The tone master Walter Horton from 1970 — a huge influence on me, although you would not be able to tell. As a bonus this clip includes Willie Dixon’s trademark out of tune dog-house bass.
Monthly Archive for September, 2006
There are dates on this list that I did not know.
29 September 2006 Tower Blues at Thornton Little Theatre
Four Lane Ends, Thornton Cleveleys, FY5 3SZ – England Box Office: 01253
890927
Email: towerblues@btinternet.com
07 October 2006 Warrington R&B Club
Alford Hall, Manchester Road Warrington – England
28 October 2006 Blues Club at Penrith Playhouse
1 Auction Mart Lane, Penrith, Cumbria CA11 7JG – England Box
Office: 01228409795
I took a look through the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour website. They have an archive of the video and audio podcasts going back a few years. There are diamonds on those archives; I found two great video podcasts.
Show 169 features superb performances by Kim Wilson and Otis Taylor. Two fantastic blues singers with expressive soulful voices. Wilson is backed by the incredible Gene Taylor on Piano. For the encore the three of them play together.
Show 265 features Kim Wilson again, but this time backed by the very talented Troy Gonea on guitar.
The shows are quite long but very worth the download. Due to the size (about 150MB each) I would not recommend playing online. Kick off the download while you nip into the wine cellar to select a fine vintage, by the time you have chosen a wine, dusted off the bottle and allowed it to breathe for 10 mins the video wil be sitting there on your hard drive.
Right click the links to allow saving to your local drive. If you are still on dialup then forget it. Broadband only, my friends.
Pete writes….
Just heard from Cal Batchelor’s agent in Canada – due to unforseen circumstances, Cal’s tour has had to be cancelled so the gig at Hookers on Saturday 28th October is now off. I hope to confirm an alternative band by the weekend.
Pete Evans writes….
You’ll no doubt have heard of Rod Garfield who in his time was regarded as one of the UK’s top harp players having played with Alexis Korner, Eric Clapton and many others. He emigrated to Australia in the mid 90s but still plays over in Oz.
He has a website www.rodgarfield.f9.co.uk and on “his music” there is a clip on YouTube demonstrating his excellent playing and singing on “Bring It On Home”
You might also notice the young 16 year old guitarist with the hideous haircut – anyone know his identity?
If you need a clue then ask Tommy Allen.
Following on from yesterday’s clip of SBWII doing “Nine Below Zero” today’s clip is Nine Below Zero from 1981.
One of the masters of the harmonica – Sonny Boy Williamson II.
It seems that the RSS subscription buttons that were on the right hand side of this page were not working – so much for easy to implement third party code generators and my thorough testing policy. Many thanks to Jon for pointing this out.
Anyway hopefully everything is now resolved for those who wish to take a feed from the site rather than visiting each day. I have amended the subscription options to just the one button and this is working.
The button is also duplicated here for easy access.
I know that I have mentioned it before but I use Bloglines for all my newsfeed RSS needs – it’s easy and better still completely free.
There is a jam night at The Royal Oak on Bridge Street, Ramsbottom.
There is a wide diversity of musicians and usually it is Blues based, however it is not always possible to control who comes down so sometimes it strays from the Blues format but it is always good fun.
The Jam night is the first Monday of every month.
There’s a good jam nite – not strictly blues where everyone gets a look in to do 2 or 3 tunes.
All standards are embraced from genius to duffer, although usually the standard is very high.
Alternate Mondays at The Bank at Sale, behind Sainsbury’s in Sale.
For more information look in the news section at http://electric-caveman.com/
Backline, drums and PA laid on. Just bring your axe, horn or gob-iron!
It seems that Matt Schofield has slotted in a new gig here in the north west. He’s playing Sun 22 October at Alexanders in Chester. There is a bit of confusion on the time, it may be an afternoon gig. Check with the venue before setting out.
