On Ruby's Chicky Boil-Ups this week we're paying a visit to Him Upstairs...
Download this episode

Gospel Train - Sunbury Junior Singers of the Salvation Army
Heaven's Radio - Molly o'Day and the Cumberland Mountain Folks
Female Jesus - Men in Gray Suits
Dominique - The Singing Nun
Saved - Lavern Baker
Jesus in His Pomp - The Chimps
Six and Seven Books of Moses - The Maytals as The Vikings
Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - Paul Robeson
Soul Train - Judith
Angels Laid Him Away - Mississippi John Hurt
Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars

Fazem rockabilly e hillbilly com extrema competência. No entanto, a conservadora crítica britânica deu de ombros para o primeiro trabalho dos garotos. Mas, parafraseando o que costumavam dizer sobre Zico nunca ter vencido uma copa do mundo ("O problema é da Copa!"), dá para dizer o mesmo quanto aos garotos: "O problema é da crítica!".

Termino com Kid Vinil: "Se Amy Winehouse, Duffy e sei lá quem mais podem beber na fonte Motown e todo mundo acha moderno, porque não ir mais fundo e explorar as raízes do rock and roll como fizeram essas tres magnificas crianças londrinas."

Ouça "Kitty, Daisy & Lewis": http://www.myspace.com/kittydaisyandlewis

As influências: Louis Jordan, Louis Prima, Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson, Made Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Clarence Pinetop Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Booker T & the MG..s, Johnny Cash, Little Richard, Mississippi John Hurt, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Robert Johnson, Rufus Thomas, Little Brother Montgomery, Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley, T-Bone Walker.

Leia matéria do Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/07/12/sm_kitty12.xml

Leia matéria do Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/13/popandrock.reviews2

Artie Traum, the award winning guitarist who has recorded with the likes of the Band, David Grisman, Paul Butterfield, and James Taylor has died of complications from liver cancer.  He was 65.

From artietraum.com:

Artie Traum was an award-winning guitarist and songwriter featured on over 20 albums for Capitol, Sony, Shanachie, Slice of Life and Narada Records. A pioneer of the 1970's acoustic music scene, Traum has been described as a musician "whose work defines the vitality and sophistication of American acoustic music." (Acoustic Guitar Magazine 2002). During his career he produced or recorded with John Sebastian, The Band, Bela Fleck, Tony Levin, Richie Havens, Pete Seeger, Abby Newton, David Grisman, Livingston Taylor, Patty Larkin, Michael Franks, Jesse Winchester and dozens of top artists. A native of the Bronx, New York, Traum gravitated to the Greenwich Village music scene in the late 1960's. It was there he became influenced by artists like James Taylor, The Even Dozen Jug Band, Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters and Mississippi John Hurt. At clubs in New York, Artie listened to John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Jim Hall, Howard Roberts and the Modern Jazz Quartet. He recorded his first track She's Gone in The True Endeavor Jug Band started by blues writer Sam Charters for Vanguard in the late 1960's. He played guitar for the blues vocalist Judy Roderick and was the featured guitarist on her highly-regarded Woman Blue (Vanguard Records). He co-wrote and recorded the score for Brian de Palma's first film "Greetings" -the first role for Robert DeNiro - with Eric Kaz and the band Bear. In the late-60s, Artie joined forces with his brother Happy Traum. The duo recorded their debut album in Nashville for Capitol Records, a recording the New York Times called "one of the best records in any field of pop music." The Traums were managed by Albert Grossman (The Band, Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary) and toured around the world as an opening act with these groups and often headlined their own shows. They performed at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival and other major festivals on stage with James Taylor, Kris Kristoferson and Joni Mitchell. Their 2nd album Double Back was also recorded in Nashville, and at Bearsville Studios. Happy Traum moved to Woodstock in 1968 and soon Artie followed him to this small country town. The duo played major festivals and concerts around the world, with a strong fan base who enjoyed Happy & Artie shows that featured musicians Arlen Roth, Debbie Andersen, Eric Kaz and other top players.  During the 70's and 80's, Artie became an internationally known performer, appearing on stages in Europe, Japan and at the Newport Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival and Carnegie Hall. He also performed and co-produced the Woodstock Mountains Revue, a unique folk group that featured Artie & Happy Traum, Pat Alger, Jim Rooney, Bill Keith, Larry Campbell, John Herald and John Sebastian. Guest artists like Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Eric Andersen, Paul Butterfield and Paul Siebel joined the group for recordings. The Revue recorded 5 classic albums for Rounder Records, and although Rounder allowed over 50 of their tracks to go out-of-print, the band is widely considered one of the premier folk groups of the time. In the mid 1980's Artie joined forces with songwriter Pat Alger (Thunder Rolls, Unanswered Prayers, Once In A Very Blue Moon) and the duo recorded the album From The Heart. Pat Alger moved to Nashville to begin his career as a top country and folk songwriter. Rounder Records also allowed this album to go out of print, along with Artie's Life On Earth and Happy and Artie's Hard Times In The Country with notes by the poet Allen Ginsburg.  In 1988, Happy and Artie co-hosted "Bring It On Home," a live folk show out of NPR affiliate WAMC (Albany, NY) which featured guests Richard Thompson, Rick Danko & Garth Hudson, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason and dozens more.   In 1994, Artie made a sea-change in his style. Drawn to the jazz of Weather Report, Pat Metheny and Earl Klugh, Traum started exploring new directions. "I've always loved jazz and decided try a jazz instrumental guitar project," says Traum. The results were stellar: Artie's 1994 release Letters From Joubee captured the #1 spot on the smooth jazz radio charts (Gavin AA chart). This success led to other CDs that allowed Traum to explore acoustic guitar work and instrumental music.  In 1999 Traum released Meetings With Remarkable Friends, featuring collaborative tracks with Bela Fleck and Sam Bush, John Sebastian, Tony Levin, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, The Band, Adrian Belew and many others. Meetings was awarded Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of 1999 by the NAV Awards and has been described as a "classic."

