal Springs, Mississippi. He was just a little guy, tan colored, easy-going; but he drank a whole lot. At nighttime, we'd go there and listen to Tommy Johnson play." Honeyboy continues, " Listening to Tommy, that's when I really learned something about how to play guitar." It was in 1942 that library of congress archivist Alan Lomax found Honeyboy in Clarksdale MS and recorded 15 sides all of which went un-released until the early 1990‘s, Edwards didn’t record again for nearly a decade it was ‘51 when he recorded for the Artist label then in 53 he recorded a number of sides for Chess which all remained un-issued until an anthology contained his inspired rendering of ‘Drop Down Mama’. through it all he has remained an almost exclusively acoustic artist in the deepest tradition of the original delta blues weather solo or accompanied by as little as a harmonica player or a full band, Honeyboy Edwards is a real Delta Blues Man. He captivates and enthralls with his haunting guitar tone and his gentle demeanor is deceptively comforting as he recalls the darkest and most impassioned of the delta blues.

Now with both of them at age 90 (Lockwood was born March 27, 1915 and Edwards was born June 28, 1915) this could be the last trip to the Twin Cities for either of them. I have had the chance to see both men in resent years and neither are showing there age but you never know and as for the performance I can say with confidence that separately these two great artists are remarkable and one can just hope that they share the stage for at least a little while at this truly legendary show.
For info. You can contact the Cedar at: 612) 338-2674 or
go on-line to www.thecedar.org

A CELEBRATION IN PICTURES. BB KING TURNS 80.

2005-09-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

September 16th. 2005. B.B. King turns 80 years old.

And to celebrate the event I've decided to share a few of my favorite images. I've had the great pleasure to photograph him a number of times in the past few years and in this entry are just some of the results. In this Blog you can also find the interview I conducted with this blues great back in March of this year. enjoy.

Take a bow Riley King you've earned it!!

DESERT ISLAND RECORDS send me your list...

2005-09-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is by no means the only music I would want with me it's simply ten titles that came to mind plus one that no one should be without. I look forward to you sharing your lists as well feel free to post them along with any other comments or questions in the comments section.

THE HOLLYWOOD FATS BAND ~ ‘THE HOLLYWOOD FATS BAND’ (a version released on Black Top Records in the early ‘90’s was titled ‘ Rock This House’): Michael ‘Hollywood Fats’ Mann is considered by many as one of the great guitar players of all time anywhere. By age 12 he was sitting in with the likes of Magic Sam, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells and countless others. And by 15 he was on the road playing behind J.B. Hutto, then Albert King, Then John Lee Hooker. In 1975 he was longing for home and returned to Los Angles and at 20 years old with Al Blake and Fred Kaplan founded what became The Hollywood Fats Band. This Recording which was released in late 1979 on Blue vinyl (very rare only about 2,500 were pressed) has subsequently been re-released a number of times; the best of which in the Cd age is a two disc set put out in 2000 on Cross Cut Records, with a deluxe package, the first disc is the original release in sequence while disc 2 contains alternate versions of just about every track plus a never released track called ‘Fred’s Blues‘. Listen to this release and you’ll understand why counted among his fans Fats could name Stevie Ray & Jimmy Vaughan, Ronnie Earl, Junior Watson and even Eddie Van Halen. His unfortunate death at the age of 32 in 1986 cut short a career that would have been a benchmark for all the players that have come since. As it is this recording is looked to as one of the great standard setting releases of it's time and has influenced a generation of stripped down back to basics blues revivalists.

JOHN HAMMOND ~ ‘JOHN HAMMOND’: When I was 13 I saw Muddy Waters for the first time, as a Punk Rock kid in southern California at the time it was a life altering event, the year was 1978 and the next day I hopped on my bike with about $70 in my pocket and pedaled to Music Market, the largest independent record store in the area at the time. I went straight for the back wall which had a big sign that said simply ‘BLUES’ and I began flipping thru the albums; having a very limited knowledge of the music I was searching for, many of my purchases that day were based on the cover art and one of the most captivating and intense covers was for this record, the debut on Vanguard by John Hammond. Released in 1964 when John was barley in his 20s; the black & white shot of him - profile with guitar in hand as he appears too sing out with passion, caught me and still refuses to let go. On that day I bought a lot of records by a lot of players including Muddy, T-Bone, John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and even Robert Johnson (also on this list) and though I love all of them and so many more this record by Hammond holds a firm grip on my psyche. And as I’ve learned about the blues over the many years that have followed, I find it remarkable the true passion and sincerity that this (at the time) young white kid from New York was able to interpret with such authenticity the delta blues that had been laid forth for most of the century prior. At a time when the so called white blues revival was in it’s infancy, this record as much or even more than most any other helped to open the door and pave the way for those that followed. After it’s release the boom began and within 3 years Korner, Ray and Glover, the Butterfield Blues Band, Charlie Musslewhite, Canned Heat and countless other young white blues interpreters were making waves as well as helping to raise the profile of those older black performers that taught them the blues in the first place, England did have the Yardbirds, the Animals and the Stones, but the Blues of John Hammond was more “REAL” than all of them combined.

Robert Johnson ~ ‘The Complete Recordings’: As I mentioned above one of the first blues artists that I ever heard was Robert Johnson, on my first day of blues record buying I was fortunate enough to get both King of the Delta Blues volumes 1 & 2, which of course after years of listening to them and hearing their influence in nearly every inch of popular and not so popular music in the last 50+ years I’ve learned the significant importance of these 29 songs on the development of popular contemporary blues, blues rock and hard rock music. It is by no means an overstatement to say that Robert Johnson did more to influence modern music than just about any other five artists you could think of, (baring of perhaps, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, The Beatles and a few others) Johnson is certainly as important as any of them if not more so. Sighted by no less than Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, John Mayall and countless others as perhaps the greatest blues player ever, his guitar playing is magical, with a haunting tone weather playing slide or not and his vocals are otherworldly. One of the first releases in Columbia Records Roots ‘N’ Blues series, ‘Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings’ delivers all 29 original releases as well as many alternate takes that had been previously unreleased. Issued in 1990, since this release all of these recordings are available in countless variations, I cant help but chuckle when I’m going through the bins at my favorite music outlet and see as many as 40 or more different Robert Johnson Cd’s all with different packaging, on different labels with different art work and liner notes (if any); yet there are only 29 songs and every available version of all 29 are included in this package with a total of 41 tracks not to mention the 47 page (long) book that contains extensive note’s, original essays and even lyrics for all the songs, you don’t need anything beyond this package, if you have it, you have everything that this mythic figure ever gave for us to treasure.

