Podcasts about Big Joe Williams

Teeny Tucker performs live on the Blues Radio International soundstage at the 2024 Blues Music Awards on Edition 692 of Blues Radio International, with John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, Catfish Keith and Big Joe Williams.Sound by Michael Wolf.  Photograph by Robert Hughes.Find more at BluesRadioInternational.net

Seguimos con una serie de artistas antiguos y más bien desconocidos, es verdad que hace 15 dias abordábamos un disco de George Harmonia Smith, que fue un armonicista muy conocido e interesante pero anteriormente escuchamos a mas o menos artistas inexplorados como Bill Williams, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Big Boy Crudup, Sleepy John Estes, unos más afortunados que otros pero hoy nos toca John Jackson, este si que es bastante, bastante ignorado para la gran mayoría, vamos a escuchar un disco que se titula como la canción con la que hemos abierto, Step it up and go.

English episode! Ausnahmsweise gibt es mal wieder eine Folge von kHz & Bitgeflüster auf Englisch.((This interview with Julia A. Miller, owner of legendary blues and jazz label Delmark Records, has been recorded in English and starts after a short German intro.))Die Gelegenheit, in Chicago mit der Besitzerin eines der ältesten Jazz- und Blues-Labels der USA zu sprechen, konnte Olaf sich nicht entgehen lassen.Seit 1953 gibt es Delmark Records schon, wenn auch ursprünglich als "Delmar Records". Gründer Bob Koester war ein glühender Musikfan und Plattensammler. Mit frühen Aufnahmen von James Crutchfield, Speckled Red oder Big Joe Williams gründete er das Label zunächst in St. Louis, Missouri, und zog 1958 nach Chicago um. Delmark (jetzt mit einem 'k' am Ende) wurde in den 1960ern und 1970ern zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil der Chicagoer Musikszene. Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Roscoe Mitchell oder Sun Ra veröffentlichten ihre ersten Alben auf dem Label. Parallel dazu betreibt Bob Koester einen weltweit bekannte Plattenladen namens Jazz Record Mart.Zeitsprung ins Jahr 2018: Bob Sr. ist bereits deutlich im Rentenalter, seine Frau Sue und sein Sohn Bob Jr. wird die Doppelbelastung mit Plattenladen und Label langsam zu viel. Sie verkaufen Label und das dazugehörige Studio an Julia A. Miller, eine in Chicago ansässige Gitarristin, Musik-Professorin und experimentelle Musikerin. Über ihren musikalischen Werdegang, und wie sie dazu kam, das traditionsreiche Label zu kaufen, erzählt Julia im Gespräch mit Podcast Host-Olaf.Delmark Records: Jazz and Blues since 1953Im Vorfeld der HiFi-Messe Axpona traf sich Olaf im legendären Delmark-Studio mit der Label-Chefin Julia. Das Studio ist zwar "erst" seit den 1990er Jahren an diesem Standort, doch das meiste Equipment vorher bereits in einem anderen Chicagoer Studio jahrzehntelang im Einsatz gewesen. Unter anderem werden bei Delmark heute noch Aufnahmen mit einem Steinway-Klavier von 1917 gemacht.Delmark Records fühlt sich ganz offensichtlich der amerikanischen Musiktradition verpflichtet, die das Label mit geprägt hat, und ganz besonders der Musikszene von Chicago. Junior Wells und Buddy Guy waren zu ihrer Zeit die jungen Wilden und fanden bei Delmark und in den Clubs der Metropole am Lake Michigan ihr Publikum. Mit Sun Ra, Roscoe Mitchell oder dem Art Ensemble of Chicago entstand hier später eine neue Jazz-Avantgarde.Dieses Erbe zu erhalten, zu pflegen und für Musikfans auf der ganzen Welt zugänglich zu machen, ist eine Motivation für Julia und das Delmark-Team. Doch auch neue Musiker:innen sollen nicht zu kurz kommen, denn davon hat Chicago nach wie vor reichlich zu bieten.Im Podcast unterhalten sich Julia und Olaf über die bewegte Geschichte von Delmark Records, über die Zukunft des Labels, aber auch über Julias spannenden Werdegang als Musikerin, Dozentin, Experimental-Künstlerin und Ton-Meisterin.Die vollständigen Shownotes zur Folge mit vielen Musiktipps von Julia findest du auf HIFI.DE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1938, three years before his death, the legendary Jelly Roll Morton sat down to record a series of Library of Congress interviews with noted folklorist Alan Lomax, who called the results “a virtual history of the birth pangs of jazz as it happened in the New Orleans of the turn of the century.”Along the way, Morton elaborated on his narrative with various songs, including one he called “Winin' Boy Blues,” a tune that contains more anomalies than a Salvador Dali canvas.You can start with the song's authorship. Some credit Morton as its composer, perhaps as a musical tribute to himself. Others believe Jelly Roll heard it in his youth as a folk tune about the sportin' life in his native Crescent City.What About the Title?Then there are the questions about that title. Transcripts of the original Lomax interviews preserve the song as “Winin' Boy Blues.” Subsequent recordings, however, have called it “Whinin' Boy,” based on what later listeners think they hear Morton actually saying in the audio of those interviews. Each opinion has its advocates.The “Winin' Boy” school of thought contends “winin'” is a double contraction of the word winding, the term presumably meant to celebrates the sexual dexterity of the song's protagonist.A smaller — and perhaps less convincing — class of followers in this same group think “winin'” refers instead to the boy's love of wines. Some even go so far as to suggest the song's boy got his name from his habit of collecting all the near-empty wine bottles after a night's debauchery, pouring them together into one glass and drinking it down.Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, commentators contend the word is “whine” because a whining boy, they say, is old New Orleans slang for a pimp. Or, in a variation, that he was a youngster who sat outside a brothel with his guitar and/or harmonica or just his voice; then when he saw police coming, he would "whine" a specific song/tune as an alert to the people inside the house.Take your pick. Wind, wine or whine.Don't DenyThe music's mysteries don't stop there. Morton's opening lyric is: I'm the W(h)inin' Boy, don't deny my name.How does a name get denied? And why? And by whom? The good folks over at the Internet's fun Mudcat Cafe (mudcat.org) have had wonderful discussions on this bit of verse.A contributor known only as “Amos” noted, “Having your name ‘denied' (denigrated or made nothing of) is part of the general burden of debasement that blues like these are born in.“Similar complaints from other parts of the forest,” he added, include: “Just 'cuz I'm a stranger, everybody wanna dog me around…” (e.g. Howlin' Wolf).Stavin' What?At least one more of the song's curiosities calls for exegesis. Lower in the same opening verse, Jelly Roll growled: Pick it up and shake it like sweet Stavin' Chain.Like, uh, say what?Well, let's start with the fact that there was an actual tool called a “staving chain” used in the old days of barrel-making. It was a length of chain with a loop on one end (like a dog choker collar) used to pull the staves of a barrel together so that the hoops could be driven in. “Stavin' chain” also popped up in prison culture as the name of a similar chain pulled around inmates' ankles to hold chain gangs together.And, as you might imagine, we once again are not far from sex in this search. A much smaller stavin' chain — made of little smooth links — was said to be used as a sexual aid to help a man "stave off" ejaculation during a frolic. (We'll just leave it at that and let you and your vivid, virile imagination take it from there.)Stavin' Who?By the way, in the Lomax interviews, Morton noted that “Stavin' Chain” was not only a what but a who. “Stavin' Chain” was the name of a pimp, he said, who was “supposed to have more women in this district than any other pimp.”As a trickster in African American legend, “Stavin' Chain” figures prominently in later recordings by Lil Johnson and by Big Joe Williams. A 1937 Johnson recording, for example, identified “Stavin' Chain” as the chief engineer on a train, a big, strong man who could make love all night long. In 1939 when John and Ruby Lomax were recording songs by prisoners at Ramsey State Farm in Brazoria County, Texas, they found at least two different inmates claiming to be the original “Stavin' Chain.”Footnote: Oh Mary…Oh, and if you remember our earlier discussion of Kentucky-born musicologist Mary Guthrie Wheeler, who wrote 1944's Steamboatin' Days: Folk Songs of the River Packet Era, you might get a kick out of knowing of her unintentionally hilarious difficulties in trying to collect a version of "Stavin' Chain" for her book. You got to wonder what wizened old stevedores thought when she approached, in all innocence, asking them to sing to her about this “stavin' chain” she had heard so much about.Our Take on the TuneWhatever its mysteries, Jelly Roll Morton's tune has always resonated with us. We love how this century-old song just eases on down and settles into a groove on any sultry summer night.And, hey, here's a shout-out to Floodster Sam St. Clair. We seldom can accompany these weekly podcasts with video, like the one that tops this report. We're grateful that Sam happened to have his camera running when this tune got played at a recent rehearsal. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com

Today's show features music performed by Big Joe Williams and Fats Domino

Saludos de Carlos Díez y sean bienvenidos a un nuevo programa de Blues Syndicate allá donde ustedes residan o quieran escucharlo. Hoy, vamos a escuchar un disco juntos de una gran figura, el gran Big Joe Williams y su disco para Delmark, Piney Woods Blues. Es cierto, que últimamente nos estamos deteniendo más asiduamente en el sello Delmark que en otros sellos, es solo pura casualidad pero también hay que decir que el catálogo de esta discográfica como he dicho en más de una ocasión es impresionante. Como siempre nos dejamos guiar por el productor y supervisor, además de jefe Robert Koester que en esta ocasión hace un alegato más que nada al blues como estilo musical que en ese momento de 1955 estaba surgiendo o que empezaba a resurgir, algo que nunca nadie se pone de acuerdo. No hay mucha información sobre la vida y obra de nuestro protagonista de hoy, Big Joe Williams, pero eso lo puedes subsanar si me haces un poco de caso y buceas por el blog de Blues Syndicate y encontraras una entrada realizada el 23 de abril del 2013 con un especial sobre Big Joe Williams, viene especificado como el programa número 200 que realice a los cinco años de empezar dicho blog.

La sala de conciertos Mojo Club de Tarragona, uno de nuestros refugios para el rocknroll en directo, anuncia el cierre de puertas y organiza una despedida a lo grande. Entre el 27 de y el 31 de marzo y en el marco del Mojofest pasarán por su escenario 27 bandas de todos nuestros estilos favoritos.(Foto del podcast; Ricky Gil and Biscuit)  Playlist;RICKY GIL and BISCUIT “La curva del morrot” (Artefactes sonors de l'underground català, 2023)EH MERTXE! “Lo sabes bien” (Lo sabes bien, 2022)EXFAN “Nada es verdad” (Pura luz, 2023)THE LOOKERS “By mistake” (Sabotage, 2023)MOSSEN BRAMIT MORERA i ELS MORTS “Swing dels Morts” (Cadavers exquisits, 2023)THE PICKIN BOPPERS “My teeth are floating” (Individual songs EP, 2023)RINGO RANGO “Sótano” (Ringotones, 2024)BORDESTONES “Flores muertas” (Ringotones, 2024)LA PERRA BLANCO “Dream about” (Get it out, 2024)ANNA DUKKE “Shake your soul” (Blck hopney EP, 2024)THE LAZY TONES “Baby please don’t go” (The Laundry sessions, 2024)Versión y Original; THEM “Baby please don’t go” (1964)Versión y Original; THE ORIOLES “Baby please don’t go” (1951)Versión y Original; BIG JOE WILLIAMS “Baby please don’t go” (1935)LOS MALINCHES “Hechicera” (single, 2024)THE LIMBOOS “Hangin’ up” (Off the loop, 2024)Escuchar audio

When a young Black woman came to town  in the 1920's came to town to make a blues record, she accomplished that and more. Having had a successful recording career in her youth, she decided to form a record label that would keep older blues musicians recording. Just press play to hear the whole story. —— — Click on search links to see if there are episodes with related content: Andrew Wanko, Black History, Women's History, Music, Business, Arts, Entertainment, and Culture, Podcast Transcript: I'm Andrew Wanko, Public Historian of the Missouri Historical Society, and Here's history on 88.1, KDHX. —— In 1926, teenager Victoria Spivey sat alone and nervous on a 600-mile, one-way train ride bound for St. Louis. It was a city bigger than any she'd ever seen during her Texas childhood, and a place where she knew no one. But more than anything, Victoria Spivey wanted to make a hit blues record, and St. Louis was where to do it. ——— At the DeLuxe Music Shoppe on Market Street, she sat down at the store's piano, and belted out her chilling original song “Black Snake Blues.” Within a week the obvious hit was being pressed in New York City, and it would sell countless thousands of copies within the year. She became a staff songwriter for the St. Louis Publishing Company, and in 1927 scored her next smash hit. The socially conscious “T.B. Blues” chronicled the discrimination faced by the era's victims of tuberculosis. ——— With an animated voice and distinct nasal moan she called her “tiger squall,” Victoria Spivey captivated 1920s listeners across dozens more records. When the Great Depression dissolved recording opportunities, Spivey pivoted to become an actress. In 1929 she starred in King Vidor's film Hallelujah!, among the earliest major Hollywood productions to feature an all-black cast. The following April, she graced the front cover of The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP.  ——— Victoria Spivey retired from show business by 1950, but as the folk revival of the 1960s took hold, a new generation of fans on both sides of the Atlantic were seeking her out. In 1962 she founded Spivey Records, and got other older blues musicians – including former St. Louisans Lonnie Johnson and Big Joe Williams - recording again for new audiences. On one Spivey Records recording session, an almost completely unknown young folk singer named Bob Dylan provided backing vocals and harmonica. He wouldn't remain unknown for long, and he and Victoria remained good friends. You can find a picture of them side by side on the jacket of Dylan's 1970 album New Morning, released just six years before Victoria Spivey passed away. ——— Here's History is a joint production of the Missouri Historical Society and KDHX. I'm Andrew Wanko, and this is 88.1 KDHX, St. Louis. ———

Ry Cooder was an early starter. He got his first guitar at the age of four, was playing the records of his favorite blues musicians by the age of twelve, and was performing on stage at the famous folk club The Ash Grove by the age of fifteen. This episode describes his childhood and youth up to his first gigs with Jackie DeShannon and Pamela Polland.This podcast frequently uses small snippets of musical recordings in podcast episodes for educational, review, and commentary purposes. In all cases, without exception, we believe this is protected by fair use in the U.S., fair dealing in the U.K. and EEA, and similar exceptions in the copyright laws of other nations. No more of the original than necessary is used, and excerpts are edited into long-form narratives, making the use transformative in nature.Written, produced and edited by Frank SchnelleTheme and background music by Chris HaugenAdditional background music The Mini VandalsFollow us on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTubeSupport us on PatreonAsh Grove live recordings at https://www.wolfgangs.comRy Cooder on Big Joe Williams at https://youtube.com/watch?v=c98Jv3tCWTc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Time for another great edition of Blues is the Truth, This week's show is full of amazing new track and some serious classics with songs from Buddy Guym, Stevie Watts Organ Trio, Joe Louis Walker, Sam Butera, Rory Block, Great West Groove, Bobby Blue Bland and BB KIng, Adam Norsworthy, Alice Di Micele, Laurence Jones, Bill Filipiak, Money Waters, Dani Wilde, The Bluesbones, Chris Duarte, Daniel Smith , Earl Hooker, Hugh Laurie, Johnny Adams, Redtenbacher's Funkestra with Jo Harman, Epi K Paradox, Ron Sexsmith, Mick Clarke, Big Joe Williams, Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion and Eric Clapton. It's a packed edition and all you need to do is press play! Please remember to like, review, share, and subscribe to the show on social media and your podcast platform of choice and join us on the show's Facebook Group at facebook.com/groups/bluesisthetruth

It's time for another fabulous edition of blues is the Truth and once again we've let the gods of the shuffle button take over with another Random Play Special (TM)... those gods have been kind and gifted us some real gems so get ready to enjoy tracks from Corey Harris, JW Jones, Rick Estrin and the Nightcats, Luther Allison, Ramon Goose, Derek and the Dominos, Robert Cray, Richard Townend, Pinetop Perkins and Willie Big Eyes Dixon, Books Williams, Redd Foxx, Jake Leg Jug Band, Eric Clapton, Rita Engedalen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Hokie Joint, Roomful of Blues, Gary Moore, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Matt Lomeo, Patrick Sweaney, Big Joe Williams, Reverend Raven and the Chainsmokin' Altar Boys and Eddie Boyd. As always it's a packed show! Make sure to like share and review the podcast on your platform of choice and join us in the show's Facebook group at facebook.com/groups/bluesisthetruth

 | Artist  | Title  | Album Name  | Album Copyright | Derek Holt and Richard Jones  | Waiting For Payday  | Shadowman  |  | W.C. Handy Preservation Band - Carl Wolfe  | Way Down South Where The Blues Began  | W.C. Handy's Beale Street: Where The Blues Began | Robert Johnson  | Hell Hound On My Trail  | The Complete Recordings;  The Centennial Collection | Kirk Fletcher  | Ain't No Cure For The Downharted  | My Blues Pathway  |  | Stevie Watts Organ Trio Featuring Alice Armstrong  | Camden Starling  | LIve at Peggy's Skylight | Eric Clapton  | All Our Past Times  | JUST ONE NIGHT (LIVE AT THE BUDOKAN) | Mary Flower  | I Almost Lost My Mind  | Ladyfingers  |  | Charlie McCoy  | Motherless And Fatherless Blues  | When The Levee Breaks, Mississippi Blues (Rare Cuts CD C)  | 2007 JSP  Records | Cripple Clarence Lofton  | Deep End Boogie (Southend Boogie)  | Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1939-1943) | Big Joe Williams  | Little Leg Woman  | Essential Blues Masters | Little Richard  | Precious Lord Take My Hand  | Little Richard Goes Gospel | Chuck Berry  | Havana Moon  | The Ultimate Collection cd 1 | Joanna Connor  | It's Not The Rock  | Slidetime  |   |  | Jeff Healey  | Yer Blues (Live)  | Holding On  |  | Too Slim And The Taildraggers  | Twisted Rails (slight return)  | Blood Moon  |  | Peter Parcek  | Pat Hare  | Peter Parcek  | 

