Fatt Max digs deeper and deeper each month into the music of early foundation blues artists. Here's this months episode featuring great tracks from the likes of Lead belly, Lightening Hopkins, Robert Johnson and many many more! Enjoy.
Lead belly - Well You Know I Had To Do It
Lead belly - New York City
Lead belly - New Orleans
Mississippi John Hurt - Avalon Blues
Bessie Smith - If You Don’t I Know Who Will
Kokomo Arnold - Wild Water Blues
Brownie McGhee - Prison Woman Blues
John Lee Williamson - Shake The Boogie
Lightning Hopkins - Morning Blues
Blind Boy Fuller (April featured artist) - Catman Blues
My good blues lovin' friend, Kevin Johnson, of Proud Papa Promotions & Publicity, used to work for Delmark Records in Chicago. Kevin now has his own independent radio promotions and press/publicity/PR company, concentrating on real deal blues! When he sent me a copy of 'Howlin' At Greaseland' (West Tone Records) I knew I'd be in for a good hit of solid blues. And I was right!
Howlin' At Greaseland is tribute to the legend Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976). Wolf is blues, there's no doubt about it. Several of his songs, including Smokestack Lightnin', Killing Floor and Spoonful, have become blues and blues rock standards the world over. On this album of 14 tracks, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer, Kid Anderson, brings together some of the most accomplished musicians this side of Wolf's life, to recreate and cover some of Wolf's most outstanding songs. It's not that Howlin' At Greaseland is trying to outdo or better Wolf's genius, rather it's paying homage to a true blues legend that I'm sure all the artists involved love and admire.
Produced by Andersen at Greaseland Studios, Howlin' At Greaseland features many great artists such as Rick Estrin, Johnny Cat, Tail Dragger, Rockin’ Johnny Burgin, Jim Pugh, Henry Gray (played piano for Wolf), Terry Hanck, Ali Kumar and many more.
There's some good banter and stories in between songs thanks to Anderson for keeping the tapes rollin. I just think the whole album is brilliant. It captures today's prmier West Coast and Chicago players very well. I highly recommend you pick yourself up a copy soon! I spin a few songs I like from Howlin' At Greaseland plus some other massive tracks that also pay tribute to the legend, Howlin' Wolf. Ahhhh whooooo, whooooo (*in the accent of Howlin' Wolf). Enjoy!
Playlist
1 Barrelhouse Chuck & Kim Wilson's Blues AllStars - Three Hundred Pounds Of Joy
2 James Blood Ulmer - Evil
3 Eric Clapton & Wynton Marsalis - Forty-Four
4 Bill Sims Jr. - Back Door Man
5 Greaseland AllStars - Smokestack Lighnin'
7 Greaseland AllStars - Howlin' For My Darling
8 Greaseland AllStars - Worried Life Blues
9 Greaseland AllStars - Spoonful
10 Johnny Winter with Paul Nelson - Killing Floor
11 Michael Powers - I Ain't Superstitious
12 Satan & Adam - Little Red Rooster
16 Howlin' Wolf - Sittin' On Top Of The World
This episode of The Blues Room was first aired on FreeFM89.0 in New Zealand
4. Chuck Berry with the Steve Miller Blues Band - Fillmore Auditorium Introduction - June 27, 1967
5. Rockin' At The Fillmore (instrumental)
6. Everyday I Have The Blues
7. Driftin' Blues
8. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
9. Chuck Berry - Lanchester Arts Festival Introduction - February 3, 1972
10. Roll Over Beethoven
11. Nadine
12. Sweet Little Sixteen
13. Reelin' And Rockin'
14. Johnny B. Goode
BIOGRAPHY
Chuck Berry’s music has transcended generations. He earns respect to this day because he is truly an entertainer. Berry, also known as “The Father of Rock & Roll,” gained success by watching the audience’s reaction and playing accordingly, putting his listeners’ amusement above all else. For this reason, tunes like “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene” and “Memphis” have become anthems to an integrated American youth and popular culture. Berry is a musical icon who established rock and roll as a musical form and brought the worlds of black and white together in song.
