Podcasts about Blind Boy Fuller

Songs include: I'll See You In My Dreams by Django Rheinhardt, Farruca by Ramon Montoya, Strollin With Bone by T-Bone Walker, Step it Up And Go by Blind Boy Fuller and You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To by Billy Baur. 

Paul Lamb, Joe Filisko and Adam Sikora join me on episode 125, for a retrospective on one of the legends of the diatonic harmonica, Sonny Terry, whose real name was Saunders Terrell.Sonny was born in 1911 (or 1912), in Greensboro, Georgia (or it could have been North Carolina). Growing up on a farm in a rural community, Sonny was left blind by two accidents in his youth. Unable to work on the farm he turned to music, with his harmonica playing father giving him his early lessons.Sonny first rose to prominence playing with Blind Boy Fuller, and then made a splash by performing at Carnegie Hall in 1938 as part of the ‘From Spirituals To Swing' concert.A few years later he formed probably the most famous blues duo ever, with Brownie McGhee. Sonny and Brownie made their name in the New York Folk scene and went on to play together for forty years, travelling the world, with many festival appearances, on Broadway, in movies and countless albums together. Sonny also played solo and with many other notable musicians besides Brownie, including an album with Johnny Winter towards the end of his life.We look into Sonny's style of playing and talk about how his rhythmical work is essential study in getting your own harmonica chops together.Links:Sonny Terry Estate items for sale:https://bluemoonharmonicas.com/collections/sonny-terry-estate-llcPaul Lamb: http://paullamb.com/Joe Filisko: https://www.filiskostore.com/Adam Sikora: https://jukejointsmokers.com/http://www.the-archivist.co.uk/rare-early-blues-harp-recordings-by-singers-and-sidemen-introduced-by-joe-filisko/Videos:American Folk Blues Festival, Hootin' The Blues:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtO7cctW1uISonny and Woody Guthrie postage stamps playing Lost John:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ldxb0iGHcSonny and Brownie in one of their last concerts, 1980:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzDNhA5irc8Sonny and Brownie playing on The Jerk, Steve Martin movie:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDgOUoDTsYPodcast website:https://www.harmonicahappyhour.comDonations:If you want to make a voluntary donation to help support the running costs of the podcast then please use this link (or visit the podcast website link above):https://paypal.me/harmonicahappyhour?locale.x=en_GBSpotify Playlist: Also check out the Spotify Playlist, which contains most of the songs discussed in the podcast:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QC6RF2VTfs4iPuasJBqwT?si=M-j3IkiISeefhR7ybm9qIQPodcast sponsors:This podcast is sponsored by SEYDEL harmonicas - visit the oldest harmonica factory in the world at www.seydel1847.com  or on Facebook or Instagram at SEYDEL HARMONICAS--------------------------------Blue Moon Harmonicas: https://bluemoonharmonicas.comSupport the show

Singer, guitarist, jug-band pioneer and songster Jim Kweskin joins me on the show today. I can't tell you how many times I heard Jim's name before I ever heard his music. To the generation before me, he was a total legend, and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band was very influential to many musicians who grew up in the 60's and 70's. Jim came up in the Boston/Cambridge area and The Jug Band was legendary around those parts and eventually across America. Old blues, jug and string band music was considered old fashioned at that point in time, and Jim spearheaded its return and kicked off a musical revolution that inspried bands like the Lovon' Spoonful and The Grateful Dead (don't forget they started off as a jug band too). With bandmates like Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Bill Keith, Mel Lyman and Fritz Richmond, the Jug Band was signed to a major label, sold thousands of records and toured across the country tirelessly between 1963-1970. They turned countless young musicians on to the music of artists like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Boy Fuller and the Mississippi Sheiks.Jim has continued making records and performing under his own name and has just put out a rerally cool album called “Never Too Late”, which is mostly duets with some of his friends on vocals like Maria Muldaur, Meredith Axelrod and many more.I won't go too in depth on his bio here because in the interview, he actually had a bio preopared and read it to me, which you'll hear on the show. It's a first “written statement” for the podcast! I think you'll dig that part of the conversation. You can get all the latest info on Jim at jimkweskin.com - Enjoy my conversation with Jim Kweskin!This season is brought to you by our sponsors Larivée Guitars and Fishman AmplificationYou can join our Patreon here to get all episodes ad-free, as well as access to all early episodesThe show's website can be found at www.makersandshakerspodcast.com Get ad-free episodes and access to all early episodes by subscribing to Patreon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist David Menconi has documented the people and sounds of North Carolina's music scene for almost three decades. In this episode, Ben and guest co-host Dolph Ramseur speak with David about his book Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, and how the music of “The Old North State” is both reflected in, and a reflection of, its people. David Menconi spent 28 years writing for the Raleigh News & Observer and was Piedmont Laureate in 2019. His other works include Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown" (University of Texas Press, 2012); "Comin' Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or, the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel. (co-written with Ray Benson, University of Texas Press, 2015). You can follow him on twitter at @NCDavidMenconi. Guest co-host Dolph Ramseur is the founder of Ramseur Records and a member of the North Carolina Hall of Fame. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to check out David's second appearance on our show in episode #286 Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music.  If you're enjoying The Road to Now, please consider joining us on Patreon, giving us a 5 star rating/review on Apple podcasts and sharing this episode with a friend who might also enjoy it. Thank you! This is a rebroadcast of RTN #182, which originally aired on October 19, 2020. This reair was edited by Ben Sawyer.   

Eighty-nine years ago this week, a young North Carolinian walked into a New York recording studio as Fulton Allen and, after recording a few tunes, walked out again as “Blind Boy Fuller.” On the recording of his composition “Rag Mama” and two other songs pressed that day, the young man was accompanied by his mentor and blues tutor, the legendary Rev. Gary Davis. “When I first run across him,” Davis said years later, “he didn't know how to play but one piece and that was with a knife.”But with Davis' guidance, Allen's playing had improved dramatically by the time he came to the attention of James Baxter Long, a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington, NC.“I saw this blind fellow, colored man. He had on a blanket-lined overall jumper,” Long later recounted, “but I heard him sing. He could sing. Anyway, I told him, 'I'm down here at the United Dollar Store. Come by and see me.'”Well, Fulton did, and a short time later, in July 1935, Long, Allen and Davis set off for New York City, bound for American Recording Co. (ARC), which manufactured disks for many companies, including Columbia. Over the next five years Fulton Allen — as Blind Boy Fuller — recorded 120 sides, which were released by several different labels.Oh, and about the name on the label. Earlier when Allen started to sing on the street corners of Durham, NC, outside factories and tobacco warehouses, people called him “Blind Boy Fulton.” Eventually it was corrupted to “Blind Boy Fuller,” which was to be the name Allen provided to folks at the New York recording studio.How the Tune Came Down to UsThirty years later, “Rag Mama” came down to the 1960s folk music crowd as a signature sound for the era's jug band music revival. It was first picked up by Stefan Grossman and Peter Siegel's Even Dozen Jug Band, then by the even better-known Jim Kweskin Jug Band.In their seminal 1979 book Baby, Let Me Follow You Down, Eric Von Schmidt and Jim Rooney quoted Kweskin as relating how he traveled across the country in the early 1960s developing his musical chops by performing with an array of musicians in local music stores, coffeehouses and bars.“In Berkeley, California,” Kweskin told them, “I met a guy named Steve Talbott, who adapted an old Blind Boy Fuller tune, and I learned it from him. The song was ‘Rag Mama' and it became my theme song.”Enter The FloodIt was Kweskin's rendition on his 1965 Jug Band Music album that inspired The Flood a decade later as the guys were expanding their repertoire into hokum music. “Rag Mama” even played an important role in the early 1980s when Joe Dobbs pitched his idea to West Virginia Public Radio for a new weekly music show. When Joe asked his band mates to help him create a demo of his dream for “Music from the Mountains,” he wanted to illustrate the diversity of musical styles the show could celebrate.Click the button below for a rather manic 1983 version of the tune offered up by Joe and his fellow Floodsters Dave Peyton, Charlie Bowen, Roger Samples and Bill Hoke:Gimme Dat DingFew things stand still in the Floodisphere. That includes songs in the band's repertoire. “Rag Mama” was still with the guys when they rolled into the 21st century, but by then the song had picked up new ornamentation.It's unclear just who first suggested it — might have been Peyton, might have been Bowen — but by the time the tune made it onto the band's second studio album in 2002, “Rag Mama” had been been further fortified with a bit of 1970s folkie foolishness.Britain's novelty group The Pipkins hit the charts in 1970 with a little earworm that was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. The Family Flood found "Gimme Dat Ding” to be a perfect ending for its ever-evolving version of “Rag Mama.”Today's Take on the TuneSo, this song has been floating around in the Floodisphere for nearly 50 years. Nowadays, it is not often on the set list at the band's shows, but it almost always comes back at Flood reunion, and we had a wonderful reunion last week. Michelle Hoge, “the chick singer,” drove in from Cincinnati. Bub — Dave Ball — was up from Florida. Old friends like Jim Rumbaugh, Karen Combs and Doug Imbrogno came by. Everybody was singing and playing along with this one from last week's 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

Sintonía: "I Sayed That" - Slim Willis Band"Ride Daddy Ride" - Fats Noel; "I Want A Bowlegged Woman" - Bull Moose Jackson; "It Ain´t The Meat, It´s The Motion" - The Swallows; "Poon Tang" - The Treniers; "(It Mus Be Jelly ´Cos You Know) Jam Don´t Shake" - Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon; "I Had To Give Up Gym" - The Hokum Boys; "Mule Get Up In The Alley" - Cannon´s Jug Stompers; "Let Me Ride In Your Little Automobile" - Lowell Fulson; "Move Your Hand Baby" - Crown Prince Waterford; "Sit Right On It" - Johnny Temple; "She Kept On Sittin´ On It All The Time" - Wynonie Harris; "Hucklebuck Baby" - Jimmy Preston; "You Put It In, I´ll Take It Out" - Papa Charlie Jackson; "Sweet Honey Hole" - Blind Boy Fuller; "Doodle Hole" - Charley Lincoln; "Let Me Roll Your Lemon" - Bo CarterTodas las músicas extraídas de la recopilación "Ride Daddy Ride: Vintage Songs About Sex 1927-1953" (Buzzola, 2005)Escuchar audio

Sponsored by www.betterhelp.com/TheBarnwww.adeemtheartist.comFrom their earliest self-released EPs to the critically acclaimed album Cast-Iron Pansexual in 2021, Adeem the Artist has been steadily growing their following. Their unique blend of Appalachian musical influences, poetic flair, and comedic instinct has garnered praise from Rolling Stone and American Songwriter. Adeem incorporates humor into their music, citing influences such as Andy Kaufman, Sarah Silverman, John Prine, and Blind Boy Fuller. Growing up in North Carolina and later in Syracuse, New York, Adeem discovered the power of dark humor as a means to discuss difficult topics and navigate generational trauma within their family.Adeem's music offers a refreshing perspective often excluded from modern country music, celebrating and embracing parts of ourselves that society tells us to hide. When Adeem reached out to fans to support their next album after Cast-Iron Pansexual, the response was overwhelming, and through a "redneck fundraiser," they raised the necessary funds by asking for one dollar at a time through social media. This success led to the establishment of their own record label, Four Quarters Records, and fueled their determination to create an unapologetic next chapter.The album White Trash Revelry showcases Adeem's beloved comedic sensibilities while also delving into vulnerable moments and personal stories. Songs like "Middle of a Heart" combine tender strings and clear vocals with nuanced storytelling about small-town experiences, exploring themes of love, violence, and honor. Meanwhile, "Heritage of Arrogance" confronts larger societal issues, grappling with the conflicting intentions and flawed narratives often perpetuated by white Southerners. Throughout the album, there is an underlying revelry, embracing a carefree and raucous spirit.In the standout single "Going to Hell," Adeem sings, "They play country songs in heaven, but in hell, we play 'em loud." Their easy-going charisma and captivating vocals make it impossible not to be drawn to their music, whether it's leading you to heaven, hell, or some wild and welcoming party in between. Adeem the Artist continues to break barriers and create music that is both thought-provoking and undeniably enjoyable.Adeem the Artist is an exceptionally talented and charismatic singer whose soulful voice captivates audiences worldwide. Their vocal range is awe-inspiring, effortlessly hitting high notes with precision and grace. Adeem's melodic delivery and impeccable control make every performance an unforgettable experience. Their unique sound blends elements of country, rock, R&B, soul, pop, and jazz, creating a genre-defying style that sets them apart. Their heartfelt lyrics resonate deeply with listeners, touching on themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. Their introspective storytelling draws from personal experiences, creating a genuine and relatable connection with their audience. Adeem's collaborations with renowned artists have further solidified their place in the music industry. Their ability to seamlessly blend their unique style with different genres and artists demonstrates their adaptability and musical versatility. Their dedication to their craft is evident in their meticulous attention to detail and constant pursuit of perfection. They consistently push the boundaries of their artistry, exploring new sounds and experimenting with innovative production techniques. This episode is sponsored by www.betterhelp.com/TheBarn and presented to you by The Barn Media Group.

