Friday, October 19, 2007
Joe Bonamassa
Joe Bonamassa
Guitar Slinger, New York Style:
Developing his own style at an early age, Joe has gone on to turn many heads in the Blues community. He is also a motivated participant in Blues education programs, A bona fide hot new player. Let me know what you think of him ?
R. J. Dog
Guitar Slinger, New York Style:
Developing his own style at an early age, Joe has gone on to turn many heads in the Blues community. He is also a motivated participant in Blues education programs, A bona fide hot new player. Let me know what you think of him ?
R. J. Dog
Thursday, October 18, 2007
100 Greaest Blues Songs
1. Memphis Blues - W.C. Handy 2. Crazy Blues - Mamie Smith 3. Pine Top Boogie - Pine Top Smith 4. Dust My Broom - Elmore James 5. Boogie Chillun - John Lee Hooker 6. Manish Boy - Muddy Waters 7. Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker 8. Hellhound On My Trail - Robert Johnson 9. Spoonful - Willie Dixon10. The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King11. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Sonny Boy Williamson I12. Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King13. Forty Four Blues - Roosevelt Sykes14. Smokestack Lightnin - Howlin' Wolf15. Statesboro Blues - Taj Mahal16. Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters17. Juke - Little Walter18. The Little Red Rooster - Willie Dixon19. Come In My Kitchen - Robert Johnson20. I'm a King Bee - Slim Harpo21. The Things That I Used To Do - Guitar Slim22. Back Door Man - Willie Dixon23. It's My Own Fault - B.B. King24. I'm Tore Down - Freddie King25. T-Bone Blues - T-Bone Walker26. Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson27. Preaching The Blues - Son House28. Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out - Bessie Smith29. I Can't Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters30. Shake Your Moneymaker - Elmore James31. Matchbox Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson32. Hideaway - Freddie King33. How Long, How Long Blues - Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell34. Five Long Years - B.B. King35. Red House - Jimi Hendrix36. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson37. All Your Love - Magic Sam38. Give Me Back My Wig - Hound Dog Taylor39. Reconsider Baby - Lowell Fulson40. Worried Life Blues - Sleepy John Estes41. If Trouble Was Money - Albert Collins42. I Ain't Superstitious - Willie Dixon43. Sweet Black Angel - Robert Nighthawk44. I Know What You're Putting Down - Louis Jordan45. Black Snake Moan - Blind Lemon Jefferson46. Ball and Chain - Big Mama Thornton47. Further On Up The Road - Bobby 'Blue' Bland48. I Can't Quit You Baby - Otis Rush49. Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker50. Born In Chicago - Paul Butterfield Blues Band
51. Let The Good Times Roll - Louis Jordan52. Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan53. Pony Blues - Charley Patton54. The Sky Is Crying - Elmore James55. Catfish Blues - Robert Petway56. Highway 49 - Big Joe Williams57. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson58. Blues Before Sunrise - Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell59. Baby Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams60. Bumble Bee - Memphis Minnie61. I'm Ready - Muddy Waters62. It Hurts Me Too - Elmore James63. Stop Breakin' Down - Robert Johnson64. Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan65. I'm In The Mood - John Lee Hooker66. Me and The Devil Blues - Robert Johnson67. The Walkin' Blues - Taj Mahal68. 'Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do - Bessie Smith69. It's Tight Like That - Tampa Red70. Love In Vain - Robert Johnson71. Evil - Willie Dixon72. Baby Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo73. Wang Dang Doodle - Koko Taylor74. On The Road Again - Canned Heat75. Rock Me Mama - Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup76. Three O'Clock Blues - B.B. King77. Tomorrow Night - Lonnie Johnson78. Boom Boom Out Go The Lights - Little Walter79. The Same Thing - Willie Dixon80. West Coast Blues - Blind Blake81. How Many More Years - Howlin' Wolf82. Cryin' Shame - Lightnin' Hopkins83. Rollin & Tumblin - Elmore James84. Everyday I Have The Blues - B.B. King85. Messin Around - Memphis Slim86. Blues After Hours - Pee Wee Crayton87. Eyesight To The Blind - Sonny Boy Williamson II88. CC Rider - Ma Rainey89. I'm Tired - Savoy Brown90. Graveyard Dream Blues - Ida Cox91. Beaver Slide Rag - Peg Leg Howell92. Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy93. Messin' With The Kid - Junior Wells94. The Seventh Son - Willie Dixon95. As The Years Go Passing By - Gary Moore96. We're Gonna Make It - Little Milton97. Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee98. Hard Luck Blues - Roy Brown99. Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac100. Stone Crazy - Buddy Guy
51. Let The Good Times Roll - Louis Jordan52. Pride and Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan53. Pony Blues - Charley Patton54. The Sky Is Crying - Elmore James55. Catfish Blues - Robert Petway56. Highway 49 - Big Joe Williams57. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Blind Lemon Jefferson58. Blues Before Sunrise - Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell59. Baby Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams60. Bumble Bee - Memphis Minnie61. I'm Ready - Muddy Waters62. It Hurts Me Too - Elmore James63. Stop Breakin' Down - Robert Johnson64. Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan65. I'm In The Mood - John Lee Hooker66. Me and The Devil Blues - Robert Johnson67. The Walkin' Blues - Taj Mahal68. 'Taint Nobody's Bizness If I Do - Bessie Smith69. It's Tight Like That - Tampa Red70. Love In Vain - Robert Johnson71. Evil - Willie Dixon72. Baby Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo73. Wang Dang Doodle - Koko Taylor74. On The Road Again - Canned Heat75. Rock Me Mama - Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup76. Three O'Clock Blues - B.B. King77. Tomorrow Night - Lonnie Johnson78. Boom Boom Out Go The Lights - Little Walter79. The Same Thing - Willie Dixon80. West Coast Blues - Blind Blake81. How Many More Years - Howlin' Wolf82. Cryin' Shame - Lightnin' Hopkins83. Rollin & Tumblin - Elmore James84. Everyday I Have The Blues - B.B. King85. Messin Around - Memphis Slim86. Blues After Hours - Pee Wee Crayton87. Eyesight To The Blind - Sonny Boy Williamson II88. CC Rider - Ma Rainey89. I'm Tired - Savoy Brown90. Graveyard Dream Blues - Ida Cox91. Beaver Slide Rag - Peg Leg Howell92. Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy93. Messin' With The Kid - Junior Wells94. The Seventh Son - Willie Dixon95. As The Years Go Passing By - Gary Moore96. We're Gonna Make It - Little Milton97. Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee98. Hard Luck Blues - Roy Brown99. Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac100. Stone Crazy - Buddy Guy
Etta James
Born Los Angeles, California mid-1930's
A singer with great vitality and the ability to modify her style as musical trends changed, Etta James remained a favority of rhythm & blues followers for decades. Among R&B female vocalists, only Dinah Washington and Ruth Brown have had more top 10 hits from the early 1950's to the early 1970's.
Like dozens of other soul stars, Etta James was brought to the limelight by Johnny Otis who had seen her playing the Fillmore in San Francisco in the early 1950's. While getting her financial feet on the ground, Etta stayed with Otis and his girlfriend where she penned "Roll With Me Henry" which became a hit when released by Modern Records.
During the mid-1950's Etta became one of the most popular members of Johnny Otis' show and had two more hits on Modern.
At the start of the 1960's, she signed a contract with Chess Records and began a new and more rewarding phase of her career. It was during this time that she had such hits as "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", and "If I Can't Have You", a duet with Harvey Fuqua (of Harvey and the Moonglows). On these cuts, her singing had a more gospel and blues content rather than the rough, strident inflections of old-time R&B.
In the mid-1960's her career was plagued by drug addiction. For months at a time she would be sidelined. But through it all she kept going and working when she could.
Her last album for Chess was cut in 1977 "Etta is Betta Than Evah". It was not a great album, but complied with the requirements for terminating her contract.
In the 1980's she played small clubs and special concerts.
A singer with great vitality and the ability to modify her style as musical trends changed, Etta James remained a favority of rhythm & blues followers for decades. Among R&B female vocalists, only Dinah Washington and Ruth Brown have had more top 10 hits from the early 1950's to the early 1970's.
Like dozens of other soul stars, Etta James was brought to the limelight by Johnny Otis who had seen her playing the Fillmore in San Francisco in the early 1950's. While getting her financial feet on the ground, Etta stayed with Otis and his girlfriend where she penned "Roll With Me Henry" which became a hit when released by Modern Records.
During the mid-1950's Etta became one of the most popular members of Johnny Otis' show and had two more hits on Modern.
At the start of the 1960's, she signed a contract with Chess Records and began a new and more rewarding phase of her career. It was during this time that she had such hits as "All I Could Do Was Cry", "My Dearest Darling", and "If I Can't Have You", a duet with Harvey Fuqua (of Harvey and the Moonglows). On these cuts, her singing had a more gospel and blues content rather than the rough, strident inflections of old-time R&B.
In the mid-1960's her career was plagued by drug addiction. For months at a time she would be sidelined. But through it all she kept going and working when she could.
Her last album for Chess was cut in 1977 "Etta is Betta Than Evah". It was not a great album, but complied with the requirements for terminating her contract.
In the 1980's she played small clubs and special concerts.
Little Milton
He was born Milton Campbell in a modest sharecroppers home on the outskirts of Inverness, Mississippi, on September 7th 1934. As a child, he was drawn by a very popular radio shows of the day (and still is): The Grand Ole Opry. He found an early connection to Country and western music and later fused it with the other two predominant musical influences of the Mississippi Delta: Gospel & Blues. A youthful “Little” Milton began studying what he heard and practiced; mastering songs and reciting them, no matter what the style or difficulty. By his early teens, he was performing in local clubs and bars across the Delta.
As Milton grew into a young man, he didn't waste any time learning the ropes or absorbing all the musical possibilities that existed at the time. He played street corners, alleys, dives, you name it, carefully developing his craft and attracting the attention of established acts and local record labels. By the time Ike Turner introduced Milton to Sam Phillips of Sun Records in the early 50's, he was a young but seasoned performer with a momentous live show that created a buzz in every town he played. His debut single Beggin My Baby was recorded and released at the same time Sam Phillips was molding the sound of another unknown talent from Mississippi: Elvis Presley.
After recording a series of sides at Sun without great fanfare, Milton moved to East St. LouisÂ’ Bobbin Records, where his recording career flourished. He also became Bobbin's A&R chief and working partner to its owner, Bob Lyons. During this era, Milton signed such artists as Albert King and Fontella Bass to the label. Most importantly, he cut his own first hit, I'm A Lonely Man, in 1958.
Milton's skyrocketing success soon drew the attention of Chess Records executives in Chicago, who signed him to Chess Checkers label and moved him north. Chess carried Little Milton from southern blues circuit fame to the national spotlight and to white audiences. Milton's recordings realized only moderate chart success, until he cut We're Gonna Make It, which hit No. 1 on Billboard magazines R&B singles chart in 1965. On the Checker label, he registered hits from 1962 through 1971 that would become American blues classics and staples of his live shows. His Checker recordings included Baby I Love You, If Walls Could Talk, Feel So Bad, Who's Cheating Who? and the unforgettable Grits Ain't Groceries. After the death of label founder Leonard Chess in 1969, the company eventually dissolved and Milton signed with Stax.
At Stax, he joined a virtual whoÂ’s who of influential black recording artist of the day including Isaac Hayes, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, Albert King and, coincidentally, another future Malaco star, the late Johnnie Taylor. MiltonÂ’s legend only grew at Stax, where from 1971 through 1975, he stacked up more mega hitsÂ…including Walking The Back Streets and Cryin and That's What Love Will Make You Do.
When Stax filed bankruptcy in 1975, Milton joined TK/Glades Records in Miami, then home to such artist as Betty Wright, K. C. & The Sunshine Band and Latimore. There, he racked up another charted hit, Friend of Mine. But the Glade label also went out of business. Consequently, in 1983, he released his only album for MCA, Age Ain't Nothin But A Number. The title cut was an instant-charted hit.
In 1984, Little Milton united with Malaco Records and began the longest professional association of his career. He continued his exceptional vocal and guitar styles and quickly became one of Malaco's biggest selling artists. He swept up such honors as the 1988 W. C. Handy Blues Entertainer of the Year Award and the 2000 Grammy award nomination. He also was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Over the years, Malaco has released 14 of Little Milton's albums, including the critically acclaimed, Billboard blues smash hit Cheatin Habit. Cheatin Habit followed his wildly successful Little Milton's Greatest Hits compilation. Some of Little Milton's Malaco cuts that have become American blues standards include Annie Mae's Cafe, The Blues is Alright, Little Bluebird, Room 244, I Was Trying Not to Break Down, Catch You on Your Way Down, Murder on Your Hands, and Comeback Kind of Love.
The year 2001 marked a successful run of sold out shows in the United States and Europe and the release of Feel It. Malaco doubled back in September, 2002, with the release CD number 14, Guitar Man. It's celebrated cuts include Guitar Man, Still Some Meat Left on this Bone, and Milton's soulful rendition of My Way.
In 2005, after more than a half century after his early SUN recordings, Little Milton made his debut on the TELARC label with the release of THINK OF ME, a mesmerizing CD consisting of a dozen tracks distilling a lifetime of rich guitar skills, compelling vocals and deft songwriting all wrapped into a single high powered package. It would be his last studio recording.
The man who made the THE BLUES IS ALRIGHT a national anthem with blues enthusiasts around the globe, passed away on August 4, 2005, after suffering a massive brain stroke. Hundreds of family, friends, and fans attended his memorial on August 10, 2005 in South Haven, Mississippi in a final farewell to "MR. C".
As Milton grew into a young man, he didn't waste any time learning the ropes or absorbing all the musical possibilities that existed at the time. He played street corners, alleys, dives, you name it, carefully developing his craft and attracting the attention of established acts and local record labels. By the time Ike Turner introduced Milton to Sam Phillips of Sun Records in the early 50's, he was a young but seasoned performer with a momentous live show that created a buzz in every town he played. His debut single Beggin My Baby was recorded and released at the same time Sam Phillips was molding the sound of another unknown talent from Mississippi: Elvis Presley.
After recording a series of sides at Sun without great fanfare, Milton moved to East St. LouisÂ’ Bobbin Records, where his recording career flourished. He also became Bobbin's A&R chief and working partner to its owner, Bob Lyons. During this era, Milton signed such artists as Albert King and Fontella Bass to the label. Most importantly, he cut his own first hit, I'm A Lonely Man, in 1958.
Milton's skyrocketing success soon drew the attention of Chess Records executives in Chicago, who signed him to Chess Checkers label and moved him north. Chess carried Little Milton from southern blues circuit fame to the national spotlight and to white audiences. Milton's recordings realized only moderate chart success, until he cut We're Gonna Make It, which hit No. 1 on Billboard magazines R&B singles chart in 1965. On the Checker label, he registered hits from 1962 through 1971 that would become American blues classics and staples of his live shows. His Checker recordings included Baby I Love You, If Walls Could Talk, Feel So Bad, Who's Cheating Who? and the unforgettable Grits Ain't Groceries. After the death of label founder Leonard Chess in 1969, the company eventually dissolved and Milton signed with Stax.