Big Joe Williams and Lots more

Nuevo episodio de la serie Diversiones. Recordamos grandes canciones del pop y el rocknroll del siglo XX a manos de bandas y artistas de generaciones posteriores. Playlist; (sintonía) LOS TIKI PHANTOMS “Ni tu ni nadie” (Alaska y Dinarama) SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS “Funnel of love” (Wanda Jackson) MIKE NESS “Big iron” (Marty Robbins) JESSE DAYTON “Whole lotta Rosie” (ACDC) AC/DC “Baby please don’t go” (Big Joe Williams) DUCKS DELUXE “Here comes the night” (Lulu) DEE JAY “Gloria” (Them) THE SHAKE SPEARS “Summertime” (Helen Jepson) THE VINDICTIVES “What a wonderful world” (Louis Armstrong) THE TOY DOLLS “No particular place to go” (Chuck Berry) THE PROCLAIMERS “Whole wide world” (Wreckless Erik) DOWN BY LAW “(I’m gonna be) 500 miles” (The Proclaimers) MITCH EASTER “Shiny happy people” (REM) PRIMAL SCREAM “Gimme some truth” (John Lennon) LOU REED “This magic moment” (The Drifters) TED LEO “Heroes” (David Bowie) Escuchar audio

Intro Song –  Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith with Mississippi Heat, “What Cha Say?”, Warning Shot First Set - 
 Dave Weld & The Imperial Flames, “Don't Ever Change Your Ways”, Nightwalk
 James Wheeler, “Ready!”, Ready!
 Big Joe Williams, “Jump, Baby - Jump!”, nine string guitar blues 

Second Set – Junior Wells, “Juke”, live at Theresa'a 1975 Memphis Slim and his House Rocker featuring Matt “Guitar” Murphy, “Cool Down Baby”, The Come Back 
Mike Wheeler, “Self Made Man”, Self Made Man

 Third Set – WIB
 Demetria Taylor, “Bad Girl”, Bad Girl
 Grana Louise, “Big Dick, M'isipi”, Gettin' Kinda Rough!
 Sharon Lewis and Texas Fire, “The Real Deal”, Grown Ass Woman
 Zora Young, “Livin' In The USA”, Learned My Lesson 
Fourth Set – Otis Rush, “It Takes Time”, All Your Love I Miss Loving-Live At The Wise Fools Pub, Chicago
 T-Bone Walker, “I Hate To See You Go”, I Want A Little Girl
 Jimmy Burns, “Shake Your Boogie”, Leaving Here Walking


The recording session with Victoria Spivey & Big Joe Williams, playing some tunes at a NYC apartment gathering, finishing "Let Me Die in My Footsteps, writing "Talking Folklore Center," and, of course, the debut of his first album: join us for a tour of Bob Dylan's professional life in March of 1962 as we travel "A Highway of Diamonds" back 60 years ago to the month. A 60th anniversary is a diamond anniversary, so this week, and throughout the year, we will periodically take a trip on "a highway of diamonds," exploring the events of Bob Dylan's career sixty years ago. This week, we listen to what Bob Dylan was up to in March of 1962. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in March of 1962 and March of 2022. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "You're No Good" better: Jesse Fuller or Bob Dylan off his debut album released on March 19, 1962? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

L.A. WOMAN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION includes the original album newly remastered by The Doors' longtime engineer and mixer Bruce Botnick, two bonus discs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the stereo mix of the original album on 180-gram virgin vinyl. For this new collection, the original album has been expanded with more than two hours of unreleased recordings taken from the sessions for L.A. Woman, allowing the listener to experience the progression of each song as it developed in the studio. An early demo for “Hyacinth House” recorded at Robby Krieger's home studio in 1969 is also included.  The outtakes feature Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek working in the studio with two additional musicians. The first was rhythm guitarist Marc Benno, who worked with Leon Russell in The Asylum Choir. The other was bassist Jerry Scheff, who was a member of Elvis Presley's TCB band.Among the outtakes of album tracks, you can also hear the band joyously ripping through the kinds of classic blues songs that Morrison once described as “original blues.” There are great takes of Junior Parker's “Mystery Train,” John Lee Hooker's “Crawling King Snake,” Big Joe Williams' “Baby Please Don't Go,” and “Get Out Of My Life Woman,” Lee Dorsey's funky 1966 classic, written by his producer Allen Toussaint.In the collection's extensive liner notes, veteran rock journalist David Fricke explores the whirlwind making of the album, which would be the last with Morrison, who died in Paris a few months after its release. “Morrison may never have come back to The Doors,” he writes. “But with his death, L.A. Woman became rebirth, achievement, and finale, all at once. It's the blues too – original blues, as Morrison promised. Fifty years later, there is still nothing like it.”This episode is from an archive from the KPFK program Profiles adapted for podcast. Host Maggie LePique, a radio veteran since the 1980's at NPR in Kansas City Mo. She began her radio career in Los Angeles in the early 1990's and has worked for Pacifica station KPFK Radio in Los Angeles since 1994. Source: https://robbykrieger.comSource: https://store.thedoors.com/products/l-a-woman-50th-anniversary-deluxe-edition-3-cd-1-lpSupport the show

Fats Waller "Winter Weather"Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Radio, Radio"Loretta Lynn "Van Lear Rose"Cedric Burnside "Keep On Pushing"Ruth Brown "It's Raining"Lightnin' Hopkins "Penitentiary Blues"Billie Holiday "That's All I Ask of You"Stack Waddy "Repossession Boogie"Bull Moose Jackson "Big 10 Inch Record (Remastered)"The Both "Honesty Is No Excuse"Tom Waits "I Never Talk to Strangers"Jolie Holland "Mad Tom Of Bedlam"The Foc'sle Singers "Haul on the Bowline"Shannon McNally "John Finch / Swing Me Easy"Dwight Yoakam Duet with Maria McKee "Bury Me (2006 Remaster)"Floyd Dixon "Hey Bartender"Ted Hawkins "I Got What I Wanted"Lucero "When You Found Me"R.L. Burnside "Poor Black Mattie"Joe Calicott "Fare Thee Well Blues"Various "Shout, Lula With The Red Dress On"Buddy Guy "Baby Please Don't Leave Me"Bonnie 'Prince' Billy "May It Always Be"Duke Ellington "Creole Love Call"Hank Williams "Be Careful of Stones That You Throw"Chris Robinson "Over the Hill"Pee Wee King "Oh Monah"Victoria Spivey, Roosvelt Sykes, Lonnie Johnson, Big Joe Williams & Bob Dylan "All You Men"Jerry Lee Lewis "It Hurt Me So"Aretha Franklin "Never Grow Old"Shovels & Rope "I'm Comin' Out"Asie Payton "Back To The Bridge"Jimmy Lee Williams "Have You Ever Seen Peaches"Jessie Mae Hemphill "Run Get My Shotgun"Hank Ballard "Sunday Morning Coming Down"R.L. Boyce "R.l.'s Boogie"Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies "Easy Ridin' Papa"Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra "Margie"Josh White "Jelly Jelly"She & Him "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"Jake Xerxes Fussell "Pork and Beans"Marty Stuart "Hey Porter"Chubby "Hip Shakin'" Newsom "Hip Shakin' Mama"Eilen Jewell "Hallelujah Band"Johnny Horton "The Golden Rocket"Wright Holmes "Good Road Blues"The Wandering "In The Pines"Fred McDowell "You Gonna Meet King Jesus"

A February in NYC is cold, so let's duck out of the snow-filled Village streets and set our dial on the wireless radio to hear about a month in the professional life of Bob Dylan from 60 years ago. A 60th anniversary is a diamond anniversary, so this week, and throughout the year, we will periodically take a trip on "a highway of diamonds," exploring the events of Bob Dylan's career sixty years ago. This week, we listen to what Bob Dylan was up to in February of 1962. In "20 Pounds of Headlines," we bring you news from the world of Bob Dylan, both in February of 1962 and February of 2022. In "Who Did It Better?" we ask you to vote and tell us who did "Rambling, Gambling Willie" better: Townes van Zandt or The Clancy Brothers & Robbie O'Connell? Listen to the episode, then go to our Twitter page @RainTrains to vote!

Bob Koester, scomparso qualche mese fa a 89 anni, è stato il fondatore della Delmark Records, una delle più significative etichette discografiche americane.La triste circostanza ci dà lo spunto per ricordare, grazie alla sapiente guida di Riccardo Bertoncelli, la storia di questa label nata nel 1953 con base prima a St. Louis poi a Chicago, che ha documentato soprattutto - ma non solo - la frizzante scena del blues urbano e del jazz d'avanguardia della Windy City.Nel suo sterminato catalogo appaiono – tra i tanti – i nomi di Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Crudup, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam. Più avanti quelli di Byther Smith, Michael Coleman, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie C. Campbell.In ambito jazz hanno registrato per la label Donald Byrd, Bud Powell, Barney Bigard, Sonny Stitt, Ira Sullivan nonché moltissimi esponenti del jazz più avanzato quali Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton e in tempi più recenti Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell , l'Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Bob Koester, scomparso qualche mese fa a 89 anni, è stato il fondatore della Delmark Records, una delle più significative etichette discografiche americane.La triste circostanza ci dà lo spunto per ricordare, grazie alla sapiente guida di Riccardo Bertoncelli, la storia di questa label nata nel 1953 con base prima a St. Louis poi a Chicago, che ha documentato soprattutto - ma non solo - la frizzante scena del blues urbano e del jazz d'avanguardia della Windy City.Nel suo sterminato catalogo appaiono – tra i tanti – i nomi di Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Crudup, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam. Più avanti quelli di Byther Smith, Michael Coleman, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie C. Campbell.In ambito jazz hanno registrato per la label Donald Byrd, Bud Powell, Barney Bigard, Sonny Stitt, Ira Sullivan nonché moltissimi esponenti del jazz più avanzato quali Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton e in tempi più recenti Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell , l'Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Bob Koester, scomparso qualche mese fa a 89 anni, è stato il fondatore della Delmark Records, una delle più significative etichette discografiche americane.La triste circostanza ci dà lo spunto per ricordare, grazie alla sapiente guida di Riccardo Bertoncelli, la storia di questa label nata nel 1953 con base prima a St. Louis poi a Chicago, che ha documentato soprattutto - ma non solo - la frizzante scena del blues urbano e del jazz d'avanguardia della Windy City.Nel suo sterminato catalogo appaiono – tra i tanti – i nomi di Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Crudup, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam. Più avanti quelli di Byther Smith, Michael Coleman, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie C. Campbell.In ambito jazz hanno registrato per la label Donald Byrd, Bud Powell, Barney Bigard, Sonny Stitt, Ira Sullivan nonché moltissimi esponenti del jazz più avanzato quali Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton e in tempi più recenti Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell , l'Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Bob Koester, scomparso qualche mese fa a 89 anni, è stato il fondatore della Delmark Records, una delle più significative etichette discografiche americane.La triste circostanza ci dà lo spunto per ricordare, grazie alla sapiente guida di Riccardo Bertoncelli, la storia di questa label nata nel 1953 con base prima a St. Louis poi a Chicago, che ha documentato soprattutto - ma non solo - la frizzante scena del blues urbano e del jazz d'avanguardia della Windy City.Nel suo sterminato catalogo appaiono – tra i tanti – i nomi di Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Crudup, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam. Più avanti quelli di Byther Smith, Michael Coleman, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie C. Campbell.In ambito jazz hanno registrato per la label Donald Byrd, Bud Powell, Barney Bigard, Sonny Stitt, Ira Sullivan nonché moltissimi esponenti del jazz più avanzato quali Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton e in tempi più recenti Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell , l'Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Amanda Shires "Wasn't I Paying Attention"Lula Reed "Watch Dog"Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Barstool Blues"Booker T. "Get Behind The Mule"Dr. John "Wash, Mama, Wash"Bettye LaVette "Piece of My Heart"M. Ward "Requiem"Iron & Wine "Call It Dreaming"Built To Spill "Out of Site"Gillian Welch "I Dream a Highway"Bob Dylan "I Contain Multitudes"Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Matt Sweeney "Make Worry for Me"R.L. Burnside "Rollin' and Tumblin'"Lucinda Williams "Well Well Well"Hank Williams "Howlin' at the Moon"Ry Cooder "Hey Porter"Grateful Dead "New Speedway Boogie"Bo Diddley "Cops and Robbers"Dave Alvin "Cherry Red Blues"Big Joe Williams "Levee Camp Blues"Shovels & Rope "Bad as Me"Bikini Kill "Reject All American"Curtis Harding "The One"D'Angelo "Chicken Grease"Lee Morgan "Cornbread"De La Soul "Eye Patch"Red Hot Chili Peppers "Readymade"Booker T. Jones "The Bronx"Otis Redding "Ole Man Trouble (Mono)"Big Daddy Kane "It's a Big Daddy Thing"Adia Victoria "Magnolia Blues"Lee Morgan "The Sidewinder"John Moreland "Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars"Neil Young "Walk On"Old 97's "What We Talk About"Betty Harris "There's a Break in the Road"Little Willie John "I'm Shakin'"Albert King "The Hunter"Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Temptation"Cheap Trick "I Want You To Want Me"

Bob Koester, scomparso qualche mese fa a 89 anni, è stato il fondatore della Delmark Records, una delle più significative etichette discografiche americane.La triste circostanza ci dà lo spunto per ricordare, grazie alla sapiente guida di Riccardo Bertoncelli, la storia di questa label nata nel 1953 con base prima a St. Louis poi a Chicago, che ha documentato soprattutto - ma non solo - la frizzante scena del blues urbano e del jazz d'avanguardia della Windy City.Nel suo sterminato catalogo appaiono – tra i tanti – i nomi di Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Arthur Crudup, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Buddy Guy, Magic Sam. Più avanti quelli di Byther Smith, Michael Coleman, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie C. Campbell.In ambito jazz hanno registrato per la label Donald Byrd, Bud Powell, Barney Bigard, Sonny Stitt, Ira Sullivan nonché moltissimi esponenti del jazz più avanzato quali Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton e in tempi più recenti Ken Vandermark, Rob Mazurek, Nicole Mitchell , l'Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.

Mission of Burma "Secrets"Jelly Roll Morton "Doctor Jazz Stomp"Memphis Minnie "Night Watchman Blues (Take 2)"Wanda Jackson "Hot Dog! That Mad Him Mad"The Replacements "Kiss Me On The Bus"The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "Wail"Big Joe Williams "49 Highway Blues"Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes "Sloppy Drunk"Tom Rush "Baby Please Don't Go"Big Joe Williams "Sitting On Top Of The World"Kathleen Edwards "Empty Threat"Broken Social Scene "Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl"The Mountain Goats "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton"Palace Music "New Partner"Uncle Tupelo "Still Be Around"Eilen Jewell "I'm Gonna Dress in Black"Adam Faucett "Day Drinker"Fugazi "Strangelight"Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit "Sometimes Salvation"Jimi Hendrix "Gypsy Eyes"Loretta Lynn "Have Mercy"Sugar Pie DeSanto "It's Done And Forgotten"Dave Van Ronk "Sunday Street"X "In This House That I Call Come"Andrew Bird "Plasticites"Brandi Carlile "The Eye"Tom Waits "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You"Jelly Roll Morton "Don t you leave me here"Excuse 17 "Watchmaker"The Stooges "1969"Minutemen "Corona"Robert Petway "Catfish Blues"Sweet Emma & Her Dixieland Boys "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll"John Lee Hooker "Seven Days And Seven Nights"Billie Holiday "God Bless the Child"Shannon Mcnally;Neal Casal "Pale Moon"Hank Williams "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"Mississippi John Hurt "Louis Collins"Sister O.M. Terrell "I'm Going to That City (To Die No More)"Sister O.M. Terrell "I'm Going to That City"Jelly Roll Morton "Smoke House Blues"Hüsker Dü "Divide And Conquer"Sebadoh "Drama Mine"Joni Mitchell "The Dawntreader - Live at Le Hibou Coffee House, Ottawa, Ontario, 3/19/1968"Jelly Roll Morton "Slow Swing and "Sweet Jazz Music""

The birth of recorded blues straight through its evolution to mayhem-based guitar rock. Baby Please Don't Go, originally by Big Joe William, covered by Muddy Waters, and by AC/DC. Outro music is Wild Cow Blues, also by Big Joe Williams, because how could we not pick that.

Justin Townes Earle "Midnight At the Movies"ZZ Top "Francene"Lucinda Williams "Real Love"Albert King "Personal Manager"Precious Bryant "You Can Have My Husband"Ted Hawkins "California Song"The Clash "The Sound of Sinners"Sister Rosetta Tharpe "This Train"Reverend Gary Davis "Blow, Gabriel"Victoria Spivey "Detroit Moan"Ray Price "Crazy Arms"Jerry Lee Lewis "Ballad of Billy Joe"Valerie June "On My Way / Somebody To Love (Acoustic Version)"Jon Snodgrass "Don't Break Her Heart (feat. Stephen Egerton)"Joan Shelley "Brighter Than the Blues"Billie Holiday "Summertime"Maria Muldaur with Tuba Skinny "Delta Bound"Junior Kimbrough & The Soul Blues Boys "All Night Long"Hank Williams "Honky Tonk Blues"Peg Leg Howell and His Gang "Too Tight Blues"Etta Baker "Carolina Breakdown"James McMurtry "Hurricane Party"John Lee Hooker "I'm In the Mood (feat. Bonnie Raitt)"Hezekiah and The House Rockers "Baby, What You Want Me to Do"Roosevelt Sykes "Sister Kelly Blues"Tiny Bradshaw "Walk That Mess"Johnny Cash "Home of the Blues"Superchunk "Why Do You Have to Put a Date on Everything"Various Artists,Joseph "Come on up to the House"Jake Xerxes Fussell "Let Me Lose"Mississippi Fred McDowell "Red Cross Store Blues"The Yas Yas Girl (Merline Johnson) "Want to Woogie Some More"John Lee Hooker "Boogie Chillen"Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys "Bring It On Down to My House, Honey"Merle Haggard & The Strangers "If I Could Be Him"Wynonie Harris "Drinkin' By Myself"Lula Reed "Bump On a Log"Louis Jordan "Blue Light Boogie"Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown "Guitar In My Hand"The Black Keys "Crawling Kingsnake"Charlie Feathers "Can't Hardly Stand It"Eilen Jewell "Shakin' All Over"Bob Dylan "Political World"Bing Crosby "Street of Dreams"Dave Bartholomew "That's How You Got Killed Before"Jessie Mae Hemphill "Run Get My Shotgun"Big Joe Williams "Levee Camp Blues"Steve Earle "Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold"

Johnny Ray Jones (Ninety Nine And A Half (Won't Do)); Seasick Steve (Ready Or Not); Dennis Gruenling (Ready Or Not); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (You're Gonna Need King Jesus (alternate take)); R.K. Turner (You're Gonna Need Some Help Some Day); Rufus Thomas (Breaking My Back); GA-20 (Give Me Back My Wig); Lightnin' Guy and The Houserockers (Roll Your Money Maker); Robert Finley (Country Child); Wee Willie Walker and The Anthony Paule Soul Orchestra (Warm To Cool To Cold); Texas Alexander (Boe Hog Blues); Lonnie Johnson (Sundown Blues); Jimmy "Duck" Holmes (It Had To Be The Devil); John Blues Boyd (I Am The Real Deal); Los Blues Morning Singers (Sitting Here Thinking).

