Welcome to another edition of How Blue Are We? February is a short month. But, we haven't been short on ideas to write about! The team is already planning some outings for the year to offer you the best coverage in the blues world. We are always interested what our readers have to say. So, American Blues News now has a Facebook presence, please feel free to drop us a line anytime and let us know what you want to read! We'll do our best to give you the best in Blues News!
Let's take a look at some of the things we talked about for February.
I know that it's winter but those blues festivals are just around the corner. One of our newest writers, Jim Stick, who hails from Colorado, is offering the upcoming events for Colorado during the year 2010. Take a read on Jim's first offering, Colorado Blues Festivals which is our featured photo of the month, Telluride.
The biggest news for February was the announcement for the 2010 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame awardees. This event will be covered in May with the Blues Music Awards. Go take a read and see what great artists and contributions will be inducted into the blues hall of fame. For those of you that are my friends on Facebook, I also gently reminded you to cast your vote for the Music Award Nominees. Your vote Counts! Be sure to read us in May to see if your vote helped bring a winner to the podium!
I love our picture scrapbooks! This month we covered many artists in a pictorial view courtesy of Nelson and Gatorman. A picture tells a thousand words, so take a few minutes and see what the photos have to say. The artists and events we covered were: Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Lucky Peterson, John Mayall, Al Kooper,
There were, once again, a few tributes to our blues artist. Maureen, another new writer for us, offered a tribute to Warren King. Warren was a Pittsburgh icon and had ties in the Florida community as a session guitar player. Warren has his place in music history, having played in the Silencers where the band's video for the medley "Peter Gunn/Remote Control/Illegal" aired on MTV the day the network debuted in 1981. RIP Mr. Warren King.
Our guest columnist, Bob Corritore, kept us up to date with some of the latest news. Thank you so much, Mr. Corritore.
I don't have to tell you that interviews are my favorite thing to do. By doing these interviews this month, I have been humbled. I watched Leon Russell on the Grammy's this year. I know I should be beyond these things, but there on Mr. Russell's page is MY name to let you know to take a read about the Interview with Chris Simmons. Chris is Leon's lead guitarist. I thought it was so cool that I was a name on a page of someone that performed at the Grammy's. Humbled, I am.
In the spirit of the olympics held in Canada, I shared interviews with a few of our Canadian Blues Artists. The first being electric blues with Shawn Kellerman. The second being an acoustic blues artist by the name of Harry Manx. Please look for another Canadian artist next week, Ms. Sue Foley!
Abby our resident Texan shared her discussion with Mark May. Please take a read on the Texas scene.
What's life without a little fun? I guess Jason Ricci has quite a sense of humor. Catch the writing and video on Jason's latest escapade! I don't know. Did he have you fooled?
And our resident musician shared his times at the zebra ranch. I have to swing back around and ask what it was like to see a black panther in the wild? I would love to see one of those! What an experience. Go read what Nighthawk had to say about his recording sessions with his writing of Reba Russell Band records at Zebra Ranch and More from the Zebra Ranch.
I hope you have enjoyed our coverage of February. In March look for the Sue Foley interview and we will touch base with some more acoustic blues artists such as Ernie Hawkins, who studied with the Rev. Gary Davis and the international blues artist, Eric Bibb.
Don’t be fooled by the cover of Meantooth Grin’s debut CD. Meantooth Grin is not a dapper, dobro-wielding black man. It is in actuality 3 white guys from Wisconsin, but don’t let that deter you from checking out BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD.
Released on KAM Records in 2009, MTG’s first officially released album is overflowing with hard-rockin’ blues raunch. Frontman Tom Jordan’s vocals and guitar-wizardry may be reminiscent of artists like Warren Haynes and George Thorogood, but his beefy slide-work and borderline metal tone push the blues into heavier territory than most bluesmen would dare to venture.
Purists may cringe at the hard rock grooves of tracks like “Tommy Gun” and “Necessary Evil”, but luckily BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD has a little something for every blues fan. Tracks like “Homeless and Homesick” and “Insomnia” find the trio exploring a more traditional blues landscape, while songs like “Killing Time” and “Telephone Blues” sound more like high voltage interpretations of Elmore James and Howlin’ Wolf.
Drummer Brian Miller and bassist Seth Heffner lay down a solid foundation for Jordan’s fuzz-soaked guitar heroics and Cole Holliday’s contributions on harmonica should not go unnoted. Holliday achieves a thick and meaty tone that most harp players would sell their souls for and his ability to work in tandem with Jordan’s ferocious slide-work, without getting in the way, is commendable.