WILLIE DIXON ~ ‘I AM THE BLUES’: In 1970 The big man Willie Dixon, set out to reinterpret some of the classics he had penned for many of the biggest artists in the world of blues the result is Columbia records ‘I Am The Blues’ contained on this fine release are 9 blues standards all written by the man many call the poet laureate of the blues having created literally hundreds of songs for scores of artists of which a partial list reads like a history of modern blues, he wrote for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, Chuck Berry, Koko Taylor, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), ‘Big’ Walter Horton, ‘Little’ Walter Jacobs, Bo Diddley, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and the list just keeps going and going. Willie Dixon was perhaps one of the most important figures in the Chicago blues scene, as the liaison between the Chess Brothers and their artists, as the main songwriter, arranger, session producer, bass player, talent scout and more it was Dixon that after writing a song for Muddy would tell Waters that he had a great new song for the Wolf but maybe he’d like to cut it first and likewise for the Wolf, allowing each of these giants the chance to believe they had one-upped the other hence it was Dixon that was coaxing the best possible performances on songs like ’Spoonful’, ,Back Door Man’, ‘Seventh Son’, I Ain’t Superstitious’, ‘That Same Thing’, ‘You Shook Me’, I Can’t Quite You, Baby” and more; all of those and a few others are included here, with Willie’s terrific, sympathetic voice and the backing of his Chicago All-stars. The songs are great, these versions are great, the one downside on the original vinyl or any subsequent CD version that I've found is the lack of detailed liner notes, since as far as the band goes, it’s credited as the Chicago Blues All-Stars as I said, but that was a band that Willie had formed around 1968 (primarily for the American Folk Blues Festival Tours of Europe) and the line up changed often, so it could be Big Walter Horton on Harmonica or a very young Billy Branch. I’m pretty sure it’s Cash McCall on lead guitar considering he and I have talked about this recording and he told me it was him, beyond that I have no idea who the players are, I do know that these are great versions of 9 of Willie's best known tunes sung by the Big Man Himself Mr.Willie Dixon.

T-BONE WALKER~ ’LOW DOWN BLUES’: So if you’re already a T-Bone Walker fan then you know, but if you’re new to the name well you should begin studying. Aaron Thibeaux Walker is quite possibly the single most important electric guitar player of all time( except perhaps for Le Paul), his was the first electric guitar to be heard by BB King, Muddy Waters, Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, Albert King, Freddie King and numerous others, while most of the big band guitar men were still trying to be heard on their big acoustic axes, T-Bone discovered the fat bodied electric Gibson and jump started a revolution helping put the guitar at the forefront of the popular band instrumentation format. His stylized finger picked “uptown” sound plucking single notes as he sang in his silky smooth tenor voice. He not only led the way with electricity, but also helped pioneer the small jump combo at the end of the big band era, featuring a couple of horns, a drummer, piano player, bass and his guitar and vocals, his influence is immeasurable and his classic style unsurpassed even today, just think of the song ‘Call It Stormy Monday” (some times called ’Stormy Monday Blues’) this was Walker at his best and stands as one of the all time great blues standards. As for this pick well it was random, there are plenty of great T-Bone Walker compilations available and you’d be hard pressed to find a bad one, ’Low Down Blues’ was released on a label out of Great Brittan called Charlie R&B and contains 22 of T-Bones Classic 1940’s Black and White Label recordings including Stormy Monday, T-Bone Shuffle, She’s My Old Time Used To Be and more, I could have just as easily picked something from his Imperial Records days or his time on RCA or else where but I picked this one, all I can say for sure is that if you don’t already have some T-Bone Walker in your collection you need to fix that and soon.

OMAR ~ ‘BLUES BAG’: Born in Macomb Mississippi, the little country town that also gave us Ellis McDaniel (best know as Bo Diddley) Kent ‘Omar’ Dykes has spent the better part of the past 30 plus years as one of the mainstays in the red hot Austin Texas Blues scene as the front man for the road hardened outfit Omar & The Howlers. On ’Blues Bag” Omar’s first and as yet only solo release (at least in title) and to my ear at least his bluesiest with the first eight tracks featuring Omar solo on guitar and vocals (harmonica is added to his bag on ’Big Chief Pontiac’) then for tracks 9 thru 15 he’s joined by Gene Brandon on drums, Bruce Jones Bass and Greg ‘Fingers’ Taylor on Harmonica (some of you may know Taylor from his long association with Jimmy Buffet as his harp player for some 30 odd years). The results are pure gritty gut bucket blues with 12 Kent Dykes originals and 3 well chosen covers. Omar’s voice is the main attraction with his husky baritone breathing life into these blues like an iron lung. Imagine Credence meets Howlin’ Wolf with a splash of AC/DC thrown in, that’s about the range that Omar sings, and he makes it all blues here, known to rock hard with the Howlers when the occasion calls for it, ’Blues Bag’ Is what you might imagine he would play on his front porch on a lazy summer Saturday afternoon laid back yet intense, simple yet gripping, Omar writes great songs and sings with conviction, I love this record… And if you like the blues with some Texas soil in it this is just about as good as you’ll find.

MAGIC SAM ~ ’WEST SIDE SOUL’: At the risk of becoming redundant, this is one of the most important and influential blues recordings of the 1960’s. ‘Magic’ Sam Maghett born in 1937 in Mississippi, moved to Chicago and by the mid fifties had become one of the more popular of the second generation of urban blues players in Chicago, along with Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and a bit latter, Luther Allison and Lonnie Brooks, Magic Sam and these other mavericks raised the bar and set the standard for contemporary blues, while the older guys kept to the formula set down in the late forties and early fifties, Sam and the other second generation players adapted to the times and were able to incorporate the different sounds coming from the world of popular music, while Muddy Waters had trouble attracting a younger audience Magic Sam blended his heavy deep blues sound with large doses of rock and deep southern soul music to help create what would become the west side sound and by the release of this record ’West Side Soul’ Magic Sam was among the most popular acts in the genre and the sounds on this recording are unlike any thing that had come before it, it’s as though a 30 year old Muddy Waters recorded a record of James Brown songs, it grooves, it rocks and it gets down deep into your soul, Sam’s guitar along with that of Mighty Joe Young squeal and scream while Sam sings with a gritty soulful confidence rare even by today’s standards. This record contains some of his classics including ‘That’s All I Need’, ’All Of Your Love’, and his take on “Sweet Home Chicago’, which some consider to be the definitive version; these and other great tracks fill ’West Side Soul’ and live as a document of the great potential of a talent lost much too early. Unfortunately Magic Sam Maghett suffered a fatal Heart Attack in December 1969 he was just 32 and on his way to great heights. At least we have this and a few other recordings to preserve his legacy.

