Sunday 31 August 2014

This week's playlist

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Love Struck Baby
Mistabluesman - Freddie's Blues
Rachelle Coba - Never Been To Memphis
Rachelle Coba - Mother Blues
Todd Wolfe - Evil
Clifford Hayes and The Louisville Jug Band - Another Fool Like Me
Tom Jones - All Blues Hail Mary
Nine Below Zero - Hard Goin' Up (Twice As Hard Coming Down)
ZZ Top - I Thank You


Paul Lamb - Hootin' And Screamin'
Valerie June - Workin' Woman Blues
Dr. John - I've Got The World On A String
Trampled Under Foot - Bad Bad Feeling
Will Wilde - Numb
Moreland And Arbucle - Quivira
Little Walter - It's Too Late Brother
Heritage Blues Orchestra - Chilly Jordan
Mark Harrison - Giorgia Greene
Eric Bibb - She Got Mine
Dr. Feelgood - Because You're Mine
Warren Haynes - Come And Go Blues

Shades Of Blues 31/08/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Shades Of Blues 31/08/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 25 August 2014

Welcome

Hello, one and all, and welcome to the new show.
There's no Jen :-( but you will hear her dulcet tones in the show.
I'll still be playing great blues from across the decades and, once I've settled in, interviewing some of the people you hear.
If you want to get in touch, feel free to post comments on here, or email me at kev.walker@thisisthecat.com

This week's playlist

Billy Boy Arnold - Hello Stranger
Little Milton - Welcome To The Club
Rory Block - Avalon
The Bellhops - Have I Got Blues For You
Tennessee Boltsmokers - Nickel And Dime Blues
The Allen Brothers - Chattanooga Mama
Prairie Ramblers - Jug Rag
Aynsley Lister - Impossible
Kevin Breit - Big Bill Broonzy
Rowdy House - I Won't Comply
Leyla McCalla - When I Can See The Valley

Joe Louis Walker - Movin' On
James Cotton - Midnight Train
Pam Taylor Band - Smile Again
The Frank Pellegrino Blues Band - Chicken Heads
Ghost Town Blues Band - Memphis Blues
Jack Derwin - Bone House Blues
RB Stone - Texas Drunk Tank Blues
Henry Thomas - Bull Doze Blues
Status Quo - In My Chair (Live)
Warren Hayes - Come And Go Blues

Shades Of Blues 24/08/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Shades Of Blues 24/08/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 18 August 2014

This week's playlist

The Mills Brothers - Goodbye Blues
Isaiah B. Brunt - Pathway Home
The Allman Brothers Band - End Of The Line
Charlie Mosbrook - I Will Be Coming Home To You
Buddy Guy - This Is The End
Piano Red - Goodbye (Try To Forget)
Wily Bo Walker - I Want To Know
Walter Trout Band - Say Goodbye To The Blues
CC Bronson - Thank You


J.J. Cale - End Of The Line
Deborah Magone - Queen Bee
Wilko Johnson - Goodbye Baby
Deanna Bogart Band - I'll Be Missing You
Jack Derwin - Bone House Blues
Clarence Gatemouth Brown - For Now So Long
Patrick Sassone - What Was I Thinking Blues
Mance Lipscomb - Farewell
Anni Piper - Live To Play
John Pippus - The Ending That You Fear
Ruby Paul - Last Farewell Blues

Monday Morning Blues 18/08/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 18/08/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 11 August 2014

This week's playlist

Zoot Money - Get On The Right Track Baby
Lonnie Johnson - Playing With The Strings
Kevin Breit - Bring Me Down
The Rolling Stones - I Want To Be Loved
Selwyn Birchwood - Don't Call No Ambulance
Ike Turner - Prancin'
Daddy Stovepipe and Mississippi Sarah - If You Want Me, Baby
Savoy Brown - I Miss Your Love
Eric Clapton - Choker
Paul Rose - Ball And Chain
Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues


Eddie Kelly's Washboard Band - Blues In The Rain
Mark Harrison - Crematorium Blues
Blind Blake - Diddie Wah Diddie
The Mustangs - The Line
Chicken Shack - When The Train Comes Back
Steve Cropper (featuring Delbert McClinton) - Right Around The Corner
Connie Lush - Morning Blues
Elvin Bishop - Can't Do Wrong Right
Mark Robinson - Drive Real Fast
The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer - Mellow Down Easy

Monday Morning Blues 11/08/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 11/08/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 4 August 2014