At Stax, he joined a virtual whoÂ’s who of influential black recording artist of the day including Isaac Hayes, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T. & The M.G.'s, Albert King and, coincidentally, another future Malaco star, the late Johnnie Taylor. MiltonÂ’s legend only grew at Stax, where from 1971 through 1975, he stacked up more mega hitsÂ…including Walking The Back Streets and Cryin and That's What Love Will Make You Do.
When Stax filed bankruptcy in 1975, Milton joined TK/Glades Records in Miami, then home to such artist as Betty Wright, K. C. & The Sunshine Band and Latimore. There, he racked up another charted hit, Friend of Mine. But the Glade label also went out of business. Consequently, in 1983, he released his only album for MCA, Age Ain't Nothin But A Number. The title cut was an instant-charted hit.
In 1984, Little Milton united with Malaco Records and began the longest professional association of his career. He continued his exceptional vocal and guitar styles and quickly became one of Malaco's biggest selling artists. He swept up such honors as the 1988 W. C. Handy Blues Entertainer of the Year Award and the 2000 Grammy award nomination. He also was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Over the years, Malaco has released 14 of Little Milton's albums, including the critically acclaimed, Billboard blues smash hit Cheatin Habit. Cheatin Habit followed his wildly successful Little Milton's Greatest Hits compilation. Some of Little Milton's Malaco cuts that have become American blues standards include Annie Mae's Cafe, The Blues is Alright, Little Bluebird, Room 244, I Was Trying Not to Break Down, Catch You on Your Way Down, Murder on Your Hands, and Comeback Kind of Love.
The year 2001 marked a successful run of sold out shows in the United States and Europe and the release of Feel It. Malaco doubled back in September, 2002, with the release CD number 14, Guitar Man. It's celebrated cuts include Guitar Man, Still Some Meat Left on this Bone, and Milton's soulful rendition of My Way.
In 2005, after more than a half century after his early SUN recordings, Little Milton made his debut on the TELARC label with the release of THINK OF ME, a mesmerizing CD consisting of a dozen tracks distilling a lifetime of rich guitar skills, compelling vocals and deft songwriting all wrapped into a single high powered package. It would be his last studio recording.
The man who made the THE BLUES IS ALRIGHT a national anthem with blues enthusiasts around the globe, passed away on August 4, 2005, after suffering a massive brain stroke. Hundreds of family, friends, and fans attended his memorial on August 10, 2005 in South Haven, Mississippi in a final farewell to "MR. C".
Johnny Winter
For over 30 years, Johnny Winter has been a guitar hero without equal. Signing to Columbia records in 1969, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues a prime combination for the legions of fans just discovering the blues via the likes of Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton. Constantly shifting between simple country blues in the vein of Robert Johnson, to all-out electric slide guitar blues-rock, - Johnny has always been one of the most respected singers and guitar players in rock and the clear link between British blues-rock and American Southern rock (a la the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.) Throughout the '70s and '80s, Johnny was the unofficial torch-bearer for the blues, championing and aiding the careers of his idols like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. His recent Grammy nominated "I'm A Bluesman" disc Virgin/EMI, has only added to his Texas-sized reputation.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Ray Charles "The One And Only"
Ray Charles died from acute liver disease Thursday June 10, 2004. He was 73. He left behind a long list of hits and Grammy awards and the musicians he influenced are as diverse in genre as the music he wrote, arranged, performed and recorded.
The great Ray Charles was an explorer who returned time and again from expeditions across musical boundaries to give us, in his own unique way, melodious stories and charts of his adventures. In so doing he changed what had previously been only a black and white territorial paper map of American music into a 3-D, solid terrain model, full of color.
Charles was born during the Great Depression in the Deep South and was raised on blues, country, gospel, jazz and big band music. Throughout his long career he skillfully and artistically gathered and combined these separate musical elements together, added his own unique personality and styling, and freed the end result for the world to hear.
Ray Charles Robinson was born Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Ga. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. His family moved to Greenville, Fla., when Charles was an infant. During the Great Depression there was almost no such thing as financial gain for anyone and especially for a black family living in the totally segregated South.
Charles recalled how poor his family was in his 1978 autobiography, "Brother Ray": "Even compared to other blacks...we were on the bottom of the ladder looking up at everyone else. Nothing below us except the ground.''
Although it was a poor existence, and his father was "hardly ever around", he described himself as a "happy kid". The tragedy and painful memories of the next several years however would change him forever.
At just five years old Charles had to endure the trauma of witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother in his mother's large portable laundry tub. Soon after the death of his brother he gradually began to lose his sight and by 7 years of age Ray Charles was blind. Although it is presumed that untreated glaucoma was the cause, no official diagnosis was ever made. His mother refused to let him wallow in self-pity however and since the sight loss was gradual, she began to work with him on how to find things and do things for himself.
Ray had shown an interest in music since the age of 3, encouraged by a cafe owner who played the piano. At 7, he became a charity student at the state-supported school for the deaf and blind in St. Augustine, Fla. Although he was heartbroken to be leaving home, it was at school where he received a formal musical education and learned to read, write and arrange music in Braille; score for big bands; and play piano, organ, sax, clarinet, and trumpet. His influences were the popular stars of the day like big band clarinetist Artie Shaw, big band leaders and pianists Duke Ellington and Count Basie, jazz piano giant Art Tatum, alto sax man and witty vocalist and bandleader Louis Jordan, and the great classical composers like Chopin and Sibelius. But Ray Charles loved it all. At night he listened on the radio to the raw melodies and hillbilly twang of the Grand Ole Opry, to the sanctified soulfulness of gospel, and to the secular emotional venting of the blues. Then at 15 his mother died and Charles, who said he never used a cane or guide dog or begged for money, left school and began touring the South on the so-called chitlin' circuit with a number of dance bands that played in black dance halls.
In the South in 1945 the opportunities and outlook for any young black musician, just getting started and hoping for a career in music, would have been bleak. Add Mr. Charles' loss of site and new found love for heroin (a habit he did not kick for nearly 20 years) and one would think the situation to be nearly hopeless. But Charles would not be denied and rather than give up, he made a significant geographical relocation to Seattle, Washington. It was in Seattle's red light district at just 16 were he met a young Quincy Jones only 14 himself. He taught the future producer and composer how to write music and arrange. It was a friendship that lasted a lifetime with the two working on many sessions together later in their careers.
Ray Charles Robinson dropped his last name to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and patterned himself in his early career after Nat "King" Cole. His first 3 recordings were made in Tampa, Florida in 1947 and included Guitar Blues, Walkin' And Talkin,' and Wonderin' And Wonderin'. With a recording contract in 1949 on the former Downbeat label, but at the time under the Swingtime banner, Charles and his trio (called the McSon Trio) moved to Los Angeles and cut numerous sides on which the influence of King Cole is clearly evident including the somewhat autobiographical All To Myself Alone and a medium tempo jiver called Let's Have A Ball. During the early 1950s, the trio released several singles including Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, which hit the U.S. R&B chart.
In 1952, Atlantic Records signed him to a contract although his first recordings with the label were not made until May of the next year.
Charles got his first taste of commercial success in 1953, when he arranged and played piano on bluesman Guitar Slim's recording of The Things That I Used to Do, which sold more than a million copies.
In 1994 he told the San Jose Mercury News, "When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it."
The real Ray Charles emerged in 1954 on a record called I Got A Woman. The recording reached #1 on the R&B chart in 1955. More significantly it brought together elements of gospel music in a secular setting, in a way they had never been married before, and served to spawn a whole new genre later to become known as Soul. On this record Charles began singing with inner emotional intensity like never before by way of hoots, hollers and other genuinely enthusiastic voicings. He had finally put to use the advice his mother had given him years before to "just be yourself."
Much the same as his early idol Nat King Cole achieved fame with his vocals, so Ray Charles finally broke through to white America. But in the years preceding 1959's smash What'd I Say, like Nat Cole, Ray Charles first cut some superb jazz sides. Many recordings done for Atlantic in the mid to late 1950s, some arranged by old friend Quincy Jones, are among his finest in the mainstream jazz idiom. Sessions in November of 1956 produced such gems as Doodlin' Parts 1&2, Rockhouse Parts 1&2, The Ray, Hornful Soul, and Sweet Sixteen Bars. These recordings were all instrumentals and most featured reedman David Fathead Newman who became another lifelong friend.
By the late 1950s Charles was being called "The Genius." In September of 1957 he recorded an album called Soul Meeting with members of the Modern Jazz Quartet and featuring vibraphonist Milt Jackson. In April of 1958 he got together with Jackson again. This time the vibraphonist was flanked by guitarist Kenny Burrell, bass man Percy Heath and drummer Arthur Taylor for the release Soul Brothers. On the cut X-Ray Blues Charles recalled his roots at St. Augustine and played a reed instrument, the alto saxophone. It is one of the only instances of Charles playing the instrument on record.
This foray into jazz landed Charles, accompanied by his rhythm section, David Fathead Newman, his back-up vocal group The Raelets, Bennie Crawford, Marcus Belgrave and Lee Harper, smack dab in the middle of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in July of 1958.
While this success would be enough to make some settle down into a particular style or genre and rest on their laurels; such was not the case for the ramblin' Ray Charles. In February of the same year he recorded a song combining a Latin-esque blues riff, with gospel call-and-response vocals between himself and the Raelets, and blatantly suggestive and playful lyrics and attitude. What resulted was a million selling monster hit called What'd I Say, which ran more than six minutes in its LP form. The song became one of Charles' signature tunes and was his first crossover hit, reaching #6 on the Pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart in 1959.
Still Charles turned back to jazz and big band again for two sessions in May and June of 1959. These sessions were combined together for the release The Genius Of Ray Charles. Half of the album featured backing instrumentation by Quincy Jones who directed an all-star big band consisting of numerous Count Basie alumni for the release. This combination of talents provided Charles with a hip and swinging backdrop on a number of standards and cover tunes. The release garnered Charles two of his first four Grammy Awards in 1960; one in the Best Rhythm & Blues Performance category for Let The Good Times Roll (a cover tune of one of his early influences Louis Jordan); and another in the Best Vocal Performance Album, Male category.
On June 26th, 1959 Charles cut his first country cover when he recorded the song I'm Movin' On, originally done by Hank Snow. Perhaps it was irony that this would be his last session for Atlantic, as move on he did. Charles, by 1959, had posted some 20 hits on the R&B charts. This coupled with the crossover success of What'd I Say allowed him to move from Atlantic to the larger ABC Paramount label late in the year.
One of the chief attractions of the ABC deal for Charles was a much greater degree of artistic control of his recordings. His first session with ABC in December of 1959 produced just three recordings but his next session in March of 1960 was a superb success. The album that resulted was a geographical theme album called The Genius Hits The Road. One of the twelve songs on the original pressing of the LP (ABC 335) was a Hoagy Carmichael tune. The Ray Charles version of the piece was declared the official song of the state of Georgia in 1979. Georgia On My Mind garnered Charles two more Grammy Awards at the 1960 ceremony in the Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track, Male, and Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist categories.
In August of 1960 Charles recorded the second of a number of theme albums for ABC Paramount called Dedicated To You on which all of the song’s titles contained a woman's name. The idea of theme albums, with tunes tied together by a particular common subject matter, was not new. Many artists who trod down the theme path did so with varying degrees of success, as was the case with Charles. However his fortune with theme albums began well when the string-laden Marty Paich arrangement of Ruby charted for five weeks near the end of 1960.
With Charles achieving commercial success with his ballads like Georgia On My Mind and Ruby you would think that, like Nat King Cole, he might abandon recording jazz or R&B tunes. But in December of 1960, little more than two weeks after Ruby had peaked on the chart, he was in the ABC Paramount studios again. What resulted was arguably his best jazz album ever. This one found "The Genius" singing and playing Hammond B3. Once again he received expert backing by a number of Count Basie alumni on several Quincy Jones arrangements. The release was called Genius+Soul=Jazz and yet again the public responded. The cut, One Mint Julep went to #8 on the pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart in 1961. Although One Mint Julep may have been the hit, the album featured other tastefully swinging tunes like Mr. C., Stompin' Room Only, From The Heart, and a Ralph Burns arrangement of a blues called I've Got News For You.
His next chart hit in 1961 was even bigger. Hit The Road Jack topped both the Pop chart, where it stayed at #1 for two weeks in October, and the R&B chart for 5 weeks beginning October 2nd. The recording also won a Grammy in 1961 for the Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. Amazingly, it was yet to be released on an LP when it garnered such high accolades, evidence of the power of the 45 RPM record medium in 1961. Hit The Road Jack was originally released on just a two-song 45 RPM (ABC-Paramount 10244) and a four song extended play 7" jukebox 45 RPM called The Genius Hits The Road (ABC Paramount Records EP19), not to be confused with the LP bearing the same name. It was not until 1962 that the song was released on an LP (ABC 415) called Ray Charles Greatest Hits.
Then Charles did what, to many, was the unthinkable; he tackled country and western music. And not only did he tackle it, he conquered it and forever changed its face when on June 1st, 1962 the landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was released. On this LP Charles re-interpreted some of the greatest songs written in the country music field, filling them with newfound energy and soul. In doing so, he inspired other artists to reconsider their thoughts and assessments of country tunes. It also beckoned to a wide range of music fans to come in and sit a spell and hear what country music and country songwriters had to offer.
Although he had a hit in 1959 with the aforementioned single cover of Hank Snow's I'm Movin' On, his decision to record a full album of country songs was initially discouraged by his record label and by others around him.
Charles said later that he knew it was risky business recording a country album. "I didn't know what was going to happen," he said, "because all my friends and people around me was telling me I was making a big mistake because 'you're doing country-western music. Oh, man you're going to ruin your career 'cause everybody know you're from rhythm and blues, and you're going to go out, oh, you've got to be nuts."
The album covered a broad spectrum of what the country music song book had to offer at the time including the Everly Brothers' Bye Bye, Love, Hank Williams Sr.' Half As Much, You Win Again and Hey, Good Lookin', Don Gibson's hit of I Can't Stop Loving You, and Eddy Arnold's Just a Little Lovin' and You Don't Know Me.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was #1 on the Billboard Pop Album chart for three and a half months and stayed on that chart for two years. The album's producer, ABC-Paramount A&R director Sid Feller, said about the album's initial splash, "I didn't know that a Pop artist could do country songs and become a national monument. You know how unimportant it seemed? I put I Can't Stop Loving You in the number 5 position on the B-side of the album." Four singles from the album were released. Born to Lose, Careless Love and You Don't Know Me all charted Pop, but I Can't Stop Loving You was a #1 Pop hit for five weeks.