Blind Boy Fuller, Washboard Sam y Big Maceo, serán los tres susodichos titanes. Además de estos grandes del blues también contaremos con la presencia de fieras como The Lion & Atilla, rústicos de excepción como Roane County Ramblers y Louise Massey and His Westeners, y estrellas como Jean Sablon y Earl Hines. El sábado a partir de las 23.00 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

Esta noche contaremos con la presencia de Raymond Scott, músico, inventor de instrumentos electrónicos raros y visionario, así como responsable de la banda sonora de muchos de los dibujos animados de la Warner de Bugs Bunny y el Pato Lucas. Y además de este genio tendremos a Cab Calloway, Bob Dunn's Vagabonds, The Carter Family, Mahalia Jackson, Blind Boy Fuller, Orquesta Hermanos Palau... A partir de las 23.00 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

Christmas songs abound right now, but how about a tune for the downtrodden holiday shopper, the weary wielder of the maxed-out debit card?Well, your friends in The Flood can't pick up the tab, but we can at least give you a blues to suit your mood, brought to you from a recent gig. After a day of rushing around spending money you don't have to buy things people don't want, just take our advice: If you lose your money, please don't lose your mind!Sonny and BrownieNobody ever did the blues better than Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Back in the late 1950s they recorded an incredible album for Smithsonian Folkways called "Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing," which offered a number of original compositions, including this song. It was from that album that we took our inspiration for this blues with which we often open or close a rehearsal, just because it's so much fun to play. Folk ProcessNow, we don't do the tune exactly the way Sonny and Brownie did it. The whole “folk process” idea invites us to bring our own style and attitude to all the music we play. And that was something that Sonny and Brownie knew well, because they too were building on some blues they had heard from their own heroes. The evidence is in the fact that the song's provocative key line — “If you lose your money, please don't lose your mind” — didn't originate with them.Back in 1936, Blind Boy Fuller used exactly the same line in his recording of “Keep Away From My Woman.” But, hey, it didn't start with Fuller either.Seven years earlier, in 1929, Blind Joe Reynolds used the same line to open his tune, “Outside Woman Blues,” a song, incidentally, that would be covered 40 years later by Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce's classic rock group, Cream. The bottom line is we're in good company in offering our take on the tune. Real Christmas TunesBut for Christmas? Seriously? Okay, okay, it is a cheap trick for us to co-op this great old blues and try to sneak it into a Christmas rotation, so we're prepared to make amends. If you're looking for a real holiday playlist, take a listen to the “La Flood Navidad” special blend over in our free Radio Floodango music streaming service. Just click here to whisked away to The Flood web site. 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

Celebrating 16 years with music by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Marcelle Meyer, Bob Wills, Blind Boy Fuller, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and The Golden Gate Gospel Quartet.

Durham, North Carolina - a city that blossomed out of the tobacco industry and was originally fueled by manufacturing - has gone through many phases. Today its factories house performing arts centers and bougie lofts, but this place has just as long and varied a musical history going back a century or more. Then and now, it's been a center for jazz, hip-hop, Americana country-rock and most of all, Piedmont blues.Back when Durham was becoming known as the Bull City, its soundtrack was Piedmont blues as played by giants like Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. In the 1920s and ‘30s, factory workers made up the audience for blues and other developing styles of music. Now, tech workers and college students flock to the city's many venues.It's a long way from the city's early days, but also still rife with change; battles over segregation have evolved into disputes over gentrification. But what hasn't changed is that it remains a great music town, one that draws both artists and fans alike.In this episode, we explore the phases of Durham's past, present and future with guests who call it home, like Bluegrass Hall of Famer Alice Gerrard, country singer Rissi Palmer, Hiss Golden Messenger's M.C. Taylor, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, and more.Subscribe to Carolina Calling to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Wilmington, Greensboro, Shelby, Asheville, and more. Brought to you by The Bluegrass Situation and Come Hear NCCove photo courtesy of Discover DurhamAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

The image of bluegrass is mountain music played and heard at high altitudes and towns like Deep Gap and remote mountain hollers across the Appalachians. But the earliest form of the music originated at lower elevations, in textile towns across the North Carolina Piedmont. As far back as the 1920s, old-time string bands like Charlie Poole's North Carolina Ramblers were playing an early form of the music in textile towns, like Gastonia, Spray, and Shelby - in Cleveland County west of Charlotte.In this second episode of Carolina Calling, we visit the small town of Shelby: a seemingly quiet place, like most small Southern towns one might pass by in their travels. Until you see the signs for the likes of the Don Gibson Theatre and the Earl Scruggs Center, you wouldn't guess that it was the town that raised two of the most influential musicians and songwriters in bluegrass and country music: Earl Scruggs, one of the most important musicians in the birth of bluegrass, whose banjo playing was so innovative that it still bears his name, “Scruggs style,” and Don Gibson, one of the greatest songwriters in the pop & country pantheon, who wrote “I Can't Stop Loving You,” “Sweet Dreams,” and other songs you know by heart. For both Don Gibson and Earl Scruggs, Shelby is where it all began.Subscribe to Carolina Calling to follow along as we journey across the Old North State, visiting towns like Greensboro, Durham, Wilmington, Asheville, and more.Brought to you by The Bluegrass Situation and Come Hear NCMusic featured in this episode:Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers - "Take a Drink On Me"Flatt & Scruggs - "Ground Speed"Don Gibson - "I Can't Stop Loving You"Andrew Marlin - "Erie Fiddler" (Carolina Calling Theme)Hedy West - "Cotton Mill Girl"Blind Boy Fuller - "Rag Mama, Rag"Don Gibson - "Sea Of Heartbreak"Patsy Cline - "Sweet Dreams "Ray Charles - "I Can't Stop Loving You"Ronnie Milsap - "(I'd Be) A Legend In My Time"Elvis Presley - "Crying In The Chapel"Hank Snow - "Oh Lonesome Me"Don Gibson - "Sweet Dreams"Don Gibson - "Oh Lonesome Me"Chet Atkins - "Oh Lonesome Me"Johnny Cash - "Oh, Lonesome Me"The Everly Brothers - "Oh Lonesome Me"Neil Young - "Oh Lonesome Me"Flatt & Scruggs - "Foggy Mountain Breakdown"Bill Preston - "Holy, Holy, Holy"Flat & Scruggs - "We'll Meet Again Sweetheart"Snuffy Jenkins - "Careless Love"Bill Monroe - "Uncle Pen"Bill Monroe - "It's Mighty Dark to Travel"The Earl Scruggs Revue - "I Shall Be Released"The Band - "I Shall Be Released"Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - "Will The Circle Be Unbroken"The Country Gentlemen - "Fox on the Run"Sonny Terry - "Whoopin' The Blues"Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee - "Born With The Blues (Live)"Nina Simone - "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free"Cover image courtesy of the Don Gibson TheatreAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

En nuestra jamboree del sábado noche tendremos el acostumbrado derroche de artistas siempre en su mejor momento. Mucho ojo al plantel de figuras apizarradas para siempre: Blind Boy Fuller, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, Gene Autry, Orquesta de Joseíto Fernández, Ukulele Ike, Kalama's Quartet, Chilo Moran y su Conjunto, Prairie Ramblers, The Famous Davis Sisters, Roosevelt Sykes and his Honeydrippers, Rene Cóspito and His Orchestra... A partir de las 23.00 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

Join David Menconi - host, writer, and longtime North Carolinian - for Carolina Calling: a podcast exploring the history of North Carolina, as told through its music and the musicians who made it. From Asheville to Wilmington, we'll be diving into the cities and regions that have cultivated decades of talent as diverse as Blind Boy Fuller to the Steep Canyon Rangers, from Bob Moog to James Taylor and Rhiannon Giddens.Brought to you by Come Hear North Carolina and The Bluegrass Situation.Theme Music: "Erie Fiddler" - Andrew MarlinAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Para ir calentando con vistas a las extrañas fiestas que están a punto de caer... Desde el Torreón Pizarro les traemos en sus mejores momentos a Elmore James, Patsy Montana, Ray Kinney, Mississippi Sheiks, Jimmie Rodgers, Count Lasher, Felix Valvert, Blind Boy Fuller, Red Fox Chasers, The Esquire Boys, Rico's Creole Band, A partir de las 23 horas en la sintonía de Radio 3. Escuchar audio

One of the most interesting characters in genre full of interesting characters was J.B. Long of North Carolina. Long was a shopkeeper who, for reasons we may never fully understand, made recording great bluesmen a hobby/passion/obsession. In the summer of 1935 Long, along with his wife and baby girl, drove Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, and George Washington (Bull City Red) to New York where they made their first recordings. Davis's records did nothing commercially, but Fuller's sold well, and Long made many more subsequent trips with Fuller and other artists including Floyd Council and Brownie McGee. With Fuller, Long acted as a manager and collaborator, insisting that Fuller continue writing original songs, often polishing them and finishing the lyrics himself. Long never received any pay for his work other than reimbursement for auto expenses. Support the show (https://paypal.me/BFrank53?locale.x=en_US)

In the studio is journalist David Menconi, former music critic for the Raleigh News & Observer and the 2019 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate. The Texas born writer who's written features and profiles for the New York Times, Salon and SXSW World, discusses his new book "Step It Up and G0: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk" (winner of the 2021 North Caroliniana Society Book Award); his impressive CD collection (over 6,000) and vinyl collection (3,000); plus the backstory about writing with Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) called "Comin' Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or, the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel".  (With his penchant for long book titles, I did ask David if he ever worked as a headline editor somewhere during his journalism career!) We also talk about his popular blog post "Secret to a long life is knowing when it's time to go"; why he's still a fan of college radio, stories of Americana music, and plans for his next book. Bring along your love of music and listen in!

One of the most interesting characters in genre full of interesting characters was J.B. Long of North Carolina. Long was a shopkeeper who, for reasons we may never fully understand, made recording great bluesmen a hobby/passion/obsession. In the summer of 1935 Long, along with his wife and baby girl, drove Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, and George Washington (Bull City Red) to New York where they made their first recordings. Davis's records did nothing commercially, but Fuller's sold well, and Long made many more subsequent trips with Fuller and other artists including Floyd Council and Brownie McGee. With Fuller, Long acted as a manager and collaborator, insisting that Fuller continue writing original songs, often polishing them and finishing the lyrics himself. Long never received any pay for his work other than reimbursement for auto expenses. Support the show (https://paypal.me/BFrank53?locale.x=en_US)

Step It Up & Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music was released by David Menconi in 2020. Taking its title from one of the signature songs of Durham blues artist Blind Boy Fuller, the book explores the musical history of the state and examines the impact North Carolina music has had on the rest of the world. Menconi writes that North Carolina “has only rarely been home to the biggest stars on the charts, and yet the contributions of North Carolina artists are deeply embedded in the DNA of some of the most important strands in American popular music. That is the story at the center of this book.”

Step It Up & Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music was released by David Menconi in 2020. Taking its title from one of the signature songs of Durham blues artist Blind Boy Fuller, the book explores the musical history of the state and examines the impact North Carolina music has had on the rest of the world. Menconi writes that North Carolina “has only rarely been home to the biggest stars on the charts, and yet the contributions of North Carolina artists are deeply embedded in the DNA of some of the most important strands in American popular music. That is the story at the center of this book.”

Show 124 – Recorded 4-3-21 – This podcast features 13 outstanding blues artists and 13 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1935-2020. Our featured artists are: Blind Boy Fuller, Felicia Davis, Thornetta Davis, Wynonie Harris, LeRoy Carr, Bobby Blue Bland, Joe Louis Walker and Eric Gales, Marquise Knox, Muddy Waters, Booker T Laury, Pat Thomas, Phoebe Snow, Bill Howl N Madd Perry

Show 124 – Recorded 4-3-21 – This podcast features 13 outstanding blues artists and 13 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1935-2020. Our featured artists are: Blind Boy Fuller, Felicia Davis, Thornetta Davis, Wynonie Harris, LeRoy Carr, Bobby Blue Bland, Joe Louis Walker and Eric Gales, Marquise Knox, Muddy Waters, Booker T Laury, Pat Thomas, Phoebe Snow, Bill Howl N Madd Perry

