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Lowell Fulson, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, was one of the giants of the West Coast Blues scene, a commercial and artistic success for over forty years. This brief clip from 1963 doesn’t just rock; it gives us an extremely rare glimpse of a major blues talent performing in a club setting before a black . . . → Read More: Lowell Fulson – Reconsider Baby Live Clip, By John Siscoe Still alive and singing at 81, Bobby “Blue” Bland is the last survivor of a remarkable group of artists– Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Little Milton, and Junior Parker– who in the 50′s and early ’60′s combined gospel and blues to create a new American music. Unlike his peers, Bland has never played an instrument . . . → Read More: Bobby “Blue” Bland – I’ll Take Care of You, By John Siscoe There are at least two Little Walters. One is the talented but troubled harmonica player, Muddy Waters’ sidekick, who drifted into brutality and alcoholism. This is the Little Walter of tragic legend. Then there is the consummate musician whose records outsold those of Muddy Waters or Howling Wolf, who fronted one of the best . . . → Read More: The Two Little Walters, by John Siscoe
I came across this odd video clip as a sidebar to the monthly e-mail from Rhino. Good ol’ EC at some mondo, Brit-looking festival in 2007, with the full complement of femme back-up, horns, multiple keybs, etc. all somewhat besmirching the hallowed "White Room", which may be the . . . → Read More: Eff Eric Clapton? Not So Much This Time. Instead, Let Us Celebrate Mr. Andy Fairweather Low! By Tom Kipp, Andrew Hamlin, Marc Marshall and John Siscoe . Two versions of a Willie Dixon novelty tune form a study in contrast. In the first (1963 above), Wolf and his band are at their peak, with everyone knowing what to say and when. The lyrics may be forgettable, but the performance gleams. In the remake (1968 below), a haphazard assemblage of . . . → Read More: Howlin Wolf – 300 Pounds of Joy – 1963 vs. 1968, by John Siscoe May 8, 2011 is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson. Below are some internet resources and book suggestions which will give you a better feel for the man and his music. Even though Johnson actually lived, and has only been dead for 73 years, the few known . . . → Read More: It Was a Hundred Years Ago Today – May 8, 2011 is the Centennial of Bluesman Robert Johnson’s Birth, by John Siscoe To my ears this sounds like a soul ballad delivery and structure with bluesy guitar licks. So it doesn’t strike me as especially modern: You could well have heard something like this in the late sixties while driving in your car on a muggy summer’s night. Atmospheric and charming, but will it sound as . . . → Read More: Raphael Saadiq – Good Man – Live on KEXP It sounds like he can sing. I see a CD in the works,a national tour, a host of “cute” interviews (Scott Simon comes at once to the mind), American Idol, in short the whole whirligig hootenanny. When you see someone this young you can’t help but worry for them. – John Siscoe . . . → Read More: Young White Boy Sings the Blues in Guitar Store Uh, er, ah, – How far can this reissue thing go? I guess as long as someone pays for them… Bob http://www.myplaydirect.com/robert-johnson/details/5747793?cid=nl:112975626 - Bob Presthus ******************************************************* Talk about yer conspicuous consumption! On the other hand, RJ’s an artist certainly worth fetishizing. This will sit nicely on the shelves of those who sprang for . . . → Read More: Robert Johnson – THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL MASTERS: CENTENNIAL EDITION Available for $349 – Have We Been Listening to Johnson’s Recordings 20% Too Fast? by Bob Presthus, Tom Kipp and John Siscoe Two versions of the same song, recorded in the same city- Chicago- many years apart. Muddy’s 1947 recording, with Ernest “Big” Crawford on stand-up bass, established him as a blues star and altered forever Leonard Chess’ ideas about music. The Stones’ 1964 version, recorded at Chess Studio, went nowhere commercially, but reworked and re-imagined . . . → Read More: Muddy Waters (1947) – I Can’t Be Satisfied, With Rolling Stones (1964) by John Siscoe .
John Siscoe at Globe Books. This is a nice clip. Aaron Tibeaux Walker. What can I say? Once almost as big as his contemporary, Louis Jordan, and now just as forgotten. A long, long string of r&b chart hits from the mid 40′s through the 50′s. A suave, seemingly effortless vocalist and guitarist, . . . → Read More: T-Bone Walker w/ Jazz At The Philharmonic – Live in UK 1966, by John Siscoe If you love the Chicago Blues, you’ll count yourself lucky that Hubert Sumlin is still alive and playing guitar. His stunningly original and powerful technique, structured unlike any other in recorded blues, has many admirers but no successful imitators. As the lead guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf, he helped create a body of work . . . → Read More: Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf – Smokestack Lightnin’, by John Siscoe Not a bad clip at all. I wish that I had something enlightening to say but I don’t. I’ve got nothing against blues/rock encounters except that in my experience, rock always wins out. Not surprising when you consider the economics. The intermingling of the blues with rock is such a complex theme, with so . . . → Read More: U2, BB King – When Love Comes to Town, by John Siscoe Although this clip looks as if it had been filmed at a Chicago Blues club, it actually took place at the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. The folklorist Alan Lomax had set up a faux juke joint where he could film blues players in a “realistic” club setting. Performers included Skip James, Bukka White, . . . → Read More: Howlin’ Wolf Defines the Blues While Slamming Son House, plus Meet Me In the Bottom, by John Siscoe I have a soft spot in my heart for John Lee Hooker, though I never saw him play. I liked him best when he was young(er). Early Hooker is scarce, and even though we’ve mined the AFB vein enough– he was great here in ’65 performing Hobo Blues. Despite an ocean of booze, he . . . → Read More: John Lee Hooker – Hobo Blues, By John Siscoe Here’s a gem of an understated “Mojo” from 1963. Any videos of Sonny Boy Williamson II are scarce indeed, since he died in the summer of 1965. That’s the American Folk Blues Tour again, with Otis Spann, Matt Murphy, Willie Dixon, and Bill Stepney (very rare to see him) on the drums. Locale? Britain . . . → Read More: Sonny Boy Williamson Backing Muddy Waters – Got My Mojo Working, by John Siscoe Hound Dog has a bit of a history. First recorded by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton in 1952, it became a huge hit for Elvis Presley three years later. Presley has often been criticized for stealing Thornton’s thunder, but his version was based on another cover of the original, by Freddie Bell and the . . . → Read More: Hound Dog – Big Mama Thornton, by John Siscoe This just in from Elaine Bonow: “I think it is so weird that she is a cousin of Etta James and after all this time I never really heard of her. I loved this video because she is so cute and hip with that shirtwaist dress on and all.” This from Chicago Blues historian, . . . → Read More: Rock Me, Baby – Sugar Pie DeSanto, by Elaine Bonow It was the Spring of 1967. I was having lunch with Buddy Guy and his band at Stanford. Buddy was on his first West Coast tour, picking up gigs on an ad hoc basis. At that time, Buddy was almost unknown outside the blues scene, but he was determined to change that. He had . . . → Read More: Jimi Hendrix – Red House, By John Siscoe |
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