Thanks to the fine people at Number1Albums for the link.

]]> http://naturalismo.wordpress.com/?p=823 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:31:15 +0000 =tyler= http://naturalismo.wordpress.com/?p=823

Tag, we're it. Our good friend Jody over at When You Awake just tagged us with a type of blog chain letter called the "Seven Songs Shaping Your Summer." Here's the deal:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now, shaping your summer. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they're listening to."

Here are mine:

Akron/Family - There's So Many Colors

Michael Hurley - Twilight Zone

Mississippi John Hurt - I'm Satisfied

Dock Boggs - My Old Horse Died

Entrance - Darling

Fire on Fire - Liberty Unknown

Mariee Sioux - Flowers & Blood

[ download ] Tyler's Seven Songs of Summer

saw rani singh's documentary on harry smith's anthology of american folk music tonight.  and like the recent anthology remixed exhibition i liked it but left me wanting more of him and the music rather than others and their music.  it was a nice talky little doc and all the more charming and personal for it.  the film follows the story of the anthology from the 78's of the 1920's & 30's to the folk revival of the sixties and ultimately to the mans unheralded (isn't it always) death, postumous worship and hal willners concerts.

unfortunately elvis costello features frequently.  more than harry himself for some reason.  anyway a few things struck me: 

lou reed

the predominantly white faces featured (with a few notable exceptions)

the ever increasingly cartoonish qualities of nick cave

how much more involved some of the artists seemed to be in the anthology songs than what i've seen of their own material

the highlight of the nineties concerts for me is beth orton singing mississippi john hurt's frankie.  first time i've seen it and has such grace and power i wonder why she's never made that much of an impact on me before.  at a guess the source material...

anyway a couple of songs from the anthology:

• buell kazee: the butcher's boy
• mississippi john hurt: frankie
• prince albert hunt's texas ramblers: wake up jacob
• rev. moses mason: john the baptist
• dock boggs: sugar baby
• blind lemon jefferson: see that my grave is kept clean 

and you can see the start of the film here.

harry smith archives / smithsonian folkways

When Mississippi Fred McDowell first started learning to play at age fourteen, he had no bottleneck slide to imitate the blues pickers of the day. So, he ripped a bone from the dead carcass of a steer and slid it over his finger to start teaching himself.  It is hard to believe he wasn't recorded until folklorist Alan Lomax discovered him in 1959 and recorded him as a part of the American folk music series on Atlantic.

"I made up a lot of the songs I sing. It's like you hear a record or something or other. Well, you pick out some words out of that record that you like. You sing that and add something else onto it. It's just like if you're going to pray, and mean it, things will be in your mind. As fast as you get one word out, something else will come in there. Songs should tell the truth... When I play-- if you pay attention, what I sing the guitar sings, too. And what the guitar say, I say.

[download] "Louise" + "I Heard Somebody Call"

=tyler=

]]> http://dkpresents.wordpress.com/?p=890 Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:57:35 +0000 dkpresents http://dkpresents.wordpress.com/?p=890

The P and I found this amazing artifact at our local flea market last summer. This poster (measuring 17 inches wide by 13 inches high, or roughly the same size as a Fillmore poster) marks the collision of legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt and the little-remembered Cabale Creamery in Berkeley, CA.