Episode one hundred and fifteen of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals, at the way the US and UK music scenes were influencing each other in 1964, and at the fraught question of attribution when reworking older songs. 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 “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers. 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/ —-more—- Erratum A couple of times I mispronounce Hoagy Lands’ surname as Land. Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. Information on the Animals comes largely from Animal Tracks  by Sean Egan. The two-CD set The Complete Animals isn’t actually their complete recordings — for that you’d also need to buy the Decca recordings — but it is everything they recorded with Mickie Most, including all the big hits discussed in this episode. For the information on Dylan’s first album, I used The Mayor of MacDougal Street by Dave Van Ronk and Elijah Wald, the fascinating and funny autobiography of Dylan’s mentor in his Greenwich Village period. I also referred to Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan, a partial, highly inaccurate, but thoroughly readable autobiography; Bob Dylan: All The Songs by Phillipe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon; and Revolution in the Air, by Clinton Heylin. Transcript Today we’re going to look at a song that, more than any other song we’ve looked at so far, shows how the influence between British and American music was working in the early 1960s. A song about New Orleans that may have its roots in English folk music, that became an Appalachian country song, performed by a blues band from the North of England, who learned it from a Minnesotan folk singer based in New York. We’re going to look at “House of the Rising Sun”, and the career of the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, “House of the Rising Sun”] The story of the Animals, like so many of the British bands of this time period, starts at art school, when two teenagers named Eric Burdon and John Steel met each other. The school they met each other at was in Newcastle, and this is important for how the band came together. If you’re not familiar with the geography of Great Britain, Newcastle is one of the largest cities, but it’s a very isolated city. Britain has a number of large cities. The biggest, of course, is London, which is about as big as the next five added together. Now, there’s a saying that one of the big differences between Britain and America is that in America a hundred years is a long time, and in Britain a hundred miles is a long way, so take that into account when I talk about everything else here. Most of the area around London is empty of other big cities, and the nearest other big city to it is Birmingham, a hundred miles north-west of it. About seventy miles north of that, give or take, you hit Manchester, and Manchester is in the middle of a chain of large cities — Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, and the slightly smaller Bradford, are more or less in a row, and the furthest distance between two adjacent cities is about thirty-five miles. But then Newcastle is another hundred miles north of Leeds, the closest of those cities to it. And then it’s another hundred miles or so further north before you hit the major Scottish cities, which cluster together like the ones near Manchester do. This means Newcastle is, for a major city, incredibly isolated. Britain’s culture is extraordinarily London-centric, but if you’re in Liverpool or Manchester there are a number of other nearby cities. A band from Manchester can play a gig in Liverpool and make the last train home, and vice versa. This allows for the creation of regional scenes, centred on one city but with cross-fertilisation from others. Now, again, I am talking about a major city here, not some remote village, but it means that Newcastle in the sixties was in something of the same position as Seattle was, as we talked about in the episode on “Louie, Louie” — a place where bands would play in their own immediate area and not travel outside it. A journey to Leeds, particularly in the time we’re talking about when the motorway system was only just starting, would be a major trip, let alone travelling further afield. Local bands would play in Newcastle, and in large nearby towns like Gateshead, Sunderland, and Middlesborough, but not visit other cities. This meant that there was also a limited pool of good musicians to perform with, and so if you wanted to be in a band, you couldn’t be that picky about who you got on with, so long as they could play. Steel and Burdon, when they met at art school, were both jazz fanatics, and they quickly formed a trad jazz band. The band initially featured them on trumpet and trombone, but when rock and roll and skiffle hit the band changed its lineup to one based around guitars. Steel shifted to drums, while Burdon stopped playing an instrument and became the lead singer. Burdon’s tastes at the time were oriented towards the jazzier side of R&B, people like Ray Charles, and he also particularly loved blues shouters like Jimmy Witherspoon and Big Joe Turner. He tried hard to emulate Turner, and one of the songs that’s often mentioned as being in the repertoire of these early groups is “Roll ‘Em Pete”, the Big Joe Turner song we talked about back in episode two: [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, “Roll ’em Pete”] The jazz group that Burdon and Steel formed was called the Pagan Jazz Men, and when they switched instruments they became instead The Pagans R&B Band. The group was rounded out by Blackie Sanderson and Jimmy Crawford, but soon got a fifth member when a member from another band on an early bill asked if he could sit in with them for a couple of numbers. Alan Price was the rhythm guitarist in that band, but joined in on piano, and instantly gelled with the group, playing Jerry Lee Lewis style piano. The other members would always later say that they didn’t like Price either as a person or for his taste in music — both Burdon and Steel regarded Price’s tastes as rather pedestrian when compared to their own, hipper, tastes, saying he always regarded himself as something of a lounge player, while Burdon was an R&B and blues person and Steel liked blues and jazz. But they all played well together, and in Newcastle there wasn’t that much choice about which musicians you could play with, and so they stayed together for a while, as the Pagans evolved into the Kansas City Five or the Kansas City Seven, depending on the occasional presence of two brass players. The Kansas City group played mostly jump blues, which was the area of music where Burdon and Steel’s tastes intersected — musicians they’ve cited as ones they covered were Ray Charles, Louis Jordan, and Big Joe Turner. But then the group collapsed, as Price didn’t turn up to a gig — he’d been poached by a pop covers band, the Kon-Tors, whose bass player, Chas Chandler, had been impressed with him when Chandler had sat in at a couple of Kansas City Five rehearsals. Steel got a gig playing lounge music, just to keep paying the bills, and Burdon would occasionally sit in with various other musicians. But a few members of the Kon-Tors got a side gig, performing as the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo as the resident band at a local venue called the Club A Go-Go, which was the venue where visiting London jazzmen and touring American blues players would perform when they came to Newcastle. Burdon started sitting in with them, and then they invited Steel to replace their drummer, and in September 1963 the Alan Price Rhythm And Blues Combo settled on a lineup of Burdon on vocals, Price on piano, Steel on drums, Chandler on bass, and new member Hilton Valentine, who joined at the same time as Steel, on guitar. Valentine was notably more experienced than the other members, and had previously performed in a rock and roll group called the Wildcats — not the same band who backed Marty Wilde — and had even recorded an album with them, though I’ve been unable to track down any copies of the album. At this point all the group members now had different sensibilities — Valentine was a rocker and skiffle fan, while Chandler was into more mainstream pop music, though the other members emphasised in interviews that he liked *good* pop music like the Beatles, not the lesser pop music. The new lineup was so good that a mere eight days after they first performed together, they went into a recording studio to record an EP, which they put out themselves and sold at their gigs. Apparently five hundred copies of the EP were sold. As well as playing piano on the tracks, Price also played melodica, which he used in the same way that blues musicians would normally use the harmonica: [Excerpt: The Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo, “Pretty Thing”] This kind of instrumental experimentation would soon further emphasise the split between Price and Burdon, as Price would get a Vox organ rather than cart a piano between gigs, while Burdon disliked the sound of the organ, even though it became one of the defining sounds of the group. That sound can be heard on a live recording of them a couple of months later, backing the great American blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson II at the Club A Go Go: [Excerpt: Sonny Boy Williamson II and the Animals, “Fattening Frogs For Snakes”] One person who definitely *didn’t* dislike the sound of the electric organ was Graham Bond, the Hammond organ player with Alexis Korner’s band who we mentioned briefly back in the episode on the Rolling Stones. Bond and a few other members of the Korner group had quit, and formed their own group, the Graham Bond Organisation, which had originally featured a guitarist named John McLaughlin, but by this point consisted of Bond, saxophone player Dick Heckstall-Smith, and the rhythm section Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. They wouldn’t make an album until 1965, but live recordings of them from around this time exist, though in relatively poor quality: [Excerpt: The Graham Bond Organisation, “Wade in the Water”] The Graham Bond Organisation played at the Club A Go Go, and soon Bond was raving back in London about this group from Newcastle he’d heard. Arrangements were quickly made for them to play in London. By this time, the Rolling Stones had outgrown the small club venues they’d been playing, and a new band called the Yardbirds were playing all the Stones’ old venues. A trade was agreed — the Yardbirds would play all the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo’s normal gigs for a couple of weeks, and the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo would play the Yardbirds’. Or rather, the Animals would. None of the members of the group could ever agree on how they got their new name, and not all of them liked it, but when they played those gigs in London in December 1963, just three months after getting together, that was how they were billed. And it was as the Animals that they were signed by Mickie Most. Mickie Most was one of the new breed of independent producers that were cropping up in London, following in Joe Meek’s footsteps, like Andrew Oldham. Most had started out as a singer in a duo called The Most Brothers, which is where he got his stage name. The Most Brothers had only released one single: [Excerpt: The Most Brothers, “Whole Lotta Woman”] But then Most had moved to South Africa, where he’d had eleven number one hits with cover versions of American rock singles, backed by a band called the Playboys: [Excerpt: Mickie Most and the Playboys, “Johnny B Goode”] He’d returned to the UK in 1963, and been less successful here as a performer, and so he decided to move into production, and the Animals were his first signing. He signed them up and started licensing their records to EMI, and in January 1964 the Animals moved down to London. There has been a lot of suggestion over the years that the Animals resented Mickie Most pushing them in a more pop direction, but their first single was an inspired compromise between the group’s blues purism and Most’s pop instincts. The song they recorded dates back at least to 1935, when the State Street Boys, a group that featured Big Bill Broonzy, recorded “Don’t Tear My Clothes”: [Excerpt: The State Street Boys, “Don’t Tear My Clothes”] That song got picked up and adapted by a lot of other blues singers, like Blind Boy Fuller, who recorded it as “Mama Let Me Lay It On You” in 1938: [Excerpt: Blind Boy Fuller, “Mama Let Me Lay it On You”] That had in turn been picked up by the Reverend Gary Davis, who came up with his own arrangement of the song: [Excerpt: Rev. Gary Davis, “Baby, Let Me Lay It On You”] Eric von Schmidt, a folk singer in Massachusetts, had learned that song from Davis, and Bob Dylan had in turn learned it from von Schmidt, and included it on his first album as “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, “Baby Let Me Follow You Down”] The Animals knew the song from that version, which they loved, but Most had come across it in a different way. He’d heard a version which had been inspired by Dylan, but had been radically reworked. Bert Berns had produced a single on Atlantic for a soul singer called Hoagy Lands, and on the B-side had been a new arrangement of the song, retitled “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand” and adapted by Berns and Wes Farrell, a songwriter who had written for the Shirelles. Land’s version had started with an intro in which Lands is clearly imitating Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”] But after that intro, which seems to be totally original to Berns and Farrell, Lands’ track goes into a very upbeat Twist-flavoured song, with a unique guitar riff and Latin feel, both of them very much in the style of Berns’ other songs, but clearly an adaptation of Dylan’s version of the old song: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”] Most had picked up that record on a trip to America, and decided that the Animals should record a version of the song based on that record. Hilton Valentine would later claim that this record, whose title and artist he could never remember (and it’s quite possible that Most never even told the band who the record was by) was not very similar at all to the Animals’ version, and that they’d just kicked around the song and come up with their own version, but listening to it, it is *very* obviously modelled on Lands’ version. They cut out Lands’ intro, and restored a lot of Dylan’s lyric, but musically it’s Lands all the way. The track starts like this: [Excerpt: The Animals, “Baby Let Me Take You Home”] Both have a breakdown section with spoken lyrics over a staccato backing, though the two sets of lyrics are different — compare the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, “Baby Let Me Take You Home”] and Lands: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, “Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand”] And both have the typical Bert Berns call and response ending — Lands: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, “Baby Let me Hold Your Hand”] And the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, “Baby Let Me Take You Home”] So whatever Valentine’s later claims, the track very much was modelled on the earlier record, but it’s still one of the strongest remodellings of an American R&B record by a British group in this time period, and an astonishingly accomplished record, which made number twenty-one. The Animals’ second single was another song that had been recorded on Dylan’s first album. “House of the Rising Sun” has been argued by some, though I think it’s a tenuous argument, to originally date to the seventeenth century English folk song “Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard”: [Excerpt: Martin Carthy, “Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard”] What we do know is that the song was circulating in Appalachia in the early years of the twentieth century, and it’s that version that was first recorded in 1933, under the name “Rising Sun Blues”, by Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster: [Excerpt: Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster, “Rising Sun Blues”] The song has been described as about several things — about alcoholism, about sex work, about gambling — depending on the precise version. It’s often thought, for example, that the song was always sung by women and was about a brothel, but there are lots of variants of it, sung by both men and women, before it reached its most famous form. Dave van Ronk, who put the song into the form by which it became best known, believed at first that it was a song about a brothel, but he later decided that it was probably