After the phenomenal success of the first country album, another one was inevitable. Enter Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume 2 recorded in September of 1962. Surprisingly enough the sequel was just as solid as the original, and more varied. It went to #2 on the Album chart, powered by two singles: the ancient standard You Are My Sunshine, redone as a powerhouse R&B, and a soul filled, slow reading of Take These Chains From My Heart. One of the surprising facts about Charles' forays into the world of country and western music was the success of many of the songs on the R&B chart. You Are My Sunshine, maxed out at #7 on the Pop chart, but went all the way to #1 on the R&B chart in 1962. In 1963, Take These Chains From My Heart went to #8 Pop and #7 R&B.
On July 10th and 13th of the following year the release Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul was recorded and Charles had another hit single on his hands with Busted. Country songwriter Harlan Howard wrote the song however it was not done in a style resembling country and western. Instead it was given treatment by one of the greatest big band arrangers and jazz songwriters of all time, himself a consummate player and genius in his own right, the great Benny Carter. Carter created a bluesy big band backdrop for Charles' soulful reading of the piece, as was the case with a number of scores for the LP. In 1963, Busted made it to #4 on the Pop chart and was voted best Rhythm And Blues Recording by the Grammy committee.
Sixteen songs were recorded on the incredibly productive aforementioned July 13th session. Of the sixteen, several other recordings featuring Benny Carter arrangements were laid down as well as some Gerald Wilson and Johnny Parker scores. Although some of the songs were somewhat trite in lyrical content, nine were used on a 1964 release called Have A Smile With Me. Also appearing on the LP (but recorded a year later in July of 1964) was a single, which the great Benny Carter again arranged, called Smack Dab In The Middle. Smack Dab In The Middle, with its Raelets backing, was one of the highlights of the LP. However the song that makes the album worth owning is Charles' cover of an old Hank Williams tune. The peppy, humorous and carefree Move It On Over is a song about a man who is cast (literally) into the doghouse by his "little baby." Mr. Charles sounds in high spirits on the whole album, with an excellent swinging big band behind him, but on Move It On Over the energy and mood both come together in a roaring climax. In the 1980s George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers rather dryly covered the song, scoring a hit on AOR stations. Even with all of its amplification, the Thoroughgood version didn't come close to the big bang of energy emitted on this swinging Ray Charles gem.
During the 60s Charles became involved in films, appearing in the 1962's Swinging Along and recording soundtracks for several more. By 1964 he seemed on top of the world with his own label, an ABC imprint called Tangerine Records (which would release albums by Charles and his productions of vocalist-writer Percy Mayfield and singer Jimmy Scott). He also controlled his publishing and his masters. And he had opened his own L.A. studio, designed in part by Atlantic engineer Tom Dowd. But his personal life was coming apart.
On Oct. 31, 1964, he was busted in a Boston airport after customs officers found marijuana, heroin and a syringe in his overcoat. Charles, who had been arrested for drug possession earlier in Indianapolis and Philadelphia, was shaken and scared. Taking a year off from touring, he checked into a California sanitarium and kicked his junk habit. Charles celebrated with the late-1965 release of Crying Time, his No. 6 Pop cover of Buck Owens' country hit. The recording won two Grammys: for Best R&B Recording and Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male. It proved to be his last top-10 Pop chart entry.
In December of 1966 he was convicted and given a five-year suspended sentence for his drug bust. Yet there was a sense of humor about even that as he released both I Don't Need No Doctor, and Let's Go Get Stoned, in 1966. He later became reluctant to talk about the drug use, fearing it would taint how people thought of his work.
The 1970s began with a release on his Tangerine label called My Kind Of Jazz with longtime friend Quincy Jones. It was the source of his last Pop chart hit, intriguingly titled Booty Butt, which reached number 36 on the chart.
Also in the 1970s Charles made a stirring guest shot on Aretha Franklin's album Live at the Fillmore, and a hallmark pure-funk rendition of America the Beautiful on his 1972 collection A Message From the People. His output during this period also included work with singers Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder.
In 1976, he collaborated with English vocalist Cleo Laine on an interpretation of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess. The following year, he returned to Atlantic with the underrated album True to Life. His second stint with the label lasted until 1980.
That year, Charles' lagging career received a boost when he was signed by Rick Blackburn, head of CBS Records' Nashville division, and returned to country music.
His association with Columbia Records yielded hit duets with George Jones, Hank Williams Jr. and Mickey Gilley, and a No. 1 Country album, 1984's Friendship, and single, the Willie Nelson duet Seven Spanish Angels.
Charles moved to Warner Bros. Records in 1990. I'll Be Good to You, his duet with Chaka Khan for his old Seattle colleague Quincy Jones' Qwest imprint, won a Grammy in 1991. He received the last of his dozen Grammys in 1994, for A Song For You.
In 1997, Charles' classic recordings got extensive re-release through a licensing deal between the singer and Rhino Records.
Charles' most recent album, prior to his passing, was 2002's Thanks For Bringing Love Around Again, on his own Crossover imprint. However, just prior to his death, he had completed work on an album for Concord Records of duets with such talents as Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. The disc was released as scheduled on Aug. 31, 2004.
Charles achieved cult-movie fame for his role in the 1980 musical comedy, The Blues Brothers. Among other film roles, he played a bus driver in the 1996 comedy, Spy Hard. Meant to be a gag--a blind man operating a motor vehicle--the Spy Hard bit wasn't far from the truth. The ever-resourceful Charles admitted to getting behind the wheel every now and then. He had also been on Saturday Night Live and on an episode of Who's the Boss? and St. Elsewhere.
Mr. Charles recorded a number of commercials, many of which were self-produced. His Diet Pepsi commercial, which features his singing "You got the right one baby-uh-huh," was rated most memorable commercial in 1991. Although many saw the commercial as selling out, it is said to have boosted his popularity among a younger audience.
In his well-traveled career, Charles won 12 competitive Grammys, earned three Emmy nominations, scored the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts and inductions into the Rock, Jazz and Rhythm and Blues halls of fame.
From his website www,raycharles.comMr. Charles' take on jazz is as follows; "I cannot understand how we as Americans, possessing such a rich heritage of music and the artists who play it, don't recognize all those talented people. It's a shame that so many of today's young people don't know the work of Art Tatum or Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker or Clifford Brown, to name a few. They are the creators; they are the artists who helped form the backbone of our country's popular music.... When you talk about, say, classical music, you're talking about a form that came from Europe and European composers and musicians from an earlier time. But, we basically created jazz in this country; we own that form of music. And it's sad that we all don't have more extensive knowledge of that fact.... In Europe, though, you find people who know all about our music. I'm talking about the average person. I've been to Europe and talked to people who have records of mine that I forgot I ever made! And I find that incredible."
On Thursday June 10th, 2004 the leader of a great expedition through the pages of American music history made his final journey. This time he crossed a boundary of a different sort, a boundary of which he cannot cross back over and bring us songs and tales of his adventure. Simple cliches cannot aptly describe the passing of Ray Charles; just as a simple swing, gospel, soul, R&B, country and western, or jazz biography could ever cover his career.
Ray Charles + American Music = Genius.
The great Ray Charles was an explorer who returned time and again from expeditions across musical boundaries to give us, in his own unique way, melodious stories and charts of his adventures. In so doing he changed what had previously been only a black and white territorial paper map of American music into a 3-D, solid terrain model, full of color.
Charles was born during the Great Depression in the Deep South and was raised on blues, country, gospel, jazz and big band music. Throughout his long career he skillfully and artistically gathered and combined these separate musical elements together, added his own unique personality and styling, and freed the end result for the world to hear.
Ray Charles Robinson was born Sept. 23, 1930, in Albany, Ga. His father, Bailey Robinson, was a mechanic and a handyman, and his mother, Aretha, stacked boards in a sawmill. His family moved to Greenville, Fla., when Charles was an infant. During the Great Depression there was almost no such thing as financial gain for anyone and especially for a black family living in the totally segregated South.
Charles recalled how poor his family was in his 1978 autobiography, "Brother Ray": "Even compared to other blacks...we were on the bottom of the ladder looking up at everyone else. Nothing below us except the ground.''
Although it was a poor existence, and his father was "hardly ever around", he described himself as a "happy kid". The tragedy and painful memories of the next several years however would change him forever.
At just five years old Charles had to endure the trauma of witnessing the drowning death of his younger brother in his mother's large portable laundry tub. Soon after the death of his brother he gradually began to lose his sight and by 7 years of age Ray Charles was blind. Although it is presumed that untreated glaucoma was the cause, no official diagnosis was ever made. His mother refused to let him wallow in self-pity however and since the sight loss was gradual, she began to work with him on how to find things and do things for himself.
Ray had shown an interest in music since the age of 3, encouraged by a cafe owner who played the piano. At 7, he became a charity student at the state-supported school for the deaf and blind in St. Augustine, Fla. Although he was heartbroken to be leaving home, it was at school where he received a formal musical education and learned to read, write and arrange music in Braille; score for big bands; and play piano, organ, sax, clarinet, and trumpet. His influences were the popular stars of the day like big band clarinetist Artie Shaw, big band leaders and pianists Duke Ellington and Count Basie, jazz piano giant Art Tatum, alto sax man and witty vocalist and bandleader Louis Jordan, and the great classical composers like Chopin and Sibelius. But Ray Charles loved it all. At night he listened on the radio to the raw melodies and hillbilly twang of the Grand Ole Opry, to the sanctified soulfulness of gospel, and to the secular emotional venting of the blues. Then at 15 his mother died and Charles, who said he never used a cane or guide dog or begged for money, left school and began touring the South on the so-called chitlin' circuit with a number of dance bands that played in black dance halls.
In the South in 1945 the opportunities and outlook for any young black musician, just getting started and hoping for a career in music, would have been bleak. Add Mr. Charles' loss of site and new found love for heroin (a habit he did not kick for nearly 20 years) and one would think the situation to be nearly hopeless. But Charles would not be denied and rather than give up, he made a significant geographical relocation to Seattle, Washington. It was in Seattle's red light district at just 16 were he met a young Quincy Jones only 14 himself. He taught the future producer and composer how to write music and arrange. It was a friendship that lasted a lifetime with the two working on many sessions together later in their careers.
Ray Charles Robinson dropped his last name to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and patterned himself in his early career after Nat "King" Cole. His first 3 recordings were made in Tampa, Florida in 1947 and included Guitar Blues, Walkin' And Talkin,' and Wonderin' And Wonderin'. With a recording contract in 1949 on the former Downbeat label, but at the time under the Swingtime banner, Charles and his trio (called the McSon Trio) moved to Los Angeles and cut numerous sides on which the influence of King Cole is clearly evident including the somewhat autobiographical All To Myself Alone and a medium tempo jiver called Let's Have A Ball. During the early 1950s, the trio released several singles including Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, which hit the U.S. R&B chart.
In 1952, Atlantic Records signed him to a contract although his first recordings with the label were not made until May of the next year.
Charles got his first taste of commercial success in 1953, when he arranged and played piano on bluesman Guitar Slim's recording of The Things That I Used to Do, which sold more than a million copies.
In 1994 he told the San Jose Mercury News, "When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it."
The real Ray Charles emerged in 1954 on a record called I Got A Woman. The recording reached #1 on the R&B chart in 1955. More significantly it brought together elements of gospel music in a secular setting, in a way they had never been married before, and served to spawn a whole new genre later to become known as Soul. On this record Charles began singing with inner emotional intensity like never before by way of hoots, hollers and other genuinely enthusiastic voicings. He had finally put to use the advice his mother had given him years before to "just be yourself."
Much the same as his early idol Nat King Cole achieved fame with his vocals, so Ray Charles finally broke through to white America. But in the years preceding 1959's smash What'd I Say, like Nat Cole, Ray Charles first cut some superb jazz sides. Many recordings done for Atlantic in the mid to late 1950s, some arranged by old friend Quincy Jones, are among his finest in the mainstream jazz idiom. Sessions in November of 1956 produced such gems as Doodlin' Parts 1&2, Rockhouse Parts 1&2, The Ray, Hornful Soul, and Sweet Sixteen Bars. These recordings were all instrumentals and most featured reedman David Fathead Newman who became another lifelong friend.
By the late 1950s Charles was being called "The Genius." In September of 1957 he recorded an album called Soul Meeting with members of the Modern Jazz Quartet and featuring vibraphonist Milt Jackson. In April of 1958 he got together with Jackson again. This time the vibraphonist was flanked by guitarist Kenny Burrell, bass man Percy Heath and drummer Arthur Taylor for the release Soul Brothers. On the cut X-Ray Blues Charles recalled his roots at St. Augustine and played a reed instrument, the alto saxophone. It is one of the only instances of Charles playing the instrument on record.
This foray into jazz landed Charles, accompanied by his rhythm section, David Fathead Newman, his back-up vocal group The Raelets, Bennie Crawford, Marcus Belgrave and Lee Harper, smack dab in the middle of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in July of 1958.
While this success would be enough to make some settle down into a particular style or genre and rest on their laurels; such was not the case for the ramblin' Ray Charles. In February of the same year he recorded a song combining a Latin-esque blues riff, with gospel call-and-response vocals between himself and the Raelets, and blatantly suggestive and playful lyrics and attitude. What resulted was a million selling monster hit called What'd I Say, which ran more than six minutes in its LP form. The song became one of Charles' signature tunes and was his first crossover hit, reaching #6 on the Pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart in 1959.
Still Charles turned back to jazz and big band again for two sessions in May and June of 1959. These sessions were combined together for the release The Genius Of Ray Charles. Half of the album featured backing instrumentation by Quincy Jones who directed an all-star big band consisting of numerous Count Basie alumni for the release. This combination of talents provided Charles with a hip and swinging backdrop on a number of standards and cover tunes. The release garnered Charles two of his first four Grammy Awards in 1960; one in the Best Rhythm & Blues Performance category for Let The Good Times Roll (a cover tune of one of his early influences Louis Jordan); and another in the Best Vocal Performance Album, Male category.
On June 26th, 1959 Charles cut his first country cover when he recorded the song I'm Movin' On, originally done by Hank Snow. Perhaps it was irony that this would be his last session for Atlantic, as move on he did. Charles, by 1959, had posted some 20 hits on the R&B charts. This coupled with the crossover success of What'd I Say allowed him to move from Atlantic to the larger ABC Paramount label late in the year.
One of the chief attractions of the ABC deal for Charles was a much greater degree of artistic control of his recordings. His first session with ABC in December of 1959 produced just three recordings but his next session in March of 1960 was a superb success. The album that resulted was a geographical theme album called The Genius Hits The Road. One of the twelve songs on the original pressing of the LP (ABC 335) was a Hoagy Carmichael tune. The Ray Charles version of the piece was declared the official song of the state of Georgia in 1979. Georgia On My Mind garnered Charles two more Grammy Awards at the 1960 ceremony in the Best Vocal Performance Single Record or Track, Male, and Best Performance by a Pop Single Artist categories.
