IMMERSED IN BLUES

A Musical Journey

by

JOHN HOOD

Published by John Hood

Copyright © 2020

Dedicated to the memory of
Miles Julian Hood [1982-2019]
My precious son and best friend
Forever in my heart

I went down to the crossroads,
fell down on my knees, (twice)
Asked the Lord above, have mercy,
Save poor Bob, if you please

[Robert Johnson – Crossroads Blues – 1936]

My sincere thanks to

Jennie Blance, John Briggs,
Rob Searls and Alexis Taylor

for their constant inspiration
and support for this project

Preface

The phone rings – my phone rings. I’ve set the tone to play the first four bars of Little Walter’s great blues harmonica instrumental Off the Wall, which was the first Walter song I learned to play. Hearing this short excerpt always takes me to wonderful places. Sometimes, I jump into the remainder of the first thematic verse or it might be into his similar anthemic piece Juke, but often it’s some obscure tune my memory dredges up – anything from the earliest 1920s blues to the work of people like Freddie King or Sonny Boy Williamson. At times, it’s not even a blues place. Just this morning I was transported to Van Morrison singing All Saints Day from Hymns to the Silence and the ending to some long forgotten tune from Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken record.

It always seems uncanny that just hearing this four bar phrase can lead me down so many different musical paths. You could say the blues is always on my mind, even if only subconsciously. I’ve always carried a lot of music in my head and it’s often blues.

This book isn’t really about me, it is however, about my blues journey and the places the music has revealed to me. It is my personal take on the blues – a disparate collection of chapters about the concept of blues, my early obsession with the form, and experiences I’ve had as a musician playing guitar and harmonica. I also include many chapters on seminal blues artists and records, along with a host of other musical topics.

I have never felt comfortable with the idea of ‘having the blues’. To me, I only relate to the blues as a musical form of expression, and a framework for improvisation. I just love the feeling I receive from it. I don’t view it as an outcome of loss or suffering. In fact, when I get depressed, I can’t even listen to music.

Although I have been playing blues harp and guitar for over 50 years I realise this doesn’t make me an expert on blues, far from it. But by understanding the music from a technical perspective, I hope I can add value by sometimes explaining simple blues concepts, where I consider it to be relevant.

Lastly I’d like to mention my interest in the blues genre starts with music recorded in the 1920s and goes through to the late 1960s, and maybe even into the 1970s for some players. I will discuss my reasons for the selection of that limited time period later.

Oh yeah, in chapters about my own musical personality and experiences, I made some spontaneous comments into a voice recorder, which I then transcribed. I like how these came out – they seem to bring a sense of life to the chapters. These are presented in italics, throughout the book.

I would like to thank AGPTEK for their remarkably cheap and effective voice recorder. I never left home without it…

John Hood – March, 2020

The Blues – Structure and Style

Blues music is incredibly diverse, from its beginnings in the country blues tradition, through to the electrified Chicago blues sound and the further transition to a multi-faceted style I will refer to as blues-rock. Having said that, 90 per-cent of blues has a simple, consistent musical form, known as the 12-bar blues.

In this form, one blues verse is usually broken up into three four-bar patterns, and these three sections can further be considered as two instances of two bars. This allows for three vocal lines and three instrumental responses. Let me explain.

When a 12-bar blues verse is heard, the singer normally begins with a two-bar vocal line – I woke up this morning, with the blues all around my bed. This is followed by a two-bar instrumental section, which tends to complement the feeling of the vocal line. This approach is known as call and response – I’ll get to that later.

Next comes a repeat of the first line, sometimes with minor changes in the melodic phrasing or lyrical content – Yes, you know this morning, had blues all ‘round my bed. Another two-bar instrumental response is then heard.

The third section has a different lyric which usually rhymes with the last word of the two repeated lines and has a different melody – My woman done gone, I have the blues all in my head. Again, this is followed by a two-bar instrumental section which, as it concludes the verse, and prepares for the next verse, is commonly known as the turnaround.

Musicians and musicologists would define the chords of a standard 12-bar verse in this format:

[I I I I] – [IV IV I I] – [V IV I I]

Often the V chord is substituted for the I chord found at bar 12, which musically progresses into the following verse.

This Roman numeral nomenclature can be applied to any key. For instance, in the key of C, the I would be a C chord, the IV would be an F chord and the V, a G or G7 chord. Note that most blues songs use only three chords. I shall not be taking this any further, but more information on the 12-bar blues form can be found all over the internet.

Sometimes musicians, particularly from the country blues idiom, would add or drop bars, even changing the structure within different verses in a performance. John Lee Hooker is particularly adept at this, much to the discomfort of his sidemen. Also, it is worth mentioning the 12-bar form is now used extensively in other genres such as jazz, rock and popular music.

There is also a relatively popular form known as the 16-bar blues. This features 4 x four bar sections. A vocal line is sung twice, then a new line, followed by a resolving first line again. Of course there are even variations within this structure. A couple of examples of 16-bar tunes are John Lee Hooker’s One Bourbon… and Little Walter’s My Babe.

A further aspect of the blues sound is the consistent use of blue notes. Without getting too heavily into music theory, I’ll see how I go. Most people know about Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do. These are the notes of the major scale, commonly used in classical and popular music. However, blues has an ambiguity, in that it is based on the use of the flatted (lowered) third note of the scale. In other music, this would be known as a minor tonality. Blues musicians play this flatted blue note over the major third in the chordal accompaniment, creating a clash, which gives the music its distinctive, mysterious sound.

These blue notes can be used by either the singer or by a guitarist, harp player or pianist, either in their two bar responses, or in instrumental solos. Sometimes the major third is preferred, especially by instrumentalists. Many players use both notes in one solo. Another method is to create a note somewhere between the major and flatted third, leading to many different possibilities for musical expression.

The same technique is applied to the seventh note of the scale, with the flatted seventh being a key note in blues.

The concept of call and response, when the instrumental sections seem to relate to, or answer, the vocal line, has a long history. It is generally acknowledged it developed out of prison work songs. In this music, a leader sings a vocal line and the rest of the work gang would chant a reply with a different lyric. It is not clear where this began, but I believe it can be put down to African influences. As the work often involved picks and axes, there would sometimes be two workers chopping on the same log, alternating axe swings. The rhythm of the work song would allow the two men to time their strikes, taking away the possibility of conflict or accidents.

There are a few other terms I will be frequently using that I feel need some explanation. The first applies mainly to blues beginning in the 1950s up to the present day. I use the term R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues. When blues changed from a primitive rural sound to the use of electric guitars and small ensembles, the American music industry began using R&B to describe blues, soul music, and various other rhythmically oriented styles.

In the 1950s, Little Walter recorded his first single Juke, which went to Number One on the Billboard and Cashbox R&B charts. The earlier country blues never worked that way. Over the years R&B has been constantly refined by the industry to the point that now, it is applied to slick, sophisticated soul and dance-based music and rarely features any blues performers. I am quite comfortable with the fact the blues I grew up listening to was R&B and I have no interest in its various modern incarnations which are basically pop music.

I also use the term authentic a lot. For me this implies music strongly rooted in the blues style, played by people who have studied the masters of their chosen instrument and then use this technique to express their own musical personality. As an example, I don’t believe Keith Richards is an authentic blues guitarist as he really only learned by copying Chuck Berry licks and never played anything evoking the classic blues guitar performers, neither in technique nor emotional expression. He is still a fabulous rhythm guitar player, constantly giving the Stones great rhythmic drive.

A further common term is chorus. In popular music this refers to an alternative section to the standard verse structure, also known as a bridge. In blues and jazz, an instrumental solo verse is often, even mostly, referred to as a chorus. I tend to use chorus and verse interchangeably, depending on the musical context.

You will sometimes come across the word modal in blues literature. This is mostly used when discussing some primitive performers who don’t change chords when accompanying their vocals. It is music based around one scale, which doesn’t accommodate changes in chords. A good example is the early work of John Lee Hooker. It’s a shame the sidemen on his later records didn’t understand this concept, constantly forcing chord changes upon him. Having said that, not all of his music is modal.

Lastly, stop-time is frequently used in blues. This occurs in a verse when the band only play on the first beat of a bar, or usually several bars, while the vocalist continues singing normally.

Classic Albums – Prison Blues and Songs

Title: Negro Prison Blues and Songs

I consider the music on this album to be steeped in the tradition of the blues and a pointer to the early blues style, with prison songs having a long musical history, probably predating blues. It is a set of recordings by musicologist Alan Lomax, made in the late 1940s at the Mississippi and Louisiana State Penitentiaries. The CD obviously contains music from more than one LP, and I do recall owning a copy of the original LP with the current CD artwork. The sequence of the music ranges from unaccompanied songs and hollers at the start, through to some guitar and harmonica based blues tunes later on. The CD didn’t contain the original liner notes but I found a copy in a miniscule font on the internet. I have changed some of the booklet’s lyrics where they are not correct – although mine may not be either.

Track 1: Murder’s Home. This is a short, transcendent holler where the lead voice begins a phrase which is picked up by a small group of prisoners. Listening on headphones the heavy reverb gives the music an amazing presence. The lyrics are as follows:

Ain’t got long, oh mama, ain’t got long, ain’t got long
Lord, I ain’t got long in the murder’s home

Pray for me. Oh mama, pray for me, pray for me
Lord, I got a long holdover and I can’t go free

Apparently, in prison parlance, murder’s home also means the home of murderers and the murderous home.

Track 2: No More, My Lord. A solo vocalist expresses a very freely sung 12-bar blues, with an accompaniment of men chopping wood. The sound of axes rings out according to the meter of the vocals. Interestingly, if the vocalist slightly misses the beat, it causes the rhythm of the axe cuts to become a little ragged.

Chorus:

No more, my Lord
No more, my Lord
Lord, I’ll never turn back no more

I found him ten years
Made a resting place
And He have made me glad (Chorus...)

Track 4: Black Woman. The lead vocalist sings the first three words of each line and the group of men respond in various harmonic ways. The Kinks appropriated the last verse of this song on their first LP as Bald-Headed Woman.

I don’t want no bald-headed woman
She’s too mean, Lord Lord, she’s too mean
Oh she’s too mean, Lord Lord, she’s too mean

Track 9: It Makes a Long Time Man Feel Bad. In a 16-bar blues format, the whole gang chant this music, there is no leader. Aside from the sound of axes, chains clinking can also be heard.

It makes a long, oh time man, oh feel bad (x 3)
Oh my Lord, Lordy when he can’t get
A letter from home

Oh Captain George, he was a hard, oh driving man (x 3)
Oh my Lord, Lordy, out on the Gulf
And Shelf Island Road

Track 10: Rosie. Rosie is apparently constantly mentioned in prison songs. To quote from the liner notes:

“I seen little Rosie in my midnight dreams” they sing. Rosie is the faithful/unfaithful girl of the prisoner’s fantasy, constant in one verse, false in the other, as one tormenting notion after another arrives in the singer’s mind.

Track 11: Levee Camp Holler. Another solo vocal, again singing a 12-bar blues but with a great deal of personal expression and flexibility in the use of melodic lines and pauses.

We-e-e-ll, Lord I woke up this morning, man I’s feeling bad
Wa-a-a-h, babe, I was feelin’ bad
Well, I was thinkin’ ‘bout the good times, Lord, I once have had

Track 17: Prison Blues is a solo vocalist, accompanying himself on blues harmonica. The singer is very free with his phrasing and there are many harp interjections of varying length between the vocal lines. He also takes two solos, indicating a very good, percussive technique. This tune is joyful.

Well, now you was all standin’ round the courthouse, babe
Lord knows, when Judge Dabney give me my time (x 2)
Well, I begin to leave my baby cryin’
“Lord knows, Mister Judge, you gave him too long”

If you are interested in this topic, there is a fascinating book, Wake Up Dead Man: Afro-American Worksongs from Texas Prisons by Bruce Jackson. This gives a very entertaining, albeit detailed examination of these songs and hollers. Used copies can still be easily obtained – I found mine at abebooks.com. It is one of the most interesting books on blues I have come across in the last 50 years.

Country Blues

Nobody knows when the country blues started, or what the original players sounded like. Jazz composer W C Handy tells of hearing an African American vocalist and guitar player in 1895. Wikipedia quotes this specific incident, which was to change music for ever, as follows:

A lean loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept...As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars...The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard.

This experience led Handy to commence writing some music in this format, the most famous piece being St Louis Blues, although this 12-bar tune featured a minor key bridge, which was far removed from the primitive form.

The first recorded country blues performance was by a guitarist, Sylvester Weaver, who went into a studio in 1923. Weaver was normally accompanying one Sara Martin, who sang in a Classic blues vocal style, popularised by Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, among others. You can hear in Weaver’s playing behind Martin, an early country blues fingerpicking style. However on this solo guitar session he produced two slide blues guitar instrumentals, the first recordings on the instrument. The two tunes were titled Guitar Blues and Guitar Rag. It seems to be the case that the latter was based on an Hawaiian laptop style piece. This tune was later played by Bob Wills and the Texas Cowboys, and effectively launched Wills’ career, which eventually spanned many years.

In my opinion, Weaver was not a great singer or guitarist, however, he did go on to put down enough material for a 2-CD set of his complete recordings which was released in the 1990s. He had a rather laconic vocal technique but will ever be remembered as the first musician to record in a country blues style.

As the form lasted at least until the early 1940s, many different exponents had their own style within a broad country blues genre. Mostly the music was made by solo singer-guitarists, who often also played popular music, or sometimes ragtime, an early music style that uses different chord progressions from those used in blues. Basically the country blues was characterised by solid finger-picking, and strong rhythmic guitar. To increase the volume and sound projection, many players used the National resonator guitar which was made of metal and had a circular plate for a sound-hole. These proved to be effective instruments for playing with the slide as well.

There are for me about fifteen or so significant country blues singers. I think it depends on your affinity with the genre, as to whether or not you may agree or disagree with me. For this brief survey I will concentrate on naming performers based on their location, as this often, but not always, tended to shape their style. I don’t intend to discuss their music here, although most will either be revisited as artists, or by their recorded output.

The Mississippi was probably the most fertile ground, producing many performers, including Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Bukka White, Mississippi John Hurt, Tommy Johnson and Skip James. From Texas emerged Blind Lemon Jefferson, Henry Thomas and Blind Willie Johnson. Blind Willie McTell was from Georgia and Sleepy John Estes from Tennessee. Finally, Furry Lewis was from Memphis and Blind Boy Fuller, Piedmont.

Of course there are many more artists, some successful and some influential. If you are interested, there are two classic books written by Samuel Charters on this era. The first, from 1959 is titled Country Blues, and the second, from 1967, is in two volumes, The Bluesmen and Sweet as the Showers of Rain. I have read these books several times and believe them to be some of the better examples of early blues literature. I am not so taken with Paul Oliver but his Conversation With the Blues I found to be quite interesting. They are all still available as used copies on the internet.

There is a plethora of books written since then, some of which can be found in the bibliography at the back of the book. Many of these provide specifics of country blues.

Classic Albums – Robert Johnson

Title: King of the Delta Blues Singers

Robert Johnson is the most well-known country blues singer in the world. This album was released in 1961, and has never been out of print. A relatively recent 2-CD set of his complete recordings sold over a million copies. Having said that, there is enough evidence to suggest he wasn’t popular during his lifetime, and his records did not sell particularly well. He was however highly regarded by his fellow musicians. Johnson’s recorded legacy was produced in two sessions, from 1936 and 1937. This LP contains tracks from both sessions.

There is a myth that Johnson made a pact with the devil to play better. I don’t buy into it – it’s just that, a myth. This is well covered in Elijah Wald’s marvellous book Escaping the Delta, which describes Robert Johnson in the most thorough manner I have come across. And when it comes to scientists taking soil samples from rural crossroads as proof, my eyes just glaze over…

It is quite well known that a lot of his material, both lyrically and melodically was sourced from the works of other musicians. To name a few examples, Son House, Skip James, Kokomo Arnold, Leroy Carr and Willie Newbern. Of course the country blues is full of examples of the borrowing of musical ideas – it is a feature of the genre and points to the freedom of expression present in this music.

I am going to restrict myself to songs from the first, 1936 session. They will be presented in track order, not chronologically.

Track 1: Crossroads Blues is introduced by a guitar playing the four bars of a turnaround. The guitar is in open tuning, where all of the strings are tuned to make up the notes of a chord. With this he creates a rhythmic slide guitar figure for the first vocal verse. His touch is so light, yet he produces a remarkable impetus at the same time. The vocals are superb. As he moves through the verses, the mood becomes darker – he seems to be concerned about ‘the sun going down’ and ‘dark gonna catch me here’. We also hear ‘you can run, you can run, tell my friend poor Willie Brown’. Willie Brown was a highly respected Delta Blues guitarist but unfortunately only cut two tracks, which are both magnificent. The last line is ‘I’m standing at the crossroads, I believe I’m sinking down’ before a gem of a two-bar ending.

Track 2: Terraplane Blues. The Terraplane was a popular model of car in his time. This song is an exercise in double entendre as Johnson uses the image of a car engine to describe an erotic theme, as he works his way through the components of the motor. ‘I flashed your lights mama, this horn won’t even blow’ and ‘Mama, I’m bound to check your oil.’ In one of the verses he thickens the guitar part and sings through the first four bars, which is a common blues variation. The tune ends with a standard descending guitar figure.

Track 3: Come On In My Kitchen has an unusual structure, an 8-bar blues with vocals all through each verse. The first part of the opening vocal verse is hummed before he concludes with ‘You better come on in my kitchen, ‘cos it’s going to be raining outdoors.’ This song is closely related to Fred McDowell’s later You Got to Move, which was covered by the Rolling Stones.

Track 5: Last Fair Deal Gone Down. This is a true 16-bar blues, with the first line sung three times, before a resolving fourth line. The standard introduction doesn’t really fit with the rhythmic approach to the accompaniment. In one verse the line ‘And that thing don’t keep a ringin’ so soon’, has Johnson answering his vocal line with a series of bell-like tones through the use of harmonics, where the string is lightly touched but not fretted.

Track 6: 32-20 Blues is one of my favourites. It was based on Skip James’ 22-20 Blues, which James played on piano. This is played by Johnson in standard tuning, with no slide evident. A 32-20 is a gun and he sings about making his woman do what he wants. It contains a lot of standard blues verses and is a great vocal and guitar performance.

Track 7: Kindhearted Woman Blues is the first song Johnson recorded and is the only one ever to feature a solo instrumental guitar chorus. It is a very gentle slow blues and typical Johnson. He often breaks into falsetto, which is singing higher than your vocal range, making for a slightly shrill sound. The instrumental solo is very loose within the structure, and has Johnson dropping and adding bars several times. Interestingly, there is a slightly ambivalent vocal theme that goes: ‘I got a kind-hearted woman, she studies evil all the time’. I could never understand how this made sense.

I’m guessing just about everyone who reads this book has some of Johnson’s recordings – they are true classics.

Chicago Blues

Starting with the 1930s Great Depression, many African Americans from rural communities, especially the South, moved to the Northern cities, mostly Chicago and Detroit. They were seeking work in the new industrialised regions that were experiencing rapid expansion. In this mass migration, many musicians followed the trail north, and brought their music with them.

The advent of ensembles quickly changed the sound of the music and by 1937, singer and blues harpist John Lee Williamson, aka Sonny Boy Williamson I, began recording blues with groups of various sizes and instrumentation.

In 1943, a young farmhand from Clarksdale Mississippi, McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters arrived in Chicago. He had been recorded by musicologist Alan Lomax in Clarksdale, two years earlier, playing his Mississippi blues style, heavily influenced by Robert Johnson and Son House et al. His early records were in this style and he became quite popular, leading him to be signed by Chess Records, a Chicago-based label. From the late 1940s he slowly expanded his band into a full ensemble, often with two electric guitars, harmonica, piano, bass and drums. This music came to be known as Chicago blues.

I will be giving Chess Records their own chapter but other labels also featured the new Chicago blues style. VeeJay had Jimmy Reed and John Lee Hooker. Excello had a host of blues artists, most of whom played in a similar style to Jimmy Reed. Modern had BB King and Federal, Freddie King. Magic Sam and Otis Rush recorded for Cobra. There were many other smaller labels committed to recording this new sound.

The Chicago live music scene was very vibrant, with blues clubs sprouting up everywhere. Audiences of mostly African Americans flocked to these new venues and the artists’ popularity saw many of them make the R&B charts with major hit records.

By the early 1960s, the style began to become less popular, possibly due to the lack of interest by African American audiences, who were moving away from what was considered old music. Many of the artists ceased recording or made crossover records. In 1968, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf both released appalling psychedelic albums, with Muddy going on to make a second. Apparently these releases have been an influence on rap musicians, but for me they signalled the beginning of the end for authentic Chicago blues.

Of course, some performers survived but most of those mentioned concentrated on reworked versions of their old hits, often with white blues musicians. I never found the results very rewarding. However, two players who stood out for me were Freddie King and Otis Rush, both fine guitarists-singers and successful touring acts.

I believe a brief chronology of the evolution of Chicago Blues is worth considering. Note the development of Chicago blues cannot be pinned down to one recording – it was a constant process of musical development. These are all seminal, game changing events:

November, 1947 – Muddy Waters begins recording for Aristocrat Records, with two tunes, Gypsy Woman and Anna Mae featuring piano, double bass and sometimes drums behind Muddy’s powerful vocals and guitar playing, as he moves between single notes and slide guitar phrases. This is music with deep roots in the Mississippi sound. Aristocrat was later taken over by the Chess label.

November, 1948 – taken from his early recordings, John Lee Hooker’s single, Boogie Chillen, makes it to the top of the R&B charts, going on to sell over one million copies.

August, 1950 – Little Walter is heard on blues harp for the first time on a Muddy Waters’ session which produced four titles, this time on Chess. They were accompanied by ‘Big’ Crawford on double bass. Several more sessions with this lineup followed, sometimes augmented by Elgin Evans aka Elga Edmonds on drums.

July, 1951 – Jimmy Rogers joins a Muddy Waters’ session as second guitarist. Soon after, Evans returns but Big Crawford is not heard.

July or August, 1951 – Howlin’ Wolf’s first Sun Records session in Memphis featured Wolf on harp and vocals, Willie Johnson on guitar, Ike Turner on piano and Willie Steele on drums.

December, 1951 – Wolf adds Roger Jones on bass and an unknown tenor sax player. I would call this a complete Chicago blues ensemble, possibly the first to record.

February, 1952 – BB King’s Three O'Clock Blues goes to the top of the Billboard R&B chart. In my opinion BB was the founder of the single string electric blues guitar style, which was developed right throughout the Chicago blues era.

May, 1952 – at the beginning of a Muddy Waters’ session, Little Walter records Juke, an amplified harmonica instrumental the band had been working on, tentatively titled Your Cat Will Play. Released under the artist name Little Walter and his Jukes, the record rapidly rose to the top of the R&B charts.

October 1952 – Little Walter’s first recording with his new group featuring brothers Louis and David Myers on guitars and Fred Below on drums – what a magnificent lineup.

July, 1953 – Jimmy Reed records his first session for VeeJay, with two songs, High and Lonesome and an instrumental, Roll and Rhumba, launching his successful career.

September, 1953 – the first appearance of Muddy Water’s half-brother, pianist Otis Spann, in his band. The Chess files say Walter Horton plays on the two tracks, but I’m betting Little Walter.

Unknown, 1952-53 – Sonny Boy Williamson records a superb vocal track, Mighty Long Time, which is totally different from his other Trumpet material. Accompanied by just one guitar, this track has all of the unique feeling Sonny Boy always brought to the harp – he is a master of the style.

Unknown, 1953 – Junior Wells’ first recording session produces Cut That Out and Eagle Rock for the States Records label.

March, 1954 – Howlin’ Wolf’s first Chess session with Otis Spann on piano, Lee Cooper on guitar, Willie Dixon on double bass and Earl Philips on drums.

March, 1954 – Albert King’s first session produces Be On Your Merry Way and Bad Luck Blues on the Parrot label.

April, 1954 – a Muddy Waters session which produced I Just Want To Make Love To You. This one has Willie Dixon on double bass and he really makes his presence felt. For the first time we have electric guitars, harp, piano, bass and drums – forming the first complete Chicago blues ensemble for Muddy.

May, 1954 – Wolf introduces two new guitarists, Jody Williams and the soon to become legend, a young Hubert Sumlin.

August, 1955 – Sonny Boy Williamson had recorded some strange, but swinging singles from 1951-54 on the Trumpet label. This session was his first for Chess. The band is Muddy Waters’, but with Fred Below on drums. He recut many of the Trumpet songs for Chess in the ensuing years.

August, 1956 – Otis Rush records his first of many amazing sessions for the Cobra label, putting down I Can’t Quit You Baby and Sit Down Baby. What an extraordinary talent as a vocalist and guitar player.

January, 1957 – Jimmy Rogers records his fourth single for Chess. The track, an original composition titled Walking By Myself features stunning harp from Big Walter Horton that has to be in the top ten solos of all time.

January, 1961 – Freddy (later Freddie) King records a surf music instrumental Hideaway and a vocal blues, Love That Woman for the Federal label.

January, 1962 – Buddy Guy records his first session at Chess with Stone Crazy and Skippin’.

December, 1962 – Albert Collins’ stinging guitar is recorded – the results being his first ice-themed tune Defrost, and Albert's Alley on the Hall-Way label.

My brief introduction to the genre can be supplemented by some internet reading. Wikipedia has a great article on Chicago blues and even an entry on Muddy’s psychedelic album, Electric Mud. There are also thousands of links to Chicago blues, its performers and even comprehensive session discographies, which I personally find fascinating.

Classic Albums – Freddie King

Title: Hideaway

Born Fred King, this became Freddy on his early records and eventually Freddie. He was part of a second wave of blues guitarist who had grown up listening to Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and many others, including his biggest influence, BB King. Nevertheless he did manage to create his own unique Chicago blues guitar style and was also a very fine vocalist. After his first single for Federal Records, he released Hideaway, which was a big success on the R&B charts. This is the best Freddie King album I have come across, or maybe it’s just that I learnt so much about blues guitar from it. The ten tracks contain six instrumentals, which is indicative of Federal and Freddie trying to cross over to the surf music market – it doesn’t matter, they are all still great blues tunes.

Track 1: Hideaway is an entertaining instrumental that has been covered by many blues guitarists, most notably Eric Clapton on John Mayall’s Beano album. The major sounding theme may have been appropriated from a tune by Hound Dog Taylor. After two iterations of the theme comes a host of catchy, sometimes even corny verses First there is a verse based on a sparse walking guitar riff, then a whole chorus of Chicago bass runs, which are simple rhythmic figures played on the bass strings, with minor variations. Now comes three bars of stop-time before Freddie makes musical history by picking with his thumb and index finger, an amazing run of mostly two-string phrases on the lower treble strings that has become a bit special for guitar players. I have heard many variations on it. This leads back to the feel of the previous verse and he quotes the opening theme to complete the 12 bars. The next chorus is a straight copy of the 1959 movie Peter Gunn riff, changing to match the chords of the 12-bar blues. The last verse is a repeat of the opening theme.

Track 2: Tore Down is an up-tempo tune with an exciting turnaround for the introduction. Most of the vocal verses begin in stop-time for either four or eight bars.

Well, I’m tore down, I’m almost level with the ground (x 2)
Yes, I feel like this, when my baby can’t be found

This first verse is used as the chorus for all of the subsequent stop-time verses. Freddie constantly inserts an exciting descending lick between his vocal lines. The solo is a masterpiece, encompassing many elements of his playing.

Track 3: Washout (now there’s a surf title) is a simple blues instrumental, which after two thematic verses has Freddie stretching out with some great guitar. The theme is played twice at the end.

Track 4: Have You Ever Loved a Woman shows the influence of BB King, but Freddie produces a fine vocal performance in this slow blues, interspersed with falsetto vocal phrases. The guitar, while audible, is very much in the background here. This soon changes as Freddie launches into one of his best slow blues solos, filled with trademark bends. The last vocal verse has a fine piano accompaniment, along with Freddie’s telling guitar responses.

Track 6: The Stumble is another much covered instrumental, again by John Mayall, where Peter Green puts in a superb performance. This is a little reminiscent of Hideaway with another major-based theme, but the structure is very different. A 16-bar theme leads into a stop-time passage, and an unusual turnaround. There is also a bridge together with another of those descending finger picked moments. It is a very busy performance and, in my opinion a much stronger tune than Hideaway as it has considerable scope for expression. This is just great blues guitar playing.

Track 7: See See Baby is a vocal tune based on a traditional blues lyric, See See Rider. The opening is a thematic sax chorus with Freddie playing responsive phrases. Then follows a terrific, relaxed vocal performance. A honking sax solo builds nicely, leading into a great Freddie guitar chorus, containing many of his signature phrases. The sax is very effective on this tune, especially when riffing subtly behind the vocal lines.

Track 10: Remington Ride, a country swing instrumental tune, is in a 16-bar format with an unusual bridge. Interestingly, there are two versions of this tune, achieved by speeding one up, which raises the key from D to E. I learned the tune from this LP and was very surprised when I came across the faster version in a different key. It must have been generally available as Stan Webb of Chicken Shack plays the faster tempo on their first album Forty Blue Fingers...

This is the longest tune on the album and with an extended structure consisting of a theme and bridge, Freddie really gets into his work, soloing over both theme and bridge formats. Twice during the solos he plays a complete theme sequence before again launching into another solo. He navigates the bridge chord structure very successfully with lots of well-placed blues phrases. I’m thinking they sped it up because it is very long at six minutes, where many of the tunes barely reach three minutes. In any event, it’s a great ride and a fine conclusion to the record.

This album is no longer available in this format, but the King/Federal material, where the songs came from, can be found on a 2-CD set, The Complete King Federal Singles. There are many CDs from this era available. Then there are the Cotillion CDs, which get a bad rap but I like My Feeling For the Blues. Freddie also recorded 3 albums for the Shelter label which I believe are available as another 2-CD set. I wouldn’t bother with anything recorded after Shelter.

Chess Records

The Chess label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil. They were Polish Jews and had immigrated to the US while still in their early teens. When the family came to Chicago, they grew up there.

Leonard had purchased a liquor store on the south side of Chicago, and that funded the opening of a nightclub, The Macomba Lounge. This venue mostly featured jazz music, for an African American audience, and Leonard looked around for a label to put out recordings of some of the jazz artists. He finally went into partnership with a small local label, Aristocrat Records, but his jazz recordings didn’t go anywhere in terms of sales. My feeling is Leonard and Phil didn’t care much for music, even though they could identify a ‘sound’ - mainly they were just astute businessmen. I include a quote from a Guardian UK newspaper article:

That is the paradox of the Chess story. The brothers were not musical visionaries; they were small-time “indie” record men making a quick buck from the poorest, least respected people in America. But their cheaply recorded, bread-and-butter discs of local street musicians and bar bands still sound as fresh today as they did 60 years ago. By failing to be timely, they succeeded in being timeless.

