Muddy Waters was interviewed countless times in his long career, often by people who had little knowledge of his life or his music. Pete Welding was a different case. He owned Testament Records, a Chicago Blues label that recorded many of Muddy’s contemporaries and friends. In this brief but illuminating interview, Welding knows the likely …
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When the audience for Chicago blues shifted in the 1960’s from working class black to college age white, a good bit of strange and sometimes wonderful music resulted. Electric Mud certainly makes the first category. The second? Well… Leonard and Phil Chess had already tried to market Muddy Waters to suit the folk craze and …
When stars start to dim, producers tend to flail about, and strange music can result. By 1975, as Muddy’s sales figures were in decline, he became the first customer for Levon Helms’ Woodstock studio. Backed up by members of his own band, together with Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Paul Butterfield, and some accomplished studio musicians, …
This clip is an hour long, so get some popcorn beforehand. I feel sorry for Muddy for several reasons here. One because he looks so tired– this was taped in the late 70s, near the end of his life– and two, because WTTW (the Chicago Public Television station which presented “Soundstage”) felt that they had …
Muddy Waters‘ gravestone is in the Restvale cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, a small suburb just south of Chicago. (I believe there are more dead residents than live ones, based on the number of cemeteries in that town). I happened to be there last year for a gravestone ceremony for Joe and Charlie McCoy, early jug …
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 the …
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 or …
This just in from the great John Siscoe: “The two guys dancing offstage, and Muddy’s ballroom duet with James Cotton during the encore are highlights, but the whole thing is a wonder and a joy.” ********************************************************************** East Portland Blog confesses to the following: “I had heard Muddy’s version of “Got My Mojo Working” and countless …
Muddy wasn’t a big man, but he had a natural stage presence and an unforgettable voice. he also had the knack of conveying the impression that however much he was giving you he always had something in reserve. This 1971 clip of Mannish Boy shows a Muddy no longer young and still recovering for a …
This Rollin’ Stone clip is extraordinary for several reasons. It gives us a Muddy Waters on film that’s as young as he’ll ever be, dressed to the nines, performing one of his signature tunes before a completely new audience, mostly young and largely white. It’s a warm summer afternoon fifty years ago. As yet there …
Features final recordings from the Earth, Wind & Fire founder and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award-winner, Including six previously unissued tracks Recorded with award-winning Producer Preston Glass March 25, 2024: Omnivore Recordings has announced the CD release of Maurice White’s Manifestation, the final set of recordings from the Earth, Wind & Fire founder and Grammy Lifetime …
GeminiiDRAGON will be performing in PORTLAND, OR on 1/25-26/24 at these locations: 1/25/24 PNC LIVE 2:30 PM1/25/24 Music Millenium Records in Store Performance 6PM1/26/24 MEKONG BISTRO 8PM From the murky bayous of Louisiana comes a fresh face to the global Blues music scene. Vocal dynamo GeminiiDRAGON has channeled her love for late 60s and 70s blues artists and bands of greatness …
The origin story is almost too good to be true. A teenaged Quinn DeVeaux, raised on a healthy diet of his mom’s ’80s R&B favorites and dad’s classic rock leanings, left his hometown of Gary, Indiana, and was driving across the country when he really heard Muddy Waters for the first time. He recalls, “I couldn’t …
Perfect for Valentine’s Day, Ulf Nilsson release his new single You’re The One which was written to his beloved wife and fellow musician Linda Varg. “This is the complete and ultimate declaration of love. I wrote it the way I felt it, head over heals in love, leaving nothing unsaid. If you’re lucky enough to love someone and to have …
From MOJO ULTIMATE JUKEBOX: THE 100 SINGLES YOU MUST OWN (a 6″ x 6″, 68-page booklet given away w/ MOJO #113, April 2003): “My Top 10” by Nick Tosches [listed chronologically] 1. The Rocketeers: “Gonna Feed My Baby Poison” (Herald Records, b-side of “Foolish One”, 1953) 2. Chuck Higgins and His Joyboys with Daddy Cleanhead: …
Watch Rob Jevons’ Dirty Electro Dub Rerub of Bo Diddley’s “Gunslinger” Covered by Reggae Legend Big Youth HERE Original version to appear on upcoming groundbreaking Red, Gold, Green & Blue LP, from Zak Starkey and Sharna”SSHH” Liguz’s Trojan Jamaica label Produced by Youth and Featuring Sly & Robbie STREAM: SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC PURCHASE ON ALL PLATFORMS HERE Big Youth by Jill Furmanovsky Zak Starkey and Sharna “Sshh” Liguz, recently announced the birth of Trojan Jamaica, a new frontline label, in …
You are paying rent for your own body, to experience indifference… – DMS Correct me if I am wrong but back in the Reagan era, when people shouted at homeless people to get a job, what that person was truly saying was that they should get an entry level position and pay rent. But many …
John Berg died last night. he was the art director of Columbia records through most of the 1960’s and 1970’s. as a result he designed most of the important record covers of the modern era. a small list would include most of the record covers for bob dylan, chicago, neil young , elton john, the …
I had the honor to go see Buddy Guy play at his own club recently. I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t ever done this before. Here are some random thoughts. Scott Holt, who used to play guitar with Buddy warmed up. He led a very tight three piece group through blues originals and …
Thus far, this Quad City All Star Christmas CD from 1996 is the best Holiday album I’ve ever experienced. The 69 Boys and 95 South have so far been upstaged by female MCs K-nock and 24K. I’m not sure which of them rapped this verse. But I’ll tell you what, it knocked my dick in …
Otis Spann was an amiable, soft-spoken man who enjoyed a good drink, a good joke, and a good story. At the keyboard he was one of the giants of the blues. He will always be remembered as a driving force in the Muddy Waters band, the go-to session piano player for Chess Records, and a …
Check out Ayron Jones and the Way, Seattle’s only all-black, neo-blues, power-rock trio. They began with some potent Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughan influences and have crafted a sound all their own. They recently won the Seattle leg of the global Hard Rock Rising competition and last year won the “Best in Show” award at the …
I arrived at the Paramount with about ten minutes to spare before the lights dimmed and Lindi Ortega along with a drummer and a guitarist (who looked like a cross between Paul Weller and Michael J. Fox) came on stage. Ortega, from Toronto, but living in Tennessee now, is all charm with a sly sweetness …
Tomorrow is the 35th Anniversary of The Last Waltz. According to the Wik, “The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band’s illustrious touring career,and the concert …
He went by many names- Rice, Willie, Footsie, The Goat. His real name may have been Aleck Miller. He claimed to be the well-known bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson. When it was pointed out to him that this was another man, he insisted he had adopted the name first. Of course he was an imposter, but …
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 small …
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 only great song he still plays, aside …
East Portland Blog readers may have already been exposed to Complete, but if not, watch this 2008 video of the band playing their own composition “Hoogie Boogie Land”: This seems pretty shitty at first, right? Guy can’t sing, death metal “no established beat” drumming but in a wimpy hard rock format. Maybe these guys don’t …
[Ed. Note – The author first penned these words on August 24, 2013] It’s so mindblowingly remarkable how our American society survives by avoiding realities. The middle class, the poor… will give another dollar for a problem to go away for another week. “Mister, we don’t want any trouble.” “Here, take it, it’s all I …