In August of 1960 Charles recorded the second of a number of theme albums for ABC Paramount called Dedicated To You on which all of the song’s titles contained a woman's name. The idea of theme albums, with tunes tied together by a particular common subject matter, was not new. Many artists who trod down the theme path did so with varying degrees of success, as was the case with Charles. However his fortune with theme albums began well when the string-laden Marty Paich arrangement of Ruby charted for five weeks near the end of 1960.
With Charles achieving commercial success with his ballads like Georgia On My Mind and Ruby you would think that, like Nat King Cole, he might abandon recording jazz or R&B tunes. But in December of 1960, little more than two weeks after Ruby had peaked on the chart, he was in the ABC Paramount studios again. What resulted was arguably his best jazz album ever. This one found "The Genius" singing and playing Hammond B3. Once again he received expert backing by a number of Count Basie alumni on several Quincy Jones arrangements. The release was called Genius+Soul=Jazz and yet again the public responded. The cut, One Mint Julep went to #8 on the pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart in 1961. Although One Mint Julep may have been the hit, the album featured other tastefully swinging tunes like Mr. C., Stompin' Room Only, From The Heart, and a Ralph Burns arrangement of a blues called I've Got News For You.
His next chart hit in 1961 was even bigger. Hit The Road Jack topped both the Pop chart, where it stayed at #1 for two weeks in October, and the R&B chart for 5 weeks beginning October 2nd. The recording also won a Grammy in 1961 for the Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. Amazingly, it was yet to be released on an LP when it garnered such high accolades, evidence of the power of the 45 RPM record medium in 1961. Hit The Road Jack was originally released on just a two-song 45 RPM (ABC-Paramount 10244) and a four song extended play 7" jukebox 45 RPM called The Genius Hits The Road (ABC Paramount Records EP19), not to be confused with the LP bearing the same name. It was not until 1962 that the song was released on an LP (ABC 415) called Ray Charles Greatest Hits.
Then Charles did what, to many, was the unthinkable; he tackled country and western music. And not only did he tackle it, he conquered it and forever changed its face when on June 1st, 1962 the landmark album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was released. On this LP Charles re-interpreted some of the greatest songs written in the country music field, filling them with newfound energy and soul. In doing so, he inspired other artists to reconsider their thoughts and assessments of country tunes. It also beckoned to a wide range of music fans to come in and sit a spell and hear what country music and country songwriters had to offer.
Although he had a hit in 1959 with the aforementioned single cover of Hank Snow's I'm Movin' On, his decision to record a full album of country songs was initially discouraged by his record label and by others around him.
Charles said later that he knew it was risky business recording a country album. "I didn't know what was going to happen," he said, "because all my friends and people around me was telling me I was making a big mistake because 'you're doing country-western music. Oh, man you're going to ruin your career 'cause everybody know you're from rhythm and blues, and you're going to go out, oh, you've got to be nuts."
The album covered a broad spectrum of what the country music song book had to offer at the time including the Everly Brothers' Bye Bye, Love, Hank Williams Sr.' Half As Much, You Win Again and Hey, Good Lookin', Don Gibson's hit of I Can't Stop Loving You, and Eddy Arnold's Just a Little Lovin' and You Don't Know Me.
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was #1 on the Billboard Pop Album chart for three and a half months and stayed on that chart for two years. The album's producer, ABC-Paramount A&R director Sid Feller, said about the album's initial splash, "I didn't know that a Pop artist could do country songs and become a national monument. You know how unimportant it seemed? I put I Can't Stop Loving You in the number 5 position on the B-side of the album." Four singles from the album were released. Born to Lose, Careless Love and You Don't Know Me all charted Pop, but I Can't Stop Loving You was a #1 Pop hit for five weeks.
After the phenomenal success of the first country album, another one was inevitable. Enter Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Volume 2 recorded in September of 1962. Surprisingly enough the sequel was just as solid as the original, and more varied. It went to #2 on the Album chart, powered by two singles: the ancient standard You Are My Sunshine, redone as a powerhouse R&B, and a soul filled, slow reading of Take These Chains From My Heart. One of the surprising facts about Charles' forays into the world of country and western music was the success of many of the songs on the R&B chart. You Are My Sunshine, maxed out at #7 on the Pop chart, but went all the way to #1 on the R&B chart in 1962. In 1963, Take These Chains From My Heart went to #8 Pop and #7 R&B.
On July 10th and 13th of the following year the release Ingredients In A Recipe For Soul was recorded and Charles had another hit single on his hands with Busted. Country songwriter Harlan Howard wrote the song however it was not done in a style resembling country and western. Instead it was given treatment by one of the greatest big band arrangers and jazz songwriters of all time, himself a consummate player and genius in his own right, the great Benny Carter. Carter created a bluesy big band backdrop for Charles' soulful reading of the piece, as was the case with a number of scores for the LP. In 1963, Busted made it to #4 on the Pop chart and was voted best Rhythm And Blues Recording by the Grammy committee.
Sixteen songs were recorded on the incredibly productive aforementioned July 13th session. Of the sixteen, several other recordings featuring Benny Carter arrangements were laid down as well as some Gerald Wilson and Johnny Parker scores. Although some of the songs were somewhat trite in lyrical content, nine were used on a 1964 release called Have A Smile With Me. Also appearing on the LP (but recorded a year later in July of 1964) was a single, which the great Benny Carter again arranged, called Smack Dab In The Middle. Smack Dab In The Middle, with its Raelets backing, was one of the highlights of the LP. However the song that makes the album worth owning is Charles' cover of an old Hank Williams tune. The peppy, humorous and carefree Move It On Over is a song about a man who is cast (literally) into the doghouse by his "little baby." Mr. Charles sounds in high spirits on the whole album, with an excellent swinging big band behind him, but on Move It On Over the energy and mood both come together in a roaring climax. In the 1980s George Thoroughgood and the Destroyers rather dryly covered the song, scoring a hit on AOR stations. Even with all of its amplification, the Thoroughgood version didn't come close to the big bang of energy emitted on this swinging Ray Charles gem.
During the 60s Charles became involved in films, appearing in the 1962's Swinging Along and recording soundtracks for several more. By 1964 he seemed on top of the world with his own label, an ABC imprint called Tangerine Records (which would release albums by Charles and his productions of vocalist-writer Percy Mayfield and singer Jimmy Scott). He also controlled his publishing and his masters. And he had opened his own L.A. studio, designed in part by Atlantic engineer Tom Dowd. But his personal life was coming apart.
On Oct. 31, 1964, he was busted in a Boston airport after customs officers found marijuana, heroin and a syringe in his overcoat. Charles, who had been arrested for drug possession earlier in Indianapolis and Philadelphia, was shaken and scared. Taking a year off from touring, he checked into a California sanitarium and kicked his junk habit. Charles celebrated with the late-1965 release of Crying Time, his No. 6 Pop cover of Buck Owens' country hit. The recording won two Grammys: for Best R&B Recording and Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male. It proved to be his last top-10 Pop chart entry.
In December of 1966 he was convicted and given a five-year suspended sentence for his drug bust. Yet there was a sense of humor about even that as he released both I Don't Need No Doctor, and Let's Go Get Stoned, in 1966. He later became reluctant to talk about the drug use, fearing it would taint how people thought of his work.
The 1970s began with a release on his Tangerine label called My Kind Of Jazz with longtime friend Quincy Jones. It was the source of his last Pop chart hit, intriguingly titled Booty Butt, which reached number 36 on the chart.
Also in the 1970s Charles made a stirring guest shot on Aretha Franklin's album Live at the Fillmore, and a hallmark pure-funk rendition of America the Beautiful on his 1972 collection A Message From the People. His output during this period also included work with singers Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder.
In 1976, he collaborated with English vocalist Cleo Laine on an interpretation of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess. The following year, he returned to Atlantic with the underrated album True to Life. His second stint with the label lasted until 1980.
That year, Charles' lagging career received a boost when he was signed by Rick Blackburn, head of CBS Records' Nashville division, and returned to country music.
His association with Columbia Records yielded hit duets with George Jones, Hank Williams Jr. and Mickey Gilley, and a No. 1 Country album, 1984's Friendship, and single, the Willie Nelson duet Seven Spanish Angels.
Charles moved to Warner Bros. Records in 1990. I'll Be Good to You, his duet with Chaka Khan for his old Seattle colleague Quincy Jones' Qwest imprint, won a Grammy in 1991. He received the last of his dozen Grammys in 1994, for A Song For You.
In 1997, Charles' classic recordings got extensive re-release through a licensing deal between the singer and Rhino Records.
Charles' most recent album, prior to his passing, was 2002's Thanks For Bringing Love Around Again, on his own Crossover imprint. However, just prior to his death, he had completed work on an album for Concord Records of duets with such talents as Willie Nelson, Norah Jones, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. The disc was released as scheduled on Aug. 31, 2004.
Charles achieved cult-movie fame for his role in the 1980 musical comedy, The Blues Brothers. Among other film roles, he played a bus driver in the 1996 comedy, Spy Hard. Meant to be a gag--a blind man operating a motor vehicle--the Spy Hard bit wasn't far from the truth. The ever-resourceful Charles admitted to getting behind the wheel every now and then. He had also been on Saturday Night Live and on an episode of Who's the Boss? and St. Elsewhere.
Mr. Charles recorded a number of commercials, many of which were self-produced. His Diet Pepsi commercial, which features his singing "You got the right one baby-uh-huh," was rated most memorable commercial in 1991. Although many saw the commercial as selling out, it is said to have boosted his popularity among a younger audience.
In his well-traveled career, Charles won 12 competitive Grammys, earned three Emmy nominations, scored the Kennedy Center Honors, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Medal of Arts and inductions into the Rock, Jazz and Rhythm and Blues halls of fame.
From his website www,raycharles.comMr. Charles' take on jazz is as follows; "I cannot understand how we as Americans, possessing such a rich heritage of music and the artists who play it, don't recognize all those talented people. It's a shame that so many of today's young people don't know the work of Art Tatum or Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker or Clifford Brown, to name a few. They are the creators; they are the artists who helped form the backbone of our country's popular music.... When you talk about, say, classical music, you're talking about a form that came from Europe and European composers and musicians from an earlier time. But, we basically created jazz in this country; we own that form of music. And it's sad that we all don't have more extensive knowledge of that fact.... In Europe, though, you find people who know all about our music. I'm talking about the average person. I've been to Europe and talked to people who have records of mine that I forgot I ever made! And I find that incredible."
On Thursday June 10th, 2004 the leader of a great expedition through the pages of American music history made his final journey. This time he crossed a boundary of a different sort, a boundary of which he cannot cross back over and bring us songs and tales of his adventure. Simple cliches cannot aptly describe the passing of Ray Charles; just as a simple swing, gospel, soul, R&B, country and western, or jazz biography could ever cover his career.
Ray Charles + American Music = Genius.
Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
"Howlin’ Wolf ranks among the most electrifying performers in blues history, as well as one of its greatest characters. He was a ferocious, full-bodied singer whose gruff, rasping vocals embodied the blues at its most unbridled. A large man who stood more than six feet tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds, Howlin’ Wolf cut an imposing figure, which he utilized to maximum effect when performing. In the words of blues historian Bob Santelli, “Wolf acted out his most potent blues, becoming the living embodiment of its most powerful forces.” Howlin’ Wolf cut his greatest work in the Fifties for the Chicago-based Chess Records. Many songs with which he is most closely identified - “Spoonful,” “Back Door Man,” “Little Red Rooster” and “I Ain’t Superstitious” - were written for him by bluesmen Willie Dixon, a fixture at Chess Records who also funneled material to Wolf’s main rival, Muddy Waters. Howlin’ Wolf himself was an estimable songwriter, responsible for such raw classics as “Killing Floor,” “Smokestack Lightning” and “Moanin’ at Midnight.”
In 1910, Howlin’ Wolf was born on a Mississippi plantation in the midst of a blues tradition so vital it remains the underpinning for much of today’s popular music. His birth name was Chester Arthur Burnett; “Howlin’ Wolf” was a nickname he picked up in his youth. He was exposed to the blues from an early age through such performers as Charley Patton and Willie Brown, who performed at plantation picnics and juke joints. Wolf derived his trademark howl from the “blue yodel” of country singer Jimmie Rodgers, whom he admired. Although he sang the blues locally, it wasn’t until he moved to West Memphis in 1948 that he put together a full-time band. Producer Sam Philips recorded Howlin’ Wolf at his Memphis Recording Service (later Sun Records) after hearing him perform on radio station KWEM. Some of the material was leased to Chess Records, and in the early Fifties Howlin’ Wolf signed with Chess and moved to Chicago. He remained there until his death.
Howlin’ Wolf served to influence such blues-based rock musicians as Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. In fact, he recorded a pair of albums - The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions and London Revisited - with his British disciples in the early Seventies. Howlin’ Wolf’s distinctive vocal style and rough-hewn approach to the blues can also be heard in the work of such diverse artists as Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band and Led Zeppelin. Slowed down for much of the Seventies due to serious internal injuries suffered in an automobile accident, Howlin’ Wolf gave his last performance in Chicago in November 1975 with fellow blues titan B.B. King. He died of kidney failure two months later.” lin
"Howlin’ Wolf ranks among the most electrifying performers in blues history, as well as one of its greatest characters. He was a ferocious, full-bodied singer whose gruff, rasping vocals embodied the blues at its most unbridled. A large man who stood more than six feet tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds, Howlin’ Wolf cut an imposing figure, which he utilized to maximum effect when performing. In the words of blues historian Bob Santelli, “Wolf acted out his most potent blues, becoming the living embodiment of its most powerful forces.” Howlin’ Wolf cut his greatest work in the Fifties for the Chicago-based Chess Records. Many songs with which he is most closely identified - “Spoonful,” “Back Door Man,” “Little Red Rooster” and “I Ain’t Superstitious” - were written for him by bluesmen Willie Dixon, a fixture at Chess Records who also funneled material to Wolf’s main rival, Muddy Waters. Howlin’ Wolf himself was an estimable songwriter, responsible for such raw classics as “Killing Floor,” “Smokestack Lightning” and “Moanin’ at Midnight.”
In 1910, Howlin’ Wolf was born on a Mississippi plantation in the midst of a blues tradition so vital it remains the underpinning for much of today’s popular music. His birth name was Chester Arthur Burnett; “Howlin’ Wolf” was a nickname he picked up in his youth. He was exposed to the blues from an early age through such performers as Charley Patton and Willie Brown, who performed at plantation picnics and juke joints. Wolf derived his trademark howl from the “blue yodel” of country singer Jimmie Rodgers, whom he admired. Although he sang the blues locally, it wasn’t until he moved to West Memphis in 1948 that he put together a full-time band. Producer Sam Philips recorded Howlin’ Wolf at his Memphis Recording Service (later Sun Records) after hearing him perform on radio station KWEM. Some of the material was leased to Chess Records, and in the early Fifties Howlin’ Wolf signed with Chess and moved to Chicago. He remained there until his death.