The Cabale was co-founded by Rolf Cahn, a folk musician and jewish immigrant from Nazi Germany. Located at 2504 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, it opened for business on January 4, 1963, and closed its doors for good in mid-1965. And although it was called a creamery, those who were there at the time have remarked that the only cream being sold on the premises was what went in the coffee served there.

Bay Area bluegrass musician Sandy Rothman describes The Cabale as “…a fairly small, long and narrow, dark room with the ambience of a '50s Beat coffeehouse. Coffee drinks were made at the far end of the room. When [musicians] played there the stage was against the long wall on the right side of the room as you walked in.”

Mississippi John Hurt traveled a long and winding road to find himself at The Cabale in 1964†. Hurt recorded a number of popular blues sides in 1928, only to see his fledgling musical career peter out with the onset of the Great Depression. For the next 30-odd years, he worked as a sharecropper, sometimes entertaining friends and family with his guitar at social gatherings in his hometown of Avalon, Mississippi.

But in musical circles, Hurt was presumed to be long dead until a musicologist named Tom Hoskins traced him to his hometown through the lyrics of his song 'Avalon Blues'. Hoskins convinced Hurt to move to Washington DC and revive his music career by playing colleges, concert halls, and coffee houses throughout the country.

Hurt passed away in November of 1966, but not before making three additional albums of mellow country blues. These latter-day albums (Mississippi John Hurt Today!, The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt, and Last Sessions) lack the intense fire and smokin' guitar work of his earlier music, but they are sweet, gentle records that deserve a home in the collection of any fan of the blues.

Listen: Frankie [from the album 1928 Sessions]

Listen II: Farther Along [from the album Last Sessions]

*****

†[Because the days of the week and dates are both listed on the poster, the P and I were able to use a perpetual calendar to determine that this concert took place in 1964]

*****

Further reading/viewing...

Chicken On A Unicycle: Berkeley Art
AllMusic.com: Mississippi John Hurt (biography)

Mississippi John Hurt

( John’s version of John Henry. This also was on

The American Anthology of Folk Music )

Well John Henry, he had a little woman, named Polly Anne.

When John Henry got sick and couldn't work, she drove like a man.

John Henry was a steel drivin' boy, but he went down.

Its a long way to East Colorado, baby that's my home.

John Henry, he left his hammer, lyin' side the road.

John Henry, he left his hammer, painted in red.

Ain't noone's hammer on this whole mountain, rings like mine.

Take this hammer and carry it to my captin, tell him I'm gone.

In the meantime I have been really exploring the world of Mississippi John Hurt.  I have gotten to the point where I have the technique down, and the so the songs are coming fairly easily and quickly.  Right now I am studing "Funky Butt" and "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me".  I am thinking that when I get the songs down well enough I might make a video and post them on youtube.com.  Right now, there are really no good videos of those songs on youtube.

Other than that, I have been looking into the possibility of riding a scooter or electric bike to work everyday.  These gas prices are killing me and my '95 Range Rover is relentless.

FUNKY BUTT

I thought I heard somebody say

Funky Butt, Funky Butt, take it away

Cause I don’t like it no how

You see that gal with the red dress on

She got funky butt stinky butt sure as you’re born

Well I don’t like it no how

You see that gal with the blue dress on

She got stinky butt, funky butt, let it alone

Cause I don’t like it no how

I thought I heard somebody shout

Open the window let the foul smell out

Cause I don't like it no how

Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me

Blues all on the ocean

Blues all in the air

Can’t stay here no longer

Have no steamship fare

(CHORUS:)

When my earthly trials are over

Cast my body out in the sea

Save all the undertaker bills

Let the mermaids flirt with me

Wife controls our happy home

My sweetheart I cannot find

The only thing that I can call my own is a

Troubled and a worried mind

(Repeat Chorus)

I do not work for pleasure

Earthly peace, I’ll see no more***

The onliest reason I work at all is

Drive the wolf from my door

(Repeat Chorus)

Blues all in my body,

My darlin’ has forsaken me

If I ever want to see her face again

I have to swim across the see

Various online sources are reporting the death of legendary rock and folk photographer, David Gahr. You may not recognize his name or his even his own picture (at left in photo), but you surely will know his iconic work. Bursting on the scene to document the folk revival of the late '50s to early '60s, Gahr captured the true essence of such performers as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Mississippi John Hurt, many of which were taken at the Newport Folk Festivals. To fully appreciate the impact Gahr had on contemporary music, one must realize that when he began documenting the folk revival, much of the world's music fans were just starting to embrace the songwriters who made up the scene. And in many cases, they saw Gahr's photos of those artists before ever hearing a single note. Other subjects ranged from Bruce Springsteen and Janis Joplin to Ted Nugent and the Dictators. And many many more. After several months battling health issues, Gahr passed away in his home at the age of 86. Sadly there doesn't seem to be an online gallery of his great work, so you can start here.