Today's show features music performed by Big Joe Williams and Fats Domino

Show 137 – Recorded 7-3-21 – This podcast features 12 outstanding blues artist groups and 12 excellent performances to enjoy. And, Mr Ted Reed tells us about his and a friend's trip to discover, meet, film and record a group of early blues legends in 1970. Our talented featured artists are: Furry Lewis, Scott Dunbar, Robert Pete Williams, Big Joe Williams, James Cotton and Elvin Bishop, Dr Ross, Reverend Robert Wilkins, Sunnyland Slim, Memphis Minnie, Mud Morganfield, Ms Silvia Travis, Diunna Greenleaf. 

Episode 125 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Here Comes the Night", Them, the early career of Van Morrison, and the continuing success of Bert Berns.  Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Dirty Water" by the Standells. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, I've created a Mixcloud playlist, with full versions of all the songs excerpted in this episode. The information about Bert Berns comes from Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin. I've used two biographies of Van Morrison. Van Morrison: Into the Music by Ritchie Yorke is so sycophantic towards Morrison that the word "hagiography" would be, if anything, an understatement. Van Morrison: No Surrender by Johnny Rogan, on the other hand, is the kind of book that talks in the introduction about how the author has had to avoid discussing certain topics because of legal threats from the subject. I also used information from the liner notes to The Complete Them 1964-1967, which as the title suggests is a collection of all the recordings the group made while Van Morrison was in the band. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we're going to take a look at a band whose lead singer, sadly, is more controversial now than he was at the period we're looking at. I would normally not want to explicitly talk about current events upfront at the start of an episode, but Van Morrison has been in the headlines in the last few weeks for promoting dangerous conspiracy theories about covid, and has also been accused of perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes with a recent single.  So I would like to take this opportunity just to say that no positive comments I make about the Van Morrison of 1965 in this episode should be taken as any kind of approval of the Van Morrison of 2021 -- and this should also be taken as read for one of the similarly-controversial subjects of next week's episode...   Anyway, that aside, today we're going to take a look at the first classic rock and roll records made by a band from Northern Ireland, and at the links between the British R&B scene and the American Brill Building. We're going to look at Van Morrison, Bert Berns, and "Here Comes the Night" by Them:   [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"]   When we last looked at Bert Berns, he was just starting to gain some prominence in the East Coast recording scene with his productions for artists like Solomon Burke and the Isley Brothers. We've also, though it wasn't always made explicit, come across several of his productions when talking about other artists -- when Leiber and Stoller stopped working for Atlantic, Berns took over production of their artists, as well as all the other recordings he was making, and so many of the mid-sixties Drifters records we looked at in the episode on "Stand By Me" were Berns productions. But while he was producing soul classics in New York, Berns was also becoming aware of the new music coming from the United Kingdom -- in early 1963 he started receiving large royalty cheques for a cover version of his song "Twist and Shout" by some English band he'd never heard of. He decided that there was a market here for his songs, and made a trip to the UK, where he linked up with Dick Rowe at Decca.    While most of the money Berns had been making from "Twist and Shout" had been from the Beatles' version, a big chunk of it had also come from Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the band that Rowe had signed to Decca instead of the Beatles. After the Beatles became big, the Tremeloes used the Beatles' arrangement of "Twist and Shout", which had been released on an album and an EP but not a single, and had a top ten hit with their own version of it:   [Excerpt: Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, "Twist and Shout"]   Rowe was someone who kept an eye on the American market, and saw that Berns was a great source of potential hits. He brought Berns over to the UK, and linked him up with Larry Page, the manager who gave Rowe an endless supply of teen idols, and with Phil Solomon, an Irish manager who had been the publicist for the crooner Ruby Murray, and had recently brought Rowe the group The Bachelors, who had had a string of hits like "Charmaine":   [Excerpt: The Bachelors, "Charmaine"]   Page, Solomon, and Rowe were currently trying to promote something called "Brum Beat", as a Birmingham rival to Mersey beat, and so all the acts Berns worked with were from Birmingham. The most notable of these acts was one called Gerry Levene and the Avengers. Berns wrote and produced the B-side of that group's only single, with Levene backed by session musicians, but I've been unable to find a copy of that B-side anywhere in the digital domain. However, the A-side, which does exist and wasn't produced by Berns, is of some interest:   [Excerpt: Gerry Levene and the Avengers, "Dr. Feelgood"]   The lineup of the band playing on that included guitarist Roy Wood, who would go on to be one of the most important and interesting British musicians of the later sixties and early seventies, and drummer Graeme Edge, who went on to join the Moody Blues. Apparently at another point, their drummer was John Bonham.   None of the tracks Berns recorded for Decca in 1963 had any real success, but Berns had made some useful contacts with Rowe and Solomon, and most importantly had met a British arranger, Mike Leander, who came over to the US to continue working with Berns, including providing the string arrangements for Berns' production of "Under the Boardwalk" for the Drifters:   [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Under the Boardwalk"]   In May 1964, the month when that track was recorded, Berns was about the only person keeping Atlantic Records afloat -- we've already seen that they were having little success in the mid sixties, but in mid-May, even given the British Invasion taking over the charts, Berns had five records in the Hot One Hundred as either writer or producer -- the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout" was the highest charting, but he also had hits with "One Way Love" by the Drifters:   [Excerpt: The Drifters, "One Way Love"]   "That's When it Hurts" by Ben E. King:   [Excerpt: Ben E. King, "That's When it Hurts"]   "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" by Solomon Burke:   [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)"]   And "My Girl Sloopy" by the Vibrations:   [Excerpt: The Vibrations, "My Girl Sloopy"]   And a week after the production of "Under the Boardwalk", Berns was back in the studio with Solomon Burke, producing Burke's classic "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", though that track would lead to a major falling-out with Burke, as Berns and Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler took co-writing credit they hadn't earned on Burke's song -- Berns was finally at the point in his career where he was big enough that he could start stealing Black men's credits rather than having to earn them for himself:   [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"]   Not everything was a hit, of course -- he wrote a dance track with Mike Leander, "Show Me Your Monkey", which was definitely not a big hit -- but he had a strike rate that most other producers and writers would have killed for. And he was also having hits in the UK with the new British Invasion bands -- the Animals had made a big hit from "Baby Let Me Take You Home", the old folk tune that Berns had rewritten for Hoagy Lands. And he was still in touch with Phil Solomon and Dick Rowe, both of whom came over to New York for Berns' wedding in July.   It might have been while they were at the wedding that they first suggested to Berns that he might be interested in producing a new band that Solomon was managing, named Them, and in particular their lead singer, Van Morrison.   Van Morrison was always a misfit, from his earliest days. He grew up in Belfast, a city that is notoriously divided along sectarian lines between a Catholic minority who (for the most part) want a united Ireland, and a Presbyterian majority who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK. But in a city where the joke goes that a Jewish person would be asked "but are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?", Morrison was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and for the rest of his life he would be resistant to fitting into any of the categories anyone tried to put him in, both for good and ill.   While most of the musicians from the UK we've looked at so far have been from middle-class backgrounds, and generally attended art school, Morrison had gone to a secondary modern school, and left at fourteen to become a window cleaner. But he had an advantage that many of his contemporaries didn't -- he had relatives living in America and Canada, and his father had once spent a big chunk of time working in Detroit, where at one point the Morrison family planned to move. This exposed Morrison senior to all sorts of music that would not normally be heard in the UK, and he returned with a fascination for country and blues music, and built up a huge record collection. Young Van Morrison was brought up listening to Hank Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe,  Jimmie Rodgers, Louis Jordan, Jelly Roll Morton, and his particular favourite, Lead Belly. The first record he bought with his own money was "Hootin' Blues" by the Sonny Terry Trio:   [Excerpt: The Sonny Terry Trio, "Hootin' Blues"]   Like everyone, Van Morrison joined a skiffle group, but he became vastly more ambitious in 1959 when he visited a relative in Canada. His aunt smuggled him into a nightclub where an actual American rock and roll group were playing -- Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks:   [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins, "Mary Lou"]   Hawkins had been inspired to get into the music business by his uncle Delmar, a fiddle player whose son, Dale Hawkins, we looked at back in episode sixty-three. His band, the Hawks, had a reputation as the hottest band in Canada -- at this point they were still all Americans, but other than their drummer Levon Helm they would soon be replaced one by one with Canadian musicians, starting with bass player Robbie Robertson.   Morrison was enthused and decided he was going to become a professional musician. He already played a bit of guitar, but started playing the saxophone too, as that was an instrument that would be more likely to get him work at this point.   He joined a showband called the Monarchs, as saxophone player and occasional vocalist. Showbands were a uniquely Irish phenomenon -- they were eight- or nine-piece groups, rhythm sections with a small horn section and usually a couple of different singers, who would play every kind of music for dancing, ranging from traditional pop to country and western to rock and roll, and would also perform choreographed dance routines and comedy sketches.    The Monarchs were never a successful band, but they managed to scrape a living playing the Irish showband circuit, and in the early sixties they travelled to Germany, where audiences of Black American servicemen wanted them to play more soulful music like songs by Ray Charles, an opportunity Morrison eagerly grabbed. It was also a Black American soldier who introduced Morrison to the music of Bobby Bland, whose "Turn on Your Love Light" was soon introduced to the band's set:   [Excerpt Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"]   But they were still mostly having to play chart hits by Billy J Kramer or Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Morrison was getting frustrated. The Monarchs did get a chance to record a single in Germany, as Georgie and the Monarchs, with another member, George Jones (not the famous country singer) singing lead, but the results were not impressive:   [Excerpt: Georgie and the Monarchs, "O Twingy Baby"]   Morrison moved between several different showbands, but became increasingly dissatisfied with what he was doing. Then another showband he was in, the Manhattan Showband, briefly visited London, and Morrison and several of his bandmates went to a club called Studio 51, run by Ken Colyer. There they saw a band called The Downliners Sect, who had hair so long that the Manhattan members at first thought they were a girl group, until their lead singer came on stage wearing a deerstalker hat. The Downliners Sect played exactly the kind of aggressive R&B that Morrison thought he should be playing:   [Excerpt: The Downliners Sect, "Be a Sect Maniac"]   Morrison asked if he could sit in with the group on harmonica, but was refused -- and this was rather a pattern with the Downliners Sect, who had a habit of attracting harmonica players who wanted to be frontmen. Both Rod Stewart and Steve Marriott did play harmonica with the group for a while, and wanted to join full-time, but were refused as they clearly wanted to be lead singers and the group didn't need another one of them.   On returning to Belfast, Morrison decided that he needed to start his own R&B band, and his own R&B club night. At first he tried to put together a sort of supergroup of showband regulars, but most of the musicians he approached weren't interested in leaving their steady gigs. Eventually, he joined a band called the Gamblers, led by guitarist and vocalist Billy Harrison. The Gamblers had started out as an instrumental group, playing rock and roll in the style of Johnny and the Hurricanes, but they'd slowly been moving in a more R&B direction, and playing Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley material. Morrison joined the group on saxophone and vocals -- trading off leads with Harrison -- and the group renamed themselves after a monster movie from a few years before:   [Excerpt: THEM! trailer]   The newly renamed Them took up a regular gig at the Maritime Hotel, a venue which had previously attracted a trad jazz crowd, and quickly grew a substantial local following. Van Morrison later often said that their residency at the Maritime was the only time Them were any good, but that period was remarkably short -- three months after their first gig, the group had been signed to a management, publishing, and production deal with Philip Solomon, who called in Dick Rowe to see them in Belfast. Rowe agreed to the same kind of licensing deal with Solomon that Andrew Oldham had already got from him for the Stones -- Them would record for Solomon's company, and Decca would license the recordings.   This also led to the first of the many, many, lineup changes that would bedevil the group for its short existence -- between 1964 and 1966 there were eighteen different members of the group. Eric Wrixon, the keyboard player, was still at school, and his parents didn't think he should become a musician, so while he came along to the first recording session, he didn't sign the contract because he wasn't allowed to stay with the group once his next term at school started. However, he wasn't needed -- while Them's guitarist and bass player were allowed to play on the records, Dick Rowe brought in session keyboard player Arthur Greenslade and drummer Bobby Graham -- the same musicians who had augmented the Kinks on their early singles -- to play with them.   The first single, a cover version of Slim Harpo's "Don't Start Crying Now", did precisely nothing commercially:   [Excerpt: Them, "Don't Start Crying Now"]   The group started touring the UK, now as Decca recording artistes, but they almost immediately started to have clashes with their management. Phil Solomon was not used to aggressive teenage R&B musicians, and didn't appreciate things like them just not turning up for one gig they were booked for, saying to them "The Bachelors never missed a date in their lives. One of them even had an accident on their way to do a pantomime in Bristol and went on with his leg in plaster and twenty-one stitches in his head."   Them were not particularly interested in performing in pantomimes in Bristol, or anywhere else, but the British music scene was still intimately tied in with the older showbiz tradition, and Solomon had connections throughout that industry -- as well as owning a publishing and production company he was also a major shareholder in Radio Caroline, one of the pirate radio stations that broadcast from ships anchored just outside British territorial waters to avoid broadcasting regulations, and his father was a major shareholder in Decca itself.    Given Solomon's connections, it wasn't surprising that Them were chosen to be one of the Decca acts produced by Bert Berns on his next UK trip in August 1964. The track earmarked for their next single was their rearrangement of "Baby Please Don't Go", a Delta blues song that had originally been recorded in 1935 by Big Joe Williams and included on the Harry Smith Anthology:   [Excerpt: Big Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers , "Baby Please Don't Go"]   though it's likely that Them had learned it from Muddy Waters' version, which is much closer to theirs:   [Excerpt: Muddy Waters, "Baby Please Don't Go"]   Bert Berns helped the group tighten up their arrangement, which featured a new riff thought up by Billy Harrison, and he also brought in a session guitarist, Jimmy Page, to play rhythm guitar. Again he used a session drummer, this time Andy White who had played on "Love Me Do". Everyone agreed that the result was a surefire hit:   [Excerpt: Them, "Baby Please Don't Go"]   At the session with Berns, Them cut several other songs, including some written by Berns, but it was eventually decided that the B-side should be a song of Morrison's, written in tribute to his dead cousin Gloria, which they'd recorded at their first session with Dick Rowe:   [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"]   "Baby Please Don't Go" backed with "Gloria" was one of the great double-sided singles of the sixties, but it initially did nothing on the charts, and the group were getting depressed at their lack of success, Morrison and Harrison were constantly arguing as each thought of himself as the leader of the group, and the group's drummer quit in frustration. Pat McAuley, the group's new keyboard player, switched to drums, and brought in his brother Jackie to replace him on keyboards.    To make matters worse, while "Baby Please Don't Go" had flopped, the group had hoped that their next single would be one of the songs they'd recorded with Berns, a Berns song called "Here Comes the Night". Unfortunately for them, Berns had also recorded another version of it for Decca, this one with Lulu, a Scottish singer who had recently had a hit with a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout!", and her version was released as a single:   [Excerpt: Lulu, "Here Comes the Night"]   Luckily for Them, though unluckily for Lulu, her record didn't make the top forty, so there was still the potential for Them to release their version of it.   Phil Solomon hadn't given up on "Baby Please Don't Go", though, and he began a media campaign for the record. He moved the group into the same London hotel where Jimmy Savile was staying -- Savile is now best known for his monstrous crimes, which I won't go into here except to say that you shouldn't google him if you don't know about them, but at the time he was Britain's most popular DJ, the presenter of Top of the Pops, the BBC's major TV pop show, and a columnist in a major newspaper. Savile started promoting Them, and they would later credit him with a big part of their success.   But Solomon was doing a lot of other things to promote the group as well. He part-owned Radio Caroline, and so "Baby Please Don't Go" went into regular rotation on the station. He called in a favour with the makers of Ready Steady Go! and got "Baby Please Don't Go" made into the show's new theme tune for two months, and soon the record, which had been a flop on its first release, crawled its way up into the top ten.   For the group's next single, Decca put out their version of "Here Comes the Night", and that was even more successful, making it all the way to number two on the charts, and making the American top thirty:   [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"]   As that was at its chart peak, the group also performed at the NME Poll-Winners' Party at Wembley Stadium, a show hosted by Savile and featuring The Moody Blues, Freddie and the Dreamers, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Herman's Hermits, Cilla Black, Donovan, The Searchers, Dusty Springfield, The Animals,The Kinks, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles, among others. Even on that bill, reviewers singled out Them's seven-minute performance of Bobby Bland's "Turn on Your Love Light" for special praise, though watching the video of it it seems a relatively sloppy performance.   But the group were already starting to fall apart. Jackie McAuley was sacked from the group shortly after that Wembley show -- according to some of the group, because of his use of amphetamines, but it's telling that when the Protestant bass player Alan Henderson told the Catholic McAuley he was out of the group, he felt the need to emphasise that "I've got nothing against" -- and then use a term that's often regarded as an anti-Catholic slur...   On top of this, the group were also starting to get a bad reputation among the press -- they would simply refuse to answer questions, or answer them in monosyllables, or just swear at journalists. Where groups like the Rolling Stones carefully cultivated a "bad boy" image, but were doing so knowingly and within carefully delineated limits, Them were just unpleasant and rude because that's who they were.   Bert Berns came back to the UK to produce a couple of tracks for the group's first album, but he soon had to go back to America, as he had work to do there -- he'd just started up his own label, a rival to Red Bird, called BANG, which stood for Bert, Ahmet, Neshui, Gerald -- Berns had co-founded it with the Ertegun brothers and Jerry Wexler, though he soon took total control over it. BANG had just scored a big hit with "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves, a song Berns had co-written:   [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"]   And the Strangeloves in turn had discovered a singer called Rick Derringer, and Bang put out a single by him under the name "The McCoys", using a backing track Berns had produced as a Strangeloves album track, their version of his earlier hit "My Girl Sloopy". The retitled "Hang on Sloopy" went to number one:   [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"]   Berns was also getting interested in signing a young Brill Building songwriter named Neil Diamond... The upshot was that rather than continuing to work with Berns, Them were instead handed over to Tommy Scott, an associate of Solomon's who'd sung backing vocals on "Here Comes the Night", but who was best known for having produced "Terry" by Twinkle:   [Excerpt: Twinkle, "Terry"]   The group were not impressed with Scott's productions, and their next two singles flopped badly, not making the charts at all. Billy Harrison and Morrison were becoming less and less able to tolerate each other, and eventually Morrison and Henderson forced Harrison out. Pat McAuley quit two weeks later,    The McAuley brothers formed their own rival lineup of Them, which initially also featured Billy Harrison, though he soon left, and they got signed to a management contract with Reg Calvert, a rival of Solomon's who as well as managing several pop groups also owned Radio City, a pirate station that was in competition with Radio Caroline. Calvert registered the trademark in the name Them, something that Solomon had never done for the group, and suddenly there was a legal dispute over the name.   Solomon retaliated by registering trademarks for the names "The Fortunes" and "Pinkerton's Assorted Colours" -- two groups Calvert managed -- and putting together rival versions of those groups. However the problem soon resolved itself, albeit tragically -- Calvert got into a huge row with Major Oliver Smedley, a failed right-libertarian politician who, when not co-founding the Institute for Economic Affairs and quitting the Liberal Party for their pro-European stance and left-wing economics, was one of Solomon's co-directors of Radio Caroline. Smedley shot Calvert, killing him, and successfully pled self-defence at his subsequent trial. The jury let Smedley off after only a minute of deliberation, and awarded Smedley two hundred and fifty guineas to pay for his costs.   The McAuley brothers' group renamed themselves to Them Belfast -- and the word beginning with g that some Romany people regard as a slur for their ethnic group -- and made some records, mostly only released in Sweden, produced by Kim Fowley, who would always look for any way to cash in on a hit record, and wrote "Gloria's Dream" for them:   [Excerpt: Them Belfast G***ies, "Gloria's Dream"]   Morrison and Henderson continued their group, and had a surprise hit in the US when Decca issued "Mystic Eyes", an album track they'd recorded for their first album, as a single in the US, and it made the top forty:   [Excerpt: Them, "Mystic Eyes"]   On the back of that, Them toured the US, and got a long residency at the Whisky a Go-Go in LA, where they were supported by a whole string of the Sunset Strip's most exciting new bands -- Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, The Association, Buffalo Springfield, and the Doors. The group became particularly friendly with the Doors, with the group's new guitarist getting thrown out of clubs with Jim Morrison for shouting "Johnny Rivers is a wanker!" at Rivers while Rivers was on stage, and Jim Morrison joining them on stage for duets, though the Doors were staggered at how much the Belfast group could drink -- their drink bill for their first week at the Whisky A Go-Go was $5400.   And those expenses caused problems, because Van Morrison agreed before the tour started that he would be on a fixed salary, paid by Phil Solomon, and Solomon would get all the money from the promoters. But then Morrison found out how much Solomon was making, and decided that it wasn't fair that Solomon would get all that money when Morrison was only getting the comparatively small amount he'd agreed to. When Tommy Scott, who Solomon had sent over to look after the group on tour, tried to collect the takings from the promoters, he was told "Van Morrison's already taken the money".    Solomon naturally dropped the group, who continued touring the US without any management, and sued them. Various Mafia types offered to take up the group's management contract, and even to have Solomon murdered, but the group ended up just falling apart.    Van Morrison quit the group, and Alan Henderson struggled on for another five years with various different lineups of session men, recording albums as Them which nobody bought. He finally stopped performing as Them in 1972. He reunited with Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon, the group's original keyboardist, in 1979, and they recorded another album and toured briefly. Wrixon later formed another lineup of Them, which for a while included Billy Harrison, and toured with that group, billed as Them The Belfast Blues Band, until Wrixon's death in 2015.   Morrison, meanwhile, had other plans. Now that Them's two-year contract with Solomon was over, he wanted to have the solo career people had been telling him he deserved. And he knew how he was going to do it. All along, he'd thought that Bert Berns had been the only person in the music industry who understood him as an artist, and now of course Berns had his own record label. Van Morrison was going to sign to BANG Records, and he was going to work again with Bert Berns, the man who was making hits for everyone he worked with.   But the story of "Brown-Eyed Girl", and Van Morrison going solo, and the death of Bert Berns, is a story for another time...

