He was supposed to have taught the great Robert Johnson how to play. I think he’s my favourite. I love that raw aggressive style. I was fortunate enough to have seen him live in the late sixties. One of my favourite gigs.
In Search of Captain Beefheart – A Rock Music memoir – Continued – Son House
I had discovered him.
I had found what I did not know I had been looking for. Son House had entered my life.
It is one thing to discover something but quite another to find out everything about an artist and gain a picture of their entire work and history. That is something I have been pursuing to this day. It is only with the advent of CDs that much of the material has come to light and is available. Back in 1967 there was only one album that had been released containing ‘Death Letter Blues’ – ‘Son House – Father of the Delta Blues’. I discovered it in a rack of blues albums in a small record shop in Kingston Upon Thames and listened to it in a tiny listening booth and it was every bit as strident and powerful as I remembered. I snapped it up.
Now I have 26 CDs of Son house material – including his early ‘field’ recordings and a number of live concerts.
Son House was playing at the time of Charlie Patton and those other early itinerant Mississippi blues musicians. He is fabled to have taught Robert Johnson to play. As such you could say that he was the focal point for all that was to follow! Rock music might not have existed without him.
You could say that my quest had led me all the way back to the beginning.
The beginning is a good place to start. Once you have the beginning you’ve got a cornerstone to build the rest of the story on. I consider myself fortunate to have seen the man who started it all. He was as awesome as his reputation.
Today’s Music to keep me IiiinNnnSssaaaaNnnnEEEe – Son House – Death Letter Blues
One of the highlights of my life was to see Eddie play this!!
The Mississippi Blues Trail – Highway 61 – The Crossroads – In search of Son House
I was fortunate to see the great Son House play – but I never did get to see Petie Wheatstraw. I sure heard him though!
Today’s Music to Keep me SssSSAaaaNNNnnNeEEEe in Isolation – Son House
I just fancied a slice of Delta Blues today. What better than the legendary Son House??
I was lucky enough to see him play – mind blowing.
Today’s Music To keep me SsSSSAaaannnnNEEE in Isolation – Son House
As I’m working on this Captain Beefheart book it seemed appropriate that I delve right back into the Delta Blues. Son House is the greatest. I was fortunate to see him play. Awesome!!
Mississippi – The Blues Trail
We headed off down Highway 61. We were tracing the old Blues Trail, hunting out the markers, graves and monuments to the incredible Blues singers of yesteryear.
Tracking them down took us off the beaten track to fields, obscure towns and old plantations that we would never otherwise have encountered.
The Clarkesdale Mississippi Blues Museum was a pleasant stop! The murals by the railway track at Tutwiler.
I want to go back!!
More Blues Trail in Mississippi
The fabled Highway 61. The great Son House. The old venues where the gigs took place, the juke joints.
Some gone, some in disrepair – but the scent of greatness lingers in the air.
Recommended Albums – Son House – Death Letter Blues
Recommended Albums – Son House – Death Letter Blues
This was number 20 in my book.
Son House – Death Letter Blues
Son House started it all. He taught Robert Johnson how to play. He was king back in the early thirties. That Mississippi bottleneck country blues played on that old beat up steel guitar created a sound that was going to beat its way all down the years to infuse Rock ‘n’ Roll and start up a revolution.
Son House was a leading exponent of the style. His playing was raw, sloppy and incredibly powerful. His anguished singing was equal to it. I was fortunate enough to see him perform even though he was an old man. As soon as he started playing it was as if someone had plugged him in to the mains. The energy shot through him and cauterised us. I have never experienced such a transformation and so much ferocity. The opening chords to ‘Death Letter Blues’ were like a thunder-clap!
This album was made after his rediscovery in 1964. He was already old and had to relearn the guitar and his own songs. You’d think it would be an insipid shadow of his old power but it wasn’t. It was awesome. The playing was crystal clear and startling. ‘Death Letter Blues’ is enough to send the hair standing up to the ceiling. He still had it in Spades, Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts.
Hearing him play was a revelation. The album had other great tracks like ‘Pearline’ and ‘John the Revelator’ but who needed more. This was plugged straight back into those steamy Mississippi nights.
This is a glimpse of where it all began. Heaven knows what he would have been like to hear as a young man! It must have been frightening!
Anecdote – Seeing the legend that is Son House
This is one of the highlights of my long gigging career.