When you listen to Mississippi John Hurt perform his seemingly simplistic but mystifyingly rhythmic three-finger picking style, you suddenly imagine katydids buzzing from distant willows. You squint as the waning sun of a mid-July day wraps around your skin, and you suddenly feel a sense of home. You feel warmth, a feeling of honesty, and an air of tranquility from his eyes. It's nice to be here.

Not quite blues, not quite country, and not quite gospel, Mississippi John Hurt never wanted to be famous. And before he was rediscovered in the Folk Revival of the early sixties by an adventurous musicologist named Tom Hoskins, he certainly wasn't. Now, his influence is everywhere and his music still feels timeless.

=tyler=

say about tomorrow with tales to tell about st louis, missouri. that's were i have been. now i am back in san francisco and i have new ideas and a new resolve for this here blog.

here is a little video of mississipi john hurt a personal favorite of mine. i was lucky enough to find the vanguard record of his i was looking for at vintage vinyl on delmar in university city, mo right next to blueberry hill were the marquee had a chuck berry new years eve show posted. i think next time i am bringing an empty flight case to bring back all the great cheap records i saw could have been there for hours.

John Hurt (the ‘Mississippi’ prefix was little more than a record company marketing device) recorded just 13 songs in his heyday. Two were cut in Memphis in February 1928, and the rest at two sessions a week apart in New York City in late December the same year. Producer Tommy Rockwell of Okeh records was responsible for putting the sessions together. When the resulting records failed to do much commercially, Hurt wasn’t asked back, and Okeh itself fell foul of the Depression a few years later.

Hurt’s version of the standard murder song “Stack O’Lee” was paired with “Candy Man Blues” on a 1929 shellac disc (Okeh 8654), and the two songs remain his best known. “Candy Man Blues” is a jaunty, funny and dirty little song. It’s clear that he sure isn’t singing about a stick of candy:

Well all you ladies gather 'round
That good sweet candy man's in town
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

He likes a stick of candy just nine inch long
He sells as fast a hog can chew his corn
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

All heard what sister Johnson said
She always takes a candy stick to bed
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

Don't stand close to the candy man
He'll leave a big candy stick in your hand
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

He sold some candy to sister Bad
The very next day she took all he had
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

If you try his candy, good friend of mine,
you sure will want it for a long long time
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

His stick candy don't melt away
It just gets better, so the ladies say
It's the candy man
It's the candy man

Hurt was already 36 years old when he recorded the tune. He’d been playing guitar since of the age of nine, and it showed. His playing is nimble, complex and melodic. His voice is a lot different to many of his contemporaries, too – light and reedy and a little tremulous, not a million miles away from Marc Bolan (although less affected). And “Candy Man Blues” is simply a great, catchy little tune.

In 1963 a folk and blues fan called Tom Hoskins managed to track down a septuagenarian Hurt in his home town of Avalon, Mississippi. What happened next was remarkable. He played at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival and was showered with praise. The last three years of his life were spent recording albums, playing theatres and even making TV appearances. He died in November 1966 aged 74.

Robert Johnson – King Of The Delta Blues Singers

#1 – It’s hard to overstate the importance of Robert Johnson’s influence on the sound of modern music. His ghostly wail and precise finger picking style, combined with tales of hellhounds and cheating women, set the bar for what a blues singer should sound like (and, since rock was born out of the blues… well, you connect the dots). And his personal background is one of the most interesting and hotly debated stories in the history of music. An oft-told tale has Johnson meeting the Devil at the crossroads and trading his soul for the musical skills that would make him a legend.

But the songs are the real story here: ‘Sweet Home Chicago’, ‘I’m A Steady Rollin’ Man’, ‘Ramblin’ On My Mind’, ‘Stop Breakin’ Down Blues’, ‘They’re Red Hot’ and ‘Love In Vain Blues’ – along with nearly everything else he recorded in his short life – would go on to become standards, and have been covered by everyone from Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones to The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eric Clapton. Johnson’s influence was particularly rampant during the mid-to-late 1960’s when many young rockers (including Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and Clapton) turned to him for inspiration as well as material. And while Johnson had a deep influence on the British blues, his hold on musicians continues into the 21st century in the songs of the White Stripes and others. As long as music is being made, Robert Johnson’s influence will continue to resonate.