Show 133 – Recorded 6-5-21 – This podcast features 12 outstanding blues artists and 12 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded in 1963 and 1964. Our featured artists are: Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson 2, Lightnin Hopkins, Sleepy John Estes, John Henry Barbee, Howlin Wolf, Big Joe Williams, Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson, Otis […]

Show 133 – Recorded 6-5-21 – This podcast features 12 outstanding blues artists and 12 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded in 1963 and 1964. Our featured artists are: Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson 2, Lightnin Hopkins, Sleepy John Estes, John Henry Barbee, Howlin Wolf, Big Joe Williams, Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson, Otis Spann, Muddy Waters. Please enjoy.

Minutemen "Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs"Bob Dylan "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"Patti Smith "People Have the Power"Bob Dylan & Grateful Dead "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"The Staple Singers "A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall"Gillian Welch "Peace In the Valley"Nina Simone "The Ballad Of Hollis Brown"The Pogues "When the Ship Comes In"John Lee Hooker "I Don't Need No Steam Heat"Jimi Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower"The Traveling Wilburys "Tweeter and the Monkey Man"Woody Guthrie "Vigilante Man"Cat Power "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"Bob Dylan "Most of the Time"Valerie June "Long Lonely Road"Beck "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat"The White Stripes "One More Cup Of Coffee"Big Joe Williams "Sitting On Top Of The World"Emmylou Harris "Every Grain of Sand"Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Southern Accents"Jesse Fuller "San Francisco Bay Blues"Bob Dylan & The Band "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)"Bonnie Raitt "Give It Up Or Let Me Go (Remastered Version)"James Luther Dickinson "Can't Beat the Kid (Part 2)"The Black Crowes "Crash On The Levee"R.L. Burnside "Everything Is Broken"Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash "Girl from the North Country"Wanda Jackson "Thunder on the Mountain"John Prine "People Puttin' People Down"Mavis Staples "Mlk Song"Karen Dalton "Something On Your Mind"Blind Boy Grunt "John Brown (Remastered)"Odetta "Muleskinner Blues"Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead "Slow Train Coming"Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Man Out of Time"Bob Dylan "High Water (For Charley Patton)"The Band "Ophelia"Bob Dylan "I Contain Multitudes"

durée : 00:07:17 - Dans la playlist de France Inter - par : Jean-Baptiste AUDIBERT, Thierry Dupin, Muriel Perez, Julien Deflisque - "Delta Kream" ( Warner) est le nouvel album des Black Keys, Composé de 11 titres, on y trouvera des covers d’artistes blues du Mississippi qui les ont inspirés, comme John Lee Hooker, R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Ranie Burnette et Big Joe Williams.

In this episode I take you through the blues guitar style of blues legend Big Joe Williams. We look at his consistent bass style and syncopated melodic flair and use of 7th chords to learn a cool 12 bar pattern in E.For more course content and to claim your FREE E-books head over to www.benmartin-music.comFollow us on instagram @bluesguitarshowpodcast Support the show (http://www.benmartin-music.com)

Hoy vamos a escuchar blues, que viene a significar, más o menos, melancolía, tristeza, bueno, que no es la alegría de la huerta. El blues, tiene, musicalmente hablando, un patrón repetitivo que suele seguir una estructura de 12 compases y utiliza acordes específicos de este género. El blues ha ido evolucionando desde la música vocal, sin acompañamiento, interpretada por trabajadores negros y pobres, a una gran variedad de subgéneros y estilos y su popularidad ha saltado las fronteras que le eran propias en el sur de los Estados Unidos para extenderse por todo el mundo. Hoy, y en días sucesivos, vamos a recordar a un grupo de músicos de blues que dejaron su huella en la historia de la música. Y nos encontramos en primer lugar con uno de los más conocidos, John Lee Hocker, cantante y guitarrista de blues, que nació, como no, en el estado de Misisipi, uno de los 50 estados de los EEUU, que está considerado como el más pobre de la unión, con altas tasas de desempleo y la menor renta per cápita del país. Paradójicamente, es la más religioso, el más conservador y el que tiene leyes más restrictivas con el juego y el alcohol. Bueno, pues aquí nació John Lee Hocker. Vamos a escucharle en su conocido Boom Boom. Chester Arthur Burnett, o lo que es lo mismo y para entendernos, Howlin Wolf (lobo aullador), fue un músico afroamericano, cantante de blues, guitarrista y armonicista que nació, como no, en Misisipi. Con una voz y una presencia física características, Burnett se colocó entre los principales artistas del blues eléctrico; el músico y crítico musical Cub Koda declaró, “nadie puede igualar a Howlin Wolf en su singular capacidad para el rock.” El tipo medía 1,98 m de estatura y pesaba cerca de 136 kg, cosa que hizo de él un músico “imponente”. Su voz ha sido comparada con “el sonido de las máquinas pesadas que operan en un camino de grava”. Junto con su contemporáneo y rival profesional Muddy Waters, formaron los dos pilares del Memphis blues. Lo oímos ahora interpretando Litle red rooster. Y aquí tenemos al contrincante del lobo aullador, Muddy Waters, otro vecino de Mississippi; un músico de blues estadounidense, generalmente considerado como el padre del Chicago blues. Su figura y su sonido fueron, del mismo modo, una de las máximas inspiraciones para la escena del blues británico, que comenzó a despuntar en el Reino Unido hacia principios de la década de 1960. Sus giras por Inglaterra a principios de esta década marcaron, posiblemente, el primer antecedente de una banda amplificada haciendo algo cercano al hard rock. Entre sus admiradores prominentes en la escena rhythm & blues inglesa de los años 60 sobresalen los Rolling Stones, quienes se bautizaron con ese nombre por la canción de Waters de 1948 “Rollin’ Stone”. Eric Clapton es un gran admirador de Waters, de hecho, Cream grabaría una versión de “Rolling and Tumbling” en su álbum debut Fresh Cream, de 1966. El gran éxito de Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love” está basado en la canción de Muddy Waters “You Need Love”. Y, en fin, Jimi Hendrix, que versionaría la mencionada “Rollin’ Stone”, citó a Waters como “el primer guitarrista que le llamó la atención y le impresionó de joven”. Angus Young, de AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, bueno, un largo etcétera. Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Men. Por cierto, su última aparición en vivo fue durante un concierto de Eric Clapton en Florida, en el otoño de 1982. 4-Bo Diddley Si en el rock and roll Elvis Presley es el rey y Chuck Berry su poeta, Bo Diddley, nuestro siguiente invitado, fue su arquitecto. Su estilo personal ha influido y sigue influyendo de tal modo que según pasa el tiempo su figura se agranda en el panorama de la música rock. Por otro lado, su fama no fue premiada en el aspecto económico como cabría haber esperado. La crudeza de su estilo le cerró las puertas a ventas millonarias, puertas que sí se abrirían de par en par para muchos músicos y bandas en los que influyó. Su instrumento, con marca registrada, es la guitarra square-bodied que él mismo desarrolló y con la que tocó en miles de conciertos; desde sudorosos clubes de Chicago a giras con viejas glorias del rock and roll, pasando por actuaciones como telonero para The Clash o de artista invitado por los míticos Rolling Stones. Su entusiasmo por este instrumento le hizo poseer una espectacular colección de guitarras. La recordareis, es una guitarra con caja rectangular. El era un gran músico, pero la guitarra era más fea que yo. Le escuchamos ahora interpretando su Diddy Wah. 5-Albert King Albert King fue un influyente guitarrista y cantante de blues. Está considerado como uno de los TRES REYES DEL BLUES a la guitarra junto con B.B. King y Freddie King. Albert King nació en el seno de una humilde familia de Indianola, Misisipi, en una plantación de algodón, donde trabajó sus primeros años. La primera influencia musical la recibió de su propio padre, Will Nelson, que tocaba también la guitarra habitualmente El tipo era otro tiarron, por lo que, sus más de 1’90 metros y sus 118 kilos de peso le valieron el sobrenombre de The Velvet Bulldozer (la apisonadora de terciopelo). El sello característico de Albert King fue, a parte de su calidad artística, su forma de coger la guitarra: como intérprete zurdo la usaba invertida, pero a diferencia de otros guitarristas zurdos como, por ejemplo, Jimi Hendrix, King jamás invirtió el orden de las cuerdas, de modo que para él las cuerdas más agudas permanecen arriba. Gente como Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Gary Moore, y Stevie Ray Vaughanle tuvieron presente en sus oraciones durante toda su vidapara agradecerle todo lo que les había enseñado. Para los curiosos, el solo de guitarra de Eric Clapton en el éxito de Cream, Strange Brew es una emulación del solo de King en su éxito con Stax, Oh, Pretty Woman. Le escuchamos interpretando Born Under a bad sing. 6-Sonny Boy Williamson Aleck Ford, que más tarde se haría llamar Rice Miller, pero que realmente fue conocido como Sonny Boy Williamson, fue un poeta, músico, cantante y compositor estadounidense, que ha sido considerado como la leyenda definitiva del blues. Sonny Boy nació en la plantación de Sara Jones, en el estado de Misisipi y, aunque no es seguro, parece que nació alrededor de 1912. Vivió y trabajó en la plantación hasta 1930, fecha en la que decidió dedicarse profesionalmente a la música y empezó a trabajar con grandes artistas como Big Joe Williams, Elmore James y Robert Lockwood, Jr. Fue durante esta época cuando Miller desarrollaría su estilo y personalidad. Al comienzo de los años sesenta permaneció algún tiempo en Inglaterra, donde grabó con numerosos grupos y artistas, como The Animals y Jimmy Page. Que el estado de Misisipi es la cuna de los mejores bluesman de la historia ya no lo duda nadie. Nuestro siguiente invitado, Elmore James también nació en el Condado de Holmes, Misisipi y fue un guitarrista de blues considerado el padre de laslide guitar. Comenzó su carrera musical en Misisipi junto a nuestro viejo amigo Rice Miller (más conocido como Sonny Boy Williamson II), con el que permaneció varios años hasta que consiguió su primer contrato de grabación en 1951. Fue entonces cuando se trasladó a Chicago, donde inició su carrera solista acompañado del grupo “The Broomdusters”. Su estilo sin trabas y apasionado se distinguía por el sonido característico del slide blues, que puede apreciarse en canciones como “Dust my broom”. 7-Elmore James Nos despediremos por hoy del blues con, casi, el mejor, con B.B. King. Este músico es ampliamente considerado uno de los músicosde blues más influyentes de todos los tiempos, recibiendo el apodo de «Rey del Blues» y el sobrenombre de «uno de los tres reyes de la guitarra blues» junto, como ya hemos comentado, a Albert King y Freddie King. Según Edward M. Komara, King «introdujo un sofisticado estilo de solos basados cuerdasdobladas y en sus brillantes vibratos que influirían prácticamente en todos los guitarristas de blues eléctrico que le siguieron». B.B. King Con los años, King desarrolló un estilo de guitarra identificable gracias al uso su guitarra eléctrica Gibson ES-335, a la que llamaba “lucille”, y que dio nombre a una línea de guitarras creada por la compañía en 1980. King es también reconocido por su gran cantidad de actuaciones en directo, con un promedio de 250 o 300 conciertos anuales durante la década de 1970. Alguna de ellas, aquí, en Zaragoza. Volveremos con el rey, ahora le escuchamos interpretar “Sweet Sixteen”

  Show 92 – Recorded 8-8-20 This podcast features a broad range of outstanding blues artists. We have 13 blues artists providing 13 great songs to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1939 – 2019. Our featured artists are: Blind Willie McTell, Louisiana Red, Cora Fluker, Big Bill Broonzy, Jontavious Willis, Big Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt & Ray Charles, Booker T Laury, Johnny Copeland, Big Joe Williams, JP Soars, Big Head Todd and The Monsters with Ruthie Foster and Lightnin’ Malcolm.

  Show 92 – Recorded 8-8-20 This podcast features a broad range of outstanding blues artists. We have 13 blues artists providing 13 great songs to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1939 – 2019. Our featured artists are: Blind Willie McTell, Louisiana Red, Cora Fluker, Big Bill Broonzy, Jontavious Willis, Big Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt & Ray Charles, Booker T Laury, Johnny Copeland, Big Joe Williams, JP Soars, Big Head Todd and The Monsters with Ruthie Foster and Lightnin’ Malcolm.

Начинаем новый сезон программы «Дельта Миссисипи» с Артуром Ямпольским. Отныне все программы будут появляться в подкастах на нашем сайте по средам. И сегодня слушаем послевоенный акустический блюз в исполнении американского блюзового гитариста Big Joe Williams. Слушайте наши подкасты на сайте, в мобильном приложении и itunes.

  Show 78 – Recorded 5-2-20 This podcast features an interview with the excellent blues lady Ms Libby Rae Watson with stories about her mentors and blues legends Sam Chatmon, Furry Lewis, Son Thomas and Big Joe Williams. You’ll hear classic blues songs from those four legends and eight of Libby Rae’s great recordings plus an amazing recording from Mississippi Fred McDowell and blues harp extraordinaire Johnny Woods.

  Show 78 – Recorded 5-2-20 This podcast features an interview with the excellent blues lady Ms Libby Rae Watson with stories about her mentors and blues legends Sam Chatmon, Furry Lewis, Son Thomas and Big Joe Williams. You’ll hear classic blues songs from those four legends and eight of Libby Rae’s great recordings plus an amazing recording from Mississippi Fred McDowell and blues harp extraordinaire Johnny Woods.

Начинаем новый сезон программы «Дельта Миссисипи» с Артуром Ямпольским. Отныне все программы будут появляться в подкастах на нашем сайте по средам. И сегодня слушаем послевоенный акустический блюз в исполнении американского блюзового гитариста Big Joe Williams. Слушайте наши подкасты на сайте, в мобильном приложении и itunes.

Show 64 – Recorded 1-25-20. This podcast is the first part of a multi-week interview with blues music historian, discoverer, producer and artist’s coach Mr George Mitchell, who has discovered and recorded more blues artists than anyone else alive today. This podcast has Mr Mitchell discussing his involvement with and the personalities of blues legends Big Joe Williams, R L Burnside, Jesse Mae Hemphill and Precious Bryant. Along with the interview these great blues artists perform 12 of their best songs for you. This group of performances were recorded during a period from 1958 through 2004.  