Howlin’ Wolf served to influence such blues-based rock musicians as Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. In fact, he recorded a pair of albums - The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions and London Revisited - with his British disciples in the early Seventies. Howlin’ Wolf’s distinctive vocal style and rough-hewn approach to the blues can also be heard in the work of such diverse artists as Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band and Led Zeppelin. Slowed down for much of the Seventies due to serious internal injuries suffered in an automobile accident, Howlin’ Wolf gave his last performance in Chicago in November 1975 with fellow blues titan B.B. King. He died of kidney failure two months later.” lin
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Bobby Rush
Born as Emmit Ellis, Jr. on Novermber 10 n1940 in Homer, Louisiana, Bobby Rush has become a blues legend with a signature sound he calls "Folk Funk". While initially a Chicago blues singer he eventually broke through with his funkified, soul/blues with risqué subject matter. In 1971 he scored a #34 R & B hit with "Chicken Heads" and soon followed that up with regional hits on Jewel Records like "It's Alright", "Bow-Legged Woman, Knock Kneed Man" & "She's A Good'un". Bobby began crafting a unique style that incorporated blues, funk and folk. From Jewel, he went to Warner Brothers then to Philadelphia International Records. By 1982, Rush had signed with LaJam Records out of Jackson, Mississippi, where he released five albums, one of which was the phenomenally successful hit Sue, and became a major attraction in the South. But it was in 1995 that Bobby found a home at Malaco's Waldoxy label. At Waldoxy, he released One Monkey Don't Stop No Show which was nominated for two W. C. Handy Awards. The Living Blues Critics' Poll named him the year's Best Live Performer in 1995. In 1996 and 1997, he captured the Real Blues Magazine Award as The Best Soul/R & B Live Performer. After leaving Waldoxy 2003 was a pivotal year for Rush as he was prominently featured in Richard Pearce's documentary film "The Road To Memphis," broadcast on PBS as part of Martin Scorsese's film series "The Blues" and also saw the launch of his Deep Rush record label. He's released three excellent albums to date on the label. His live shows are a riot with his vaudevillian instincts, horny showmanship, and knack for writing tunes that brim with playful down-home wit.
Victor Wooten
Victor Wooten redefines the word musician. Regaled as the most influential bassist since Jaco Pastorius, Victor is known for his solo recordings and tours, and as a member of the Grammy-winning supergroup, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones. He is an innovator on the bass guitar, as well as a talented composer, arranger, producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. But those gifts only begin to tell the tale of this Tennessee titan.
Victor is the loving husband and devoted father of four; the youngest sibling of the amazing Wooten brothers (Regi, Roy, Rudy and Joseph), and the bassist in their famed family band; the student in the martial art of Wing Chun and the nature survival skill of Tracking; the teacher of dozens of bass players at his acclaimed annual Bass & Nature camp; and the master magician.
Victor Lemonte Wooten got to music early, growing up in a military family in which his older brothers all played and sang. By the time he was 3, Victor was being taught bass by his oldest brother Regi, and at age 5 he was performing professionally with the Wooten Brothers Band. He recalls, “My parents and brothers were the foundation. They prepared me for anything by teaching me to keep my mind open and learn to adapt.” Working their way east from Sacramento, the band played countless clubs and eventually opened concerts for Curtis Mayfield and War.
Victor was influenced by bass mentors, Stanley Clarke, Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins, while learning about the music business at a wildly accelerated pace. By the early ’80s, with the family settled in Newport News, Virginia, the brothers became mainstays at Busch Gardens theme park in nearby Williamsburg, making numerous connections with musicians in Nashville and New York.
In 1988 Victor moved to Nashville, where he worked with singer Jonell Mosser and met New Grass Revival banjo ace Béla Fleck. A year later, Fleck enlisted Vic, his brother Roy (a.k.a. Future Man) and harmonica-playing keyboardist Howard Levy to perform with him, and the Flecktones were born. After three highly successful albums, Levy departed in 1993, and the band’s new trio format enabled Victor to develop and display a staggering array of fingerboard skills that turned him into a bass hero of Pastorian-proportions and helped earn the band a Grammy.
With the Flecktones in full flight, Victor set his sights on a solo career, first forming Bass Extremes with fellow low-end lord Steve Bailey (leading to an instructional book/CD and two CDs, to date), and finally releasing his critically-acclaimed solo debut, A Show of Hands, in 1996. Soon after, Vic took his solo show on the road with drummer J.D. Blair. Momentum and accolades built with successive tours and the release of What Did He Say? in 1997, the Grammy-nominated Yin-Yang in 1999 and the double CD, Live In America in 2001.
Wooten won two Nashville Music Awards for Bassist Of The Year and is the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s Bass Player Of The Year. With the honors came sideman calls, leading to recordings and performances with artists like Branford Marsalis, Mike Stern, Bruce Hornsby, Chick Corea, Dave Matthews, Prince, Gov’t Mule, Susan Tedeschi, Vital Tech Tones (with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith), the Jaco Pastorius Word Of Mouth Big Band, and the soundtrack of the Disney film Country Bears.
Fresh off sold-out tours with the Flecktones and Bass Extremes (with Bailey, Watson and Oteil Burbridge) in 2004, Victor is re-focusing on his solo side in 2005 thanks to a remarkable new CD, his Vanguard Records debut, Soul Circus. A three-ring affair, the disc boasts such guests as the Wooten brothers, Bootsy Collins, Arrested Development rapper/vocalist Speech, Howard Levy, Dennis Chambers, Saundra Williams, J.D. Blair, Derico Watson, Flecktone Jeff Coffin, and a who’s-who of bassists, including Bailey, Burbridge, Will Lee, Rhonda Smith, Christian McBride, T.M. Stevens, Bill Dickens and Gary Grainger.
On Soul Circus, Victor performs his usual high-wire act on a bevy of basses, but the real ringmaster here is his collection of songs: The poignant “Prayer” and Prince-charged flipside “Natives” provide a thought-provoking look at our native Americans. The epic “Bass Tribute” pays homage to great thumpers past and present. “On and On” is an instant soul classic. “Cell Phone” makes a chuckle-filled, cutting-edge connection. “Higher Law” stands as a stadium-ready, rock-funk protest anthem in the best Sly Stone tradition. “Back to India” currys up simmering musical flavors. And the hip hop/jazz title track marks the sonic coming-out of the long-rumored eight-armed character seen on the CD’s cover and in the liner notes: Yes, Virginia (and the rest of the world), there is a funktopus!
Victor is the loving husband and devoted father of four; the youngest sibling of the amazing Wooten brothers (Regi, Roy, Rudy and Joseph), and the bassist in their famed family band; the student in the martial art of Wing Chun and the nature survival skill of Tracking; the teacher of dozens of bass players at his acclaimed annual Bass & Nature camp; and the master magician.
Victor Lemonte Wooten got to music early, growing up in a military family in which his older brothers all played and sang. By the time he was 3, Victor was being taught bass by his oldest brother Regi, and at age 5 he was performing professionally with the Wooten Brothers Band. He recalls, “My parents and brothers were the foundation. They prepared me for anything by teaching me to keep my mind open and learn to adapt.” Working their way east from Sacramento, the band played countless clubs and eventually opened concerts for Curtis Mayfield and War.
Victor was influenced by bass mentors, Stanley Clarke, Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins, while learning about the music business at a wildly accelerated pace. By the early ’80s, with the family settled in Newport News, Virginia, the brothers became mainstays at Busch Gardens theme park in nearby Williamsburg, making numerous connections with musicians in Nashville and New York.
In 1988 Victor moved to Nashville, where he worked with singer Jonell Mosser and met New Grass Revival banjo ace Béla Fleck. A year later, Fleck enlisted Vic, his brother Roy (a.k.a. Future Man) and harmonica-playing keyboardist Howard Levy to perform with him, and the Flecktones were born. After three highly successful albums, Levy departed in 1993, and the band’s new trio format enabled Victor to develop and display a staggering array of fingerboard skills that turned him into a bass hero of Pastorian-proportions and helped earn the band a Grammy.
With the Flecktones in full flight, Victor set his sights on a solo career, first forming Bass Extremes with fellow low-end lord Steve Bailey (leading to an instructional book/CD and two CDs, to date), and finally releasing his critically-acclaimed solo debut, A Show of Hands, in 1996. Soon after, Vic took his solo show on the road with drummer J.D. Blair. Momentum and accolades built with successive tours and the release of What Did He Say? in 1997, the Grammy-nominated Yin-Yang in 1999 and the double CD, Live In America in 2001.
Wooten won two Nashville Music Awards for Bassist Of The Year and is the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s Bass Player Of The Year. With the honors came sideman calls, leading to recordings and performances with artists like Branford Marsalis, Mike Stern, Bruce Hornsby, Chick Corea, Dave Matthews, Prince, Gov’t Mule, Susan Tedeschi, Vital Tech Tones (with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith), the Jaco Pastorius Word Of Mouth Big Band, and the soundtrack of the Disney film Country Bears.
Fresh off sold-out tours with the Flecktones and Bass Extremes (with Bailey, Watson and Oteil Burbridge) in 2004, Victor is re-focusing on his solo side in 2005 thanks to a remarkable new CD, his Vanguard Records debut, Soul Circus. A three-ring affair, the disc boasts such guests as the Wooten brothers, Bootsy Collins, Arrested Development rapper/vocalist Speech, Howard Levy, Dennis Chambers, Saundra Williams, J.D. Blair, Derico Watson, Flecktone Jeff Coffin, and a who’s-who of bassists, including Bailey, Burbridge, Will Lee, Rhonda Smith, Christian McBride, T.M. Stevens, Bill Dickens and Gary Grainger.
On Soul Circus, Victor performs his usual high-wire act on a bevy of basses, but the real ringmaster here is his collection of songs: The poignant “Prayer” and Prince-charged flipside “Natives” provide a thought-provoking look at our native Americans. The epic “Bass Tribute” pays homage to great thumpers past and present. “On and On” is an instant soul classic. “Cell Phone” makes a chuckle-filled, cutting-edge connection. “Higher Law” stands as a stadium-ready, rock-funk protest anthem in the best Sly Stone tradition. “Back to India” currys up simmering musical flavors. And the hip hop/jazz title track marks the sonic coming-out of the long-rumored eight-armed character seen on the CD’s cover and in the liner notes: Yes, Virginia (and the rest of the world), there is a funktopus!
Willie Dixon
Willie DixonJuly 1, 1915 -- January 19, 1992
Sometimes you have to look behind the scenes to find the true facts. Sometimes it takes a scan of the credits to get past the bright, stra-time glare of the marquee lights shinning on the performers in order to discover the unsung heroes who played equally pivotal roles in creating the music. Sometimes even that does not help, particularly in the world of early blues when floating pools of session players often anonymously gave each label's artists an identifiying sonic stamp and the accuracy of songwriting credits were suspect at best.
Few, if any, of those unheralded behind the scenes operatives loom larger in the annals of Blues music than Willie Dixon....and not mearly because of the vast physical dimentions of the man. As the backbone of the Chess operation during its heyday -- a multi-faceted role as songwriter, house bassist on "everbody's everything," studio band leader and de facto arranger/producer on virtually all the labels major blues hits - Willie Dixon's part in shaping the sound of modern Chicago blues can hardly be overestimated.
Willie Dixon's way with words began to be honed not long after he was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. His mother Daisey, habitually tried to turn everything she said into rhymes,and Willie quickly followed suit. His first musical influence came at 7, when he would take off from school to spend the afternoon scampering through the dusty streets of Vicksburg behind a truck pulling a band featuring pianist Little Brother Montgomery.
In 1945 Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston and Willie teamed up to form the Big Three Trio along with guitaristBernardo Dennis (who was replaced by Ollie Crawford a year later). Their hometown gigs were mostly in Chicago's downtown loop district playing for predominantly white audiences, but they also frequently joined in at late night jam sessions with Muddy Waters and the core of Chicago's developing blues community.
One south side gig at the El Casino Club led to Dixon occasionally paticipating in jam sessions around the corner at the El Mocamba, a jumping joint run by a pair of Polish emigres named Leonard and Phil Chess. Dixon noted that the brothers Chess were trying to get a record company off the ground; the brothers Chess noted Dixon was a solid bass player with studio experience any fledgling company could use.
Dixon had picked up that experience working sessions for Lester Melrose, the "go-between man" whom, along with J. Mayo Williams, served as the conduit to such labels as Bluebird and Okeh for Chicago's black blues community. Usually playing on a tin can bass, Dixon backed up artists like Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson, Lil Green and other memebers of Chicago's old blues guard.
Despite the image of Chicago blues as a raw, guitar and harmonica- dominated sound, Dixon's own tracks indicate that, as early as 1951, he was no stranger to light, lilting horns and piano sound he used later to fashion Chess selections by Willie Mabon, Lowell Fulson and Jimmy Whitherspoon.
Nor does it require an advanced degree in music theory to recognize the rhythmic connection between Dixon's "29 Ways" and Little Walter's "Mellow Down Easy." But is was not until the night he corralled Muddy Waters at a Chicago club, herded Muddy into the men's room between sets to teach him the diamond-hard riff and boastful lyrics of "Hoochie Coochie Man" that Dixon became a songwriting force to be recond with. It was a classic case of the right singer for the right song. Framed by archetypal riff, Muddy's vocals leap out like a shot, adding a tough bravado to Dixon's music, which had begun to move towards the rough and tumble edge that had became synonymous with the sound of Chicago blues. Willie has said " I've been real lucky about writing people songs, but a lot of times if I picked a song, the guy didn't want the song for himself. You had to use backwards psychology --I'd say this is a song for Muddy Waters if I wanted Howlin Wolf to do it because they seemed to have a little thing going on between them".
Between 1957 - 1959 Willie took his multiple skills across town to the West Side and the fledgling Cobra label. There he instantly established Cobra's credibility with Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You, Baby". His arranging, production and songwriting savvy helped then-unproven artists like Rush, Buddy Guy and Magic Sam make their initial mark in the blues world, but finacial difficulties with cobra brought Dixon back to Chess in 1959.
Sometimes you have to look behind the scenes to find the true facts. Sometimes it takes a scan of the credits to get past the bright, stra-time glare of the marquee lights shinning on the performers in order to discover the unsung heroes who played equally pivotal roles in creating the music. Sometimes even that does not help, particularly in the world of early blues when floating pools of session players often anonymously gave each label's artists an identifiying sonic stamp and the accuracy of songwriting credits were suspect at best.
Few, if any, of those unheralded behind the scenes operatives loom larger in the annals of Blues music than Willie Dixon....and not mearly because of the vast physical dimentions of the man. As the backbone of the Chess operation during its heyday -- a multi-faceted role as songwriter, house bassist on "everbody's everything," studio band leader and de facto arranger/producer on virtually all the labels major blues hits - Willie Dixon's part in shaping the sound of modern Chicago blues can hardly be overestimated.