Leonard then came across Muddy Waters and took a punt on releasing I Can’t be Satisfied, which was primitive music, seemingly straight from the Mississippi Delta. The record sold very well among the local African Americans, many of whom had moved from the South. This release was on Aristocrat and from then on Leonard continued to make connections with other labels, constantly leasing or buying them out and releasing their catalogues on the Chess label.

Meanwhile, down in Memphis, Chester Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf was developing a strong blues ensemble sound on Sam Phillips’ Sun label and he too moved to Chicago to record with Chess.

Other major Chicago blues performers to appear on the label in the 1950s were Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Jimmy Rogers. Also, both Buddy Guy and Otis Rush, who had previously recorded with Cobra Records. Similarly Albert King and Lowell Fulson had already recorded with other minor labels.

All of the artists mentioned had major hit records during their time with the label. Chess Records also recorded many types of music for their African American target audience – mostly soul, harmony vocal groups, even jazz and eventually rock and roll. Two other significant artists were Chuck Berry and Etta James.

Apparently Leonard mostly worked with the blues artists, to the point of playing bass drum on Muddy Waters’ 1951 session that produced the wonderful She Moves Me and Country Boy. Phil worked with the other styles of music, making for a unique team.

Their efforts have produced an endless catalogue of recordings that have been milked by the many large companies which have owned Chess over the years. In the mid-1970s the label brought out a comprehensive reissue series. Two of the albums, by Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were from earlier LPs. But two LPs by Little Walter, Hate to See You Go and Confessin’ the Blues; two by Sonny Boy Williamson, One Way Out and Bummer Road; Buddy Guy’s Walking Through The Woods; Howlin’ Wolf’s Change My Way; Lowell Fulson’s Hung Down Head; Jimmy Rogers’ Chicago Bound; and Albert King/Otis Rush Door To Door are just a sample of what was a real treat for blues fans.

Later a series of 2-LP sets by many of the same artists were released. These featured tasteless, coloured cartoon drawings on the covers, but contained great music, with a lot of unissued material.

To this day, there are just so many fine reissues of this powerful music, often available at bargain basement prices.

Some of their major artists will be covered in subsequent chapters. Again, there is a lot of detailed information about the Chess brothers and their label to be found on the internet, with Wikipedia being a good place to start.

Blues Harmonica

The blues harmonica, also known as blues harp, has a rich musical history. This begins in the 1920s, where it was a feature of country blues and jug band recordings, through to the amplified styles of Chicago blues in the 1950s and 1960s. Of course, it is still very much prevalent in blues and blues-rock today.

[D|G|B|D|F|A|B|D|F|A]
[C|E|G|C|E|G|C|E|G|C]

Most blues harp players use a ten-hole harmonica. These are suitable for single note melodic solos and runs, and rhythmic patterns for accompaniment, often using two or more notes. The notes of a C harmonica are presented above. The top line shows the draw notes and the bottom line, the blow notes. You can see the notes ascend from low to high as you move from the left of the harp to the right. You can bend the draw notes on the first six holes, and the blow notes from 7-10.

Paul Butterfield is one of the rare players who uses the instrument upside down, leading to the notes descending as you move from left to right. I’m not aware of this technique being used very often and it certainly doesn’t affect Butterfield’s virtuosic harp style.

There are three basic ways of selecting the right instrument for playing in the key of a blues song. The first, and by far the most common is called cross harp or second position, where the key of the harmonica chosen is a fourth above the key of the song. For instance, if the guitars are playing in the key of E, you would use an A harmonica. This gives you access to appropriate blue notes and allows the player to bend the draw notes, making for a bluesy sound. This position is normally played on the six lowest holes, beginning on the left of the harp. Many people with a rudimentary knowledge of this position think they are playing blues, but there is a little more to it than just using the right harmonica. A friend of mine once mused:

The harmonica is the only instrument they let you record on without knowing how to play it

The next method, less common, is called first position or straight harp, where the key of the harmonica matches the song. Mostly, this involves playing the top four holes, where you can bend the blow notes. Jimmy Reed uses this technique a lot and you can easily hear the difference in his playing as the high notes lead to a shrill, flowing tone, while the lower notes available with cross harp have a more earthy sound. This approach is prevalent in early country blues playing, with two 1920s jug band harpists, Will Shade and Noah Lewis being great exponents. It is now a lot less popular, Jimmy Reed excluded. Most blues harpist just use it occasionally, for effect.

The first recorded example of cross harp is by Henry Whitter in December 1923. The tune was ‘Rain Crow Bill Blues’ but apart from one bent blue note, that is constantly played, I wouldn’t really call it a blues. Also it is a solo harp performance without any accompaniment and never changes chords. As an aside, this was in the same month Sylvester Weaver recorded his two slide guitar blues tunes.

There is also third position which I won’t explain in any technical manner, except to say it is quite limited but works well in minor key blues.

Then we have the chromatic harmonica. This instrument is made up of two harmonicas, one on top of the other. A button allows the player to switch from one to the other, allowing any musical note to be played. I don’t believe I have heard a blues harmonica player use the button, although probably someone has. The way it is generally used in blues is similar to third position, where it leads to a minor sound, with appropriate minor chords also available. In blues, the undisputed master of the chromatic was Little Walter.

There are several different physical techniques employed by blues players. Bending of notes is used extensively, mostly to obtain blue notes. Some players use their tongue to block out certain holes, forming the sound of an octave – I particularly enjoy using this effect. Then there is the technique of wrapping the hands around the instrument and, and by rapidly moving one hand, achieving a tremolo effect. Moving the hand slowly can give greater expression to a bent note – Sonny Boy Williamson II is a master at controlling the bent notes using his hand. Vibrato can also be created by the mouth and breathing techniques. Some players have an incredible vibrato playing in this manner – Junior Wells and Alan Wilson of Canned Heat are good examples.

A common technique used by blues cross harp players is the trill, which involves a rapid, repeated movement between two adjacent draw notes on the instrument, usually the fourth and fifth holes. It is a standard feature in many blues harmonica solos. Interestingly, the American harmonica masters shook their heads to achieve the effect while the early British R&B players shook the harmonica. The difference in sound quality is quite remarkable, with the American masters obtaining a richer sound using their method.

I will constantly refer to the above terms throughout this book.

Finally, If BB King was the father of modern blues guitar, the original Sonny Boy Williamson aka John Lee Williamson was the father of modern Chicago blues harmonica, even though he never played amplified harp. While his original style may have been informed by the country blues tradition, he synthesised that music into a distinctive melodic, single note approach. Up until his death in 1948 he developed a unique technique that made him the pre-eminent blues harp player of his time, influencing pretty much every blues harpist that came after him. For example, Little Walter’s first recordings clearly demonstrate a debt to Williamson. Interestingly, I have a 4-CD set of John Lee with a photo of Sonny Boy II on the cover – sadly, such is his forgotten legacy.

Classic Albums – Little Walter

Title: The Best of Little Walter

Little Walter would be a lot of people’s choice as the most technically gifted and musically creative blues harp player ever – I think virtuoso is not overstating his abilities. He is reputed to have been born in 1930, but apparently this was open to question. Apart from his fine work with Muddy Waters’ band, he had the ability to write interesting melodies and lyrics, and was also able to produce countless memorable harmonica instrumentals. He ran a tight ship, and there were rarely any guitar solos heard. Having said that, his selection of backing musicians was wonderful, especially guitarists Dave and Louis Myers, who often recorded without a bass player, and still produced powerful music. This album of early Chess singles is a testament to his legendary status.

Track 1: My Babe was a Willie Dixon tune, and is in the 16-bar blues format. Fred Below plays brushes and this provides a very relaxed, swinging feeling. The solo is two 12-bar choruses and an exercise in taste as he flits around the rhythm. Two guitars keep this song rocking, constantly switching from chords to a walking bass line. The end remains on one chord and an overdubbed male vocal group repeats ‘True little baby’ in response to Walter’s loose vocal phrases.

Track 2: Sad Hours is the first of four instrumentals on the album, and features the bass-less trio of Dave and Louis Myers on guitars and Fred Below on drums. The tune opens with a thematic guitar chorus, which is a rare event for Walter. His own entry is a long tone, with a recording glitch appearing in the fourth bar. The rest of the verse is based around rich trills. The second chorus features a more prominent guitar part, with Walter in the background. The next chorus is also based around trills, before he reverts to strong, long tones, with the two guitars meshing beautifully – there is no sense of the absence of a bass player. In the opening four bars of the final chorus, Walter builds increasing tension with a triplet phrasing, leading to a well-rehearsed ending. This is a seminal track for me – I can still remember the effect it had on me when I first heard it in 1967.

Track 7: Juke. This is, as previously explained, the throwaway instrumental recorded at a Muddy Waters’ session, which launched Walter’s career in his own right. The introductory phrase, which is played eight times has a very strong impact, and the amplified tone is superb. The second verse is rhythmically propulsive, and I think they subtly drop a beat or two here, I can never seem to be able to count through the first four (almost) bars. Having said that, the band follow Walter’s phrasing effortlessly. With Muddy’s full ensemble behind him, it is a masterpiece, with a stop-time chorus adding rhythmic impetus. Walter’s creativity and sense of tone and phrasing are incredible, through to the end of the again thematic last verse. Essential listening.

Track 10: You Better Watch Yourself is a driving up-tempo number with bass and drums present. The opening is another intense stop-time instrumental section, with the vocal picking up the song title from bars five through twelve. Every vocal verse features the stop-time structure. During the solo, the tone is just so thick, to the point of distortion.

Track 9: Off The Wall opens with an exciting, four-bar thematic section, the one that I use for my ringtone. The second solo is wonderfully percussive. Now he rides a simple figure, with short sharp interjections. The next verse is a pointer to what is to come as Walter skips lightly, delicately even, through a chorus. This leads into the climax of the piece, with Walter working the four-hole draw, with a rise in dynamics for the whole band, it is very powerful. A stop at the beginning of the 9th bar allows Fred Below to solo for four bars – it is brief, powerful, and very musical. The band return for the next chorus with Walter working a very expressive phrase for eight bars, which constantly increases in dynamics. He then drops the dynamics and begins the finally chorus – it is very restrained, but the ending is strong. I love it.

Track 11: Blue Light is a dark, brooding instrumental, with Walter constantly changing harps for different effects. It is a very slow blues, which opens with chromatic harp, before he changes at bar ten to cross harp. You can hear a brief sound of feedback as this change occurs. A long sustained note commences the second chorus, with a guitarist feeding him sensitive phrases. Now he reaches for the echo-drenched bent draw note on the sixth hole that really screams. I don’t believe I have heard him play this note before – it has subsequently become a bit of a cliché for harmonica players. Returning to the chromatic, with strong reverb for the last verse, there is a sweeping phrase that dominates the ending.

This 12-track album is still available on CD, but you would be better served by buying a 2-CD set from 47 Greatest Hits of Little Walter, The Essential Little Walter or Boom Boom – Singles A's and B's 1952-60, as all represent great value.

Immersed in Blues

In late 1966 I finished high school and travelled to Sydney with an aunt and uncle. I hadn’t been there since 1958 – the year I moved to Perth. Some good things came out of the trip. One was a visit to the Here, a Sydney discotheque, as they were called back then, before discos, which I believe started in the 1970s. I wanted to hear a band known as Jeff St John and the Id. I arrived early and the music didn’t begin until about 10 pm. All the while I sat there waiting, an amazing record was being played over the sound system. It was tough, harmonica-based blues and I was just so taken with it. I asked the staff and it turned out to be the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, their first album. I purchased it the next day.

When the first band, the Bay City Union came on I realised I was hearing a live, pure blues band for the first time. The singer and harp player was Matt Taylor, an Australian musician who I came to befriend in the early 1970s. Their performance was a stunning experience for me. They weren’t playing R&B, but real blues. I can only remember one song, Sonny Boy Williamson’s Bye Bye Bird, and Matt used the wrong harp, but these were early days for the Australian blues scene. Then the Id performed and they were just marvellous. The level of musicianship was the best I had ever heard. The sound of Jeff’s great voice, coupled with a wonderful band, had me hooked and I was still excited on the train journey back to where I was staying.

While still in Sydney, I learned of my final year exam results and I had done well enough to receive a scholarship which paid for me to go to University. This also included a small living allowance. When I returned to Perth in early 1967, I moved out of home and rented a small, cheap room, right across the road from the University of WA campus.

Soon after I moved in, I received three records by mail order. They were The Best of Little Walter, Paul Butterfield’s East-West and a compilation featuring young American, mainly white musicians singing and playing acoustic blues – The Blues Project. These albums totally overwhelmed me, and changed my whole musical outlook.

I started attending classes but soon began to spend more time listening to blues records all day. I owned some harmonicas and a couple of guitars when I lived at home but I didn’t know how to play either instrument. I fell in with a group of young musicians and I purchased a new acoustic guitar from one of them. With two Bob Dylan songbooks and a somewhat problematic harp instruction book written by acoustic player, Tony Glover, I started the task of learning the basics of the music.

To my surprise the University of WA library contained several books on the early blues styles, by the authors mentioned earlier, Samuel Charters and Paul Oliver – I read them in awe. Some more albums followed, including two The Real Folk Blues LPs on the Chess label, by Sonny Boy Williamson and Howlin’ Wolf. These are still embedded in my psyche after all these years.

Another great find occurred when I was walking home and, for some unknown reason, found myself in a trendy furniture shop. I noticed they had a rack of imported American blues albums and I bought Blues, Rags and Hollers, by the acoustic blues trio, Koerner, Ray and Glover. These three had appeared on The Blues Project but to have an entire album was a real find. I loved the way they played both country and Chicago blues, in an acoustic setting. This led me to the conclusion that what I really wanted to achieve in life was to become a country blues harp player. It didn’t turn out that way, but a lot of other good things came out of it.

A couple of friends I met at Uni, Kim Wearne and Cliff Gillam, who turns up later in my story, had acquired a rare record by K C Douglas, who was still performing country blues in the 1950s. The first track was Canned Heat, and the main feeling I got from the record was a distinctive guitar style that was foreign to me. Then I came across the first Canned Heat album and was amazed to find that, not only had they used the song title for their name, but they were also playing some of the highly stylised guitar lines off the record. I presumed they had heard the K C Douglas album. It wasn’t until years later that I heard Tommy Johnson, an early blues singer who wrote Canned Heat and played those guitar lines throughout his music.

I also started going to music venues and heard a band, the Down Home Group with drummer Al Kash, who became a lifelong friend, and a singer-harp player, whose name escapes me. They did two Sonny Boy Williamson tunes from The Real Folk Blues album, namely Bring It on Home and Peach Tree. I was amazed to hear this music played live and it spurred me on to keep practicing.

Two acoustic blues albums – Dave Van Ronk’s Gambler's Blues and Snooks Eaglin’s New Orleans Street Singer allowed me to play harp along with the music, and I spent many hours with these records, accompanying the vocals and adding melodic phrases. I once met Dave Van Ronk and he was impressed, amused, and possibly bemused that I had used his album for this purpose.

By the end of the year, I believed I was capable of playing blues harp and rhythm guitar in a band, but that had to wait. By the way, I failed all of my courses that year, but certainly didn’t see it as wasted time.

Finally, I became acquainted with two people who would have a big impact on my life. I first met Geoff Hudson when we were dating twin sisters in 1966, and he lived just up the road from me, also near the Uni. Next door to my place, a friend of his, John McGregor lived in a block of apartments. We spent a fair bit of time playing records and hanging out together. The impact was to come four years later.

Classic Albums – Sonny Boy Williamson

Title: The Real Folk Blues

This Sonny Boy Williamson took on the name some time after the original Sonny Boy aka John Lee Williamson was murdered in Chicago in the late 1940s. He strangely always maintained he was the real Sonny Boy Williamson but was actually born Alex or Aleck Miller. He began recording under his new assumed name for the Trumpet label in the early 1950s. He picked up the nickname ‘Rice’ (from ‘Rice Miller’) and he even used this term in some of his vocal lines. Sonny Boy was a great blues harp player, with a unique style, as well as being a tremendous vocalist. The way he could move between singing and playing harp is a joy to behold.

He recorded many singles for Chess, using musicians from the various Chess house bands. This album is a collection of some of those singles. I first came across it in 1966 but had to wait until 1967 to acquire it. It was worth the wait as in my Immersed in Blues year, I learned a heck of a lot from the album. I have performed quite a few songs from it and the record made a tremendous impression on me personally. I just love his style and the way his eccentric musical personality really shines through.

Track 1: One Way Out was recorded in three different versions for Chess, but this one is my favourite. It just explodes into action, based on a form of Latin rhythm featuring the use of toms from the drummer, and enhanced by a clipped guitar riff played by Buddy Guy, with the distinctive Stratocaster tone. The harp is also very percussive. It opens with the following verse:

There ain’t but one way out baby, and I ain’t going out that door
There ain’t but one way out woman, and I ain’t going out that door
There’s a man downstairs, may be your man I don’t know

As the song develops, it becomes a vehicle for a double entendre or sexual euphemism based on Sonny Boy leaving the scene of the dalliance. These are brilliant lyrics, for instance:

Raise your window, so I can ease out soft and slow

The first solo is magnificent, based on the guitar riff, but also features some subtle phrases that drift across the rhythm. His fills between the vocal lines are also very effective. The tune fades out with Sonny Boy playing a rich harp trill.

Track 2: Too Young to Die has a structure of an eight-bar vocal section, with a long stop on the seventh bar which Sonny Boy sings through, followed by an eight bar chorus – really just a simple variation on a 12-bar blues. The beat is powerful, and swinging, with the Chess musicians keeping it really tight. I’d say it was pianist Lafayette Leake providing the instrumental responses, as he often does. The chorus is:

I’m scared of that child, I’m scared of that child
I’m scared of that child, ‘cos I’m too young to die

The harp solo is unusually conservative, and the piano plays strong triplets to really push it along. After another verse the track again fades out.

Track 3: Trust My Baby is the only song on the album played in first position, and one of the tracks that makes me think of Sonny Boy as the Picasso of the blues. This very slow, quietly introspective music is amazing. The vocal is pretty standard fare, save for the subtle accompaniment, which is seemingly distant guitar and piano. But the harmonica solo is a masterpiece as he moves from the high register of the harp, evoking Jimmy Reed, down to the low register, which makes the harp sound like a cello – no one ever played first position like this. The last vocal line makes a little jump in the phrasing as he sings ‘oith’ for ‘earth’. It is a brilliant track.

Track 4: Checking Up On My Baby starts in a rhythmic fashion with a percussive harp verse. One vocal verse is followed by another harp solo. When the vocal returns, the music lifts a notch and the band create tremendous feeling here, especially the powerful guitar part. The drummer, probably Fred Below, is very busy. This track has been covered by Junior Wells and John Mayall.

Track 5: Sad To Be Alone has a strong guitar introduction, sounding like Robert Jr Lockwood, a master of his craft and a distinctive stylist. In the harp solo, the piano plays rich trills and the guitar again is strong. There is a definite structure to the end, which is a little bit sloppy but nice.

Track 6: Got To Move features another strong guitar introduction, with the tone of a Stratocaster – probably Buddy Guy on this one. The song has a slow, triplet feeling. Some people call it 6/8 but I never understood that stuff, I’m sure the Chess house musicians didn’t either – they just knew how to play it. Sonny Boy refers to the triplet rhythm in his solo and Buddy Guy wails in the background, with one of his classic ascending licks, which he pulls out again as the tune ends.

Track 7: Bring It On Home is a call and response tune. Sonny Boy sings ‘Baaaby’ and then plays the same phrase on the harp. This Willie Dixon song is about a train, and features a train-like jaunty feeling. It stays on one chord for the majority of the song, the only difference being a chorus section, which is in 12-bar format. No solos on this one, just harp as it fades out. I had always wanted to play this tune and it came about, a year down the track.

Track 10: Dissatisfied. On the original 1960s LP master of this track it was very soft, to the point of being not very audible. We had to wait through numerous remasterings until they finally fixed it for a CD release. Trust My Baby suffered the same fate. There is some strange harp playing on this one, featuring weird bends, which are musical but I don’t know where he finds them on the harp.

Track 11: That’s All I Want is a rollicking tune with dynamic piano phrases. The house band is very strong on this one. Fred Below was a jazz drummer who probably made a lot more money playing blues.

Track 12: Too Old To Think is a slow blues with some impressive guitar lines between the vocals – apparently it is Muddy Waters’ guitarist Luther Tucker but it sounds like Buddy Guy to me – oh well. Robert Jr Lockwood is also playing, in his very distinctive chordal style.

Some good news is that, on the CD reissue, this album is paired with the More Real Folk Blues record, which contains two classic songs. Help Me features an ominous organ-based sound and Sonny Boy’s vocal and harp playing are superb. Bye Bye Bird is more of a novelty but it contains a rare example of his use of an obscure, very low pitched harmonica. Making for an incredibly percussive sound, Sonny Boy really kicks the bass harp on this mostly instrumental track. This harp is also used on the Danish album mentioned below.

The pairing is still available on CD and there are enough great tracks to make it worthwhile checking this one out.

Sonny Boy was very popular in Europe. He loved to dress in Saville Row suits and be the perfect gentleman. During his many tours, several recordings were made. I intend to discuss one of those, from Denmark in 1963, later in this book.

Blues Regions – Mississippi Delta

I feel I should apologise for not discussing the highly regarded great Mississippi Delta bluesman, Charley Patton. Patton was the most popular and successful singer-guitarist of his time, in the Delta and surrounding regions. Apart from performing, Patton never worked a day in his life, but wore a suit every day and purchased a new car every year. He was a travelling bluesman, and often played for white people. He had a vast repertoire of all kinds of music, and was apparently a consummate showman, to the point of playing guitar behind his back.

My lack of interest in Patton is down to two factors. Firstly, I have never been drawn to his music emotionally. Secondly, his recordings are not in great shape physically, and mostly I don’t understand the words. Having said that, I just read a fascinating book on Patton, Charley Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta, edited by Robert Sacré, which was originally published in French.

Artist: Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson was also a travelling bluesman, and a unique stylist with his falsetto vocals and original guitar lines. He was very influential in and around the Delta area. He didn’t record very often so there is no CD completely dedicated to his work. All of his material (about 12 sides) can be found on compilations.

His first recordings were four tracks cut in 1928 and featured Charlie McCoy on second guitar.

Cool Drink of Water Blues is mostly a collection of standard blues verses, sung at a moderate tempo, in a laconic fashion. The most striking feature is the frequent use of falsetto, especially in the last line of each verse. The instrumental accompaniment varies little as Charlie McCoy plays mandolin-like phrases.

Big Road Blues would be one of Johnson’s most influential recordings. It has a pulsing rhythm with an ascending bass line during the first four bars of the vocal verses. The bottom string is tuned to D, allowing the use of octaves in that passage.

Cryin’ ain’t going down that big road by myself
Don’t you hear me calling, pretty mama?
Ain’t going down that big road by myself
If I don’t carry you, I’m going to carry someone else

Cryin', sun gonna shine in my back door someday
Now, don't you hear me talkin', pretty mama?
Lord, sun gon' shine in my back door someday
And the wind gon' change, gon' blow my blues away

These are some of the most popular blues lyrics going around.

Bye-Bye Blues features a striking, intricate but gentle accompaniment, with a tight structure. Having said that, it is very relaxed, with McCoy again heard playing like a mandolin with rapidly repeated notes.

Does that good book tell you
Reap just what you sow?
The good book tell you
Baby, reap just what you know
Thou reap enough
So baby reap it, bye and bye

Maggie Campbell Blues is another beautifully constructed guitar performance. McCoy plays a walking bass line which is very effective.

Cryin', who did you know
Comin' down the road?
Comin' down the road
Umm, who does ya know
Comin' down the road?
Well, it look like Maggie, little bit
But she walks too slow

The next verse is a remake of
Cryin', sun gonna shine in my back door someday

Canned Heat is from a later session, where Johnson is the only guitarist. It really displays his unique rolling rhythmic style.

Tommy Johnson was a very subtle performer, with what seem to be highly arranged guitar parts.

Artist: Tommy McClennan

Tommy McClennan was a much later Mississippi Delta artist who recorded from 1939-1942. On his first session, he was accompanied by an unknown guitarist. McClennan went by the moniker of ‘Guitar King’, a term he probably made for himself. He did record a tune, I’m a Guitar King.

I am going to discuss this first session as it produced a number of great tunes.

You Can Mistreat Me Here is a long way from Tommy Johnson’s relaxed style as McClennan exhibits a strong presence both vocally and on guitar. His picking is very clean and quite percussive at times. He certainly shows a confidence in his vocal and guitar delivery.

New Shake’em On Down. A strong guitar chorus leads into what is his take on Bukka White’s original version, in another fine vocal performance. Two guitar choruses are brimming with fresh, rhythmic ideas. This is a ‘take no prisoners’ style. He comes right at you.

Bottle It Up and Go. Another old song, presented with McClennan’s inherent confidence. Sometimes he allows his guitar to finish phrases. An instrumental chorus accompanied by rhythmic vocal asides is tremendously powerful.

Whisky Headed Woman was covered by Canned Heat. It is a little slower than his earlier tracks, but still very strong. His guitar introduction does display a high degree of skill, but then again, he is the Guitar King.

She’s a whisky-headed woman, and she stays drunk all the time (x 2)
Babe, if you don’t stop drinkin, I believe you gonna lose your mind.

Baby, Don’t You Want To Go was originally written by Kokomo Arnold and made famous in the modern era by Robert Johnson’s 1936 version, titled Sweet Home Chicago. The vocals contain many stop-time verses.

McClennan’s music definitely has a strong presence – he is just so confident, to the point of being brash. There is a fine 2-CD set that appears to contain all of the records he made for Bluebird.

Classic Albums – Junior Wells

Title: Hoodoo Man Blues

Junior Wells made his first single in a 1953 recording, Cut That Out for the States Records label. His second single, from 1954 was Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man, which had become Hoodoo Man Blues when this album came out on Delmark in 1965. It featured a guitarist credited as ‘Friendly Chap’ who of course turned out to be Buddy Guy – contractual arrangements!

The album was a tight session of Chicago blues and also featured were Jack Myers on bass and Bill Warren on drums. Of further interest is this material from Wikipedia:

For parts of the session, Guy's guitar amplifier was not working, and his guitar was wired instead through the Leslie speaker of the studio's Hammond organ. Koester (owner of Delmark) said, "I've always been amazed at how rarely reviewers commented on the guitar-organ tracks."

I did happen to notice that particular sound at different times but didn’t realise how it was produced. I am going to discuss a selection of tracks from the album.

Track 1: Snatch it Back and Hold It begins with a hung chord and a drum roll before Junior sings the title. The band then locks into a solid riff that has since been used in many other songs. Buddy Guy’s muted Stratocaster sound is magic. A harmonica solo features a slightly awkward melodic approach, but Junior’s tone and vibrato are awesome. When the vocals return, this is as tight as it gets, with Buddy Guy never giving up on the insistent riff, and as there is a stop at the end of each vocal verse, he somehow manages to squeeze in some of his trademark licks. The ending is a sung ‘Hey.’

Track 2: Ships on the Ocean is a slow minor key blues based on Muddy Waters’ recording of Just to be With You. Buddy Guy complements the vocal line magnificently, with nervous phrases, and even pulls out one of his iconic ascending licks that had graced many of his Chess sideman sessions. Junior’s harp solo is strong but again, slightly perfunctory in places. I find Junior’s singing and playing sometimes breaks into a soul music sound, almost self-mocking as it does. On the last vocal line he inserts a ‘Ha-ha’ that doesn’t quite seem to gel with the minor key feeling.

Track 3: Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. Originally written by John Lee Williamson, the band give it a strange, guitar-bass unison, riff-based feeling. Having said that, it really works for this tune. The harp solo closely follows the melody. In the final verse he inserts a soul sounding ‘Owww’. The ending seems to fade into nothing until Guy plays a series of fast descending 9th chords, allowing the drummer to fashion an ending. For what it’s worth, this version was covered by the Grateful Dead on their first album.

Track 5: In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning is another minor blues, but much slower than Track 2. It makes for an Otis Rush feeling to me. In the harp solo, Junior switches to chromatic and crafts two plaintive, despairing choruses, with Buddy Guy’s minimalist playing supporting him. Now Buddy begins a solo in a sparse manner until Junior, switching to cross harp, interrupts, leading Guy to return to chords. The finish is again a little incongruous as Junior blatantly plays a major note against the minor tonality.

Track 7: Hoodoo Man Blues. The organ-like guitar sound is evident from the beginning of this one. Lyrically, this song tells a fine story and Junior’s harp evokes Sonny Boy Williamson II. The final vocal verse ends a little sloppily but that’s okay.

Track 12: Look Over Yonder’s Wall is an Elmore James song. This version is a tight, clipped take on the feeling of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me, or Booker T’s Green Onions if you prefer. Junior even alludes to Sonny Boy with his rhythmic punctuations, this time within two different harp solos. After a vocal verse, another harp solo shows great use of dynamics, as the band bring the volume down for a time before the drummer creates a strong fill and the band is powerful again.

This album is highlighted by Junior’s harp playing on two levels. Firstly, the strength of his attack on the notes and the subsequent power he generates. Secondly, he has a magnificent, again powerful vibrato that really lifts the music. Kudos also to the drummer Bill Warren, who I had never heard of. His energetic, driving style is so reminiscent of Fred Below, his name could be fake too!

The American Folk Blues Festival

The American Folk Blues Festival aka AFBF, beginning in 1962, was an annual tour through Europe by a troupe of African American blues performers. The personnel changed every year – of course some artists came more than once. The lineup usually consisted of acoustic singer-guitarists, Chicago blues vocalists, and there was always a complete rhythm section of electric guitar, piano, bass and drums, which backed some of the performers, in various different configurations.

The event brought to white European audiences a sound that could not even been heard in America at the time, and many performers remarked they had never been treated with such respect before. The form of the tour was like a classical concert – well-dressed patrons, with polite enthusiastic applause at the end of each song. The bluesmen and women basically dressed very formally and responded to their audiences by playing up to the crowd. All musicians or ensembles would be introduced by someone from the troupe. I can hear Memphis Slim performing this duty regularly, with much aplomb.

Just to give you an idea of the breadth of blues musicians featured on these tours, I include this frighteningly powerful list from Wikipedia:

Muddy Waters – Sonny Boy Williamson – John Lee Hooker – Sippie Wallace – T-Bone Walker – Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee – Memphis Slim – Otis Rush – Lonnie Johnson – Eddie Boyd – Big Walter Horton – Junior Wells – Big Joe Williams – Mississippi Fred McDowell – Willie Dixon – Otis Spann – Big Mama Thornton – Bukka White – Jimmy Reed – Howlin' Wolf (with a band made up of Sunnyland Slim – Hubert Sumlin – Willie Dixon and drummer Clifton James) – Champion Jack Dupree – Son House – Skip James – Koko Taylor – Sleepy John Estes – Little Brother Montgomery – Victoria Spivey – J. B. Lenoir – Little Walter – Carey Bell – Louisiana Red – Lightnin' Hopkins – Joe Turner – Buddy Guy – Magic Sam – Lee Jackson – Matt "Guitar" Murphy – Roosevelt Sykes – Doctor Ross – Hound Dog Taylor – Archie Edwards – Helen Humes – Sugar Pie DeSanto.