Show 64 – Recorded 1-25-20. This podcast is the first part of a multi-week interview with blues music historian, discoverer, producer and artist’s coach Mr George Mitchell, who has discovered and recorded more blues artists than anyone else alive today. This podcast has Mr Mitchell discussing his involvement with and the personalities of blues legends Big Joe Williams, R L Burnside, Jesse Mae Hemphill and Precious Bryant. Along with the interview these great blues artists perform 12 of their best songs for you. This group of performances were recorded during a period from 1958 through 2004.  

Show 60 – Recorded 12-21-19 This podcast provides 15 performances of Christmas Blues Songs performed by 15 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1934 to 2012. The blues artists featured are: Shemekia Copeland, Freddie King, Otis Redding, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Charles Brown, The Staple Singers. Music Maker Relief Foundation artists: Cootie Stark, Guitar Gabriel, Lena Mae Perry and The Branchettes, Ironing Board Sam and Cool John Ferguson. Then, Big Joe Williams, John Lee Hooker, KoKo Taylor and Magnolia Five.  

Show 60 – Recorded 12-21-19 This podcast provides 15 performances of Christmas Blues Songs performed by 15 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1934 to 2012. The blues artists featured are: Shemekia Copeland, Freddie King, Otis Redding, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Charles Brown, The Staple Singers. Music Maker Relief Foundation artists: Cootie Stark, Guitar Gabriel, Lena Mae Perry and The Branchettes, Ironing Board Sam and Cool John Ferguson. Then, Big Joe Williams, John Lee Hooker, KoKo Taylor and Magnolia Five.  

25 April 2019: Bob Dylan & Fellow Travelers

Recorded backstage at the 2019 Chicago Blues Festival, Grammy winning bluesman Charlie Musselwhite shares memorable stories of his early days on the Chicago blues scene in the 1960s, his friendship with Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Magic Sam, Big Joe Williams, recording his first album, his burgeoning acting career, radio show and more.

El programa "T'agrada el blues?" d'aquesta setmana, com que

    Episode thirty-nine of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Please Please Please” by James Brown, and at the early rock and roll career of the Godfather of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Come Go With Me” by the Del Vikings. —-more—-  Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.  I relied mostly on two books for this episode. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, by James Brown with Bruce Tucker, is a celebrity autobiography with all that that entails, but a more interesting read than many.  Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for the Real James Brown, by James McBride is a more discursive, gonzo journalism piece, and well worth a read. And this two-CD compilation has all Brown’s singles from 1956 through 61.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Just as the other week we talked about a country musician who had a massive impact on rock and roll, one who was originally marketed as a rock and roller, so today we’re going to talk about a funk and soul musician who got his first hits playing to the rock and roll audience.   There is a type of musician we will come across a lot as our story progresses. He is almost always a man, and he is usually regarded as a musical genius. He will be focused only on two things — his music and his money — and will have basically no friends, except maybe one from his childhood. He has employees, not friends. And he only hires the best — his employees do staggering work while being treated appallingly by him, and he takes all the credit while they do most of the work. Yet at the same time, the work those employees do ends up sounding like that genius, and when they go on to do their own stuff without him, it never sounds quite as good. That one percent he’s adding does make the difference. He’s never really liked as a person by his employees, but he’s grudgingly respected, and he’s loved by his audience.   There are people like that in every creative field — one thinks of Stan Lee in comics, or Walt Disney in film — but there are a *lot* of them in music, and they are responsible for an outsized portion of the most influential music ever made. And James Brown is almost the archetypal example of this kind of musician.   James Brown had a hard, hard childhood. His mother left his father when James was four — stories say that Brown’s father pulled a gun on her, so her wanting to get away seems entirely reasonable, but she left her son with him, and James felt abandoned and betrayed for much of his life. A few years later his father realised that he didn’t have the ability to look after a child by himself, and dumped James on a relative he always called an aunt, though she was some form of cousin, to raise. His aunt ran a brothel, and it’s safe to say that that was not the best possible environment in which to raise a young child. He later said that he was in his teens before he had any underwear that was bought from a shop rather than made out of old sacks. In later life, when other people would talk about having come from broken homes and having been abandoned by their fathers, he would say “How do you think I feel? My father *and my mother* left me!”   But he had ambition. Young James had entered — and won — talent shows from a very young age — his first one was in 1944, when he was eleven, and he performed “So Long”, the song that would a few years later become Ruth Brown’s first big hit, but was then best known in a version by the Charioteers:   [Excerpt: The Charioteers, “So Long”]   He loved music, especially jazz and gospel, and he was eager to learn anything he could about it. The one form of music he could never get into was the blues — his father played a little blues, but it wasn’t young James’ musical interest at all — but even there, when Tampa Red started dating one of the sex workers who worked at his aunt’s house, young James Brown learned what he could from the blues legend.   He learned to sing from the holiness churches, and his music would always have a gospel flavour to it. But the music he liked more than anything was that style of jazz and swing music that was blending into what was becoming R&B. He loved Count Basie, and used to try to teach himself to play “One O’Clock Jump”, Count Basie’s biggest hit, on the piano:   [Excerpt: Count Basie, “One O’Clock Jump”]   That style of music wouldn’t show up in his earlier records, which were mostly fairly standard vocal group R&B, but if you listen to his much later funk recordings, they owe a *lot* to Basie and Lionel Hampton. The music that Brown became most famous for is the logical conclusion to the style that those musicians developed — though we’ll talk more about the invention of funk, and how funk is a form of jazz, in a future episode. But his real favourite, the one he tried to emulate more than any other, was Louis Jordan. Brown didn’t get to see Jordan live as a child, but he would listen to his records on the radio and see him in film shorts, and he decided that more than anything else he wanted to be like Jordan. As soon as he started performing with small groups around town, he started singing Jordan’s songs, especially “Caldonia”, which years later he would record as a tribute to his idol:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “Caldonia”]   But as you might imagine, life for young James Brown wasn’t the easiest, and he eventually fell into robbery. This started when he was disciplined at school for not being dressed appropriately — so he went out and stole himself some better clothes. He started to do the same for his friends, and then moved on to more serious types of theft, including cars, and he ended up getting caught breaking into one.   At the age of sixteen, Brown was sent to a juvenile detention centre, on a sentence of eight to sixteen years, and this inadvertently led to the biggest piece of luck in his life, when he met the man who would be his mentor and principal creative partner for the next twenty years. There was a baseball game between inmates of the detention centre and a team of outsiders, one of whom was named Bobby Byrd, and Byrd got talking to Brown and discovered that he could sing. In fact Brown had put together a little band in the detention centre, using improvised instruments, and would often play the piano in the gym. He’d got enough of a reputation for being able to play that he’d acquired the nickname “Music Box” — and Byrd had heard about him even outside the prison.   At the time, Byrd was leading a gospel vocal group, and needed a new singer, and he was impressed enough with Brown that he put in a word for him at a parole hearing and helped him get released early. James Brown was going to devote his life to singing for the Lord, and he wasn’t going to sin any more. He got out of the detention centre after serving only three years of his sentence, though you can imagine that to a teen there was not much “only” about spending three years of your life locked up, especially in Georgia in the 1940s, a time and place when the white guards were free to be racially abusive to an even greater extent than they are today. And for the next ten years, throughout his early musical career, Brown would be on parole and in danger of being recalled to prison at any time.   Brown ended up joining Byrd’s *sister’s* gospel group, at least for a while, before moving over to Byrd’s own group, which had originally been a gospel group called the Gospel Starlighters, but by now was an R&B group called the Avons. They soon renamed themselves again, to the Flames, and later to the *Famous* Flames, the name they would stick with from then on (and a name which would cause a lot of confusion, as we’ve already talked about the Hollywood Flames, who featured a different Bobby Byrd). Brown’s friend Johnny Terry, who he had performed with in the detention centre, also joined the group. There would be many lineups of the Famous Flames, but Brown, Byrd, and Terry would be the nucleus of most of them.   Brown was massively influenced by Little Richard, to the extent that he was essentially a Little Richard tribute act early on. Brown felt an immediate kinship with Richard’s music because both of them were from Georgia, both were massively influenced by Louis Jordan, and both were inspired by church music. Brown would later go off in his own direction, of course, but in those early years he sounded more like Little Richard than like anyone else.   In fact, around this time, Little Richard’s career was doing so well that he could suddenly be booked into much bigger halls than he had been playing. He still had a few months’ worth of contracts in those old halls, though, and so his agent had a brainwave. No-one knew what Richard looked like, so the agent got Brown and the Flames to pretend to be Little Richard and the Upsetters and tour playing the gigs that Richard had been booked into. Every night Brown would go out on stage to the introduction, “Please welcome the hardest working man in showbusiness today, Little Richard!”, and when he finished ghosting for Little Richard, he liked the introduction enough that he would keep it for himself, changing it only to his own name rather than Richard’s. Brown would perform a mixture of Richard’s material, his own originals, and the R&B songs that the Flames had been performing around Georgia. They’d already been cutting some records for tiny labels, at least according to Brown’s autobiography, mostly cover versions of R&B hits. I haven’t been able to track down any of these, but one that Brown mentions in his autobiography is “So Long”, which he later rerecorded in 1961, and that version might give you some idea of what Brown sounded like at the period when he was trying to be Little Richard:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “So Long”]   Brown’s imitation of Richard went down well enough that Richard’s agent, Clint Brantley, decided to get the group to record a demo of themselves doing their own material.   They chose to do a song called “Please, Please, Please”, written by Brown and Johnny Terry. The song was based on something that Little Richard had scribbled on a napkin, which Brown decided would make a good title for a song. The song fits neatly into a particular genre of R&B ballad, typified by for example, Richard’s “Directly From My Heart to You”:   [Excerpt: Little Richard, “Directly From My Heart to You”]   Though both “Directly From My Heart” and “Please Please Please” owe more than a little to “Shake A Hand” by Faye Adams, the song that inspired almost all slow-burn blues ballads in this period:   [Excerpt: Faye Adams, “Shake a Hand”]   However, the real key to the song came when Brown heard the Orioles’ version of Big Joe Williams’ “Baby Please Don’t Go”, and used their backing vocal arrangement:   [Excerpt: The Orioles, “Baby Please Don’t Go”]   The Famous Flames were patterning themselves more and more on two groups — Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose records with Clyde McPhatter as lead singer had paved the way for vocal group R&B as a genre, and Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, whose “Work With Me Annie” had had, for the time, a blatant sexuality that was unusual in successful records. They were going for energy, and for pure expression of visceral emotion, rather than the smooth sophisticated sounds of the Platters or Penguins.   They were signed to Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, by Ralph Bass, the visionary A&R man we’ve dealt with in many other episodes. Bass was absolutely convinced that “Please Please Please” would be a hit, and championed the Flames in the face of opposition from his boss, Syd Nathan. Nathan thought that the song just consisted of Brown screaming one word over and over again, and that there was no way on earth that it could be a hit. In Brown’s autobiography (not the most reliable of sources) he even claims that Bass was sacked for putting out the record against Nathan’s will, but then rehired when the record became a hit. I’m not sure if that’s literally true, but it’s a story that shows the emotional truth of the period — Bass was the only person at the record company with any faith in the Famous Flames.   But the song became hugely popular. The emotion in Brown’s singing was particularly effective on a particular type of woman, who would feel intensely sorry for Brown, and who would want to make that poor man feel better. Some woman had obviously hurt him terribly, and he needed the right woman to fix his hurt. It was a powerful, heartbreaking, song, and an even more powerful performance:   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, “Please Please Please”]   The song would eventually become one of the staples in the group’s live repertoire, and they would develop an elaborate routine about it. Brown would drop to his knees, sobbing, and the other band members would drape him in a cape — something that was inspired by a caped wrestler, Gorgeous George — and try to lead him off stage, concerned for him. Brown would pull away from them, feigning distress, and try to continue singing the song while his bandmates tried to get him off the stage.   Sometimes it would go even further — Brown talks in his autobiography about one show, supporting Little Richard, where he climbed into the rafters of the ceiling, hung from the ceiling while singing, and dropped into the waiting arms of the band members at the climax of the show.   But there was trouble in store. The record reached number six on the R&B chart and supposedly sold between one and three million copies, though record companies routinely inflated sales by orders of magnitude at this point. But it was credited to James Brown and the Famous Flames, not just to the Famous Flames as a group. When they started to be billed that way on stage shows, too, the rest of the band decided that enough was enough, and quit en masse.   Bobby Byrd and Johnny Terry would rejoin fairly shortly afterwards, and both would stay with Brown for many more years, but the rest of the group never came back, and Brown had to put together a new set of Famous Flames, starting out almost from scratch. He had that one hit, which was enough to get his new group gigs, but everything after that flopped, for three long years.   Records like “Chonnie On Chon” tried to jump on various bandwagons — you can hear that there was still a belief among R&B singers that if they namechecked “Annie” from “Work With Me Annie” by the Midnighters, they would have a hit — but despite him singing about having a rock and roll party, the record tanked:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “Chonnie On Chon”]    Brown and his new group of Flames had to build up an audience more or less from nothing. And it’s at this point — when Brown was the undisputed leader of the band — that he started his tactic of insisting on absolute discipline in his bands. Brown took on the title “the hardest working man in showbusiness”, but his band members had to work equally hard, if not harder. Any band member whose shoes weren’t shined, or who missed a dance step, or hit a wrong note on stage, would be fined. Brown took to issuing these fines on stage — he’d point at a band member and then flash five fingers in time to the music. Each time he made his hand flash, that was another five dollar fine for that musician. Audiences would assume it was part of the dance routine, but the musician would know that he was losing that money.   But while Brown’s perfectionism verged on the tyrannical (and indeed sometimes surpassed the tyrannical), it had results.   Brown knew, from a very early age, that he would have to make his success on pure hard work and determination. He didn’t have an especially good voice (though he would always defend himself as a singer — when someone said to him “all you do is grunt”, he’d respond, “Yes, but I grunt *in tune*”). And he wasn’t the physical type that was in fashion with black audiences at the time. While I am *absolutely* not the person to talk about colourism in the black community, there is a general consensus that in that time and place, black people were more likely to admire a black man if he was light-skinned, had features that didn’t fit the stereotype of black people, and was tall and thin. Brown was *very* dark, had extremely African features, and was short and stocky.   So he and his group just had to work harder than everyone else. They spent three years putting out unsuccessful singles and touring the chitlin’ circuit. We’ve mentioned the chitlin’ circuit in passing before, but now is probably the time to explain this in more detail.   The chitlin’ circuit was an informal network of clubs and theatres that stretched across the USA, catering almost exclusively to black audiences. Any black act — with the exception of a handful of acts who were aiming at white audiences, like Harry Belafonte or Nat “King” Cole — would play the chitlin’ circuit, and those audiences would be hard to impress. As with poor audiences everywhere, the audiences wanted value for their entertainment dollar, and were not prepared to tolerate anything less than the best.   The worst of these audiences was at the amateur nights at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The audiences there would come prepared with baskets full of rotten fruit and eggs to throw at the stage. But all of the audiences would be quick to show their disapproval.   But at the same time, that kind of audience will also, if you give them anything *more* than their money’s worth, be loyal to you forever. And Brown made sure that the Famous Flames would inspire that kind of loyalty, by making sure they worked harder than any other group on the circuit. And after three years of work, he finally had a second hit.   The new song was inspired by “For Your Precious Love” by Jerry Butler, another slow-burn ballad, though this time more obviously in the soul genre:   [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, “For Your Precious Love”]   As Brown told the story, he wrote his new song and took it to Syd Nathan at Federal, who said that he wasn’t going to waste his money putting out anything like that, and that in fact he was dropping Brown from the label. Brown was so convinced it was a hit that he recorded a demo with his own money, and took it directly to the radio stations, where it quickly became the most requested song on the stations that played it.   According to Brown, Nathan wouldn’t budge on putting the song out until he discovered that Federal had received orders for twenty-five thousand copies of the single.   Nathan then asked Brown for the tape, saying he was going to give Brown one more chance. But Brown told Nathan that if he was going to put out the new song, it was going to be done properly, in a studio paid for by Nathan. Nathan reluctantly agreed, and Brown went into the studio and cut “Try Me”:   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, “Try Me”]   “Try Me” became an even bigger hit than “Please Please Please” had, and went to number one on the R&B charts and number forty-eight on the pop charts.   But once again, Brown lost his group, and this time just before a big residency at the Apollo — the most prestigious, and also the most demanding, venue on the chitlin’ circuit. He still had Johnny Terry, and this was the point when Bobby Byrd rejoined the group after a couple of years away, but he was still worried about his new group and how they would fare on this residency, which also featured Little Richard’s old group the Upsetters, and was headlined by the blues star Little Willie John.   Brown needn’t have worried. The new lineup of Famous Flames went down well enough that the audiences were more impressed by them than by any of the other acts on the bill, and they were soon promoted to co-headline status, much to Little Willie John’s annoyance.   That was the first time James Brown ever played at the Apollo, a venue which in later years would become synonymous with him, and we’ll pick up in later episodes on the ways in which Brown and the Apollo were crucial in building each other’s reputation.   But for Brown himself, probably the most important thing about that residency at the Apollo came at the end of the run. And I’ll finish this episode with Brown’s own words, from his autobiography, talking about that last night:   “The day after we finished at the Apollo I was in my room at the Theresa, fixing to leave for Washington, when somebody knocked on the door.   “Come in,” I said. I was gathering up my belongings, not really watching the door. I heard it open, real slow, but that was all. After a minute, when I realized how quiet it was, I turned around. There was a small woman standing there, not young, not old. I hadn’t seen her since I was four years old, but when I looked at her I knew right away it was my mother.   I had no idea she was coming to see me that day or any day.   “I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” I said. “I’m glad to see you.”   She started to smile, and when she did I could see she’d lost all her teeth.   All I could think to say was, “I’m going to get your mouth fixed for you.”   She didn’t say anything. She just walked toward me. We hugged, and then I kissed my mother for the first time in more than twenty years.”  

