Blues Musician, Are You? – Blues Music Awards

The Blues Music Awards honor those professional artists and recordings that stand out within the eligibility period, which runs from November 1 through October 31. In addition to the awards for the past year’s top recordings, additional categories honor individual, actively touring artists for their overall excellence and accomplishment in that year.

The Blues Foundation solicits from the labels–even the single artist label–a list of their eligible recordings. If you are a record label or blues musician who released a CD during the period November 1, 2007 to October 31, 2008, go to http://www.blues.org/labels/ to submit your release for consideration by the nominators. As per the more detailed explanation below, your CD is eligible by the fact of its release, but it sure doesn’t hurt to add it to this list for the convenience of the nominators. Does that mean we want every act that released a CD during the period to submit? Probably not, but whether your release has a legitimate shot at a Blues Music Award nomination–that is your call. This part of the process will end in mid October.

Please visit the Blues Music Award page for more nomination and event information.

(Reprinted from Blues Foundation Website)

Album Release: Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm

Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm – 2 Man Wrecking Crew (Delta Groove Music)

Cedric Burnside, the grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside and the son of the great blues drummer Calvin Jackson, has a strict Delta upbringing, both musically, and personally . At only 30 years old, Burnside has been performing most of his life, and is considered to be one of the best blues drummers currently playing anywhere in the world.   Lightnin’ Malcolm is a talented and in-demand session guitarist, and the two of them together are the “2 Man Wrecking Crew.”

Their debut album promises to deliver ragged juke-joint thrills, showcasing the chops that the two young bluesmen learned at the feet of masters like Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Otha Turner, and, of course, R.L. Burnside.

(Release date: 10/21/08)

Slow it Down, Mr. Johnson!

Of course, many of you have probably heard the rumors.  The Robert Johnson recordings are too fast.  It is not how they were recorded.  They are sped up either by accident, due to a recording error, or on purpose, as they thought more records would sell with faster upbeat music.

Well, the test results have finally emerged, and I urge you to hear it for yourself.

The theory, originated (as some believe) by John Gibbens.  His theory  – as most popularly believed in Japan  – is that the Johnson recordings play at about 20% faster than they should.    So he took the Johnson recordings and went ahead and slowed them down to prove his theory.  What happened?  A music transformed.

His voice now sounds darkly toned, and you can hear hints of his mentor Son House.  His words are better pronounced.  The tone acheived from his guitar is amazing – no more 4th fret capos to play Kind hearted Woman along with him.   His vocals are clearly delivered, cleverly modulated, and not garbled.  His delivery of his vocals will simply capture you at this speed – his timing seems perfect, a far cry from the rushed, almost desperate sound of the recordings at their original speed.  Quite simply, it sounds amazing.

However, there are some facts to point out.  Johnson was recorded on a mobile studio, directly to disk (actually, the Library of Congress now holds those original recordings).  Therefore, the disks were not actually “remastered” or sent somewhere for enhancing, but simply copied.  So in order to be “sped up”, we must blame that error on the recording equiptment being miscalibrated.  Is it possible to miscalibrate by 20%?  It seems unlikey.

However, I pursuade you to judge yourself.  Listen to him played back at 80% of the speed, and tell me if the sound better fits everything we know about Robert Johnson.  To make it easier, here are some tracks already slowed:

Walking Blues, last Verse,  slowed down by 20%

Kindhearted Woman Blues, Exerpt, slowed by 20%

Come on in my Kitchen, Exerpt, slowed by 20%

Compare Crossroads Here:

Original

Slowed

You be the judge.

Rock ‘n roll legend Bo Diddley dies in Florida

MIAMI (Reuters) – Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Bo Diddley, who banged out hit songs powered by the relentless “Bo Diddley beat” that influenced rockers from Buddy Holly to U2, died on Monday at the age of 79.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida, his management agency, Talent Consultants International, said in a statement.

“One of the founding fathers of rock ‘n’ roll has left the building he helped construct,” the statement said.

Diddley suffered a stroke during a concert in Iowa in May 2007 and was hospitalized in Omaha, Nebraska. In August 2007 he had a heart attack in Florida.

Garry Mitchell, a grandson of Diddley and one of more than 35 family members at the musician’s home when he died at about 1:45 a.m. EDT (0545 GMT), said his death was not unexpected.

“There was a gospel song that was sang and he said ‘wow’ with a thumbs up,” Mitchell told Reuters, when asked to describe the scene at Diddley’s deathbed.