about the New Orleans Women’s Prison, which in his accounting used to have a carving of a rising sun over the doorway. Van Ronk’s version traces back originally to a field recording Alan Lomax had made in 1938 of a woman named Georgia Turner, from Kentucky: [Excerpt: Georgia Turner, “Rising Sun Blues”] Van Ronk had learned the song from a record by Hally Wood, a friend of the Lomaxes, who had recorded a version based on Turner’s in 1953: [Excerpt: Hally Wood, “House of the Rising Sun”] Van Ronk took Wood’s version of Turner’s version of the song, and rearranged it, changing the chords around, adding something that changed the whole song. He introduced a descending bassline, mostly in semitones, which as van Ronk put it is “a common enough progression in jazz, but unusual among folksingers”. It’s actually something you’d get a fair bit in baroque music as well, and van Ronk introducing this into the song is probably what eventually led to things like Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” ripping off Bach doing essentially the same thing. What van Ronk did was a simple trick. You play a descending scale, mostly in semitones, while holding the same chord shape which creates a lot of interesting chords. The bass line he played is basically this: [demonstrates] And he held an A minor shape over that bassline, giving a chord sequence Am, Am over G, Am over F#, F. [demonstrates] This is a trick that’s used in hundreds and hundreds of songs later in the sixties and onward — everything from “Sunny Afternoon” by the Kinks to “Go Now” by the Moody Blues to “Forever” by the Beach Boys — but it was something that at this point belonged in the realms of art music and jazz more than in folk, blues, or rock and roll. Of course, it sounds rather better when he did it: [Excerpt, Dave van Ronk, “House of the Rising Sun”] “House of the Rising Sun” soon became the highlight of van Ronk’s live act, and his most requested song. Dylan took van Ronk’s arrangement, but he wasn’t as sophisticated a musician as van Ronk, so he simplified the chords. Rather than the dissonant chords van Ronk had, he played standard rock chords that fit van Ronk’s bassline, so instead of Am over G he played C with a G in the bass, and instead of Am over F# he played D with an F# in the bass. So van Ronk had: [demonstrates] While Dylan had: [demonstrates] The movement of the chords now follows the movement of the bassline. It’s simpler, but it’s all from van Ronk’s arrangement idea. Dylan recorded his version of van Ronk’s version for his first album: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, “House of the Rising Sun”] As van Ronk later told the story (though I’m going to edit out one expletive here for the sake of getting past the adult content rating on Apple): “One evening in 1962, I was sitting at my usual table in the back of the Kettle of Fish, and Dylan came slouching in. He had been up at the Columbia studios with John Hammond, doing his first album. He was being very mysterioso about the whole thing, and nobody I knew had been to any of the sessions except Suze, his lady. I pumped him for information, but he was vague. Everything was going fine and, “Hey, would it be okay for me to record your arrangement of ‘House of the Rising Sun?’” [expletive]. “Jeez, Bobby, I’m going into the studio to do that myself in a few weeks. Can’t it wait until your next album?” A long pause. “Uh-oh.” I did not like the sound of that. “What exactly do you mean, ‘Uh-oh’?” “Well,” he said sheepishly, “I’ve already recorded it.” “You did what?!” I flew into a Donald Duck rage, and I fear I may have said something unkind that could be heard over in Chelsea.” van Ronk and Dylan fell out for a couple of weeks, though they later reconciled, and van Ronk said of Dylan’s performance “it was essentially my arrangement, but Bobby’s reading had all the nuance and subtlety of a Neanderthal with a stone hand ax, and I took comfort thereby.” van Ronk did record his version, as we heard, but he soon stopped playing the song live because he got sick of people telling him to “play that Dylan song”. The Animals learned the song from the Dylan record, and decided to introduce it to their set on their first national tour, supporting Chuck Berry. All the other acts were only doing rock and roll and R&B, and they thought a folk song might be a way to make them stand out — and it instantly became the highlight of their act.  The way all the members except Alan Price tell the story, the main instigators of the arrangement were Eric Burdon, the only member of the group who had been familiar with the song before hearing the Dylan album, and Hilton Valentine, who came up with the arpeggiated guitar part. Their arrangement followed Dylan’s rearrangement of van Ronk’s rearrangement, except they dropped the scalar bassline altogether, so for example instead of a D with an F# in the bass they just play a plain open D chord — the F# that van Ronk introduced is still in there, as the third, but the descending line is now just implied by the chords, not explicitly stated in the bass, where Chas Chandler just played root notes. In the middle of the tour, the group were called back into the studio to record their follow-up single, and they had what seemed like it might be a great opportunity. The TV show Ready Steady Go! wanted the Animals to record a version of the old Ray Charles song “Talking ‘Bout You”, to use as their theme. The group travelled down from Liverpool after playing a show there, and went into the studio in London at three o’clock in the morning, before heading to Southampton for the next night’s show. But they needed to record a B-side first, of course, and so before getting round to the main business of the session they knocked off a quick one-take performance of their new live showstopper: [Excerpt: The Animals, “House of the Rising Sun”] On hearing the playback, everyone was suddenly convinced that that, not “Talking ‘Bout You”, should be the A-side. But there was a problem. The record was four minutes and twenty seconds long, and you just didn’t ever release a record that long. The rule was generally that songs didn’t last longer than three minutes, because radio stations wouldn’t play them, but Most was eventually persuaded by Chas Chandler that the track needed to go out as it was, with no edits. It did, but when it went out, it had only one name on as the arranger — which when you’re recording a public domain song makes you effectively the songwriter. According to all the members other than Price, the group’s manager, Mike Jeffrey, who was close to Price, had “explained” to them that you needed to just put one name down on the credits, but not to worry, as they would all get a share of the songwriting money. According to Price, meanwhile, he was the sole arranger. Whatever the truth, Price was the only one who ever got any songwriting royalties for their version of the song, which went to number one in the UK and the US. although the version released as a single in the US was cut down to three minutes with some brutal edits, particularly to the organ solo: [Excerpt: The Animals, “House of the Rising Sun (US edit)”] None of the group liked what was done to the US single edit, and the proper version was soon released as an album track everywhere The Animals’ version was a big enough hit that it inspired Dylan’s new producer Tom Wilson to do an experiment. In late 1964 he hired session musicians to overdub a new electric backing onto an outtake version of “House of the Rising Sun” from the sessions from Dylan’s first album, to see what it would sound like: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, “House of the Rising Sun (1964 electric version)”] That wasn’t released at the time, it was just an experiment Wilson tried, but it would have ramifications we’ll be seeing throughout the rest of the podcast. Incidentally, Dave van Ronk had the last laugh at Dylan, who had to drop the song from his own sets because people kept asking him if he’d stolen it from the Animals. The Animals’ next single, “I’m Crying”, was their first and only self-written A-side, written by Price and Burdon. It was a decent record and made the top ten in the UK and the top twenty in the US, but Price and Burdon were never going to become another Lennon and McCartney or Jagger and Richards — they just didn’t like each other by this point. The record after that, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, was written by the jazz songwriters Benny Benjamin and Horace Ott, and had originally been recorded by Nina Simone in an orchestral version that owed quite a bit to Burt Bacharach: [Excerpt: Nina Simone, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”] The Animals’ version really suffers in comparison to that. I was going to say something about how their reinterpretation is as valid in its own way as Simone’s original and stands up against it, but actually listening to them back to back as I was writing this, rather than separately as I always previously had, I changed my mind because I really don’t think it does. It’s a great record, and it’s deservedly considered a classic single, but compared to Simone’s version, it’s lightweight, rushed, and callow: [Excerpt: The Animals, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”] Simone was apparently furious at the Animals’ recording, which they didn’t understand given that she hadn’t written the original, and according to John Steel she and Burdon later had a huge screaming row about the record. In Steel’s version, Simone eventually grudgingly admitted that they weren’t “so bad for a bunch of white boys”, but that doesn’t sound to me like the attitude Simone would take. But Steel was there and I wasn’t… “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” was followed by a more minor single, a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Bring it on Home to Me”, which would be the last single by the group to feature Alan Price. On the twenty-eighth of April 1965, the group were about to leave on a European tour. Chas Chandler, who shared a flat with Price, woke Price up and then got in the shower. When he got out of the shower, Price wasn’t in the flat, and Chandler wouldn’t see Price again for eighteen months. Chandler believed until his death that while he was in the shower, Price’s first royalty cheque for arranging “House of the Rising Sun” had arrived, and Price had decided then and there that he wasn’t going to share the money as agreed. The group quickly rushed to find a fill-in keyboard player for the tour, and nineteen-year-old Mick Gallagher was with them for a couple of weeks before being permanently replaced by Dave Rowberry. Gallagher would later go on to be the keyboard player with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, as well as playing on several tracks by the Clash. Price, meanwhile, went on to have a number of solo hits over the next few years, starting with a version of “I Put A Spell On You”, in an arrangement which the other Animals later claimed had originally been worked up as an Animals track: [Excerpt: The Alan Price Set, “I Put A Spell On You”] Price would go on to make many great solo records, introducing the songs of Randy Newman to a wider audience, and performing in a jazz-influenced R&B style very similar to Mose Allison. The Animals’ first record with their new keyboard player was their greatest single. “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” had been written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, and had originally been intended for the Righteous Brothers, but they’d decided to have Mann record it himself: [Excerpt: Barry Mann, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”] But before that version was released, the Animals had heard Mann’s piano demo of the song and cut their own version, and Mann’s was left on the shelf. What the Animals did to the song horrified Cynthia Weill, who considered it the worst record of one of her songs ever — though one suspects that’s partly because it sabotaged the chances for her husband’s single — but to my mind they vastly improved on the song. They tightened the melody up a lot, getting rid of a lot of interjections. They reworked big chunks of the lyric, for example changing “Oh girl, now you’re young and oh so pretty, staying here would be a crime, because you’ll just grow old before your time” to “Now my girl, you’re so young and pretty, and one thing I know is true, you’ll be dead before your time is due”, and making subtler changes like changing “if it’s the last thing that we do” to “if it’s the last thing we ever do”, improving the scansion. They kept the general sense of the lyrics, but changed more of the actual words than they kept — and to my ears, at least, every change they made was an improvement. And most importantly, they excised the overlong bridge altogether. I can see what Mann and Weill were trying to do with the bridge — Righteous Brothers songs would often have a call and response section, building to a climax, where Bill Medley’s low voice and Bobby Hatfield’s high one would alternate and then come together. But that would normally come in the middle, building towards the last chorus. Here it comes between every verse and chorus, and completely destroys the song’s momentum — it just sounds like noodling: [Excerpt: Barry Mann, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”] The Animals’ version, by contrast, is a masterpiece of dynamics, of slow builds and climaxes and dropping back down again. It’s one of the few times I’ve wished I could just drop the entire record in, rather than excerpting a section, because it depends so much for its effect on the way the whole structure of the track works together: [Excerpt: The Animals, “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”] From a creators’ rights perspective, I entirely agree with Cynthia Weill that the group shouldn’t have messed with her song. But from a listener’s point of view, I have to say that they turned a decent song into a great one, and one of the greatest singles of all time “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” was followed by another lesser but listenable single, “It’s My Life”, which seemed to reinforce a pattern of a great Animals single being followed by a merely OK one. But that was the point at which the Animals and Most would part company — the group were getting sick of Most’s attempts to make them more poppy. They signed to a new label, Decca, and got a new producer, Tom Wilson, the man who we heard earlier experimenting with Dylan’s sound, but the group started to fall apart. After their next single, “Inside — Looking Out”, a prison work song collected by the Lomaxes, and the album Animalisms, John Steel left the group, tired of not getting any money, and went to work in a shop. The album after Animalisms, confusingly titled Animalism, was also mostly produced by Wilson, and didn’t even feature the musicians in the band on two of the tracks, which Wilson farmed out to a protege of his, Frank Zappa, to produce. Those two tracks featured Zappa on guitar and members of the Wrecking Crew, with only Burdon from the actual group: [Excerpt: The Animals, “All Night Long”] Soon the group would split up, and would discover that their management had thoroughly ripped them off — there had been a scheme to bank their money in the Bahamas for tax reasons, in a bank which mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth. Burdon would form a new group, known first as the New Animals and later as Eric Burdon and the Animals, who would have some success but not on the same level. There were a handful of reunions of the original lineup of the group between 1968 and the early eighties, but they last played together in 1983. Burdon continues to tour the US as Eric Burdon and the Animals. Alan Price continues to perform successfully as a solo artist. We’ll be picking up with Chas Chandler later, when he moves from bass playing into management, so you’ll hear more about him in future episodes. John Steel, Dave Rowberry, and Hilton Valentine reformed a version of the Animals in the 1990s, originally with Jim Rodford, formerly of the Kinks and Argent, on bass. Valentine left that group in 2001, and Rowberry died in 2003. Steel now tours the UK as “The Animals and Friends”, with Mick Gallagher, who had replaced Price briefly in 1965, on keyboards. I’ve seen them live twice and they put on an excellent show — though the second time, one woman behind me did indignantly say, as the singer started, “That’s not Eric Clapton!”, before starting to sing along happily… And Hilton Valentine moved to the US and played briefly with Burdon’s Animals after quitting Steel’s, before returning to his first love, skiffle. He died exactly four weeks ago today, and will be missed.