    Episode thirty-nine of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Please Please Please” by James Brown, and at the early rock and roll career of the Godfather of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Come Go With Me” by the Del Vikings. —-more—-  Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.  I relied mostly on two books for this episode. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, by James Brown with Bruce Tucker, is a celebrity autobiography with all that that entails, but a more interesting read than many.  Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for the Real James Brown, by James McBride is a more discursive, gonzo journalism piece, and well worth a read. And this two-CD compilation has all Brown’s singles from 1956 through 61.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Just as the other week we talked about a country musician who had a massive impact on rock and roll, one who was originally marketed as a rock and roller, so today we’re going to talk about a funk and soul musician who got his first hits playing to the rock and roll audience.   There is a type of musician we will come across a lot as our story progresses. He is almost always a man, and he is usually regarded as a musical genius. He will be focused only on two things — his music and his money — and will have basically no friends, except maybe one from his childhood. He has employees, not friends. And he only hires the best — his employees do staggering work while being treated appallingly by him, and he takes all the credit while they do most of the work. Yet at the same time, the work those employees do ends up sounding like that genius, and when they go on to do their own stuff without him, it never sounds quite as good. That one percent he’s adding does make the difference. He’s never really liked as a person by his employees, but he’s grudgingly respected, and he’s loved by his audience.   There are people like that in every creative field — one thinks of Stan Lee in comics, or Walt Disney in film — but there are a *lot* of them in music, and they are responsible for an outsized portion of the most influential music ever made. And James Brown is almost the archetypal example of this kind of musician.   James Brown had a hard, hard childhood. His mother left his father when James was four — stories say that Brown’s father pulled a gun on her, so her wanting to get away seems entirely reasonable, but she left her son with him, and James felt abandoned and betrayed for much of his life. A few years later his father realised that he didn’t have the ability to look after a child by himself, and dumped James on a relative he always called an aunt, though she was some form of cousin, to raise. His aunt ran a brothel, and it’s safe to say that that was not the best possible environment in which to raise a young child. He later said that he was in his teens before he had any underwear that was bought from a shop rather than made out of old sacks. In later life, when other people would talk about having come from broken homes and having been abandoned by their fathers, he would say “How do you think I feel? My father *and my mother* left me!”   But he had ambition. Young James had entered — and won — talent shows from a very young age — his first one was in 1944, when he was eleven, and he performed “So Long”, the song that would a few years later become Ruth Brown’s first big hit, but was then best known in a version by the Charioteers:   [Excerpt: The Charioteers, “So Long”]   He loved music, especially jazz and gospel, and he was eager to learn anything he could about it. The one form of music he could never get into was the blues — his father played a little blues, but it wasn’t young James’ musical interest at all — but even there, when Tampa Red started dating one of the sex workers who worked at his aunt’s house, young James Brown learned what he could from the blues legend.   He learned to sing from the holiness churches, and his music would always have a gospel flavour to it. But the music he liked more than anything was that style of jazz and swing music that was blending into what was becoming R&B. He loved Count Basie, and used to try to teach himself to play “One O’Clock Jump”, Count Basie’s biggest hit, on the piano:   [Excerpt: Count Basie, “One O’Clock Jump”]   That style of music wouldn’t show up in his earlier records, which were mostly fairly standard vocal group R&B, but if you listen to his much later funk recordings, they owe a *lot* to Basie and Lionel Hampton. The music that Brown became most famous for is the logical conclusion to the style that those musicians developed — though we’ll talk more about the invention of funk, and how funk is a form of jazz, in a future episode. But his real favourite, the one he tried to emulate more than any other, was Louis Jordan. Brown didn’t get to see Jordan live as a child, but he would listen to his records on the radio and see him in film shorts, and he decided that more than anything else he wanted to be like Jordan. As soon as he started performing with small groups around town, he started singing Jordan’s songs, especially “Caldonia”, which years later he would record as a tribute to his idol:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “Caldonia”]   But as you might imagine, life for young James Brown wasn’t the easiest, and he eventually fell into robbery. This started when he was disciplined at school for not being dressed appropriately — so he went out and stole himself some better clothes. He started to do the same for his friends, and then moved on to more serious types of theft, including cars, and he ended up getting caught breaking into one.   At the age of sixteen, Brown was sent to a juvenile detention centre, on a sentence of eight to sixteen years, and this inadvertently led to the biggest piece of luck in his life, when he met the man who would be his mentor and principal creative partner for the next twenty years. There was a baseball game between inmates of the detention centre and a team of outsiders, one of whom was named Bobby Byrd, and Byrd got talking to Brown and discovered that he could sing. In fact Brown had put together a little band in the detention centre, using improvised instruments, and would often play the piano in the gym. He’d got enough of a reputation for being able to play that he’d acquired the nickname “Music Box” — and Byrd had heard about him even outside the prison.   At the time, Byrd was leading a gospel vocal group, and needed a new singer, and he was impressed enough with Brown that he put in a word for him at a parole hearing and helped him get released early. James Brown was going to devote his life to singing for the Lord, and he wasn’t going to sin any more. He got out of the detention centre after serving only three years of his sentence, though you can imagine that to a teen there was not much “only” about spending three years of your life locked up, especially in Georgia in the 1940s, a time and place when the white guards were free to be racially abusive to an even greater extent than they are today. And for the next ten years, throughout his early musical career, Brown would be on parole and in danger of being recalled to prison at any time.   Brown ended up joining Byrd’s *sister’s* gospel group, at least for a while, before moving over to Byrd’s own group, which had originally been a gospel group called the Gospel Starlighters, but by now was an R&B group called the Avons. They soon renamed themselves again, to the Flames, and later to the *Famous* Flames, the name they would stick with from then on (and a name which would cause a lot of confusion, as we’ve already talked about the Hollywood Flames, who featured a different Bobby Byrd). Brown’s friend Johnny Terry, who he had performed with in the detention centre, also joined the group. There would be many lineups of the Famous Flames, but Brown, Byrd, and Terry would be the nucleus of most of them.   Brown was massively influenced by Little Richard, to the extent that he was essentially a Little Richard tribute act early on. Brown felt an immediate kinship with Richard’s music because both of them were from Georgia, both were massively influenced by Louis Jordan, and both were inspired by church music. Brown would later go off in his own direction, of course, but in those early years he sounded more like Little Richard than like anyone else.   In fact, around this time, Little Richard’s career was doing so well that he could suddenly be booked into much bigger halls than he had been playing. He still had a few months’ worth of contracts in those old halls, though, and so his agent had a brainwave. No-one knew what Richard looked like, so the agent got Brown and the Flames to pretend to be Little Richard and the Upsetters and tour playing the gigs that Richard had been booked into. Every night Brown would go out on stage to the introduction, “Please welcome the hardest working man in showbusiness today, Little Richard!”, and when he finished ghosting for Little Richard, he liked the introduction enough that he would keep it for himself, changing it only to his own name rather than Richard’s. Brown would perform a mixture of Richard’s material, his own originals, and the R&B songs that the Flames had been performing around Georgia. They’d already been cutting some records for tiny labels, at least according to Brown’s autobiography, mostly cover versions of R&B hits. I haven’t been able to track down any of these, but one that Brown mentions in his autobiography is “So Long”, which he later rerecorded in 1961, and that version might give you some idea of what Brown sounded like at the period when he was trying to be Little Richard:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “So Long”]   Brown’s imitation of Richard went down well enough that Richard’s agent, Clint Brantley, decided to get the group to record a demo of themselves doing their own material.   They chose to do a song called “Please, Please, Please”, written by Brown and Johnny Terry. The song was based on something that Little Richard had scribbled on a napkin, which Brown decided would make a good title for a song. The song fits neatly into a particular genre of R&B ballad, typified by for example, Richard’s “Directly From My Heart to You”:   [Excerpt: Little Richard, “Directly From My Heart to You”]   Though both “Directly From My Heart” and “Please Please Please” owe more than a little to “Shake A Hand” by Faye Adams, the song that inspired almost all slow-burn blues ballads in this period:   [Excerpt: Faye Adams, “Shake a Hand”]   However, the real key to the song came when Brown heard the Orioles’ version of Big Joe Williams’ “Baby Please Don’t Go”, and used their backing vocal arrangement:   [Excerpt: The Orioles, “Baby Please Don’t Go”]   The Famous Flames were patterning themselves more and more on two groups — Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose records with Clyde McPhatter as lead singer had paved the way for vocal group R&B as a genre, and Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, whose “Work With Me Annie” had had, for the time, a blatant sexuality that was unusual in successful records. They were going for energy, and for pure expression of visceral emotion, rather than the smooth sophisticated sounds of the Platters or Penguins.   They were signed to Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, by Ralph Bass, the visionary A&R man we’ve dealt with in many other episodes. Bass was absolutely convinced that “Please Please Please” would be a hit, and championed the Flames in the face of opposition from his boss, Syd Nathan. Nathan thought that the song just consisted of Brown screaming one word over and over again, and that there was no way on earth that it could be a hit. In Brown’s autobiography (not the most reliable of sources) he even claims that Bass was sacked for putting out the record against Nathan’s will, but then rehired when the record became a hit. I’m not sure if that’s literally true, but it’s a story that shows the emotional truth of the period — Bass was the only person at the record company with any faith in the Famous Flames.   But the song became hugely popular. The emotion in Brown’s singing was particularly effective on a particular type of woman, who would feel intensely sorry for Brown, and who would want to make that poor man feel better. Some woman had obviously hurt him terribly, and he needed the right woman to fix his hurt. It was a powerful, heartbreaking, song, and an even more powerful performance:   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, “Please Please Please”]   The song would eventually become one of the staples in the group’s live repertoire, and they would develop an elaborate routine about it. Brown would drop to his knees, sobbing, and the other band members would drape him in a cape — something that was inspired by a caped wrestler, Gorgeous George — and try to lead him off stage, concerned for him. Brown would pull away from them, feigning distress, and try to continue singing the song while his bandmates tried to get him off the stage.   Sometimes it would go even further — Brown talks in his autobiography about one show, supporting Little Richard, where he climbed into the rafters of the ceiling, hung from the ceiling while singing, and dropped into the waiting arms of the band members at the climax of the show.   But there was trouble in store. The record reached number six on the R&B chart and supposedly sold between one and three million copies, though record companies routinely inflated sales by orders of magnitude at this point. But it was credited to James Brown and the Famous Flames, not just to the Famous Flames as a group. When they started to be billed that way on stage shows, too, the rest of the band decided that enough was enough, and quit en masse.   Bobby Byrd and Johnny Terry would rejoin fairly shortly afterwards, and both would stay with Brown for many more years, but the rest of the group never came back, and Brown had to put together a new set of Famous Flames, starting out almost from scratch. He had that one hit, which was enough to get his new group gigs, but everything after that flopped, for three long years.   Records like “Chonnie On Chon” tried to jump on various bandwagons — you can hear that there was still a belief among R&B singers that if they namechecked “Annie” from “Work With Me Annie” by the Midnighters, they would have a hit — but despite him singing about having a rock and roll party, the record tanked:   [Excerpt: James Brown, “Chonnie On Chon”]    Brown and his new group of Flames had to build up an audience more or less from nothing. And it’s at this point — when Brown was the undisputed leader of the band — that he started his tactic of insisting on absolute discipline in his bands. Brown took on the title “the hardest working man in showbusiness”, but his band members had to work equally hard, if not harder. Any band member whose shoes weren’t shined, or who missed a dance step, or hit a wrong note on stage, would be fined. Brown took to issuing these fines on stage — he’d point at a band member and then flash five fingers in time to the music. Each time he made his hand flash, that was another five dollar fine for that musician. Audiences would assume it was part of the dance routine, but the musician would know that he was losing that money.   But while Brown’s perfectionism verged on the tyrannical (and indeed sometimes surpassed the tyrannical), it had results.   Brown knew, from a very early age, that he would have to make his success on pure hard work and determination. He didn’t have an especially good voice (though he would always defend himself as a singer — when someone said to him “all you do is grunt”, he’d respond, “Yes, but I grunt *in tune*”). And he wasn’t the physical type that was in fashion with black audiences at the time. While I am *absolutely* not the person to talk about colourism in the black community, there is a general consensus that in that time and place, black people were more likely to admire a black man if he was light-skinned, had features that didn’t fit the stereotype of black people, and was tall and thin. Brown was *very* dark, had extremely African features, and was short and stocky.   So he and his group just had to work harder than everyone else. They spent three years putting out unsuccessful singles and touring the chitlin’ circuit. We’ve mentioned the chitlin’ circuit in passing before, but now is probably the time to explain this in more detail.   The chitlin’ circuit was an informal network of clubs and theatres that stretched across the USA, catering almost exclusively to black audiences. Any black act — with the exception of a handful of acts who were aiming at white audiences, like Harry Belafonte or Nat “King” Cole — would play the chitlin’ circuit, and those audiences would be hard to impress. As with poor audiences everywhere, the audiences wanted value for their entertainment dollar, and were not prepared to tolerate anything less than the best.   The worst of these audiences was at the amateur nights at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The audiences there would come prepared with baskets full of rotten fruit and eggs to throw at the stage. But all of the audiences would be quick to show their disapproval.   But at the same time, that kind of audience will also, if you give them anything *more* than their money’s worth, be loyal to you forever. And Brown made sure that the Famous Flames would inspire that kind of loyalty, by making sure they worked harder than any other group on the circuit. And after three years of work, he finally had a second hit.   The new song was inspired by “For Your Precious Love” by Jerry Butler, another slow-burn ballad, though this time more obviously in the soul genre:   [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, “For Your Precious Love”]   As Brown told the story, he wrote his new song and took it to Syd Nathan at Federal, who said that he wasn’t going to waste his money putting out anything like that, and that in fact he was dropping Brown from the label. Brown was so convinced it was a hit that he recorded a demo with his own money, and took it directly to the radio stations, where it quickly became the most requested song on the stations that played it.   According to Brown, Nathan wouldn’t budge on putting the song out until he discovered that Federal had received orders for twenty-five thousand copies of the single.   Nathan then asked Brown for the tape, saying he was going to give Brown one more chance. But Brown told Nathan that if he was going to put out the new song, it was going to be done properly, in a studio paid for by Nathan. Nathan reluctantly agreed, and Brown went into the studio and cut “Try Me”:   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, “Try Me”]   “Try Me” became an even bigger hit than “Please Please Please” had, and went to number one on the R&B charts and number forty-eight on the pop charts.   But once again, Brown lost his group, and this time just before a big residency at the Apollo — the most prestigious, and also the most demanding, venue on the chitlin’ circuit. He still had Johnny Terry, and this was the point when Bobby Byrd rejoined the group after a couple of years away, but he was still worried about his new group and how they would fare on this residency, which also featured Little Richard’s old group the Upsetters, and was headlined by the blues star Little Willie John.   Brown needn’t have worried. The new lineup of Famous Flames went down well enough that the audiences were more impressed by them than by any of the other acts on the bill, and they were soon promoted to co-headline status, much to Little Willie John’s annoyance.   That was the first time James Brown ever played at the Apollo, a venue which in later years would become synonymous with him, and we’ll pick up in later episodes on the ways in which Brown and the Apollo were crucial in building each other’s reputation.   But for Brown himself, probably the most important thing about that residency at the Apollo came at the end of the run. And I’ll finish this episode with Brown’s own words, from his autobiography, talking about that last night:   “The day after we finished at the Apollo I was in my room at the Theresa, fixing to leave for Washington, when somebody knocked on the door.   “Come in,” I said. I was gathering up my belongings, not really watching the door. I heard it open, real slow, but that was all. After a minute, when I realized how quiet it was, I turned around. There was a small woman standing there, not young, not old. I hadn’t seen her since I was four years old, but when I looked at her I knew right away it was my mother.   I had no idea she was coming to see me that day or any day.   “I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” I said. “I’m glad to see you.”   She started to smile, and when she did I could see she’d lost all her teeth.   All I could think to say was, “I’m going to get your mouth fixed for you.”   She didn’t say anything. She just walked toward me. We hugged, and then I kissed my mother for the first time in more than twenty years.”  