This week's playlist

Professor Longhair - Mess Around
The Ezra Buzzington Rustic Revelers - Brown Jug Blues
The Some X 6 Band - My Wallet
Guitar Mikey and The Real Thing - Out Of The Box
Doc and Merle Watson - Jailhouse Blues
Loretta and The Bad Kings - Honest I Do
Memphis Jug Band - You May Leave But This Will Bring You Back
Rory Gallagher - Don't Know Where I'm Going
The Detroit Memphis Experience - Just A Little Bit
The John Pippus Band - Two Hearts On The Run
Byther Smith - Walked All Night Long


Steve Martin - Daddy Played The Banjo
Joe Louis Walker - Hornet's Nest
Cee Cee James - Blood Red Blues
Isaiah B. Brunt - Just A Beautiful Thing
Janiva Magness - The Whale Has Swallowed Me
R.B. Stone - Texas Drunk Tank Blues
Blind Boy Fuller - Bye Bye Baby
Sunday Wilde - Captured Me
Ry Cooder - The Bourgeois Blues
Led Zeppelin - I Can't Quit You Baby
Frank Frost - Everything's All Right

Monday Morning Blues 04/08/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 04/08/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 28 July 2014

This week's playlist

Bo Carter - Corrine Corrina
Eric Bibb - Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad
Sleepy John Estes - Diving Duck Blues
Delmark Goldfarb - Got Something Good With Her
Doc Watson and David Grisman - Blue As I Can Be
Michael Jerome Browne - Doin' My Time
Louis Innis - Jug Band Boogie
Billy 'Curley' Barrix - Cool Off Baby
Graham Bond Organisation - Strut Around
The No Refunds Band - Blues Is My Business
Ma Rainey - Sleep Talking Blues


The Angel Band - Bring It On Home To Me
Earl Hooker - The End Of The Blues
Nicole Hart and Anni Piper - Ain't Nobody Watchin'
Charlie Musselwhite - Trouble No More
The Chicago Blues Summit and Sunnyland Slim - I Can't Stop
Aynsley Lister - Sugar
Ben Harper - Ground On Down
Rattlin' Bone - Rain On My Footsteps
Etta James - Hoochie Coochie Gal
Danny Overbea - Forty Cups Of Coffee

Monday Morning Blues 28/07/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 28/07/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 21 July 2014

This week's playlist

Nathan James and The Rhythm Scratchers - What You Make Of It
Speckled Red - It Feels So Good
Al Ferrier - Blues Stop Knocking
Andy T, Nick Nixon Band - Good Man
Old Friends: Honeyboy, Sunnyland Big Walter and more - Freedom Train
Toshi Reagon - Rock Me
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Trouble In Your Mind
Steve Hill - Long Road
Rachelle Coba - View From Here
Speckled Red - Down On The Levee
Jeff Black - All Right Now


Johnny Winter - I'm Good
Speckled Red - The Dirty Dozen
The Frank Pellegrino Blues Band - Steal Away
Spin Doctors - So Bad
Bare Bones Boogie Band - Mean Old Man
Gary Moore - The Blues Is Alright
Mississippi John Hurt - Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
Curtis Jones - Roll Me Over
Speckled Red Trio - You Got To Fix It
Mud Dog - Revolution Must Rise

Featured Artist: Speckled Red

Speckled Red

(October 23, 1892 - January 2, 1973)
Pianist Speckled Red (born Rufus Perryman) was born in Monroe, Louisiana, but he made his reputation as part of the St. Louis and Memphis blues scenes of the '20s and '30s. Red was equally proficient in early jazz and boogie-woogie -- his style was similar to Roosevelt Sykes and Little Brother Montgomery. Although born in Louisiana, Speckled Red was raised in Hampton, Georgia, where he learned how to play his church's organ. In his early teens, his family -- including his brother Willie Perryman, better known as Piano Red -- moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout his childhood and adolescence he played piano and organ, and by the time he was a teenager he was playing house parties and juke joints.
In the mid-'20s Red moved to Detroit, where he played various nightclubs and parties. After a few years in Detroit he moved back south to Memphis. In 1929 he cut his first recording sessions. One song from these sessions, "The Dirty Dozens," was released on Brunswick and became a hit in late 1929. He recorded a sequel, "The Dirty Dozens, No. 2," the following year, but it failed to become a hit. After Red's second set of sessions failed to sell, the pianist spent the next few years without a contract -- he simply played local Memphis clubs. In 1938 he cut a few sides for Bluebird, but they were largely ignored.
In the early '40s Speckled Red moved to St. Louis, where he played local clubs and bars for the next decade and a half. In 1954 he was rediscovered by a number of blues aficionados and record label owners. By 1956 he had recorded several songs for the Tone record label and began a tour of America and Europe. In 1960 he made some recordings for Folkways. By this time, Red's increasing age was causing him to cut back the number of concerts he gave. For the rest of the '60s he only performed occasionally. Speckled Red died in 1973.


