That is Sonny Boy Williamson the second, Willie Rice Miller. A superb harp player and showman. Another great that I never managed to see live. But I did see a lot of his stuff on TV. Very Impressive!!
I used to play those old Ches albums to death. Speaking of death – when we were in Mississippi we hunted out his grave and paid homage. It was in the middle of nowhere with an empty whiskey bottle and array of harmonicas! Very fitting.
So today I’m playing some of the great Sonny Boy!!
It is rare these days for me to find a band that I go overboard on. Most music seems overproduced, to inoffensive, too processed, meaningless pop, or trivial. Not the North Mississippi Allstars. They seem to have captured the old rawness of Blues. I’ve seen them play three times now and they were superb each time. The Cody Brothers are amazing. The music is alive!
So today I’ll be playing them loud and proud. The North Mississippi Allstars!! Bastions of Hill Country Blues!!
I saw these two guys twice and wish it could have been a lot more. Their style of Country Blues with a Folk tinge was very easy on the ear. Sonny was a great harp player and provided an interesting accompaniment to Brownie with his whoops and yells. Their voices blended well. They got to accompany Woody Guthrie too!!
The stand-out song from their performances for me was Sitting On Top Of The World. I’ve heard many people do it but their version tops them all for me.
So on this fine sunny day I shall reacquaint myself with these two and thoroughly enjoy it!
I’ve always been a fool for bottleneck guitar and Kokomo was one of the best. I had this great album called Bottleneck Trendsetters of the 1930s. On one side it featured Casey Bill Weldon (who I thought was OK) and on the other it was Kokomo (who completely knocked me out. I just never stopped playing that second side!
Today I’ll revisit it!!
Busy Bootin’ was covered by Little Richard. He cleaned up and adapted the lyrics and released it as Keep Knocking But You Can’t Come In.
Amazing to think that these numbers were recorded in the 1930s.
Bo Diddley used to busk on the corner in McComb. One day a car drew up, a guy leaned out and said ‘Jump in, man. I’m gonna make you a star.’
Bo Diddley was a genius – a macho, struttin’ bluesman who took that shuffle beat and made it his own. He was instrumental in Rock ‘n’ Roll and every R&B band from the UK British Boom played Bo Diddley songs – From the Stones and Yardbirds to the Animals and Prettythings.
Bo Diddley rules.
I met him in 1981 when he played in Hull. We went backstage to get albums signed and I had my picture taken with him. What a moment. He was a very friendly guy.
So when we did our Blues Trail in Mississippi and Lousianna I had to visit McComb and stand on that corner where Bo Diddley had played!
Quite a thrill.
In 2008 we set off through Louisiana and Mississippi to follow the Blues trail. We visited old Blues clubs, sought out signs, grave markers and monuments – but more importantly we got to soak up the area and see the places where these guys came from and played. Nothing much had changed. We found lots of markers, graves and monuments; what we didn’t find was any Blues being played!
We were told Mississippi was like a third world country and was dangerous. We talked to the people and they seemed friendly enough. It was an experience.
In Clarksdale we visited the Delta Blues Museum. Isn’t that weird? The Blues has a museum!
The museum was hosted by two very friendly and congenial young people. It was a fascinating place. Well worth a visit!
I just discovered this wonderful bit of history.
I only saw Son House once but it is an experience that is rivetted into my brain.
I’d never heard of him before. Hammersmith Odeon was packed. It was the Blues Festival. This old guy hobbled on stage and sat down with his national steel guitar.
He started off mumbling like Hillbilly Bear. He sounded too old to be doing this. Then he started playing and it was a transformation. He was a revelation. He bought the whole place to their feet. Amazing. Still to this day one of my favourite concerts!! Amazing!!
This is the guy who taught Robert Johnson to play and inspired Muddy Waters!! Well worth a watch and listen!! I was so chuffed to stumble across this!!
I discovered RL Burnside after purchasing a Fat Possum sampler. He’s a rockin’ Bluesman from North Mississippi – the same region as Howlin’ Wolf. You can hear that in the hypnotic rhythms that he specialises in.
Fat Possum was a great label. They specialised in producing raw exciting Blues, just how it should be.
Today I’ll be rockin’ to RL!!
What a voice! What a woman!
I would not call Bessie Blues so much as vaudeville and Jazz, but she certainly could sing and I love her voice and style.
She’s soothing. She makes me laugh and she makes me cry. She always had the best musicians. Superb.
The story of her life is one of highs and lows.
I visited the place where she died. She was in a car accident and they would not take her to the hospital – it was for whites only. They took her to the Riverside Hotel. She died there.
Her death was a tragedy but her life was a riot!! I guess she lived a lot!!