Born in St. Louis on October 18, 1926 Berry had many influences on his life that shaped his musical style. He emulated the smooth vocal clarity of his idol, Nat King Cole, while playing blues songs from bands like Muddy Waters. For his first stage performance, Berry chose to sing a Jay McShann song called “Confessin’ the Blues.” It was at his high school’s student musical performance, when the blues was well-liked but not considered appropriate for such an event. He got a thunderous applause for his daring choice, and from then on, Berry had to be onstage.
GUITAR LESSONS
Berry took up the guitar after that, inspired by his partner in the school production. He found that if he learned rhythm changes and blues chords, he could play most of the popular songs on the radio at the time. His friend, Ira Harris, showed him techniques on the guitar that would become the foundation of Berry’s original sound. Then in 1952, he began playing guitar and singing in a club band whose song list ranged from blues to ballads to calypso to country. Berry was becoming an accomplished showman, incorporating gestures and facial expressions to go with the lyrics.
It was in 1953 that Chuck Berry joined the Sir John’s Trio (eventually renamed the Chuck Berry Combo), which played the popular Cosmopolitan Club in St. Louis. Country-western music was big at the time, so Berry decided to use some of the riffs and create his own unique hillbilly sound. The black audience thought he was crazy at first, but couldn’t resist trying to dance along with it. Since country was popular with white people, they began to come to the shows, and the audience was at some points almost 40 percent white. Berry’s stage show antics were getting attention, but the other band members did their parts as well. In his own words: “I would slur my strings to make a passage that Johnnie (Johnson) could not produce with piano keys but the answer would be so close that he would get a tremendous ovation. His answer would sound similar to some that Jerry Lee Lewis’s fingers later began to flay.”
SOME GOOD ADVICE
Later in 1955, Berry went on a road trip to Chicago, where he chanced upon a club where his idol, Muddy Waters, was performing. He arrived late and only heard the last song, but when it was over he got the attention of Waters and asked him who to see about making a record. Waters replied, “Yeah, Leonard Chess. Yeah, Chess Records over on Forty-seventh and Cottage.” Berry went there on Monday and discovered it was a blues label where greats like Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley recorded. He didn’t have any tapes to show, but Chess was willing to listen if he brought some back from St. Louis. So Berry went home and recorded some originals, including the would-be “Maybellene,” then called “Ida May,” and drove back to Chicago later that week to audition. Much to Berry’s surprise, it was that hillbilly number that caught Chess’ attention. Berry was signed to Chess Records and in the summer of 1955, “Maybellene” reached #5 on the Pop Charts and #1 on the R&B Charts. Through Chuck Berry, Chess Records moved from the R&B genre into the mainstream and Berry himself was on his way to stardom.
THE REST IS HISTORY
Berry continued his success with such hits as “Brown-Eyed Man,” “Too Much Monkey Business,” “Memphis,” “Roll Over, Beethoven!” and “Johnny B. Goode.” “Johnny B. Goode” is Berry’s masterpiece, as it brought together all the elements of Berry’s unique musical sound. It cemented his place in rock history and led to fame in the 1950s. His popularity garnered him television and movie appearances and he toured frequently.
Berry’s incredible success is due to his ability to articulate the concerns and attitudes of his audience in his music. At the height of his success, Berry was a 30-year-old black man singing to a mostly white, teenage audience. Dubbed the “Eternal Teenager,” Chuck Berry’s knowledge of the pop market made it possible for him to break color barriers and play to an integrated audience.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Berry’s music was the inspiration for such groups as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Berry had a number of comeback recordings and in 1972 had the first and only #1 Pop Chart hit of his career with “My Ding-A-Ling. 1986 fittingly saw him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the very first inductee in history. As a tribute to his pervasiveness in the realm of rock, a clip of “Johnny B. Goode” was chosen played in the Voyager I spacecraft, proving Chuck Berry and his rock legacy are truly out of this world.