Howlin’ Wolf – The Chess Box

#2 – Howlin’ Wolf (aka Chester Burnett) is, as the Blues Hound says "a singer/persona whose ferocity has never been equaled and rarely even approached." He stood 6 feet 6 inches tall and tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds and his personality filled every iota of that frame. The guy just rips. “I just be in the field plowing and songs come to me you know…” he says on one of the spoken word segments here. Wolf sowed a number of blues masterpieces for Chicago’s Chess Records, including ‘Smokestack Lightnin’ ‘Back Door Man’ ‘Spoonful’ ‘Killing Floor’ and ‘300 Pounds Of Joy’. These songs – covered by early rock luminaries such as the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix – represent just the beginning of this treasure trove. For proof that absolute musical intensity doesn’t require ear shredding decibels or quicksilver guitar work, fire up Howlin’ Wolf’s epic Chess Box.

Leadbelly – King Of The 12-String Guitar

#3 – Huddie Leadbetter, aka Leadbelly, had a voice as smooth as good liquor, and twice as dangerous. He didn’t mind telling it like it was, and his man-in-the-streets style made him something of a gangsta rapper before his time. Indeed, legendary Library Of Congress field recorder Alan Lomax discovered and first recorded Leadbelly while that latter was serving time in the notorious Parchman Farm Penitentiary for attempted murder. A multi-talented instrumentalist, he specialized in 12-string guitar. All of Leadbelly’s music transcends the Blues – it is music of the highest order. The songs that Leadbelly performed in his lifetime have been covered by an incredibly wide array of performers, including Pete Seeger, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, and Van Morrison.

Billie Holiday – Songs For Distingue Lovers

#4 – To her core, Lady Day was a blues singer. A life filled with hard living, hard relationships, and hard drugs gave her first hand insight into what constituted the blues – and ultimately led to her early grave. But none of that should overshadow her accomplishments as a singer. In terms of vocal phrasing, Holiday stands as one of the finest singers of the 20th century – along with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye. Like those artists, her voice seems to come from within in the song, and any tune she put it to is instantly hers.

She sings like a woman whose heart was recently removed by way of her throat, so it wouldn’t matter if she were backed by Xavier Cugat or Carl Stalling – Billie Holiday always sang the blues. Here, she’s backed by Jimmy Rowles, Ben Webster and Barney Kessel, among other jazz musicians, but her voice epitomizes unendurable pain, endless struggle, and utter hopelessness. Songs For Distingue Lovers is as good a place as any to begin discovering the genius of Billie Holiday. Taking perversely happy songs and lending them her distinct touch, she turns tales of happiness and found love into gut wrenching takes on anguish and loss. Pure and bitter genius.

Mississippi John Hurt – 1928 Sessions

#5 – Mississippi John Hurt’s story reads like a blues fairy tale. A farm laborer from Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt recorded a number of sides in 1928 for the Okeh label. But the great depression effectively ended his recording career before it gained any traction, and he returned to Avalon to resume working as a laborer. In 1963, record collector Tom Hoskins pieced together clues from Hurt’s songs, found him in Avalon, and convinced him to resume his music career. Hurt was instantly recognized as a lost genius, and began a healthy touring and recording schedule, releasing three albums and playing to coffeehouses across the country. Alas, his re-found fame was cut short when he passed away in 1966. 1928 Sessions captures Hurt in his young glory before he went into deep freeze. His finger picking is absolutely unparalleled in the history of Blues music – just listen to ‘Frankie’ for evidence. A mellow, soulful singer, Hurt’s laid back style makes him instantly recognizable and thoroughly enjoyable.

Bessie Smith – The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1

#6 – The “Empress Of The Blues” possessed a voice powerful enough to cut through the hiss and scratch of primitive recordings and leap across the chasm of time. No other singer from the 1910’s & 20’s still sounds as fresh, vital, and imposing as Bessie Smith. She was one of the first stars of recorded music, and it wasn’t uncommon for her more popular sides to sell nearly a million copies. The majority of her songs were recorded before 1929, when the Great Depression essentially put the recording industry out of business.

The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1 is the first set in a series that collects all of her recorded work on 5 two-disc sets. The music here was recorded between February 1923 and April 1924 and features her mostly just accompanied by piano. From ‘Downhearted Blues’ all the way through to ‘Hateful Blues’ Smith’s voice is equal parts iron and velvet, and she sings like a woman who would – and has – spit in the face of the devil himself.

Before she died in 1937 – at age 43, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident – she laid a foundation of blues songs that have influenced generations of female singers, including Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin, & Norah Jones. But there’s only one Bessie Smith, and she’s right here, waiting to reach out across nearly 100 years’ time and tell you just how it is.

Reverend Gary Davis – Harlem Street Singer

#7 – Davis was born partially blind and lost his sight completely before he reached adulthood. He turned to the church in part to cope with this burden, and in 1933 was ordained as a Baptist minister. In the late 50’s he found favor with the secular folk crowd, and began to have an influence on players of that era including Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan, and eventually, Jerry Garcia. His picking style was born out of a badly broken and poorly set left wrist that forced him to finger his notes at an odd angle. But his vocal intensity was no accident – Davis sang with a fire that matched the brimstone in his songs. Harlem Street Singer displays the eclectic mix of song styles – ragtime, marches, gospel, field songs, and more – that he brought together through his incomparable voice and singular style.