SAFFIRE ~ ‘THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN’: The only women on this particular list Saffire are truly “uppity” and we all love it. And on this their debut record released by Alligator in 1990, they deliver the goods like fabulous diva’s that don’t give a damn what you or I think in the first place, these middle aged working moms, got into the music biz. at a rather late date but quickly proved themselves up to the task winning legions of fans and the attention of the legendary Willie Dixon whom it’s said was instrumental in these Uppity Blues Women getting signed to Alligator. On this release they deliver a set of eleven straight talkin’, frank, blunt blues that sound as though a time machine had set it’s controls for around 1929, rounded up Bessie Smith, Ma Rainy, Ida Cox and some of the other queens of the “golden era” of blues and dropped them firmly in the late 20th century… These women play mostly acoustic and sing with great conviction, and they are funny as well, I have to wonder if they realize how many men (myself included) get the oddest looks when we get caught at a signal light singing along to the Middle aged Blues Boogie --- “I Need a young, young man…” any how this record was a classic the day it was released and some 15 years later it is as good as anything that has come out since. Parts are sad, parts are joyous and parts are simply made to get you dancing. This is one of those perfect blues records that has something for everyone and keeps you engaged from track one to the very last note.

The CHRIS CAIN Band ~ ‘CUTTIN’ LOOSE’: If you’ve looked around in here, you probably already know that Chris Cain gets my award for the most underappreciated guitar player on the planet today. It simply doesn’t get better than this guy, everything that is Fats, Robert Johnson, Magic Sam, as well as BB Albert and Freddie King, well Chris Cain is the sum of all those parts with a heavy dose of T-Bone, Pat Matheny, Eric Johnson and countless others. Chris Cain can play his ass off and hardly break a sweat, if you want to try and cut heads with him you better be ready cause he can fire off a barrage of furious notes that are liable to knock you off your feet then flow into the tastiest mellow riff you’ve ever heard. Chris a one of those oh so rare musical geniuses. He’s taught music (jazz theory and composition) and he’s shared the stage with just about every blues great of the last quarter century. Cuttin’ Loose is his second release; his first for Blind Pig and it happened to be the first that I owned issued in 1990, it is a master piece of different styles of blues with Chris’ guitar and full thick baritone vocals out front along with dual Saxophones, bass and drums as well as a bit of keyboards also played by Cain. This is the definition of uptown blues with soaring horns and great arrangements that swing and jump in the best tradition’s of BB and Albert King, and although Chris was raised in the bay area of California this record at least to me seems to have a bit of a Texas vibe to it. The song writing is great the guitar superb and Chris has a voice that many singers would sell their souls for. This one or any in the Chris Cain catalogue are worth exploring.

HOUND DOG TAYLOR AND THE HOUSEROCKERS: It was 1971 and a young man named Bruce Iglauer borrowed money from friends and family so that he could found a record label in Chicago for the expressed purpose of recording Hound Dog Taylor and the House Rockers thus this record released in ’71 became in some ways the catalyst of the post Chess Records era and the foundation on which Alligator Records was built. And now 34 years later Alligator is considered one of the premier labels for blues throughout the world. It Started here with Theodore ’Hound dog’ Taylor, Brewer Phillips and Ted Harvey two guitars and drums, and Hound Dogs cigarette's and whiskey soaked voice; if you want rockin’ party blues this is where you’ll get them, Taylor had long been a mainstay on the Chicago blues scene and his weekly Sunday afternoon blues jam at the legendary Florence’s drew a who’s who of the blues world, he had never gained much notice outside of that city though within it he was highly regarded, he had recorded a few 45’s some for Chess in the late 50’s as well as a few others for some other now lost labels and most of his recorded out put never saw the light of day, it was this self titled release that put the blues world on notice and gave a wake up call to all that longed for real gritty down home blues, (the kind that was at the time getting lost in the era of “soul blues”; that smooth polished fare being produced by the likes of Bobby Bland, Little Milton, Johnny Taylor and others) that there was still some real straight ahead blues to be found, this record catapulted Hound Dog and the band to the top of the heap and within months they were touring the festival circuit world wide. He went on to record two more records for Alligator before is death from cancer in 1975 and they also released a live record and an album full of studio out takes from his recording sessions but it all started here. This truly is Genuine House Rockin’ Music!

and the bonus 11th record

ALBERT COLLINS, ROBERT CRAY, JOHNNY COPELAND ~ ‘SHOWDOWN’: This record released by Alligator in 1985 is a MUST HAVE for any blues collection. As the elder Texas master’s stars were both rising and Cray was about to break through to the level that few blues players have reached before or since. 'Showdown' is a terrific slice of guitar playing with each of these men given the chance to shine, they all sing, they all solo and they all seem to be having a good time, as they work through some great classic tunes, it has a definite Texas slant It is Albert Collins that was the real focus having come off of his appearance with George Thorogood at the world wide television event that was Live Aid he had already had a long established relationship with both Copeland (going back many years) to their days in Texas as well as Cray who’s band was one that would back Collins when he toured the Northwest, using Albert’s Icebreakers as the band, these three got to cut lose and stretch out as they each tried to top the other. Showdown has been on the list of countless critics as not only one of the best Blues records of ’85, but one of the best of the decade of the 80’s or even all time. It’s a fun filled masterpiece.

A CHAT WITH THE LEGEND MAVIS STAPLES.

2005-09-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Back in January 2005, I had the distinct pleasure to secure an interview with one of the great voice's of the last half century.. A woman that has sang Spirituals all of her life and who as the female lead vocalist of the Staples Singers is synonymous with the civil rights movement, gospel music and simple positive thought in the music world. It was a huge honor and a great thrill... The interview is somewhat long but I hope you enjoy it just the same ...

Conversation with a Genuine Legend
An interview by Mark Fredell

aired live on KFAI Radio January 2005, and transcribed and printed in the paper BLUE MONDAY

As those of you that read the January issue of Blue Monday learned, I have been volunteering at KFAI radio in the Twin Cities and on Friday the 14th of January I had the distinct honor of guest hosting the number one show on their airwaves, ‘The Sugar Shop’. As I was preparing for the show I discovered that the date happened to be the Friday before Gospel & Soul Legend Mavis Staples was performing at the Ordway in Saint Paul so being the ever diligent person that I am, I took a shot and made some calls to try a secure an interview with this Icon of popular music. Well it didn’t take long, after getting a hold of the radio PR person at Alligator records he told me he’d see what he could do and within two hours he called me back and said it was a go, he gave me Ms. Staples number and said she would be waiting for my call Friday afternoon. So Friday rolled around and armed with the number I set out for the studio and another fortunate date with (another) genuine living legend… I dialed her up at about five after three and once on the air it wasn’t so much an interview as a history lesson for yours truly I simply would give her a quick little talking point and of she’d go, unguarded and honest, open and sincere, she was a true delight to talk with and for what was perhaps the quickest 35 minutes I’ve ever experienced on radio, we chatted and the following are the results of that conversation…