Monday Morning Blues 21/07/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 21/07/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 14 July 2014

This week's playlist

Fleetwood Mac - Shake Your Money Maker
Skip James - Cyprus Grove Blues
Mark Harrison - Early In The Morning
Mark Harrison - Crematorium Blues
Ralph McTell - Too Tight Drag
The Memphis Jug Band - On The Road Again
Chicago Blues All Stars - Wonder Why
Jack Derwin - Running Through My Veins
Skip James - Devil Got My Woman
Elkie Brooks - Blues For Mama


Amy Madigan & Ry Cooder - He Made A Woman Out Of Me
Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues
Karena K - Road To My Soul
Aretha Franklin - Today I Sing The Blues
Blue Touch - St. Louis Blues
Blues Mountain - Wanted You There
Blacktop Deluxe - Mustang 429
Tweed Funk - Deed Is Done
Skip James - Little Cow And Calf Is Gonna Die Blues
Chris Dair - Crossroads To Freedom

Featured Artist: Skip James

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James 
(June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969)
Among the earliest and most influential Delta bluesmen to record, Skip James was the best-known proponent of the so-called Bentonia school of blues players, a genre strain invested with as much fanciful scholarly "research" as any. Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James' early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Even more surprising was when blues scholars rediscovered him in the '60s and found his singing and playing skills intact. Influencing everyone from a young Robert Johnson (Skip's "Devil Got My Woman" became the basis of Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail") to Eric Clapton (who recorded James' "I'm So Glad" on the first Cream album), Skip James' music, while from a commonly shared regional tradition, remains infused with his own unique personal spirit.

Monday Morning Blues 14/07/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 14/07/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 7 July 2014

This week's playlist

Champion Jack Dupree - Big Time Mama
Blind Lemon Jefferson - Southern Woman Blues
Vinegar Joe - Early Monday Morning
Vinegar Joe - Whole Lotta Shakin' (Goin' On)
Hugh Laurie - Six Cold Feet
Whistler And His Jug Band - Low Down Blues
Royal Southern Brotherhood - Sweet Jelly Donut
Blacktop Deluxe - Mustang 429

Connie Lush and Blues Shouter - Feeling Good
Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks - Stand Back
David Yates - Kansas Wind
Michael Powers - Psychotic Reaction
Etta James - W-O-M-A-N
Vinegar Joe - No One Ever Do
Vinegar Joe - Talkin' 'Bout My Baby
Canned Heat - Wish You Would

Monday Morning Blues 07/07/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 07/07 /14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 30 June 2014

This week's playlist

Jimmy McCracklin - The Walk
The Pretty Things - Big Boss Man
Johnny Guitar Watson - One Room Country Shack
John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
The Holmes Brothers and Joan Osborne - Nobody's Fault But Mine
Mary Flower - Boogie Woogie Dance
Mary Flower - Death Letter Blues
Daddy Stovepipe and Mississippi Sarah - If You Want Me, Baby
The Pretty Things - Don't Lie To Me
Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro' Blues
The Allman Brothers Band - The Same Thing

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - Everything Gonna Be Alright
The Pretty Things - The Moon Is Rising
Mance Lipscomb - Farewell
Cowboy Hat - Daniel Boone
Ma Rainey - See See Rider
Kacey Jones - You've Tried The Patience Out Of Me
Gaye Adegbalola - She Just Wants To Dance
Andy T. Nick Nixon Band - Back Down South
The Pretty Things - Unknown Blues
Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials - If You Change Your Mind
Blind Lemon Pledge - Midnight Assignation