This is LIVE Recording Wednesday on The Blues Room and in this episode we feature The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac & His Music
1. Right Place Wrong Time by Dr. John & Bruce Springsteen
2. Please Send Me Someone To Love by Dr. John, Aaron Neville & Charles Neville
3. Junko Partner by George Porter Jr. & Zigaboo Modeliste
4. Since I Fell For You by Irma Thomas
5. Stack-A-Lee by Tab Benoit
6. Life by Allen Toussaint
7. Familiar Reality by Widespread Panic & Dirty Dozen Brass Band
8. Lay My Burden Down by Mavis Staples
9. New Orleans by John Fogerty
10. Such A Night by Dr. John & Sarah Morrow
11. Big Chief by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux
"It was very moving to have all these people paying tribute to me, but I just treated it like it was another show," Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and six-time GRAMMY®-winner Dr. John says of The Musical Mojo of Dr. John: A Celebration of Mac & His Music.
Released on October 14, 2016 via Concord Records the expansive live tribute set, created and produced by Keith Wortman, CEO of Blackbird Presents, is a powerful testament to the far-ranging influence and indomitable musical spirit of the iconic New Orleans singer/pianist/guitarist. Encompassing a two-CD, Blu-ray and DVD package along with a stand-alone two-CD version, The Musical Mojo of Dr. John captures a star-studded concert at New Orleans' Saenger Theatre, with Dr. John joined by a stunningly diverse assortment of notable guest artists, who perform 22 songs written, recorded and/or popularized by Dr. John during his prolific six-decade career, honoring his large and still-growing musical legacy.
The performers include Bruce Springsteen, who duets with Dr. John on the 1973 smash "Right Place Wrong Time"; Jason Isbell, who delivers a heartfelt "Blow Wind Blow"; John Fogerty, who performs the raucous Crescent City anthem "New Orleans"; Mavis Staples, who brings gospel fervor to "Lay My Burden Down"; Widespread Panic, who lend musical muscle to "Familiar Reality"; and Ryan Bingham, who delivers a haunting "Back by the River."
Before her roar was silenced in 2009, the Queen of the Blues reigned over the annual Chicago Blues Festival weekend. In 1994, she had arrived with a new album, Force of Nature, and been honored by the Chicago City mayor as well as being awarded with the W.C. Handy Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. Koko Taylor was also about to open her own club in Chicago, but she put time aside to headline the last night. As with all of her performances, it's a jubilant and powerful Taylor that stands at the mic spreading an education and joy to others. God save the Queen of the Blues!
Koko Taylor - Live At The Chicago Blues Festival 1994
For many years Nate has been following a vintage blues radio show hosted by Jeff Harris called Big Road Blues. Jeff presents his 2-hour show each Sunday from 5 to 7 PM (EST) on WGMC Jazz90.1 (Rochester, NY) and it streams live on the web from http://www.jazz901.org/listen-live/. Jeff has kindly given permission for Big Road Blues to be re-run on The Blues Room each month, on the second Wednesday. This episode here is a classic example of what you'll hear from Jeff; superb tracks, great commentary, and a taste of classic and often rare and forgotten blues. As Jeff's shows are two hours long, Nate will post a link for listeners to check out the second half of his show. For archived shows of Big Road Blues please check out http://sundayblues.org/. So a big thank you goes out to Jeff and we look forward to sharing some of his outstanding shows on The Blues Room.