Episode one hundred and fifteen of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals, at the way the US and UK music scenes were influencing each other in 1964, and at the fraught question of attribution when reworking older songs. 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 "Memphis" by Johnny Rivers. 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/ ----more---- Erratum A couple of times I mispronounce Hoagy Lands' surname as Land. Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode. Information on the Animals comes largely from Animal Tracks  by Sean Egan. The two-CD set The Complete Animals isn't actually their complete recordings -- for that you'd also need to buy the Decca recordings -- but it is everything they recorded with Mickie Most, including all the big hits discussed in this episode. For the information on Dylan's first album, I used The Mayor of MacDougal Street by Dave Van Ronk and Elijah Wald, the fascinating and funny autobiography of Dylan's mentor in his Greenwich Village period. I also referred to Chronicles Volume 1 by Bob Dylan, a partial, highly inaccurate, but thoroughly readable autobiography; Bob Dylan: All The Songs by Phillipe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon; and Revolution in the Air, by Clinton Heylin. Transcript Today we're going to look at a song that, more than any other song we've looked at so far, shows how the influence between British and American music was working in the early 1960s. A song about New Orleans that may have its roots in English folk music, that became an Appalachian country song, performed by a blues band from the North of England, who learned it from a Minnesotan folk singer based in New York. We're going to look at "House of the Rising Sun", and the career of the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun"] The story of the Animals, like so many of the British bands of this time period, starts at art school, when two teenagers named Eric Burdon and John Steel met each other. The school they met each other at was in Newcastle, and this is important for how the band came together. If you're not familiar with the geography of Great Britain, Newcastle is one of the largest cities, but it's a very isolated city. Britain has a number of large cities. The biggest, of course, is London, which is about as big as the next five added together. Now, there's a saying that one of the big differences between Britain and America is that in America a hundred years is a long time, and in Britain a hundred miles is a long way, so take that into account when I talk about everything else here. Most of the area around London is empty of other big cities, and the nearest other big city to it is Birmingham, a hundred miles north-west of it. About seventy miles north of that, give or take, you hit Manchester, and Manchester is in the middle of a chain of large cities -- Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, and the slightly smaller Bradford, are more or less in a row, and the furthest distance between two adjacent cities is about thirty-five miles. But then Newcastle is another hundred miles north of Leeds, the closest of those cities to it. And then it's another hundred miles or so further north before you hit the major Scottish cities, which cluster together like the ones near Manchester do. This means Newcastle is, for a major city, incredibly isolated. Britain's culture is extraordinarily London-centric, but if you're in Liverpool or Manchester there are a number of other nearby cities. A band from Manchester can play a gig in Liverpool and make the last train home, and vice versa. This allows for the creation of regional scenes, centred on one city but with cross-fertilisation from others. Now, again, I am talking about a major city here, not some remote village, but it means that Newcastle in the sixties was in something of the same position as Seattle was, as we talked about in the episode on "Louie, Louie" -- a place where bands would play in their own immediate area and not travel outside it. A journey to Leeds, particularly in the time we're talking about when the motorway system was only just starting, would be a major trip, let alone travelling further afield. Local bands would play in Newcastle, and in large nearby towns like Gateshead, Sunderland, and Middlesborough, but not visit other cities. This meant that there was also a limited pool of good musicians to perform with, and so if you wanted to be in a band, you couldn't be that picky about who you got on with, so long as they could play. Steel and Burdon, when they met at art school, were both jazz fanatics, and they quickly formed a trad jazz band. The band initially featured them on trumpet and trombone, but when rock and roll and skiffle hit the band changed its lineup to one based around guitars. Steel shifted to drums, while Burdon stopped playing an instrument and became the lead singer. Burdon's tastes at the time were oriented towards the jazzier side of R&B, people like Ray Charles, and he also particularly loved blues shouters like Jimmy Witherspoon and Big Joe Turner. He tried hard to emulate Turner, and one of the songs that's often mentioned as being in the repertoire of these early groups is "Roll 'Em Pete", the Big Joe Turner song we talked about back in episode two: [Excerpt: Big Joe Turner, "Roll 'em Pete"] The jazz group that Burdon and Steel formed was called the Pagan Jazz Men, and when they switched instruments they became instead The Pagans R&B Band. The group was rounded out by Blackie Sanderson and Jimmy Crawford, but soon got a fifth member when a member from another band on an early bill asked if he could sit in with them for a couple of numbers. Alan Price was the rhythm guitarist in that band, but joined in on piano, and instantly gelled with the group, playing Jerry Lee Lewis style piano. The other members would always later say that they didn't like Price either as a person or for his taste in music -- both Burdon and Steel regarded Price's tastes as rather pedestrian when compared to their own, hipper, tastes, saying he always regarded himself as something of a lounge player, while Burdon was an R&B and blues person and Steel liked blues and jazz. But they all played well together, and in Newcastle there wasn't that much choice about which musicians you could play with, and so they stayed together for a while, as the Pagans evolved into the Kansas City Five or the Kansas City Seven, depending on the occasional presence of two brass players. The Kansas City group played mostly jump blues, which was the area of music where Burdon and Steel's tastes intersected -- musicians they've cited as ones they covered were Ray Charles, Louis Jordan, and Big Joe Turner. But then the group collapsed, as Price didn't turn up to a gig -- he'd been poached by a pop covers band, the Kon-Tors, whose bass player, Chas Chandler, had been impressed with him when Chandler had sat in at a couple of Kansas City Five rehearsals. Steel got a gig playing lounge music, just to keep paying the bills, and Burdon would occasionally sit in with various other musicians. But a few members of the Kon-Tors got a side gig, performing as the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo as the resident band at a local venue called the Club A Go-Go, which was the venue where visiting London jazzmen and touring American blues players would perform when they came to Newcastle. Burdon started sitting in with them, and then they invited Steel to replace their drummer, and in September 1963 the Alan Price Rhythm And Blues Combo settled on a lineup of Burdon on vocals, Price on piano, Steel on drums, Chandler on bass, and new member Hilton Valentine, who joined at the same time as Steel, on guitar. Valentine was notably more experienced than the other members, and had previously performed in a rock and roll group called the Wildcats -- not the same band who backed Marty Wilde -- and had even recorded an album with them, though I've been unable to track down any copies of the album. At this point all the group members now had different sensibilities -- Valentine was a rocker and skiffle fan, while Chandler was into more mainstream pop music, though the other members emphasised in interviews that he liked *good* pop music like the Beatles, not the lesser pop music. The new lineup was so good that a mere eight days after they first performed together, they went into a recording studio to record an EP, which they put out themselves and sold at their gigs. Apparently five hundred copies of the EP were sold. As well as playing piano on the tracks, Price also played melodica, which he used in the same way that blues musicians would normally use the harmonica: [Excerpt: The Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo, "Pretty Thing"] This kind of instrumental experimentation would soon further emphasise the split between Price and Burdon, as Price would get a Vox organ rather than cart a piano between gigs, while Burdon disliked the sound of the organ, even though it became one of the defining sounds of the group. That sound can be heard on a live recording of them a couple of months later, backing the great American blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson II at the Club A Go Go: [Excerpt: Sonny Boy Williamson II and the Animals, “Fattening Frogs For Snakes”] One person who definitely *didn't* dislike the sound of the electric organ was Graham Bond, the Hammond organ player with Alexis Korner's band who we mentioned briefly back in the episode on the Rolling Stones. Bond and a few other members of the Korner group had quit, and formed their own group, the Graham Bond Organisation, which had originally featured a guitarist named John McLaughlin, but by this point consisted of Bond, saxophone player Dick Heckstall-Smith, and the rhythm section Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. They wouldn't make an album until 1965, but live recordings of them from around this time exist, though in relatively poor quality: [Excerpt: The Graham Bond Organisation, "Wade in the Water"] The Graham Bond Organisation played at the Club A Go Go, and soon Bond was raving back in London about this group from Newcastle he'd heard. Arrangements were quickly made for them to play in London. By this time, the Rolling Stones had outgrown the small club venues they'd been playing, and a new band called the Yardbirds were playing all the Stones' old venues. A trade was agreed -- the Yardbirds would play all the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo's normal gigs for a couple of weeks, and the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Combo would play the Yardbirds'. Or rather, the Animals would. None of the members of the group could ever agree on how they got their new name, and not all of them liked it, but when they played those gigs in London in December 1963, just three months after getting together, that was how they were billed. And it was as the Animals that they were signed by Mickie Most. Mickie Most was one of the new breed of independent producers that were cropping up in London, following in Joe Meek's footsteps, like Andrew Oldham. Most had started out as a singer in a duo called The Most Brothers, which is where he got his stage name. The Most Brothers had only released one single: [Excerpt: The Most Brothers, "Whole Lotta Woman"] But then Most had moved to South Africa, where he'd had eleven number one hits with cover versions of American rock singles, backed by a band called the Playboys: [Excerpt: Mickie Most and the Playboys, "Johnny B Goode"] He'd returned to the UK in 1963, and been less successful here as a performer, and so he decided to move into production, and the Animals were his first signing. He signed them up and started licensing their records to EMI, and in January 1964 the Animals moved down to London. There has been a lot of suggestion over the years that the Animals resented Mickie Most pushing them in a more pop direction, but their first single was an inspired compromise between the group's blues purism and Most's pop instincts. The song they recorded dates back at least to 1935, when the State Street Boys, a group that featured Big Bill Broonzy, recorded "Don't Tear My Clothes": [Excerpt: The State Street Boys, "Don't Tear My Clothes"] That song got picked up and adapted by a lot of other blues singers, like Blind Boy Fuller, who recorded it as "Mama Let Me Lay It On You" in 1938: [Excerpt: Blind Boy Fuller, "Mama Let Me Lay it On You"] That had in turn been picked up by the Reverend Gary Davis, who came up with his own arrangement of the song: [Excerpt: Rev. Gary Davis, "Baby, Let Me Lay It On You"] Eric von Schmidt, a folk singer in Massachusetts, had learned that song from Davis, and Bob Dylan had in turn learned it from von Schmidt, and included it on his first album as "Baby Let Me Follow You Down": [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Baby Let Me Follow You Down"] The Animals knew the song from that version, which they loved, but Most had come across it in a different way. He'd heard a version which had been inspired by Dylan, but had been radically reworked. Bert Berns had produced a single on Atlantic for a soul singer called Hoagy Lands, and on the B-side had been a new arrangement of the song, retitled "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" and adapted by Berns and Wes Farrell, a songwriter who had written for the Shirelles. Land's version had started with an intro in which Lands is clearly imitating Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand"] But after that intro, which seems to be totally original to Berns and Farrell, Lands' track goes into a very upbeat Twist-flavoured song, with a unique guitar riff and Latin feel, both of them very much in the style of Berns' other songs, but clearly an adaptation of Dylan's version of the old song: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand"] Most had picked up that record on a trip to America, and decided that the Animals should record a version of the song based on that record. Hilton Valentine would later claim that this record, whose title and artist he could never remember (and it's quite possible that Most never even told the band who the record was by) was not very similar at all to the Animals' version, and that they'd just kicked around the song and come up with their own version, but listening to it, it is *very* obviously modelled on Lands' version. They cut out Lands' intro, and restored a lot of Dylan's lyric, but musically it's Lands all the way. The track starts like this: [Excerpt: The Animals, "Baby Let Me Take You Home"] Both have a breakdown section with spoken lyrics over a staccato backing, though the two sets of lyrics are different -- compare the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, "Baby Let Me Take You Home"] and Lands: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand"] And both have the typical Bert Berns call and response ending -- Lands: [Excerpt: Hoagy Lands, "Baby Let me Hold Your Hand"] And the Animals: [Excerpt: The Animals, "Baby Let Me Take You Home"] So whatever Valentine's later claims, the track very much was modelled on the earlier record, but it's still one of the strongest remodellings of an American R&B record by a British group in this time period, and an astonishingly accomplished record, which made number twenty-one. The Animals' second single was another song that had been recorded on Dylan's first album. "House of the Rising Sun" has been argued by some, though I think it's a tenuous argument, to originally date to the seventeenth century English folk song "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard": [Excerpt: Martin Carthy, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard"] What we do know is that the song was circulating in Appalachia in the early years of the twentieth century, and it's that version that was first recorded in 1933, under the name "Rising Sun Blues", by Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster: [Excerpt: Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster, "Rising Sun Blues"] The song has been described as about several things -- about alcoholism, about sex work, about gambling -- depending on the precise version. It's often thought, for example, that the song was always sung by women and was about a brothel, but there are lots of variants of it, sung by both men and women, before it reached its most famous form. Dave van Ronk, who put the song into the form by which it became best known, believed at first that it was a song about a brothel, but he later decided that it was probably about the New Orleans Women's Prison, which in his accounting used to have a carving of a rising sun over the doorway. Van Ronk's version traces back originally to a field recording Alan Lomax had made in 1938 of a woman named Georgia Turner, from Kentucky: [Excerpt: Georgia Turner, "Rising Sun Blues"] Van Ronk had learned the song from a record by Hally Wood, a friend of the Lomaxes, who had recorded a version based on Turner's in 1953: [Excerpt: Hally Wood, "House of the Rising Sun"] Van Ronk took Wood's version of Turner's version of the song, and rearranged it, changing the chords around, adding something that changed the whole song. He introduced a descending bassline, mostly in semitones, which as van Ronk put it is "a common enough progression in jazz, but unusual among folksingers". It's actually something you'd get a fair bit in baroque music as well, and van Ronk introducing this into the song is probably what eventually led to things like Procul Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" ripping off Bach doing essentially the same thing. What van Ronk did was a simple trick. You play a descending scale, mostly in semitones, while holding the same chord shape which creates a lot of interesting chords. The bass line he played is basically this: [demonstrates] And he held an A minor shape over that bassline, giving a chord sequence Am, Am over G, Am over F#, F. [demonstrates] This is a trick that's used in hundreds and hundreds of songs later in the sixties and onward -- everything from "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks to "Go Now" by the Moody Blues to "Forever" by the Beach Boys -- but it was something that at this point belonged in the realms of art music and jazz more than in folk, blues, or rock and roll. Of course, it sounds rather better when he did it: [Excerpt, Dave van Ronk, "House of the Rising Sun"] "House of the Rising Sun" soon became the highlight of van Ronk's live act, and his most requested song. Dylan took van Ronk's arrangement, but he wasn't as sophisticated a musician as van Ronk, so he simplified the chords. Rather than the dissonant chords van Ronk had, he played standard rock chords that fit van Ronk's bassline, so instead of Am over G he played C with a G in the bass, and instead of Am over F# he played D with an F# in the bass. So van Ronk had: [demonstrates] While Dylan had: [demonstrates] The movement of the chords now follows the movement of the bassline. It's simpler, but it's all from van Ronk's arrangement idea. Dylan recorded his version of van Ronk's version for his first album: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "House of the Rising Sun"] As van Ronk later told the story (though I'm going to edit out one expletive here for the sake of getting past the adult content rating on Apple): "One evening in 1962, I was sitting at my usual table in the back of the Kettle of Fish, and Dylan came slouching in. He had been up at the Columbia studios with John Hammond, doing his first album. He was being very mysterioso about the whole thing, and nobody I knew had been to any of the sessions except Suze, his lady. I pumped him for information, but he was vague. Everything was going fine and, “Hey, would it be okay for me to record your arrangement of ‘House of the Rising Sun?’” [expletive]. “Jeez, Bobby, I’m going into the studio to do that myself in a few weeks. Can’t it wait until your next album?” A long pause. “Uh-oh.” I did not like the sound of that. “What exactly do you mean, ‘Uh-oh’?” “Well,” he said sheepishly, “I’ve already recorded it.” “You did what?!” I flew into a Donald Duck rage, and I fear I may have said something unkind that could be heard over in Chelsea." van Ronk and Dylan fell out for a couple of weeks, though they later reconciled, and van Ronk said of Dylan's performance "it was essentially my arrangement, but Bobby’s reading had all the nuance and subtlety of a Neanderthal with a stone hand ax, and I took comfort thereby." van Ronk did record his version, as we heard, but he soon stopped playing the song live because he got sick of people telling him to "play that Dylan song". The Animals learned the song from the Dylan record, and decided to introduce it to their set on their first national tour, supporting Chuck Berry. All the other acts were only doing rock and roll and R&B, and they thought a folk song might be a way to make them stand out -- and it instantly became the highlight of their act.  The way all the members except Alan Price tell the story, the main instigators of the arrangement were Eric Burdon, the only member of the group who had been familiar with the song before hearing the Dylan album, and Hilton Valentine, who came up with the arpeggiated guitar part. Their arrangement followed Dylan's rearrangement of van Ronk's rearrangement, except they dropped the scalar bassline altogether, so for example instead of a D with an F# in the bass they just play a plain open D chord -- the F# that van Ronk introduced is still in there, as the third, but the descending line is now just implied by the chords, not explicitly stated in the bass, where Chas Chandler just played root notes. In the middle of the tour, the group were called back into the studio to record their follow-up single, and they had what seemed like it might be a great opportunity. The TV show Ready Steady Go! wanted the Animals to record a version of the old Ray Charles song "Talking 'Bout You", to use as their theme. The group travelled down from Liverpool after playing a show there, and went into the studio in London at three o'clock in the morning, before heading to Southampton for the next night's show. But they needed to record a B-side first, of course, and so before getting round to the main business of the session they knocked off a quick one-take performance of their new live showstopper: [Excerpt: The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun"] On hearing the playback, everyone was suddenly convinced that that, not "Talking 'Bout You", should be the A-side. But there was a problem. The record was four minutes and twenty seconds long, and you just didn't ever release a record that long. The rule was generally that songs didn't last longer than three minutes, because radio stations wouldn't play them, but Most was eventually persuaded by Chas Chandler that the track needed to go out as it was, with no edits. It did, but when it went out, it had only one name on as the arranger -- which when you're recording a public domain song makes you effectively the songwriter. According to all the members other than Price, the group's manager, Mike Jeffrey, who was close to Price, had "explained" to them that you needed to just put one name down on the credits, but not to worry, as they would all get a share of the songwriting money. According to Price, meanwhile, he was the sole arranger. Whatever the truth, Price was the only one who ever got any songwriting royalties for their version of the song, which went to number one in the UK and the US. although the version released as a single in the US was cut down to three minutes with some brutal edits, particularly to the organ solo: [Excerpt: The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun (US edit)"] None of the group liked what was done to the US single edit, and the proper version was soon released as an album track everywhere The Animals' version was a big enough hit that it inspired Dylan's new producer Tom Wilson to do an experiment. In late 1964 he hired session musicians to overdub a new electric backing onto an outtake version of "House of the Rising Sun" from the sessions from Dylan's first album, to see what it would sound like: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "House of the Rising Sun (1964 electric version)"] That wasn't released at the time, it was just an experiment Wilson tried, but it would have ramifications we'll be seeing throughout the rest of the podcast. Incidentally, Dave van Ronk had the last laugh at Dylan, who had to drop the song from his own sets because people kept asking him if he'd stolen it from the Animals. The Animals' next single, "I'm Crying", was their first and only self-written A-side, written by Price and Burdon. It was a decent record and made the top ten in the UK and the top twenty in the US, but Price and Burdon were never going to become another Lennon and McCartney or Jagger and Richards -- they just didn't like each other by this point. The record after that, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", was written by the jazz songwriters Benny Benjamin and Horace Ott, and had originally been recorded by Nina Simone in an orchestral version that owed quite a bit to Burt Bacharach: [Excerpt: Nina Simone, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"] The Animals' version really suffers in comparison to that. I was going to say something about how their reinterpretation is as valid in its own way as Simone's original and stands up against it, but actually listening to them back to back as I was writing this, rather than separately as I always previously had, I changed my mind because I really don't think it does. It's a great record, and it's deservedly considered a classic single, but compared to Simone's version, it's lightweight, rushed, and callow: [Excerpt: The Animals, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"] Simone was apparently furious at the Animals' recording, which they didn't understand given that she hadn't written the original, and according to John Steel she and Burdon later had a huge screaming row about the record. In Steel's version, Simone eventually grudgingly admitted that they weren't "so bad for a bunch of white boys", but that doesn't sound to me like the attitude Simone would take. But Steel was there and I wasn't... "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was followed by a more minor single, a cover of Sam Cooke's "Bring it on Home to Me", which would be the last single by the group to feature Alan Price. On the twenty-eighth of April 1965, the group were about to leave on a European tour. Chas Chandler, who shared a flat with Price, woke Price up and then got in the shower. When he got out of the shower, Price wasn't in the flat, and Chandler wouldn't see Price again for eighteen months. Chandler believed until his death that while he was in the shower, Price's first royalty cheque for arranging "House of the Rising Sun" had arrived, and Price had decided then and there that he wasn't going to share the money as agreed. The group quickly rushed to find a fill-in keyboard player for the tour, and nineteen-year-old Mick Gallagher was with them for a couple of weeks before being permanently replaced by Dave Rowberry. Gallagher would later go on to be the keyboard player with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, as well as playing on several tracks by the Clash. Price, meanwhile, went on to have a number of solo hits over the next few years, starting with a version of "I Put A Spell On You", in an arrangement which the other Animals later claimed had originally been worked up as an Animals track: [Excerpt: The Alan Price Set, "I Put A Spell On You"] Price would go on to make many great solo records, introducing the songs of Randy Newman to a wider audience, and performing in a jazz-influenced R&B style very similar to Mose Allison. The Animals' first record with their new keyboard player was their greatest single. "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" had been written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill, and had originally been intended for the Righteous Brothers, but they'd decided to have Mann record it himself: [Excerpt: Barry Mann, "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"] But before that version was released, the Animals had heard Mann's piano demo of the song and cut their own version, and Mann's was left on the shelf. What the Animals did to the song horrified Cynthia Weill, who considered it the worst record of one of her songs ever -- though one suspects that's partly because it sabotaged the chances for her husband's single -- but to my mind they vastly improved on the song. They tightened the melody up a lot, getting rid of a lot of interjections. They reworked big chunks of the lyric, for example changing "Oh girl, now you're young and oh so pretty, staying here would be a crime, because you'll just grow old before your time" to "Now my girl, you're so young and pretty, and one thing I know is true, you'll be dead before your time is due", and making subtler changes like changing "if it's the last thing that we do" to "if it's the last thing we ever do", improving the scansion. They kept the general sense of the lyrics, but changed more of the actual words than they kept -- and to my ears, at least, every change they made was an improvement. And most importantly, they excised the overlong bridge altogether. I can see what Mann and Weill were trying to do with the bridge -- Righteous Brothers songs would often have a call and response section, building to a climax, where Bill Medley's low voice and Bobby Hatfield's high one would alternate and then come together. But that would normally come in the middle, building towards the last chorus. Here it comes between every verse and chorus, and completely destroys the song's momentum -- it just sounds like noodling: [Excerpt: Barry Mann, "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"] The Animals' version, by contrast, is a masterpiece of dynamics, of slow builds and climaxes and dropping back down again. It's one of the few times I've wished I could just drop the entire record in, rather than excerpting a section, because it depends so much for its effect on the way the whole structure of the track works together: [Excerpt: The Animals, "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"] From a creators' rights perspective, I entirely agree with Cynthia Weill that the group shouldn't have messed with her song. But from a listener's point of view, I have to say that they turned a decent song into a great one, and one of the greatest singles of all time "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" was followed by another lesser but listenable single, "It's My Life", which seemed to reinforce a pattern of a great Animals single being followed by a merely OK one. But that was the point at which the Animals and Most would part company -- the group were getting sick of Most's attempts to make them more poppy. They signed to a new label, Decca, and got a new producer, Tom Wilson, the man who we heard earlier experimenting with Dylan's sound, but the group started to fall apart. After their next single, "Inside -- Looking Out", a prison work song collected by the Lomaxes, and the album Animalisms, John Steel left the group, tired of not getting any money, and went to work in a shop. The album after Animalisms, confusingly titled Animalism, was also mostly produced by Wilson, and didn't even feature the musicians in the band on two of the tracks, which Wilson farmed out to a protege of his, Frank Zappa, to produce. Those two tracks featured Zappa on guitar and members of the Wrecking Crew, with only Burdon from the actual group: [Excerpt: The Animals, "All Night Long"] Soon the group would split up, and would discover that their management had thoroughly ripped them off -- there had been a scheme to bank their money in the Bahamas for tax reasons, in a bank which mysteriously disappeared off the face of the Earth. Burdon would form a new group, known first as the New Animals and later as Eric Burdon and the Animals, who would have some success but not on the same level. There were a handful of reunions of the original lineup of the group between 1968 and the early eighties, but they last played together in 1983. Burdon continues to tour the US as Eric Burdon and the Animals. Alan Price continues to perform successfully as a solo artist. We'll be picking up with Chas Chandler later, when he moves from bass playing into management, so you'll hear more about him in future episodes. John Steel, Dave Rowberry, and Hilton Valentine reformed a version of the Animals in the 1990s, originally with Jim Rodford, formerly of the Kinks and Argent, on bass. Valentine left that group in 2001, and Rowberry died in 2003. Steel now tours the UK as "The Animals and Friends", with Mick Gallagher, who had replaced Price briefly in 1965, on keyboards. I've seen them live twice and they put on an excellent show -- though the second time, one woman behind me did indignantly say, as the singer started, "That's not Eric Clapton!", before starting to sing along happily... And Hilton Valentine moved to the US and played briefly with Burdon's Animals after quitting Steel's, before returning to his first love, skiffle. He died exactly four weeks ago today, and will be missed.