“The song was ‘Walk Around Heaven’ and in his last words he stated that he was going to heaven.”

In a career spanning more than five decades, Diddley composed a substantial body of rock classics, including “Who Do You Love,” “Bo Diddley,” “Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger,” “Before You Accuse Me,” “Mona,” “I’m a Man” and “Pretty Thing.”

He cranked them out on a signature rectangular guitar, setting many of them to rumba-like rhythm of his “Bo Diddley beat” that gave rock ‘n’ roll a powerful rhythmic foundation.

Along with such contemporaries as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, he was among a pioneering group of black recording artists who crossed the American racial divide with music that appealed to white audiences and was emulated by white performers.

Although Diddley recorded relatively few chart-topping hits, his seminal role in the formative years of rock music was recognized by his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and with a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1998.

Born Ellas Bates in 1928 in McComb, Mississippi, he took the last name McDaniel from his adoptive mother, and played classical violin as a boy.

‘FIRST DUDE OUT THERE’

He was given the nickname Bo Diddley as a teenager after moving to Chicago, where he started playing music on street corners in the 1940s.

Inspired by blues musician John Lee Hooker’s classic “Boogie Chillen,” Diddley used his violin skills to craft a guitar sound that laid the basis for the funk music of the 1960s.

He found fame in the mid-1950s with his signature song “Bo Diddley.” Even among the first wave of rock music, the song stood out with its tremolo guitar, maracas and trademark beat.

Diddley’s unique guitar playing and rhythm influenced generations of rockers from Elvis Presley to Bon Jovi. Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi made guest appearances on his records and Diddley played with the likes of The Clash and The Grateful Dead.

Arguably the greatest mainstream success of a song with the Bo Diddley beat was Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” recorded in the 1950s and which saw renewed success when it was covered by the Rolling Stones in the 1960s.

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald in March 2007, Diddley insisted he was the real father of rock, saying: “Little Richard came two or three years later, along with Elvis Presley. In other words, I was the first dude out there.”

Diddley frequently complained about not being paid royalties during his peak years, telling The New York Times, “Have I been ripped off? … You bet I’ve been ripped off.”

In 1955 Diddley appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and was promptly banned from further appearances because he defied Sullivan’s instructions to sing a cover song and instead performed his own hit “Bo Diddley.”

Diddley had harsh words for the direction black music had taken in recent years, telling Reuters that “gangsta” rap made his blood boil.

“I hate it. I call it rap-crap,” Diddley said in a 1996 interview. “I can’t seem to get my records played but they’ll play all this garbage.”

Diddley liked to help out in his local community in Florida. A father of five, he said he was deeply concerned about the direction of children in American society.

He worked with his local police department to warn teenagers about the dangers of drugs and gang violence.

Diddley was still touring and making records in recent years, not least because he said he needed the money.

By Jim Loney

RIP Little Arthur Duncan

Chicago blues harmonica player and club owner, dies

Chicago harmonica ace Little Arthur Duncan passed away Wednesday morning, August 20, 2008 at Kindred Hospital in Northlake, IL. He was 74. He had been incapacitated for months with little hope of recovery.

Born February 5, 1934 in Indianola, Mississippi, Arthur moved to Chicago at age 16, where he heard and befriended Little Walter, who inspired him to take up the harmonica. While holding down a construction day job, he began performing around Chicago with John Brim, Floyd Jones, and Hip Lankchan. He would later own and operate the Artesia Lounge on Lake Street, which moved to West Madison Street and reopened as Backscratcher’s Social Club. Owning a club gave Arthur a regular place to perform, and he became a popular neighborhood attraction on the West Side.

Twist Turner produced some of Arthur’s first recordings, which appeared first on cassette and then on Cannonball Records’ Blues Across America series. As Arthur’s stature grew in Chicago, he recorded more, cutting two beautiful CDs for Delmark (Singin’ With The Sun and Live At Rosa’s Blues Lounge), and one for Random Chance (Live In Chicago). He was a simply great vocalist, with tremendous power and expressiveness; and his sparse harmonica was always on the money. He specialized in third position and chromatic harmonica.

His final band included Illinois Slim, Rick Kreher, and Twist Turner. He had a warm and gracious personality, and his passing leaves a huge hole in the Chicago blues scene, as he was one of a handful of the dwindling old school harmonica masters.

(news courtesy of Bob Corritore)

M is for Mississippi

Pre-Order the Movie now – Support Local MS Blues

As many of you readers know, we had a great time on our trip to the Mississippi Delta. Great food, better music, and great times. Now you have the chance to see it first hand on DVD (but not ours ).