Willie Dixon's way with words began to be honed not long after he was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. His mother Daisey, habitually tried to turn everything she said into rhymes,and Willie quickly followed suit. His first musical influence came at 7, when he would take off from school to spend the afternoon scampering through the dusty streets of Vicksburg behind a truck pulling a band featuring pianist Little Brother Montgomery.
In 1945 Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston and Willie teamed up to form the Big Three Trio along with guitaristBernardo Dennis (who was replaced by Ollie Crawford a year later). Their hometown gigs were mostly in Chicago's downtown loop district playing for predominantly white audiences, but they also frequently joined in at late night jam sessions with Muddy Waters and the core of Chicago's developing blues community.
One south side gig at the El Casino Club led to Dixon occasionally paticipating in jam sessions around the corner at the El Mocamba, a jumping joint run by a pair of Polish emigres named Leonard and Phil Chess. Dixon noted that the brothers Chess were trying to get a record company off the ground; the brothers Chess noted Dixon was a solid bass player with studio experience any fledgling company could use.
Dixon had picked up that experience working sessions for Lester Melrose, the "go-between man" whom, along with J. Mayo Williams, served as the conduit to such labels as Bluebird and Okeh for Chicago's black blues community. Usually playing on a tin can bass, Dixon backed up artists like Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson, Lil Green and other memebers of Chicago's old blues guard.
Despite the image of Chicago blues as a raw, guitar and harmonica- dominated sound, Dixon's own tracks indicate that, as early as 1951, he was no stranger to light, lilting horns and piano sound he used later to fashion Chess selections by Willie Mabon, Lowell Fulson and Jimmy Whitherspoon.
Nor does it require an advanced degree in music theory to recognize the rhythmic connection between Dixon's "29 Ways" and Little Walter's "Mellow Down Easy." But is was not until the night he corralled Muddy Waters at a Chicago club, herded Muddy into the men's room between sets to teach him the diamond-hard riff and boastful lyrics of "Hoochie Coochie Man" that Dixon became a songwriting force to be recond with. It was a classic case of the right singer for the right song. Framed by archetypal riff, Muddy's vocals leap out like a shot, adding a tough bravado to Dixon's music, which had begun to move towards the rough and tumble edge that had became synonymous with the sound of Chicago blues. Willie has said " I've been real lucky about writing people songs, but a lot of times if I picked a song, the guy didn't want the song for himself. You had to use backwards psychology --I'd say this is a song for Muddy Waters if I wanted Howlin Wolf to do it because they seemed to have a little thing going on between them".
Between 1957 - 1959 Willie took his multiple skills across town to the West Side and the fledgling Cobra label. There he instantly established Cobra's credibility with Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You, Baby". His arranging, production and songwriting savvy helped then-unproven artists like Rush, Buddy Guy and Magic Sam make their initial mark in the blues world, but finacial difficulties with cobra brought Dixon back to Chess in 1959.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stevie Ray Vaughan was born on October 3 1954 ,in the Oak Cliff Section of Dallas Texas. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) and the son of Jim and Martha Vaughan.
In 1963 at the age of 8, Stevie began playing the guitar (under brother Jimmie's influence ), and was playing in local teen combos a few years later. Stevie didn't do well in high school, as He would sit at the back of the classroom and doze off due to his playing music all night. As a result, his grades suffered.
In 1972, Stevie dropped out of high school and moved to Austin Texas to play music full-time. Doyle Bramhall, a songwriting partner of Stevie's and longtime friend, was the first one to tell Stevie that he had potential as a guitar player.
In the early seventies, Stevie played in a band with Doyle called the Nightcrawlers.
During the mid-seventies, Stevie played with a popular Austin band called the Cobras.
In 1976, Stevie formed a blues-R&B band called Triple Threat Revue, starring himself, Lou Ann Barton, W.C. Clark, Fredde Pharoah & Mike Kindred. This band evolved into Triple Threat with Stevie, Lou Ann, Chris Layton and Jackie Newhouse. When Lou Ann left in 1980 to go to the Roomful of Blues, Stevie spoke up and renamed the group to Double Trouble. In January 1981, Tommy Shannon replaced Jackie Newhouse on bass.
On December 20 1979, Stevie married Lenora (Lenny) Baily in between sets of a gig at the Rome Inn in Austin Texas. Sometime later Stevie wrote an awesome instrumental song and titled it "Lenny"
1982 proved to be Stevie's most eventful year. David Bowie saw him at the Montreaux Festival and asked him to play on Bowie's LET'S DANCE album.Also, Jackson Browne gave him studio time at his Studio in Los Angeles. In addition, John Hammond from Epic Records signed Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble to their label. This was the beginning of Stevie's worldwide touring and international stardom.
In 1983, TEXAS FLOOD Stevie and Double Trouble's debut album, was released and the band appeared on Austin City Limits for the first time. Meanwhile,the El Mocambo video was recorded in Toronto Canada.
In 1984,COULDN'T STAND THE WEATHER was released.
In 1985, SOUL TO SOUL was released. In addition, Stevie played 5 songs and produced Lonnie Mack's comeback album STRIKE LIKE LIGHTNING.
In 1986, LIVE ALIVE was released. Later that year, Stevie entered rehabilitation to rid himself of his drug problems. He stayed away from people who could supply him with drugs, and rebuilt his relationship with his mother Martha. Stevie remained sober and drug free for the rest of his life.
In 1987, Stevie appeared in a movie called Back to the Beach as himself. In the movie, he played a duet with Dick Dale and they performed the song "Pipeline". Also in 1987, Stevie filed for a divorce from Lenny.
In 1988, Stevie performed an acoustical set on MTV. Later that year, his divorce became final with Lenny.
In 1989, IN STEP was released. Stevie also toured with Jeff Beck, and recorded his 2nd Austin City Limits performance. Both Austin City Limits performances were released some time later on a single video called LIVE FROM AUSTIN TEXAS.
In 1990, Stevie toured with Joe Cocker, and recorded FAMILY STYLE with his brother Jimmie.
On August 27 1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash right after leaving a concert he performed with Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and his brother Jimmy held at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. His music and spirit will live on FOREVER.
Stevie Ray Vaughan was born on October 3 1954 ,in the Oak Cliff Section of Dallas Texas. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) and the son of Jim and Martha Vaughan.
In 1963 at the age of 8, Stevie began playing the guitar (under brother Jimmie's influence ), and was playing in local teen combos a few years later. Stevie didn't do well in high school, as He would sit at the back of the classroom and doze off due to his playing music all night. As a result, his grades suffered.
In 1972, Stevie dropped out of high school and moved to Austin Texas to play music full-time. Doyle Bramhall, a songwriting partner of Stevie's and longtime friend, was the first one to tell Stevie that he had potential as a guitar player.
In the early seventies, Stevie played in a band with Doyle called the Nightcrawlers.
During the mid-seventies, Stevie played with a popular Austin band called the Cobras.
In 1976, Stevie formed a blues-R&B band called Triple Threat Revue, starring himself, Lou Ann Barton, W.C. Clark, Fredde Pharoah & Mike Kindred. This band evolved into Triple Threat with Stevie, Lou Ann, Chris Layton and Jackie Newhouse. When Lou Ann left in 1980 to go to the Roomful of Blues, Stevie spoke up and renamed the group to Double Trouble. In January 1981, Tommy Shannon replaced Jackie Newhouse on bass.
On December 20 1979, Stevie married Lenora (Lenny) Baily in between sets of a gig at the Rome Inn in Austin Texas. Sometime later Stevie wrote an awesome instrumental song and titled it "Lenny"
1982 proved to be Stevie's most eventful year. David Bowie saw him at the Montreaux Festival and asked him to play on Bowie's LET'S DANCE album.Also, Jackson Browne gave him studio time at his Studio in Los Angeles. In addition, John Hammond from Epic Records signed Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble to their label. This was the beginning of Stevie's worldwide touring and international stardom.
In 1983, TEXAS FLOOD Stevie and Double Trouble's debut album, was released and the band appeared on Austin City Limits for the first time. Meanwhile,the El Mocambo video was recorded in Toronto Canada.
In 1984,COULDN'T STAND THE WEATHER was released.
In 1985, SOUL TO SOUL was released. In addition, Stevie played 5 songs and produced Lonnie Mack's comeback album STRIKE LIKE LIGHTNING.
In 1986, LIVE ALIVE was released. Later that year, Stevie entered rehabilitation to rid himself of his drug problems. He stayed away from people who could supply him with drugs, and rebuilt his relationship with his mother Martha. Stevie remained sober and drug free for the rest of his life.
In 1987, Stevie appeared in a movie called Back to the Beach as himself. In the movie, he played a duet with Dick Dale and they performed the song "Pipeline". Also in 1987, Stevie filed for a divorce from Lenny.
In 1988, Stevie performed an acoustical set on MTV. Later that year, his divorce became final with Lenny.
In 1989, IN STEP was released. Stevie also toured with Jeff Beck, and recorded his 2nd Austin City Limits performance. Both Austin City Limits performances were released some time later on a single video called LIVE FROM AUSTIN TEXAS.
In 1990, Stevie toured with Joe Cocker, and recorded FAMILY STYLE with his brother Jimmie.
On August 27 1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan died in a helicopter crash right after leaving a concert he performed with Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and his brother Jimmy held at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin. His music and spirit will live on FOREVER.
I Know it Is Not Blues But.........
I know it is not blues but I also like other music and from time to time I will post other music,feel free to let me know what you think. You see I like most music it is just that I do love the Blues.
R. J. Dog The Blues Man
R. J. Dog The Blues Man
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt's music incorporates blues, R&B, pop, and folk. Though her albums always had sold respectably (averaging several hundred thousand copies) and she had been a headliner since the mid-'70s, it was not until 1989's Nick of Time that she achieved the great commercial success critics had been predicting since she debuted in 1971.The daughter of Broadway singer John Raitt (star of The Pajama Game and Carousel), Bonnie Raitt started playing guitar at age 12 and was immediately attracted to the blues. In 1967 she left her L.A. home to enter Radcliffe, but she dropped out after two years and began playing the local folk and blues clubs. Dick Waterman, longtime blues aficionado and manager, signed her, and soon she was performing with Howlin’ Wolf, Sippie Wallace, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other blues legends. Her reputation in Boston and Philadelphia led to a record contract with Warner Bros.Raitt’s early albums were critically acclaimed for her singing and guitar playing (she is one of the few women who play bottleneck) as well as her choice of material, which often included blues as well as pop and folk songs. Most of Raitt’s repertoire consists of covers, and she has gone out of her way to credit her sources, often touring with them as opening acts. Her sixth album, Sweet Forgiveness (#25, 1977), went gold and yielded a hit cover version of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” (#57, 1977). The Glow (featuring her first original tunes since three on Give It Up) (#30, 1979) was produced by Peter Asher, but it did not sell as well as its predecessor.A Quaker, Raitt has played literally hundreds of benefits over the course of her career. She was a founder of M.U.S.E. (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which in September 1979 held a massive concert at Madison Square Garden, with other stars like Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and the Doobie Brothers. It was later commemorated on a three-LP set. In 1982 she released her eighth LP, Green Light (#38, 1982), a harder-rocking effort aided by her backup band, the Bump Band, which included veteran keyboardist Ian MacLagan (of the Faces and the Stones; Raitt’s longtime bassist and tuba-player, Freebo, remained a constant sideman through her various backup bands). They toured with Raitt in mid-1982, greeted by the usual critical acclaim. Her work also appeared on the platinum 1980 Urban Cowboy soundtrack, with the country song “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance.”When Nine Lives (#115, 1986) flopped, Raitt lost her deal with Warner Bros. Prince reportedly produced an album’s worth of tracks with her, but they were never released. Instead, Raitt reemerged in 1989 on Capitol with her Don Was–produced breakthrough album Nick of Time, which smoothed out her rough bluesy edges yet avoided crass commercialism. It topped the charts, sold 4 million copies, and won an Album of the Year Grammy (one of four awards won by a thunderstruck Raitt at the 1990 gala; one was for her duet with Delbert McClinton, “Good Man, Good Woman”). The pattern held with Luck of the Draw (#2, 1991), another Was production, which included the hit singles “Something to Talk About” (#5, 1991) and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (#18, 1991). It sold over 4 million copies and netted three more Grammys, for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal, and Best Pop Vocal Performance. Raitt earned another in 1990, for Best Traditional Blues Recording, for “In the Mood,” a duet with John Lee Hooker on his album The Healer. Her former label Warner Bros. capitalized on Raitt’s high profile by releasing The Bonnie Raitt Collectio (#61, 1990), which included live duets with Sippie Wallace and John Prine.In April 1991 Raitt married actor Michael O’Keefe (they divorced in 1999). Raitt also cofounded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and money for influential musical pioneers left impoverished in their old age by unfair record deals and lack of health insurance. Raitt once again found success working with producer Don Was, as 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts topped the chart and went platinum shortly after its release; it sold over 2 million copies. It included “Love Sneakin’ Up on You” (#19, 1994) and “You” (#92, 1994). Around this time, Raitt had a hit with “You Got It” (#33, 1995) from the film Boys on the Side, and a minor hit with “Rock Steady”(#73, 1995), a duet with Bryan Adams. Road Tested (#44, 1995) is a live album. In 1995 Raitt became the first woman guitarist to have a guitar named for her. All royalties from the sale of Fender’s Bonnie Raitt Signature Series Stratocaster go to programs to teach inner-city girls to play guitar.Her next effort, Fundamental (#17, 1998), produced by Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, was a less polished collection that some viewed as a return to the fine roots- and blues-based work of her earlier, hitless days. Raitt called 1982’s Green Light the album’s “true predecessor.” Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Raitt continues to perform for and speak out on a wide range of issues, including nuclear power, reproductive freedom, and the environment.