Featured Artist: The Pretty Things

The Pretty Things
The Pretty Things were preceded by Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys, which consisted of Dick Taylor, fellow Sidcup Art College student Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. When Brian Jones was recruiting for his own band, all three joined Brian and Ian Stewart and were dubbed "Rollin' Stones" by Jones. Taylor would briefly play bass guitar in the nascent Rolling Stones who employed a variety of drummers during 1962.
Taylor (born Richard Clifford Taylor, 28 January 1943, Dartford, Kent) quit the Stones several months later when he was accepted at the London Central School of Art, where he met Phil May (born Phillip Arthur Dennis Kattner, 9 November 1944, Dartford, Kent) and they formed the Pretty Things.
Taylor was once again playing guitar, with May singing and playing harmonica. They recruited Brian Pendleton (born 13 April 1944, Heath Town, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire – died 16 May 2001, Maidstone, Kent) on rhythm guitar; John Stax (born John Edward Lee Fullagar, 6 April 1944, Crayford, Kent) on bass; and Pete Kitley, replaced by Viv Andrews and then by Viv Prince (born Vivian Martin Prince, 9 August 1941, Loughborough, Leicestershire) on drums.
A fellow student at the Art College May and Taylor studied at, Bryan Morrison, was recruited as their manager. Morrison was to manage them for the rest of the 1960s, building his own Bryan Morrison Agency. This agency represented Pink Floyd amongst many other bands.
The Pretty Things first three singles — “Rosalyn” No. 41, "Don't Bring Me Down" No. 10, and the self-penned "Honey I Need" at No. 13 — appeared in the UK Singles Chart in 1964 and 1965. They never had a hit in the United States, but had considerable success in their native Britain and in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands in the middle of the decade. Their appearance was designed to provoke, with May claiming to have the longest hair in the UK.
The band later blamed their lack of success in the US on the fact they toured the Southern Hemisphere, including New Zealand, where they were banned after Prince set fire to a bag of crayfish on an internal flight.
Their early material consisted of hard-edged blues-rock influenced by Bo Diddley and Jimmy Reed. The first of what would be many personnel changes over the years also began, with Prince the first to go in November 1965. He was replaced by Skip Alan (born Alan Ernest Skipper, 11 June 1948, Westminster, London). In early 1966 the band made a short film “Pretty Things on Film”; it featured live footage and a music video prototype for "Can't Stand the Pain", which also featured their manager, Morrison. Rarely screened at the time, the film can be found as a bonus multimedia item on the Snapper CD re-issue of Get the Picture. 1966 saw the R&B scene fall into decline and the Pretty Things began moving away, flirting with soul music. In mid-1966 saw them make the UK Singles Chart for the final time with a cover of The Kinks song, "A House in the Country". In December 1966 came the single "Progress", where the band were joined by a brass section.
Pendleton left in December 1966, and Stax followed in January 1967. Jon Povey (born 20 August 1942, London) and Wally Waller (born Alan Edward Waller, 9 April 1944, Barnehurst, Kent), both former Fenmen from Bern Elliott and The Fenmen, joined and made the band a five-piece once again.
Their final album for Fontana Records was a contractual obligation produced by Steve Rowland and the subject of controversy since “Emotions” was laden with brass and string arrangements arranged by Reg Tilsley. EMI producer Norman Smith expressed interest in working with them and at the end of September 1967, the Pretty Things signed to EMI's Columbia label. In November 1967 they released "Defecting Grey", a psychedelic effort that failed to sell. This was followed three months later by a double A-side single "Talking About the Good Times" / "Walking Through My Dreams".
That single marked the beginning of sessions for the “SF Sorrow” album. Released in December 1968, it was the first rock opera, preceding the release of The Who's “Tommy” in May 1969. It was recorded between December 1967 and September 1968 at the Abbey Road Studios, while Pink Floyd were working on “A Saucerful Of Secrets” (also produced by Norman Smith) and The Beatles worked on the “White Album”. In March 1968, drummer Skip Alan left the group. Twink replaced him to help the band to complete the album.
In March 1969, the British music magazine, NME reported that Motown Records vice-president Barney Ales had visited London to sign the Pretty Things as the U.S. label's first British act.
S.F. Sorrow was commercially unsuccessful, with no immediate release in the US. However, the album was subsequently picked up by Motown and issued with a different cover on its Rare Earth Records label. The work received only modest support from EMI, and its depressing narrative probably did not help sales.
1969 saw the band feeling disillusioned by the failure of SF Sorrow and that June, Taylor left the group. The Pretty Things borrowed guitarist Victor Unitt from the Edgar Broghton Band to replace Taylor. Shortly after he joined, Twink left. Alan returned to the drumstool in time for the band's return to Abbey Road to start work on “Parachute”, which kept the psychedelic sound. During this period they also recorded an album for a young French millionaire Philippe DeBarge, which was intended only to be circulated among his social circle. The acetate has since been bootlegged. In 2010 it was finally picked up by Mike Stax, owner of 1960s music magazine Ugly Things. He unearthed one of the two acetates and had it mixed and mastered and then as a piece de resistance, had the classic Pretty Things line-up, which Dick Taylor had just left at the time of the recording of the tracks with DeBarge, record a song entitled "Monsieur Rock" (Ballad Of Philippe) a bonus track for this release on Ugly Things UTCD-2207.