The tours began in 1962 and ran annually through the 1960s, while a break in 1973 led to more tours from 1980–1985. Each year a video was recorded live in a studio, replete with staged sets and the artists performing against the various themed backdrops. There are some wonderful DVDs of these recorded concerts still available.

The troupe would also record a studio LP, featuring one or two tracks from each artist. There are some great tunes to be found on these albums. Some of my admittedly obscure, favourite tracks include:

Sonny Boy's Harmonica Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson (1963)
Dust My Broom – Howling Wolf and Hubert Sumlin (1964)
Let's Make It Baby - John Lee Hooker (1964)
Five Long Years – Muddy Waters (1964)
First Time I Met the blues – Buddy Guy (1965)
Highway 61 – Mississippi Fred McDowell's (1965)
Christine – Walter Horton (1965)
Slow Down – J B Lenoir and Walter Horton (1965)
Death Letter – Son House (1967)
You’re So Fine – Little Walter (1967)

Some of the individual performers recorded studio albums in various countries along the way. I have reviewed Sonny Boy Williamson’s recordings for the Danish label, Storyville in 1963, later in the book. These are some of his finest recordings ever, in a wonderfully intimate setting.

Classic Albums – Jimmy Reed

Title: The Best of Jimmy Reed

This was the first electric blues record I ever owned. I already had a few folk blues LPs, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, and Leadbelly. I remember buying it in 1965, from a shop that had one lonely rack of imported American blues albums. I was probably drawn to it after seeing his work covered by the Animals and the Rolling Stones.

Jimmy was born in Dunleith, Mississippi in 1925 and moved to Chicago in 1943. His style was very relaxed, much more than his Chicago contemporaries. Featuring only two guitars and drums in his ensemble, he was very influential in the way he approached the blues form. He invariably played 12-bar blues but would often sing four lines through the first four bars, then make the remaining eight bars a chorus structure. This variation was taken up by many musicians from Louisiana who recorded for the Excello label – particularly Lightnin’ Slim and harp player Lazy Lester.

It’s worth a slight diversion into the blues harmonica style as Jimmy used straight harp and cross harp, both extensively, in his songs. He also played the harmonica in a rack, which is a metal device that rests on the neck and can be adjusted for the performer to be able to blow harp and play guitar at the same time. Not an easy task, I can assure you. Jimmy Reed was the first time I ever heard first position played on the harp, and the two styles can be easily recognised with straight harp being shriller than the regular cross harp. Most blues harpists rarely use it.

It’s not always obvious who was playing the second guitar on this record. Apparently Eddie Taylor was associated with Reed, but I distinctly recall the LP liner notes only mentioning ‘Lefty’ Bates, so I will run with him. Having got that out of the way, I shall now discuss some of the tracks on this album, which was recorded for the VeeJay label.

Track 1: Baby What You Want Me to Do is a slow laid-back shuffle with the drummer making a solid back-beat, by hitting the snare on the second and fourth beats of each bar. It follows the alternate chorus-based structure I previously discussed. The laconic, lazy vocals are wonderful and the harp solo is a sparse, cross harp chorus.

One of the verses is:

You got me peepin’, got me hidin’
Got me peep, hide, hide, peep
Anyway you want
To let it roll… into the chorus

The tune goes out on a faded harp verse.

Track 2: You Don’t Have to Go has a four-bar instrumental introduction before moving into a harp chorus. This is even slower than the previous track, and still has a great feel. You can hear Reed’s wife, ‘Mama’ Reed singing in the background as she does several times on the record. Occasionally Jimmy adds a bar in some random place but Lefty Bates always swings in behind him when he changes. A spare, cross harp instrumental chorus is wonderful and leads to the last vocal verse, which unusually, has a structured finite ending – not his usual fadeout.

Track 4: Found Love is a bit more up-tempo and is a standard 12-bar form lyrically. The rhythm is a shuffle, but the drummer delays the back-beat a little, and hits the snare twice. In the straight harp solo, Jimmy sustains a note for eight bars, before breaking into some brief phrases. This again fades out on some sparse harp notes.

Track 5: Honest I Do is introduced by a drum fill into some more straight harp playing – the Stones never got this one right – no-one seemed to know about first position at that time. The chord progression is not a 12-bar blues, and the form of the tune is unusual. Lefty Bates plays the song’s iconic guitar lick, which answers the vocal line. The same alternating occurs in the harmonica solo verse. It fades out on a solo.

Track 6: You Got Me Dizzy. The vocal delivery is slurred such that I can’t make out all of the words, even after listening to it for most of my life. I have a feeling alcohol consumption may be involved on this one. For the first time on the album he takes two consecutive blues harp solo choruses. It’s rocking so hard I can picture dancers in the African American Chicago clubs really going for this sound.

Jimmy didn’t like to sing other people’s songs and had to be cajoled into recording the next two tracks. Both of them were very successful for him.

Track 7: Big Boss Man really hit the spot for me. I had heard the Animals and the Pretty Things do it, but they didn’t prepare me for Jimmy’s version. The beat is just terrific – what a great feel from the drummer as he really nails the back-beat. Two vocal verses are followed by a cross harp solo, which is incredibly simple. Lefty Bates pulls out some decisive guitar licks and you can hear ‘Mama’ Reed again singing in the background. The tune fades on a sparse harp passage.

Track 8: Take Out Some Insurance is one of my all-time favourite blues tunes, even though he slurs every line. The form is a 12-bar blues, unusually, with a bridge after two verses. The vocal is just wonderful and the slight chaos in the bridge adds to the joy I have always heard in this performance – it really goes up a notch. Both guitars mesh together perfectly – how they make this sound without a bass amazes me. There is no harp to be heard.

Track 9: Boogie In the Dark is a rare instrumental. After an opening harp chorus, the guitars lock into strong Chicago bass runs. Now Jimmy goes into the middle register of the harp and I can hear some slide guitar licks supporting the harp melodies. It’s a rocking instrumental, that’s for sure. The ending is tight.

Track 10: Going to New York features a straight harp introduction and uses the alternate vocal formula that occurs more often than I had previously realised. No wonder half the blues musicians in Louisiana also used this format. The harp solo contains long notes interspersed with pulsing short phrases. After the last verse we have another harp fadeout.

Track 11: Ain’t That Loving You Baby is another gem and a lot of bands recorded this one. The early Stones did a version but it was only ever issued on bootlegs. The guitar parts are just sensational and it is another joyful, rocking tune which would get the audience up on to the dance floor. There is a stop on bar four, which is very effective as the vocal continues through it. The cross harp solo really rocks.

I used to listen to this record every day, but it’s been a while and it was great to revisit it. For me, the essence of Jimmy’s music is that he just swings so hard. It might be simple but it is incredibly rewarding music.

The original 1960s LP is available on CD but there are many other CDs and 2-CD sets containing most of these tunes, usually at a budget price. At the time of writing, there exists a great 2-CD set, Jimmy Reed – The Anthology containing 54 tracks from the VeeJay recordings, currently priced around $8 at Amazon. Bargain!

Bluesmen – Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon is one of the most important figures in Chicago blues. He sang, played upright bass and guitar, and also composed numerous songs for Chicago blues musicians. For me his bass playing is rudimentary at best and his vocals are below standard – his forte was composing and producing sessions. Wikipedia has this to say about his arrival in Chicago:

A man of considerable stature, standing 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing, at which he was successful, winning the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937. He became a professional boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis's sparring partner, but after four fights he left boxing in a dispute with his manager over money.

Dixon met Leonard Caston at a boxing gym, where they would harmonize at times. Dixon performed in several vocal groups in Chicago, but it was Caston who persuaded him to pursue music seriously. Caston built him his first bass, made of a tin can and one string. Dixon's experience singing bass made the instrument familiar. He also learned to play the guitar.

Dixon served prison time in his youth, and when WWII broke out he became a conscientious objector and served ten months for that. He was reputed to have stated:

‘I’m not fighting for no country that kills its own people’.

When he met the Chess brothers in 1951, he signed with them as an artist. However by 1952, he was heavily involved in signing artists himself, producing sessions, occasionally playing but mostly writing songs which were to become blues standards.

In 1956, Dixon moved to the Cobra label and produced the seminal debut recordings of Otis Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy. When Cobra folded, Dixon returned to Chess and continued to write songs and produce recording sessions, many of which he played bass on, into the mid-1960s. He also appeared as the house bassist on many American Folk Blues Festivals that toured Europe.

As the story goes, Willie Dixon was in the band room at a Muddy Waters’ gig. He showed Muddy the Hoochie Coochie Man song and taught him the riff and the lyrics on the spot. Then Muddy and his band played the song on stage, to rapturous applause. Another No. 1 on the R&B charts for Willie.

Apparently he wrote over 500 songs. There is a significant list at:

http://www.song-list.net/williedixon/songs

African American Chicago blues artists who performed multiple Dixon tunes include Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Little Walter, Otis Rush and Koko Taylor, producing many hit singles.

A shortlist of rock bands who have covered Dixon songs includes the Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, the Doors, Grateful Dead, Van Morrison, Megadeth, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jeff Healey.

Later, Willie formed his own touring band, with a number of aging blues players. He recorded a CD I Am the Blues, and published an autobiography with the same name – I haven’t read it yet.

The First British Blues Boom

England in the 1950s was mainly about Elvis, skiffle and British pop singers. They also had visits by acoustic folk blues performers. This term appears to have come out of the strong folk music revival and seemed an appropriate label for acoustic-based blues performers such as Big Bill Broonzy, Josh White, and popular duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, all of whom toured the UK.

There were several blues EPs released – a seven-inch 45 RPM format known as Extended Play that usually consisted of four songs. Of particular interest was one by Muddy Waters containing four tracks taken from his early recordings in Chicago, and played in the style he brought with him from Mississippi. There was an instrumental, Evans Shuffle, which was based on Joe Liggins’ 1945 hit, The Honeydripper and an acoustic version of Louisiana Blues. Little Walter was still playing acoustic harp when these two tracks were recorded. Muddy played I Can’t be Satisfied solo and pianist Sunnyland Slim together with Big Crawford on bass were added to I Feel Like Going Home.

Amazingly, in 1958, a promoter brought Muddy and his half-brother, pianist Otis Spann to Britain. He was accompanied by British trad jazz musicians, who wouldn’t have had any idea of his style. He also played an amplified electric guitar, apparently so loud neither the public nor the critics appreciated it. They were accustomed to the folk blues sound of the previously mentioned acoustic performers. Also it was totally divorced from the more primitive acoustic-based EP. Even more amazing, I was watching TV in Australia one day in 1962 and there was a film of one of the concerts. The long hall was filled with portable chairs, which is about all I can remember, other than Muddy’s name. I don’t know what I would have made of it at the age of 13, but I’ve always remembered seeing it.

When Muddy returned in 1962 with just Otis Spann on piano, leading to an intimate, restrained blues sound, the audience now wanted to hear the band. They had obviously progressed to his more recent records in the intervening years, and felt cheated.

This duo was part of the first American Folk Blues Festival tour, in 1962. At the opening performance in Manchester, present in the audience were four young blues enthusiasts – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Jimmy Page. This event has been documented in a book by a friend of Page, who was also at the concert. Titled The First Time We Met the Blues, by Dr David Williams, the book is still available on Amazon. I haven’t read it but they describes it as follows:

Part-biography, part-history, 'The First Time We Met The Blues' is packed full of great anecdotes and unique insights into the early British R&B scene, Page's formative years as a musician, the infamous Edith Grove flat, and much more besides.

Also in 1962, Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated featuring the trail-blazing harmonica player Cyril Davies was formed. Their album R&B from the Marquee, which was apparently recorded in a studio, appears to be the first British blues recording. Mick Jagger and Brian Jones were occasionally invited to perform with the band. One evening, an early version of the Rolling Stones played the gig at the Marquee, when presumably, Korner was unavailable.

The yearly influx of the American Folk Blues Festivals really increased the interest for blues in the UK. As a result many R&B bands were formed in the 1960s. A lot gigged extensively and even recorded albums but I shall limit my discussion to those that had several hit records or were bordering on authentic. Mostly they played cover versions of American blues songs released in the UK. While they had decent guitar and harmonica players, these musicians had not yet absorbed the mainstream American blues techniques.

I treat the Rolling Stones in a separate chapter but some of the more successful bands were as follows.

The Animals, out of Newcastle had a distinctive sound covering songs of John Lee Hooker and Ray Charles. Their musicality was based around the vocalist Eric Burdon and Alan Price on keyboards. I’m afraid I found the guitar playing of Hilton Valentine to be extremely weak, his solos especially had no basis in blues, except on a couple of occasions. Of course they had a huge hit covering Bob Dylan’s version of House of the Rising Sun.

Manfred Mann were a solid R&B outfit featuring the talents of Paul Jones, a great singer and creative, effective, if not authentic harmonica player. Their blues influenced material wasn’t particularly strong, with the exception of Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man and a dynamic arrangement of Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning. Their hits came from R&B styled pop music, such as 5-4-3-2-1 and Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Again, the guitarist was very weak.

Fortunately, the Yardbirds had a young Eric Clapton on guitar, who had begun to absorb some aspects of the American Chicago blues guitar style. He was still developing this approach when he left the band in protest after they recorded their first No. 1 single, For Your Love. Interestingly, the B-side of the single was a 12-bar blues instrumental titled Got to Hurry with Clapton using a fuzz box and featuring an exciting blues solo, showing his potential. Singer and harp player Keith Relf was quite renowned for his harmonica solos, but with the benefit of hindsight, to me he sounds pretty ordinary.

The Pretty Things had the ‘bad boy’ image associated with the Rolling Stones. Their guitarist Dick Taylor had been in an early version of the Stones but his playing is basically a pastiche of the prevalent rock guitar style. Their first album had some solid blues tracks and their second album, more diverse, also had some interesting songs. I particularly enjoyed London Town, which was classic folk-rock – it was written by Donovan.

Finally, the Kinks deserve a mention. They had obviously heard two Excello compilations released in the UK as they recorded Slim Harpo’s classic Got Love if You Want It and Lazy Lester’s I’m a Lover Not a Fighter. They also put down a version of a song titled Bald Headed Woman which was taken from a prison work song I have discussed previously. It is however, quite a progressive arrangement. Interestingly a young aspiring session musician, Jimmy Page played the solo on their first hit single, You Really Got Me. This solo did not bear any relation to blues.

It always puzzles me that most of the musicians in these early British R&B bands never really understood the basic blues techniques, with the exception of Eric Clapton, who was definitely moving in that direction. I would have thought that anyone who attended an AFBF tour would have realised the fundamentally profound musical difference in the playing techniques of the American musicians and assimilated the styles that they heard.

For the guitarists, most seemed to have been influenced by Hank B Marvin, and legendary session guitarist ‘Big’ Jim Sullivan, who played on numerous hit singles. They were also taken with early American rock and roll records. Of course the Stones’ Keith Richards and the Beatles’ George Harrison were familiar with the fundamentals of Chuck Berry’s style. With Richards, these sounds flowed over into most of his solos.

In my opinion the First British boom was basically R&B influenced pop music. Having said that, at the time I was home in Australia listening to their records and found them to be quite exciting. But things changed…

The Rolling Stones

1963 was a breakout year for me – I was 14 and, after enduring the Beatles, the Rolling Stones changed more than just my musical tastes, but introduced me into a world that is still a big part of my life, more than 50 years later. I have to give credit to my uncle, Ken Hood, who was only three months older than me and had left school early to get a job. He purchased and lent me a lot of R&B albums. The rest of this chapter comes from a spontaneous rave into a voice recorder.

When I first heard the Rolling Stones, I couldn’t believe what that music did to me. Where did they get those sounds? There was something about it, a coherence, but I didn’t know where it came from. The music is raw, powerful, crude and I guess bluesy – it was the first time I had experienced that feeling. When I heard Stoned, which was the B-side of I Wanna Be Your Man – it was just ridiculous, with an insistent, solid riff and Brian Jones’ harmonica played through an amplifier’s tremolo, just wailing – wailing the blues… it cut right through me.

I think my first record of the Stones’ was an EP. It had two tracks from their first LP, Tell Me and Now I’ve Got a Witness and two singles, Not Fade Away and It’s All Over Now.

One day, Ken laid the first Stones’ LP on me – again, I couldn’t believe it. The rawness of Bo Diddley’s Mona was almost tribal, bordering on African. I played the track constantly yet had no idea as to the source of this primitive, rhythmic music. The next track on the album was the previously mentioned Now I’ve Got a Witness, a short essay in 1960s British blues harmonica playing.

I would travel home on the school bus and replay the tune in my head. Then the guitar came in, with a wild treble tone. I wasn’t so taken with that, not sure why. I later realised Keith Richards was not really playing blues, but more of a Chuck Berry style.

Other notable tracks were I’m a King Bee, written by Slim Harpo and Honest I Do by someone called Jimmy Reed. With the passing of time, I have realised this album, taken as a whole, doesn’t do it for me anymore, apart from the first two mentioned tracks, Mona and Witness.

Their second LP in Australia, 12 x 5 was much better with some powerful stuff. I particularly liked Empty Heart, which was basically a rock song, and probably one of their first original tunes. It was really strong and featured more of Brian Jones’ great sounding harmonica. Confessin’ the Blues was also very interesting, with Mick Jagger playing the harp on this one. Apparently Brian Jones taught him the basics, but for me, he never really developed on the instrument, as opposed to Jones, who was very creative.

In hindsight, I came to understand Jones hadn’t really mastered the essence of the blues style either. I remember him playing two harps on Not Fade Away, to account for the chord changes, which seemed unusual. In any event, it being 1963 and not knowing any better I loved his musical persona and playing, both on harmonica and guitar.

Around this time, a lot of material was recorded at the legendary Chess Studios in Chicago, USA and these sessions still sound pretty good to me even today.

Late in 1964, a new song came out in Australia, Little Red Rooster, which was reputed to be Brian Jones’ favourite single. I totally agree there, it’s my favourite single ever. The brooding rhythm section, the ominous vocals but more importantly, the slide guitar, made this track a winner. The sound of the slide was totally new to me and I just loved it. Again, I had no idea as to the origins of this stunning music. All I knew from the single was it was written by somebody named ‘Dixon’ who I had never heard of.

In early 1965, the Rolling Stones came to Perth and I attended one of the three concerts that day, together with hundreds of screaming girls. Sometimes you could not hear the music. I should have written the set list down because my memory has faded. I know they opened with Route 66 and to my disappointment, there were no slide guitar tunes. The only song I didn’t know was I’m Alright, a Bo Diddley song, which subsequently came out on a live EP.

Later in 1965, an album was released in Australia titled The Rolling Stones, Now! To me this represents the peak of their musical achievements. I’m sure that most Stones’ fans would disagree – but there are always room for opinions in this world. This record showcases the many talents of Brian Jones at his best. His rhythm guitar introduction to Down Home Girl is absolutely magnificent and the two slide guitar tracks, Little Red Rooster and I Can’t Be Satisfied, the latter written by somebody named ‘Morganfield’ were just magical.

I hope this rave gives you some idea of the impression the Rolling Stones had on me. I soon started buying real blues records by the masters, some of which I read about on the back of Stones’ album covers – but that’s another story.

Classic Albums – Walter Horton

Title: Chicago – The Blues Today - Volume 3

In 1966 Samuel Charters produced three LPs in this series, on the Vanguard label. Each album featured several currently active Chicago Blues outfits. I don’t believe there was a weak track among them – they were just so solid. This third volume has Walter Horton playing as a sideman, putting in a marvellous performance. The first side was Johnny Young, who played mandolin and guitar with his band. The second side of the LP was Johnny Shines’ band. Shines was deeply rooted in the Delta blues tradition – in fact he met Robert Johnson, leading him to craft his own Delta blues style, sometimes drawing heavily on Johnson’s music. Both Young and Shines were traditional musicians, being born only three years apart, in 1915 and 1918.

Walter Horton is magnificent on this record, performing at a high level throughout, with both bands. While he plays on most tracks, some of his accompaniment harp is a little low in the mix, but the solos are fine, very fine indeed.

Side One: Johnny Young’s South Side Blues Band

Track 1: One More Time is a rocking Chicago blues, with an opening instrumental chorus. After two vocal verses, a harp solo is thematic and very focussed, as Walter works with a favourite phrase. After another vocal verse, Walter again comes out firing with another solo. This is a wonderful example of his unique wispy style. The final chorus is the same as the first.

Track 2: Kid Man Blues. Based musically on the blues standard, Rock Me, Walter’s opening chorus shows his great tone and idiosyncratic phrasing. His first solo begins with the Rock Me riff for four bars, but then Walter nails it on the fifth bar, where he produces the tone from heaven before moving into the high register with a trill and some powerful rhythmic sounds.

Track 3: Tighten Up On It begins with a strong Jimmy Reed sound, allowing Walter to go for a swinging triplet feeling, which is an important characteristic of his unique style. His solo is littered with great melodic ideas, then for the first four bars of the next vocal verse he sustains a long, bent tone. The final solo chorus is a masterful piece of tension and release.

Side Two: Johnny Shines Blues Band

Track 8: Black Spider Blues is a slow tune, with Walter moving into the high register, before dropping to the bottom end. The harp is mixed noticeably louder than in the Johnny Young tracks. The only solo begins on a trill, before he drops back into some of his favourite phrases.

Track 9: Layin’ Down My Shoes and Clothes. A Mississippi Delta style turnaround played on one guitar leads into one of my favourite instrumental choruses in the blues. Walter works one note for a time before breaking into some incredibly swinging triplet phrases – this is a masterpiece of harp playing. The only other solo harp chorus works the same note as the introduction. His playing behind Shines is marvellous too.

Track 11: Rockin’ My Boogie is credited to Big Walter Horton’s Blues Harp Band with Memphis Charlie. Charlie Musselwhite plays second harp on this instrumental take of St Louis Blues. The introduction is stunning as Big Walter fashions a long swooping run which goes from the top of the harp to the bottom, then easing straight into a swinging bar five. He then drops into the melody of the tune before moving into the slightly irregular chorus structure, then back into the solo. Musselwhite wails along in the background and is quite effective. Another bridge follows before Walter goes into the high register, where he pulls out some amazingly fast runs on the high notes, some of them syncopated, or not on the beat. The end of this chorus returns to the bottom register to end the tune.

Horton is one of my favourite harp players. While he may not have the virtuosity of a Little Walter, he goes to places and uses intervals no other harp player knows about. He has his own library of licks, and nobody swings like Big Walter when he’s on song. Essential listening.

Blues Regions – Atlanta

Artist: Barbecue Bob

Born Robert Hicks, apparently he was a dab hand with the barbecue, hence the moniker. His older brother, “Laughing Charlie” Hicks was also an Atlanta bluesman, but quite often played novelty tunes, with a strange vocal timbre, and a characteristic laughing style.

Samuel Charters refers to the rhythmic nature common to Atlanta blues, in his book Sweet as the Showers of Rain as follows:

This seems to be clearly reflected in the rhythmic pulse, which in the blues or other areas is closely related to a songster tradition or to the work and gang songs. The Atlanta musicians often used a kind of strumming that had no clearly defined rhythmic character.

Such is the case in the style of Barbecue Bob, particularly in the introductions, which often bear no relationship to the accompaniment of verses. This is evident in Bob’s first recording Barbecue Blues, where the opening four bars are in a strange, straight strumming style, before he moves into a more complex texture behind the vocal verses. A standard 12-bar blues variation is introduced by singing the first line on a IV chord – the remaining ten bars follow the regular format. The lyric content seems to be mostly standard blues lines, sung with great conviction. Another variation is to play 4-5 bars of strummed guitar between vocal verses. The end is characterised by a single-note guitar phrase, followed by several subdued, almost inaudible slide guitar phrases. I should mention he mostly uses a 12-string guitar.

Cloudy Sky Blues opens with a similar strumming pattern, this time interspersed with single note guitar phrases. The 12-string is particularly noticeable on the treble strings. I just love his laconic vocals on this one, which also has a lot more variation in the guitar part than the previous tune. The gaps between verses are also longer, with an occasional foray into slide figures and descending bass lines. Again, the ending features soft slide guitar phrases.

Mississippi Heavy Water Blues was inspired by the major floods taking place in Mississippi at the time. Again it is a variation on Bob’s standard introduction as he sustains two different chords, before launching into his obligatory strumming. This tune is a marvellously relaxed vocal performance. Each verse is delineated by bass string runs, and lyrically it is mostly about his woman.

I’m sitting here looking, at all of this mud
And my girl got washed away in that Mississippi flood
That’s why I’m crying Mississippi heavy water blues

The song’s structure does not feature a repeat of the first vocal line, which basically makes it into an 8-bar length although extra bars are often heard as Bob sometimes delays the entry of the vocal, at his leisure.

Barbecue Bob was quite popular in his time, selling up to 15,000 copies of some recordings. There are some CDs still available on Amazon UK, although I am sure more could be found on the internet. There was a 2-CD set of his complete recordings.

Artist: Blind Willie McTell

Blind Willie was a very creative and popular bluesman. Over many years he wrote a lot of original material. Often unrecorded, McTell was never found wanting at a session. Comfortable with ragtime chord progressions as well as blues, he was one of the only musicians who was recorded in the 1920s through to the 1950s. He normally played in standard tuning, while sometimes switching to an open tuning for slide guitar tunes. I am going to consider some of his earliest recorded works.

Statesboro Blues was his first successful recording. It is a brilliant, impassioned vocal, lyrical and guitar performance. The opening verse is vivid as McTell’s vocal delivery paints a poetic picture. The first two verses are:

Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Have you got the nerve to drive Papa McTell from your door?

My mother died and left me reckless,
My daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
Mother died and left me reckless, Daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
Now, I'm not good lookin' but I'm some sweet woman's angel child

McTell continues to spin out fascinating verses all through this performance, with his melodic lines becoming a little more serious. This is a bonafide country blues classic.

Come on Around to my House Mama. This tune, released under the artist name Blind Sammie, is in a 16-bar ragtime format, with a repeated last vocal line, that makes full use of the possibilities of the ragtime chord changes.

Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody there but me
Call me a hotshot rider
And a cheater, coloured from Tennessee
Take it easy, don't get rough, just wanna tell you that I know my stuff
Come on around to my house mama, ain't nobody home but me

In the evening, ain't nobody home but me
In the morning, ain't nobody there but me

McTell occasionally adds bars, but is in full control, with sustained chords being played behind the fourth line. This is another of my favourite country blues tracks.

Broke Down Engine is a pensive performance, both on vocals and guitar, again recorded as Blind Sammie. The 12-string is tuned very low, and the effect is dark and ominous as McTell produces telling runs on the treble strings, while almost evoking John Lee Hooker on the bass strings, such is the sound.

Feel like a broke down engine, mama
Ain't got no drivin' wheel, lord have mercy
Feel like a broke down engine, mama
Ain't got no drivin' wheel
You all been down and lonely
You know just how Willie McTell feels

But it's, Lordy Lord, Lordy, Lordy Lord
Lordy Lord, Lordy, Lordy Lord

The last two phrases are added to the 12-bar format.

McTell is a more powerful artist than Barbecue Bob, but they share a strong rhythmic style.

Both artists have many single CDs and multiple CD sets available.

Classic Albums – Howlin’ Wolf

Title: The Real Folk Blues

This marvellous album is made up of a selection of singles for Chess. They seem to be mostly from the 1960s, but several are from earlier sessions. The later material has a more produced sound, with prominent use of saxes on some tracks.

Track 1 - Killing Floor features a powerful four bar Hubert Sumlin opening, before the band moves into a memorable guitar theme. This is complemented by punchy sax lines and also has Willie Dixon on bass. After two vocal verses, Sumlin soloes, working with the thematic ideas from the opening, in a very percussive manner. Two vocal verses give way to a faded guitar solo which also is quite thematic.

Track 2 – Louise is a soulful moderately slow blues. Sumlin again introduces the tune with his distinctive bassy tone and unique attack. The saxes feature long lines while Sumlin responds to Wolf’s vocal verses with beautiful phrases. The guitar solo is classic Hubert, he is in complete control. The end is another faded solo.

Track 3 – Poor Boy is a catchy 16-bar tune that sounds traditional. Sumlin plays sharp chords on the back beat, adding to the slightly ‘down home’ feeling. In the solos, Wolf on harp and Sumlin play with the melody together, leading to some great unison phrases. The song fades on a vocal verse.

Track 4 – Nature has a very basic rhythmic feel and opens with a chorus of Wolf playing simple notes of a thematic nature, changing with the chords. The drumming is unusual, with a busy approach. In the vocal verses, Sumlin goes into the middle register with some fine chord accents. The harp solos are the same as the opening with Sumlin playing Chicago bass runs. Once when Wolf sings, Sumlin forgets to play chords for a while until he remembers and returns to them.

Track 5 – Sugar Mama, another medium-slow blues has strong saxophones pushing it along. The first solo is Wolf’s with his characteristic rich tone, and powerful vibrato. Sumlin plays solo notes in the background for the duration.

Track 8 – Three Hundred Pounds of Joy would be a bit of a novelty tune if it didn’t sound so good. It opens with a slightly Latin accent in the rhythm. Saxes play a harmonised interlude and Sumlin delivers superb stinging phrases in response. The guitar solo is magnificent, he is just so unique in both his solo and rhythm playing.

This recording is still available on CD now coupled with More Real Folk Blues but any of three 3-CD sets would provide better value. Having said that, many of the tracks on this album aren’t on the box sets.

I was once browsing in a CD store and found a Howlin’ Wolf 2-CD set containing about 40 tracks. I realised I had played 24 of them in my musical life.

The Second British Blues Boom

I don’t know if the Second British Blues Boom is a part of modern blues literature but, then again, I don’t tend to read contemporary blues books.

For me it represents a movement started with John Mayall. When Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds and joined Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, he gained access to a vast collection of blues records. Clapton was totally taken with the music contained in these albums and immediately set about learning the blues styles of American blues guitarists such as Freddie, BB and Albert King, Otis Rush, Magic Sam and probably many more. It begs the question – who was he listening to before he met Mayall?

By the time Clapton was ready to record with Mayall, the guitarist had absorbed the authentic blues style, to the point of internalising it. Also, Clapton had acquired an early 1960s Gibson Les Paul, a model that had inexplicably been discontinued by its maker. It contained two powerful humbucking pickups, which featured two coil wrappings, cancelling out the hum that single coil pickups produce. You often see people speaking into two microphones; it’s the same principle. The guitar’s remarkable tone and sustain qualities were a world away from the dinky sound he could get out of his Fender Telecaster in the Yardbirds. He also began using a Marshall 50 watt amplifier, which sounded perfect for the guitar – I believe the recordings attest to this.