Show 116 – Recorded 2-6-21 This podcast features 14 outstanding blues artists and 14 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1928 – 2003. Our featured artists are: Barbeque Bob, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin and Jorma Kaukonen, Buddy Moss, Buster Brown, Captain Luke, Champion Jack Dupree, James Booker, Jessie Mae Hemphill, John D Holeman, Shuggie Otis, Jimmy Reed. We also want to recognize and thank the following individuals who worked with, coached, documented, and recorded some of these artists to produce the music we all love: George Mitchell, Dr David Evans and also Denise and Tim Duffy.

Show 116 – Recorded 2-6-21 This podcast features 14 outstanding blues artists and 14 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from 1928 – 2003. Our featured artists are: Barbeque Bob, Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie Johnson, Buddy Guy, Janis Joplin and Jorma Kaukonen, Buddy Moss, Buster Brown, Captain Luke, Champion Jack Dupree, James Booker, Jessie Mae Hemphill, John D Holeman, Shuggie Otis, Jimmy Reed. We also want to recognize and thank the following individuals who worked with, coached, documented, and recorded some of these artists to produce the music we all love: George Mitchell, Dr David Evans and also Denise and Tim Duffy.

Show 111 – Recorded 1-2-21 This podcast features an interview with Ms Patty Aden, the new CEO of The Blues Foundation along with 12 outstanding blues artists and 12 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from the late 1927 – 1999. Our featured artists are: Albert Macon and Robert Thomas, Big Mama Thornton, Blind Boy Fuller, Cecil Barfield, Frank Stokes, Alga Mae Hinton, Big Bill Broonzy, Furry Lewis, Blind Willie Johnson, Joe Callicott, Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey. We also want to recognize and thank the following individuals who worked with, coached, documented, and recorded some of these artists to produce the music we all love: George Mitchell and Tim Duffy.

Show 111 – Recorded 1-2-21 This podcast features an interview with Ms Patty Aden, the new CEO of The Blues Foundation along with 12 outstanding blues artists and 12 great performances to enjoy. These songs were recorded from the late 1927 – 1999. Our featured artists are: Albert Macon and Robert Thomas, Big Mama Thornton, Blind Boy Fuller, Cecil Barfield, Frank Stokes, Alga Mae Hinton, Big Bill Broonzy, Furry Lewis, Blind Willie Johnson, Joe Callicott, Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey. We also want to recognize and thank the following individuals who worked with, coached, documented, and recorded some of these artists to produce the music we all love: George Mitchell and Tim Duffy.

Journalist David Menconi has documented the people and sounds of North Carolina's music scene for almost three decades. In this episode, Ben and guest co-host Dolph Ramseur speak with David about his new book Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, and how the music of “The Old North State” is both reflected in, and a reflection of, its people. David Menconi spent 28 years writing for the Raleigh News & Observer and was Piedmont Laureate in 2019. His other works include Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown" (University of Texas Press, 2012); "Comin' Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or, the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel. (co-written with Ray Benson, University of Texas Press, 2015). You can follow him on twitter at @NCDavidMenconi. Guest co-host Dolph Ramseur is the founder of Ramseur Records and a member of the North Carolina Hall of Fame. If you're enjoying The Road to Now, please consider joining us on Patreon, giving us a 5 star rating/review on Apple podcasts and sharing this episode with a friend who might also enjoy it. Thank you! This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher. The Road to Now is a member of the Osiris Podcast Network.