    Episode thirty-nine of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Please Please Please" by James Brown, and at the early rock and roll career of the Godfather of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Come Go With Me" by the Del Vikings. ----more----  Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.  I relied mostly on two books for this episode. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, by James Brown with Bruce Tucker, is a celebrity autobiography with all that that entails, but a more interesting read than many.  Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for the Real James Brown, by James McBride is a more discursive, gonzo journalism piece, and well worth a read. And this two-CD compilation has all Brown's singles from 1956 through 61.   Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Just as the other week we talked about a country musician who had a massive impact on rock and roll, one who was originally marketed as a rock and roller, so today we're going to talk about a funk and soul musician who got his first hits playing to the rock and roll audience.   There is a type of musician we will come across a lot as our story progresses. He is almost always a man, and he is usually regarded as a musical genius. He will be focused only on two things -- his music and his money -- and will have basically no friends, except maybe one from his childhood. He has employees, not friends. And he only hires the best -- his employees do staggering work while being treated appallingly by him, and he takes all the credit while they do most of the work. Yet at the same time, the work those employees do ends up sounding like that genius, and when they go on to do their own stuff without him, it never sounds quite as good. That one percent he's adding does make the difference. He's never really liked as a person by his employees, but he's grudgingly respected, and he's loved by his audience.   There are people like that in every creative field -- one thinks of Stan Lee in comics, or Walt Disney in film -- but there are a *lot* of them in music, and they are responsible for an outsized portion of the most influential music ever made. And James Brown is almost the archetypal example of this kind of musician.   James Brown had a hard, hard childhood. His mother left his father when James was four -- stories say that Brown's father pulled a gun on her, so her wanting to get away seems entirely reasonable, but she left her son with him, and James felt abandoned and betrayed for much of his life. A few years later his father realised that he didn't have the ability to look after a child by himself, and dumped James on a relative he always called an aunt, though she was some form of cousin, to raise. His aunt ran a brothel, and it's safe to say that that was not the best possible environment in which to raise a young child. He later said that he was in his teens before he had any underwear that was bought from a shop rather than made out of old sacks. In later life, when other people would talk about having come from broken homes and having been abandoned by their fathers, he would say "How do you think I feel? My father *and my mother* left me!"   But he had ambition. Young James had entered -- and won -- talent shows from a very young age -- his first one was in 1944, when he was eleven, and he performed "So Long", the song that would a few years later become Ruth Brown's first big hit, but was then best known in a version by the Charioteers:   [Excerpt: The Charioteers, "So Long"]   He loved music, especially jazz and gospel, and he was eager to learn anything he could about it. The one form of music he could never get into was the blues -- his father played a little blues, but it wasn't young James' musical interest at all -- but even there, when Tampa Red started dating one of the sex workers who worked at his aunt's house, young James Brown learned what he could from the blues legend.   He learned to sing from the holiness churches, and his music would always have a gospel flavour to it. But the music he liked more than anything was that style of jazz and swing music that was blending into what was becoming R&B. He loved Count Basie, and used to try to teach himself to play "One O'Clock Jump", Count Basie's biggest hit, on the piano:   [Excerpt: Count Basie, "One O'Clock Jump"]   That style of music wouldn't show up in his earlier records, which were mostly fairly standard vocal group R&B, but if you listen to his much later funk recordings, they owe a *lot* to Basie and Lionel Hampton. The music that Brown became most famous for is the logical conclusion to the style that those musicians developed -- though we'll talk more about the invention of funk, and how funk is a form of jazz, in a future episode. But his real favourite, the one he tried to emulate more than any other, was Louis Jordan. Brown didn't get to see Jordan live as a child, but he would listen to his records on the radio and see him in film shorts, and he decided that more than anything else he wanted to be like Jordan. As soon as he started performing with small groups around town, he started singing Jordan's songs, especially "Caldonia", which years later he would record as a tribute to his idol:   [Excerpt: James Brown, "Caldonia"]   But as you might imagine, life for young James Brown wasn't the easiest, and he eventually fell into robbery. This started when he was disciplined at school for not being dressed appropriately -- so he went out and stole himself some better clothes. He started to do the same for his friends, and then moved on to more serious types of theft, including cars, and he ended up getting caught breaking into one.   At the age of sixteen, Brown was sent to a juvenile detention centre, on a sentence of eight to sixteen years, and this inadvertently led to the biggest piece of luck in his life, when he met the man who would be his mentor and principal creative partner for the next twenty years. There was a baseball game between inmates of the detention centre and a team of outsiders, one of whom was named Bobby Byrd, and Byrd got talking to Brown and discovered that he could sing. In fact Brown had put together a little band in the detention centre, using improvised instruments, and would often play the piano in the gym. He'd got enough of a reputation for being able to play that he'd acquired the nickname "Music Box" -- and Byrd had heard about him even outside the prison.   At the time, Byrd was leading a gospel vocal group, and needed a new singer, and he was impressed enough with Brown that he put in a word for him at a parole hearing and helped him get released early. James Brown was going to devote his life to singing for the Lord, and he wasn't going to sin any more. He got out of the detention centre after serving only three years of his sentence, though you can imagine that to a teen there was not much "only" about spending three years of your life locked up, especially in Georgia in the 1940s, a time and place when the white guards were free to be racially abusive to an even greater extent than they are today. And for the next ten years, throughout his early musical career, Brown would be on parole and in danger of being recalled to prison at any time.   Brown ended up joining Byrd's *sister's* gospel group, at least for a while, before moving over to Byrd's own group, which had originally been a gospel group called the Gospel Starlighters, but by now was an R&B group called the Avons. They soon renamed themselves again, to the Flames, and later to the *Famous* Flames, the name they would stick with from then on (and a name which would cause a lot of confusion, as we've already talked about the Hollywood Flames, who featured a different Bobby Byrd). Brown's friend Johnny Terry, who he had performed with in the detention centre, also joined the group. There would be many lineups of the Famous Flames, but Brown, Byrd, and Terry would be the nucleus of most of them.   Brown was massively influenced by Little Richard, to the extent that he was essentially a Little Richard tribute act early on. Brown felt an immediate kinship with Richard's music because both of them were from Georgia, both were massively influenced by Louis Jordan, and both were inspired by church music. Brown would later go off in his own direction, of course, but in those early years he sounded more like Little Richard than like anyone else.   In fact, around this time, Little Richard's career was doing so well that he could suddenly be booked into much bigger halls than he had been playing. He still had a few months' worth of contracts in those old halls, though, and so his agent had a brainwave. No-one knew what Richard looked like, so the agent got Brown and the Flames to pretend to be Little Richard and the Upsetters and tour playing the gigs that Richard had been booked into. Every night Brown would go out on stage to the introduction, "Please welcome the hardest working man in showbusiness today, Little Richard!", and when he finished ghosting for Little Richard, he liked the introduction enough that he would keep it for himself, changing it only to his own name rather than Richard's. Brown would perform a mixture of Richard's material, his own originals, and the R&B songs that the Flames had been performing around Georgia. They'd already been cutting some records for tiny labels, at least according to Brown's autobiography, mostly cover versions of R&B hits. I haven't been able to track down any of these, but one that Brown mentions in his autobiography is "So Long", which he later rerecorded in 1961, and that version might give you some idea of what Brown sounded like at the period when he was trying to be Little Richard:   [Excerpt: James Brown, "So Long"]   Brown's imitation of Richard went down well enough that Richard's agent, Clint Brantley, decided to get the group to record a demo of themselves doing their own material.   They chose to do a song called "Please, Please, Please", written by Brown and Johnny Terry. The song was based on something that Little Richard had scribbled on a napkin, which Brown decided would make a good title for a song. The song fits neatly into a particular genre of R&B ballad, typified by for example, Richard's "Directly From My Heart to You":   [Excerpt: Little Richard, "Directly From My Heart to You"]   Though both "Directly From My Heart" and "Please Please Please" owe more than a little to "Shake A Hand" by Faye Adams, the song that inspired almost all slow-burn blues ballads in this period:   [Excerpt: Faye Adams, "Shake a Hand"]   However, the real key to the song came when Brown heard the Orioles' version of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go", and used their backing vocal arrangement:   [Excerpt: The Orioles, "Baby Please Don't Go"]   The Famous Flames were patterning themselves more and more on two groups -- Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose records with Clyde McPhatter as lead singer had paved the way for vocal group R&B as a genre, and Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, whose "Work With Me Annie" had had, for the time, a blatant sexuality that was unusual in successful records. They were going for energy, and for pure expression of visceral emotion, rather than the smooth sophisticated sounds of the Platters or Penguins.   They were signed to Federal Records, a subsidiary of King, by Ralph Bass, the visionary A&R man we've dealt with in many other episodes. Bass was absolutely convinced that "Please Please Please" would be a hit, and championed the Flames in the face of opposition from his boss, Syd Nathan. Nathan thought that the song just consisted of Brown screaming one word over and over again, and that there was no way on earth that it could be a hit. In Brown's autobiography (not the most reliable of sources) he even claims that Bass was sacked for putting out the record against Nathan's will, but then rehired when the record became a hit. I'm not sure if that's literally true, but it's a story that shows the emotional truth of the period -- Bass was the only person at the record company with any faith in the Famous Flames.   But the song became hugely popular. The emotion in Brown's singing was particularly effective on a particular type of woman, who would feel intensely sorry for Brown, and who would want to make that poor man feel better. Some woman had obviously hurt him terribly, and he needed the right woman to fix his hurt. It was a powerful, heartbreaking, song, and an even more powerful performance:   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, "Please Please Please"]   The song would eventually become one of the staples in the group's live repertoire, and they would develop an elaborate routine about it. Brown would drop to his knees, sobbing, and the other band members would drape him in a cape -- something that was inspired by a caped wrestler, Gorgeous George -- and try to lead him off stage, concerned for him. Brown would pull away from them, feigning distress, and try to continue singing the song while his bandmates tried to get him off the stage.   Sometimes it would go even further -- Brown talks in his autobiography about one show, supporting Little Richard, where he climbed into the rafters of the ceiling, hung from the ceiling while singing, and dropped into the waiting arms of the band members at the climax of the show.   But there was trouble in store. The record reached number six on the R&B chart and supposedly sold between one and three million copies, though record companies routinely inflated sales by orders of magnitude at this point. But it was credited to James Brown and the Famous Flames, not just to the Famous Flames as a group. When they started to be billed that way on stage shows, too, the rest of the band decided that enough was enough, and quit en masse.   Bobby Byrd and Johnny Terry would rejoin fairly shortly afterwards, and both would stay with Brown for many more years, but the rest of the group never came back, and Brown had to put together a new set of Famous Flames, starting out almost from scratch. He had that one hit, which was enough to get his new group gigs, but everything after that flopped, for three long years.   Records like "Chonnie On Chon" tried to jump on various bandwagons -- you can hear that there was still a belief among R&B singers that if they namechecked "Annie" from "Work With Me Annie" by the Midnighters, they would have a hit -- but despite him singing about having a rock and roll party, the record tanked:   [Excerpt: James Brown, "Chonnie On Chon"]    Brown and his new group of Flames had to build up an audience more or less from nothing. And it's at this point -- when Brown was the undisputed leader of the band -- that he started his tactic of insisting on absolute discipline in his bands. Brown took on the title "the hardest working man in showbusiness", but his band members had to work equally hard, if not harder. Any band member whose shoes weren't shined, or who missed a dance step, or hit a wrong note on stage, would be fined. Brown took to issuing these fines on stage -- he'd point at a band member and then flash five fingers in time to the music. Each time he made his hand flash, that was another five dollar fine for that musician. Audiences would assume it was part of the dance routine, but the musician would know that he was losing that money.   But while Brown's perfectionism verged on the tyrannical (and indeed sometimes surpassed the tyrannical), it had results.   Brown knew, from a very early age, that he would have to make his success on pure hard work and determination. He didn't have an especially good voice (though he would always defend himself as a singer -- when someone said to him "all you do is grunt", he'd respond, "Yes, but I grunt *in tune*”). And he wasn't the physical type that was in fashion with black audiences at the time. While I am *absolutely* not the person to talk about colourism in the black community, there is a general consensus that in that time and place, black people were more likely to admire a black man if he was light-skinned, had features that didn't fit the stereotype of black people, and was tall and thin. Brown was *very* dark, had extremely African features, and was short and stocky.   So he and his group just had to work harder than everyone else. They spent three years putting out unsuccessful singles and touring the chitlin' circuit. We've mentioned the chitlin' circuit in passing before, but now is probably the time to explain this in more detail.   The chitlin' circuit was an informal network of clubs and theatres that stretched across the USA, catering almost exclusively to black audiences. Any black act -- with the exception of a handful of acts who were aiming at white audiences, like Harry Belafonte or Nat "King" Cole -- would play the chitlin' circuit, and those audiences would be hard to impress. As with poor audiences everywhere, the audiences wanted value for their entertainment dollar, and were not prepared to tolerate anything less than the best.   The worst of these audiences was at the amateur nights at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The audiences there would come prepared with baskets full of rotten fruit and eggs to throw at the stage. But all of the audiences would be quick to show their disapproval.   But at the same time, that kind of audience will also, if you give them anything *more* than their money's worth, be loyal to you forever. And Brown made sure that the Famous Flames would inspire that kind of loyalty, by making sure they worked harder than any other group on the circuit. And after three years of work, he finally had a second hit.   The new song was inspired by "For Your Precious Love" by Jerry Butler, another slow-burn ballad, though this time more obviously in the soul genre:   [Excerpt: Jerry Butler, "For Your Precious Love"]   As Brown told the story, he wrote his new song and took it to Syd Nathan at Federal, who said that he wasn't going to waste his money putting out anything like that, and that in fact he was dropping Brown from the label. Brown was so convinced it was a hit that he recorded a demo with his own money, and took it directly to the radio stations, where it quickly became the most requested song on the stations that played it.   According to Brown, Nathan wouldn't budge on putting the song out until he discovered that Federal had received orders for twenty-five thousand copies of the single.   Nathan then asked Brown for the tape, saying he was going to give Brown one more chance. But Brown told Nathan that if he was going to put out the new song, it was going to be done properly, in a studio paid for by Nathan. Nathan reluctantly agreed, and Brown went into the studio and cut "Try Me":   [Excerpt: James Brown and the Famous Flames, "Try Me"]   "Try Me" became an even bigger hit than "Please Please Please" had, and went to number one on the R&B charts and number forty-eight on the pop charts.   But once again, Brown lost his group, and this time just before a big residency at the Apollo -- the most prestigious, and also the most demanding, venue on the chitlin' circuit. He still had Johnny Terry, and this was the point when Bobby Byrd rejoined the group after a couple of years away, but he was still worried about his new group and how they would fare on this residency, which also featured Little Richard's old group the Upsetters, and was headlined by the blues star Little Willie John.   Brown needn't have worried. The new lineup of Famous Flames went down well enough that the audiences were more impressed by them than by any of the other acts on the bill, and they were soon promoted to co-headline status, much to Little Willie John's annoyance.   That was the first time James Brown ever played at the Apollo, a venue which in later years would become synonymous with him, and we'll pick up in later episodes on the ways in which Brown and the Apollo were crucial in building each other's reputation.   But for Brown himself, probably the most important thing about that residency at the Apollo came at the end of the run. And I'll finish this episode with Brown's own words, from his autobiography, talking about that last night:   "The day after we finished at the Apollo I was in my room at the Theresa, fixing to leave for Washington, when somebody knocked on the door.   “Come in,” I said. I was gathering up my belongings, not really watching the door. I heard it open, real slow, but that was all. After a minute, when I realized how quiet it was, I turned around. There was a small woman standing there, not young, not old. I hadn’t seen her since I was four years old, but when I looked at her I knew right away it was my mother.   I had no idea she was coming to see me that day or any day.   “I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” I said. “I’m glad to see you.”   She started to smile, and when she did I could see she’d lost all her teeth.   All I could think to say was, “I’m going to get your mouth fixed for you.”   She didn’t say anything. She just walked toward me. We hugged, and then I kissed my mother for the first time in more than twenty years."  

Show 38 – Recorded 6-22-19 This podcast provides 13 performances of blues songs performed by 14 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1959 up to the early 2018.  These blues artists are: Alabama Shakes, John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat, Big Joe Williams, Lightnin Hopkins, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Mary Lane, BB King and Etta James, Lowell Fulson, Charlie Musselwhite, Muddy Waters, Reverend Gary Davis, Pinetop Perkins and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Lucinda Williams, Leon Russell, Little Milton  

Show 38 – Recorded 6-22-19 This podcast provides 13 performances of blues songs performed by 14 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1959 up to the early 2018.  These blues artists are: Alabama Shakes, John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat, Big Joe Williams, Lightnin Hopkins, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Mary Lane, BB King and Etta James, Lowell Fulson, Charlie Musselwhite, Muddy Waters, Reverend Gary Davis, Pinetop Perkins and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Lucinda Williams, Leon Russell, Little Milton  

Ba'r Poull 'zo un abadenn sonerezh skignet war LaRG' 89.2FM e Gwened (56) ha war lec'hienn ar radio www.larg.fr. Kinniget eo e brezhoneg gant Panda hag Ewen ha skignet e vez sadorn kentañ pep miz da 7e noz. Pajenn FB an abadenn : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull is a music radio show broacast in Gwened/Vannes (Brittany) and on our website www.larg.fr. The show is run by Panda & Ewen speaking breton. Follow us on FB : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull est une émission musicale diffusée sur LaRG' 89.2FM à Vannes (56) et sur le site www.larg.fr. L'émission est présentée en breton par Panda et Ewen et est diffusée chaque premier samedi du mois à 19h. La page FB de l'émission : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ > Cabbage – Uber Capitalist Death (Dead Kennedys cover) (live) > Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics cover) (live The Last tour on earth) > Dr Feelgood – Don’t you just know it (Huey Smith cover) (live BBC in concert) > Elle King – Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover) (live Firefly Festival 19-06-2016) > AC/DC – Baby Please don’t go (Big Joe Williams cover) (live) > Guns N’ Roses – Live and let Die (The Wings cover) (live Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon, Canada, 26-03-1993) > David Bowie – I can’t Explain (The Who cover) (live Marquee Club, Londrez – 16-11-1973) > Jerry Lee Lewis – Johnny B. Good (Chuck Berry cover) (live Panther Hall, Fort Worth, 1966) > Ike & Tina Turner – I heard it through the grapevine (Smokey Robinson cover) (live Street West, San Francisco – 1969) > Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee (hengounel / trad.) (Live Glastonbury, RU – 30-06-2013) > Chris Cornell – Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover) (live Brasil)

Ba'r Poull 'zo un abadenn sonerezh skignet war LaRG' 89.2FM e Gwened (56) ha war lec'hienn ar radio www.larg.fr. Kinniget eo e brezhoneg gant Panda hag Ewen ha skignet e vez sadorn kentañ pep miz da 7e noz. Pajenn FB an abadenn : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull is a music radio show broacast in Gwened/Vannes (Brittany) and on our website www.larg.fr. The show is run by Panda & Ewen speaking breton. Follow us on FB : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull est une émission musicale diffusée sur LaRG' 89.2FM à Vannes (56) et sur le site www.larg.fr. L'émission est présentée en breton par Panda et Ewen et est diffusée chaque premier samedi du mois à 19h. La page FB de l'émission : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ > Cabbage – Uber Capitalist Death (Dead Kennedys cover) (live) > Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics cover) (live The Last tour on earth) > Dr Feelgood – Don’t you just know it (Huey Smith cover) (live BBC in concert) > Elle King – Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover) (live Firefly Festival 19-06-2016) > AC/DC – Baby Please don’t go (Big Joe Williams cover) (live) > Guns N’ Roses – Live and let Die (The Wings cover) (live Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon, Canada, 26-03-1993) > David Bowie – I can’t Explain (The Who cover) (live Marquee Club, Londrez – 16-11-1973) > Jerry Lee Lewis – Johnny B. Good (Chuck Berry cover) (live Panther Hall, Fort Worth, 1966) > Ike & Tina Turner – I heard it through the grapevine (Smokey Robinson cover) (live Street West, San Francisco – 1969) > Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee (hengounel / trad.) (Live Glastonbury, RU – 30-06-2013) > Chris Cornell – Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover) (live Brasil)

