One of the highlights of my time at SXSW 2014 was seeing Mr. Bobby Rush (who was nominated this past year for a 2014 GRAMMY Award in Best Blues Album for “Down In Louisiana”). There is a bit of discrepancy as to his age. He told the audience he was 81, however Wikipedia says 73. According to The Encyclopedia of Arkansas Music (where he lived for a while), “Bobby Rush, known as the ‘King of the Chitlin’ Circut’…was born Emmett Ellis Jr…in 1935, however the 1940 census lists him as three years old.” It’s a mystery. But what is clear is how incredible a performer, guitar player, blues vocalist and harp player this man is. He has been on over 200 records and played with the likes of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Bobby “Blue” Bland, BB King, and Johnnie Taylor.
Here Bobby Rush is on harmonica and vocals for a soulful cover of The Beatles “Come Together”
The first time I heard the song “I Pity The Fool”, I stopped dead in my tracks and was completely drawn in by the growling vocals of Bobby “Blue” Bland. I immediately bought a 2-disc anthology to introduce myself to the man. Born in Tennessee, “Blue” Bland sang iconic songs “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City”, “Lead Me On”, “Turn Your Love Light On”, and “Farther On Up The Road.” He started out singing gospel and then fell in love with the blues he heard in Memphis and began blending those styles. Later he sang what would be considered R&B of the 70s and 80s. It’s all soul music really, and he was one of the best, along with his contemporaries Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Rush, BB King, etc. (By the way, Bobby Rush and BB King are still touring around, so get to see them. I’ve seen BB several times, but never Bobby Rush, but this festival looks off the chain and I may have to endure the sweltering August Mississippi to go: http://www.jacksonrhythmandbluesfestival.com.) “Blue” Bland sadly passed away June 23 at the age of 83. He left a legacy that generations will enjoy for the years to come.
Here is one of the most well-known songs “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City,” which Jay-Z and Kanye West sampled.
Rocking the delta blues and roots rock with acoustic guitar, upright bass, and the cajon, Lance Canales & The Flood make me proud to be from California. Born and raised in the San Joaquin Valley, the agricultural heart of central California, Lance has those raw vocals that let you know he knows of what he sings. The real, down-home blues – that’s what I’m talking about. I heard about Lance Canales & The Flood through the blog of photographer Tudor Stanley, who shot this video below as well as the EPK for the trio. The video is a visual treat as well – stark like the emptiness between the notes in the blues. Here is “Clear Eyes, Straight Hands” and “Digging”:
Okay, my posting has been paltry in the past year or so. I have a good excuse as I went through breast cancer and major surgery and reconstruction. I say that not to elicit sympathy – please know I am cancer free and full of gratitude – but just to explain my spotty presence. And you know what? I got the right to sing the blues! Nonetheless, life goes on… I have many blog posts in mind for you roots music loving folks out there, and will be posting soon about a variety of real cool music.
Gonna toot my own horn for a minute here. Back in 2009, I posted on the Texas Blues and mentioned Gary Clark, Jr. as an amazing talent. I actually saw him live at the Continental Club in Austin, back around 2004 or 2005 and literally got the goosebumps. You know you’re hearing something special when you got the goosebumps. Anyhow, now he’s the business – appearing on the PBS White House Blues special (scroll down for his performance) with legends like BB King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, etc. He’s appeared with Alicia Keys and she had some really fond words about him. And his new album, “The Bright Lights EP,” has generated quite a buzz. Remember folks you heard it here first at ROOTNOTEMUSIC!
Speaking of Buddy Guy, “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me”:
And just because, my favorite Bobby Blue Bland tune, “I Pity The Fool”:
This song really was the start of my love affair with the blues. The greatest. Muddy Waters “Still A Fool”…”I’ve been crazy, all of my life….”
And here’s Mr. Clark, Jr. Congrats to him on his success and I hope he continues to rise. Here he is singing “Catfish Blues” at the White House:
I don’t know much about this band. I just found out through a friend (shout out to Deb in New Orleans) about Alabama Shakes. This band, featuring the vocals of Brittany Howard, does the music that I love. It hits me in the heart, soul, and gut. This is where music belongs and I love that it breaks your heart open and lets it bleed a little.
Alabama Shakes:
Thanks for the inspiration. Man, I love this down-home, American-born-and-bred blues-rock. Nothin’ like it.
Since September is traditionally back-to-school month, I thought I’d do a short history lesson on some of the most influential roots piano players. Whether barrelhouse, boogie woogie, boogaloo, or rumba, hard pounding rhythmic piano playing has found its home in the brothels and the concert halls, with styles traveling that swath of land and sea from the Caribbean up through the blues highway to Chicago.
Let’s start our journey at the barrellhouse, defined as both a 1) disreputable old-time saloon or bawdyhouse and 2) an early style of jazz characterized by boisterous piano playing, free group improvisation, and an accented two-beat rhythm.
Champion Jack Dupree was the epitome of New Orleans boogie woogie and barrelhouse blues piano. His birthdate disputed, but the year was between 1908 and 1910. He lived a long life, passing in 1992.
James Edward “Jimmy” Yancey was born in Chicago in 1898 and was a famous pianist by 1915 influencing the boogie woogie style of Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammon, who were the predecessors of many blues pianists. Despite his musical prowess, he kept his job as a groundskeeper for the Chicago White Sox his entire life.
We all know that New Orleans has birthed some of the greatest jazz and blues piano players including Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino, Dr. John, Harry Connick, Jr. and Henry Butler. Less well known outside of the Crescent City is one who left all those guys in awe, James Booker, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest geniuses of New Orleans piano. Often people unfamiliar with his playing will mistake his sound as two simultaneous piano players:
Up to Chicago by way of Mississippi, Otis Spann was a blues piano player most notably with Muddy Waters, but an artist in his own right. Here he is with “Jangleboogie:”
Born in Havana, Cuba in 1913 and considered “one of the greatest pianists in the history of Cuban music, Pedro “Peruchin” Justiz made his name in Havana’s descarga (jam session) craze of the ’50s; along with Ruben Gonzalez, Lili Martinez, and Bebo Valdes, he was instrumental in shifting the piano into a much more rhythmic role in Afro-Cuban music (source)”. Here is “Peruchin”:
Puerto Rican pianist Noro Morales, born in 1912, was an innovator of combining rhythm and melody, rising to the top of the mambo and rumba word. He played with some of the mambo and salsa greats including Tito Rodríguez, José Luis Moneró, Chano Pozo, Willie Rosario and Tito Puente.
I couldn’t leave out Nuyorican Charlie Palmieri. Less well known than his brother Eddie Palmieri, Charlie gave us really solid boogaloo from the 60s to the 70s. He played with Mongo Santamaria among others. If you have the chance to pick up his album, Either You Have It Or You Don’t, do it!
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention country great Floyd Cramer, who did his own rolling country style piano playing, supporting everyone from Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins to Elvis Presley. Here he is with Chet Atkins:
“The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.” ~John Lee Hooker
Ali Farka Touré was born near Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa in 1939. He’s known for his electric guitar style which was his own unique blend of Malian folk styles and American blues. He had a hypnotic droning style often compared to John Lee Hooker, though I find him more similar to the style of North Mississippi bluesman Junior Kimbrough. Below I’ve included videos from both. The world lost Ali in 2006, but his spirit lives on through his music, musicians he influenced, and his son Vieux Farka Touré, who while carrying the seeds of his father’s music, is forging his own musical identity.
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