The subsequent, unnamed record, commonly known as the Beano Album, with Clapton reading The Beano comic book on the cover, defined a new sound and more importantly, a new technique for British blues guitar players. There were also other guitarist who were working towards this classic Chicago blues style. For example, Kim Simmonds from Savoy Brown, Stan Webb from Chicken Shack and even Alvin Lee from Ten Years after, although he also was an early shredder.

Clapton’s tone and playing on the Mayall record have set the bar for English and American blues, blues-rock and just plain rock guitar, to the point where the album is still revered today. Standout tracks for me are: All Your Love, Have You Heard and the seemingly obligatory Freddie King instrumental, Hideaway. It’s a shame a live album that was recorded suffered from poor sound and was never released. The few extant live performances are legendary, especially Stormy Monday which, though marred by Mayall’s tuneless vocal, contains evidence of Clapton’s live sound at his peak. There are some albums of live BBC recordings on which you can hear the development in Clapton’s playing over time. The difference between his 1965 and 1966 recordings is remarkable, as Clapton moved from his simplistic Yardbirds style of playing to a powerful Chicago blues sound, revealing a deep expression of blues feeling.

When Clapton left the band, John Mayall recruited Peter Green, who didn’t attempt to fill Clapton’s shoes but brought his own, often quite tasteful style to the music. Apart from a studio album, A Hard Road, there are also some live bootlegs with Peter Green in awesome form. He too played a Gibson Les Paul guitar.

When Green left to form Fleetwood Mac, a young Mick Taylor took over lead guitar duties and was a solid performer, again on a Les Paul. I particularly liked his work on the live records, Diary of a Band, Volumes 1 & 2. Of course he went on to replace Brian Jones in the Rolling Stones.

Peter Green certainly didn’t stand still and Fleetwood Mac’s first album topped the UK charts. The next album, Mr Wonderful, is just that, wonderful. His solos on this record are of the highest order – it’s a master class of modern blues guitar.

The other guitarists mentioned, Simmonds, Web and Lee produced fine work. Only Webb, who has always played in the style of Freddie King continued with the blues. The others, like most white blues musicians, eventually drifted into rock, albeit often with a blues influence.

Of course, just across the Atlantic there was a similar movement with young, mainly white, guitar and harmonica players beginning to express in an authentic blues style as well. But that’s another story.

The First Time I Played the Blues

In 1968 a friend introduced me to a young singer, Steve Tallis, who fronted a band, My Grandfather’s Blues, with his brother Vic on drums. We chatted a while and seemed to be coming from the same musical direction. He asked me to come to a gig and blow some harp. On the appointed night I turned up at the club and played on about six tunes, most of which I had already heard. Much to my surprise, when the band walked offstage, they asked me to join, just as a harp player. That felt so good.

They also brought in a new bass player, a friend of mine, Owen Hughes. We had a couple of rehearsals in July and set out playing gigs, usually one or two a week. I used to walk on and off stage, as required, to play some harp. Given my new role, we immediately set about learning a whole bunch of new harp tunes, with the intention of making the band sound become bluesier. I would like to quote from a book I wrote in 2012, For the Love of Music, which details my musical life story.

We got through many tunes in a few rehearsals. I can remember Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me, Bring It On Home, One Way Out, Don’t Start Me To Talking, and Checking Up On My Baby (I was a big Sonny Boy fan). We also got together Little Walter’s Off The Wall, My Babe, Howlin’ Wolf’s Moaning At Midnight, Killing Floor and Sitting On Top Of The World. Then there was Paul Butterfield’s Get Out Of My Life Woman, Born In Chicago and his version of the classic Nat Adderley jazz instrumental Work Song. Most of these featured harp solos and I started getting right into it.

After I had been in the band for about six weeks, the rhythm guitarist was called up for National Service (the draft) and was soon to be going into basic training and then on to Vietnam. Due to his departure I started playing rhythm guitar. Around December we changed our name to the Jellyroll Bakers and hired a manager, Cliff Gillam, who was a friend of mine from Uni, in an attempt to get more gigs. Two things worked against us – the drinking age at the time was 21, and, booking agencies were all-powerful and weren’t interested in blues or rock bands. The scene was strictly commercial music at the time. I’d like to include another section of my book, For The Love of Music, which points to my musical direction:

A couple of times I went to The Gaslight Cavern on folk nights and played with a folk blues acoustic singer-guitarist named Frank. I loved playing acoustic country blues style, accompanying the vocals and soloing. I still do. It really went over well with the crowd and it helped me with my feeling for improvisation, which was still developing.

I also had a great experience at a club named Riki-Tic in Lake Street when I sat in on harp for two numbers with Swingshift, who were very experienced. We did Born In Chicago by Paul Butterfield, and a slow blues tune, Merry Go Round, by Fleetwood Mac. On the slow tune, the band was just so solid in responding to my playing, and I felt like I was riding on the crest of a wave of music. They seemed to generate a powerful, almost physical musical force, as the rhythm section ebbed and flowed while moving through the chord changes. It was the first time I had experienced the feeling of playing with technically great musicians and it is a memory that has stayed with me forever. This was my first magical moment in playing music. I shall describe a few more as we move along.

The Jellyroll Bakers eventually landed a Saturday night residency at a city club, known as the Gaslight Cavern, which ran from 9 pm to 3 am. The place soon became packed and even though the hours were long, it was a great experience and I learned a lot more about blues harp. We played there for about eight months in 1969 and, for various reasons, we decided to break up the band around September. But, as it turned out, there was more to come.

Just before Christmas 1969, I spontaneously purchased a 1963 Gibson ES-335 electric guitar. This was from an R&B guitarist I used to follow in bands, but had retired from playing. I don’t know why I bought this particular model, I had never noticed one in my blues reading and research. Around a year later, I discovered it was the guitar choice of Freddie King and Otis Rush. Enough said.

Great Live Albums – BB King

Title: Live at the Regal

He may have been inspired by T-Bone Walker but, in my opinion, BB’s original singing tone, development of new blues positions, and his creative single string lines, replete with many bent notes, makes him the Father of Blues Guitar. He has inspired a legion of young white and African American blues guitarists on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born Riley King, he became known as ‘Blues Boy’ and then just BB. He is the classic example used when people say they can identify his sound from just hearing one note. However, that quality could apply to many guitar and harp players, but he does have a very distinctive touch, tone and attack. Live at the Regal is considered by many to be the best blues live recording ever, but I’m not so sure about that, although it is a pretty special record. Recorded in 1964, before what sounds like an African American audience, there is a wonderful atmosphere created by BB and his band.

BB was a somewhat smooth singer, a blues crooner even and he soars over the tight arrangements, which include parts for two saxophones.

Track 1: Every Day I Have the Blues is a Memphis Slim tune. The band opens with a swinging backbeat and rhythmically punctuating horn lines for one chorus. When BB enters on guitar, you know you are listening to the blues – all of the trademark BB style comes right at you in one terrific guitar chorus. Now he settles in to the vocals which are unique in that he plays with the rhythm in his vocals, almost jazz-like as he negotiates the melodic line. Two guitar choruses follow and I believe Peter Green has studied this record, it sounds like part of his musical personality. The first chorus is played on the front, mellow pickup near the neck of the guitar, before he switches to the back, treble pickup near the bridge, with a biting, stinging sound. Sometimes he phrases like early electric jazz guitarist Charlie Christian, although I don’t believe this approach was ever taken up by other guitarists. He breaks into falsetto in the closing vocals and the end is a fanfare of brass. The audience erupts.

Track 2: Sweet Little Angel: After a spoken introduction, BB launches into a slow 12-bar chorus. There is a myth, perpetuated by BB himself that he never played chords on the guitar – well, he does on this album, although not many. The way he incites the crowd to enthusiastic outbursts is quite amazing. This was when African American audiences were still listening to blues and they really respond to his vocal and guitar highlights.

I’ve got a sweet little angel (crowd response)
I love the way she spreads her wings (more response) (x 2)
Yes, when she spreads her wings around me, I get joy and everything

This performance is very dynamic and the crowd screams at BB’s slightest change in feeling.

Track 5: Please Love Me has an exciting guitar introduction, inspired by Elmore James’ Dust My Blues, and features an up-tempo shuffle beat. The next guitar section has BB adding notes I’ve never heard any Chicago blues guitarists play – he had a reputation for studying music, to the extent he can occasionally hint at non-blues styles.

Track 8: Woke Up This Morning: The guitar phrase in the opening chorus is iconic – Peter Green and Freddie King have both used it. This tune features contrasting rhythms. The theme and vocals have a Latin beat, with the band breaking into a swing feeling for a number of verses, which gives great contrast and impetus, as a saxophone wails in response to BB’s impassioned vocals. The end comes too soon.

Track 9: You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now is a slow blues, with the opening instrumental chorus being a lesson in blues guitar. In essence he is all over it. The vocal phrases are also punctuated by some wonderful guitar lines that are at the heart of his style – BB seems to be in total control of the instrument in his guitar fills.

Track 10: Help The Poor is a medium, Latin feel 16-bar blues, with a wonderful vocal performance. There is also an 8-bar bridge, with the horns being extremely effective in what I would consider to be a progressive mid-1960s jazz style of harmonies. This tune has also been covered by Robben Ford, in a fine version.

I must confess to not being a great fan of BB, except for his 1950s recordings but this album reveals all of his subtlety and power, both vocally and instrumentally, to the listener. This is one of the most influential blues guitar albums.

Bluesmen – Muddy Waters and Little Walter

These two pre-eminent blues musicians formed a musical partnership that made Muddy’s band one of the defining elements of the 1950s Chicago blues era.

Muddy Waters is generally considered to be the greatest Chicago blues singer and his ability to manage bands was considerable. Little Walter was unquestionably the technically finest blues harp player, probably ever. There are still many people around the world who try to emulate his tone and solos, almost to the point of obsession.

The pair first recorded together in August, 1950 in a low-key session with Big Crawford on bass. Four tunes were produced, all in a Delta blues style with Walter playing acoustic harp, and clearly showing his debt to John Lee Williamson’s single note style.

For a considerable period before this, Muddy, Jimmy Rogers and Walter were tearing it up in the blues clubs, becoming known as The Headunters for their ability to outplay any other Chicago ensemble. However the Chess brothers refused to allow Muddy to record with this lineup, instead, insisting on keeping him close to the more traditional blues approach that saw Muddy keep selling records.

The next session, in October 1950 had Elgin Evans playing drums on Louisiana Blues, which represents a break from the Delta blues sound and is an absolute classic Muddy tune. Walter’s vocal response to Muddy’s “I’m going to New Orleans, get me a mojo hand” is the phrase “Oh take me with you man, when you go.” Also recorded was the instrumental Evans Shuffle – what a great session.

In the following eight months came Long Distance Call, Honey Bee, and She Moves Me, all of which are brilliant, moving tracks, which together with Louisiana Blues made it on to Muddy’s first LP – The Best of Muddy Waters, which came out much later, in 1959. By this time Walter was using amplified harmonica, which led him to produce a fine, thick tone.

In May 1952, at the beginning of the session that produced Please Have Mercy, an instrumental My Cat Won’t Play was recorded. This was released as Juke, and as previously mentioned, went to the top of the R&B charts. Walter was touring in the South with Muddy at the time, and as the story goes, Walter heard it on a jukebox, and decided to cash in on the success. He left Muddy and took over Jr Well’s group, The Aces to go solo and lead his own band, recording as Little Walter and his Jukes.

However Muddy, even though he hired replacement harmonica players such as Junior Wells and Big Walter Horton, had Little Walter play on many subsequent recording sessions. The replacements were expected to reproduce Little Walter’s solos in stage performances – good luck with that.

I have studied quite a few of Muddy’s session discographies, and they are not always accurate, as some of them differ as to who was playing harp on certain dates. For instance the Chess set, The Complete Muddy Waters 1947-1967 has Standing Around Crying with Walter at the top of his game, and the driving Gone To Main Street from September 1952, which really moves, shown as probably Junior Wells. To my ears, it is Little Walter and I have had agreement from harp players who are technically proficient and more knowledgable than myself.

The next three significant sessions gave us Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want to Make Love to You, and I’m Ready, all of which found their way on to The Best of Muddy Waters LP. These are absolutely marvellous performances, with Walter featured on chromatic harmonica for the latter two pieces. Love to You is just a brilliantly conceived solo – Walter was a master on the chromatic instrument.

During 1956, a part of blues history occurred with guitarist Hubert Sumlin, who had left Howlin’ Wolf and joined Muddy’s band, playing on three productive sessions. Paired with Pat Hare on guitar for the first session, Forty Days and Forty Nights and All Aboard are both fabulous vocal performances with Walter putting the icing on the cake. All Aboard again featured his awesome chromatic playing. The next two sessions with Sumlin and Hare produced Just to be With You, Don’t Go no Farther, Rock Me, Look What You’ve Done and Got My Mojo Working.

A sign of things to come was an appearance by Jimmy Cotton on harp at a January 1958 recording. Little Walter only returned for two further sessions, the last being in April, 1960.

The unique partnership was over, concluding probably the finest musical union of the Chicago blues era, although Howlin’ Wolf and Hubert Sumlin would be up there too. The sound of Muddy’s marvellous vocals and Walter’s creative playing, together with the musical rapport between them led to some superb performances. I find it fascinating to follow the development of Muddy’s Chess years – listening to it seems to define the Chicago blues sound.

The American Folk Blues Revival

I believe this movement was part of the general folk music revival in America, and acoustic blues was absorbed into the genre. In the late 1950s through to the mid-1960s, musicologists, together with young, mostly white musicians began rediscovering the country blues. They went through blues regions, calling on African American homes and rummaging in junk shops in pursuit of old 78s of both popular and obscure artists. The first small group shared their collections and the group grew in size, with everyone eager to find classic country blues records. When Sam Charters published his book, The Country Blues, in 1959, he also produced an LP of the same name containing 14 vintage tracks. It was released on the Folkways label, and to my knowledge, the first country blues LP, predating Robert Johnson’s King of the Delta Blues Singers, which came out in 1961.

The following track listing, from Wikipedia, is quite informative:

Side One.

1. Matchbox Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson

2. Careless Love – Lonnie Johnson

3. Walk Right In – Cannon's Jug Stompers

4. Low Down Rounder's Blues – Peg Leg Howell

5. Statesboro Blues – Blind Willie McTell

6. Stealin', Stealin' – Memphis Jug Band

7. You Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond – Blind Willie Johnson

Side Two.

1. Alabama Woman Blues – Leroy Carr

2. Special Agent – Sleepy John Estes

3. Key to the Highway – Big Bill Broonzy

4. Fixin' to Die – Bukka White

5. I'm A Guitar King – Tommy McClennan

6. Preachin' Blues – Robert Johnson

7. I Been Treated Wrong –Washboard Sam

This is a magnificent cross-section of early country blues recordings and its release led to other collectors contributing to further compilations, some of which came out on the newly formed Origin Jazz Library label. There was also a similar album, Really! The Country Blues, which appears to have been issued soon after. Over the following years OJL continued to release further country blues artists such as Charley Patton, Sam Collins, John Hurt and a host of compilations. Interest in country blues led to young white musicians beginning to learn the instrumental style of the genre. This spawned a whole new generation of recordings which I shall allude to in the following chapter. Of the 14 tracks, off the top of my head, I can recall cover versions of nine of the tunes. Probably the most prominent of the performers would have been Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers, John Hammond and English folk singer Donovan.

My personal favourites from the album are Statesboro Blues, You Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond, Fixin' to Die and I'm A Guitar King as I am a big fan of the four performers of these tunes.

Walk Right In was a No. 1 hit for the Rooftop Singers, who then sank without trace, although they probably recorded an album on the back of the success of their single.

I should also mention the Harry Smith 5-LP collection, Anthology of American Folk Music. I have never owned it but am familiar with the contents of this set, and its eclectic mix of folk, blues and country music appears to have been a significant driver of the blues revival, along with the increased interest in folk music.

This revival is still going, with major record companies producing wonderful gems, in pristine sound from their vaults. Some classics are the complete early recordings of Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Bukka White, and Blind Willie McTell. Many other minor labels have come into being from the 1960s to the present, helped by the relaxation of copyright in Europe. I realise CD sales are declining, but I believe there would be at least 2,000 to 3,000 reissued country blues CDs, including many compilations, currently available. Amazon US reports 10,000 hits for ‘Country Blues’, but a quick sampling reveals many of them are in fact, other genres.

Finally, country blues is still being played all over the world, often in small bars, but sometimes in concert halls and at festivals and in my opinion, it is actually more authentic than the prevailing blues-rock styles. I haven’t really followed it, although I am quite partial to Eric Bibb, who is a fine singer-guitarist, one not afraid to show his Christian beliefs through his material. Country blues seems to have now been absorbed into the roots music category, probably because this has been deemed to be a more marketable concept. Most blues festivals have been renamed roots festivals, and the ones I have experienced, don’t really feature much blues. In any event, the music lives on.

One further thing. A young guitarist named Stefan Grossman began to transcribe some of these released performances in tablature aka tab format. This is a system of indicating guitar fingerings by using a six line musical grid with each string represented by a line. A number is written on a string indicating the guitar is to be fingered on that fret. You need to have heard the recording as it contains no rhythmic information. From humble beginnings, Grossman progressed to writing many tab books for the various country blues and ragtime styles. Tens of thousands of guitarists from around the world took up this approach to learning basic acoustic blues guitar.

Unfortunately, there were usually only one or two verses transcribed so you didn’t get the feeling of the performance. I am aware of guitarists who can’t play without tab, and I don’t really find their performances musical. However there are probably some who progressed past the tab and were able to express themselves in a personal manner.

Classic Albums – A 1960s Compilation

Title: The Blues Project

This album is not to be confused with the recordings of the mediocre band who probably took the name of the LP for their group. The Blues Project compilation LP was a collection of young white blues singers, which was released on the Elektra label in 1964. I first purchased it in 1967 and it had a big impact on me. I have had it for so long it feels like I know every note and nuance on it. Strangely, it has never been reissued on CD, but vinyl copies are still available, with it being quite inexpensive. There are 16 tracks on the album and I shall comment on about half of them.

Side One:

Track 1: Fixin' To Die – Dave Ray. This stunning slide guitar version of Bukka White’s early track is an instrumental and vocal tour de force. Ray’s deep register, resonant vocals make for a fine opening to the album.

Track 2: Blow Whistle Blow – Eric Von Schmidt. This sounds like an original tune and I had trouble making out the words. Accompanied by John Sebastian on harp, and Fritz Richmond on washtub bass, this performance has a gentle lamenting lyrical structure with unusually, a simple strummed guitar accompaniment – no country blues picking here.

Yes, it’s blow whistle, blow, said it’s eating time
Let it blow whistle, blow, someone said it’s eating time
Got an appetite like a million men, just got a lousy dime

The country-styled harmonica is mostly clean and pure, with occasional guttural sounds used for effect.

Track 4: Ginger Man – Geoff Muldaur. Another original, gentle picking blues is about the previously mentioned Fritz Richmond and his effect on women. It features a great vocal performance.

Track 5: Bad Dream Blues – Dave Van Ronk. Again an original piece, picked in a Piedmont style. This simple tune can be heard on YouTube played by blues author Elijah Wald – he certainly evokes the Van Ronk performance, with some very clean picking.

Track 6: Winding Boy – Ian Buchanan. Fritz Richmond again makes an appearance on this cover of Jelly Roll Morton’s Winin’ Boy Blues. The guitar playing is very special, with many twists and turns in the 16-bar blues format. Strangely, I have never come across Ian Buchanan again.

Track 7: I'm Troubled – Danny Kalb creates an energetic version of Muddy Waters’ I Can’t Be Satisfied. Featuring John Sebastian on harmonica, this is a delightful romp with some fine harp and guitar duet passages.

Track 8: France Blues – Mark Spoelstra. I know this as an old jug band tune, Mobile Line – I just can’t seem to find the original performers. The slightly stiff, monotonic vocal line is very attractive.

Side Two:

Track 1: Don't You Leave Me Here – Dave Van Ronk. Originally by country blues performer Henry Thomas, Van Ronk’s craggy vocal and boom-chuck guitar attack make for a fascinating texture.

Track 2: Devil Got My Woman – This remarkable vocal performance of a Skip James’ tune is very convincing, and Muldaur’s subtle guitar picking evokes James’ version.

Track 3: Southbound Train – John Koerner. This rhythmically incisive feel is accompanied by Tony Glover on harp. His delicious, percussive playing gives great impetus to this one-chord train song.

Track 4: Downtown Blues – Geoff Muldaur in a piano based romp featuring a mystery pianist Bob Landy nee Dylan. John Sebastian also plays harmonica and this track really moves.

The whole record is a great snapshot of the music white blues performers from the 1960s were producing. To me, the finest vocalists are the melodious Geoff Muldaur, the resonant Dave Ray and the positively gravel-toned Dave Van Ronk. This is an album definitely worth hearing – I believe it has aged pretty well.

Finally, Elektra went to the trouble of specifically identifying, and describing the substantial talents of John Hammond in the liner notes. Hammond was signed to Vanguard Records so he probably didn’t appear on the album due to contractual obligations. Vanguard and Elektra were the pre-eminent labels for folk and blues at the time, and competed in the same marketplace. They certainly weren’t wrong about Hammond, who went on to become a major blues artist, far eclipsing anyone else on the Elektra album.

Country Blues Rediscoveries

Due to the interest in country blues, a small group of enthusiasts, some musicians, some musicologists and just plain fans set about trying to determine whether some of the legendary blues singers were still alive.

There is a lot of conflicting information, particularly on the internet, about what transpired. Many people were involved in the process, and I shall just present a brief summary.

Documentary film maker David Blumenthal came across Sleepy John Estes in 1962. He was destitute and living in a tumbled down shack in the middle of a cotton field outside the town of Brownsville, Tennessee.

In 1963, an enthusiast named Tom Hoskins followed the lyrics of the song “Avalon, My Home Town” to the foothills of Carroll County, where he located Mississippi John Hurt and brought him to Washington, D.C.

Also in 1963 John Fahey wrote a letter to Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi – presuming, given White's song Aberdeen, Mississippi, that White still lived there or nearby. The postcard was forwarded to Memphis, Tennessee, where White worked in a tank factory. This discovery led to White recording for Fahey’s Takoma label.

In 1964, Son House was "rediscovered" in Rochester, New York, not having played for many years. Canned Heat founding member Alan Wilson was charged with the task of teaching Son how to play his own music again, leading to the recording of an album – The Father of Folk Blues.

Also in 1964, John Fahey, Bill Barth, and Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine, located Skip James in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi. James was in poor health, and some of his music attested to this. He recorded one LP for Melodeon, which is not highly regarded, before moving on to Vanguard Records.

Four of the above singers (excluding Bukka White) performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964. Also appearing was the Rev. Robert Wilkins, who performed The Prodigal Son aka That’s No Way to Get Along, which was later covered by the Rolling Stones. These artists appeared on a 2-LP set, then a 2-CD set, The Blues at Newport – 1964. Unfortunately, the items appear to be difficult to find at reasonable prices. At the time of writing, the LPs are available at discogs.com. I have the 2-CD version.

Finally, I would like to share these words by Sam Charters from the original LP liner notes as he describes the reaction to Skip James’ performance. I have always found them to be very beautiful, and quite evocative:

For those of us who were at Newport in 1964 it was an unforgettable and thrilling moment when Skip James sang these first words of his great song Devil Got My Woman. I don’t know if any notes can convey the awful tension. We wanted Skip James to recapture the beauty and eeriness of his early recordings. Yet it seemed also wrong that we should be able to hear this strange taunting sound, which had existed only as a dub from a scratched 78, repossessed on a summer’s day at Newport. As the voice soared over us, the piercing falsetto set against the harsh cross-tuning of the guitar, there was an audible sigh of relief from the audience and, I think, a sense of triumph.

The Master Returns

I wrote this song for Son House many years ago. It is a collection of various ideas taken from some of the blues rediscovery stories, occasionally out of context. For instance, Son had moved to the city when he was located.

Down in Mississippi, through country roads and lanes
Searching for the master, need to find the man or his remains
Three young white boys driving, all across the Delta terrain

Came upon the old man, “It’s you we came to see”
“Haven’t played for so long, are you sure it’s me?”
“Put your records on the phono, just you wait and see”

Head back to the city, got to meet a Mr Waterman
Country roads to freeway, rundown shacks to high-rise,
“it’s strange for a country gentleman”
High up in the building, puts his pen to paper,
“Lord I’m gonna make a record again”

Try to make a record, need to teach him how to play his tunes
Young, old, black, white, recreating history in this room
Slide guitar, harmonica, gospel songs and real old country blues

Solos:

Newport ’64, bluesmen prepare to go on stage
Alan Wilson looking on, surely showed the master how to play
All the bluesmen gather ‘round, Mississippi John and Skippy James

Outro:

Lord the masters sing, gospel songs and real old country blues (x3)

Classic Albums – Son House

Title: The Legendary Son House – Father of Folk Blues

This album was released in 1965. A later, 2-CD set was strangely renamed Father of the Delta Blues – The Complete 1965 Sessions. The term folk blues was often a marketing ploy by record companies. It was used by Chess to capitalise on the burgeoning folk scene. Muddy Waters released an album Folk Singer and later there was a series titled The Real Folk Blues which were all Chicago blues records. It appears Columbia used it here for the first release, but not for the much later 2-CD version. The first CD contains the contents of the original album, while the second CD consists of five alternate takes and seven out-takes, that is, songs that never made it on to the first LP. The 2-CD set is probably a case of overkill, but the packaging and booklet are good, and it is reasonably priced.

Son had been playing the tunes for over a year when this recording was made and it is a profound statement of Delta blues, I would think pretty much how he sounded in the 1930s. Except for two unaccompanied vocal tunes, Son’s National resonator guitar is tuned to an open G chord, although sometimes he raises it to A, which doesn’t significantly change the sound of the music. For both keys he plays the same slide licks, as they are integral to the sound of the open G tuning. Alan Wilson of Canned Heat plays harmonica and second guitar on some tunes. I am going to discuss most of the tracks from the LP, which takes up one CD.

Track 1: Death Letter is a moderate tempo 12-bar blues. On the first verse at least, House doesn’t add or drop any bars, which was a feature of many early delta blues players. His vocals and guitar are strong, as he unfolds a litany of vocal verses which tell a story. One of the verses was lifted verbatim and made into a tune, Walking Blues, by Robert Johnson. I’m afraid I don’t have space to include the lyrics of the eight or so verses, but it is an enthralling performance, both rhythmically and vocally.

Track 2: Pearline has a strong opening with two slide instrumental verses. The vocal role is very measured as Son allows the guitar to do the talking for him, although he occasionally moans syllables or even a lyric line over some of the chords. This is a fine performance with great slide playing – very expressive.

Track 3: Louise McGhee is another medium tempo 12-bar blues. This tune has less emphasis on the slide and there are a lot of fretted notes, some of which are based around a descending line on the bass strings which is a standard Delta blues pattern. Son is quite the storyteller as he constantly moves forward with interesting lyrics, only some of which I would consider to be stock phrases. I also notice his endings are very considered, usually occurring in a gentle manner.

Track 4: John the Revelator is a solo vocal performance. Of course, the John referred to is the writer of The Gospel of St John and The Book of Revelations, both from the New Testament of the Bible.

Who's that writin'? John the Revelator
Tell me who's that writin'? John the Revelator
Well who's that writin'? John the Revelator
Wrote the book of the seven seals

You know God walked down in the cool of the day
Called Adam by his name
But he refused to answer
Because he's naked and ashamed…

The song follows the chorus then verse structure right to the end. However he does vary the melody quite often and his vocals have a sense of call and response. Also, in the various choruses, he adds some interjections such as ‘tell me’ and ‘well’, together with various other complementary vocal phrases. This is a stunning vocal performance, sung with a great depth of feeling.

Track 5: Empire State Express is built around a descending bass line that is different from the one previously described. This pattern comes from Future Blues by Willie Brown, Son’s friend and seemingly everybody’s friend. He only ever recorded two sides but was apparently well regarded as a guitarist – Robert Johnson mentions him in Crossroads Blues.

The slide is not used on this track but I can hear Alan Wilson in the background, creating a complex rhythmic structure on his guitar. I feel sure Wilson was glad Son doesn’t drop or add bars.

Track 6: Preachin’ Blues has Son once again delivering an impassioned vocal. The first verse is:

Yes, I’m gonna get me religion, I’m gonna’ join the Baptist Church
Yes, I’m gonna get me religion, I say I’m gonna’ join the Baptist Church
You know I wanna be a Baptist preacher, so I won’t have to work (woik)

The tune is a collection of Christian and secular verses, set to a rolling accompaniment, occasionally interrupted by lyrical single-note slide phrases.

Track 7: Grinnin’ in Your Face is another unaccompanied vocal performance. This is a 16-bar format, but in some ways, the structure is very similar to John the Revelator, with alternating chorus and verse, although he occasionally repeats a phrase for emphasis. The opening is as follows:

Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face
You just bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face

You know your mother would talk about you
Your own sisters and your brothers too
They just don't care how you're tryin' to live
They'll talk about you still
Don't you mind...

After listening to these tracks for the purpose of the discussion, I don’t believe they are as intense as I first thought. On some of his live records the voice is a lot gruffer and I believe there is a little more attack on the guitar. Here it seems more controlled. It may be the production of the recording, I don’t know. In any event, this is a wonderful album.

Bluesmen – Robert Pete Williams

I’ve only fairly recently come to know the music of Robert Pete Williams, and have acquired several albums in the process. They are all different. If Sonny Boy Williamson is the Picasso of the blues, then Robert Pete Williams is the Salvador Dali. I regard John Lee Hooker as a musical primitive, an opinion that may be met with some scepticism, but that’s just the way I view him after studying his music. Robert Pete Williams definitely takes primitive a step further, and constantly plays the most unusual blues I have ever heard. His ability to sustain powerful riffs on the bass strings, which are often tuned to lower notes, is remarkable. He plays in open G, open D, dropped D and standard tuning.

Williams was incarcerated in Angola Prison for murder, a crime which he always denied. In 1959 he recorded Angola Prison Blues and was part of a compilation, Angola Prison Spirituals. These recordings led to him being pardoned. As his music varies widely from album to album to live album, it was difficult to find just one displaying his complete, unique musical vision. I finally settled on Free Again, from 1961.

Track 1: Free Again is a monologue over a gentle, but compelling boogie rhythm. Williams changes chords sparingly, and often in strange places. His technique is strong, as he alternates between the pulsing bass riff and single note runs on the treble strings.

Track 2: Almost Dead Blues is a 12-bar blues, in which he sometimes plays the standard chord structures, at other times not. A very disjointed rhythm, still played solidly, supports his free approach to singing.

