The appearance of female blues guitarists didn’t begin with Bonnie Raitt, as she’d be the first one to tell you. There were surely a few gender trailblazers in the genre, and the most successful was Memphis Minnie. But she was no mere curiosity, possessing great ability both as a singer and string-bender, recording in four decades as a solo performer and in fine collaboration. The Arhoolie Records subsidiary Blues Classics was the first label to give her work serious attention after the end of her commercial heyday, and it’s an effort that’s still worthy of commemoration. [...]
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Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe - Can I Do It For You (1930) Ed & Lonnie Young - Chevrolet (1960) Donovan - Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) (1965) The Animals - Hey Gyp (1967) The Soul Survivors - Hey Gyp (1967) Keith Shields - Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) (1967) Mance Lipscomb - I Want To Do Something For You (1967) Taj Mahal - Chevrolet [...]
I recently read this excellent book written by Garth Cartwright that I thoroughly recommend, you can read an extract here , in short a musical road trip through the US in which the author meets some lesser known musical heroes and heroines, well lesser known to me that is and that's really what prompted this post. As much as I liked to think I have a decent grounding in popular music history in truth my knowledge only scratches the surface, so reading the book I came across a few names that were new to me or as [...]
In some version of this story, the music exists only in the background. Filtering through like the bastardized, whitewashed versions you vaguely hear playing in grocery stores and elevators. It is there, but lawd no it would never intrude in such a way as to break you wide open, invade your bones, or rattle your knees in any way. Why that would be simply rude of music, now wouldn’t it? But that version of this story belongs to someone else. I listen to this song because it does, in fact, do all of these things [...]
I love songs about chickens. For evidence of that statement I refer you to the 'More Chicken Songs at Carnival Saloon' links at the bottom of this post. Why am I so fond of chicken songs? Partly because they're unusual creatures to immortalise in song and partly because there are such a surprising number of them that there's a real thrill in tracking them down. So you can imagine both my delight and disappointment when I discovered a 20-track compilation on Viper Records called Ain't Nobody Here But These Chickens: American [...]
The Narcoleptic Bluesman At the early age of six, John Adams Estes was blinded in one eye during an unfortunate sandlot baseball incident. He later lost vision in the other eye, allowing him to join the ranks of iconic blind bluesmen such as; Blind Lemon Jefferson , Blind Willie McTell , Blind Willie Johnson , Sonny Terry , and Blind Boy Fuller . Obviously, Being Blind wasn't the only Obstacle Sleepy John had to endure. His nickname spurs from his tendency to fall asleep while sitting [...]
If Geeshie Wiley (see ABON 0149 ) was the most talented female Early Blues singer/guitarist then Memphis Minnie was the most popular. Just like Geeshie, Minnie played guitar brilliantly, sang with a voice as strong and as loud as many of her male peers and, at least in the early years, was accompanied by a second guitarist. But while Geeshie recorded just six tracks in 1930 and 1931 and then disappeared, Minnie was a major commercial success, recording over one hundred 78s between 1929 and the mid 1950s. [...]
Cohen brings history to life with a wise and warm collection... Organizations - United States - Arts - Joshua Cohen - Asia
Ce billet est la première partie d'une sorte de rétrospective du blues au travers de ses principaux protagonistes. J'étais partie pour ne faire qu'une playlist de 21 "indispensables", mais finalement j'ai décidé de prendre mon temps. Deux ou trois autres billets suivront celui-ci et j'espère ainsi vous montrer à quel point cette musique est passionnante. Je ne vais pas vous raconter toute l'histoire, sachez seulement que la musique blues est née à la fin du 19ème siècle dans le sud des Etats-Unis par la population afro-américaine. Les fameux "spirituals", les chants africains, les chants de travail sont les [...]
Here´s a little collection of odes from one musician to another, with just the name of the artist making up the title of the song. Which means Song To Woody , I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives and the like are out for now. I´ve omitted Debbie Harry by Family Fodder as I posted that one a few weeks ago already, and there´s no Alex Chilton by the Mats either as almost everybody and their dog had a sad reason to feature that beauty recently. Know any others? Leave a comment purleeze... [...]
And in the evening, when the sun´s gone down and it´s cooled off a bit, I love to play me some of that old blues. There´s nothing better than sitting on your porch late at night, drink in hand and stars overhead, listening to the masters from the Delta or the windy city. So here´s another tenpack, filled to the brim with blues treasures I´ve been digging recently. First one who writes in to tell me which famous band stole That´s No Way To Get Along gets the For The Sake Of The Song Crossroads award... [...]
Leadbelly - the Titanic ( buy ) (1948) First I'd like to wish all my American readers a happy 4th of July . Please check out Darius'blog, Oliver di Place, for great Independance Day posts here . Let's go on with our exploration of Afro American balladry. Yesterday I found this great Leadbelly song in a French compilation called Black Heroes : From Stagger Lee to Joe louis . Another subject of ballads was the news, the real events (and not only legends). The sinking [...]
Queen of Country Blues 1929-1937 Memphis Minnie was born on June 3, 1897 in Algiers, Louisiana, and she died August 6, 1973 in Memphis, Tennessee. She was an American Blues guitarist, vocalist, and composer of considerable talent. I don't think I can recommend a blues musician more favorably! I find her music and her life story fascinating, like many females coming up in the blues world she is often over looked. According to Wikipedia; Born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana, Minnie was one of the most influential and pioneering female [...]
Lester Melrose was born on December 14, 1891 and he passed away on April 12, 1968. He was one of the first producers of blues records. According to Wikipedia; ...a freelance A & R man, combining the roles of talent scout and record producer. He started to promote many blues artists who became popular, recording them mainly in Chicago. His first big success was "It's Tight Like That" with Tampa Red and soon-to-be gospel music legend Thomas A. Dorsey, then still known as Georgia Tom. He worked for several record companies simultaneously in the 1930s, [...]
another collection of crackling history pastpresentandfuture from mississippi records american primitive series. fast becoming one of my favourite labels. it's on lovely vinyl and limited. as usual. you get fourteen haunted tracks of country blues dirge and hissing folk ghost in the wires. it's stark, bloody bones and broken hearts stark. it's simply voice old and long [...]
The Vinyl District
owl and bear
Keep the Coffee Coming
Stupefaction
Beat Surrender
Seamstress for the Band
Carnival Saloon
Dirty Bourbon River Show
A Barrel Of Nails
Music @ Blogcritics.org
Le Choix de Mlle Eddie
For The Sake Of The Song
SqueezeMyLemon
River's Invitation
cowsarejustfood
[new]: Kanye West – New Slaves
Weekly Mix Vol. I