Meantooth Grin’s debut is not exactly a picture of perfection; its flaws lying more in the strength of the songwriting, but BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD is a strong first showing for the Midwest blues-rockers. Their attempts to push the genre to its rock limits are exciting; making their next release one to look forward to. If Meantooth Grin is the future of the ‘Power Blues Trio’, then the tradition is in good hands.
(Memphis, Tennessee) Last night I met with President Darren J. Fallas and Vice President John Gemmill of the Memphis Blues Society, and Heidi Knockenheur and Donna Donald to discuss some items of interest and we chanced to talk about a project that will be near and dear to many of our readers' hearts. Across the street, directly east of the Memphis Stax Museum is the former residence of that great bluesman, Peter Chatman, popularly known as Memphis Slim. Slim's house has become dilapidated and needs restoring in a big way (photo above by Darren J. Fallas). The nice folks at Memphis Heritage and some other interested parties including the Memphis Music Foundation and the folks at Soulsville, USA are all interested in making an attempt to restore his home.
Memphis Slim was one of the early boogie woogie players back when that piano craze first started in USA in the 1930's.
Memphis Slim took his name from Memphis, where he was born and raised. Memphis Slim got his start playing the blues at the Midway Café, at 357 Beale Street (southeast corner of Fourth and Beale Street's) in Memphis in 1931. After his early career in Memphis, where he emulated barrelhouse piano players like Roosevelt Sykes and Speckled Red, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and recorded for Okeh Records (as Peter Chatman & His Washboard Band) in 1940. The same year he also recorded for Bluebird Records as Memphis Slim. He played piano as Big Bill Broonzy's partner until 1944. Broonzy, also a sophisticated performer, urged him to develop his own style. Big Bill and Charlie Segar are usually credited for writing the blues classic, "Key to the Highway." This polish gave Memphis Slim opportunities not only in the juke joints he had been playing, but also in the "uptown" nightclubs.
After World War II Slim joined Hy-Tone Records, cutting eight tracks that were later picked up by King. Lee Egalnick's Miracle label recorded the pianist in 1947; backed by his jumping band, the House Rockers (its members usually included saxophonists Alex Atkins and Ernest Cotton), Slim recorded his classic "Lend Me Your Love" and "Rockin' the House." The next year brought the landmark "Nobody Loves Me" (better known via subsequent covers by Lowell Fulson, Joe Williams, and B.B. King as "Everyday I Have the Blues") and the heartbroken "Messin' Around (With the Blues)."
The pianist kept on label-hopping, moving from Miracle to Peacock to Premium (where he recorded the first version of the down-tempo blues "Mother Earth") to Chess to Mercury before staying put at Chicago's United Records from 1952 to 1954. This was a particularly fertile period for the pianist; he recruited his first permanent guitarist, Matt Murphy, who performed "The Come Back," "Sassy Mae," and "Memphis Slim U.S.A." He also worked with bassman Willie Dixon.
I got to play with Matt Murphy one night at the Black Diamond on Beale and he was not only a great entertainer but also a wonderful kind man who loves the music and all of us who are trying to keep it alive. He invited me to join him as piano player on his show at the King Biscuit festival in Helena that year and I have always regretted that I could not make it.
In all, he recorded more than 20 albums under his own name, and appeared on many more recordings as a sideman.
Slim left the United States for good in 1962. Slim lived in France most of his days and conditions there were much better for him than in the South during the days of segregation. Before Memphis Slim passed away, my friend Don McMinn brought him back to Memphis to play some gigs and I got a chance to meet him at a gig they were playing on Washington Street in Memphis back in the 1980's.
Slim was playing with Don's band, then called the Memphis Blues Review, and they were comprised of several of the old members of the Amazing Rhythm Aces including Jeff "Stick" Davis on bass and my buddy, Billy Earheart on keyboards. Billy went on later to play on the road with Hank Williams, Jr. and many other famous musicians.
Memphis Slim
The club they were playing, which is no longer extant, was an old nightclub called the El Morocco, which in it's last days was used for square dancing and was available for rent for larger events as it would hold quite a large crowd and had a big dance floor. This night the place was packed and everybody there was excited to see the return of Memphis Slim. Slim put on a tremendous show and played one of my favorite classic blues, "Everyday I have the Blues," which he wrote. Here's a link to a video of him playing this song he called his bread winner:
As a young blues player and a big fan of Memphis Slim, I was thrilled when Don and Billy introduced me to this kind old gentleman and sat me down right next to him at their table during a break in the show. Slim was drinking Grand Marnier and I remember noticing how extremely long his fingers were when I shook his hand. He was very friendly and an extremely amusing and entertaining person on and off the stage. That night I asked him if it would be alright with him if I played his song during my little shows and he was delighted that I had asked and assured me that he would be very pleased to be remembered by his fellow musicians in his home town. He was a truly elegant gentleman and meeting him was a great moment in my life.