A man who was one of the oldest living bluesmen died yesterday. His close friend Michael Hawkeye Herman sends the following message…
It is with a heavy heart that I report to you that 96 year old blues legend Henry Townsend passed away this evening at St. Mary’s Ozaukee Hosptal, Mequon, WI at approximately 10PM (CDT) just hours after having been the first person presented with a ‘key’ in Grafton’s Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame. Mr. Townsend was the last surviving blues artist to have recorded for Paramount Records.
The Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame, currently under construction, will bea stylized piano keyboard. Forty-four keys will each have the name of a famous Paramount recording star.
It was in Grafton, Wisconsin that Henry Townsend recorded two songs for Paramount Records in 1930; “Doctor, Oh Doctor,” and “Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub.”
Mr. Townsend made the trip to Grafton to be honored by the Village of Grafton as the first inductee on the Walk of Fame along with his son, Alonzo, his son’s fiance, Kendra, and two members of his band.
Mr. Townsend arrived in Grafton on Thursday, Sept. 21st in good spirits,but confined to a wheelchair. He was to perform at the first annual Paramount Blues Festival as the honored guest. He was to be honoured again on Sunday, Sept. 24th, at a noontime Paramount Plaza Walk of Fame ceremony.
Myself, members of the Grafton Blues Association, Alonzo, Kendra, and the band members all went out to dinner together on Thursday night. Henry was talkative, happy to be in Grafton, and excited about the weekend events that lay ahead.
However, the following day, Friday, 9/22, he was not feeling well and it was necessary for him to be hospitalized. The hospital staff took immediate and great care of him. He wanted to get out of there and perform on Sat. at the festival. But it was not to be. His condition did not improve and the doctors refused to release him on Sat. so that he could perform. He was extremely disappointed. He told band member Jeff Shuman, “They didn’t say I couldn’t perform today.” Shuman had to go and get the doctor and have him come back to Mr. Townsend’s hospital room and explain to him that this meant that he could not leave the hospital to perform.
An announcement was made at the festival that he would not be present to perform. Alonzo Townsend spoke on behalf of his father, and apologized to the crowd for his father not being present, and that it was wonderful that Grafton had chosen to honor him, and that he hoped that he would be able to make it to the Walk of Fame ceremony on Sunday. It was not to be. Alonzo Townsend attended the noon ceremony on Sunday and accepted the honor for his father.
Henry Townsend is one of the few musicians who has recorded in every decade for the past 80 years. He was the last surviving Paramount blues artist. Born in Shelby, MS in 1909. As a youngster, he ran away from home to St. Louis where, as a teenager he heard Lonnie Johnson and other legends develop the blues sound. Henry was influenced by local barber Henry Spaulding’s recording of “Cairo Blues,” and his boyhood friend, David Perchfield. In 1929, an audition was arranged by Sam Woolf, owner of a music store in St. Louis. Townsend recorded for Columbia in 1929, and for Paramount in 1930. It was piano great Roosevelt Sykes who brought Townsend to the attention of Paramount records.
Henry Townsend became the “Patriarch of St. Louis blues.” Performing on piano and guitar his entire life, and nurturing the younger generations in the world of the blues. His last release was “The 88 Blues.”
Pit your wits against the formidable AI of Rock and Pop 20 Questions.
It’s not got the biggest blues database so my recommendation is to err more towards the mainstream.
Following on with today’s harmonica theme here’s a classic YouTube clip from Harmonica Frank Floyd.
The amazing Harmonica Frank Floyd, who recorded a couple of records for Sun Records and Chess Records in the early 1950s. Floyd was a modern day hobo; no one knew anything about him, and because he disappeared from the scene after these early recordings, many later blues fans and researchers assumed he was a black artist based on the bluesy sound of his records. He was a one-man band, playing the harmonica held in his mouth like a cigar. This was a trick that Sonny Boy Williamson II occasionally employed as a gimmick, but for Frank Floyd it was no gimmick – it was the ONLY way he played. It’s unknown whether Sonny Boy or Frank did it first; since they were on the scene at the same time, but it’s pretty obvious who did it better.
You can read more at mustrad.org.uk.
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