Ba'r Poull 'zo un abadenn sonerezh skignet war LaRG' 89.2FM e Gwened (56) ha war lec'hienn ar radio www.larg.fr. Kinniget eo e brezhoneg gant Panda hag Ewen ha skignet e vez sadorn kentañ pep miz da 7e noz. Pajenn FB an abadenn : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull is a music radio show broacast in Gwened/Vannes (Brittany) and on our website www.larg.fr. The show is run by Panda & Ewen speaking breton. Follow us on FB : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ Ba'r Poull est une émission musicale diffusée sur LaRG' 89.2FM à Vannes (56) et sur le site www.larg.fr. L'émission est présentée en breton par Panda et Ewen et est diffusée chaque premier samedi du mois à 19h. La page FB de l'émission : https://www.facebook.com/barpoull/ > Cabbage – Uber Capitalist Death (Dead Kennedys cover) (live) > Marilyn Manson – Sweet Dreams (Eurythmics cover) (live The Last tour on earth) > Dr Feelgood – Don't you just know it (Huey Smith cover) (live BBC in concert) > Elle King – Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash cover) (live Firefly Festival 19-06-2016) > AC/DC – Baby Please don't go (Big Joe Williams cover) (live) > Guns N' Roses – Live and let Die (The Wings cover) (live Saskatchewan Place, Saskatoon, Canada, 26-03-1993) > David Bowie – I can't Explain (The Who cover) (live Marquee Club, Londrez – 16-11-1973) > Jerry Lee Lewis – Johnny B. Good (Chuck Berry cover) (live Panther Hall, Fort Worth, 1966) > Ike & Tina Turner – I heard it through the grapevine (Smokey Robinson cover) (live Street West, San Francisco – 1969) > Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee (hengounel / trad.) (Live Glastonbury, RU – 30-06-2013) > Chris Cornell – Billie Jean (Michael Jackson cover) (live Brasil)

Show 24 – Recorded 1-13-19. This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from the 1962 up to 2017.  These blues artists are: Taj Mahal and Keb Mo, Drink Small, KoKo Taylor, Big Joe Williams, Hubert Sumlin, Hezekiah and The […]

Show 24 – Recorded 1-13-19. This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from the 1962 up to 2017.  These blues artists are: Taj Mahal and Keb Mo, Drink Small, KoKo Taylor, Big Joe Williams, Hubert Sumlin, Hezekiah and The Houserockers, Jesse Mae Hemphill, Jack Owens, Willie Foster, Bonnie Raitt, Boyd Rivers, Samantha Fish  

Show 22 – Recorded 12-30-18 This podcast provides 14 performances of blues songs performed by 14 musical artists or groups who's tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from the 1941 up to 2008.  These artists are: Big Joe Williams and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Lightnin Hopkins, Memphis Minnie, Bo Diddley, BB King […]

Show 22 – Recorded 12-30-18 This podcast provides 14 performances of blues songs performed by 14 musical artists or groups who’s tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from the 1941 up to 2008.  These artists are: Big Joe Williams and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Lightnin Hopkins, Memphis Minnie, Bo Diddley, BB King and Bonnie Raitt, Ike and Tina Turner, Professor Longhair, Jimmy Reed, Howlin Wolf, RL Burnside, Pine Top Perkins and Friends, Walter Shakey Horton, Son Thomas, Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter and James Cotton, Lightnin Hopkins  

Show 21 – Recorded 12-23-18 This podcast provides 15 performances of blues songs performed by 15 musical artists who’s tremendous talent is highlighted on this Christmas program. Performances range from the 1934 up to 2011.  These artists are: KoKo Taylor, Hop Wilson, Ralph Willis, Shemekia Copeland, Freddie King, The Magnolia Five, Cecil Gant, Big Joe Williams, Smokey Hogg, Lightnin Hopkins, Bumble Bee Slim, The Staple Singers, BB King, Canned Heat, Charles Brown  

With special guest Lamont Jack Pearly, here's the playlist of Blues songs about US presidents and the Hurdy Gurdy blues that come with them: 1. J.B. Lenoir - "Eisenhower Blues" (2:51) 2. Little Walter -"Dead Presidents" (2:52) 3. Avery Brady-"Poor Kennedy" (2:40) 4. Champion Jack Dupree-"President Kennedy Blues" (4:13) 5. Louisiana Red and Carey Bell -"Reagan is for the Rich Man" (2:50) 6. Willie Eason - "Franklin D. Roosevelt, a poor man's friend" (5:59) 7. Howlin' Wolf - "Watergate Blues" (3:11) 8. Big Joe Williams - "Watergate Blues" (1:48) 9. George Jarkesy - "Bad Obama Blues" (5:29)

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Buenas tardes a todos. Aquí os dejamos el 5º programa dedicado a lo mejor del Blues, con gente como Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Tampa Red, Junior Parker, Luther Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Big Joe Williams, Allman Brothers Band, Johnny Winter...entre otros. Ayúdanos a compartir, si te gusta. Muchas gracias!!Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de La Gran Travesía. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/489260

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Buenos días. Aquí os dejamos el cuarto programa dedicado a lo mejor del Blues, en la Gran Travesía. Con Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, Robert Cray, Popa Chubby, Big Joe Williams...y muchos más. Ayúdanos a compartir, si te gusta. Muchas gracias!!Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de La Gran Travesía. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/489260

The Blues Foundation Podcast - Season 1: Blues Hall of Fame    Honeyboy Edwards was Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen. Born to a poor, but very musical family, his early life consisted of hard labor in the fields. His prodigious talents soon took him away from all that, and his life became a journey through the pages of blues history. Edwards was Robert Johnson's close friend and traveling companion. In fact, he was with Johnson the night he was poisoned and died in 1938. Honeyboy Edwards called many of the first generation of bluesmen both friends and collaborators. He played with Charlie Patton, Tommie Johnson, and Johnny Shines. He later played guitar behind John Lee Hooker, Big Joe Williams, and Muddy Waters. Edwards believed in the blues and he believed in doing things without all the flash. He was humble, understated, and consistently great at working alongside the superstars of the delta blues for 8, long decades. This is his story.    David “Honeyboy” Edwards inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1996. 

BLUES SYNDICATE Nº 4 (01:01:16) 1- Sintonia. Mr. Hurricane Band 2- A woman- Lazy Lester (05.30) 3- I went to the Mardi Grass – Snooks Eaglin (04.51) 4- Running on back – Red House (04.33) 5- Just a lucky so and so – Charles Brown (03.43) 6- Ain´t nobody businnes – Jimmy Witherspoon (02.53) 7- Lonely guitar mar – Jimmy Dawkins (05.15) 8- Baby please don´t go – Big Joe Williams (02.45) 9- Hard time killing – Skip James (03.23) 10- Amor en paro – Wladi Olmos & David García (04.23) 11- Everyday I have the blues – Lowell Fulson (02.26)

BLUES SYNDICATE Nº 4 (01:01:16) 1- Sintonia. Mr. Hurricane Band 2- A woman- Lazy Lester (05.30) 3- I went to the Mardi Grass – Snooks Eaglin (04.51) 4- Running on back – Red House (04.33) 5- Just a lucky so and so – Charles Brown (03.43) 6- Ain´t nobody businnes – Jimmy Witherspoon (02.53) 7- Lonely guitar mar – Jimmy Dawkins (05.15) 8- Baby please don´t go – Big Joe Williams (02.45) 9- Hard time killing – Skip James (03.23) 10- Amor en paro – Wladi Olmos & David García (04.23) 11- Everyday I have the blues – Lowell Fulson (02.26)

Mac Arnold and Plate Full O' Blues (Nickel And Dime); Sugar Ray and The Bluetones (It's Never As Bad As It Looks); Big Harp George (Cool Mistake); Magic Slim (I'm A Poor Man But A Good Man); Eric Bibb and North Country Far with Danny Thompson (Tossin' An' Turnin'); Susan Tedeschi (Wait For Me); Rachelle Coba (View From Here); Leo Maier Trio (Guitar In My Hand); Candye Kane (I'm A Bad, Bad Girl); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (No More Whiskey); Mike Butler and Jerome Mills (Moonshine Whiskey); Markey Blue (The Blues Are Knockin'); Crooked Eye Tommy (I Stole The Blues); Bridget Kelly Band (Up And Gone/Smokestack Lightning); The Hitman Blues Band (Hammer Down).

So it was a full moon on Saturday night, but to the naked eye that pale orb didn't look any less replete come Sunday, which prompted me into a fully vocal, soulfully stretched salvo of musical niceness for The Cosmic Jam. Though I never tire of jazz, sometimes it's good to have a few less notes.....lol. Focussing on songs, singers, grooves and less abstract emotions the full moon soul session strays from the beaten path into territory of blue eyed brilliance and boogified danceability with a distinctly jazzy undertow, I love all kinds of Soul music, but I'm not one to dwell on the heartbreak and angst laden side of the tracks, this is (mainly) happy music to lift us beyond the cloying cold of these humdrum winter days. (Obviously not applicable if you're reading this on the other side of the world or in the tropical zones). Keeping it just about 100% vinyl I strapped a selection of vintage goodies on my back and braved the bitter streets of London to deliver this edition of The Cosmic Jam. Maybe these wintry conditions makes me relish the radio even more, or maybe this show was just the tonic I needed... or as I commented during proceedings, maybe it 's just playing tunes that I truly love. Certainly there are some songs here that have lingered with me for many years, the kind of perennial faves that always have the power to come back and reignite that special flame. Extraordinary songs like "Ordinary Joe", which has some of the most killer lines in popular music... "Don't let time and space confuse you, don't let name and form abuse you, just let Big Joe Williams blues you".... always raises and smile and a little shudder of recognition of the utter brilliance of it. Everything But The Girl, Joni Mitchell and Ace may not be everyone's idea of Soul music, but these songs resonate with me in a soulful way. The second hour gets deep with an epic Skip Scarborough tune from Creative Source that rolls and grooves it's way through seven minutes of bliss. Yes we're loved up and spinning some classics, Arnold Blair..... evergreen. Lihue and Stella , beach soul? Then boogified in the final run, with gospel fire digging the sound of music. Ya get me tho? I've obviously run out of worthwhile things to say, so I'll just remind you of a little party we're having, celebrating the talents of three complete dons and having some seasonal fun in a venue that's been close to our hearts for many a moon, and is probably/definitely due to be sold.. sad!! Anyway until next week when the noodle will no doubt be back, be good, be groovy. Peace P.x 1.Ultra High Frequency - We're On The Right Track 2. Don Brown - Don't Lose Your Love 3. Michael Orr & Carey Harris -Spread Love 4. The Dells - It's All Up To You 5. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Somebody's Watching You 6. Lonette McKee - Do To Me 7. Terry Callier - Ordinary Joe 8. Donnie - Do You Know? 9. Everything But The Girl - Each And Every One 10. Joni Mitchell - Help Me 11. Ace - How Long? 12. Jaki Whitren & John Cartwright - Go With The Flow 13. Creative Source - I Just Can't See Myself Without You 14. Dee Dee Bridgwater - Lonely Disco Dancer 15. Arnold Blair - Trying To Get Next To You 16. Nohelani Cypriano - Lihue 17. Bridge - Stella 18. Lou Bond - I'm For You 19. Angela Bofill - The Only Thing I Could Wish For 20. Free Life - Cornerstone 21. Zoom - Distant Destiny 22. Dayton - We Can't Miss 23. Starpoint - Don't Leave Me 24. GQ - Spirit 25. Morris Wilson - Bebopper's Delight

Billy Boy Arnold (When I Get To Thinkin'); Lonnie Brooks (Don't Take Advantage Of Me); Wayne Baker Brooks (Changeling); Wilson Jones (Stavin' Chain); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (You Got To Help Me Some); Sena Ehrhardt (Cold Cold Feeling); Fran McGillivray Band (Last Fair Deal); Rory Block (Kind Hearted Woman Blues); Allison Burnside Express (Going Down); Dudley Taft (Palace Of The King); Homesick James (My Baby's Gone); Little Mac (Woman, Help Me); Bobby "Blue" Bland (That's The Way Love Is); Bobby "Blue" Bland (Turn On Your Love Light); John Lee (Blinds Blues); Pee Wee Hughes (Santa Fe Blues); Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley (Big Show).

Programa de blues dedicado a la figura del músico Big Joe Williams

Programa de blues dedicado a la figura del músico Big Joe Williams

Jay Gordon's Blues Venom (Whiskey, Women And Fast Cars); Phillip Walker (I'm Tough (As I Want To Be)); Lonnie Brooks (I Want All My Money Back); Papa Lightfoot (Wine, Women, Whiskey); Earl Hooker (Ride Hooker Ride); Janiva Magness (Blues Ain't Pretty); Tracy Nelson (Howlin' For My Baby); Otis Taylor (Your Children Sleep Good Tonight); John Lee Hooker (as Texas Slim) (Wandering Blues); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Rambled And Wandered); Andres Roots Roundabout with L.R. Phoenix (Mean Old Town No. 2); Latvian Blues Band (Ain't Gonna Get Drunk No More); Albert Ammons (Untitled Ammons Original); Meade Lux Lewis (Untitled Original); Buddy Whittington (Back When The Beano Was Boss).

In this episode of Tapestry of the Times, The sounds of banjo innovator and connoisseur Tony Trischka, blues from Mississippi’s Big Joe Williams, a horse ballad from the Arizona Sonora Borderlands, marimba music from Guatemala, and barrel-house piano blues from Speckled Red.

Clifton Chenier (Black Girl); Otis Taylor (Ten Million Slaves); Othar Turner and The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (Shortnin' / Henduck); Memphis Jug Band (Move That Thing); Robert Randolph and The Family Band (Going In The Right Direction); Meade 'Lux' Lewis (Celeste Blues); Doug Cox & Salil Bhatt (Soul Of A Man); Jesse Fuller (San Francisco Bay Blues); Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson (Person To Person); John Mayall with Chris Barber (Please Mister Lofton); Grant Dermody (Rain Crow Bill); Colin Hodgkinson (32-20 Blues); Blind Blake (Dry Bone Shuffle); Bert Deivert (My Baby's Gone); Carolina Chocolate Drops (Jack O'Diamonds); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Stavin' Chain Blues).

Marcia Ball (Baby, Why Not); B.B. King (I Get So Weary); Buddy Guy (T-Bone Shuffle); Lightnin' Hopkins (Picture On The Wall); Ellen McIlwaine (Dead End Street); Duster Bennett (On Reconsideration); Gary Moore (Jumpin' At Shadows); Liz Mandeville (Illinois National Guard Blues); Joe Williams (Get Your Head Trimmed Down); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Gonna Check Up On My Baby); Janiva Magness (Your Love Made A U-Turn); Delbert McClinton (B Movie Boxcar Blues); Keb' Mo' (Crapped Out Again); Jimmie Vaughan (RM Blues); Otis Rush (Three Times A Fool).

Southern Guitar MastersMississippi Fred McDowell Charley Patton Robert JohnsonSkip James Bukka White Rose Hemphill Sunnyland SlimFrom southern England:CreamThe blues is about many things. About how your woman done you wrong. The Boss Man being mean to you. Things humorous. Things sad. Death. Dying and all manner of worldly matters concern the blues.The blues was created long before the turn of the 19th century. The blues was built on slavery and the fact that a man was taken from his family and homeland against his will. Slavery happened for centuries. However; it wasn't until those slaves were brought to the shores of the United States that the blues, as we know the art form today, was born.The blues reside in almost every country in the world. Even countries that don't call English it's first language.Everyone in the world can relate to the blues. And today, with all the problems in the world, more and more people have an absolute right to sing the blues.Today's show presents the blues from the early part of the 20th century. These are but a handful of the original blues men who traveled the dusty roads of the south; did time in many of the prisons and rode the rods, as the trains were called back then, into the annals of musical history. Just imagine that time.This is one show I really enjoyed putting together. I hope you enjoy listening to Southern Guitar Masters.John Rhys/BluePower.comHere's the music:1)...."I'm Goin' Home"....Ervin Webb & Prisoners....Alan Lomax Collection2)...."61 Highway Blues"....Fred McDowell....Alan Lomax Collection 3)...."Fred McDowell's Blues"....Fred McDowell....Alan Lomax Collection 4)...."Stone Pony Blues....Charley Patton....VMK 5)...."Crossroads"....Robert Johnson....Columbia 6)...."Fixin' To Die Blues"....Bukka White....Columbia Legacy Series 7)...."Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues"....Skip James....VMK 8)...."Rolled And Tumbled"....Rose Hemphill....Alan Lomax Collection 9)...."Roll And Tumble Blues"....Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Shines and Big Joe Williams....Blue Sun 10)..."Rollin' And Tumblin' "....Cream....ReactionSome dialog taken from the All Music Guide to the Blues.Click here to listen to....Southern Guitar Masters!

Satan's Children II © 2010 by Spider Robinson Reading: Conclusion of "Satan's Children" by Spider Robinson. Music: Doug Cox w/ Salil Bhatt, Ramkumesh Kumar & John Boutte; James Taylor; Big Joe Williams w/ Lambert Hendricks & Ross and Count Basie And His Orchestra; Doug Cox w/ Amos Garret & Ron Casat.

Popa Chubby (Lookin' Back); Harry Manx (That Knowing Look Of Fate); Doug Cox and Sam Hurrie (Carry Me Away); Gren Bartley (Carry Her Safe); Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Trouble In Mind); Mississippi John Hurt (Trouble I Had All My Days); Sylvester Weaver (Devil Blues); Carey and Lurrie Bell (Low Down Dirty Shame); Walter 'Buddy Boy' Hawkins (Snatch It And Grab It); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Sweet Old Kokomo); Tommy Castro (If I Had A Nickel); Pinetop Perkins (Anna Lee); Black River Bluesman and The Croaking Lizard (Cardboard And Plastic); R.L. Burnside (See What My Buddy Done); Jonny Lang (Matchbox).

Byther Smith (I Can't Understand You Baby); Lowell Fulson (Worry, Worry); Leroy Carr (Alabama Woman Blues); Scrapper Blackwell (Goin' Where The Monon Crosses The Yellow Dog); B.B. King (Did You Ever Love A Woman); Curtis Salgado (20 Years Of B.B. King); Big Bill Morganfield (High Gas Prices); Simon McBride (Down To The River); Lewis Black (Gravel Camp Blues); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Rocks And Gravel); Matt Schofield (What I Wanna Hear); George Hannah (Freakish Man Blues); Alice Moore (Black And Evil Blues); Jay Gaunt (Big Legged Woman); Andre Bisson (One More Gig).

Tommy Castro Band (Take Me Off The Road); Sonny Landreth (Howlin' Moon); Cephas and Wiggins (Mamie); Hop Wilson and His Buddies (My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone (Take 2)); Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short (Going Back To Crawford, Miss.); Guy Davis (Goin' Back To Silver Spring); Kokomo Arnold (Milk Cow Blues); Clifford Gibson (Tired of Being Mistreated Pt. 1); Son Seals (I Can't Hear Nothing But The Blues); Lightnin' Hopkins (That Mean Old Twister); Baby Boy Warren (Sanafee (Not Welcome Anymore)); Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Strange Things Happening Every Day); Fred McDowell (When I Lay My Burden Down); Roxy Perry (In My Sweet Time); Eddy 'The Chief' Clearwater (A Good Leavin' Alone).