Big Bill Broonzy – Trouble In Mind

#8 – Though not as often-referenced as other blues giants, Broonzy was a pioneering artist and influence on many of the men whose shadows he would come to stand in. Trouble In Mind is an excellent collection of singles he recorded during the 30’s for labels such as Vocalion, Columbia, and ARC, and it’s an excellent place to delve into his work. Broonzy brought a well-developed sense of humor to a genre that could have used more of it. But only someone with his slick genius could consistently put a smile on your face while singing the genuine blues.

Skip James – The Complete Early Recordings Of Skip James - 1930

#9 – Early Recordings is one of the scariest albums ever recorded in any genre, under any circumstances. James’ unearthly wail is the sound of a tormented spirit corkscrewing away from its earthly body. When he sings “Jesus is coming to this world again/Coming to judge the hearts of men“, he sounds like a leering devil who sees all your sins and gleefully knows how you’ll be judged. The quality of these recordings is terrible, but the sheets of hiss and scratch sound like black rain and actually add to the overall creepy effect. Refreshingly spared the digital sanitization that almost every other reissue of the compact disc era has undergone, this is a hair-raising journey down the darkest side street of the Blues.

Albert King – Born Under A Bad Sign

#10 – "He can take four notes and write a volume," guitarist Mike Bloomfield once said of Albert King. His minimalist blues styling is in a perfect setting here, backed by the Memphis Horns, Booker T. & The MG’s, and many other Stax/Volt luminaries. More a collection of singles than a proper album, Born Under A Bad Sign influenced a who’s who of rock, including Clapton, Hendrix, Peter Green, and others. More importantly, it fused soul, R&B and the Blues into a stout mixture that would reinvigorate interest in a sagging genre and ensure that King would be forever (and rightly) known as a Blues legend and one of the most influential musicians of all-time.

Mance Lipscomb – Texas Sharecropper & Songster

#11 – Beau De Glen Lipscomb’s nickname was short for “emancipation” but he sang like a man welded permanently to the chain gang. His acoustic Texas blues style didn’t find an audience until the 1960’s – by which time Lipscomb had been performing for nearly 30 years – but he was still quite prolific, recording nearly 90 original songs before passing away in 1976. Texas Sharecropper And Songster compiles the better part of two of his early-60’s albums for the Arhoolie label, and it’s an excellent introduction to one of the most gifted and original voices to sing the Blues.

John Lee Hooker – Alternative Boogie: Early Studio Recordings 1948 – 1952

#12 – Start with the voice: a slow drawl that’s as thick and sweet as molasses. Then there’s the backbeat: driving things along at a casual but insistent rate – like a ‘57 Chevy cruising down smooth, freshly-laid blacktop. The combination would carry Hooker to a magnificent career that spanned nearly 60 years and see him cross over to rock audiences time and again in ways that must have left his contemporaries wondering and envious. This collection contains early, alternate versions of songs that Hooker would go on to re-record, and it’s an impeccable look at the formative years of a Blues genius. To hear a fine slice of the other (funk/rock) side of Hooker, be sure to check out 1974’s excellent and underrated Free Beer And Chicken.

Lonnie Johnson – The Complete Folkways Recordings

#13 – Lonnie Johnson is the Velvet Underground of the blues. A bluesman’s bluesman, his wide-ranging influence sits in inverse proportion to his meager popularity. Luminaries such as Robert Johnson and Bob Dylan have cribbed from his phrasing, picking, and knife-edge vocals. After Mississippi John Hurt, Johnson is the most laid back singer on this list, but he still sounds like a man singing like his life depended on it.

Muddy Waters – At Newport 1960

#14 – At the 1960 Newport Folk Festival, Muddy Waters wasn’t yet a Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame inductee or Chicago Blues titan – he was simply a man with a band trying to impress a whole bunch of white people. This soulful yet blistering set did the trick, and then some – igniting interest in electric blues and sending Waters on his way to all those accolades. “Put A Tiger In Your Tank” is a perfect example of the barely restrained ferocity that marks the whole set. The band featured Otis Spann on piano and James Cotton on harmonica, and they provide the underpinning for Waters’ smooth growl. Muddy made many exceptional albums throughout his career, but none surpass the locomotive chug of At Newport 1960.