Papa Don McMinn
I also got to hear Memphis Slim play with Don McMinn at our old outdoor music festival the Schlitz Festival, on Main Street back in the 80's. It was another incredibly entertaining show with lots of great solos from both Don and Slim and a highly appreciative crowd cheering them on in the Memphis afternoon sun.
Memphis Slim died on February 24, 1988, of renal failure in Paris, France, at the age of 72. He is buried at Galilee Memorial Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis Slim's final resting place, Galilee Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee
In 1989, he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Brad Webb
After some inquiries today by my friend, Brad Webb of I-55 Productions, we learned a bit more about the house resurrection project. Brad is my old bandmate who played with me in the band with Blind Mississippi Morris and with whom I have recorded a bunch of songs over the years. He is a fine guitarist and a very kindhearted, dedicated and soulful human being. We got this reply back from Dean Deyo, President of the Memphis Music Foundation:
Brad, there is a group that has started to do some work there but it is moving slowly.
I know a team from Memphis Heritage and the U of M spent a whole weekend at this house a few months ago and tried to clean it out and shore it up – there have been several architects and planners involved looking at it.
They have plans for it but it is depending on the economy and so probably still in the future…. Deanie Parker is the Director of Soulsville and is aware of the project – it is called Memphis Music Magnet – and I am working on it as well – we would appreciate any assistance
Dean A. Deyo
Thanks to the American Blues News, I will keep you all posted on our progress and also pass along how we can all offer donations and assistance to this project. Within just a few blocks of the STAX museum there are the homes of probably 15 or 20 famous musicians including Isaac Hayes, Johnny Ace Alexander and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few.
From the Memphis Commercial Appeal archives:
(photo by Dave Darnell)
Memphis Slim came from his home in Paris to play in Mississippi for the first time in 40 years in 1986. He performed at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival at Freedom Village, near Greenville, on September 20, 1986. "The average blues singer has been taught to be ashamed of the blues. It was America's original art and it came from black people. So naturally they wanted to make us ashamed of it - and they did a good job of brainwashing. Now, it's almost too late," the 70-year-old bluesman said during an interview in his Southwind Motor Coach as he waited to go on. "I don't know what the young people are going to do. But if we don't get a new generation to do something about it, I don't know what's going to happen. They're calling blues everything but blues. They're calling it soul and rock-and-roll, but it's still the damn blues. I wish I knew if the young people are going to take it over, but I don't."
This is a video of one of the greatest BLUES bands of all time. Give it a listen:
What's up Blues fans! As of today I believe Spring is just about 3 weeks away. Baseball is not far behind, my N.Y. Yankees will go out to defend their title and go for their 28th world championship! This week I am submitting photos of Johnny Winter from his Jan. 18, 2010 show at the BB King Blues Club in New York. This was my second time seeing Johnny. I saw him back in the 70's sometime at Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately like most shows I saw back then I don't remember much about it.
Johnny's band at BB's consisted of Vito Liuzzi on drums, Paul Nelson on guitar and Scott Spray on bass. As expected the band was in fine form and while I enjoyed Johnny's playing I'll use a baseball phrase and say that Johnny has lost a little off his fastball. A couple of guys I had talked with felt the same way but you know what, it's still Johnny Winter. If he happens to come to a venue near you go check out this Texas blues-rocker and give a listen to his latest Grammy nominated disc entitled "I'm A Bluesman"
I am also posting some photos of another blues-rocker, Jon Paris. Jon opened the show for Johnny Winter and has actually toured with Johnny. Jon is a veteran of the New York Blues scene and can be seen every Monday night at Lucille's Grill, for free! Lucille's Grill is right next to the main room at the BB King Blues Club and you can always hear some good bands playing there. Even my last band played there about 9 years ago. Stop by!
Until the next go-round, keep supporting the Blues. As you can see these cats are working hard to lay it down for you.
On January 27, 2010, the Wolf Moon rose, the biggest and brightest moon of the year to come, and quietly, yet brilliantly, punctuated the end of the day Warren King set down his guitar and walked on. My personal knowledge of Warren is limited, so I talked with two musicians who have known him for decades, Bryan Bassett (Foghat) and Gil Snyder (Mystic Knights).