Singer/guitarist Bonnie Raitt's music incorporates blues, R&B, pop, and folk. Though her albums always had sold respectably (averaging several hundred thousand copies) and she had been a headliner since the mid-'70s, it was not until 1989's Nick of Time that she achieved the great commercial success critics had been predicting since she debuted in 1971.The daughter of Broadway singer John Raitt (star of The Pajama Game and Carousel), Bonnie Raitt started playing guitar at age 12 and was immediately attracted to the blues. In 1967 she left her L.A. home to enter Radcliffe, but she dropped out after two years and began playing the local folk and blues clubs. Dick Waterman, longtime blues aficionado and manager, signed her, and soon she was performing with Howlin’ Wolf, Sippie Wallace, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other blues legends. Her reputation in Boston and Philadelphia led to a record contract with Warner Bros.Raitt’s early albums were critically acclaimed for her singing and guitar playing (she is one of the few women who play bottleneck) as well as her choice of material, which often included blues as well as pop and folk songs. Most of Raitt’s repertoire consists of covers, and she has gone out of her way to credit her sources, often touring with them as opening acts. Her sixth album, Sweet Forgiveness (#25, 1977), went gold and yielded a hit cover version of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” (#57, 1977). The Glow (featuring her first original tunes since three on Give It Up) (#30, 1979) was produced by Peter Asher, but it did not sell as well as its predecessor.A Quaker, Raitt has played literally hundreds of benefits over the course of her career. She was a founder of M.U.S.E. (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which in September 1979 held a massive concert at Madison Square Garden, with other stars like Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and the Doobie Brothers. It was later commemorated on a three-LP set. In 1982 she released her eighth LP, Green Light (#38, 1982), a harder-rocking effort aided by her backup band, the Bump Band, which included veteran keyboardist Ian MacLagan (of the Faces and the Stones; Raitt’s longtime bassist and tuba-player, Freebo, remained a constant sideman through her various backup bands). They toured with Raitt in mid-1982, greeted by the usual critical acclaim. Her work also appeared on the platinum 1980 Urban Cowboy soundtrack, with the country song “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance.”When Nine Lives (#115, 1986) flopped, Raitt lost her deal with Warner Bros. Prince reportedly produced an album’s worth of tracks with her, but they were never released. Instead, Raitt reemerged in 1989 on Capitol with her Don Was–produced breakthrough album Nick of Time, which smoothed out her rough bluesy edges yet avoided crass commercialism. It topped the charts, sold 4 million copies, and won an Album of the Year Grammy (one of four awards won by a thunderstruck Raitt at the 1990 gala; one was for her duet with Delbert McClinton, “Good Man, Good Woman”). The pattern held with Luck of the Draw (#2, 1991), another Was production, which included the hit singles “Something to Talk About” (#5, 1991) and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (#18, 1991). It sold over 4 million copies and netted three more Grammys, for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal, and Best Pop Vocal Performance. Raitt earned another in 1990, for Best Traditional Blues Recording, for “In the Mood,” a duet with John Lee Hooker on his album The Healer. Her former label Warner Bros. capitalized on Raitt’s high profile by releasing The Bonnie Raitt Collectio (#61, 1990), which included live duets with Sippie Wallace and John Prine.In April 1991 Raitt married actor Michael O’Keefe (they divorced in 1999). Raitt also cofounded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and money for influential musical pioneers left impoverished in their old age by unfair record deals and lack of health insurance. Raitt once again found success working with producer Don Was, as 1994’s Longing in Their Hearts topped the chart and went platinum shortly after its release; it sold over 2 million copies. It included “Love Sneakin’ Up on You” (#19, 1994) and “You” (#92, 1994). Around this time, Raitt had a hit with “You Got It” (#33, 1995) from the film Boys on the Side, and a minor hit with “Rock Steady”(#73, 1995), a duet with Bryan Adams. Road Tested (#44, 1995) is a live album. In 1995 Raitt became the first woman guitarist to have a guitar named for her. All royalties from the sale of Fender’s Bonnie Raitt Signature Series Stratocaster go to programs to teach inner-city girls to play guitar.Her next effort, Fundamental (#17, 1998), produced by Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, was a less polished collection that some viewed as a return to the fine roots- and blues-based work of her earlier, hitless days. Raitt called 1982’s Green Light the album’s “true predecessor.” Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Raitt continues to perform for and speak out on a wide range of issues, including nuclear power, reproductive freedom, and the environment.
Gary Moore
Gary Moore Biography Gary Moore is acknowledged as one of the finest musicians that the British Isles has ever produced. In a career that dates back to the 1960s, there are few musical genres that he has not turned his adroit musical hand to, and he has graced the line-ups ever several notable rock bands, Thin Lizzy, Colosseum II and Skid Row to name but three. Gary was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 4th 1952. Like many others, he was turned on to rock and roll first through hearing Elvis Presley, and then via The Beatles. Seeing the likes of Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in his hometown in the mid-60s opened up to him the rich world of The Blues. Hearing the art of the Blues guitar performed by such lauded exponents as Peter Green fired Moore's nascent talent, and it wasn't long before he was being hailed as a teen musical prodigy. Indeed, it was Green himself who helped foster Moore's career, a debt that was repaid handsomely when Gary cut his warm and heartfelt tribute to his mentor, the 'Blues For Greeny' album, released in 1995. Gary's first band of note, the power trio Skid Row, secured a record deal with the CBS label in 1970. By this time, Gary had moved to Dublin, and befriended Philip Lynott, who filled the vocal role with Skid Row until shortly before the CBS deal was signed. Gary cut three albums with the band, and toured the USA supporting The Allman Brothers Band, and Mountain amongst others, before leaving Skid Row to embark on a solo career. This proved short-lived, as Gary was soon to reunite with Philip Lynott as replacement for Eric Bell in the Thin Lizzy line-up. Although he was in the band for a relatively brief tenure, he would rejoin their ranks following the departure of Brian Robertson in 1977, and again, finally, for the 'Black Rose' tour in 1978. In 1979, Gary's solo career began in earnest with the evocative hit single.
'Parisienne Walkways', which pitched Gary's tasteful, blues-soaked lead guitar with a moody Philip Lynott guest vocal. The single reached the UK Top Ten in April of that year, and the subsequent album, 'Back On The Streets' was similarly well received. The late 1970s and early 80s were characterised by Gary's restless search for the best musical settings for his talents; a reunion with Philip Lynott produced the powerful 'Out In The Fields' hit single (1985). He then explored his Celtic roots on the album 'Wild Frontier' (1987), but it was with the 1990 album, 'Still Got The Blues', that Gary arrived at a rich musical vein within which his creativity could flow freely. This and its successor, 'After Hours' saw cameo appearances from the likes of such Blues guitar greats as Albert King, BB King, and Albert Collins, and it is a testament to Gary's own remarkable talents that he more than held his own amongst such august company. In 1994, Gary worked alongside Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in the band BBM, cutting one accomplished album, before resuming his solo career.
The, 'Back To The Blues' (2001) album saw this consummately talented musician revisit The Blues with renewed vigor and determination, after the more experimental 'Dark Days In Paradise' (1997) and 'A Different Beat' (1999) albums. A ten-track collection that mixes excellent Moore originals with gritty and intense covers of standards. But, in the tradition of keeping his fans and critics guessing, 2002 saw Gary Moore crashing back onto the music scene with what had to be his heaviest collection of songs since the late 1980’s, once again forcing people to reassess any opinions and preconceptions they may have of him. That time round though, Moore had decided to share the limelight, joining forces with ex-Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney to form‘Scars’, a true power trio in every respect. The ‘Scars’ album was completed in early 2002 and that line-up, then went on to record the ‘Live at the Monsters of Rock’ (2003) live CD and DVD, which featured the band's set as performed on two separate nights on the UK Tour in May 2003. That live set encompassed a diverse range of material, from across Gary's playing career. 2004 saw possibly the rawest album yet from Gary Moore, ‘Power of the Blues’. The 10-track set, recorded mostly live in the studio, ranged from the hard rock/blues of the title track, via the upbeat swing of "Can't find my baby", to the haunting "Torn Inside". Taking time out in August 2005, for a brief reunion with some of his old Thin Lizzy pals, for a one off concert in Dublin. The evening was filmed for a 2006 DVD release. "Gary Moore and Friends,One Night in Dublin, A Tribute to Phil Lynott" (Eagle Vision EREDV559). Gary's last studio album "Old New Ballads Blues" (Eagle Records, EAGCD314) 2006, featured a blend of stunning originals mixed with some inspiring blues covers.
With his latest studio album 'Close As You Get', Gary continues in a direction not too dissimilar from Old, New, Ballads, Blues. Mixing original tunes with some interesting Blues covers that Gary has rediscovered, whilst researching for his recent Planet Rock “ Blues Power”, radio show. 'Close As You Get' showcases Moore’s exceptional talent as a guitarist and is destined to be one of the finest blues and guitar albums released during 2007.
‘Close as you get’
Track Listing: 1. If The Devil Made Whisky 2. Trouble At Home 3. Thirty Days 4. Hard Times 5. Have You Heard 6. Eyesight To The Blind 7. Evenin' 8. Nowhere Fast 9. Checkin' Up On My Baby10. I Had A Dream11. Sundown
'Parisienne Walkways', which pitched Gary's tasteful, blues-soaked lead guitar with a moody Philip Lynott guest vocal. The single reached the UK Top Ten in April of that year, and the subsequent album, 'Back On The Streets' was similarly well received. The late 1970s and early 80s were characterised by Gary's restless search for the best musical settings for his talents; a reunion with Philip Lynott produced the powerful 'Out In The Fields' hit single (1985). He then explored his Celtic roots on the album 'Wild Frontier' (1987), but it was with the 1990 album, 'Still Got The Blues', that Gary arrived at a rich musical vein within which his creativity could flow freely. This and its successor, 'After Hours' saw cameo appearances from the likes of such Blues guitar greats as Albert King, BB King, and Albert Collins, and it is a testament to Gary's own remarkable talents that he more than held his own amongst such august company. In 1994, Gary worked alongside Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in the band BBM, cutting one accomplished album, before resuming his solo career.
The, 'Back To The Blues' (2001) album saw this consummately talented musician revisit The Blues with renewed vigor and determination, after the more experimental 'Dark Days In Paradise' (1997) and 'A Different Beat' (1999) albums. A ten-track collection that mixes excellent Moore originals with gritty and intense covers of standards. But, in the tradition of keeping his fans and critics guessing, 2002 saw Gary Moore crashing back onto the music scene with what had to be his heaviest collection of songs since the late 1980’s, once again forcing people to reassess any opinions and preconceptions they may have of him. That time round though, Moore had decided to share the limelight, joining forces with ex-Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney to form‘Scars’, a true power trio in every respect. The ‘Scars’ album was completed in early 2002 and that line-up, then went on to record the ‘Live at the Monsters of Rock’ (2003) live CD and DVD, which featured the band's set as performed on two separate nights on the UK Tour in May 2003. That live set encompassed a diverse range of material, from across Gary's playing career. 2004 saw possibly the rawest album yet from Gary Moore, ‘Power of the Blues’. The 10-track set, recorded mostly live in the studio, ranged from the hard rock/blues of the title track, via the upbeat swing of "Can't find my baby", to the haunting "Torn Inside". Taking time out in August 2005, for a brief reunion with some of his old Thin Lizzy pals, for a one off concert in Dublin. The evening was filmed for a 2006 DVD release. "Gary Moore and Friends,One Night in Dublin, A Tribute to Phil Lynott" (Eagle Vision EREDV559). Gary's last studio album "Old New Ballads Blues" (Eagle Records, EAGCD314) 2006, featured a blend of stunning originals mixed with some inspiring blues covers.
With his latest studio album 'Close As You Get', Gary continues in a direction not too dissimilar from Old, New, Ballads, Blues. Mixing original tunes with some interesting Blues covers that Gary has rediscovered, whilst researching for his recent Planet Rock “ Blues Power”, radio show. 'Close As You Get' showcases Moore’s exceptional talent as a guitarist and is destined to be one of the finest blues and guitar albums released during 2007.
‘Close as you get’
Track Listing: 1. If The Devil Made Whisky 2. Trouble At Home 3. Thirty Days 4. Hard Times 5. Have You Heard 6. Eyesight To The Blind 7. Evenin' 8. Nowhere Fast 9. Checkin' Up On My Baby10. I Had A Dream11. Sundown
B. B. King
B. B. King
Riley B. King - The "King" of the Blues: Riley "Blues Boy" King came out from behind the wheel of a tractor on a Mississippi cotton plantation, headed off to Memphis, and found work as a disc jockey. "Blues Boy" was shortened to "B.B.", and the rest is Blues history.
Born: September 16, 1925
Birthplace: Indianola, Mississippi
listing of B.B.'s recordings.
Lucille: Sun Records recorded B.B. in 1951. His first national hit was "Three O'Clock Blues". He has gone on to record 70+ records. But his relentless touring schedule has been what has really brought his music to the people.
Among his hits: The Thrill Is Gone, Let The Good Time Roll, How Blue Can You Get, It Costs To Be The Boss, Sweet Little Angel, and When Love Comes To Town.
4 - Honorary Doctorates
7 - W.C. Handy Blues Awards
4 - NAACP Image Awards
9 - Grammy Awards
27 - Downbeat Awards
One of B. B.'s biggest paths to success was juke boxes in bars a clubs around the country and especially in the South. While most radio stations refused to play his songs, it was rare to find a jukebox where his music wasn't the most popular.
B.B.'s guitar is named Lucille. Named after a woman who enraged a man so much he set fire to the club B.B. was playing. He rescued the beloved guitar from the fire and he still has it today. You probably won't hear the original Lucille at a concert, B. B. usually plays a copy, The original stays in his hotel room.
To most of the world, B.B. King is the Blues greatest ambassador. His music has cut across cultural, political, and generational lines as he has kept up a relentless schedule of touring and recording. To see how hard this man works just go look at his schedule If you have never seen B.B. live, this is the time. Our national treasure will most certainly be in your area in the next year, head out and see the greatest.
Riley B. King - The "King" of the Blues: Riley "Blues Boy" King came out from behind the wheel of a tractor on a Mississippi cotton plantation, headed off to Memphis, and found work as a disc jockey. "Blues Boy" was shortened to "B.B.", and the rest is Blues history.
Born: September 16, 1925
Birthplace: Indianola, Mississippi
listing of B.B.'s recordings.
Lucille: Sun Records recorded B.B. in 1951. His first national hit was "Three O'Clock Blues". He has gone on to record 70+ records. But his relentless touring schedule has been what has really brought his music to the people.
Among his hits: The Thrill Is Gone, Let The Good Time Roll, How Blue Can You Get, It Costs To Be The Boss, Sweet Little Angel, and When Love Comes To Town.
4 - Honorary Doctorates
7 - W.C. Handy Blues Awards
4 - NAACP Image Awards
9 - Grammy Awards
27 - Downbeat Awards
One of B. B.'s biggest paths to success was juke boxes in bars a clubs around the country and especially in the South. While most radio stations refused to play his songs, it was rare to find a jukebox where his music wasn't the most popular.
B.B.'s guitar is named Lucille. Named after a woman who enraged a man so much he set fire to the club B.B. was playing. He rescued the beloved guitar from the fire and he still has it today. You probably won't hear the original Lucille at a concert, B. B. usually plays a copy, The original stays in his hotel room.
To most of the world, B.B. King is the Blues greatest ambassador. His music has cut across cultural, political, and generational lines as he has kept up a relentless schedule of touring and recording. To see how hard this man works just go look at his schedule If you have never seen B.B. live, this is the time. Our national treasure will most certainly be in your area in the next year, head out and see the greatest.