Mark: Hello Ms. Staples. It’s a real honor to talk with you, happy New Year.
Mavis Staples: thank you and happy new year to you too…
M: I am just thrilled to have the chance to talk with you today; I guess we should start by letting our listeners know that you are coming to town this Sunday the 14th to the Ordway Theater with a 5:00 o’clock start time and you’ll be performing your tribute to Gospel Legend Ms. Mahalia Jackson.
M.S.: Mahalia Jackson that’s right…
M: Of course there are few people more deserving of tributes than her.
M.S.: That’s right, she was my idle and a few years ago (1996) I did a tribute CD and I’ve been doing these tribute concerts for a while now and it’s always a joy it’s always a wonderful time because her songs are so powerful and fully packed you know so I’ll be celebrating Ms. Mahalia Jackson as well as Dr. Martin Luther King…
M: That’s right for the one listener who maybe doesn’t know, next Monday is of course Martin Luther King Day. Of course the school kids all know.
M.S.: That’s right they do don’t they. Sister Mahalia Jackson you know she sang at his funeral. He, Dr. King requested the song for her to sing, actually she had sang the song at an event they were at together and he told her that he wanted her to sing that song for him if he went first, he wanted her to sing it at his funeral.
M: Now that brings up an interesting point, the Staples Singers of course were at least in my opinion true Icons, I put them at the same level as say Louis Armstrong, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles, as a group that really did change the popular music of the time and in doing so changed the thought process of society, of the people at the time.
M.S.; Thank you…
M.: Well it’s my sincere belief but it raises the question, where you as a group or individually, conscience of the power and influence of your music at the time where you aware that your music was helping to foster change or was it something that you didn’t really grasp until looking back through the eyes of history?
M.S.: Well we were conscience of the fact that we were singing songs that were inspiring and uplifting to people. We didn’t realize that we were actually changing any ones out look or anything. You know we were making different transitions in our lives as far as well, you know we started out singing strictly gospel songs and then people like Dominick Jazz, Matt Hintock these people started writing about us and see we would do folk festivals, our sound was good for anywhere you know and from these type events we started to move on and singing songs like um, Dylan songs, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. And these songs that were meaningful, fit us fit our group you know; but no we weren’t really aware of our impact, we knew what we wanted to sing and what we enjoyed singing but we didn’t set out to change any thing, we started out as singing gospel and we didn’t jump over any fences so we could sing secular music… we did sing one secular song in our career which was ‘Lets Do It Again’ for a movie score for Curtis Mayfield. You know it had Sydney Poitier, Harry Belafonte and Bill Cosby. And you Know Pop’s told Curtis when Curtis said now Pop’s this is your part here which was (singing) I like you lady… And Pop’s said now come on Curtis man, I can’t sing that I’m a church man and Curtis begged Pop’s he said oh man come on please I’ll pray for ya…And you know the rest of us we all wanted to do the song so bad and we all begged him come on Pop’s. But you know the rest of the songs, the folk songs and what not, Pop’s would tell the song writers, he would say now if you want to write for the Staples Singers, just look at the paper, read the headlines see we wanted to sing about what was happening, and if there was something bad going in the world something wasn’t going right we wanted to sing a song to try and fix it.
And our sound you know Pop’s; well it took me awhile before I realized Pop’s was actually playing the blues on his guitar you know while we were singing gospel music, because that’s what he learned. You know he learned from Charlie Patton and Blind Lemmon you cause my father came up as a boy on Dockerys Farm (Plantation) down in Mississippi and Charlie Patton was there so Pop’s he taught himself but you know he watched this mans fingers he went and bought himself a little pawn shop guitar, you know he put it in layaway cause you know he wasn’t making that much money but then when he got it he taught himself how to play it. So I’m well we’re just grateful that our music has survived, you know that it has done what it’s done. You know we’re grateful for that and we just want our fans to know that we got a lot more coming for you.
M: well good, that’s good to know.
M.S.: yes indeed.
M: And what you said a minute ago, it’s interesting to me, some one on the fan side of what you’ve done both with the group and individually, that in your eyes at least, although many journalists and critics have said otherwise, as far as you’re concerned, you never really did move from spiritual to secular music. And that even when you did start recording the so called message songs which many see as secular, you see them as still spiritual songs which I for one can certainly agree with…
M.S.: Yes I do. They are spiritual.
M: But now at the time, did you get much gruff from the church you know there has always been the troubles with the blues players in particular you know saying they were singing the devils music, getting in trouble with the church, did you as a group suffer from that same kind of thing when you began singing the “message song’s” as opposed to the truly spiritual ‘gospel’ music.
M.S.: Do you know that the only song that the church, they wanted to put us out was ‘I’ll Take You There’… I’ll Take You There. And do you know that’s exactly what they said they said the Staples Singers are singing the devils music and I had to do well all of us we had to do so many interviews trying to tell them you know the devil ain’t got no music. You know all music is gods’ music and you know we were talking about taking you to heaven. And you see you have to listen to the words, and all they heard was the beat, see that’s what happened we had sang for so many years with just our fathers guitar that when we wanted to reach the youth and when Pop’s told us when we got started with Stax he said listen you all I think if we get us a rhythm section and the kids will jump on the beat, they’ll hear the beat then maybe they’ll hear what we’re sayin’. So we got a rhythm section, you know that was the first rhythm section that we had was with I’ll take you there and so we were singing “I know a place, ain’t nobody crying, ain’t nobody worried, ain’t no smiling faces lying to the races.’ Where else would we be taking you but to heaven. Finally people started to listen to us and we were invited back to church and you know that was the first song that was requested right there in the pulpit.
M: Wow. Now that song came out in 71?
M.S.: yes 1971…
M: I was about 7, and I can remember, now that even then at 7 that I knew where you were trying to take me…
M.S.: is that right. That’s wonderful.
M: You know though that’s the funny thing about so many people in this world they get so bogged down in the littlest detail, the tiniest segment of what they believe, that they forget to look at the big picture.
M.S.: that’s right… and see they heard that record being played across the board R&B radio where before we only got played on gospel radio but we were getting played across the board and people as soon as they heard that opening, they would jump up they’d hit the floor and start dancing but you know the church people they just completely shut out the message and then the Staples Singers; and knowing us if they really knew us they’d know that we were very serious with the songs that we’d sing we’re true to our faith and we’re sincere; so if they knew us they wouldn’t have jumped on us like that.