Track 3: Rolling Stone is played with slide guitar in open tuning. The opening verses evoke John Lee Hooker’s Boogie Chillen and Willie Dixon’s Hoochie Coochie Man. Williams’ vocals are always very freely expressed. It does sound like he knows where he is, but it also seems spontaneous – this is part of the attraction for me. By the end, the opening vocal verses have been left far behind.

Track 5: A Thousand Miles from Nowhere has an abstract, deep resonant introduction, to which he constantly refers back to between the mostly incomprehensible vocal verses. This is very much a rough, John Lee Hooker sound with the bass strings supplying an insistent pulse.

Track 7: I’ve Grown So Ugly has a stilted, syncopated rhythmic character of bass figures interspersed with treble string melodic phrases.

I got up this morning
And I put on my shoes
I tied my shoes
Then I washed my face
I walked (?) to the mirror
For to comb my head
I made a move
Didn't know what to do
I tipped way forward
Got to break and run

Baby, this ain't me
Baby, this ain't me
Got so ugly I don't even know myself

Track 8: Death Blues again features his trademark bass string figures, and he changes chords two bars before he sings against the new chord. There are many instrumental interjections in this performance – basically the song is the vocal supporting the guitar passages. Sometimes he even changes in the ‘right’ place, but there are no rules for Robert Pete. He is simply a free spirit.

I would like to close with a passage from Amazon’s page for this album.

As Peter Guralnick, in his Feel Like Going Home book writes: 'It's difficult to approve the banalities of most blues singers after listening to Robert Pete Williams. More than anyone else he shatters the conventions of the form and refuses to rely upon any of the clichés, either of music or of lyric, which bluesman after bluesman will invoke.

Instead he sings blues which reflect a unique and personal vision; he makes each song unmistakably his own.' Unfamiliar keys, cliché-free lyricism, spontaneity, an individualistic style in invoking his particular blues, all make Robert Pete Williams an idiosyncratic entry into the canon. It's impossible to listen to blues artists before him and hear strains of his particular style. None have matched it since.

Amen to that.

Everybody Has to Start Somewhere

At the beginning of 1970, I began contemplating a new band with Steve and Vic Tallis, both members of the Jellyroll Bakers. I was going to be the sole guitarist and, given my lack of experience, it was a big ask. I had met a young, energetic bass player, Steve Hogg and he joined the band. I wanted to use Canned Heat’s approach to arranging early acoustic blues tunes into a Chicago blues sound. The band, named Juke, achieved our musical aims but didn’t make much of an impression on audiences. I did however find it extremely satisfying as I came up with arrangements of two tunes by Son House, Death Letter and John the Revelator. We followed these up with Rev. Robert Wilkins’ That’s No Way to Get Along and John Lee Hooker’s Rising Sun, which was itself a remake of Muddy Waters’ Louisiana Blues.

Concurrently, a couple of friends of mine, twin brothers Reg and Ivan Zar, also put together a blues band. Named King Biscuit Company, they were less experienced than us, but managed to get more gigs. However, they weren’t happy with the musical attitude of some of their band members, so three members of Juke, myself included, joined the twins to form King Biscuit Company – Version 2. Unfortunately, we didn’t play any of the Juke repertoire.

At the same time, while I was still at Uni, I had a casual job at a record store, Discurio. This was quite rewarding and I learnt a lot about music, particularly jazz. The owner, Frank Smith was a jazz bass player and he turned me on to lots of great music – I picked up my first copy of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue there. I am still listening to it, even though I can remember every note on the album.

King Biscuit played quite a lot but I didn’t really feel I was strong enough to be fronting a blues band as lead guitarist, although nobody ever said anything. I really hadn’t been exposed to many Chicago blues guitar records – that had to wait.

In late September 1970, for personal reasons, I flew to Melbourne, arriving early one Saturday morning. Frank Smith had a connection with a Melbourne record shop, also called Discurio and by 9:30 Saturday morning, I had a job starting Monday. I met a few soon-to-be-famous Australian musicians in the shop, namely singer-harpist Broderick Smith, guitarist Rob MacKenzie, later of jazz-rock outfit MacKenzie Theory and Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band singer Mick Conway – selling him his first jug band record.

I stayed about three months and the owner Peter Mann wanted me to manage a shop in Sydney. At the age of 21, I really didn’t think I was quite up to it. I found it amazing he did. More on record shops later.

In any event, when I decided to go back to Perth, I hit some other local record stores in Melbourne and purchased two records that changed my life – a Freddie King album Hideaway and Otis Rush Mourning in the Morning. They became my two favourite blues guitarists. I arrived back in Perth on New Year’s Day 1971 and crashed at a place a few friends had rented – one of them was the bass player from the Jellyroll Bakers. I really didn’t have any plans, but as it turned out, 1971 became what was probably the most significant year of my musical life.

The Blues in Jazz

I have always been a jazz fan and can appreciate the fact that some artists have an inherent feeling for the blues. John Coltrane is one, the Modern Jazz Quartet would be another. Miles Davis fits as well, with Kind of Blue being a beautiful statement of modal music and the blues. I should also mention guitarist Kenny Burrell, who had a unique blues feeling, sometimes evoking John Lee Hooker – they both came from Detroit.

Artist: John Coltrane

Title: Plays the Blues

Coltrane recorded the tracks for this album in one day, October 24, 1960, with the following personnel: John Coltrane - soprano, tenor sax; McCoy Tyner - piano; Steve Davis - bass; and Elvin Jones - drums. All of the tunes on this record are 12-bar blues, mostly played with the standard blues chord progressions.

Track 1: Blues to Elvin. Opening with a chorus of a thematic piano phrase, it could be Otis Spann and Willie Dixon, in a slow, deep groove. Coltrane enters on the tenor sax with a relaxed line that is very vocal. He then proceeds to develop the line with great taste, sounding nothing like the music he would make later in his life – his strong blues statements are just so right. McCoy Tyner takes over, but the mood is still mellow, although occasionally breaking into a rhythmic mode. Now Coltrane returns, working one note for a chorus, before moving on to a blues phrase for the next two. This is strongly related to his opening theme. He becomes busier towards the end, but it doesn’t last and the tune has a gentle conclusion.

Track 2: Blues to Bechet. The soprano sax is heard on this track, dedicated to the legendary Sidney Bechet. The tempo is similar to the preceding track, but the rhythm is bustling with Elvin Jones constantly pushing the music forward. After three choruses, Coltrane breaks the mood for a short passage of excited notes. Now he plays call and response with himself, before moving to examine and dissect another simple blues phrase. His tone on the straight horn is wonderful. The final chorus of his solo is just the blues, and the ending again, is very relaxed.

Track 4: Mr Day features an opening bass chorus, which outlines the chord progression that is to come. When the band enters, the feeling alternates between walking bass and rhythmic passages, as Coltrane works his jazz phrasing in a very vocal manner. The solos are invariably longer than most blues albums but the feeling is still there. McCoy Tyner soloes, all the while using his left hand to anchor the rhythm. Coltrane returns, in an energised passage, before dropping out again, leaving mostly piano. Then Tyner also stops, allowing the bass and drums to fashion an ending. This piece definitely sounds like it was written during the session, it is just so spontaneous.

Track 5: Mr Syms is another slow blues, with a sparse melodic theme being stated twice. This again features the soprano sax, and for me it is the best track on the album. After one sax solo chorus, the theme is played again. Now it becomes a feature for the piano, as McCoy Tyner builds long probing lines, before settling into a very simple rhythmic section. Coltrane returns on the soprano for one chorus before restating the lyrical theme. The turnaround is played twice at the end.

Definitely one of Coltrane’s most relaxing records and it is still available at a nice price.

Artist: Modern Jazz Quartet

Title: Blues at Carnegie Hall

This album, recorded in 1966, is probably a selection of blues tunes recorded at a concert along with other pieces from the MJQ’s regular repertoire. I have a recording of another live performance from Japan, earlier in 1966 and there are two things worth mentioning. Firstly, the quartet had obviously been working on the arrangements for these eight tunes, as on two occasions, three of them were played consecutively, as were the remaining two. Further evidence is that there are significant changes in some of the arrangements of the selected pieces in the short time between the two concerts.

At this time, the quartet personnel had been unchanged for over ten years. It was Milt Jackson – vibes; John Lewis – piano; Percy Heath – bass and Connie Kay – drums.

Track 1: Pyramid begins in a gentle rubato (free time) manner for the first four bars as Jackson expresses bluesy lines – the ensemble drift thoughtfully through their responses. By the fifth bar, they have settled on a slow tempo and Jackson is spinning out long lines. His second chorus is pure blues, which is one of his strengths. A probing John Lewis adds supportive phrases on the piano, allowing Jackson to take off. He really works a classic blues phrase here, before Lewis comps into his own solo. His spare, economical lines are wonderful and in his final chorus, I can hear the bass and drums easing back the tempo, leading to a repeat of the opening theme. This time the piano answers Jackson’s minimalist statements. The final theme is again rubato, very delicate, and the end is a sustained controlled flourish of vibes sounds.

Track 3: Really True Blues has a four-bar solo piano introduction which sets up a vibes solo beautifully. The drums and bass are so supportive – this is an ensemble that thinks as one. Milt Jackson lays down lyrical lines for several choruses before the piano takes over. This is quite busy playing for John Lewis as he is usually understated. As he builds a solo it could be Memphis Slim playing. There is no closing theme, and it goes out with a final piano chorus.

Track 5: Monterey Mist again opens with a solo introduction, this time it is a pulsing double bass, with the ensemble playing a short passage before moving into a gentle, rhythmic minor blues. Jackson plays two beautiful theme statements. Now a four-bar stop-time section is heard and the rhythm changes to a straight swing feel. This is the MJQ’s bread and butter and they drive hard, but are always controlled. Jackson soloes first, leading into a piano passage where the rhythm section sets up different feelings – it’s quite poetic really. A repeat of the opening short passage has Jackson playing two themes to conclude.

Track 6: Home. This piece is based on a boogaloo feeling, which was quite prevalent amongst jazz musicians in the 1960s, especially as rock music started to dominate the market. We would now refer to it as a funk feeling, with all of the accents that go with that. Lewis’ piano is very mellow as Jackson spins out another bluesy theme. The group moves into double time during Jackson’s solo before a tightly arranged variation on the feel leads into a solo by John Lewis. He squeezes a down-home feel out of the piano until Jackson returns with the trademark theme which segues into a delayed ending.

This is one of my favourite jazz albums, period. I have owned it since 1968 and never tire of its blues format. Also, the drummer and bass player do solo occasionally, it just didn’t happen on the tracks I selected.

Of course, there are many jazz players who made their career basically playing 12-bar blues but with a jazz feeling, however the two albums presented represent a deep blues feeling for me. Of course, they may not suit everybody’s taste.

Cobra Records

The Cobra label, founded in 1956 by Eli Toscano, only lasted until 1959, when it folded. By recording and releasing many different styles of music in its short stay in the industry, it does have a role to play in the Chicago blues story. Its stature was enhanced with the arrival of producer Willie Dixon, who had been a major contributor to both the repertoire and session production duties at Chess.

Significantly, it was based on the West side of Chicago, and presented a very different sound to Chess, who were located on the South side. Cobra’s style came to be known as West Side Soul and encompassed soul, ballads, doowop and even an early foray into rock & roll. Much of the music has a strong saxophone presence and a swing feeling. In fact, while listening to the 2-CD set Double Trouble – The Cobra Records Story, I was overwhelmed by the diversity of the material.

Three of Chicago’s finest guitarists made their first important recording sessions with Cobra – Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and Samuel Gene Maghett aka Magic Sam. Buddy Guy only released a small amount of blues material before moving to Chess but both Rush and Maghett created a substantial body of work in the short time the label existed. I am going to concentrate on these three giants.

Buddy Guy’s first four tracks are worth considering. The rest feature a male soul singer and are eminently forgettable.

Sit and Cry (and Sing the Blues) – is reminiscent of his later Chess recordings, but with a more produced sound. A slow blues with two stop-time sections, the vocals are superb, with his characteristic breaks into falsetto. To me it sounds like Buddy is playing the Stratocaster on these sessions. Unfortunately the solo is not of a high quality and the whole tune seems to suffer from some obvious tape splices.

Try To Quit You Baby – a lot stronger although the backing has an underlying jazz walking double bass and a strolling piano. The brief guitar solo evokes BB King.

You Sure Can’t Do – Buddy’s take on Guitar Slim’s 1953 hit The Things That I Used To Do with its major voiced guitar licks. The solo doesn’t sound like Buddy Guy.

This Is the End – opens with a saxophone section driving a terrific guitar introduction. Once more, this is a very produced sound. The guitar solo again evokes BB King and this is the strongest of the four songs.

Otis Rush put down over 20 tracks for Cobra and this is some of the finest blues guitar playing of the 1950s. I shall only give brief descriptions for some tracks but will be reviewing another Otis Rush album in a subsequent chapter.

I Can't Quit You Baby – a great slow blues, with its impassioned vocal leading it to become a blues standard.

Sit Down Baby – has a very strong horn section, and a repeated riff, which drives it along nicely.

Love That Woman – is another slow blues. It is evidence that Rush was one of the finest songwriters of his era.

Jump Sister Bessie – this is a jump blues, and a departure from the classic Chicago blues style. It really moves, with Walter Horton on harp providing great support.

She's A Good 'Un – the introduction is worth the price of admission and the whole tune really swings hard.

Double Trouble – this track is a minor key slow blues and another example of Rush’s song writing and expressive vocal qualities. It contains some fine minor chord rhythmic passages that really provide impetus.

All Your Love (I Miss Loving) – made famous by John Mayall with Eric Clapton, this features a stunning guitar-based arrangement, and another fine vocal.

Magic Sam also put down a host of tracks for Cobra.

Love Me With a Feeling – some novelty guitar leads into a stop-time structure. The lyrics are from the country blues era. Probably Sam is covering another contemporary version.

All Your Love – is not the previously mentioned Otis Rush song, but a fine tune in a minor key with Maghett playing his career defining riff, which is difficult to describe without using technical terms. If you have heard Ray Charles’ Lonely Avenue, you will get an idea of the feeling. It also features the use of tremolo from Sam’s amplifier, a sound he constantly referred to, throughout his career.

Look Whatcha Done – is a real rocker, although the accompanying guitar phrase is familiar. The guitar solo is not one of his best.

Everything Gonna Be Alright – looks back to All Your Love for melodic and backing inspiration. This distinctive minor key riff, with a tremolo sound, is quite unusual in the Chicago blues genre.

Easy Baby – again features his trademark sound, but this tune is a cracker.

My Love Is Your Love – is another All Your Love remake. Duster Bennett recorded a fine version of this with Peter Green on Bennett’s first album Smiling Like I'm Happy. Magic Sam’s version even features a female vocal quartet for a four bar section several times, interspersed between his vocal lines.

I believe there to be a significant influence of Otis Rush in these tunes. Also, while sprinkled with some marvellous tracks, these sessions reveal his inability to settle into a coherent style. I find him to be quite inconsistent with his live recordings showing him at his best. I was impressed by Raw Blues! – Live 1969, which is still available.

Just a further note on Cobra. There are two recordings of Walter Horton, Have a Good Time and Need My Baby, which are great examples of this under-rated bluesman.

Also, concerning the three guitarists mentioned. Otis Rush spent a short time at Chess but put down six fine tracks, including the great So Many Roads. Buddy Guy also went to Chess and there is a 2-CD set, The Complete Chess Studio Recordings, which feature what I consider to be his best work, although it does contain some crass commercial tunes. Finally, Magic Sam went on to make two reasonably successful albums for the Chicago-based label Delmark Records, namely West Side Soul and Black Magic. Sadly he died at the age of 32 and I believe his best work was still to come.

Blues Regions – Piedmont

Piedmont is a geological region stretching from Pennsylvania to Georgia and between the Atlantic basin and the Appalachian Mountains. It is part of several different states and winds through parts of North and South Carolina.

Wikipedia define the Piedmont style as:

Characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles

My take on it is a technical style of playing, together with a certain choice of material. This is manifested in a gentler, more folk style of finger picking, often in different keys than other blues regions. This leads to a distinctive sound, with less attention to blue notes in the accompaniment. There are also elements of ragtime in the music, leading to simpler melodic lines as they sang along with the more complex ragtime chord structures. There was however, a lot of diversity within the style.

Artist: Blind Boy Fuller

Born Fulton Allen in North Carolina, Fuller represents a fine example of the early Piedmont sound.

Fuller’s first recording, in 1935 was Rag, Mama, Rag, which examined the full scope of ragtime guitar, accompanied by a washboard. This tune is evidence of singing through the chords, to the extent of Fuller’s vocals following note-for-note, the complicated bass runs. Lyrically, it is not strong, as a lot of the vocal is simply ‘rag’, but musically it has a great pulse with fine fingerpicking to be heard here.

Recorded the following day, My Brownskin Sugar Plum is a 12-bar blues, featuring a triplet based introduction you could have heard in just about any blues region.

I got me a Brownskin woman, she don’t pay me no mind (x 2)
And I know she's gonna miss me
Baby when I leave this town

The guitar style is distinctive, with lots of guitar phrases between vocal lines, at the expense of chordal accompaniment. Again the guitar favours major chord based notes.

I’m a Rattle Snakin’ Daddy is another blues. This time the structure is Fuller singing four lines through the first four bars before moving into the chorus “I’m a Rattle Snakin’ Daddy”. The guitar part is again clean with treble string runs separating the vocal lines. The melody evokes the blues standard I’m Going To Kansas City.

In September 1937, Sonny Terry joined Fuller as a permanent harmonica partner. I’m a Stranger Here has Terry with his already unique style. This involves playing melodically behind the vocals, being prominent in the responses, and his trademark whooping and hollering.

I'm a stranger here, just blowed in your town
Oh yes, I am, I'm a stranger here, just blowed in your town
Well, because I'm a stranger everybody wants to dog me 'round

Sonny Terry went on to play this tune with Brownie McGhee. As to the availability of Fuller’s music, there are many CDs at Amazon.

Artist: Sonny Terry

Sonny Terry aka Saunders Terrel was the most technically gifted blues harmonica player of his era. His technique is still amazing. Unfortunately, he became repetitious over time and I rarely listen to him. However, he was a seminal part of the Piedmont sound. When Blind Boy Fuller died, he teamed up with Brownie McGhee for a long partnership, recording and touring the world stages. They both recorded for Folkways, and Terry made several albums. I have selected three tracks from a compilation CD of his solo work, The Folkways Years 1944-1963.

Track 2: Going Down Slow. This is a blues standard written by Jimmy Oden. The introduction features Terry’s characteristic whoops, interspersed with his harmonica phrases. It sounds unusual to hear no harmonica behind the vocals, but he still fills pretty much every hole that he can – although there are no solos. This is a good vocal performance accompanied by an unknown guitarist – it’s not Brownie McGhee.

Track 5: Pick a Bale of Cotton. This starts with a harp accompanied by a Piedmont style guitarist. The arrangement is Sonny singing a line with a response provided by a vocal group. The song starts with a chorus structure, and alternates verse/chorus with some vocals carried in the same chord for a time:

Terry: Oh Lordy
Group – Pick a bale of cotton
Terry: Oh Lordy
Response – Pick a bale a day (four lines repeated)

Terry: Me and my buddy gonna pick a bale of cotton
Group – Pick a bale of cotton
Terry: Me and my bud gonna pick a bale of cotton
Response – Pick a bale a day (four lines repeated)

This is a fine performance, with Brownie McGhee also featured on guitar.

Track 12: Sweet Woman. This time, the harp playing is Terry’s fully realised style, the one that can become a little tedious at times. I’ll bet he destroys the draw note on the fourth reed a lot. He used to carry a mail sack of harmonicas around. This moderate tempo blues again has McGhee on guitar.

Artist: Brownie McGhee

McGhee was originally promoted as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2, presumably because he sounded a little like Fuller. This didn’t last and he soon developed his own style, based on the extensive use of bass runs in his guitar accompaniment. Most of McGhee’s recordings were with Sonny Terry. I am going to discuss another Folkways compilation, this time McGhee’s The Folkways Years 1945-1959.

Track 2: Rising Sun opens with a Sonny Terry instrumental introduction. The form is an 8-bar blues.

Which away, which away
Lord the blood red river runs
Lord, from my back window
Straight to the rising sun

Track 5: Just a Dream. I believe this to be a Big Bill Broonzy song. Muddy Waters covered it on his album Sings Big Bill. The music is in a straight Piedmont style. On headphones I can just discern a virtually inaudible piano buried way down in the mix. He sounds nothing like Blind Boy Fuller by this time.

Track 7: Hangman’s Blues is another classic Piedmont styled eight bar blues.

A hangman’s rope, it is just so tough and strong (x 3)
They’re going to hang me boys, because I’ve done something wrong

Those three repeated lines are very different melodically, especially the third, and this is quite an accomplished vocal performance.

These artists, Fuller, Terry and McGhee pretty much define the Piedmont style for me. There are many recordings still available, especially for Brownie McGhee solo, together with many albums where he is joined by Sonny Terry. This 2-CD set, The Essential looks nice at the right price.

Classic Albums – John Lee Hooker

Title: Don’t Turn Me From Your Door

This record, subtitled John Lee Hooker Sings His Blues contains some of the most stark, mysterious blues I have ever heard. I don’t think even listening to the most primitive country blues could prepare anyone for this music. Mainly consisting of Hooker and his own electric guitar, it is just so deep. I did once own the LP, but now have a CD reissue, which adds four bonus tracks but contains significant confusion within the track titles. I am going to examine the tracks in the original LP order.

Track 1: Stuttering Blues. It is not commonly known John Lee had a stuttering condition. Also, stutterers don’t do it when they sing. I know this from my own personal experience as I had this condition for many years. The track is a talking blues, not sung and the stuttering comes to the surface. Hooker stumbles his way through this monotonic (one chord) lament to a woman, with some of his trademark rhythmic patterns. It is a great opening to the record.

Track 2: Wobbling Baby contains a second guitar playing a slightly clipped, walking bass line on the lower strings of the guitar. Unfortunately the guitarist insists on playing the standard 12-bar chord progression while John Lee again sings and plays with freedom in the monotonic style. I can’t believe I can’t believe the accompanist could do this but blues has always had its share of untrained musicians. Hooker’s guitar consists of rhythmic stabs and some of his strange guitar interjections between the vocal lines.

The effect of the second guitar playing illustrates that Hooker is a musical primitive to the extent that the musicians of the time couldn’t play with him. They don’t listen, and change chords when he doesn’t, causing many vocal lines to be over the wrong chord. To be honest, nothing has changed and I don’t believe I have heard even later musicians get it right, with the exception of Canned Heat, who never changed chords. This suited John Lee Hooker’s music very well. I couldn’t get to the end of this track fast enough – it’s just not music. I just love how the guitarist plays a coherent descending phrase at the end. It’s his only meaningful contribution in the whole song.

This musical conflict in Hooker’s ensemble music has been a constant bugbear to me for many years, and I shall endeavour not to bring it up again – it’s more a topic for a thesis I won’t be writing.

Track 3: You Lost a Good Man reverts to the solo format and this makes for some marvellous music. Another monotonic lament, the vocal lines are just terrific. All the while, his thumb lays down a throbbing pulse on the bottom string. He has one of the great blues voices and the timbre, or the sound and texture of his voice, is just beautifully resonant. Moving into a chant of ‘Oh yeah’, he then drops the volume to a whisper as he repeats ‘goodbye baby’ several times – the effect is enchanting. I said I wouldn’t mention it but I have to say you never hear any dynamic changes in his band recordings – sorry about that.

Track 4: Love My Baby starts with a characteristic set of rhythmic triplet guitar figures, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 that he has used often in his many records. Unusually he sings as if going through the blues chord changes but keeps his guitar to the same, monotonic chord backing – this brings a unique character to the music. He is just his own man. Now I’m hearing a melodic guitar line that is lifted from his classic I’m a Crawling Kingsnake, which predates this recording. Later in the song, he moans over the same guitar line. Again, nearing the end the vocal and guitar play this hushed unison melodic phrase several times before drifting into a hung chord to conclude.

Track 5: Misbelieving Baby is a solo guitar instrumental, one of two on the record. Hooker creates a sombre feeling on the bass strings, with strange melodic phrases on the treble strings. I am not sure he knows what he is doing but the effect is just spellbinding. There are some quite dissonant passages and a whole section of just bent notes, possibly evoking Jimi Hendrix. These are strange sounds for 1960 – eventually it just falls apart and ends. The music is not of this world.

Track 6: Drifting Blues was a song written and recorded by Charles Brown in the early 1940s. From the opening amplified tremolo guitar phrases to the oh-so-soulful vocal, for me, this is the best track on the album. Taken at a slow tempo, it is a powerful performance with the voice rising above the lumbering guitar accompaniment. Hooker is right up there with the great blues singers on this track. He also seems to be in control of the guitar on this tune, with some sparse treble lines interspersed among the vocals. He has a whole array of licks, rhythms and vocal phrasings he just brings to the music when he feels like it. The superb vocal performance is as good as it gets, with the pure resonance of his voice contrasting with the earthy manner of his guitar. Nearing the end, the vocal produces three falsetto moans and a final lamenting ‘Baby’ as he plays a weird closing chord. This song is a near perfect musical experience. I can’t add any more…

Track 7: Don’t Turn Me From Your Door is another of my favourite tracks – they just keep coming. This song is anchored by a marvellous, pulsing guitar phrase taken at a moderate tempo. The vocal starts with:

I’m a stranger, and a pilgrim
Travellin’ through the world alone
Got no place of my own
Living out here on borrowed land
On borrowed land

After several vocal verses, the mood becomes agitated, with the lyrics, the vocal delivery and the guitar all adding to this feeling. The tune fades out with several repetitions of ‘Don’t turn me away…’ I feel I may have sold this one a little bit short as I haven’t covered all of the lyrics – the whole tune contains some magnificent poetic imagery.

The British blues band Savoy Brown covered this track on their 1969 album Blue Matter. I believe it’s worth a listen as they capture the essence of Hooker with their performance. This is something not often achieved.

Track 8: My Baby Don’t Love Me opens with a distorted guitar that trades treble phrases with the impassioned vocal. He really steps out on the guitar on this one. There are some beautiful sustained guitar notes, with a distorted, but pure sound coming from Hooker’s amplifier, which I would have been proud to have played in a solo. The guitar is almost violent, with a primitive 1920s feeling, but played on an electric guitar.

Track 9: I Ain’t Got Nobody is another instrumental in a style similar to the earlier Misbelieving Baby. However it is faster, but contains the same structure of moody bass riffs interspersed with tortured, distorted treble guitar lines. Dissonant chordal passages dominate for a time until I notice the tempo has slowed. The guitar on this whole session has a degree of distortion that beggars belief. An intense burst of these distorted guitar phrases features dissonances that seem to have no musical logic with some strange stuff going on. The fact the ending is a shambles in no way detracts from what is a fascinating, surreal piece of guitar playing and a unique musical experience. Some of the playing makes sense but mostly, it is definitely out there. Put this one down for the next space shuttle.

Track 10. Real Real Gone features another impassioned vocal performance together with the now obligatory primitive guitar responses. I should mention many of these bass phrases feature a technique known as a hammer-on, one which John Lee uses often. This involves rapidly alternating between an open string and a fingered note, usually two frets above. The first, open string note is picked, but the second is not, leading to a slight diminution in the volume. It is akin to the trill on a harmonica. The end to the tune, again, is a piece of abstract art.

Track 11: Guitar Lovin’ Man starts with a forceful rhythmic figure and the following verse:

I’m a lover’s man, I make love with my guitar (pronounced git-tar)
I’m a lover’s man, make love with my guitar
When I come to town, all of my women’s fall in line

The next section is really weird. He makes a knocking sound on the guitar and then speaks the phrase ‘Who’s that knocking?’ This is followed by an unknown male voice singing a 12-bar verse to John Lee’s accompaniment. Then he takes up where he left off. You don’t hear any more of the mystery vocalist and the track ends normally.

Track 12: Talk About Your Baby moves along with the only appearance of a bass player on the record – at least he doesn’t change chords. John Lee sings one of his most famous lines:

Talk about your baby
Should see mine
Yes she’s fine, and she’s tall
Like a willow tree

This is a rambling vocal, more a monologue. He seems to pull together assorted phrases, and only rarely repeats them. Introducing a solo guitar passage, he leads into a new, quieter, mood, where the bass is ominous. The vocal picks up again before a stop, which Hooker sings through, leading to a somewhat sharp ending.

The solo tracks on this album are simply marvellous and make it well worth the price of admission. Kudos to ATCO, which I believe was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, for recording this music in 1960 and putting it out into the world, especially the solo tracks. It may well defy categorisation. Sometimes I think Sonny Boy Williamson is a type of Picasso figure in the blues, and this music affects me in the same way.

I won’t be discussing the four bonus tracks on the reissued version but three of them are in the same solo style and very good. The fourth features the second guitarist from hell again. Basically, I find this to be a wonderful record, as you have probably noticed. All John Lee Hooker fans should have it – it is still available at Amazon US. You do have to ignore the track listings, however. The liner notes reveal the 12 tracks from the original LP, but even they don’t line up with the tracks on the CD. You’ll have to trust me on this one.

Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, along with Hooker, played some of the music for the soundtrack of the movie Hot Spot. Miles, who had a great feeling for the blues creates some magnificent solos over John Lee’s primitive backing tracks. Miles remarked during the session ‘John Lee, you the funkiest man alive’ – high praise indeed.

There is also a 3-CD Anthology, from John Lee’s VeeJay years, which I consider to be his most consistent recordings. It is $10 on Amazon US – Another bargain!

Chicago Blues – The US White Revival

The electric Chicago blues style took a while to develop for white musicians in the US. I believe its origins lie in the relationships developed between some young white musicians and a varied collection of bluesmen, both traditional and contemporary. Blues harpist and singer Paul Butterfield and guitarist Elvin Bishop frequented the Chicago blues bars and were accepted by the musicians, particularly Muddy Waters. Sometimes they were even allowed to sit in. This at a time when very few white people were to be found in the clubs.

Paul Butterfield had a band with African American guitarist Otis ‘Big Smokey’ Smothers, who had worked with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Freddie King, amongst others. Another harpist and singer, Charlie Musselwhite befriended legendary country blues harp player Will Shade, who was now mostly playing guitar, and also met up with Walter Horton – eventually recording with him. John Hammond had been playing acoustic blues, before he recorded an electric album with members of the Hawks, later to become known as The Band.

I have compiled a list of what I consider to be the most important 1960s American white blues albums.