This movie is made by Roger Stolle (Cat head) and Jeff Konkel (Broke and Hungary Records). Both of these guys are not only tremendous blues fans, but also, in a way, living legends who both largely impact the blues scene as a whole. To be honest, i can’t really say enough about these two guys. (Roger – we hope to meet you on our next trip to Clarksdale!)

Here is what the movie is about, pulled from the site:

This timely road movie will explore the thriving underbelly of a dying American art form in the land where it began – Mississippi.

Planned as a week long journey through the birthplace of the blues, M for Mississippi seeks to capture the proverbial “real deal” in its home where it is most comfortable and authentic – the jukes, the front yards, the cotton fields. More than just a collection of concert performances, the film will collect the sounds, the images and the feel of both the performers and their native landscape – an environment essential to their livelihoods and inseparable from their art.

Cultivating the fertile ground between such landmark theatrical travelogues as Buena Vista Social Club and Deep Blues, M for Mississippi aims to appeal to more than just the average blues fan. By showcasing such a fascinating foreign land so close to home, the filmmakers hope to inspire countless others to make their own road trips down Mississippi’s blue highways.

The film is due out the fall of this year (2008). In my opinion, if you are a blues fan, especially Delta Bues, Black Prarie Blues and the like, this film is a must for your collection. If you are not a blues fan, this movie is still for you.

Visit the Film’s Site here.

Order your DVD now here.

Rock on!

Robert Johnson – Poison Didn't Kill Him! – Part 1

The Truth Surrounding Robert Johnson’s Death

It has long been rumored that Robert Johnson died from pneumonia, after being poisoned by a jealous husband at the Three Forks bar in Greenwood, MS.  After the man responsible admitted to poisoning him, I have no doubt that this much is true.  However, back in the thirties, a “remedy” often made by juke joint managers and owners was often nothing more than mothballs dissolved in water or whiskey.  This “remedy” was often used to rid the juke of traveling musicians – however, it was not strong enough to kill.  it was only strong enough to make a man sick enough to call it a night (and perhaps a weekend).

However, new evidence has arisen that this is not what killed him.  In fact, the poison itself had little to do with it.

It is now believed that Robert Johnson suffered from Marfan Syndrome.   What is that?  Here’s the definition:

Marfan syndrome (or Marfan’s syndrome) is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue.  It is sometimes inherited as a dominant trait. It is carried by a gene called FBN1, which encodes a connective protein called fibrillin-1. People have a pair of FBN1 genes. Because it is dominant, people who have inherited one affected FBN1 gene from either parent will have Marfan’s. Parents have a 50/50 chance of passing on the gene to their children.

So it is now believed that this is what killed Robert Johnson. Want more proof?  Try this out:

- People with Marfans usually have long thin fingers.
- One symptom of Marfans is a lazy eye, or a detached lens.
- Another symptom is ptosis, or a droopy eye lid.
- Marfan victims are usually tall.
- Marfan Syndrome effects the joints and skeletal system.
- Marfans can cause Aortic Dissection,  which causes a quick death.
- In more than one case, Aortic Dissection caused by Marfan Syndrome has caused the victim to fall to all fours, and howl like a dog.

As you can see, it is far more than likely that Robert Johnson,  a tall, slim, loose jointed guitar wizard with a history of “resolving cataract” and unexplained sudden death had Marfans syndrome.

I guess this issue can finally be put to rest.

Congratulations to our Friend, Ben Prestage!

Congrats to you Ben!  Our hats come off…..

For those of you unaware, Ben Prestage (who we first saw on our 2008 trip to the delta at the Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival) recently won 2nd place at the International Blues Challenge in the Solo/Duo category.  Keep in mind, too, that of all the entries, only 5 people were awarded – 3 in the band section, and two in the solo/duo section.

Though i am sure, after meeting Ben, that if you were to talk to him, he would play this down.  Just another gig.  However, this is indeed something to be proud of!

To see the offical page, click here.

To visit Ben’s mySpace page, click here.

T-Model Ford – Surgery, Honored, and Recovering

T-Model Ford – Undergoes Pacemaker Surgery

Update

Hello blues fans!

The trip pictures are now posted in the trip photograph section.  I will be working to update the trip summary, as well as the pages laying out the day to day stuff we did.  Look for those updates in the coming week or so.  In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

And, look forward to the next trip – Clarksdale and Memphis!

More later!