You know they the kind of people well you know they didn’t want Pop’s to even play his guitar in church for a while there, and Pop’s had to go to the scripture and show them where the bible says to praise him with screams, with tambourines, he had to show the preacher where it says to scream and make joyful noise, you know little David with his harp and Gabriel blew Trumpet you know you praise the lord how you want to praise him so when Pop’s started playing the guitar, Gospel singers weren’t playing guitar, Pop’s started all that with the gospel singers. You Know we are really pioneers of a whole lot of things, you know that happened with Gospel and contemporary gospel. We took all the flack, all the beatings you know, but that’s alright…
M: Absolutely… right along side Ms. Aretha.
M.S.: Yes. Yes.
M. Before you all came along there weren’t too many people putting the drums behind spiritual music before the Staples and Aretha Franklin.
M.S.: No indeed. That’s right…
M: I also want to mention that The Staples are being given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy’s this year, I believe that’s next month and of course you are in the Rock & roll Hall Of Fame.
M.S.: that’s right yes we are…
M: So if the stars line up and there’s any justice in the world you will be given the award during the telecast of course the politics of such things can be tricky.
M.S.: Or yes I hope so, I really hope so.
M: Now of course you’ve had a long and varied career and have worked with a lot of different and diverse people but being in Minnesota, it would be an injustice to my listeners to not ask about working with Prince, who was a producer on two of your records, 1989’s ‘ Time Waits For No One’ and 1993’s ‘The Voice’. How was he to work with, I understand he’s shy but is he easy to work with?
M.S.: Oh yes, he’s as shy as he could be, but he’s a beautiful, beautiful person, he’s very humble and he did everything he said he would do for me.
Our records weren’t played, I got caught up in the argument that Prince was having with Warner Brothers and so Warner Brothers would let my records be played but Prince and I knew, on both but the Voice, especially the Voice that record was about my life. See because this young man wouldn’t talk to me I had to write him letters, I was thinking now how are we gonna be able to communicate if he won’t talk to me so I just thought well I know I’ll write to him so I would write him long letters 12 15 pages, Legal pad pages, telling him about my life. I started from my childhood because I knew who I was with, I knew that this young man was one that god sent I knew what he could do with lyrics, with words, you just give him the story and he’ll fix it. Well that’s exactly what I did, I started with my childhood, and I let him know how I used to like to go to church on Sunday, you know Sunday school and how my mother would dress me in my little cute dress and do you know that any song that you hear on ‘the Voice’ there is some thing from each of my letters in those songs; you know ‘Blood is Thicker Than Time’ when I would tell him how I couldn’t wait for Sunday school my mother would dress me in my patent leather shoes, and my dress, he wrote a verse goes, (singing) “we went to church on Sunday morning dressed up looking mighty fine”. I told him I was married to an undertaker and he wrote me a song called the ‘the Undertaker’ ‘Get Your House In Order’ all of those songs and I’ll tell you that is some of the best work that I’ve done in my live is that record ‘the Voice’.
M: Now that brings me to another thought, Looking back now, is there one or two records or songs that lets say 20 or 30 years from now you can say now that is what they can remember me for, I like that one that’s what I’m proudest of?
M.S.: Oh yes… I would say really the songs that we did the ones we wrote when we met Dr. Martin Luther King, you know those songs meant so much in that time. When we met Dr. King we went to his Church In Montgomery, on a Sunday morning and Pop’s after, we got back to our rooms and Pop’s say’s listen you all I really like that mans message and I think if he can preach it we can sing it. And we began writing freedom songs, protest songs, we wrote
‘March of Freedom Highway’ and that was about a march from Selma to Montgomery. We wrote it’s a long walk to D.C. but I got my walking shoes on; that was for the march in Washington. ‘When Will We Be Paid’ for the work we’ve done… ‘Why Am I Treated So Bad’ all these songs were written from the situations that we saw, ‘Why Am I Treated So Bad’ was written about the “Littlerock nine” those nine children trying to board a bus for weeks to try and integrate the high school. And you know Pop’s and I would watch the news and we saw they had word from the president, from the mayor of Littlerock, from the governor, let those Children go to school. So we’re there watching the evening news and thinking let those children get on the bus and as soon as they get up to that door you know there was a policeman standing there and he had his Billy club out covering, blocking the door and Pop’s saw that and he said now why is he doing that to those children why is he treating them so bad and then he wrote that song that evening, and that song became Dr. Kings favorite. Any time we would be with Dr. King, you know cause we had joined the movement, he would tell Pop’s he’d say “Stape, now your gonna sing my song tonight right?” and Pop’s would say” oh yes sir Dr. we ‘re gonna sing your song.” That was Why Am I Treated So Mad, see those are songs that I would love, I would love to be remembered for all of my work but that time see it was a service that we were trying to do for our people… For all people really. And it was something that we weren’t asking for pay you know we wanted to raise funds for the movement. We would sing and raise funds for the movement, we would march and we felt good. I’ve never felt so proud of what we were doing as when we were doing that, so that’s one of the things I guess. I have a bunch of them really but that’s the big one I’d like people to remember me for, that’s the great one.
M: Well alright, that’s pretty good then… I want to go back to the show once more this Sunday. Is there any one part, one song that you really look forward to when you do this Mahalia Jackson tribute?
M.S.: Oh no, no, the whole concert, all of those sister Mahalia songs you know when I’m singing her songs I’m just the happiest person, well any song really when I’m singing period, I’m happiest when I’m singing and when I do her songs sometimes I can see her when I’m singing, I can visualize her and every one of those songs are going to touch somebody you know they’re going to touch you because they are so meaningful. And you know I always have to tell the people now don’t expect me to sound like sister Mahalia Jackson because I couldn’t there will never be another like her. You know your just gonna hear Mavis singing the songs that sister Mahalia sang. Now I have one accompanist and he switches from piano to organ cause that’s the way she did it I tried to make the Cd as close to the way as she would do it and the record company said we want a rhythm section and I told them well if you want a rhythm section then I can’t do it, cause that’s not how sister Mahalia would do it she’d just have a piano or an organ and that’s what I have on stage with me and that’s all I need…
M: Well Ms. Staples, I want to thank you so much for joining me here today I’ve had a really great time chatting with you, I can’t wait to see the show on Sunday, have a safe trip to town and dress warm. I’m gonna let you go, I’ve already taken a little more than a half hour of your time and I don’t want to take up any more
M.S.: Well I’ve enjoyed all of it. Thank you for having me on.
M: Thank you and I’ll see you on Sunday…