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s eponymous first album, released in 1965, was actually their second attempt. The whole album had been recorded and was ready to ship when management decided the band had progressed so much they re-recorded it. The original version was later released as The Lost Elektra Sessions, and the comparison is startling. Butterfield’s harp is outstanding but the album mostly sounds second rate. The released version is much better, and, as a teenager I liked it a lot but I’ve always felt Michael Bloomfield wasn’t convincing on many tracks. However, he matured quickly and, swapping his Fender Telecaster for a 1950s Gibson Les Paul guitar he really nailed it on the next album East-West, but this record is turning away from the blues.

Also released in 1965 was John Hammond’s masterpiece, So Many Roads. Using the talents of the Hawks, Michael Bloomfield on piano and Charlie Musselwhite on harp, this has always been a classic album for me.

In 1967, two wonderful albums were released. I’m not sure about the order but Canned Heat’s Canned Heat, and Charlie Musselwhite’s Stand Back came to my attention.

Johnny Winter had put out his first album, The Progressive Blues Experiment, but was then signed to a major label, Columbia and his breakout album Johnny Winter was released in 1969.

This is just a sample of white blues bands recordings from the 1960s. Other fringe acts for me were the Siegel-Schwall Band, the Blues Project and the Steve Miller Band.

Eventually, quite a few of the white musicians crossed over into rock. Bloomfield formed The Electric Flag, and his playing suffered, as his clichéd solo on the slow blues, Texas reveals. He even admitted to playing the ‘same old licks’, a situation most blues guitarists confront.

Classic Albums – Charlie Musselwhite

Title: Stand Back

Subtitled Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite’s Southside Band, this album was released in 1967 on the Vanguard label. It wouldn’t have been his regular backup band, in fact he may not have had one.

The band featured Harvey Mandel on guitar – I hadn’t come across his name before. He was essentially a rock player, but had definitely come out of the blues. On drums was the legendary Chess session musician Fred Below and the bassist was Bob Anderson, making up a very solid rhythm section. Another rock musician Barry Goldberg played a somewhat cheesy organ – I guess that’s what cheap organs sounded like at the time. Of the twelve tracks, six are instrumentals, with some of them being extraordinary. I am going to discuss Side One.

Track 1: Baby Will You Please Help Me is a one chord tune, with the harmonica riff lifted from Howlin’ Wolf’s No Place to Go. Interestingly, Mandel plays constant guitar in the background, even over the vocals, an approach I am not normally comfortable with, but it just sounds so right here. In the harmonica solo you can hear the beginnings of Musselwhite’s harmonica style, which was a little like Paul Butterfield, with powerful phrases that cut across the beat.

Track 2: No More Lonely Nights. I always thought this was written by Albert King, but couldn’t verify it. A slow blues with a relaxed harp chorus introduction has Harvey Mandel playing subtle chords and licks in the background. However when the vocals start, Mandel introduces a distortion pedal, and he constantly switches between the clean and the distorted sounds. The first solo is by Mandel, and his sustain and attack are just amazing for the time it was recorded. After another vocal verse, Musselwhite takes it out with an exciting, soulful harp chorus.

Track 3: Cha Cha the Blues is a mid-1950s Junior Wells instrumental, in a minor key. Musselwhite, after playing the original theme, creates variations on it, all the while moving into his own style. This is followed by an organ solo which definitely sounds weak. Goldberg’s style is to play continually, not really leaving any gaps between phrases. I didn’t notice this when I had the album in 1968. Now Mandel enters, with his personal way of phrasing, it is just so Harvey. Musselwhite returns with the opening theme and continues with short rhythmic phrases as the band fades out.

Track 4: Cristo Redentor is an instrumental written by jazz composer Duke Pearson and was first recorded by jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd in 1964. I have seen this title spelt many ways. On YouTube, Musselwhite’s version is spelt Christo Redemptor. In any event, it is a magnificent tune and performance. The introduction is a two chord organ vamp, a passage constantly changing between two chords. Mandel plays arpeggios, picking out single notes from the two chords. Goldberg gives us one iteration of the theme until the harp enters, played in third position, creating a tremendously uplifting feeling. After 16 bars of theme and variations, there is a bridge which features a descending chord progression where Charlie makes the harp weep. A second verse and bridge ensue before Mandel enters with a tremendous sense of expressive feeling, which unfortunately fades out – I would have loved to have heard more. Musselwhite recorded another, extended version of this tune on his third album, Tennessee Woman.

Track 5: Help Me is a well-known Sonny Boy Williamson track. Musselwhite again pulls out third position for the riff on the introductory instrumental chorus, but the solo is in cross harp, requiring him to switch harps during the song. The feeling generated is powerful, evoking rock music, and the vocal is impassioned. Harvey Mandel’s solo showcases his characteristic style which involves him using strong sustain, interspersed with finger-picking passages, which I’ve not heard done elsewhere. A final vocal verse continues on to a faded harmonica solo.

Track 6: Chicken Shack is another instrumental. I couldn’t identify the source –it’s probably a jazz tune. The track has been recorded by Little Walter, and Muddy Waters performed it regularly, eventually releasing it. Musselwhite uses Little Walter’s theme statement, with some very effective thematic guitar phrases from Mandel. Musselwhite then breaks off into a joyous solo romp, his swinging triplet approach often evoking Big Walter Horton. This is as good as it gets. Two organ choruses preface an amazing solo by Mandel, with his uniquely original approach, combining a pure sustained sound and great blues phrasing. Once more it fades as he moves into some brilliant playing, again, that I would have loved to have heard in full.

This is a terrific album and I should mention the playing of Fred Below. He changed from a jazz drummer to a blues drummer and many sessions attest to his great feeling. He really makes the record move, with his jazz-style fills constantly pushing the music forward. Also Harvey Mandel is magnificent on this record – I had never heard him before but he absolutely tears it up. He went on to make his first solo record, Cristo Redentor, where he treats the title tune more in the style of the Duke Pearson arrangement, with strings and a female soprano voice evident in the descending bridge. It is another wonderful album.

Of course, Musselwhite went on to have a successful career, I believe he is still touring and making records.

Bluesmen – Howlin’ Wolf & Hubert Sumlin

Howlin’ Wolf was one of the greatest Chicago blues singer-harp players. Aside from writing many of his own songs, sometimes dating back to influences from Charley Patton, Willie Dixon also provided a wealth of other material for Wolf’s repertoire. First recorded in Memphis, his was a raw, rocking sound. When he moved to Chicago he may have lost the rough edge but found a new, urban blues style, often based around the guitar skills of Hubert Sumlin. I believe their partnership to be as important as that of Muddy Waters and Little Walter.

Wolf and Sumlin were born 21 years apart, making Sumlin definitely the student to the master in this relationship. Wikipedia has the story that guitarist Willie Johnson left the band when Wolf moved from Memphis to Chicago, where he was replaced by Jodie Williams. The Chess files show Sumlin’s first recording session was as a second guitarist to Williams, in May 1954. However there is a photo I have seen with both Willie Johnson and Sumlin playing live in a nightclub. The histories of these early bluesmen contain many such inconsistencies. Incidentally, this May session produced How Long which sounds to me like it is Willie Johnson on guitar – oh well.

Sumlin remained as second guitarist to Williams for a few subsequent sessions, which produced Forty Four, I’ll Be Around and Who Will Be Next. I don’t think Sumlin soloes on any of these tracks.

Interestingly, a January 1956 session lists Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin on guitars for the recording of Smokestack Lightning. The next session, in July 1956 has Willie Johnson and Smokey Smothers, with no Sumlin. This was the time that Sumlin left Wolf to join Muddy Waters’ band which would have been a big issue in the Chicago blues scene. Sumlin stayed a year with Muddy and participated in several recording sessions. He played very few, if any solos on these sessions. Muddy never allowed the guitarists much solo space.

According to the Chess files, Willie Johnson stayed on until Sumlin returned for a session in December 1957, playing as the sole guitarist on Poor Boy and Sittin’ on Top Of the World. For me, this session marks the beginning of Sumlin’s mature style and there is some great playing on Sittin’.

The next recording was in March 1958. I Didn’t Know features Sumlin’s iconic style of driving accompaniment and I Better Go Now has his first fully developed guitar solos, which are wonderful. In September 1958, Sumlin plays superb guitar on I’m Leaving which is one of Wolf’s finest tracks. The solo is an exercise in maturity and taste.

In July, 1959 the full extent of Sumlin’s talent was revealed. His accompaniment in I’ve Been Abused is just wonderfully creative and Howlin’ for My Darling has him in superb solo form. The great Mr Airplane Man, which is based on the Smokestack Lightning feel is also very solid.

Sumlin’s next session, from June, 1960 is a high point of his career. Wolf lays down Wang-Dang-Doodle, the ominous Back Door Man and the classic Spoonful, which also features Freddie Robinson on guitar. These are superb tracks, with Sumlin continually raising the bar.

Now the floodgates opened for Sumlin. Through to the mid-1960s, he was the rock on which Wolf built his sound. Without going into individual sessions, as there are way too many, this shortish list contains some of the highlights of the output of the pair:

Down in the bottom, Shake for Me, Little Red Rooster, You’ll Be Mine, Just Like I Treat You, I Ain’t Superstitious, Going Down Slow, Do the Do, May I Have a Talk With You, Tail Dragger, Hidden Charms, 300 Pounds of Joy, Sugar Mama, Built for Comfort, Killing Floor, Louise, Tell Me What I’ve Done, Don’t Laugh at Me, Ooh Baby and I Walked from Dallas.

This is an amazing body of work, containing a good number of masterpieces. Most of these tracks are on the Rocking Chair album and The Real Folk Blues, which are two essential records. Sumlin really excelled through this period, and his guitar parts are integral to the sound that led to Howlin’ Wolf competing with Muddy Waters for the title of ‘Best blues band in Chicago’. I think the jury is still out on this topic.

1971 – A Big Year

As previously mentioned, I arrived back in Perth from Melbourne on New Year’s Day, 1971, with my two new blues records, Freddie King and Otis Rush. I moved into a house in Mount Street, Claremont, where Owen Hughes the bass player from the Jellyroll Bakers and some other friends resided.

About that time, I caught up with Rob Searls, a friend of mine I had met at Uni, and who played great acoustic fingerpicking guitar and electric blues. He was doing his final year at Uni and was staying at a residential college, with a friend of his, Ken Wallace, a drummer who also played piano. Between Owen, Rob, Ken, and myself, we decided to form a band. Unfortunately, this wasn’t going to happen until Rob and Ken had finished their final Uni exams, which were in November.

We kept in touch and did a bit of playing together occasionally. We even put together a band for a couple of gigs with Rob and some musicians who were also living at Mount Street – a drummer and an electric piano player. They definitely weren’t serious and I can’t comprehend how we managed to get a repertoire together.

I went back to working at Discurio, Frank Smith’s record shop, which was not far from the house. John McGregor had worked there during my trip to Melbourne and still did occasional shifts, between his Uni classes. Somehow John, Geoff Hudson and I started to discuss the idea of opening our own record shop, and importing overseas albums, as these were very hard to obtain in Perth. I remember once waiting nine months for a British LP of Bukka White’s early recordings. We also figured we could have access to classic blues and jazz albums that were never released in Australia. We started to put the concept together, but it took several months to happen as we had to obtain finance, and find premises, along with a host of other issues we hadn’t even thought of.

All the while since arriving back, I had been studying the two blues records, and, in hindsight, was beginning to understand the basics of the authentic Chicago blues guitar style. I don’t think I even realised I was progressing, I just kept at it. It was a whole new approach which was totally unknown to me when I had left Perth as a pretty poor blues guitarist the year before.

I also felt a little strange people wanted to form a band with me, based on my old playing style which was totally inadequate. I suppose I must have had something together – I just knew I wasn’t happy with it. Maybe it was because we were all into playing blues and that was a bonding factor.

Meanwhile, we finally opened our shop, 78 Records, in June 197. It was in a small room, upstairs and over a bookshop – there was absolutely no passing trade, so it took a while for people to know about us. We used the only extant photo of Blind Lemon Jefferson as our logo and had 12-inch paper bags printed. Years later, this became an iconic symbol around Perth as we became more successful.

Our first shipment of records from the UK was an amazing event. There was an album by Freddie King, Kings of Rhythm and Blues, which had some great material and playing on it. Also the complete Cobra recordings of Otis Rush, which was a stunning record. It was then I realised my boxy semi-acoustic Gibson 335 was the guitar of choice for both these players.

I don’t really remember learning blues guitar anymore, or how – I just remember I did it. I wouldn’t call it an epiphany, because it happened over an extended period of time, but I realised blues guitarists played in four, or you could argue five, different positions on the neck. Using these positions, together with their associated fingerings, gives you access to different ways of expressing musically and emotionally, especially the blue notes that are crucial to the style.

Also I worked out practical ways of moving smoothly between positions, and this is also integral to blues guitar. In other words, you don’t just sit in the one box and exhaust all the possibilities, but you are constantly thinking of ways to move through the positions to build an expressive solo.

I honestly don’t remember if, at the time, I thought I was making progress or not, maybe because I wasn’t playing with anyone else. November finally arrived and we formed a band, known as Sid Rumpo. We started rehearsing in a spare room in the Mount Street house, much to the chagrin of the neighbours. It was then I realised how far I had come. I also knew learning to play is a constant process and there was still plenty of work to do.

Our first gig was at two friends’ wedding, so we played to a very forgiving crowd. When we started playing in hotels, I had a feeling of being accepted as a musician by the audience – this was something I hadn’t experienced before.

The year of 1971 bore such musical fruit, in the form of technique and a way of expressing musically that has never left me. I still write a lot of music and while sometimes it isn’t strictly blues, I always find myself using the same blues techniques I had managed to acquire in this magical year of my life.

Great Live Albums – Otis Rush

Title: Live in Japan

The full title of this album is 1975 – So Many Roads – Live in Japan. The original release was only in Japan, but subsequently came out in the US on the Delmark label. The CD version, released much later has several outstanding bonus tracks. This performance is one of my favourite live blues albums with Rush’s vocals and guitar a standout. The sustain, attack, and bending he achieves on his Gibson 335 are absolutely superb. The dilemma is limiting myself to a reasonable number of tracks.

Rush was left-handed, but strung his guitar for a right handed player, looking down on the strings, and playing strange upside down chord shapes. It doesn’t seem to affect his playing, as this recording attests.

Track 2: Will My Woman Be Home Tonight (Blue Guitar). This track was recorded by Freddie King as a vocal but Rush plays it as an instrumental, often opening with it in his live performances. It begins with a powerful stop-time four bar introduction, before launching into a long guitar solo. In the first two choruses he states the vocal line on guitar, with much feeling as he manipulates the bends, using techniques I think are unique to his unusual guitar setup. This has always made him a distinctive player. Moving into the upper register, he unleashes some amazingly expressive guitar playing. I think I’ll leave it at that – pure guitar bliss.

Track 3: Every Day I Have the Blues features a signature opening where Rush plays a short flourish before the band move in behind him. This chorus is wonderful, and he follows it up with two more. When the vocal comes in, it is a relaxed performance, contrasted with his strong, answering guitar fills. He is probably one of the best blues vocalists ever. Another strong solo follows as he continually raises the intensity. Jimmy Dawkins, a competent Chicago blues player in his own right is on second guitar and he alternates between chords, and on this tune, a solid clipped riff, really driving the music. Otis takes it out on a final vocal verse, leading into a thematic guitar chorus.

Track 5: Crosscut Saw. Even Albert King, who wrote this tune, never played it like this. Again Dawkins locks into a varying rhythm role. The first guitar chorus is exciting. Another vocal is followed by a stunning solo that does allude to Albert King and leads to the end. I know I haven’t mentioned much about the vocals but Rush’s voice is marvellous, especially on minor key tunes.

Track 9: Mean Old World. This track had previously been recorded by Samuel Charters for Volume 2 of the Chicago – The Blues – Today! LP set and is a brilliant version. Rush opens with two swinging relaxed guitar choruses. His vocals illustrate his depth of feeling, and are always strong. The guitar solo is quite restrained, which fits the relaxed groove the band lay down.

Track 10: All Your Love (I Miss Loving) is met with a positive response from the audience. The introduction is the original first chorus, with the slightly Latin feeling on toms until he enters with the striking minor key arpeggios that don’t occur until later on the original Cobra recording. This is another wonderful vocal performance, sometimes sounding pensive. The song is in a minor key and a repeat of the minor arpeggio section leads into a terrific solo against a walking bass, interestingly, in the major key, which runs for three choruses. The following vocal continues with the swing, before cutting back to the opening feeling for a two-chorus solo, again quoting the minor arpeggios. Ending on a stop, leading to a sustained minor chord, the crowd seem to rise to their feet with applause.

Track 11: So Many Roads, So Many Trains, Otis’s Chess hit, kicks off with more extraordinary guitar playing for two choruses. As he sings the opening phrase, the crowd again responds with enthusiasm. This impassioned vocal surely puts him with the best of the modern blues vocalists. The solo brings on a change in the rhythm and Otis rides it for all it is worth. His work in the high register really shines here, before he drops back into the low register, leading back into the final vocal verse.

This album has to be one of the best live Chicago blues albums going around. I would definitely put it in my top 10. It places him in the upper echelon of the modern blues singer-guitarists. There are so many other standout tracks, including I Can’t Quit You Baby, Chitlin Con Carne, Gambler’s Blues and Three Times a Fool, many of which feature extended guitar solos.

Otis Rush – A Tribute

I wrote this tune as I have always been so touched by the music of Otis Rush. It’s a rhythmic, minor blues with a strong harp-guitar unison theme for the opening chorus, which is used once again to end the tune. I guess you could say it has an Otis Rush feeling.

Intro: Harp-guitar unison theme

Take me back in time, to when I first heard you
Listening to your music, how your sound came through
Hitting on that blue note, if only I could do it like you do

It's a Mean Old World, when you have the Gambler's Blues
It's Gonna Work Out Fine, Double Trouble and the Crosscut too
Hitting on that blue note, sounding just like only you can do

You turned the neck around, you even played it upside down
Your singing was emotional, your band it was the best around
Hitting on that blue note let me see if I can play it just for you

[Solos]

Your life was filled with struggle, Every Day You Had The Blues
Playing on the circuit, trying to raise a family
I know you really paid your dues
When you hit that blue note, no-one else can do it like you do.

Outro: Harp-guitar unison theme

Blues Discoveries – Revisited

The careers of the country blues men discovered in the early 1960s bear further examination. It certainly wasn’t all smooth sailing, despite the efforts of some good people. Unfortunately, some of the financial arrangements were not very equitable.

Mississippi John Hurt came out of this period in better shape than the other rediscovered bluesmen. I believe this was a result of his stable, gentle, folksy personality – he didn’t seem to take the whole business thing seriously. His simple blues style, while sometimes singing country tunes and gospel endeared him to many, both on and off the stage. This resulted in him being easily the most popular of the rediscoveries, drawing much bigger audiences than Son House and Skip James. Apparently he was a big hit with the ladies, especially young ones. Again I think that can be put down to his gentle, distinguished manner.

On the financial side, his first contract stipulated a 50-50 financial arrangement with his backer. This seems a little lopsided and the management team often took more out of his earnings, claiming spurious incidental expenses.

After his death in 1966, there was more financial wrangling, with Vanguard records settling for nearly $300,000 because they issued four John Hurt albums when they were only contracted to release two.

In the 1990s, it came to light Hurt had never divorced his first wife, with whom he had fathered three children. The courts ruled his estate should go to that family.

Hurt’s brief time in the sun, together with the associated financial issues, was mirrored in his two contemporaries, Skip James and Son House who also found modernity and city life difficult.

James was feisty and not easily manageable, always being cautious about any financial issues, and mostly complaining about his treatment. He also seemed to be not so interested in playing music, being more focussed on the pay checks.

Son House was a more affable character but also a complete alcoholic, to the point of physical tremens, and his management spent a lot of time trying to deny him liquor. As regards his financial dealings, I found this poignant quote from House on the internet:

I like friends, and I don’t want to know about no nasty folks. Because I didn’t keep track of some of these guys, [that’s] why they’ve beaten me outta money, cos I was an easy guy to get along with. I got some money, but never nothing like what was due to me. D’you know, one guy promised me money for a recording and I didn’t see him no more for 10 or 15 years.

Yes, I believe I have experienced a similar situation…

Classic Albums – Koerner, Ray and Glover

Title: Blues, Rags and Hollers

You may recall how I described the finding of this LP in a furniture shop in 1967. The record was originally issued on Audiophile Records with 20 tracks. Unfortunately, on many turntables, the arm detected the end of the record too early due to the extreme length of the sides. Elektra signed the trio and reissued the album with 16 tracks to circumvent this problem. Now it is available on CD and the four excluded tracks have been reinstated. I intend to discuss a selection of the CD tracks.

‘Spider’ John Koerner sings and plays 9-string guitar, while Dave ’Snaker’ Ray sings and plays mostly 12-string guitar. Tony ‘Little Sun’ Glover plays harp and occasionally sings, especially in unaccompanied vocal tunes. The format of most of the tunes is one singer-guitarist, with Glover playing as required, depending on the tune.

Track 1: Linin’ Track was a prison work song and I believe K,R&G sourced their version from Leadbelly. An unaccompanied vocal performance, except for the tapping of boots, the trio make it into a fantastic opener. Apologies if I didn’t quite get the lyrics right but my transcription of the first verse and chorus is as follows:

Oh boys, is you right?
Done got right
All I hate about linin' track
These ol' bars 'bout to break my back

Oh boys, can't you line 'em, chaka laka
Oh boys, can't you line 'em, chaka laka
Oh boys, can't you line 'em, chaka laka
See Eloise go linin' track

Track 2: Ramblin’ Blues is not the Robert Johnson song. Performed by Koerner and Glover, this is a one-chord, driving tune with great rhythmic harp. Nearing the end, Koerner ups the tempo for a period, moving into a rolling rhythm, before a subdued finish.

Track 3: It’s All Right, performed by Ray, is played with slide, in open tuning – it sounds like a regular 6-string guitar to me. Ray’s voice is deep and resonant as he moves between traditional blues verses, with possibly some original verses thrown in. This is a powerful performance.

Track 6: Down to Louisiana is Muddy Waters’ Louisiana Blues sung and played by Dave Ray with a strong rhythm on the 12-string. Glover supports him on harp, and pulls out some great trills as they develop a fine country blues sound on this one.

Track 9: Sun’s Wail is a solo vocal and harp performance from Glover. It opens with:

Oh Lord – harp response
Oh Lord – harp response

I got evil on my mind – harp response

He then breaks into a rhythmic harmonica solo, sometimes referring back to the call and response manner of the introduction, with one of those moments leading to the end.

Track 19: Jimmy Bell is just Dave Ray and his 12-string. I don’t know the origin of this song, but Ray gives it a heavy, foreboding presence as he tells a story against an insistent guitar riff. The bending of high notes on the paired strings leads to a dark sound. The track fades out.

I’ve always been totally taken with this album, and their approach to music certainly inspired me, although I haven’t played many gigs with this kind of sound. You can still obtain the three albums recorded in the mid-1960s along with Dave Ray’s two solo albums, Snaker’s Here (with Tony Glover) and Fine Soft Land, both of which I really like.

Bluesmen – John Estes and Hammie Nixon

‘Sleepy’ John Estes was born in Tennessee, probably in 1900. His first recording in 1929 was The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair. Featuring a piano and a mandolin, this is a bona fide blues classic as the melody and answering mandolin lines have been used many times since.

It wasn’t until 1935 that he first recorded with harp player Hammie Nixon. They were rarely separated after that and were a formidable duo that fit like a glove, with both men seemingly aware of what the other was thinking. Nixon’s high pitched harp playing was a perfect foil for Estes. Their first session produced three gems of the country blues.

Down South Blues has a solid rhythm and Estes’ vocals are strong. Some of Nixon’s techniques were probably new and I can hear how he influenced John Lee Williamson, who began recording not much later. This tune features a slightly abstruse ending they use often, with Nixon bending a low draw note.

Stop That Thing is a wonderful bouncy tune. The vocals are marvellous, and the piece has a tremendous feeling of joy. Nixon is unrelenting, even though there are no gaps between the vocal lines with Estes singing straight through. One verse has about a dozen vocal lines on the one chord, before resolving with the song’s recurring line, ‘Papa got mad because Mama wouldn’t stop that thing’. This is amazing playing by Nixon as he squeezes a constant flow of ideas between Estes’ phrasing. The end is different, featuring a squealing draw note on the sixth hole.

Someday Baby Blues is in a 16-bar blues format. Nixon fashions a fine melodic thematic chorus to begin. This song has become a blues standard, with Muddy Waters’ Trouble No More being in the same format.

A week later, they were back in the studio for two more tunes, one of which is the legendary Drop Down Mama. This again features a melodic theme statement for the introduction. Nixon pulls off some wonderful phrasing between the lines – I just love his style, which perfectly complements the vocals. The strange ending is a repeat of Down South Blues.

Sleepy John stopped recording in 1941, and didn’t start again until he cut a series of albums for the Delmark label from 1962, again mostly with Hammie Nixon. I’m going to fast-forward to 1974, when they both toured Japan – being the first country blues performers to do so. The opening applause is promising as they swing into the old folk blues standard Corinna Corrina. After an opening harp chorus, Hammie Nixon sings answering phrases before moving onto the kazoo. Now he switches to jug, with a guttural sound. I notice Nixon uses lower harps at this time. Possibly Estes couldn’t reach the notes he used to be able to.

Broke and Hungry has Estes dropping bars occasionally, but his guitar and vocal faculties are still fine. In the intervening years Nixon has added to his repertoire of phrases, although the familiar sounds are still there. He locks into Estes’ guitar motifs, as if it was 1935.

Holy Spirit, Don’t You Leave Me runs for about 90 seconds. Hammie Nixon contributes a wonderfully plaintive harp solo, before Estes initiates the vocal which is basically the title sung three times, and a different line to finish. This is pure gospel and Nixon puts down his harp to sing along. It is a fabulous rendition and draws much applause.

I won’t discuss Stop That Thing again except to say it is in a much lower key than the 1935 version. It’s still a great performance, showcasing the musical rapport they always had.

Divin’ Duck Blues. This blues standard is played at a relaxed, walking gait. I can’t believe how Nixon can play constantly without getting in the way – it may be because he follows the melody so closely. The first verse is:

If the river was whiskey and I was a divin’ duck (x 2)
I would dive to the bottom, never would come up

Estes and Nixon continued touring until 1977, when Estes passed away.

Alan Wilson and Canned Heat

To me Alan Wilson was Canned Heat. His unique musical concept, sometimes drawing on country blues licks, at other times Chicago blues tunes and finally, his expertise in the recording studio, led them to be one of the more interesting blues bands I have ever heard. This opinion may have somewhat of an intellectual basis, as I have long been a big fan of the complete blues sound, at least up until the end of the 1960s.

As a background for this chapter, I would like to quote from an Alan Wilson interview in a 1968 issue of Downbeat jazz magazine. The whole interview is fascinating even after 50 years and reveals Wilson to be a profoundly deep thinker on the blues and music in general – not a man of his time. It can be found at:

alanwilsoncannedheat.com

Toward the beginning, my first thought was to try and combine the two diverse styles of postwar blues: single-string lead guitar, of which B.B. King is the daddy (T-Bone Walker you could argue, but I think B.B. King is the daddy) and Kings Albert, Freddie, and Al, all the Kings and the rest of them – try to combine that thing, which almost exclusively had been done with horns as harmonic background, and add it to the modal-type feeling of the more primitive style of Mississippi-born Chicago guys like Muddy Waters.

In other words, basically it was playing Henry against myself in terms of the two-guitar setup. That was the original idea I had. Most of our early arrangements, and this is reflected on the first album, combine these two factors in the same song, whereas now we have become somewhat more of a blowing band, in person anyway. We still do a few of those older items but we do a lot more improvising now, and some looser structures.

This approach effectively dominates their first two LPs particularly, as Wilson constructs musical arrangements from many different sources – even more than he talks about in the quote.

From the first album, I would like to examine a number of tracks.

Rolling and Tumbling is the Muddy Waters’ tune although its lineage goes back through Robert Johnson and earlier, to Willie Newbern in the 1920s. Wilson plays slide guitar in the style of Muddy Waters, along with a rhythm part, and solo and accompanying harp. Henry Vestine, the lead guitarist does not appear on this tune.

Bullfrog Blues seems to fit neatly into Wilson’s basic musical concept. The introduction, and played by Wilson throughout, is the guitar part from the original William Harris recording, in 1928. He also plays a second, distinctive chordal rhythm guitar part. At the end of each verse, on the turnaround, I hear those classic Tommy Johnson phrases I first heard on the KC Douglas record in 1967. Lead guitarist Henry Vestine’s stinging call and response phrases between the vocal lines together with a menacing solo make for a strong contribution.

The guitar parts change considerably as the band plays at different dynamic levels which are tightly arranged. Wilson plays a different, but very strong rhythm guitar part behind Vestine’s two- chorus solo. The ending is also arranged very precisely, no standard Chicago blues endings here.

Evil is Going On is the Howlin’ Wolf tune known as Evil. The band play each verse with the first four bars being in stop-time, both in the vocals and the solos. Wilson plays the Chicago bass run rhythm part, similar to Chuck Berry, along with amplified harmonica. The harp is very creative, featuring potent vibrato, with many sections of strong, percussive triplets. His accompaniment to Vestine’s solo is wonderful. This one does have a tight, standard Chicago blues ending, with Wilson’s awesome harp sound carrying over past the end with a few powerful notes.

Catfish is associated with Muddy Waters but there are many instances of the lyrics being used from the 1920s. The song is generally attributed to Robert Petway from 1941. Canned Heat approach it as a one chord, drone based feeling. The introduction is Wilson on solo guitar, playing in a very primitive fashion, somewhat akin to John Lee Hooker’s early solo recordings. After a time, he sets up an insistent rhythmic figure, which does not have a back beat but the drummer uses the bass drum heavily, on each beat of the bar. Bob Hite only sings the first verse of the tune, before dropping into a medley of standard blues verses, from various sources. However, he does sing the well-known Catfish melody right throughout. Wilson overdubs a second guitar part, and sometimes a further collection of primitive guitar phrases that act in a call and response manner, either behind Bob Hite’s vocals or Vestine’s extended solo. This time they elect to fade out the tune.

Help Me has Wilson singing in his natural, falsetto style, which later would lead to several hit records. The bass riff is from Sonny Boy Williamson’s original version but the lyrics after the first verse are again a collection of unrelated, standard verses. The amplified harp solo is intense, but perhaps overemphasises the rhythmic triplet feeling. Wilson also plays the two underlying guitar parts, Vestine is not heard. There is also a piano present – I’m guessing it’s Wilson again as there are some clips of him playing competent piano on YouTube.

Rich Woman is musically a clone of Billy Boy Arnold’s I Wish You Would. Singer Bob Hite doesn’t refer to any of the original lyrics, but Wilson does choose to use Arnold’s call and response harp phrases. He gets them right – many harp players don’t. I think of Yardbird Keith Relf as an obvious example – all call and no response. The guitar parts again are not played by Vestine, who really doesn’t contribute much to the album, although he is a strong presence in his guitar solos.