Bryan recalled the first time he saw Warren play. It was during the late 1960's, in a parking lot, outside of a business in Monroeville, PA. Bryan saw "this guy with long blond hair, suede fringed jacket and a red Gibson 335 guitar who looked a bit like Duane Allman." "He was the first good guitar player I ever saw" and, he said, became his first inspiration, "he really turned my head and made me think of being a musician myself." Looking back, Bryan noted that he has known Warren "pretty much my entire professional life" and although their paths crossed continuously over the years, they rarely actually played in a band together except for the occasional jam on stage in Pittsburgh. "Either he played or I played, but hardly ever in the same band at the same time -even though we played in the same bands. In Florida, at King Snake Studios, we worked together, and, in fact, with Byrd Foster and Warren there I felt like we had our own little 'Pittsburgh Club' in the studio. When I was on the road with Foghat, Warren would work on projects and when Warren was back in PA, I would fill the same chair in the studio." Quite a few of the recordings had both of them engineering and playing. "Warren was one of the most well known and respected guitar players around and anyone who knew music, knew Warren, Bryan said, "he was someone who had that spark, that presence, that you would go out of your way to see. He had that star quality. On stage he was not very gregarious, but his playing was captivating to watch - he was very focused- he'd play with his eyes closed. His expression, energy, style and phrasing were very powerful to watch."
Interestingly, Warren and Bryan did share the stage briefly back in the 1980's when Dominic DiSilvio, legendary owner of The Decade in Pittsburgh, approached Warren to form an "all-star" band to pump up an otherwise slow Monday night. Warren once recalled in those days, he would recruit " whoever I could get up before it got dark." So, for a time, this all-star jam band was composed of Warren, Byrd Foster, Bryan and keyboardist Gil Snyder. Eventually, the lineup changed and the band became "Warren King and the Mystic Knights of the Sea."
Gil recalls meeting Warren "back in the college days when I was in Brick Alley and Warren was in Diamond Rio." Brick Alley opened for Diamond Rio at a local theater, a gig that was not very well attended. "I remember feeling very disappointed that not many people showed up and then Diamond Rio went on stage and played as if they were playing for a thousand people - they powered through the set and from this I learned to perform to your highest level under any circumstance." Gil, also a young filmmaker at the time, had a Grammy nominated animated short called "Ooze." In 1977 or '78, Gil followed up with a second animated short "Space Infection." "Warren and I made the soundtrack, and believe it or not, we named ourselves the U2 band - long before we ever heard of U2!" Then came a period of time in which both Warren and Gil had recording contracts, Warren with the Silencers and Gil with the Iron City Houserockers. "We did a few jobs together, but he was going his way and I was going mine." Towards the end of the Houserockers era, the band was looking to find a replacement guitarist and Warren stepped in for about six months. "At this time we weren't afraid to walk around in a rather flamboyant fashion. After a gig at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland, we didn't bother to change our clothes - we were staying at Swingo's - so instead of changing backstage (we had just opened for Ian Hunter) Warren, Mick Ronson and me decided to take a cab to the hotel and change there. Warren's hair was dyed orange and I had a bright red suit on with spiked hair (this WAS the 80's). So we arrive at the hotel and get into the elevator with another man and his pleasantly plump escort. The doors close, the elevator takes off and this couple just STARED at us. Suddenly, the elevator stopped and we were stuck. So there's the three of us, in our strange get-ups, and two very, very normal looking people. The woman started going berserk realizing that she was stuck in this small cubicle with these three human oddities. The woman was really being intolerable and Mick and I were just willing to stick it out, but Warren wouldn't. He started looking for a trap door. In those days there were no cell phones and this elevator had no emergency phone. So Warren, Samson that he was, tried to pry open the elevator doors and sure enough, he did it. To our dismay we discovered we were stuck between two floors. The opening to the next floor was about two foot high. The woman continued to scream and cry. Warren looked at us, and at her, and jumped out. Then the English fellow [Mick] said "I've had enough" and followed Warren. To get to the lower floor you had to swing out and if you didn't do it correctly there was a chance of falling down the shaft. By this time we were drawing a crowd and the woman in the elevator was still screaming. I'm trying to decide what to do when a cop shows up and shouts at me "stay there!" I looked at this woman and headed for the opening. The cop grabbed me as I made my escape and said "What's the matter with you Santy Claus?" I gave him a smart remark back and almost got arrested. By this time it was determined that the elevator wasn't going anywhere so Warren and I got to watch as this lady slides out of the elevator, feet first, as her dress goes all the way up to her neck. Warren and I often chuckled over "what color were her underpants?" Actually, we talked about this story not too long ago."