WELCOMe TO MY BLOG... my first entry (revised) with A Cd Review of 'Right About Love'~ from Reneé Austin

2005-08-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mark Fredell (aka. Mark 'Slim' Stevens) and believe it or not that man I'm sitting with to the right; John Lee Hooker was the first one to call me 'Slim' anyhow, welcome to my blog, as a long time blues music fan, photographer, radio broadcaster and journalist, I thought it might be fun to share some of my images, writings and ramblings here. I hope you enjoy, I will be posting old and new material, with images from my extensive photo archive, and maybe even some random thoughts on politics, love, world affairs who knows what else, I look forward to hearing from you. Have a look around and have fun.

Here is a review of a wonderful Cd by a remarkable singer... Miss Reneé Austin.

Reneé Austin
‘Right About Love’

Blind pig records

Cd Review by Mark Fredell

Its been about two years since Reneé Austin’s Blind Pig Records debut ’Sweet Talk’ and finally the follow up is here, hitting the streets August 16th, ‘Right About Love’ is yet another tour
deforce showcase for what will undoubtedly be considered in the music history books as one of the finest most versatile voices of her era. After 2 years of steady, hard road work Reneé has seasoned her vocals with a touch of tough grit and rock steady confidence and her songwriting, always strong shows signs of even more maturity and diverse influence, while keeping true to her style and heart.
There are many stylistic variations on this record just like on the last one touching down in the deep south on tracks like ‘Mouth Of the Delta’ with it’s haunting slide guitar and Renee’s deep moaning vocals and the hilarious cover of Bobby Gentry’s song ‘Bugs’ which unless you’ve spent some time outside of the city might give you a strong case of the he-bee-gee-bee’s; Of course there is the cry for love on ‘Harder Than It Has To Be’ with an impassioned plea to basically stop messing things up and just let things happen naturally.
Fans of her previous work already know that as a song writer Reneé can be quite funny too; that humor pops up on three tracks this time around each with different intents. On ‘U-Haul‘, her wry observational sense is directed keenly on the more materialistic of mankind reminding us all that you can’t take it with you, with the line ’you can’t pull a u-haul behind you’re Hurst’ , then there’s the track ’Thank You Card’ which in the tradition of some of her earlier song writing is a turn around of sorts with a great beat, a happy gospel infused piano driving out an upbeat sound as she sends her ex- a thank you card for leaving her behind, essentially letting him know that although he may think he left her down and out it was actually the best thing he ever did for her. Then on ‘Chicken Coop’ with it’s Nashville Twang, Reneé unleashes one of her patented you did me wrong now watch your back vamps reminiscent of ‘Bury the Hatchet’ from Sweet talk or ‘Pillow’ from Dancin’ with Mr. Blue. It’s always a serious subject when dealing with love gone wrong or someone stepping out side the relationship, yet Reneé loves to hit the subject right between the eyes with a wink and a grin. You’ll find some rocking funk on ’Meant To Be’ which is this releases true rocker and some soulful heartfelt R&B passion in ‘Strangers On A Train’ a terrific lament concerning “finally” taking the leap and not worrying about the consequences.
In addition to the twang of .Coop there is a countrified revamp of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s ‘That’s All Right’ as well as a true hillbilly tune in ‘Mister Cowboy’ a sweet little tune that has Reneé singing to her cowboy who’s off riding the post’s (one would assume) as she’s at home waiting patiently for his return. And of course you can’t over look the title track ‘Right About Love” co-written by Reneé and Malford Milligan (also featured in this issue.) It’s a slow griping song about being cold and alone in your heart and simply wanting to have some one to share your life with and wanting to be “right about love”. this one is a beautiful tearjerker and Renee’s vocals sell it with heartfelt pain and passion that can only come from a life of striving for that kind of happiness that is only found in the eyes of another as they gaze at you.
Throughout, Reneé sings with confidence and a bit of swagger often absent from female vocalists. As was the case with the last release this Cd probably won’t please the blues purists who don’t believe you can mix anything with that 8 bar 4/4 beat and still call it blues, But Reneé is fine with that, she’s confident in her art and is realizing there is a whole multi-layered world outside of the blues that is filled with great musical textures and different shades of Blue with Texas singer/songwriter Troubadours Like Delbert McClinton, Joe Ely and others; as well as those bluesy country Kats like Dwight and Lyle who mix the Blues heavy into their own hillbilly bag, how ever you slice it Reneé loves the blues as much as she loves country, gospel, or rock & roll and she is more than capable of doing her own thing while keeping it real in the sense of the Blues, thank god Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Little Walter and all the rest plugged in otherwise the Beatles the Yardbirds and the Stones might not have happened and thank god there are artists today like Reneé Austin that want to take all of their influences and try and create something fresh and new while paying homage to the traditions of the past, “Right About Love’ is a fine release, and deserves your attention.

A SHOW REVIEW / CHRIS CAIN

2005-08-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

This is a show review of Chris Cain, Far and away my VERY FAVORITE Guitar player today. After a nearly 7 year absence from the Twin Cities, he was booked into Famous Dave's BBQ & Blues the only venue in town that hosts national blues on a regular basis. Unfortuantly it was on a Monday night, but you'll read that part.

Return of a master is long overdue.
Story and photo’s by Mark Fredell

Originally printed in June 2005 issue of BLUE MONDAY

Monday May 2nd marked the return to the Twin Cities of guitar wizard and uptown blues shouter Chris Cain after a more than seven year absence. This is far to long for one of the most critically acclaimed and well respected guitar players in the field to be relegated to touring within a one day drive of his home, the past 7 years have seen Chris and his band restricted to playing up and down the west coast from (roughly) Portland to Los Angeles and not much else, and in that time he has produced some truly fine records and astonished just about any of the unsuspecting that happened into one of those west coast shows… Now finally with a new booking agent he has hit the open road once more for his first real tour of the upper mid-west since 1997 or so; criss-crossing the area for some 20 days of one niters from Salt Lake City to Saint Louis, Chicago to Louisville, Des Moines to right here in Minneapolis.
The most unfortunate thing about his appearance in the Twins is the simple fact that it was a Monday night, in these days, of smoking bans, terror alerts, money troubles and armed robberies on the streets of uptown, it’s hard enough to get a good crowd into a club on a Friday or Saturday, but to book one of the most highly regarded guitar players in the land, in a club he’s never played before in a town he hasn’t played in 7 or so years, where only the most ardent and diehard fans even know his name let alone have actually seen him play was a genuine injustice…. I don’t place blame here, I know it was one of the last dates of the brief tour and sometimes things just work out that way, but when you have a room that is known for keeping locals on stage early in the week and booking national acts (almost) exclusively on the weekends, it’s really a travesty to put this kind of talent on a Monday night and then do nothing more than the basic blip on the weekly advertisement to let people know he was coming. Now I kid you not, in the weeks leading up to this show, I mentioned Chris to no less than half a dozen renowned guitarists, and each one of them upon hearing his name couldn’t help but smile and voice their admiration for him and I’m talking some real decent players, like Bernard Allison, Carl Weathersby, Lurrie Bell, Michael Burks, Deborah Coleman and BB King to name a few, and with ‘fans’ like that, you’d think that this cat would be a huge star on the blues scene, instead the most common response when I mentioned the show to the “usual suspects” those (serious) blues fans that hit most all of the national touring acts shows in town was to the effect of “I think I’ve heard of him what does he sound like?”… So with all this in mind I took it upon myself to print up some little flyers and some posters and spread them around town as best I could. Now could some one please explain to me the logic of the venue— FAMOUS DAVE’S having a policy AGAINST!!! Yes you read that right AGAINST bands putting up posters or laying flyers on the front (host) counter to help promote an up coming show in the club... WHAT???? How stupid is that and of course with the help of some of my friends that work there I put up a few posters and put some flyers on the counter on a Wednesday evening no problem; only to return the next night and find all the posters gone and the hostesses using my flyers for scratch paper; The manager said the company has a rule against this kind of thing they told me, so he was just gonna throw these in the trash, (Oh like my posters?) so I took what flyers were left, notes and scribbles and all and simply handed them to people as the night went on.
Anyhow, back to the show…

