Anyone hear like blues?

tnx

Les Blank. Oh, my.

I need to re-see his stuff, starting with the garlic.



I also rather like live pigs for themselves so this is conflicting.

Back to music.

Bobby Dylan, doin his self a little blues:

Not everybody benefitted from the WPA during the depression, as this tune, called "WPA blues," shows. Casey Bill Weldon played in the Memphis Jug Band in the 20's and was married to (and played with) Memphis Minnie for a spell. He also played with Peetie Wheatstraw (the Devils' Son-in-Law), some. Like Peetie, he uses the "oh, well, well" phrasing for punctuation in some later songs (probably picked it up from Peetie, I figure). You can also hear Memphis Minnie's influence on his vocals (and/or vice versa) in many tunes (some, but not so much this one, though).



Thought I'd throw in this classic by Casey Bill from 1927, which is more jug band style. It's called "Turpentine blues."

I don't want no jet-black woman, Lord,
to cook no pot for me....
cause black is evil...
I'm scared she might poison me..

Whatcha gunna do, boy
when your troubles get like mine?
take a mouthful of sugar....
and drink a bottle of turpentine.

Even white boys can get the blues, eh?

I don't care if it rains or freezes
Long as I got my plastic Jesus
sittin on the dashboard of my car...

Goin 90, I aint scary...
cause I got the Virgin Mary
assuring me that I won't go to hell

For a little change of pace, how about a country tune from one of the great pioneers of Rock/Rockabilly?

Blues with a feelin by Little Walter. Little Walter was (surprise) a little guy. Unfortunately for him he also had a big mouth, a mean streak, a bad temper, and fear of no one (at least when drunk, which was most always). If you watch the slide show which accompanies this, you can see the toll his never-ending series of bar room fights left on him over the years. He died at age 37 after, you guessed it, managing to make his way home after a bar room fight.

Here he is (in the pic, not the song) onstage with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters.

Seein Muddy and Bo there made me think of a song Bo wrote and recorded in 1955, "I'm a Man." A month later Muddy Waters covered it (as "Mannish Boy," since he was older). Covered many times since, including 10 years later by Jimmy James of the Blue Flames aka Jimi Hendrix (doing Muddy's version in Bo's voice).

A little tune about Lightnin, Mad Dog, Thunderbird, and his white homey.

Oh damn, BB King died today, what a terrible loss.

The thrill is gone.

mark

Obama, egged on by Buddy Guy, sings with BB:

Elizabeth Cotton is such a sweetheart. She was born in 1893, in Chapel Hill, NC and started playing while experimenting with her brother's banjo as a child. She was left-handed, so she turned it upside down to play it.

She later moved to Washington DC. She had quit playing any instruments for almost 40 years and was working in a department store as a doll sales lady. One day she took a lost child to her mother, Ruth Seegar. Ruth was a folk singer, and hired Elizabeth to do housework. When Ruth was away, she once again started plucking on oneof Ruth's guitars, re-teaching herself how to play (still left-handed). Once Ruth discovered that she could play, she wanted Elizabeth to teach her how to play "Freight Train," and everything else she knew. Elizabeth here tells the tale on Pete Seegar's TV show, from the 50's.

He was magic in a bottle, the world sparkles just a little less. God speed B.B.

The first time I heard this song was in the movie Ghost World. Like the main character in the movie, I couldn't stop listening to it. It blew me away.

Yeah, Blue, Skip is great. I've always liked his version of Crow Jane, too.

I dug that woman's grave...
Eight feet in the ground....
Didn't feel sorry...
Until they let her down...

While on the topic of bluesmen named James, how about another tune from Elmore James' cousin (and mentor), good old Homesick James. You can certainly see the similarity of their style in this one.



Hell, why not throw in another by Homesick, I ask ya? Here ya go:



Jimi Hendrix was a huge admirer of Elmore James, and, in tribute, adopted the name "Jimmy James," while playing in the Greenwich Village scene during Bob Dylan's reign there. Even Bob had to love a guy named James. He said:

Muddy Waters doin his self a Big Bill Broonzy tune:

My friends done told me....
But I thought it was a joke....
There's a lotta fire there...
It aint all just smoke...
Tell me, Baby....awwww...
How many times?

Last post: "Sun 17 May, 2015 08:44 pm"

It pains me to see that this here thread has been entirely neglected in my absence. What's wrong with alla yawl, anyway? I thought you liked blues.

Well, I see that my admirers came around to vote my posts down to zero, anyway.