This week, host Jason Jefferies is joined by David Menconi, author of Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk, which is published by our friends at University of North Carolina Press.  Topics of discussion include Charlie Poole's inexcusable absence from the Country Music Hall of Fame, Durham, North Carolina's indifference to its own blues history, how Earl Scruggs was like Beethoven and Bach, Mitch Easter's responsibility for bringing David to North Carolina, The Squirrel Nut Zippers and Ben Folds Five as Chapel Hill's claim to fame in the era of grunge, 9th Wonder's production on Kendrick Lamar's DAMN, American Idol, and much more.  Signed copies of Step It Up and Go can be purchased here with FREE SHIPPING.

The latest episode of the Roots Revival Podcast is all about the Blues. We talk about our trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi to visit the crossroads where Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. We also discuss some of my favorite blues musicians including Lead Belly, Howlin' Wolf, Blind Boy Fuller, Memphis Minnie, Mississippi Sheiks, Big Mama Thornton, Kansas Joe McCoy, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I hope you enjoy our Blues episode. As always email your show ideas or questions to jack@jackbarksdale.com.

Congrats to the graduated. Hang on tight. This ride keeps getting bumpier. What you'll hear. Blind Boy Fuller – Wires All Down Devil – Walk Alone Tyler Keith – Take Me Home Cheap Trick – Stiff Competition words from your host Zip It – Candycorn Guilty Razors – Hurts + Noises Mark Vodka Group – All That You've Done For Me Deaf Aids – Do That Again words from your host The Dirts – Prisoner Of Love Simply Saucer – Electro Rock Country Teasers – Points Of View Zurich Cloud Motors – Sunrise Over Milepost 327 words from your host Hallelujah – Pink Socks Nazis From Mars – Cosmic Break Up Datenight – Not Myself Today Pat and the Pissers – Operator words from your host The Worms –  Bad Smell Siouxsie and the Banshees – Nicotine Stain The Drags – No Matter What Shape (Your Head Is In) The Pretty Things – Midnight to Six Man words from your host  Get even more Smashin' Transistors action at  Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram Things are tight everywhere. Become a Patron!  

Third Of Never's Jon Dawson welcomes David Menconi and Matt McMichaels. Author and longtime News & Observer music critic/arts reporter David Menconi talks about his upcoming book "Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk". Matt McMichaels from Surrender Human talks about the origins of the band, their debut album and a new charity single recorded under quarantine. Songs played in this episode: 18 Strings - Third of Never Sweet Honey Hole - Blind Boy Fuller Under The Boardwalk - The Drifters What A Time To Be Alive - Superchunk Candy Jones - Surrender Human Hantuchova - Surrender Human On The Rack - Surrender Human Remember A Girl - Surrender Human Shelter In Place - Surrender Human It's Our Life - Surrender Human

L'épisode pervers pépère. Pour cet épisode nous vous parlons de Zap Comix, l'anthologie underground créée par Robert Crumb. Nos Chapitres : Intro (00:00) Robert Crumb (01:49) Contre Culture et Comix Underground (19:16) L'histoire de Zap Comix (44:09) Au Revoir et à la prochaine (01:08:26) Notre générique c'est This ain't the end of Me par White Comic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gCKwA5refw Retrouvez nous sur notre site Sur les réseaux sociaux : _Facebook _Twitter Si vous souhaitez nous soutenir n'oubliez pas d'aller nous mettre 5 étoiles sur Itunes Notre chanson de fin est Trucking my Blues Away par Blind Boy Fuller

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee are two of our all-time favorite blues artists. Back in the late 1950s, the pair recorded an incredible album for Smithsonian Folkways called "Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing.” It was from that album that we took our inspiration for this blues with which we often open or close a rehearsal session, just because it's so much fun to play. Now, we don’t do the tune the way Sonny and Brownie did it; the whole “folk process” idea calls on us all to bring our own style and attitude to the music we play. And that was something that Sonny and Brownie certainly knew, because they too were building on the blues they had heard from their heroes. The evidence is that the song’s provocative key line — “If you lose your money, please don’t lose your mind” — didn’t originate with them. Back in 1936, Blind Boy Fuller used exactly the same line in his recording of “Keep Away From My Woman.” But it didn’t start with him either; seven years earlier, in 1929, Blind Joe Reynolds used the same line to open his tune, “Outside Woman Blues,” a song, incidentally, that would be covered 40 years later by the rock group Cream. So, hey, the bottom line is we’re in very good company in offering our take on the tune. Here it is, then, from a recent Flood rehearsal, with a double helping of solos from everyone, Doug, the two Pauls, Vanessa and Sam. It’s “If You Lose Your Money.” P { margin-bottom: 0.08in }

Celebrating 14 years of this podcast! Music includes: Ain't Misbehavin, Step It Up and Go, Down Home Rag, Go Where I Send Thee, Waltz in C-Sharp Minor, Cross Your Heart and I Shall Wear a Golden Crown. Performers include: Artie Shaw, Blind Boy Fuller, Anita O'Day, Arizona Dranes, Alfred Cortot and the Swift Jewel Cowboys.

Jack talks record collecting, hunting down rare old 78s and plays the music of: The Seven Gallon Jug Band, Three Tobacco Tags, Al Bernard and Frank Kamplain, Salt and Pepper, Esmereldy, Freddie “Schnickelfritz” Fisher and his Orchestra, Hoosier Hot Shots, Roy Evans, Blind Boy Fuller. Visit: www.JackSpinsShellac.com for more info. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jackspinsshellac/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jackspinsshellac/support

Where is the Piedmont? What distinguishes this style of blues? Explore these questions in Blind Boy Fuller's "Cat Man Blues."

Show 39 – Recorded 6-29-19 This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1937 to 2018.  These blues artists are: Neal Pattman, Mississippi John Hurt, Big Mama Thornton, Blind Boy Fuller, Buster Brown, Albert Collins, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Sleepy John Estes, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Rory Block, Bob Lanza  

Show 39 – Recorded 6-29-19 This podcast provides 12 performances of blues songs performed by 12 blues artists or groups whose tremendous talent is highlighted here. Performances range from 1937 to 2018.  These blues artists are: Neal Pattman, Mississippi John Hurt, Big Mama Thornton, Blind Boy Fuller, Buster Brown, Albert Collins, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Sleepy John Estes, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Rory Block, Bob Lanza  

Rusty Nails Blues present classics of country blues. This is a demonstration and discussion of the country blues genre with emphasis on pre-WWII blues. Recorded on April 24, 2019. Members of Rusty Nails Blues, Steve Heiner and Ben Lillge, are musicians who aim to maintain and preserve the great American art form known as the blues. With a focus on acoustic blues, their repertoire includes songs from the 1930’s to more contemporary material. The original artists the duo covers include Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Howlin’ Wolf, Reverend Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, and many more.

Celebrating 13 years of Music From 100 Years Ago. Music by, Bix Beiderbeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Bob Wills, Mozart, Django Reinhardt, Blind Boy Fuller and Beverly Kenney.

Show 5 – Recorded 7-1-18 This podcast provides 6 performances of blues songs performed by 6 artists ranging from the 1930's up to the 1990's.  Blues artists are: Taj Mahal, Bobby Rush, Blind Boy Fuller, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Junior Lockwood, Jimmy Hall.

Show 5 – Recorded 7-1-18 This podcast provides 6 performances of blues songs performed by 6 artists ranging from the 1930’s up to the 1990’s.  Blues artists are: Taj Mahal, Bobby Rush, Blind Boy Fuller, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Junior Lockwood, Jimmy Hall.

There were many real blind, black bluesman, scraping a living in the Deep South a hundred years ago. From Blind Willie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson on opposite street corners in Dallas to Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller in Georgia and the Carolinas, the early 20th century saw blind bluesmen playing everything from the lewd, raw blues of the juke joint to the God-fearing spirituals beloved of the new wave of Southern churches and with a musical legacy that's lasted through the decades. How did this group of blind musicians, faced with all the disadvantages of race, segregation, disability and poverty, manage to achieve celebrity in their own day and leave such a lasting mark on the history of American music? Gary O'Donoghue, who is blind himself, explores the elements of race and culture that made this phenomenon possible. Presenter, Gary O'Donoghue Producer, Lee Kumutat Sound Engineer, Peter Bosher Every member of the production team who made this programme is blind. Editor, Andrew Smith

Peckerwood – sauce boss – 100% pure – 2014Chick Willis – What goes up- must - From the heart and soul – 2001Niecie- Skin to skin – beyond the surface – 2011Chuck berry – My ding a ling – live at the filmmore – 1994Bobby Rush – Chicken Heads – Bo carter – banana in your fruit basketWilliam Clarke – Must be jelly – deluxe edition – 1999Lucille Bogan – Shave m Dry- 1934Bull Moose Jackson – Full ten inch – The chronical Bull moose Jackson – 2005Bessie Smith – do your duty – ZZ Top – Tube snake boogie –Blind Boy Fuller- whats like that smells like fish?Michael katon – BBQ on my Boogie – Chick Willis – garbage man Snatch and the poontangs – Hey shine - if I aint hit I'll eat my baby the filhiest of them all. – 1994

Celebrating 11 years of the podcast with some of the host's favorite records. Songs include: Crying All Day, Cheek to Cheek, I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me, Prelude to a Kiss, Eine Kline Gigue, Step It Up And Go , San Antonio Rose and Lamb's Blood Has Washed Me Clean. Performers include: Fred Astaire, Bix Beiderbeck, Ella Fitzgerald, Blind Boy Fuller, Duke Ellington, Jimmy Yancey, Walter Gieseking, Bob Wills  and Arizona Dranes

This week we have Mississippi Delta (via Detroit) Blues legend Sleepy Lips Dupree joining us and sharing stories of some of the legends of blues and ragtime music. You'll hear Lucille Bogans, Blind Boy Fuller, Bo Carter and more! Sleepy Lips don't sink no ships!

The Music Maker Relief Foundation was founded in 1994 to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time. Celebrating their 20th year, they have assisted and partnered with over 300 artists, issued over 150 CDs and reached over a million people with live performance in over 40 states and 17 countries around the globe. The foundation just released a new book and double CD 'We Are the Music Makers� showcasing the work they have done with artists over their 20-year history. Appearing on this Special Event Broadcast will be Tim Duffy, who co-founded the foundation with his wife Denise, plus three legacy Music Maker artists! http://www.musicmaker.org/ IRONING BOARD SAM has been playing professionally for more than 55 years. He has amassed a staggering repertoire of both originals and classic blues and R&B songs. A truly gifted and engaging performer, Sam�s powerful, soulful voice and remarkable piano prowess remain undiminished. In 2012, he was named "Comeback Artist of the Year" by Living Blues Magazine, Most Outstanding Musician by Living Blues in 2013 and made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He just released a new album new album 'Ironing Board Sam With The Sticks'. BOO HANKS is the greatest Piedmont Blues rediscovery in many years. From Buffalo Junction, VA, he sings and plays guitar in the style of the legendary Blind Boy Fuller. At the age of 79, he made his first recording with Music Maker and at 82 he has enjoyed performances around home as well as Lincoln Center and Belgium. BIG RON HUNTER is called the world's happiest Bluesman. He owns a voice that gives people chills. It�s the kind of voice that carries warmth and tenderness, a voice that is unmistakably his own and embodies everything that�s raw, pure and beautiful about the blues. WoodSongs Kid: Isaac May is a talented mandolin player from Mount Eden, KY. He frequently performs with Michael on his opening song.

This edition of The Roadhouse takes a tour of diverse neighborhoods throughout the blues. The Cash Box Kings, Chris Duarte Group, Blind Boy Fuller, Carolyn Wonderland, and Harrison Kennedy help deliver an hour that might be vertigo-inducing for its mixture of styles. But, it's a good vertigo that makes for the 530th hour of the finest blues you've never heard.

This edition of The Roadhouse takes a tour of diverse neighborhoods throughout the blues. The Cash Box Kings, Chris Duarte Group, Blind Boy Fuller, Carolyn Wonderland, and Harrison Kennedy help deliver an hour that might be vertigo-inducing for its mixture of styles. But, it's a good vertigo that makes for the 530th hour of the finest blues you've never heard.

This edition of The Roadhouse takes a tour of diverse neighborhoods throughout the blues. The Cash Box Kings, Chris Duarte Group, Blind Boy Fuller, Carolyn Wonderland, and Harrison Kennedy help deliver an hour that might be vertigo-inducing for its mixture of styles. But, it's a good vertigo that makes for the 530th hour of the finest blues you've never heard.

Jon Shain and Lightnin' Wells perform piedmont blues from Rev Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Taj Mahal, and more. This episode is sponsored by Billsborough Live Music Hall in Hillsborough, NC, featuring live bands, singer songwriters, bluegrass, jazz, live comedy, beach music, DJ's, blues, and more. "Jon Shain & Lightnin’ Wells @ Billsborough Live Music Hall" originated from Americana Music Show.

Blind blues singers of the 1920s and 1030s, including: Lemon Jefferson, Willie McTell, Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Blind Willie Johnson, Teddy Darb and Blind Boy Fuller. Songs include: Log Cabin Blues, Southern Rag, Bad Luck Blues, Southern Can Is Mine and Have a Little More Faith In Jesus.