For all my efforts with the flyers and posters and my own personal word of mouth, plus having the luck to do a live radio interview on KFAI with Chris about a week and a half before the date, I can confirm that I brought 22 people into the room that night, out of the roughly 80 or so that were there at the start of the show, probably a few more assuming the flyers/posters did any good at the music stores, record shops etc., Respectable though nowhere near the turn out Chris deserves.
So; hanging out before the band arrived, I spy Scotty Miller sitting at the bar, after a bit he gets up and comes over to me, “so, you a Chris Cain fan?” he asks, “what’s he sound like?” it turned out that Paul Metsa (music director at Dave’s) hired Scotty to play keys with the band, since he was touring with just bass and drums this time through, so I told Scotty to just think of Ron Levy playing with BB and Albert king in the early 70’s and he should fit right in. As nine o’clock arrived, I offered to do the band intro and announcing “our very own Scotty Miller” was sitting in on keyboards I announced from the bay area on the left coast the Chris Cain band and off they went, tearing into some of the greasiest fat toned uptown blues in the world today, Chris’s guitar beefy and swinging filling the room with blue notes and his vocals deep and gravely full of the emotions of years of feeling and living the blues life and within seconds those that had journeyed out on this Monday night where mesmerized, awe struck at the level of intensity in his voice and captivated by the sheer volume of notes he plays on the fret board, that’s one thing about Chris Cain, he plays a remarkable amount of notes yet he never seems to over play; similar I suppose to Eric Clapton who’s moniker ‘slowhand’ was dubbed him due to the unbelievable speed at which he plays. Chris can take a solo into the outer reaches of the solar system like a NASA rocket hurling through space filling virtually every inch of empty space with notes yet every one matters and fits perfectly with every other. The addition of Scotty playing (mostly) B3 Organ helped to deliver a crisp, sharp big city blues sound the whole night through, from the first solo break when Chris cut lose and then signaled Scotty to do the same, almost immediately you could see this trio of out of Towner’s breath a sigh of relief and instantly Scotty Miller was the newest member of the band if only for the night playing great fills and solo’s and even trading licks with Chris within the first few songs, people in the crowd were amazed when they heard that Scotty had not only never played with these guys before but had not ever heard a note that Chris had ever played until the first song of the night. The band had fun, those in attendance were impressed and somewhat overwhelmed and Paul Metsa even stopped in for a bit (very unusual on a Monday) and he assures me he’ll be booking Chris back (most likely in August) on a weekend and then maybe he’ll have the kind of ‘built-in’ crowd that will help to move him into the light of the Minnesota blues scene. I guess time will tell.

A VISIT WITH B.B.KING.

2005-08-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Visiting with
THE KING; B.B.KING.
Interview and Photo’s by Mark Fredell
originally printed in the paper BLUE MONDAY and Boradcast on KFAI Radio, Minneapolis Saint Paul.