Albert King
BIOGRAPHY
Albert King (born Albert Nelson). April 25th, 1923 - December 21st, 1992. Birthplace: Indianola, Mississippi.Bluesman Albert King was one of the premier electric guitar stylists of the post-World War II period. By playing left-handed and holding his guitar upside-down (with the strings set for a right-handed player), and by concentrating on tone and intensity more than flash, King fashioned over his long career, a sound that was both distinctive and highly influential. He was a master of the single-string solo and could bend strings to produce a particularly tormented blues sound that set his style apart from his contemporaries. A number of prominent artists,from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to Mike Bloomfield and Stevie Ray Vaughan, borrowed heavily from King's guitar style.King was also the first major blues guitarist to cross over into modem soul;his mid- and late 1960s recordings for the Stax label, cut with the same great session musicians who played on the recordings of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave,Eddie Floyd, and others, appealed to his established black audience while broadening his appeal with rock fans. Along with B.B. King (no relation, though at times Albert suggested otherwise) and Muddy Waters, King helped nurture a white interest in blues when the music needed it most to survive.King was born in Mississippi and taught himself how to play on a homemade guitar. Inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, King quit singing in a family gospel group and took up the blues. He worked around Osceola, Arkansas, with a group called the In the Groove Boys before migrating north and ending up in Gary,Indiana, in the early 1950s. For a while, King played drums behind bluesman Jimmy Reed. In 1953, King convinced Parrot label owner Al Benson to record him as a blues singer and guitarist. That year King cut "Bad Luck Blues" and "Be On Your Merry Way" for Parrot. Because King received little in the way of financial remuneration for the record, he left Parrot and eventually moved to St. Louis, where he recorded for the Bobbin and the King labels. In 1959 he had a minor hit on Bobbin with "I'm a Lonely Man." King's biggest release, "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong," made it to number 14 on the R&B charts in 1961.King didn't become a major blues figure until after he signed with Stax Records in 1966. Working with producer-drummer Al Jackson, Jr., guitarist Steve Cropper, keyboards ace Booker T. Jones, and bass player Donald "Duck"Dunn-aka Booker T. and the MG's, King created a blues sound that was laced with Memphis soul strains. Although the blues were dominant on songs such as"Laundromat Blues" and the classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", the tunes had Memphis soul underpinnings that gave King his crossover appeal. Not only was he the first blues artist to play the legendary San Francisco rock venue the Fillmore West, but he was also on the debut bill, sharing the stage opening night in1968 with Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall. King went on to become a regular at the Fillmore; his album Live Wire/Blues Power was recorded there in 1968.King was also one of the first bluesman to record with a symphony orchestra: in1969 he performed with the St. Louis Symphony, triumphantly bringing together the blues and classical music, if only for a fleeting moment.During the 1970s King toured extensively, often playing to rock and soul crowds. He left Stax in 1974 to record for independent labels like Tomato and Fantasy. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1983.He continued touring throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, playing festivals and concerts, often with B.B. King.
He died of a heart attack in 1992, just prior to starting a major European tour.
Albert King (born Albert Nelson). April 25th, 1923 - December 21st, 1992. Birthplace: Indianola, Mississippi.Bluesman Albert King was one of the premier electric guitar stylists of the post-World War II period. By playing left-handed and holding his guitar upside-down (with the strings set for a right-handed player), and by concentrating on tone and intensity more than flash, King fashioned over his long career, a sound that was both distinctive and highly influential. He was a master of the single-string solo and could bend strings to produce a particularly tormented blues sound that set his style apart from his contemporaries. A number of prominent artists,from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to Mike Bloomfield and Stevie Ray Vaughan, borrowed heavily from King's guitar style.King was also the first major blues guitarist to cross over into modem soul;his mid- and late 1960s recordings for the Stax label, cut with the same great session musicians who played on the recordings of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave,Eddie Floyd, and others, appealed to his established black audience while broadening his appeal with rock fans. Along with B.B. King (no relation, though at times Albert suggested otherwise) and Muddy Waters, King helped nurture a white interest in blues when the music needed it most to survive.King was born in Mississippi and taught himself how to play on a homemade guitar. Inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, King quit singing in a family gospel group and took up the blues. He worked around Osceola, Arkansas, with a group called the In the Groove Boys before migrating north and ending up in Gary,Indiana, in the early 1950s. For a while, King played drums behind bluesman Jimmy Reed. In 1953, King convinced Parrot label owner Al Benson to record him as a blues singer and guitarist. That year King cut "Bad Luck Blues" and "Be On Your Merry Way" for Parrot. Because King received little in the way of financial remuneration for the record, he left Parrot and eventually moved to St. Louis, where he recorded for the Bobbin and the King labels. In 1959 he had a minor hit on Bobbin with "I'm a Lonely Man." King's biggest release, "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong," made it to number 14 on the R&B charts in 1961.King didn't become a major blues figure until after he signed with Stax Records in 1966. Working with producer-drummer Al Jackson, Jr., guitarist Steve Cropper, keyboards ace Booker T. Jones, and bass player Donald "Duck"Dunn-aka Booker T. and the MG's, King created a blues sound that was laced with Memphis soul strains. Although the blues were dominant on songs such as"Laundromat Blues" and the classic "Born Under A Bad Sign", the tunes had Memphis soul underpinnings that gave King his crossover appeal. Not only was he the first blues artist to play the legendary San Francisco rock venue the Fillmore West, but he was also on the debut bill, sharing the stage opening night in1968 with Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall. King went on to become a regular at the Fillmore; his album Live Wire/Blues Power was recorded there in 1968.King was also one of the first bluesman to record with a symphony orchestra: in1969 he performed with the St. Louis Symphony, triumphantly bringing together the blues and classical music, if only for a fleeting moment.During the 1970s King toured extensively, often playing to rock and soul crowds. He left Stax in 1974 to record for independent labels like Tomato and Fantasy. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1983.He continued touring throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, playing festivals and concerts, often with B.B. King.
He died of a heart attack in 1992, just prior to starting a major European tour.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Robert Johnson
"Robert Johnson stands at the crossroads of American music, much as a popular folk legend has it he once stood at Mississippi crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar-playing prowess. He became the first modern bluesman, linking the country blues of the Mississippi Delta with the city blues of the post-World War II era. Johnson was a songwriter of searing depth and a guitar player with a commanding ability that inspired no less an admirer than Keith Richard of the rolling stones to exclaim, “When I first heard [him], I was hearing two guitars, and it took me a long time to realize he was actually doing it all by himself.”
Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, in 1911, Johnson was ill-suited for sharecropping and gravitated instead toward the itinerant life of the musician. He picked up the guitar in his teens and numbered among his tutors such esteemed blues figures as Charley Patton and Son House. During the Depression years of the early Thirties, Johnson lit out with his guitar and earned his keep as an entertainer - not only as a master of the blues but of the popular tunes and styles of the day. His travels took him throughout the Mississippi and Arkansas Deltas, where he performed at jook joints, country suppers and levee camps. He also saw the big cities, traveling with fellow bluesman Johnny Shines to perform in St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago and elsewhere. The entirety of his recorded output was cut in three days worth of sessions in November 1936 and two days in June 1937. His life came to a premature end when he was poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman he began seeing during a stint at the Three Forks juke joint in Greenwood, Mississippi. The poisoning occurred on the night of August 13, 1938, and Johnson died three nights later at the home of a friend.
Though he recorded only 29 songs in his brief career - 22 of which appeared on 78 rpm singles released on the Vocalion label, including his first and most popular, “Terraplane Blues” - Johnson nonetheless altered the course of American music. In the words of biographer Stephen C. LaVere, “Robert Johnson is the most influential bluesman of all time and the person most responsible for the shape popular music has taken in the last five decades.” Such classics as “Cross Road Blues,” “Love In Vain” and “Sweet Home Chicago” are the bedrock upon which modern blues and rock and roll were built.
In an eloquent testimonial included in the liner notes to the box set Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (Columbia Records, 1990), disciple Eric Claptonsaid, “Robert Johnson to me is the most important blues musician who ever lived....I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice.”
Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, in 1911, Johnson was ill-suited for sharecropping and gravitated instead toward the itinerant life of the musician. He picked up the guitar in his teens and numbered among his tutors such esteemed blues figures as Charley Patton and Son House. During the Depression years of the early Thirties, Johnson lit out with his guitar and earned his keep as an entertainer - not only as a master of the blues but of the popular tunes and styles of the day. His travels took him throughout the Mississippi and Arkansas Deltas, where he performed at jook joints, country suppers and levee camps. He also saw the big cities, traveling with fellow bluesman Johnny Shines to perform in St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago and elsewhere. The entirety of his recorded output was cut in three days worth of sessions in November 1936 and two days in June 1937. His life came to a premature end when he was poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman he began seeing during a stint at the Three Forks juke joint in Greenwood, Mississippi. The poisoning occurred on the night of August 13, 1938, and Johnson died three nights later at the home of a friend.
Though he recorded only 29 songs in his brief career - 22 of which appeared on 78 rpm singles released on the Vocalion label, including his first and most popular, “Terraplane Blues” - Johnson nonetheless altered the course of American music. In the words of biographer Stephen C. LaVere, “Robert Johnson is the most influential bluesman of all time and the person most responsible for the shape popular music has taken in the last five decades.” Such classics as “Cross Road Blues,” “Love In Vain” and “Sweet Home Chicago” are the bedrock upon which modern blues and rock and roll were built.
In an eloquent testimonial included in the liner notes to the box set Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings (Columbia Records, 1990), disciple Eric Claptonsaid, “Robert Johnson to me is the most important blues musician who ever lived....I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice.”
Hoodoo Man " Junior Wells"
Jr. Wells, a "rough-looking, hard-time guy," was born Amos Blakemore in Memphis, Tennesee, on December 9, 1934 and died on January 15, 1998 in Chicago.
During the Spring 1995 Meg Digby and Barry Silbergeld went to a Jr. Wells gig at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. Meg really hit it off with Junior....and soon commissioned her very talented artist / sister, Mel Buehrer, to render a drawing of Junior Wells for Barry's birthday present on May 26, 1995.
Jr. Wells was first exposed to blues of Howlin' Wolf & B.B. King in his home town of Memphis; he moved to Chicago with his mother at the age of twelve. At the age of sixteen he called his first band "Deuces" then "The Four Aces" and eventually "Aces." Wells left Aces to take Little Walter's place in Muddy Waters band druing the early '50s.
Jr's first recordings were on the States label during the summer of 1953, and included the classic first version of "Hoodoo Man"...the actual spelling used by States on the original 78s and 45s was "Hodo Man"
By 1965 when Bob Koester's Delmark label first recorded him, Jr. Wells was well establed at Theresa's Lounge on Chicago's West side, where Jr. was backed by Buddy Guy's band. Hoodoo Man Blues (Delmark, 1965) became a cult record with The Grateful Dead having been inspired by several of the tunes. In January, 1967 three shows at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco were headlined by the Grateful Dead and the Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band. In 1972 Robert "Ace" Weir recorded his first solo album, "ACE."
During the Spring 1995 Meg Digby and Barry Silbergeld went to a Jr. Wells gig at Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago. Meg really hit it off with Junior....and soon commissioned her very talented artist / sister, Mel Buehrer, to render a drawing of Junior Wells for Barry's birthday present on May 26, 1995.
Jr. Wells was first exposed to blues of Howlin' Wolf & B.B. King in his home town of Memphis; he moved to Chicago with his mother at the age of twelve. At the age of sixteen he called his first band "Deuces" then "The Four Aces" and eventually "Aces." Wells left Aces to take Little Walter's place in Muddy Waters band druing the early '50s.
Jr's first recordings were on the States label during the summer of 1953, and included the classic first version of "Hoodoo Man"...the actual spelling used by States on the original 78s and 45s was "Hodo Man"
By 1965 when Bob Koester's Delmark label first recorded him, Jr. Wells was well establed at Theresa's Lounge on Chicago's West side, where Jr. was backed by Buddy Guy's band. Hoodoo Man Blues (Delmark, 1965) became a cult record with The Grateful Dead having been inspired by several of the tunes. In January, 1967 three shows at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco were headlined by the Grateful Dead and the Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band. In 1972 Robert "Ace" Weir recorded his first solo album, "ACE."
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Top 10 Clubs
A list on the top 10 Blues Clubs,check them out1. Buddy Guy's Legends Chicago is a rare city where you can Blues bar-hop. In a town nurtured on small corner bars featuring the Blues, Buddy Guy's place is the top of the town. Legends feature Blues every night with the biggest names in the Blues on weekends. You might even catch Buddy there when he's home. Urban Blues at it finest. 2. Zoo Bar You'd probably never consider Lincoln, Nebraska a Blues hotbed, when in fact The legendary Zoo Bar has been hosting the best in the Blues for years. Just off campus, University of Nebraska students have had a special line on the best Blues artists in this cozy little place around the corner from the state capital building. 3. B.B. King's MemphisThe original B.B. King Blues Club. Fortunately the Memphis club hasn't had to sacrifice the all-Blues lineup to compete locally, as other B.B. King clubs have been forced to diversify their lineup. Located at the head of Beale Street, B.B. Kings hosts slammin' Blues every day and night. Most of the artists are locals but don't let that discourage you, especially in Memphis. 4. Blind WilliesAtlanta's Blind Willie's is a Blues club born out of pure love for the music and Georgia's favorite Blues son, Blind Willie McTell. With it's stream of national artists, Blind Willie's would be considered a great club, but add Atlanta's own stable of great Blues artists, Sandra Hall, Sweet Betty, Mudcat, and you have one of the all around best Blues experiences in the South. 5. Blues On GrandDes Moines, Iowa would seem to be another lonely Blues outpost. Well thanks to Blues On Grand, it might be an outpost, but it certainly isn't lonely. This tiny place, down Grand Avenue from the state capital, has hosted the best in the Blues and is always the warmest place in town on the coldest nights of the year. 6. Moondog’s Just outside of Pittsburgh, above the river in Blawnox, sits a small un-assuming blue-collar place called Moondog's. You wouldn't think that this little club, with caricatures of favorite artists depicted as dogs on the wall, could be a great blues experience. Fact is Moondog's is beloved by fans and artists for it's warm hospitality and great home cooking. 7. Skipper's Smokehouse If you're ever down in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, ask around about Skipper's Smokehouse. This funky little place hosts the best in live music with some great pois-on-ality. This unique venue has been Florida's home to the Blues for 20 years. It won the KBA Blues Club of the Year in 2001. It's the club that washed ashore. Read Review8. Slippery Noodle2003 KBA Award winning club in Indinapolis, the Slippery Noodle is Indiana's oldest continually operating bar in the original building. The perfect place for the Blues. With a steady stream of great local talent and up-and-coming national artists, the Slippery Noodle has been winning awards for years. 9. Stevie Ray'sLouisville Blues fans have been treated to the best in the Blues for years at Stevie Ray's. They used to have more touring national artists but these days you will find more local and regional acts gracing the stage. Great place to see many newcomers as they make a splash on the Blues scene. 10. Famous Dave'sThis barbecue joint has been a stopover for all the touring Blues bands riding through Minnesota. The people are as friendly as it gets, the food is great, and there has been a steady stream of great Blues along with fine local talent to keep your mojo workin'.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