Blind Willie McTell – The Definitive Blind Willie McTell

#15 – “Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell” sang Bob Dylan in his song named and written for this blues titan. Virtually ignored in his lifetime, McTell wrote songs like ‘Three Women Blues’ – “one for the morning/one for late at night/I got one for noon time/to treat your old daddy right” that sound like a cross between Luther Campbell and Robert Johnson. That is, impeccably sung tales of love, lust and betrayal. And – like virtually every other name on this list – McTell has a long list of disciples (including Taj Mahal, Nirvana, Dylan, and White Stripes) and sings like he’s haunted by the very hounds of hell.

Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger

#16 – Of all the great blues artists, Bo Diddley most directly influenced the formation of rock-n-roll from the blues. His hits – including ‘I’m A Man’ and ‘Who Do You Love’ – contained a propulsive beat that foreshadowed the sound of rock, and not surprisingly, dozens of rock greats have covered his songs. His trademark square-bodied guitar (and matching glasses) makes Diddley an instantly recognizable figure. In fact, he’s been recognized by nearly every hall of fame that’s associated with music. And who could forget his classic ‘Bo Knows’ Nike commercial with Bo Jackson? Still going strong after 50 years in music, he recently headlined a concert fundraiser to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

R.L. Burnside – Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down

#17 – The most recently made album on this list by 32 years (Albert King’s Born Under A Bad Sign was made in 1968), Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down is nonetheless the real deal. Fat Possum Records has carried the blues torch proudly into the 21st century, and R.L. Burnside was perhaps the label’s most exciting artist until his death in late 2005. He puts on a fierce display of blues virtuosity here – melding Muddy Waters electrified intensity with Howlin’ Wolf’s larger than life presence, Skip James’ deathbed dread, and a healthy dose of modern effects like scratching and sampling. ‘Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues’ ‘Got Messed Up’ ‘Chain Of Fools’ and others prove that – even if Burnside is no longer with us – grimy, honest blues are alive & well.

Magic Sam – West Side Soul

#18 – Mississippi-Delta born Sam Maghett died in 1969 at the age of 32, and before he had a chance to establish himself as a great bluesman. Now considered the undisputed king of Chicago West Side Blues, his recorded legacy boils down to two great albums, West Side Soul and 1968’s Black Magic. Like Robert Johnson before him, Magic Sam left a towering if abbreviated take on the blues that continues to thrill listeners and influence musicians of every persuasion.

Jimmy Reed – Blues Masters: The Very Best Of

#19 – Covered by a wide range of artists including The Yardbirds, Neil Young, Elvis Presley, and the Grateful Dead, Reed is one of the most influential musicians to ever pick up a guitar. The quality and thoroughness of this compilation is as much a tribute to the excellent work of Rhino records as it is to Reed himself. Too many blues greats are undermined by shoddy and inferior ‘greatest hits’ packages that have more holes than a rack of bowling balls, but The Very Best Of Jimmy Reed hits all the high points, and there are plenty. Reed died at age 50 in 1976 from complications related to alcoholism, but his place in music history (not to mention his plaque in the Rock & Roll hall of fame) had been long ago secured.

Lightnin’ Hopkins – The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings (Box Set)

#20 – Texan Sam ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins strayed beyond the usual blues topics (bad women, tough times, hard liquor, etc) and reported on the happenings of his day, including aerospace travel, the wars in Vietnam and Korea, and natural disasters of all shapes and sizes. Worth the splurge, this seven disc box collects 12 of his albums from the 1960’s. Considering that he recorded more than 50 albums in a nearly 40-year recording career, this is a great way to start getting acquainted with a Blues legend.

Other Shades Of Blue…

Bukka White – The Complete Bukka White
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells – Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play The Blues
Tommy Johnson – Canned Heat (1928-1929)
Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup – That’s All Right Mama
Elmore James – Shake Your Moneymaker: The Best Of The Fire Sessions
Charley Patton – Pony Blues
Otis Rush – Cobra Recordings: 1956-1958
Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown – Original Peacock Recordings
Sonny Boy Williamson [II] – One Way Out
Pink Anderson – Ballad And Folksinger - Vol. 3
Etta James – The Chess Box
Furry Lewis – Shake ‘Em On Down
Willie Dixon – I Am The Blues
Lightnin’ Slim – Rooster Blues
Albert Collins, Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland – Showdown!
Son House – Father Of The Delta Blues: The Complete 1965 Recordings
Memphis Minnie – The Essential Memphis Minnie
T-Bone Walker – The Complete Imperial Recordings: 1950-1954
Smoky Babe – Hottest Brand Goin’