On March 23rd, BB King and his band rolled into town for an appearance at Orchestra hall in Downtown Minneapolis and I was fortunate enough to be able to arrange a brief interview with him. As it happened, the show took place the day before my daughters 5th birthday and she jumped at the chance to accompany me excited about meeting Mr. King. Its funny when you arrange such a meeting, you are dealing with someone in this case Miss. Tina France from BB’s management company and she was very helpful stating that I would be allowed 15 (or maybe 20) minutes with Mr. King on his bus before the show, and providing me with the cell phone number of the tour manager to call 2 days before to finalize arrangements. Sherman Darby the tour manager is a very nice but serious man that doesn’t waste time and cut’s right to the point, we played phone tag for the better part of a day until finally we connected and he told me to meet the bus at 7:00pm outside the venue and they would be happy to have me onboard for the interview. So the night arrives, I get my girl cleaned up after a hard day of day-care get myself cleaned up and off we go DAT recorder in hand looking forward to my 15 minutes with the King of the Blues. I didn’t have a completely prepared interview, though I had some questions in mind as well as a few talking points outlined, we arrived at the theater at about 6:20 so we had plenty of time to hit the box office for our tickets at will call (thank you to Orchestra Hall for the seats- though they almost didn’t want to let my daughter in; I guess there was some question about her age, hmmmm.. that’s a story for another time though.) So now tickets in hand we set out for the stage door area, where we are to meet the bus in a half hour; well to make a long story much longer, an hour and fifteen minutes later the bus with Mr. King finally arrives, yes it was about 15 minutes before eight and there were “family” members of Mr. King hanging out and eyeing my daughter and I whom of course went on the bus ahead of us. Any one that has followed BB’s story for the past 30+ years has most likely heard that he no longer questions the validity of people claiming to be his kids, grandkids, nieces or nephews, he simply takes them at their word, greets them graciously, and at times gives them a few dollars if in need, he decided some time ago it was just simpler to do this than to fight every story of someone claiming to be his son (or daughter) by Ms. So and so he had a night with way back when. Anyhow, after another fifteen or so minutes of waiting, Sherman comes off the bus, and I introduce myself and my daughter, he greets her with a wide smile then looks to me and says “so you wanted 5 minutes with Mr. King right”?.... Um 5 minutes? Ms. France said I would get around 15 minutes, his reply, “I’ll give you 10 minutes but don’t make me come back and remind you.” Yes sir thank you I say, then as the “family” members leave the bus, my daughter and I board and walk to the back where BB Greets us with a smile, he recognizes me slightly; We’ve met twice before and I have photographed him some five times in the past 4 years being one of only 2 or 3 photographers at the front of the stage for his past 3 Blues Fest tours at grand Casino. I introduce Annette and tell him it’s her birthday the next day. He shakes her hand. We sit and as I unload the tape player we make small talk, I mention how Mr. Darby has cut my 15 minutes down to 10 and B says “well they’re just looking out for the old man” now with the tape player unloaded, and running I listen in the head phones for the volume level then pull them off when satisfied and my girl puts them on to listen to the interview through them smiling and nodding when B asks her “do we sound good?” And with that, the interview begins… I feel a bit rushed now and scramble to get my thoughts in order of priority and what follows are the results of my visit with the KING OF THE BLUES MR. BB KING…..
Mark Fredell: I want to of course begin by saying thank you for the opportunity Mr. King…
BB King: Oh it’s my pleasure…
MF: So you’re pushing 80 this year, 80 years young, congratulations.
BB: Thank you, I prefer 80 years old though, I’ve earned ‘um.
MF: Okay then 80 years old, and you don’t really seem to be slowing down much.
BB: Well I’ve cut down quite a bit now, I had been doing 240 to 270 concerts a year and now since I’ve been in my 70’s we usually do just over 200 shows every year and this year I’ll do hopefully close to 200 and I’ll start to cut down after 80(In September of this year.)
MF: Alright. Now you have a new record coming up can you tell me about it, I know there are some special guest, and is there any new music on it what are some of the details?
BB: Well anything that we do together will be new ‘cause they haven’t done it before… (Laughs) I have done one track with Sir Elton John I can’t tell you the name of it yet but we did cut one and I’ve been raving about it ever since we did it he’s such a great musician and a wonderful person to work with I had a wonderful time working with him. And there will be others (on the new record).
We haven’t had anyone turn us down that we’ve asked we’ve had some that couldn’t make it at the time we needed to do it but we’ve been lucky, everybody we’ve asked and I imagine it’s been over a hundred people; and some of them have said they would love to do it if we could do it another time but we just didn’t have the time…
MF: What are some of the years other highlights? I know the BB King museum in your home town (Indianola Mississippi) is going to be breaking ground soon.
BB: Yes they are, and they had hoped to have it ready in time for my birthday (September 16th.) but they won’t be able to do that but it should be ready in early 2006.
MF: And what do they have in-store, do you know any of the details, are you involved in any of the planning for it?
BB: I’m not involved in any of the planning for it, I have seen the architecture and I’m very pleased with what they are doing. They are, it will be where young people can come and have games and things of that sort, we will have workshops there from time to time and sometimes I will personally go there my self and give workshops.
MF: Speaking of which, I happened to catch on cable just this past weekend a broadcast of your workshop from the Montrose Jazz festival… I believe this particular one was from ’95 or ’96 I was wondering is that an ongoing thing for you, have you been back every year?
BB: (chuckling) Oh yes, I’ve been back every year; I’ve been doing that for some time now. When we first started there wasn’t that many people, but each year it gets more and more, this past one in fact 2004 we couldn’t get all the people in.
MF: Well I bet it’s nice to know that at this stage of your career you’re still drawing strong. I know I got to the box office today to pick up my tickets and they told me the show had sold out a few days ago (the show was at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.). So what’s this tour been like so far? (A bad choice of words on my part and I knew it as the words were coming out of my mouth).
BB: Well it’s been good, but as you may not know, I’ve never really taken time off. We’ve had time off but we haven’t just taken time off the road like some people do, say maybe well take off 5 or 6 months, we never have I took off maybe 3 months for a vacation once a long time ago and never have done it again but I have been off sometimes for oh maybe a month or two or three weeks but we’re on tour all the time, we just sort of rest up a little while then get back up on the bus and go again; 57 years of it like that.
MF: Yeah, the road really is your home… The other question I have for you now, and you may not what to answer it, I don’t know, I hope you do… Looking at the state of blues today which has been on somewhat of a decline in popularity recently, it’s harder for the ‘club bands’ to maintain a living on the road, who do you see as possibly the next real torch bearer you know you’ve got people like Robert Cray, and Keb Mo and some others that have had some good success, but no one has seemed to reach your level and been able to maintain it, they haven’t broken through like you have and sustained it.
BB: Well, let me put it like this, maybe you just don’t hear ‘um, I do (laughs) there are so many, we’ve got as you mentioned Keb Mo, Corey Harris there’s Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepard and then there are a lot more, a lot more of them out there that are good, terrific, I think that when I’m gone you won’t miss me, you might miss the name but that’s it.
MF: Well sir I for one will miss you greatly…And I hear what you’re saying…
BB: But I kind of disagree about the decline. The Blues today is more popular to me than it’s ever been since I’ve been trying to play it and ( MF I’ll give you that in certain respects) and it has to do with those young people we’ve mentioned, some of them; you know the thing is we still don’t get the exposure that some other music does I don’t think of it so much for myself, but I remember the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan he and Robert Cray too they were actually superstars in the blues world and they didn’t get it, so I know if they didn’t get it I could forget it. But like I say, there are still some real good players real good ones.
MF: Of course there are, but what I was referring to really were all those bands that I see coming through town here in Minneapolis for instance playing the clubs and they are struggling to get from gig to gig to make a buck and there really aren’t to many larger venues that give them a chance.
BB: That I can’t help you with, we have 6 clubs (Referring to the chain of BB Kings Blues Clubs) and I don’t play them to much, though I do once or twice a year but usually we, we’re open six days a week and well some of them we can’t pay either what they ask for but they do have a place to play if they, well usually I don’t book them but we have managers that do and I suppose they have their favorites they bring in more often than others… I don’t know.
MF: Well I’ve gotta wrap this up, I know you’ve got to get ready for your show, I really appreciate the time and the opportunity to visit with you a bit and best wishes to you for a great year and many more to come.
BB: Well I thank you very much, it’s always a treat to come here to Minneapolis and play the Orchestra Hall it’s a beautiful venue and we have a lot of fun.
MF: It is beautiful and I’m sure you will sound great (BB: Well I hope so) Thank you very much Mr. King…
Well there you have it my visit with the King, I am grateful for the chance to spend even a few minutes with this truest of living legends, as I packed up the recorder, Mr. King chatted a bit with my daughter asked her what she was hoping for, for her birthday (a bike) before she pulled my arm and whispered “daddy can I give him a hug” I told her don’t ask me ask him, she did and of course the answer was yes. I took a picture of the 2 of them, something I will always treasure and we bid him a goodnight. The show was good though not his best, however on a side note, keep your eyes and ears open for his opening act on this night a kid (19) named Daniel “Slick” Ballinger he’s from Florida originally and now lives in Clarksdale MS. I only caught his last 2 songs this night, but the crowd response told me he was something special; that was proven two nights later when I witnessed him open for Tommy Castro at the Cabooze, he’s amazing!
As for the interview, as I pondered some of the questions and the answers he gave I realized what was really obvious in the first place, BB King is BB King, he leads a life somewhat detached from the rest of the blues world he is a genuinely humble and courteous person, he loves to talk, but in this setting he’s a bit calculated and doesn’t want to offend. He gives the same safe answers and doesn’t want to ‘rock the boat’ so to speak and as for the bands that we (as the typical blues fans) see coming through town year in and year out, well that’s a world that he (deservedly) hasn’t been involved in for quite some time. He lives the life of the ambassador of the blues to the world this polite and gracious man from Indianola MS. That has seen more in his lifetime than most any of us could comprehend, I could never begin to understand what his life has been like any more than he should understand what it’s like for the typical band clubbing it through life in a station wagon or van today, he’s been there and done that but it was decades ago and it simply isn’t’ his reality any longer. As for the BB King Blues clubs, after a bit of research on my part, all I can say is it appears he’s out of that loop as well; a quick scan at the schedule’s at most of them show that there is very little “BLUES” happening in most of them, and the one(s) that do have some tend to showcase the same handful of acts week in and week out. So be it.
BB King will celebrate his 80th birthday later this year and when the time comes that he does leave us it will regardless of his own opinion on the matter leave a huge gap which in all likelihood will never be filled by any one person, after all he is ‘THE KING OF THE BLUES.’