Shortly before the release of Parachute, Unitt left and was replaced by Pete Tolson. Despite much stage work and acclaim, their records were still failing to sell at all well.
During the late 1960s, the group made some extra money by recording for music library company DeWolfe. Some of these songs ended up in low-budget films including What's Good For the Goose (1969), Haunted House of Horror (1969),The Monster Club (1981) and a couple of softcore porn films. Not intended for official release, these songs were later compiled on a number of records and released under the alias Electric Banana: Electric Banana (1967), More Electric Banana(1968), Even More Electric Banana (1969), Hot Licks (1970), and Return of the Electric Banana (1978). The initial releases featured one side of vocal and one side of instrumental tracks. Subsequent releases of these albums generally keep the true identity of the band secret.
By late 1970, the group had gone their separate ways due to commercial failures, and Alan was in a group called Sunshine. May, Povey, Alan, Tolson and Stuart Brooks signed with Warner Bros. Records and released Freeway Madness at the end of 1972.
1974's Silk Torpedo saw them being managed by Led Zeppelin's Peter Grant. Silk Torpedo was the first album release on Zeppelin's own label Swan Sang. Also around this time, Brooks left and was replaced by Jack Green and a second keyboardist Gordon Edwards was added. In 1976, after the release of Savage Eye, May quit the band before a major London gig, and the band split up.
Reforming for 1980s “Cross Talk” did not improve their sales figures, and the Pretty Things split up again in 1981. Reforming in 1984, May and Taylor used various session musicians to release Out of the Island (1988). Mark St. John joined on drums, but by the end of the decade their profile had almost disappeared. May and Taylor reformed the band for a successful European blues tour in late 1990 with Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and Luther Allinson. This outfit included drummer Hans Waterman (formerly of Dutch rock group Solution), bassist Roelf ter Velt and guitarist/keyboardist Barkley McKay (Waco Brothers and Pine Vsalley Cosmonauts) with Jon Langford ex-Mekons. This line-up regularly toured the European mainland until late 1994.
May and Taylor, together with former Yardbirds drummer Jim McCarty, recorded two albums in Chicago as Pretty Things/Yardbird Blues Band. They were The Chicago Blues Tapes 1991 and Wine, Women, Whiskey, both produced by George Paulus.
The early 1990s were taken up with a battle against EMI. This was over unpaid royalties stemming back to a deal EMI set up with Motown subsidiary Rare Earth in 1968. The band never received any royalties from Rare Earth nor had received any monies from EMI for many years. The band won the legal case, the result being that in 1993 EMI gave them back all their master tapes, copyrights and an undisclosed sum of money as settlement. On friendly terms again, the 1967 line up decided to return with the addition of Pete Tolson (born Peter Tolson, 10 September 1951, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire). After much rehearsal, Tolson grew disillusioned and quit with Frank Holland taking Tolson's place.
Their label, Snapper Music, issued remastered CD's with many bonus tracks, plus a DVD of a live netcast re-recording ofS.F. Sorrow at Abbey Road Studios, with David Gilmour and Arthur Brown as guest players. They played a tour of the U.S. for the first time in decades.
Original rhythm guitarist Brian Pendleton died of lung cancer on 16 May 2001 in Maidstone. The following year their ex-keyboard player Gordon Edwards (born Gordon John Edwards, 26 December 1946, Southport, Lancashire) died of a drug overdose.
In 1999 they released the studio album Rage Before Beauty and in the early 2000s, they released several compilation albums, a live album and DVD. In 2003, Alan Lakey's biography of the band, Growing Old Disgracefully, was published by Firefly. The book dealt with the long and involved history of the band, and paid special attention to the legal proceedings issued against EMI in the 1990s. An extensively re-written version is planned to be published in 2013.
Skip Alan suffered heart problems in 2001 restricting his commitment to the band, with St. John deputising on the drums as required. In mid-2007, the Pretty Things released their eleventh studio album Balboa Island on St. John's Côte Basque record label. The album contained a number of Pretty Things originals. Family illnesses meant Waller and Povey were unable to commit to the band, and Jack Greenwood replaced Allan on drums in 2008, a year which also saw the death of their former producer, Norman Smith and ex-manager, Bryan Morrison. In December 2008, a re-release was made, on Ugly Things Records, of their 1969 album, Phillipe DeBarge and the Pretty Things.
In June 2009, May, Taylor, Waller, Povey and Allan reunited to receive the "Heroes" award at the annual Mojo Awards ceremony. The Pretty Things continued to gig into 2010, with the line-up revolving around the May and Taylor axis with additional hired help.
Waller, Povey, Allan and Tolson reunited in the middle of 2010 to re-record Parachute, to commemorate its 40th anniversary. Using the byline 'The XPTs', the album was released by Esoteric Recordings on 30 April 2012.
On 30 April 2012, a re-imagining of S.F. Sorrow, entitled Sorrow's Children and featuring covers by contemporary bands of each track, was released on Fruits De Mer Records, only on vinyl and in a limited edition of 700. The album included an interview with May and Taylor, and had a live version of "Loneliest Person". The latter was recorded at their gig at London's 100 Club in December 2010, at which they played the whole of their first album.
In 2012 the band returned to New Zealand for the first time since being banned in 1965. They also toured Australia and were reunited with original bass player, John Stax, for their Melbourne shows. The first time May, Taylor and Stax had played together since 1967.
In 2013 the Pretty Things celebrated their 50th Anniversary Tour with dates in the UK and Europe.