6 More Greats That Didn’t Quite Fit…

Ray Charles

John Fahey

John Mayall

Roy Buchanan

Ali Farka Toure

Taj Mahal

10 From The Next Generation(s)…

Jimi Hendrix
The Allman Brothers Band
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Steve Miller Band
JJ Cale
Terry Reid
Santana
White Stripes
Black Keys
British Blues (Bluesbreakers, Yardbirds, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, Faces, Led Zeppelin, Pretty Things, Downliners Sect, Kinks, etc)

Great Blues Compilations

Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues (Box Set)
Chess Blues (Box Set)
The Great Bluesmen (Vanguard)
Anthology Of American Folk Music (Box Set)

Born in 1892, John Smith Hurt was already 36 years old when he recorded these 12 sides for OKeh Records in 1928. He was an outstanding, but rather unusual, delta blues musician who did not employ the loud and percussive guitar playing required in the bustling juke joints. Hurt instead sang and played as he lived - quietly and simply. But profoundly. 

Given the nickname "Mississippi" by OKeh Record company exectutives, Hurt is known for songs like Casey Jones and Candyman but it is Stack 'O Lee Blues that became his hallmark. Stack 'O Lee is a song based on actual events surrounding the murder of William Lyon in 1895 by "Stag" Lee Sheldon near St. Louis. This song or some variation thereof (Stagger Lee, Stagolee, Stackerlee, Stack-a-Lee) has been recorded by a seemingly endless variety of artists. Hurt's version, with the simple (but difficult) fingerpicked guitar part, has come to be regarded as the definitive version:

[audio=http://www.archive.org/download/Mississippi_John_Hurt-Stack_O_Lee/Mississippi_John_Hurt--Stack_O_Lee_Blues.mp3]

In many ways, John Hurt could be looked at as the polar opposite of a figure like Robert Johnson - all youth and brashness, surrounded by mystery. Hurt played his exquisite fingerstyle ballads for friends and family at neighborhood picnics and church dinners in and around Avalon Mississippi. There were no rumors about him - he didn't sleep in a graveyard, he didn't sell his soul to the devil, he didn't drink to excess and he wasn't poisoned. Other than an unconventional domestic arrangement, he led the quiet life of a poor southern farmer and played his music as a hobby.

In fact, the only mystery that ever attached itself to Mr. Hurt's name was the question of what became of him after these 1928 recording sessions. The records sold poorly and OKeh folded during the great depression. Afterward, Hurt faded into obscurity. The 78 RPM records, though, became highly sought after in the 1950's as young, white folkies discovered Hurt's music.

In 1963, a musicologist named Tom Hoskins tracked down John Hurt near his hometown in Mississippi, using the song "Avalon Blues" as a clue. Hurt, still playing and singing regularly, was thrust into the Folk music boom of the time. He earned rave reviews at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, toured the country, made three albums for Vanguard Records and even appeared on The Tonight Show.

There are very few films of Mr. Hurt playing and singing - this, from Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest, is one of the best:

John Hurt died in 1966 and is buried in Grenada, Mississippi. His legacy lives on in the influence he had on Country, Rock, Folk and Blues music as well as in the museum and non-profit foundationoperated by his descendants.

Stack O' Lee by Mississippi John Hurt - an immortal song by a singular talent. [audio=http://www.archive.org/download/Mississippi_John_Hurt-Stack_O_Lee/Mississippi_John_Hurt--Stack_O_Lee_Blues.mp3]

Mr Hurt's storytelling ability and his incredible finger-picking would have him on my list of 7 more often than not.

Fell on Black Days by Soundgarden - Why? I don't know... I've been putting a bunch of my old CD tracks on the iPod lately and this one caught my attention.

Career Opportunities - The Clash - I love this song. I read somewhere that the idea for the song came from Paul Simonon's old job of opening packages for the British government to make sure they didn't have mail bombs in them!

One by U2 - Another one I recently put on the 'pod. A beautiful song from a surprisingly great album.

Hero of the Day by Metallica. Not a big Metallica fan but this was always a favorite. Listened to it a dozen times in the past couple of days. Cool guitar riff and great use of dynamics...

Praise God I'm Satisfied by Blind Willie Johnson. Blind Willie is regarded by some as one of the greatest slide guitar players ever. He was a preacher who sang his sermons in a gravelly false bass while playing that wicked slide- think Karl Childers singin' the blues: [audio=http://www.archive.org/download/Blind_Willie_Johnson-Praise/Blind_Willie_Johnson-Praise_God_Im_Satisfied.mp3]

Unfortunately I can't understand a word he sings. Best I can tell, it's a blues hymn of thankfulness for Christ's sacrifice but then again, who knows. Anyone having the lyrics to this song, please email me :D

Crying Time - by Buck Owens. What'd you expect, it's Buck Owens week!

You must have known that would be a strange mix of songs, right?

I tag Vicki, Stacie, Laura and anyone who can come up with a stranger list than mine...