A few years ago Warren came back to PA and wanted to get back together with the Knights - the Mystic Knights "Kingfish" logo still tattooed on his arm from the early days- and so he came back to his roots and the band went into the studio to record. After becoming aware of Warren's declining health "we had hoped to do a benefit for him, to help him out. I talked to him about this and he asked that we wait until spring. Unfortunately, we didn't get that spring with him. We have a lot of great Warren King material in the can, my plan is to finish the product, he was anxious to do so, and release it in his memory. We are all going to miss him."
Brian ran into Warren about 6 or 8 months ago and had a chance to sit, talk, catch up - Warren talked about his plans, his hopes..."I never really expected it to happen that fast, he was a great guy, wonderful guitarist and fun to hang out with."
Warren played up until a short time before he died. As Bryan said, "playing is a personal comfort; hopefully playing made him feel better even for that short period of time. Warren was an ever present person in my life and now another good soul is gone. Please tell all my friends in Pittsburgh that I wished I could have been with them at the memorial and even though I wasn't there in person, I was there in spirit, in my heart." Bryan and friends also had a memorial jam for Warren in Florida.
For this writer, I'll always remember the time Gil and Warren crashed at my house after playing a local gig. The next morning Warren insisted on making the "best scrambled eggs you've ever eaten." And so, there was Warren, bopping around my kitchen, humming a tune, beret tilted to the sly, cooking up a storm. He was such a kind and gentle soul...
With the guitar laid down one last time, the stage lights dimmed, the studio chair waiting to be filled and the Wolf Moon sitting silently in the sky, we said farewell to an amazing musician who will be deeply missed. And as Bryan said, concluding our interview, when thinking of Warren, "just remember the music..."
The Blues Foundation announced the 2010 Hall of Fame Inductees. Since 1980, the Blues Foundation has honored past and present individuals in the following categories: Performers, Non-Performers, Classics of Blues Literature, Classics of Blues Recordings (Songs), Classics of Blues Recordings (Albums). The people honored are individuals that have impacted the blues genre.
These honors are presented in a private special awards dinner in Memphis, on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010, at the Memphis Marriott Downtown in Memphis, Tennessee,the night before the Blues Music Awards. The inductees are determined by a private panel that discusses who should be nominated and awarded and is chaired by Jim O'Neal, founding editor of Living Blues.
The inductees selected for the year 2010 are:
Lonnie Brooks who hails from Louisiana and is based in Chicago. Charlie Musselwhite, blues singer and harpist. Bonnie Raitt, singer, songwriter, guitarist and social activist. W.C. Handy, "The Father of the Blues". Gus Cannon and Cannon's Jug Stompers who are jug band pioneers. Amos Milburn, who penned, "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer," Peter Buralnick an American roots music writer. Sonny Payne who is the host of the King Biscuit Time program on KFFA radio in Helena, Arkansas. Sam Charters' who did groundbreaking research on the blues in the 1950s and '60s that resulted in several books including this year's Classics of Blues Literature inductee - The Bluesmen.
Works of individual art that are inducted are: "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" by Otis Rush "Fever" by Little Willie John "Key to the Highway" by Big Bill Broonzy "Match Box Blues" by Blind Lemon Jefferson "Spoonful" by Howlin' Wolf.
Album Works are also being honored: Strong Persuader by Robert Cray, Hung Down Head by Lowell Fulson I Hear Some Blues Downstairs by Fenton Robinson.
Congratulations to all of the 2010 Blues Hall Of Fame inductees!
Pleased to be part of this great blues adventure, some of the great blues artists she has met with are: Shannon Curfman, Delta Highway, Roger Earl, Jace Everett, Sue Foley, Sonny Landreth, Moreland & Arbuckle, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Bobby Rush, Gina Sicilia, The women of Saffire, G.E. Smith, Chris Smither, Derek Trucks, and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds!
Monica's passion for music started with songwriting. She has been named as a suggested artist in the VH1 Song of the Year Contest. Her song, The Whiskey's All Gone, placed as number one on the billboard country blues charts on Soundclick.com. Her proudest accomplishment thus far, has been an invitation to perform at a weekday show at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville!
Having honed her skills with intensive one-on-one mentoring sessions with songwriting gurus John Braheny, Rick Beresford, and Debi Cochran, Monica continues to develop her songwriting craft.
Monica has studied voice with blues great, Gaye Adegbalola. Kirstie Manna has also mentored Monica on the many aspects of her stage performance as a blues artist. Monica is excited to share her words and music with you!
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