If you have been following The Blues Room you'll know I dig harmonica, I mean like, really dig it! So heres some 'more' harmonica hotshots for your ears and soul with a special spotlight on a real cool cat by the name of Brandon Santini.
Raised in North Carolina, Brandon relocated to Memphis in 2003 where he began to absorb the sounds and culture of the Delta and north Mississippi Hill Country, honing his craft night after night, sweating it out in local Beale Street clubs just like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, & B.B. King. Check his music out, go buy some of it, see him play live, watch his youtube flicks and spread the word that this cat means business, Brandon Santini is a harmonica hotshot!
The Blues Room # 303, 9 November 2011 1. Craig Bracken - Want My Money Back [NZ]
2. Sugar Ray and the Bluetones - XO
3. Sonny Boy Williamson - The Loneliest Man
4. Blues Etilicos - Kansas City
5. Carlos del Junco - Mashed Potato Canada
6. Charlie Musselwhite and James Cotton - If I Should Have Bad Luck
7. Cyndi Lauper feat. Charlie Musselwhite - Just Your Fool
8. Brandon Santini - You Ruined Poor Me
9. Brandon Santini - Tomcattin' < HOT!
10. Brandon Santini - Evil Woman
11. Brandon Santini - Ida Lee
To download, right click link and select 'save target as...' MP3 or ZIP
Photo: Taken about 1999. Sefton and Oakley, my sons with my harps. I like how Oakley copied my way of cupping the harp. Like father like son, nice.
The Blues Room presents ... Groovin' with Harmonica Hotshots Episode 245, 29 September
New and very tasty tunes from some modern Harmonica Hotshots in this episode for ya! From Alligator Records we have Charlie Musselwhite struttin' some fine blues off his new album The Well. And from Delta Groove Music we bring you new tunes from Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax along with Bob Corritore and his friends.
Enjoy!
1. Charlie Musselwhite - Dig the Pain 2. Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax with William Clarke- Horn of Plenty 3. Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax - The Petroleum Blues 4. Mitch Kashmar and the Pontiax - Let it all fall dead 5. Charlie Musselwhite - Clarksdale Getaway 6. Bob Corritore feat. Koko Taylor - what Kind of Man is This? 7. Bob Corritore feat. Big Pete Pearson - Tin Pan Alley 8. Bo Corritore feat. Little Milton - 6 Bits in your Dollar 9. The Shuffle Tones feat. Ronnie Shellist on Harmonica 10. The Mannish Boys feat. Johnny Dyer - The Same Thing 11. The Mannish Boys feat. Randy Chorkoff - I'm Ready (Tribute to Lester Butler) 12. The Mannish Boys - Reet Petite and Gone
When I heard Charlie Musselwhite was coming back to New Zealand (2006) I knew I had to get along to see him. He was bringing his own band which included Kid Andersen, a Norwegian guitarist who sounds like he grew up in Memphis according to Charlie.
Opening act were two stalwarts in the NZ blues scene, Midge Marsden and Bullfrog Rata, both top acts in and of themselves. So when they teamed up together for Charlie's nationwide Delta Hardware tour they struck the right chord with the crowd.
From start to finish Charlie and his band performed every note on the button, every song to its original form and once again satisfied a full house of blues converts. I say converts because in the truest sense thats what we all are - people who have become profoundly fascinated by the music created by black sharecroppers from the Mississippi Delta. And thanks to people like Charlie Musselwhite we get to hear and experience what could be said as the literal tradition of that original 'stuff' they call Blues.
I caught up with Charlie after the show and took a few photos and asked him a few questions, generally hung out with him - WOW! A real treat. This guy had walked, talked, learnt and drunk (oh yeah quite alot of drinking!) with some of the greatest blues peoples around - Big Walter Horton, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, James Cotton, Will Shade, the list goes on.
When Charlie comes to a town near you, you best go see him, he's a modern day master, nuff said.
Check out what he said about New Zealand to Billy Hutchinson in May 2006 while in London on his Delta Hardware tour.
Billy: Once again you are to tour New Zealand, not a typical blues tour destination. What’s with Charlie Musselwhite and New Zealand?
Musselwhite:There are a lot of blues fans in NZ and some real good blues players there too. It is a beautiful country and I love to go and play there. If you've seen Lord of the Rings then you know how beautiful it is. The people are wonderful and I have many good friends. It’s one of the nicest places in the world: the air is clean, the water is clean, they are environmentally concerned – they are good hearted people – and they LOVE blues.
Here Memphis Charlie brings to the stage Midge Marsden and Bullfrog Rata to help tear the roof off the sucker!
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And here I get to spend some time hanging out with Charlie after the gig. A very genuine guy. Notice the Community Radio Hamilton sticker in his harp case and the pounamu (Greenstone/Jade) taonga/gift/necklace he's wearing ! Mate, he could be one of us E-Z-P-Z!