Episode 114 While veteran baseball writer and stay-at-home dad Dayn Perry has little of substance to say, at least he says it loudly and sprinkles it with profanity. Baseball topics covered: Albert Pujols and Skip Schumaker. Non-baseball topics: Blind Boy Fuller and pigmeat. Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter. You can […]

The 309th Roadhouse features blues you've never heard, both from well-known and relatively unknown artists. Chris Cain, Geoff Bartley, Blind Boy Fuller, Roomful of Blues, and Buddy Guy provide a very solid foundation for that premise. But whether they're new artists or old, known or unknown, every one provides a solid chunk in another hour of the finest blues you've never heard.

Erstmal hallo und herzlich willkommen zu meinem Blog zum Thema Blues. Ich habe schon etwas länger vor, meine Gedanken zu dieser Musikrichtung und allem was dazu gehört herauszulassen. Hier nun mein erster Beitrag. Zunächst soll es um den Begriff "Blues" selber gehen, denn ich war schon sehr oft auf Konzerten, wo die Kategorisierung "Blues" in einschlägigen Stadtmagazinen benutzt wurde, aber, wie sich dann herausstellte, hatte das Gehörte für mein Empfinden nichts mit Blues zu tun, wenn man davon absieht, dass letztlich fast alle populäre Musik im Blues verwurzelt ist. Sogar Blackmetal, jaja, denn Black Sabbath (die Band gilt gemeinhin als Urband des Heavy Metal) hat auch als Bluesband angefangen. Offensichtlich kursieren sehr unterschiedliche Auffassungen darüber, was Blues ist und was nicht. Ein erstes Missverständnis könnte man bei Teenagerparties provozieren, indem man, wenn "Blues" gefordert wird, in der Hoffnung dem anderen Geschlecht körperlich näherzukommen, eine B.B. King-Platte auflegt. "Wieso, ist doch Blues, weiß gar nicht was ihr habt." Ist schon klar, dass mit "Blues" hier "Blues tanzen" gemeint ist, außerdem erntet man bei solcher vorsätzlichen Frohsinnminderung mit Sicherheit Unmut, ist mir schon passiert. War aber nur Spaß. Nun aber mal im Ernst: ursprünglich entstanden ist das Wort "Blues" aus der Attribuierung "blue" in Bezug auf die persönliche Gemütslage. "Feeling blue" beschreibt eine melancholische, schwermütige oder gar traurige Stimmung, die, um das gängigste Klischee zu bedienen, meist durch Liebeskummer hervorgerufen wird. Selbstverständlich sind auch andere Auslöser dieser Stimmung zu benennen, auch wenn Son House einst formulierte: "The Blues is always about male and female." Geldnot, Ernteausfall, Heimweh und ähnliches sind einige Beispiele dafür. Eine andere Theorie zur Entstehung des Begriffes ist die, dass "Blues" ein aus "blue devils" zusammengezogenes Wort sei. Demzufolge müsste die oft verwendete Phrase "I got the blues" soviel bedeuten wie "Ich habe die blauen Teufel (in mir)". Zunächst, dass heißt beginnend mit dem ersten belegten Stück, welches das Wort "Blues" im Titel enthält (Memphis Blues von W. C. Handy, 1912), bis mindestens in die 20er Jahre des 20. Jahrhunderts hinein, bezeichnet "Blues" noch keine eigene musikalische Stilrichtung, sondern bezieht sich auf den getexteten Inhalt des jeweiligen Musikstücks. Auch wenn es gängige Praxis ist, die Mitglieder der Mississippi Sheiks als Bluesmusiker zu bezeichnen, so wird jedoch dadurch die Stilvielfalt der eigentlichen Musik deutlich beschnitten. Gospel, Balladen, Ragtimes und Tanzmusik sind ebenso im Repertoire wie einige Blues. Dies gilt auch für viele andere Urväter und -mütter wie Papa Charlie Jackson, Charlie Patton, die Memphis Jug Band, Mance Lipscomb, Furry Lewis und vor allem Leadbelly. Daher ist es aus meiner Sicht zutreffender, das Genre als afroamerikanische Volksmusik zu bezeichnen. Betrachtet man die grandes dames des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts (Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith und Ida Cox) so kann dort eher von einer Vorform oder einer frühen Spielart des Jazz gesprochen werden, und das nicht nur weil ein gewisser Louis Armstrong auf einigen frühen "Blues" zu hören ist. Wenn also die genannten Sängerinnen Bluesmusik gemacht haben, muss das bedeuten, dass Blues auch der Ursprung vom Jazz ist, was, glaube ich, die Jazzenthusiasten unter Umständen stören könnte. Meine Meinung dazu ist ohnehin die, dass Jazz und Blues analog zu Affen und Menschen den gleichen Ursprung haben, und nicht dass das eine sich aus dem anderen entwickelt hat. Um die Jazzfreunde wieder etwas zu besänftigen, wird in dem Bild der Blues dem Affen zugeordnet, da die Musikform auch als die primitivere gilt, was den musikalischen Gehalt anbelangt. Vielleicht sind dann die Damen doch das evolutionäre Bindeglied? Blues als Stilbezeichnung ist erst eindeutig in dem Moment, wo die Interpreten nahezu ausschließlich "Blues" singen, denn in diesem Moment werden stilistische Gemeinsamkeiten offenbar. Songlisten von Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson und Son House können so gelesen werden. Es ist weit verbreitet diese Musiker dem Deltablues zuzuordnen. Diese Präzisierung ist aber nur zulässig, wenn die Musiker tatsächlich aus dem Mississippi-Delta kommen, denn viele Musiker, die einen ähnlichen Stil spielen, kommen aus anderen Regionen der USA, womit sich die Differenzierung auf die regionale Ebene bezieht. Also: Lightnin' Hopkins - Texas Blues, Blind Boy Fuller - Piedmont Style und Buddy Moss - Atlanta Blues. Will man alle diese Künstler zusammenfassen macht eine andere Kategorie Sinn: Country-Blues. Das darf insofern nicht missverstanden werden, als dass der Begriff nicht eine Mischung aus Country- und Bluesmusik meint, sondern beschreibt, dass der Stil aus einer ländlichen Umgebung stammt. Zwar sind sich Country und Blues in den 20er und 30er Jahren musikalisch bisweilen nicht unähnlich, allerdings sind bis auf ganz wenige Ausnahmen die Interpreten der einen Gattung Euroamerikaner und die der anderen Afroamerikaner. Da das soziokulturelle Umfeld von Musik für mein Dafürhalten immer mit einbezogen werden sollte, muss also Countryblues von Countrymusik getrennt werden. Dem Countryblues gegenüber steht ab den späten 40er Jahren der urbane Blues, der weitestgehend synonym ist mit Chicagoblues. Auch hier muss aber regional differenziert werden, denn es gibt auch einen Detroit-Sound, einen Memphis-Sound und einen Westcoast-Sound. Der ohrenfälligste Unterschied zwischen urbanem und ländlichem Blues ist, dass der urbane mit elektrisch verstärkten Instrumenten gespielt wird, während der ländliche unplugged gespielt wird. Desweiteren verschwindet zunehmend das Anhängsel "Blues" in den Songtiteln. Der Blick auf die Rückseite eines Muddy Waters-Albums bestätigt das. Ab den 60er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts entsteht eine Stilrichtung, die als Bluesrock bezeichnet wird. Auch hier schadet eine Prüfung nicht, wenn die Frage gestellt wird, spielen Johnny Winter, Canned Heat und später Stevie Ray Vaughan Rock mit Bluesanleihen oder doch eher Blues mit Rockattitüde? Ich denke eindeutig letzteres, weshalb Rockblues zutreffender wäre, zumal damit auch ein Unterschied zu tatsächlichem Bluesrock von z.B. ZZ Top, Ten Years After, Fleetwood Mac und Humble Pie geschaffen wäre. Ich weiß, dass erscheint alles ein bisschen haarspalterisch, aber das ist eben die Sache mit dem Wollpullover und der Pulloverwolle. Ist es nun Wolle oder ein Pullover? Unverfänglich ist demzufolge die Schreibweise Blues/Rock, wenn deutlich gemacht werden will, dass die Musik eine Kombination aus beidem ist, oder aber weder dem einen noch dem anderen eindeutig zugeordnet werden kann. Um die eingangs erwähnte Kritik an den unpräzisen und zum Teil unpassenden Angaben in Konzertankündigungen aufzugreifen, erscheint mir der subjektive Eindruck, dass bei den meisten Blues/Rock-Sessions kaum Blues präsentiert wird, zutreffend. Ein Sweet Home Chicago steht oft ziemlich einsam den ganzen Sweet Home Alabamas, In A White Rooms und After Midnights gegenüber. Es wird klar, dass der Begriff "Blues" nicht leicht zu fassen ist, da er vielfach verwendet wird. Der Klammerblues in der Disco, der Blues des von einer Midlifecrisis gebeutelten Piloten und der Musikstil sind dabei nur die verbreitetsten, wobei ein ganz wichtiges aber irgendwie banales Muster bisher gänzlich vernachlässigt wurde, nämlich die Verwendung von "Blues" als "die Blauen", wie die Spieler des FC Chelsea auch genannt werden. Aber auch in Bezug auf die Musik selbst ist die Kategorisierung "Blues" nicht unproblematisch, da sich wie oben aufgezeigt eine Vielzahl an Substilen identifizieren lassen, die sich mitunter arg voneinander unterscheiden und sich mit anderen Stilen vermischen. Das Kollaborat von R. L. Burnside mit der Jon Spencer Blues Explosion hat klanglich sicherlich wenig gemein mit den Aufnahmen von Blind Boy Fuller mit Sonny Terry. Noch schwieriger wird es natürlich, wenn Puristen von "wahrem" Blues sprechen, da ist dann die Platte Still Got The Blues von Gary Moore mit Sicherheit ausgeschlossen (aus meiner Sicht zurecht, aber lassen wir meine persönliche Abneigung gegenüber Gary Moore besser außer acht). Kurzum ich denke, dass sich jeder Mensch ohnehin sein eigenes musikalisches Schubladensystem zurechtlegt, anhand dessen Musik geordnet wird. Für mich ist und bleibt Blues eine Volksmusik und eine Popularmusik afroamerikanischen Ursprungs. In diesem Sinn Gruß und Blues - Euer Gitarrenwalther

Boo Bradley is a hot blues stompin’, jelly roll jumpin’, rag jazz infusin’, two-man acoustic jug attack from Madtown, Wisconsin. These boys throw down a porch stomp boogie chock full of old time Delta moans from the likes of Son House and Charley Patton, the Piedmont shake of Blind Boy Fuller and the earliest Chicago Ragtime mastery of cats like Blind Blake and Big Bill Broonzy. Scott "Boo" Kiker on the resonator guitar and vocals, and Brad Selz on washboard. www.myspace.com/boobradleymusic

Songs include: Tears, Ain't It a Crying Shame, Why Should I Cry Over You and Dancing With Tears in My Eyes. Performers include: The Tuxedo Dance Orchestra, Ruth Etting, Blind Boy Fuller, Bix Biederbeck and Bing Crosby. 

Songs about cake, candy, ice cream and pie. Performers include: Ted Lewis, Harry Resser, Lee Morse and Blind Boy Fuller.

Guitar Music from the 1920s and 1930s.  Guitarists include: Nick Lucas, Eddie Lang, Blind Boy Fuller, Bennie Nawahi, Ramon Montoya, Andre Segovia and Django Reinhardt. Songs include; Pickin on the Guitar, Dark was the Night, Clouds, El Rosa and Mauna Kea.

Guitarists from the Piedmont school of the blues. Artists include: Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Skip James.  Songs include: Devil Got My Woman, Dry Bone Shuffle, Louis Collins and I Belong to the Band.  

David Holt talks to three talented artists and experiences the whole spectrum of Piedmont Blues. Etta Baker, a well-known artist in the North Carolina mountains, plays old favorites like "Knoxville Rag" and "Careless Love." She also plays a traditional blues song, showing the difference between the type of beat most people associate with "blues" and the ragtime style of Piedmont Blues. She also plays some slide guitar with "John Henry." David also plays his guitar beside George Higgs, another artist who plays the blues in the style of Blind Boy Fuller, a blues artist of the 1930s. George also slides the blues on his harmonica, as David accompanies him. Finally, David introduces us to John Dee Holeman of Durham, North Carolina, who plays the modern style of blues that emanated from the war. Playing his electric guitar in the styles of both Blind Boy Fuller and Lightning Hopkins, John concludes Piedmont Blues with a beat that will get your toes tapping.

Affordable Podcasting $5.99 a month includes Web Hosting Suppport The Classic Blues at Music Maker Visit The Uncle Shag Today Buy Your 50 mp3 classic radio shows for $5.00 inclues shipping listen to 24 hour streaming radio at its best Rev Blind Gary Davis Blues In his prime of life, which is to say the late '20s, the Reverend Gary Davis was one of the two most renowned practitioners of the East Coast school of ragtime guitar; 35 years later, despite two decades spent playing on the streets of Harlem in New York, he was still one of the giants in his field, playing before thousands of people at a time, and an inspiration to dozens of modern guitarist/singers including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, and Donovan; and Jorma Kaukonen, David Bromberg, and Ry Cooder, who studied with Davis. Davis was partially blind at birth, and lost what little sight he had before he was an adult. He was self-taught on the guitar, beginning at age six, and by the time he was in his 20s he had one of the most advanced guitar techniques of anyone in blues; his only peers among ragtime-based players were Blind Arthur Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Blind Willie Johnson. Davis himself was a major influence on Blind Boy Fuller.