On to the band’s two successful singles, On the Road Again and Going Up the Country. Both are derived from country blues sources. The lyrics of Road are attributed to Floyd Jones by Wilson and Country features the sound of a 1920s Henry Thomas tune, which contains a fife part, very similar to the flute used on the single.

There has been a debate going on for many years on several internet sites about how Alan Wilson achieved that last note, on the first ascending run of the solo in On the Road Again. I’ve recently come across an alternate take of this tune on YouTube where Wilson really works that note many times, whereas it is only used once on the single. There have been many theories but, due to hearing this take, I am inclined to believe Wilson shaved a reed in one of his harps to achieve the shrieking sound.

Wilson’s arrangements dominated Canned Heat’s repertoire until he died in September, 1970. I don’t believe they were a musical force after his departure, although they did continue to record and tour as a ‘boogie band’ for a long time. I once saw them in concert with Harvey Mandel on guitar – what an amazing musician.

Great Live Albums – Magic Sam

Title: Live At The Avant Garde – 1968

Although I find him to be a little patchy I think the best playing that Magic Sam recorded was at live concerts. There are several shows with an unsatisfactory recording sound quality, and some of them may be musically superior, but this show, like all of them, has many exciting moments. The recording is just a trio, which sometimes makes for a thin sound.

Track 1: San-Ho-Zay. This catchy Freddie King instrumental has been played by many people and makes for a good live show opener. Sam stays pretty close to Freddie’s melody, with its funky rhythm. After two fine solo choruses, he returns to the theme before soloing again – this is great playing. The guitar used is an Epiphone 330 and has a slightly creamy, thicker tone than the Stratocaster he sometimes favours.

Track 2: I Don’t Want No Woman is a relaxed medium shuffle and Sam answers his vocal phrases with busy playing. There is a stop-time verse leading into a blistering solo. Another stop-time verse follows before he solos again, with a powerful attack and great bending. I’m not so sure about this bass player, he seems a little too soul-based for my liking – he doesn’t always seem to gel with the drummer. I guess that’s West Side soul.

Track 6: You Belong to Me. This one definitely has a soul feeling that extends to the vocal. Two verses move into a one chord section before a 12-bar solo, two choruses long. The playing evokes Hendrix for me, or maybe even Stevie Ray Vaughan. The ending is another extended one chord rave.

Track 8: Come On In This House is a slow blues with an extended format, 24 bars in length. There are fine guitar responses to the vocal lines as the second verse returns to the standard 12-bar pattern. For the guitar solo, he continues to answer his own phrases. A quiet vocal verse gives way to the guitar to take the song out.

Track 12: All Your Love (I Miss Loving) is the Otis Rush tune. The band stay quite close to Rush’s arrangement of this minor key blues. However, they never venture into the swing feeling, which I feel is an important part of the song. The solo is a succession of stinging notes in the high register, and very melodic. Sam returns to the opening thematic guitar chorus, then plays it again at a low dynamic, which carries on for three choruses. This version doesn’t quite do it for me.

Track 16: Hully Gully Twist is often used as an instrumental set closer. It has the Elmore James opening but then moves into a boogaloo feeling and Sam builds a solo. I am again having concerns about the bass player – with a trio it sometimes sounds a little empty. A repeat of the Elmore James phrase comes around and again moves into a solo. The ending is a bit of a shambles.

I wish I could be more positive about Magic Sam but I find his work to be patchy. This could be put down to the soul feels he sometimes favours that cry out for a horn section to give the music some impetus. He is obviously a fine guitar player and when he gets it right, he really burns.

My Blues Life – Part 1

I pretty much grew up in Perth, Western Australia, after moving from Sydney in 1958. Apparently it is the most isolated city in the world, being three and a half hours by plane, and 36 hours by bus, to Adelaide, the nearest other capital city. In 1958, the plane trip was about ten hours. I’ve since made the journey many times, often by car, and realised Australia is a very big, mostly sparsely populated country. It appears to me that this isolation, especially in the early years, contributed to the nature of the blues scene in Perth, which has always been very strong.

In the early 1960s, not that I was aware of it, there were people playing authentic blues in Perth. I had a drummer friend, Ron Parker, now passed away, who was part of the era. He told me quite a bit about the early days, of which he was a part. An English blues guitar and harmonica player, Andre de Moller arrived in Perth and settled here for a couple of years, occasionally making trips to Sydney, where he cut a fine single. Fronting a trio known as The Bluedogs, he recorded Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me and a wonderful original R&B guitar tune, Walk On Boy. His harmonica playing was way ahead of anyone in the British R&B scene – it indicates he really knew Sonny Boy and was probably familiar with the broader Chicago blues harp style.

That scene eventually fell apart, without me ever being really aware of it, although a band called The Set, with Ron Parker on drums were still playing in 1968 – I saw them a couple of times. They weren’t very authentic to me, but a little quirky.

When I joined My Grandfather’s Blues, as a harp player, in July 1968, I was 19 and the singer was 16. This pretty much precluded us from playing in hotels. There were also a couple of powerful entertainment agencies that controlled the bookings for bands in Perth – they certainly didn’t want to know about us and gigs were scarce. But we stuck at it and I have told that story in an earlier chapter.

I believe the reason for the strong blues presence in Perth was that most of the musicians who I played with from the late 1960s, and into the 1970s, are still playing blues now. I know for a fact that, on the East Coast, many bands played blues several years before us, but they mostly drifted away into other musical styles such as country music, singer songwriters or blues-rock.

I discussed my breakout year, 1971, when I learned the blues guitar style. From 1972-1978 I played in three successful blues bands. These were Sid Rumpo, the Elks and The Roosters. Sometimes I also ventured into blues-rock but the emphasis was more on the blues, than on the rock. My guitar solos were always blues based.

The first band, Sid Rumpo started playing in early 1972. We had two guitars, an acoustic sounding electric upright piano, a great blues drummer, bass and my harp playing. This combination of instruments allowed us a lot of flexibility in our material, especially for a five-piece, from straight Chicago blues through to some original tunes. While learning the blues guitar I kept developing my harmonica playing. I must admit I really enjoyed playing harp in the band, usually about eight songs on a long gig. I probably peaked in my harp playing in Sid Rumpo, mostly because in the two later outfits, Ivan Zar was the full time harp player.

We started out with a repertoire of mostly blues tunes, either straight covers or arrangements of some obscure early blues. With the two lead guitarists, we were able to produce a bit of an Allman Brothers sound, by playing harmonised guitar lines. I should mention we had a manager/roadie, the legendary Gordon McPhee who was able to find us a lot of work, basically six gigs a week. It’s amazing what a beneficial effect that has on your playing.

There was a great element of friendship in the band, as most of us had known each other for quite a time. There was also a strong sense of musical empathy and rapport between certain members. We had a big PA system, and as we didn’t play very loudly on stage, we were all able to hear each other’s playing. This led to some engaging musical moments. The band moved to Melbourne in October 1972 to try to ‘make it’, but this was probably the beginning of the end for me. I eventually departed in August 1973, due to a number of factors, one being my interest in 78 Records back in Perth. The band found another guitar player and recorded an album First Offense in 1974, before disbanding later in the year.

The day after I arrived home I went back to work and started selling records again. Over the next few years I played a little bit of music, mainly in an environment of improvisation, although I still used my blues technique. That was always part of my musical persona, and still is.

Blues Regions – Texas

Artist: Blind Willie Johnson

Blind Willie Johnson was a legend in his time, and still is. He was a Christian first, singing strictly gospel, and a blues man a very close second. If you couldn’t hear the words, he would sound like he emerged from deep in the Delta, such is the power of his slide guitar and vocals. His voice is so rough he was known as the ‘Gospel Growler’.

Sony has issued a 2-CD set of his complete recordings, with a booklet containing a set of remarkable liner notes by Samuel Charters. I am going to discuss Johnson’s first five recordings, from 1927 in Dallas and one other later piece. Many of his recorded works have been covered by other artists, albeit, in a more genteel manner.

Track 1: I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole opens with a simple slide guitar rhythm, but when the voice enters, it is the most powerful sound I have heard in the blues.

I know his blood can
Know his blood can make me whole
I just touched hem of his garment
Blood of Jesus, blood of Jesus
I just touched hem of his garment

I was a gambler just like you
I was a gambler
I just touched hem of his garment…

Track 3: It's Nobody's Fault But Mine is in a 16-bar format, and has become a gospel standard. Again he lets his guitar do the talking. I’m noticing there are many melodic, thematic guitar choruses in his music.

Track 4: Mother's Children Have A Hard Time. For some reason this song has become known as Motherless Children – maybe it’s because it sounds like that is what he is singing! Again the internet failed me with the lyrics but here is one verse.

Nobody on earth can take a mother’s place, when mother is dead (x 3)
Nobody treat you like mother, when mother is dead

Johnson again substitutes slide phrases for vocals when the mood takes him.

Track 5: Dark Was The Night – Cold Was The Ground. Ry Cooder has described this song as ‘the most soulful, transcendent piece in all American music’. It is a stunning work of great restraint and sadness with the slide being profoundly beautiful. Johnson hums and gently wails wordlessly over the slide backing. Enough said – this is a marvellous piece, and essential listening.

CD 2 – Track 10: The Rain Don't Fall on Me. This is in a completely different style as Johnson fingerpicks, without the slide, a superb traditional sounding gospel track. Here he is joined by a female vocalist, Willie B Harris and for me, this is the most transcendent piece on the album. Its simplistic fingerpicking style belies its other-worldly sound, one of a single guitar supporting their combined vocal efforts. I just wish I could recapture the feeling I had when I first heard it.

If you can get past the gravelly vocal there are many gems in this set.

Artist: Blind Lemon Jefferson

Blind Willie Johnson’s Texas partner in the faith, Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson recorded two gospel songs for his first session, around December, 1925. He never returned to the genre. The defining nature of Jefferson’s musical style was his high-pitched voice and the use of rapid, single note lines in his accompaniment. Also, on many songs which were based on the 12-bar blues form, he often sang the first line three times, before moving to the resolving last line. Maybe he just wanted to make a point. I am going to examine a sample of his earliest recordings.

I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart is somewhat masked by excessive surface noise, again probably due to the number of times the source 78 had been played. This is not in a blues format, and features his mandolin-like rapid picking in some of the guitar passages.

All I Want Is That Pure Religion. This 16-bar format has a strong strummed guitar part. Strangely, Johnson doesn’t play the well-defined chord progression for this form, but does sing the melody that would go with those chords.

All I want is the pure religion, hallelu
All I want is the pure religion, hallelu
All I want is the pure religion, pure religion take you home to heaven
Then you're gonna need that pure religion, hallelu, hallelu

Corinna Blues. This song is based on See See Rider, previously made famous by Ma Rainey, although it was known long before her version. Jefferson gives it a rolling guitar rhythm, and verse one features one vocal line sung three times. However, the structure is varied throughout.

Long Lonesome Blues is quite rhythmic for Jefferson, with a back beat feeling, in a standard blues format.

I walked from Dallas, I walked to Wichita Falls
I say, I walked from Dallas, I walked to Wichita Falls
Hadn't have lost my sugar, well, I would not have walked at all

Some women see you comin', man, they go get the rocker chair
Women see you comin', go get the rocker chair
"I wanna fool this man and make out he's welcome here"

Dry Southern Blues has an almost Tin Pan Alley slow introduction, interspersed with some rapid guitar phrases. It soon moves into a bouncing feel and again is in a 12-bar format.

My mind leads me to take a trip down south
Well, my mind leads me to take a trip down south
Take a trip down south and stop at the fatmouth's house

One train left the depot with the red and blue light behind
Train left the depot with the red and blue light behind
Well, the blue light's the blues, the red light's a worried mind

This second verse was appropriated by Robert Johnson for his Love In Vain.

That Black Snake Moan was one of Jefferson’s most popular songs. It has some ragtime chord changes and is laced with sexual innuendo. It’s certainly a long way from All I Want Is That Pure Religion.

Oh, ain't got no mama now
Oh, ain't got no mama now
She told me late last night, "You don't need no mama no-how"

Mmm, black snake crawlin' in my room
Mmm, black snake crawlin' in my room
Some pretty mama better come and get this black snake soon

Wikipedia notes that:

Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (although this information has been disputed).

Apparently, Blind Lemon Jefferson died of a heart attack during a snowstorm on the streets of Chicago in 1929.

Classic Albums – John Hammond

Title: So Many Roads

This album was recorded in 1965 and to me is one of the gems of the Chicago Blues revival. On Vanguard Records, the production is superb, possibly similar to the sound of a classical record and I have always loved this aspect of it. The lineup is three members of what became The Band – Robbie Robertson on guitar, Levon Helm on drums and keyboard player Garth Hudson. At the time, they were playing with The Hawks. Hammond introduced them to Bob Dylan and soon they were on tour with him. It also has guitarist Michael Bloomfield playing piano and Jimmy Lewis on bass. Charlie Musselwhite is on harp, but mostly restricts himself to trills, never really dominating.

Track 1: Down In The Bottom has a more relaxed feeling than the original driving Howlin’ Wolf version, but it works, with Hammond playing slide and a boom-chuck rhythm part which makes for a unique sound. Two Robbie Robertson solos are superb. It fades out on a Hammond slide guitar solo.

Track 3: Who Do You Love. Levon Helm lays down the classic Bo Diddley drum feel which comes in after two bars of Hammond’s fine rhythm guitar playing. Musselwhite sneaks in a little solo space here. Robertson plays some great guitar with Bloomfield feeding him strong piano triplets. The song fades out.

Track 6: So Many Roads, So Many Trains. This Otis Rush tune is a standout. Hammond sings the opening verse solo except for Robertson playing the call and response game. The guitar tone and tasty phrasing are magnificent, and all of this on a Fender Telecaster with no pedals. On his last phrase, Robertson brings the band to life with a very propulsive triplet guitar line - they couldn’t miss the beat after hearing this. Musselwhite has 12 bars but is fairly restrained and Hammond comes back in with a vocal and Robertson inserts some strong, but sweet playing.

Track 7: Rambling Blues: The sound of this Robert Johnson tune is in the Elmore James mould with solid piano from Bloomfield – it’s amazing how much his playing contributes to this record. Hammond is renowned for singing Johnson tunes and he nails this one in a Chicago blues style. Robertson builds a climactic, chaotic solo. The Elmore James intro is repeated and the end is sweet, with Robertson working the Tele to great effect.

Track 8: O Yea!: Featuring a stop-time riff through most of the song, Hammond belts out his best Bo Diddley vocal phrasing. An 8-bar instrumental section returns to the stop-time feel. Hammond resolves his story against this powerful motif.

Track 12: Big Boss Man. Jimmy Reed was never like this as Robbie Robertson delivers up an absolutely red-hot introduction. Hammond’s rhythm playing is just so solid, with Bloomfield doubling up on his motif. Another Musselwhite chorus has him holding his cards close to his chest –never seeming to step out. He didn’t make his first solo record until 1967 and he had certainly developed his style by then. The end is a faded Musselwhite chorus.

If you only ever want one Hammond album, this could be it – essential listening, with a unique take on blues and R&B. Hammond has a host of other fine albums including rocking guitar-based Southern Fried with Duane Allman and I Can Tell with Robbie Robertson. He also has many acoustic records that reflect his live act. Another personal favourite is Can’t Beat the Kid. Finally, but not my style, is an album of Tom Waits’ songs – Wicked Grin.

Bluesmen – Searls and Wise

I first met Rob Searls and Scott Wise at the University of Western Australia in 1968. We are still close friends today. Rob had a fine voice and played great fingerpicking blues guitar and slide. Scott also played guitar, but he was mostly featured on harp and vocals in this duo. They probably got their inspiration from my copy of Koerner, Ray and Glover’s Blues, Rags and Hollers, but definitely weren’t tied to it, going to lots of musical places that K, R&G didn’t.

In 1970 I played a gig with King Biscuit Company in the Octagon Theatre, at the University of Western Australia. Searls & Wise were the support, which in hindsight seems unreasonable, given the quality of each lineup. I have had a cassette recording of their set which I have treasured for many years – it was one of the best blues performances I ever witnessed.

John Hardy. This was a Leadbelly tune and Rob plays three sparkling choruses of the theme. This introduction leads to a transcendent feeling – there is just so much blues history, but also an other-worldly sound in his approach. Scott fills in on harp and sings the first verse, with the chorus always sung in harmony. Rob sings the next verse and the harmonised chorus. Another guitar theme statement follows. The last verse has Rob and Scott both singing, and the end line is repeated twice, slowed down as it proceeds. Their instrumental rapport in this section is wonderful.

Black Betty. Another Leadbelly tune, this one is sung unaccompanied with great vigour. The foot-stomping adds to the effect. Not being a singer, this piece sounds like an exercise in breath control, so many words, too little time. They nail it perfectly.

Black Girl. Again a Leadbelly tune, but like all of these songs, they bring their own musical experiences and ideas to the tune. Rob plays a simple fingerpicked guitar part. The first two verses feature both vocalists, then Scott moves into vocal harmonies. Rob continues singing before a harp solo cuts across the strong guitar. Further verses follow, all with harp accompaniment. The last verse has a delayed repeat of the last line, with the harmonica right on Rob’s tail.

High Sheriff Blues is a Charley Patton song featuring an intensely rhythmic guitar part, which is reflected in the vocals. Scott works away on harp in the background and two harp choruses follow as the pair lock together. The tune concludes with two vocal verses and another fine, empathic ending. This song tells a story and Rob’s vocals are superb.

Baby, What You Want Me To Do. A Jimmy Reed song, this illustrates you can play both country and Chicago blues with the same instrumentation, if you have the mind for it. Rob sticks to a Jimmy Reed rhythm while all the vocals are the two, harmonised voices. A cross harp solo for two choruses is filled with interesting twists. The harmonised verses are just terrific.

Jimmy Bell. I don’t know the origin of this one, but the duo’s version is based around Dave Ray’s performance. ‘Based around’ is where it ends because this is a sombre, dark exercise in improvisation and communication. It tells a story on one chord, with Rob expressing the dark lyrics while Scott’s harp adds rhythm and bent notes in support. Rob’s guitar playing is intensely creative, even bending notes on the 12-string guitar’s treble strings. An extended harp solo follows and Scott moves into some thematic harp phrases. The vocals return for two verses and Rob then plays some country blues style guitar phrases to conclude.

Searls and Wise were a pair of musicians that communicated constantly, almost in a telepathic manner. This concert set was just sensational. For what it’s worth there were more fine tracks than those discussed. The concert is able to be downloaded from my website. Rob Searls came into my life again when we played in a band, Sid Rumpo, which was treated in an earlier chapter.

Great Live Albums – John Lee Hooker

Title: Live at Café Au Go Go/Soledad Prison

This CD combines two live performance LPs. I am going to concentrate on the Live at Café Au Go Go session from 1966, where John Lee is backed by Muddy Waters’ band.

Track 1: I’m Bad, Like Jesse James. Hooker leads the band into a one chord vamp, reminiscent of I’m A Man. He delivers an ominous monologue, on the theme of some man taking his woman. The vocals become a little hysterical with great accompaniment from Otis Spann on piano and one of the guitarists inserting stinging notes, before playing one of Muddy’s band’s trademark endings.

Track 2: She’s Long, She’s Tall is an up-tempo groove. Again Hooker sings a 12-bar verse structure, but sticks to one chord, although sometimes the bass player changes chords.

Well you talk about your woman, but you should see mine
You talkin’ ‘bout your woman, but you should see mine
Every time she walks, she upset the neighbourhood (?)

Track 5: One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer. The band play a 12-bar introduction to this 16-bar blues. In the first verse, some of the members occasionally play the wrong chord. Two guitar choruses follow. John Lee struggles through another vocal verse before settling into a monologue, then a final truncated verse leads to another Muddy Waters standard ending.

Track 7: I’ll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive begins with a Rock Me feeling. The band begin by playing chord changes but eventually dispense with them leaving John Lee to move into another monologue. Otis Spann’s chorus is a 12-bar, then the band play two 12-bar verses behind the vocals, to mixed results.

If Muddy Waters’ band can’t follow John Lee, then who can? Having said that, they do supply great grooves, and it appears to me John Lee doesn’t notice anyway – he seems to function in his own world, and it usually sounds good.

Learning Blues Guitar on YouTube

I am amazed at the number of videos on YouTube that purport to teach you blues guitar in ten minutes. I guess I have looked at 40-50 over the years. The thing that strikes me most is everybody seems to think the key is to use the minor pentatonic scale to develop solos. My opinion is the great Chicago blues players never think in scales, and have probably never even heard of the minor pentatonic. This scale contains the flattened third and seventh, which are both key notes in the blues and are necessary but not sufficient, for blues guitar playing.

Running up and down scales doesn’t sound like music in any genre and, when I watch these videos, they often demonstrate the use of the minor pentatonic in ways I have never seen it played before. Further, most of these clips attempt to use logic to synthesise a method of playing music, without having any understanding of the basic premise of blues guitar. It just doesn’t work that way. Of course most music has an inherent logic, but it must be applied to a factual basis. It appears to be a case of ‘looks like blues, hmmm sort of sounds like blues – must be blues’ George Gershwin once wrote It Ain’t Necessarily So – ain’t that the truth.

Imagine turning up to a blues band rehearsal and saying ‘which key are we going to play the minor pentatonic scale in?’ It would depend on who else was in the room, but I would think that an experienced blues band would be bewildered.

In my view I think that teaching the minor pentatonic is like giving somebody six words and asking them to write a poem. You can do it, but it’s not going to be a great poem.

Along with many other people I have worked with or observed, the approach to blues soloing is to play melodically – in some ways, to replicate the feeling of a vocalist. A good blues guitar solo sings.

I described my understanding of the basic blues technique in an earlier chapter, 1971 – A Big Year, but I shall elaborate here.

From my experience, to play authentic Chicago blues guitar, you have to master several positions, or boxes, that give access to different ways of approaching the blue notes. However, that alone is not enough. All of these positions have to be explored while you are listening to blues guitarists, and you have to learn the various ways they make the positions expressive, when choosing notes. In other words you have to copy great players, and see how they have mastered the positions, and developed ways of moving between positions.

Note that copying guitar solos does not mean you have to play other guitarists’ licks in your solos. When this absorption has occurred, you will be able to express yourself in a blues style.

This process personally took me a year to achieve a satisfactory result. It was worth the effort. I have taught authentic blues guitar but my approach is such that students have to do a lot of work themselves, and it doesn’t happen overnight. I first show them the basic patterns that you might hear on records by great blues guitarists. Then it is up to them to listen and figure out recorded solos, in this way you absorb the style. At this stage I take on more of a mentoring role, reinforcing the basics, telling them what to listen for, and sometimes explaining some particular concept from a great solo. Learning the manifold ways of approaching each position is a very rewarding experience, especially when you can create your own meaningful, authentic solos.

I don’t think that you can learn how to play authentic blues guitar just from lessons. Learning to locate the appropriate notes on the guitar neck, together with knowing how to move from one position to another, is the only way to be truly expressive in your playing. This can only be internalised by listening to great solos from the masters. I also believe that you need to know the names of all the notes on the neck – if you don’t, then you probably aren’t playing music, just memorising moveable patterns, parrot fashion.

Blues-rock is a different style or bunch of styles altogether. A teacher can show you the latest hot licks directly and then you can sound like any other blues-rock guitarist. But is it music? Are you playing with feeling? Are you expressing yourself?

Have fun!

(Check out these informative clips on YouTube… if you can find them)

Planet of the Minor Pentatonics

Learn to Play like BB King in just TEN minutes!

I Married the Minor Pentatonic

The ONLY Scale you need to know to impress girls and your friends

Classic Albums – Skip James

Title: Skip James – Today!

Skip James was a prominent Delta bluesman in the early 1930s and his first recordings are still obtainable. I was listening to them recently and I’ll stick my neck out here – I find the Today! Album, from 1965 to be more interesting. The early sessions, although seminal for their time, sound a little stilted to me. I have had this Vanguard album from about 1968 and still find it fascinating. The combination of the low register, open D minor or E minor tuning, together with the falsetto vocals, lead to a striking sound.

Track 1: Hard Times Killing Floor is introduced with deep resonant guitar notes of a thematic nature. The entrance of the vocal is profound, with James’ falsetto delivery a unique experience. The first four bars of the verse are sung, the next four are hummed or moaned.

Hard times here and everywhere you go
Times are harder than they ever been before
Hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm
Hmm hmm, hmm ah hmm

You know the people they all driftin' from door to door
But they can't find no heaven, I don't care where they go

Hmm hmm hmm…

This is a deeply troubled song, from what sounds like a troubled man.

Track 4: Special Rider Blues. After a very free instrumental introduction, it leads into a standard 12-bar form, but James treats it very freely. This is followed by an idiosyncratic guitar chorus which shows he could still play. Most verses are followed by guitar choruses, which stay close to the melody.

Track 7: How Long. This is a Leroy Carr tune, played on piano with a double bass accompaniment, and in an 8-bar format. It is a striking track, the piano giving it a hint of an early jazz feeling, especially in the solos, which feature a walking double bass.

Track 8: Look Down the Road. A well-rehearsed guitar passage is the introduction to this standard 12-bar blues.

Looked down the road, far as my eyes could see
Hey hey hey, as far as my eyes could see
And I couldn’t see nothin’ looked like mine to me.

At the end of each vocal verse James plays a short guitar section, before moving on to the next verse. Most of the verses sound standard, although it is quite a charming piece. His music is mostly gentle.

Track 12: I’m So Glad was made famous by Cream, and James received significant royalties from their recording. Again there is an extended guitar introduction.

And I am so glad, yes I am glad
I tell myself, I don’t know what to do

And I am tired of weeping, I’m so tired of moanin’
I’m so tired of groaning for you

This song is very unusual, with the guitar introduction played in a very free style and there are creative guitar passages between each verse. It doesn’t quite run two minutes. The album overall only contains marginal references to the Delta blues genre but I am really attracted to James’ personal style of singing and playing. It is still available on CD from Amazon.

John Fahey

Why include John Fahey in a book about the blues? Let me explain, albeit in a somewhat convoluted manner, much like John Fahey’s persona.

My impression of Fahey was that he was an intelligent, eccentric, socially awkward and later, feisty, self-destructive human being. These are not only my opinions of seeing him in videos and interviews. A good friend of mine was very close to Fahey during the last 25 years of his life and some of my description of his personality comes from her.

John Fahey, apparently in isolation, made a serious study of country blues guitarists and their picking styles, beginning in the 1950s. He later became friends with Alan Wilson of Canned Heat and when he wrote a book on Charley Patton, as he could not read or write music, Wilson transcribed and notated the vocal melodies of Patton. They remained close friends, with Wilson playing various instruments on some of Fahey’s more obscure recordings, until Wilson’s death.

Back to John Fahey and the blues. In 1959 he recorded a solo guitar instrumental LP, Blind Joe Death and had 100 copies pressed on his own Takoma label. Side Two was attributed to imaginary blues singer Blind Joe Death. The music was a mixture of traditional blues tunes and some original music, played using the country blues techniques he had acquired. The albums were mostly sold at a gas station where Fahey worked.

When he located Bukka White in Memphis in the early 1960s, he travelled to Memphis to record the legendary bluesman, leading to the first LP of White being on his Takoma label.

The reason he is so highly regarded is due to the fact he made eclectic, solo guitar records of sometimes complex original compositions, using country blues guitar styles – to my knowledge, the first finger-style acoustic guitarist to do so. This concept freed guitar players in that they were now able to play and record guitar compositions using fingerpicking techniques. This may not sound like much, but his work has spawned several generations of guitarists. For instance, he inspired the sound of the Windham Hill label, originally exclusively devoted to solo guitar records, which over time moved into New Age music. Later guitarists who had never heard of Fahey, and probably would not have liked his music even if they did, were soon playing like him technically, even though the music produced was far from the sound of Fahey’s output.

His compositions were based on his outstanding technique and also his love for many different kinds of music, including 20th century classical composers such as Charles Ives.

I came across Fahey when I was working in the Discurio record store in 1969, and purchased an album on the strength of having read about him. This album, The Yellow Princess, one of two records made for Vanguard, impressed me greatly – I still listen to it regularly, and find it to be timeless. The first Vanguard album was Requia & Other Compositions for Guitar Solo. Although there were several tracks I didn’t care for, there were so many pieces that really spoke to me, and still do. Interestingly, Vanguard have a single CD, The Best of the Vanguard Years, which for the first time in my life, I believe does contain the best tracks, leaving off most of the extremely dated, electronica and rock band sounds from the original albums.

While I have gone back and examined his early output and also listened to the work of his later years, I never seemed to be able to make an emotional connection with this music – it is just too quirky for my liking.

Fahey was also responsible for releasing other guitarists’ music. One of his efforts was Leo Kottke’s 6 and 12-String Guitar, which sold 500,000 copies. More interesting to me was Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete’s first solo album, Ocean, probably my favourite solo guitar record. This has been re-released by Bola’s wife Anne Sete, as a 2-CD set, Ocean Memories, which I highly recommend.

One interesting fact is that, until much later in his career, Fahey didn’t improvise, rather spending hours working out his musical concept on the acoustic guitar. His records are so stylistically diverse I won’t be commenting further except to recommend The Best of the Vanguard Years, which still continues to inspire my own finger-style acoustic guitar playing today.

Addendum: Since writing this chapter, I have recently read a Fahey biography, Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist by Steve Lowenthal and David Fricke. This confirms my thoughts on Fahey’s personality, with the authors expressing the opinion that Fahey had autism, hence his erratic behaviour. It is a revealing, sometimes depressing read – a story of a man disintegrating.

Bluesmen – Fred McDowell & Mance Lipscomb

Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi Fred McDowell were obscure singer-guitarists, both of whom remained unrecorded until late in their lives. Lipscomb was born in 1895, and first recorded in 1960, having worked all of his life as a sharecropper. McDowell was born in 1906 and first recorded in 1959. Thus these bluesmen were discovered, rather than rediscovered, and had been playing their own unique styles, in and around their local areas for a long time. They also both became active in the 1960s, recording and performing. Fred McDowell even made it on to an American Folk Blues Festival tour.

Artist: Mississippi Fred McDowell

Fred McDowell’s first recordings were made by Alan Lomax on one of his recording trips in 1959. The resulting album, which contained other artists on most tracks is pretty obscure – I have never heard it. He first came to my attention, on the Arhoolie label, where he recorded a number of solo albums. Some of the Arhoolie songs were also on the Lomax album. I am going to examine the first Arhoolie album, Delta Blues, which is still obtainable on LP, and CD from Amazon.

Track 1: Write Me a Few Lines is a powerful slide based number. The vocal accompaniment is fretted chords, featuring strong, rhythmic slide phrases and booming bass strings for instrumental passages.