"Today's show is a part one of our look at some great New York based sax men who's honkin' sound was heard on hundreds of records in the 40's and 50's. This show is one of several sax based shows this year starting a few months ago with a two-part show of Chicago horn men , followed by two spotlighting some great L.A. Horn blowers. Illinois Jacquet is cited as the one who kicked off the era of honkin' sax in 1945 with his famous solo on "Flying Home" while working with Lionel Hampton's band. As Big Jay McNeely said of of the song, "every time we picked up our horns we were just elaborating on that, trying to make it bigger, wilder, give it more swing, more kick. If you want to know where rhythm and blues began, that's it brother." Today we spin some great honkin' sax records, some cut by the horn men themselves and others featuring their raucous playing behind some great blues singers, both well known and obscure. The records were issued on a myriad of small New York independent labels labels such as Atlas, Derby, Coral, Apollo, Groove, Fire/Fury, Savoy and bigger players such as King and Atlantic. Along the way we'll hear some exciting instrumentals and hear them back some terrific blues singers, both famous like Wynonie Harris, Big Joe Turner and Ruth Brown, to the obscure such as Eddie Mack, Mr. Bear and Edna McGriff. Among those featured today are legendary horn men such as Hal Singer and Freddie Mitchell who played on countless sessions as well as recording some exciting sides under their own names. Then there were sax men primarily know for their session work such as the prolific Sam “The Man” Taylor, Budd Johnson and Big Al Sears. There were the sax men who led their own bands and were stars in their own right such as Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams, Red Prysock, Earl Bostic and Bullmoose Jackson. Others heard today include the incendiary Noble “Thin Man” Watts, the rising star King Curtis, Willis “Gator” Jackson, Buddy Lucas, Frank Culley and others. On part two we'll spin more great tracks by theses sax men as well as hearing form others such as Sil Austin, Buddy Tate, Charlie Singleton and more. We'll provide some background on some of today's artists and fill in details about the rest next week." Read more at Jeff's site: Sunday Blues
Big Road Blues Show :: Jookin' – Honkin' Sax From New York Pt. 1
Nearly four hours of live performances from Eric Clapton's acclaimed Crossroads Guitar Festival are coming to CD for the first time. This new 3 disc collection coming out now on Rhino will feature 41 tracks of landmark performances from all four Crossroads Guitar Festivals, which were held in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Founded in 2004 by the legendary guitarist, Eric Clapton, the Crossroads Guitar Festival has given fans an opportunity to witness truly historic performances by some of the world's greatest guitarists. While fans have been able to relive those magical moments thanks to a series of successful DVD and Blu-ray compilations, only a few of those performances have made their way to CD.
A veritable "Who's Who" of guitar music can be heard on this set, including Clapton, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Robert Cray, Billy F Gibbons, Vince Gill, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Mayer, Carlos Santana, Joe Walsh, Ronnie Wood, and Jimmie Vaughn, just to name a few. Naturally, the all-star jams deliver some of the collection s most unforgettable moments.
Held every three years since 2004, the Crossroads Guitar Festival raises funds for the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, a treatment and education facility that Clapton founded in 1998 to help people suffering from chemical dependency.
Nate has selected some of his favorite performances from Crossroads festivals, including a tune by Taj Mahala nd Keb Mo which wasn't included on the 3 CD release. Enjoy!
1. Rock Me Baby – Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, B.B. King & Jimmie Vaughan [2004]
2. Drums Of Passion (Jingo) – Carlos Santana with Eric Clapton [2004]
3. Hell At Home – Sonny Landreth with Eric Clapton [2007]
4. Mas Y Mas – Los Lobos [2007]
5. Lay Down Sally – Vince Gill with Sheryl Crow, Keb’ Mo’, Albert Lee, James Burton & Earl Klugh [2010]
6. Five Long Years – Buddy Guy with Jonny Lang & Ronnie Wood [2010]
7. Born Under A Bad Sign – Booker T. with Steve Cropper, Keb’ Mo’, Blake Mills, Matt “Guitar” Murphy & Albert Lee [2013]
8. Please Come Home – Gary Clark Jr. [2013]
9. Diving Duck Blues - Taj Mahal and Keb Mo [2013]
Please check out the free downloads made available by Mark Hill aka Jellybone Slim, and while you're at it, click on the links for the other artists featured in this episode of The Blues Room, there sure is some great music out there. Enjoy!
1. Bessie Smith - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
All blues VINYL SHOTS in this episode thanks to Ivan at Nivara Lounge. If any of you are in Hamilton and want to come up on air sometime to spin your blues vinyl/music just holla!
1. Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band - All Night Long
2. Muddy Waters - Got My Brand On You
3. Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man
4. Buddy Guy - Stone Crazy
5. Johnny Shines - Won't You Tell Me Mama
6. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Midnight Special
7. Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle
8. Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson & The New Hawks - Walkin' The Dog
Heres part two of a documentary narrated by Huey Morgan about Blues history in America. The series was produced and directed by Mick Gold and featured on the BBC. Enjoy!
In this episode you'll hear a documentary narrated by Huey Morgan about Blues history in America. Its a two-part series and part two will follow next week. The series was produced and directed by Mick Gold and featured on the BBC. Enjoy!
B.B. King performs an incredible, instrumental version of "Five Long Years", on his first concert in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1974.#Guitar #GuitarLegends #BBKing #Gibson #BluesGuitar #70s ForgottenGuitar.com