Track 2: Louise is a blues standard. This is another open-tuned song, with vigorous bass runs and a minimal use of slide. Two other fine versions, which differ considerably, are by John Hammond and Robert Pete Williams.

I said, Louise
The sweetest girl I know
I said, Louise
The sweetest girl I know
She called me to walk from Chicago
Down the Gulf of Mexico

Now look-a here, Louise
Somebody, fish in my pond
Carryin' all the perches, mama
Grinding all, up my bone

Lord, Louise
Honey, please don't do me wrong
Lord, I ain't had no lovin'
Honey, since Louise been gone

Track 6: Kokomo Blues is the Kokomo Arnold song. It appears to be played in an open G tuning, fingerpicked, without the slide. It shows McDowell’s deep connection with the Mississippi blues tradition, generating a remarkable rhythmic power as he sings along with strong guitar phrases that evoke Johnny Winter’s Meantown Blues for me.

Track 7: Fred’s Worried Life Blues is a version of Someday Baby, which is usually associated with Sleepy John Estes. The rolling rhythms he produces from one guitar are wonderful, and he often uses his slide guitar phrases to end his vocal lines.

Track 13: When I lay My Burden Down is a gospel song featuring his wife Annie on vocals. This stirring performance has McDowell using slide lines in a call and response manner.

Being an Arhoolie artist for a time, there are some fine CDs available. He later recorded for the Capitol label, producing the great I Do Not Play No Rock and Roll, on which he used an electric guitar. This album contains You Got To Move, which was covered by the Rolling Stones.

Artist: Mance Lipscomb

Lipscomb was a Texas bluesman, first recorded in 1960, again on the Arhoolie label. He was also known as a songster, due to his varied musical sources – he still sounds like a bluesman to me.

I had his first LP in 1967 and as is the way Arhoolie do things, it came out on CD boosted with tracks from his other albums. Mance’s guitar technique was based around a monotonic bass, where he continually struck one of the bottom strings with a thumb pick – he never used an alternating bass style, just a steady four to the bar monotonic beat. This alone gives his music a unique sound. I’d like to examine some of the tracks from that first LP.

Track 1: Sugar Babe is an eight bar blues, recorded in what seems to be an informal session with Lipscomb prefacing the song with a spoken statement.

Spoken: It was the first'un I learnt

Sugar babe, I'm tired of you,
ain't your honey but the way you do
Sugar babe, it's all over now

All I want my babe to do,
make five dollars and give me two
Sugar babe, it's all over now

This is a charming, almost child-like folk blues tune, played by an old man with a rich musical heritage.

Track 2: Going Down Slow is a mostly straight blues performance of the Jimmy Oden standard. However, as a variation, Mance goes to the IV chord for the first line of each verse. Near the end, he inserts an instrumental solo to take it out.

Track 3: Freddie tells a fascinating story in one chord, with the bottom string pulsing. Sometimes he allows the guitar to finish his vocal phrases.

Track 4: Jack O’ Diamonds is a magnificent track with Mance on slide guitar. The slide notes respond to his vocals. This is another one chord monologue, with several slide choruses, some of which are in the 12-bar blues format, sometimes not. I don’t know much about cards but this is also a great story. I believe it to be a Blind Lemon Jefferson tune.

And I played the jack 'gainst the king
And it made the deal sing
Jack of diamonds was a hard card to play

And I played it 'gainst the queen
And it turned my money green
Jack of diamonds was a hard card to play

Track 6: One Thin Dime. This tune is loosely based on Furry Lewis’ East St Louis Blues. It is in eight-bar format, but Mance plays a different set of chord changes for his version. It uses the same first verse but then wanders off into a set of sometimes connected verses.

On my way to East Saint Louis
Didn have but one thin dime (x 3)

Before I would spend it, fur my own use
Save it for the lady friend a mine (x 3)

Track 12: Take Me Back. This tune has a slight ragtime feel to the form, but Mance makes it a blues in his own style. It also features a spoken introduction.

Spoken:
Here's about the oldest number that I could recall, back in the days I was learnin' and heard people play, "Take Me Back"

Oh baby, take me back
I won't do nothin' you don't like
Oh, I went down that railroad track
Beggin' my baby to take me back

Take me back, me, one more time
Won't do nothin' to worry your mind
Tote your water and cut your wood
Make your fire, if I could

Mance sounds like a very gentle man and his songs reflect this. He reminds me of Mississippi John Hurt. There are many recordings still available, including several on Arhoolie, for whom he recorded many LPs. These have been compiled into at least five CDs, all available on Amazon.

My Blues Life – Part 2

In mid-1976, Ivan Zar, the harp player from the 1970 King Biscuit Company, called me and asked whether I would like to come down and check out a band he and his brother Reg were thinking of forming. To be honest I wasn’t that interested as I had been concentrating on improvised music, where I felt I could express myself more freely. But anyway, I went down with a late 1960s Les Paul Custom I was currently playing. By the time we had tried out a few tunes, it was just so good I realised I had to join.

The other guitar player, an 18 year-old Dave Brewer had a Les Paul as well and I found him to be an awesome guitarist, in so many ways. As an aside Dave had a band that backed Hubert Sumlin on an Australian tour. When Sumlin heard him play, he said “He’s going to be the next me!” I still think of him as Australia’s best blues guitar player. For the next rehearsal, I went back to my Gibson ES-335 to allow for a greater blend of sounds. We also had a mix of guitar styles with Dave being a BB, Albert King and Hubert Sumlin kind of guy, while I was still pretty entrenched with Freddie King and Otis Rush. Having said that, neither of us were clones, and we expressed our individuality by playing our own solos.

The band, which came to be known as The Elks, played strictly Chicago blues, and pretty much exclusively up-tempo tunes – that was a conscious decision. Our aim was to get the authentic feel of the original song, except in the solos, unless there was something of a thematic nature. We rehearsed a lot, constantly keeping the repertoire at about 60 tunes, replacing old with new each week. Dave was playing just beautifully and with a good frontman/singer, Terry Serio, we became very popular. Perth being the blues town that it is, we worked most nights to good crowds, with people really getting into dancing to the blues beat.

We did two tours of Melbourne in 1977 and recorded an album Refer to Drawer. Terry and I had co-written some tunes – I provided the structure and chord progressions and Terry, the lyrics and melodies. They all made it on to the album. Then the same situation as with Sid Rumpo came up when most of the band decided to move to Sydney. I had a partner with a young son, so I made one final tour to Melbourne. They auditioned a few guitar players, but none of them worked out, so after three weeks, I returned to Perth. Not long after, Reg and Ivan came home as well. Incidentally, about a year later, the new Elks released a single, Fast Buck and Party Girl, both attributed to Hood/Serio. I still receive miniscule royalties from Elks’ tunes every year.

One of the guitarists auditioned for The Elks was Mick Tennyson, who also sang. He impressed Reg and Ivan so they offered him a gig in Perth. He took up the opportunity and we formed The Roosters not long after. This band had a much rougher sound than the Elks, definitely not as polished but the repertoire was more of a raw R&B feeling, including some Bo Diddley tunes which were positively primal. This music was again, great for dancing and we soon had a lot of work. In fact it was the most money I had ever made playing music – much more than I had earned in The Elks. After about six months, for family reasons I decided to leave the band and to my surprise, given the money we were making, they didn’t even consider a replacement, just breaking up – and that was it.

After that, I really didn’t play music much until 1999, and that was another blues band. What I did do was get a Uni degree, have a family and worked in IT for 20 years.

I started to play in an acoustic fingerpicking style in 1982, the year my second son, Miles was born. I kept that up and eventually wrote over 400 hundred tunes in the ensuing years – some of them could be put down to inspiration drawn from John Fahey’s Vanguard albums, although I believe I now have a distinctive, original style of composing. It's very relaxing to occasionally run through some of my tunes, and the feel of fingers on wood and steel can be quite meditative.

Interestingly, a lot of the musicians I worked with are still playing, mostly authentic blues. I guess Perth is just a blues town...

Classic Albums – Jimmy Rogers

Title: Chicago Bound

All of the time Jimmy Rogers was in Muddy Waters’ band, he was making his own records. They were mostly with Muddy’s band and Little Walter, especially, puts in some wonderful performances. This album was part of a Chess reissue series and was a revelation to me when I first heard it, given I had encountered very little of his work at the time.

Track 1: You’re the One. Opening with a turnaround featuring Little Walter playing a great triplet feeling and producing a fat tone, this one really moves. There is a second guitarist playing and Rogers inserts treble guitar phrases into the tune. Walter blows a brilliant solo, really in the groove.

Track 3: Ludella was from Rogers’ debut recording session in 1950. It features a rare performance of Walter playing in first position, which seems to limit his creativity, and also because it is recorded acoustically, leading to the tone not being very strong.

Track 11: Sloppy Drunk is a John Lee Williamson tune with Little Walter’s amplified harp dominating this rhythmic romp. Two guitars and piano really lock together on this one. The last chorus has Walter in magnificent form.

Track 12: That’s Alright was a big R&B hit for Rogers and another track from his first recording session. Again, Walter’s acoustic harp is definitely not as powerful as the later amplified sessions. But what a great song.

You told me baby, once upon a time
You said if I would be yours, you would sure be mine
But that’s alright, I know you lovin’ some other man
But that’s alright
But now and again I wonder, whooo-s lovin’ you tonight

Track 13: Chicago Bound has a rocking introduction with a great harmonica part. Walter pulls out one of his best choruses for this one and there is also a terrific piano solo from Henry Gray. The last two choruses are Rogers’ classic guitar phrases, followed by a rocking harp outro.

Track 14: Walking By Myself features Big Walter Horton on harp. This song is an obscure variant on an 8-bar form, I don’t think I have heard it before. Big Walter plays a thematic line for the opening chorus, and subtly shadows the vocal lines in two verses. A stop-time section is powerful, and another verse follows. Nothing could prepare you for Big Walter’s two 12-bar choruses. First he works the second-hole draw for four bars before playing some wonderful slashing phrases across the rhythm. I’ve heard this referred to as ‘high compression’ harp. On the second chorus he holds a bent note before breaking out into some of his highly stylised phrases. As previously mentioned, this is in my top ten harp solos of all time. Rogers returns with the stop-time section and closing chorus.

I reckon one CD of Rogers would be enough. This one is still available.

Bluesmen – Taj Mahal

I’ve always been slightly ambivalent about Taj Mahal, even though he is obviously a fine blues musician. His propensity to move between genres, even his unusual approach to blues tunes, sometimes comes off for me, but not always. I have selected a few tracks, mostly from different albums, which are very fine.

Leaving Trunk is a Chicago blues version of the Sleepy John Estes’ song. Taj’s amplified harp opening reveals him to be a creative player, with a great tone, strong ideas and his use of tongued octaves is a feature. The band locks into a solid groove behind him, as Jesse Edwin Davis nails a great rhythm guitar part. Taj’s vocals are also very powerful – this is certainly a good introduction to his work, from his first, self-titled album.

Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue is a medium-slow 12-bar blues. Taj’s relaxed vocal and acoustic harp sound are supported by guitarist Davis playing through a Leslie speaker, producing an organ-like sound. A sweet Taj harp solo is followed by Davis taking a chorus – what a great feel. A stop at the end features the guitar/organ sound, which is very precious. This track, together with She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride is from The Natch’l Blues album.

You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond is the Blind Willie Johnson gospel anthem, but Taj gives it a bouncy, optimistic feeling. This is a great vocal performance before Taj moves into a fine acoustic harp solo over two 16-bar structures. The dynamics drop for a time and Taj almost preaches for several verses – he sings it like he means it, in an extended monologue. It fades out on this feel. This track, together with Bacon Fat, are from Giant Steps.

She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride has a resonator guitar intro, then Taj comes in with further acoustic harp playing. He shows his soul roots and switches to amplified harp for the vocal verses in another 16-bar form. This one moves into an eight bar bridge. The communication between Taj and Davis is strong on all of these tunes. A great stop-time harp passage ends this one.

Bacon Fat. This tune is ostensibly a vocal but the instrumental solos are extraordinary, with the whole band creating a most intimate groove. Taj plays first position harp in the lower register, over a very relaxed instrumental chorus. Davis again features the organ sound and produces a jazz touch to his playing. Next follows another one of my top ten favourite harmonica solos. Taj eases into it for two verses, as he works the first position with bent notes low on the harp, evoking Sonny Boy Williamson and he pulls out some wonderful rhythmic octaves, before introducing ‘Mr Davis!’

Mr Davis is really on song as he produces some subtle blues phrasing, with the organ sound present. His third chorus is a masterpiece of sweet playing, very vocal, and the fourth chorus is even more controlled – this solo is just so tasteful. Now the whole band relax into the groove before returning back to the opening feeling. I didn’t realise I was listening to an alternate take of the track, which is two minutes longer, until it came to the “Mr Davis!” exclamation which to my surprise didn’t happen. I went back and found the original. Essential listening.

Sweet Home Chicago is the Robert Johnson version with Taj and a National resonator guitar. The thing that makes this track different is the presence of the Pointer Sisters as a vocal backing group. The contrast between Taj’s Delta sound and the bluesy quality of the ladies is terrific, as they insert vocal interjections into the verses, as well as harmonising the choruses – this is just a great version. A solo instrumental chorus is very understated and leads back into the harmonised vocals. The chorus is repeated four times at the end and Taj fades away with his guitar. This spontaneous performance is from the Recycling The Blues album.

Great Live Albums – Albert King

Title: Live Wire/Blues Power

Albert King was one of the great guitarists who managed to form a unique synthesised style based on the playing of BB King. You only need to hear one note from his guitar as his playing is so distinctive. As with later BB recordings, Albert basically plays in a limited area of the neck of the guitar, only occasionally stepping out into different positions. This album was recorded over two nights in June, 1968 at the Fillmore in San Francisco and released on the Stax label, which mostly recorded straight-ahead soul music. It is renowned as being one of the most exciting live blues guitar records. I’m not sure I agree but more on that later.

Track 1: Watermelon Man. This band warm-up, instrumental version of the Herbie Hancock tune reveals a few things about Albert’s performing style. The first two choruses are not played by Albert but his backup guitarist, Willie James Exon, who has a quietly muted sound. Albert comes in over the top with his powerful, stinging tone. Also apparent is that his backing band is soul-based with a distinctly non blues sounding rhythm guitar part. After a few perfunctory choruses, he goes into his soul shtick ‘put your hands together’, before taking it out with a couple of controlled guitar choruses.

Track 2: Blues Power is a slow 12-bar blues with the guitar introduction being classic Albert, before he moves into a blues sermon over a quiet backing. Lasting a few choruses, he then launches into his iconic style of bending for two solo choruses. Now we have another sermon – ‘I can’t hear you. Can you feel it? – Let everybody say yeah!’ One guitar solo chorus follows before launching into several stop-time passages, and Albert eventually works up the neck of his guitar for eight bars in some exciting playing. Now the band drops to a whisper as Albert works his favourite licks. Another extended solo takes the tune out.

Track 4: Blues at Sunrise is another slow 12-bar blues. Albert is probably the most clichéd of the Kings, as he constantly works the same guitar phrases. This type of playing was really taken up by Stevie Ray Vaughan, sometimes with the same regularity. An extended period of vocal verses, with the band almost inaudible, allows Albert full scope to use call and response between his guitar and vocals. Now he moves into the high register of the guitar for a ripping guitar chorus. For me, he sometimes says too little musically for too long but this is a live performance and he obviously establishes a great rapport with the audience.

Track 5: Please Love Me opens with Elmore James’ Dust My Blues introduction as the band move into a relaxed shuffle. The tempo makes this the most interesting track for me as the guitar is more effective, after the two long, slow blues tracks preceding it.

Track 6: Look Out is a pulsing instrumental guitar workout. For five minutes Albert constantly builds climaxes until the audience start applauding and the guitar stops while the band continues. This was probably the end of the show as an announcer comes out with ‘Albert King, everybody, Albert King’ into a faded ending.

Stax later released two further albums from these sessions, Wednesday Night and Thursday Night in San Francisco. These two contain much stronger material than the originally released album and both of them are better, in my opinion. The tracks Born Under A Bad Sign, Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong and Crosscut Saw are magnificent performances, far eclipsing anything on the Live Wire record. I must confess this is the only album I have discussed that didn’t measure up to its reputation – maybe you had to be there. I much prefer his studio records.

I’d recommend checking Wednesday and Thursday out first. They are both available on Amazon.

Blues-Rock

This is a short chapter about what could have become a long discussion. My sense of the term blues-rock is pretty simple. It began when blues-influenced bands began using rock rhythm sections. The blues rhythm section has several characteristics. It is often triplet based, mostly on the ride cymbal and there is an emphasis when a major change in a verse or instrumental chorus is about to occur. Also, the concept of call and response gives the drummer a conversational role, usually allowing for fills to be played when there are spaces in the music, both vocal and instrumental.

Blues-rock appears to have eschewed the blues sensibility of the rhythm section, taken away the triplet feeling and the call and response characteristics. It relies on drummers and bass players arranging how and where they will insert coordinated fills into the music. There is nothing inherently wrong with this approach, it’s just different from the spontaneity of the blues. Interestingly, nearly all rock bands have retained the blues back-beat, although there would be many exceptions as bands go for different rhythms.

I found this quote from Elijah Wald’s Escaping The Delta to be very convincing:

It is equally meaningless to argue about whether blues is dying, dead, or in better shape than ever. To one person, the 1980s were a new golden age, to another the rise of Stevie Ray Vaughan proved that true blues feeling was gone forever.

The Wikipedia article on ‘blues rock’ is appalling. It is terribly written (probably by several people), and way too long with multiple sections of virtually the same material, from different viewpoints. I can see the Allman Brothers Band as blues-rock but Paul Butterfield’s First Album? I don’t think so.

My opinion about the guitar’s role is that the blues guitar style has been appropriated in part by countless bands from Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds up to the present day. So many bands have created hybrid formats that have influenced other bands and so it goes on, with the music progressing to a more solid, ‘in your face’ style. As blues guitar is essentially based on melodic, vocal phrasing, authentic style guitarists don’t tend to play fast. However the blues-rock style can even move into shredding, and doesn’t seem to consider melody as a factor.

I’m with Elijah Wald on this one – it really doesn’t matter. Labels are commonly used by musicians in an attempt to make their music sound unique. I would like to mention why I haven’t listened to much blues after 1970 – it became all about fusion and variations of different styles. I preferred to listen to other musics but still maintain a deep appreciation of the blues form up until that time.

The ‘blues rock’ genre ultimately defies explanation, although a well-researched tome may be possible, definitely written by a musician, not a fan. On second thoughts, make that impossible, as any author would inherently have their own individual take on it. In any event, I don’t believe such a nebulous concept to have any real use. It’s a catch-all phrase, ultimately depending on your personal preferences. Let’s just put it where it belongs, and call it a type of rock music.

If you want a wild ride, search ‘blues rock’ on Wikipedia!

Bluesmen – The Elks Live

I played in The Elks, an authentic Chicago blues band from July 1976 through to March 1978. We made three tours to Melbourne and on the second tour, in 1977, we played at a University gig, the first of three bands, broadcast live to air on FM radio in Melbourne. At the end of the concert we received a cassette of our performance, which we later released as The Elks – FM Live. The cover said it was recorded in April 1978 but I had left the band by then. In the 2000s, I put out a limited edition on CD – The Elks FM Live 1977. It very quickly sold out but I am not producing any more – there would be too many issues to resolve.

The concert began with a version of Little Red Rooster, with a very structured introduction. When it started only Dave Brewer was on stage, playing quiet slide guitar, with Reg Zar on drums. Slowly, individual members appeared on stage, incrementally adding to the sound. I was playing rhythm guitar and I didn’t do anything until vocalist Terry Serio started singing and I played clipped chords over the slow feel. The concert hall was just filling up but we received a good response.

She’s Into Something was a Muddy Waters’ tune that went from a Latin beat, to a swing feeling in the solos. I took two choruses and had a ball. On the second chorus I went up the neck of the guitar and I don’t know where it came from, but there was an incredible sense of reverb, and my guitar filled the hall. It’s one of my favourite solos.

Next we went into Loaded, which was an early Paul Butterfield instrumental, with a driving riff. It was mostly a feature for harp player Ivan Zar, and he gave it tremendous impetus.

You’ll Be Mine is a Howlin’ Wolf tune, a blues with a bridge. Dave just burns it up on this one. It was like being in the same room as Hubert Sumlin.

Mighty Crazy. Originally by Excello bluesman Lightnin’ Slim, we based our version on John Hammond’s and it became an anthemic Elks’ tune with Terry always moving into a rave after the harp solo. We then dropped the volume and changed the feel to a relaxed groove. This particular rave went on for about three minutes with Terry improvising rhyming vocal lines, seemingly endlessly. On this performance, as he was nearing the end of the rave, he came up with this passage:

Ooh coming from the West coast, don’t you know
Coming over here to go on the radio
Oh I’m trying’ just to make the most
Some folks don’t understand that old West coast. Ha ha…

He finishes the rave and then drops back into the final vocal verse. Ivan and I had worked out a harmonised guitar and harp line for a closing section.

All Aboard is a Muddy Waters’ train song. I joined Ivan playing harp on this and it really chugs along. Ivan played the chromatic and I had a quite unusual 12-hole harp which had a richer tone than the 10-hole. We both soloed and supported each other’s solos.

Fast Buck was written by Terry and myself. It featured a rocking slide riff from Dave, and there was a vocal bridge as well.

The whole show was 16 songs and I believe this was the best recorded performance of the band at its peak. It is available as a download from my website, details of which are at the end of this book.

Classic Albums – Sonny Boy in Europe

Title: A Portrait in Blues

This just may be a case of leaving the best for last. Sonny Boy was on the 1963 American Folk Blues Festival tour of Europe. While in Copenhagen, Denmark, he recorded a number of tunes for the Storyville label. They were released on two LPs as A Portrait in Blues and the Blues of Sonny Boy Williamson. The music varied in instrumentation, with solo harp and vocals, and duos with Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy supporting Sonny Boy on acoustic guitar. There were also several up-tempo tracks with Memphis Slim on piano, Billy Stepney on drums and Murphy contributing some soulful electric blues guitar. Sonny Boy refers to Murphy by the moniker ‘MT’ as he was born Matthew Tyler.

The complete sessions were only ever released on these two LPs, and for the hard-core Sonny Boy enthusiasts, they are well worth looking for on the internet. There are many copies available, sometimes even quite cheaply. There are also two separate CDs available, both containing a selection of tracks from the two albums. I believe Keep It To Ourselves on the Alligator label would be the best option and it is still available, mostly from Amazon resellers. I am going to discuss the six tracks from the A Portrait in Blues LP that are also on the Alligator CD. The track numbers refer to this CD, which are different on the LP.

This is a most intimate album, with Matt Murphy playing acoustic guitar, as he develops an almost telepathic empathy with Sonny Boy. I believe it is mostly spontaneously improvised music, within the confines of the blues – they both certainly generate a wonderful sense of rapport. Sonny Boy almost treats it as a concert, which it may well be, but I could find no information about such an event. He often prefaces tracks with a spoken introduction. For example on the first track, he muses:

This time, ladies and gentleman, it’s Sonny Boy and MT Murphy got a version of ‘The Skies Is Cryin’.

Track 1: The Sky Is Crying. This is an Elmore James song and Sonny Boy leads off with an introductory phrase before the duo ease into a slow, but solid rhythm for an opening instrumental chorus. The harp is typical Sonny Boy with his characteristic expressive bending style featured prominently. Murphy answers the first vocal line with triplet phrases that are standard blues fare. The response to the repeated first line is just so complementary to Sonny Boy’s harp playing. Murphy is very creative, all the while providing a constant pulse. A gentle instrumental 12-bar chorus has Sonny Boy playing the classic harmonica trill, moving his mouth between the fourth and fifth holes. When he reaches bar five, he stays on one note, the current chord, with triplet phrases – this is a very sparse solo. The final vocal verse is pure conversation between the two. Despite the difference in ages, Murphy really gets Sonny Boy’s approach.

Track 2: Slowly Walk Close To Me opens with Sonny Boy playing a repeated rhythmic phrase on one chord leading to Murphy generating a John lee Hooker feeling in the accompaniment. They seem to stumble their way through the opening instrumental chorus, but then lock into a totally different slow, loping feeling from the guitar. As the first vocal verse progresses Murphy introduces a snappy, ascending phrase which is still consistent with the current feeling. Now Sonny Boy answers his own vocal lines with the same ascending phrase – what a superb rapport these two have. The harp solo again is based around this phrase and the final vocal verse features a stop, with Murphy contributing a further inventive passage to end. He is just so creative.

Track 4: Don’t Let Your Right Hand Know is a simply amazing track. Murphy is not present and the song features a very low key harp - I think of this as Sonny Boy’s tribute to Picasso – it is pure abstract art. There is a vocal introduction, spoken in hushed tones as if he was talking to somebody. Then he gently breaks into singing, with a percussive but subtle harp backing:

Don’t never – your right hand
What your left hand’s doing
Don’t ever…

He then moves into a solo harp section, which basically continues throughout the song, with occasional vocal lines thrown in.

Don’t let your right hand
Know what your left hand’s do
‘Cos if you do
People find out
Everybody be doin’ the same thing
That you’re trying to do

The following harp solo is indescribable, with Sonny Boy breaking into finger snapping, backing his own playing. He now drops into the lowest register of the harp with a series of incredibly percussive resonant notes, somewhat akin to a didgeridoo. I must confess to never having heard anything like this in the blues – he just comes across as a totally free spirit. Now he frequently returns to his vocal ramblings and finally brings it to an end with some plaintive harmonica. I think I’ll just leave it at that – this track has to be heard to be believed.

Track 6: Comin’ Home To You Baby is a slow, pulsing 12-bar blues. Murphy is again creative and he wears Sonny Boy like a glove – they both work as one. Sonny Boy asks Murphy to solo, and he does, to the backing of subtle harmonica bends. Now the roles are reversed and Sonny Boy has total control of the harp as he bends with great agility – he is his own man when it comes to bending. This instrumental verse concludes – brilliant…

Track 7: I Can’t Understand is another solo harp piece with an occasional vocal verse appearing. The opening is that of a slow blues but, having got through that, Sonny Boy breaks into tempo on a harp in a high key – not usually the best for such a rhythmic feeling. He negotiates three 12-bar instrumental choruses before he comes in with an almost perfunctory vocal section, then his harp takes over again, together with the sound of his foot tapping. There is some marvellous harp playing on this track, leading to another bit of abstract expressionism – it’s simply wonderful.

Track 9: Gettin’ Together starts with a solid harp beat, with Murphy joining in, creating two magnificent instrumental choruses. Then Sonny Boy sings:

You call this number
MT Murphy – and Sonny Boy Williamson
Gettin’ together
Oh yeah, baby – from Chicago

This is followed by some terrific duo playing, before Sonny Boy returns to his opening phrase for a complete 12-bar verse. Two vocal verses with no harp, just guitar fills, lead back into the opening mood again, before they take it out with a precise ending.

I realise words have failed me sometimes on this record but I can assure you this music features a tremendous sense of communication between the harp and guitar, making for a wonderful musical experience. Just don’t get me started on those two abstract harp pieces.

The Last 12-Bars

I’m glad that the blues has been a big part of my life – it taught me how to express myself in music. When I was young, and a real blues purist to the point of obsession, I saw the whole music scene through my blues-coloured glasses. But I got over that, and even though I didn’t continue with the obsession, I’m glad that I had it. I now have much broader musical tastes, mostly extending to jazz and classical music, which shape my current listening choices. However, I still get affected by blues, especially country blues – it just feels so timeless.

Please forgive me if I bagged your favourite musician, or worse, didn’t even mention them. After playing a lot of music in my life, and spending 15 years working in record stores, I have come to believe that we all hear music differently – and that’s OK.

As you have probably noticed, I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to blues, and I’m pretty comfortable with that. In other musics, such as jazz and classical, I am often drawn to the avante-garde, although I do embrace a large spectrum of both genres. I have another obsession now, and that’s string quartets. I have a blog dedicated to them, at sqblog.jhredguitar.com, where I have discussed over 350 works.

I still find the blues fascinating and really enjoyed the time that I have spent listening, while researching and writing this book. Normally, I only listen to country blues, which I always find fresh and interesting, on a mini iPod with a couple of thousand tunes, many of which I am not overly familiar with. I play them in shuffle mode as I just like the multitude of styles found in the music, and I am drawn into it. My iPod has a button that tells you the name of the artist and the tune – very enlightening.

As for Chicago blues, I don’t listen very often, as I have pretty much overdosed in the past. While I still play in this style, I never seem to find time to go back even to Freddie or Otis. There are just so many other musical genres that I want to investigate.

I’ve been promising to give you my website address, if you want to download either of these concerts:

Searls and Wise – Live at the Octagon – 1970

The Elks – FM Live – 1977

My website is www.jhredguitar.com and these specific concerts are at

www.jhredguitar.com/IIB

The music is in a mostly hi-res MP3 format, which I think is consistent with them being originally recorded on cassette – remember those? I have put the shows into two separate zip files for ease of downloading.

If you have problems, there is an email link on the front page of my website, which happens to be johnhood@iinet.net.au.

You can also communicate with me, either about something I have said in this book, or other concepts – I love talking about blues.

I am also currently putting up some of my original tunes on YouTube and by the time this book comes out, I hope to have them available. Just search for john hood blues guitar and a playlist should come up. I also intend to put up some fingerpicking tunes later – all things in time.

Lastly, I have also published a musical autobiography, For The Love Of Music, which is on Amazon in Kindle eBook and paperback format…

From all the bluesmen in this book, they and I all wish you a good life.

Cordially yours, (Blind Lemon Jefferson wrote that)

John Hood, March 2020

Selected Bibliography

Blind Owl Blues: The Mysterious Life and Death of
Blues Legend Alan Wilson
Rebecca Davis – Amazon Services

Blues Fell This Morning
Paul Oliver – Cambridge University Press

Blues & Gospel Records
Dixon and Godrich – Storyville Publications

Blues Records, January 1943 to December 1966
Mike Leadbitter; Neil Slaven – Oak Publications

Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters
Robert Gordon – Back Bay Books

Charley Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta
Edited by Robert Sacré – University Press of Mississippi

Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist
Steve Lowenthal and David Fricke – Chicago Review Press

For the Love of Music
John Hood – Amazon Services

I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues
Stephen Calt – Chicago Review Press

Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf
James Segrest – Da Capo Press

The Bluesmen
Samuel Charters – Oak Publications

The Bluesmen – Volume 2 – Sweet as the Showers of Rain
Samuel Charters – Oak Publications

The Country Blues
Samuel Charters – Da Capo Press

The First Time We Met the Blues
Dr David Williams – Music Mentor Books

The Poetry of the Blues
Samuel Charters and Ann Charters – Dover Publications

Wake Up Dead Man: Afro-American Worksongs from Texas Prisons
Bruce Jackson – Harvard University Press