Monday 23 June 2014

This Week's playlist

The Blues Experience with Cash McCall - Helluva Time
Jerry Lee Lewis - Hillbilly Music (Country Music Is Here To Stay)
Brad Curtis and The Some X 6 Band - Dodging Raindrops
Jack Derwin - Blue For Me
Jack Derwin - Dancing Trees
The Steve Miller Band - My Babe
Jed Davenport and His Beale Street Jug Band - Piccolo Blues
John Martyn - The Easy Blues
Cousin Joe - Baby You Don't Know At All
Jerry Lee Lewis - Hello, Hello Baby
Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings - Walking On My Own

Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie - When The Levee Breaks
Jerry Lee Lewis - Don't Be Cruel
David Yates - Kansas Wind
Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa - Baddest Blues
The Holmes Brothers - Gone For Good
Forty4 - Forty-Four
Ralph McTell - Hesitation Blues
Rory Block - Stand By Me
Jack Derwin - Running Through My Veins
Jerry Lee Lewis - Goodnight Irene
Billy D and The Hoodoos - Somewhere In The Middle Of The Blues


Featured Artist: Jerry Lee Lewis

Jerry Lee Lewis

born September 29, 1935
When he broke on the national scene in 1957 with his classic "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he was every parents' worst nightmare perfectly realized: a long, blonde-haired Southerner who played the piano and sang with uncontrolled fury and abandon, while simultaneously reveling in his own sexuality. He was rock & roll's first great wild man and also rock & roll's first great eclectic. Ignoring all manner of musical boundaries is something that has not only allowed his music to have wide variety, but to survive the fads and fashions as well. Whether singing a melancholy country ballad, a lowdown blues, or a blazing rocker, Lewis' wholesale commitment to the moment brings forth performances that are totally grounded in his personality and all singularly of one piece. Like the recordings of Hank Williams,Louis Armstrong, and few others, Jerry Lee's early recorded work is one of the most amazing collections of American music in existence.
He was born to Elmo and Mamie Lewis on September 29, 1935. Though the family was dirt poor, there was enough money to be had to purchase a third-hand upright piano for the family's country shack in Ferriday, LA.
A visit from piano-playing older cousin Carl McVoy unlocked the secrets to the boogie-woogie styles he was hearing on the radio and across the tracks at Haney's Big House, owned by his uncle, Lee Calhoun, and catering to blacks exclusively. Lewis mixed that up with gospel and country and started coming up with his own style. He even mixed genres in the way he syncopated his rhythms on the piano; his left hand generally played a rock-solid boogie pattern while his right played the high keys with much flamboyant filigree and showiness. By the time he was 14, by all family accounts, he was as good as he was ever going to get. Lewis was already ready for prime time.
By the time a 21-year-old Jery Lee showed up in Memphis on the doorstep of the Sun studios, he had been thrown out of bible college; been a complete failure as a sewing-machine salesman; been turned down by most Nashville-based record companies and the Loisiana Hayride; been married twice; in jail once; and burned with the passion that he truly was the next big thing.
Sam Phillips was on vacation when he arrived, but his assistant Jack Clement put Roland James on guitar and J.M. Van Eaton on drums behind Lewis, whose fluid left hand made a bass player superfluous. This little unit would become the core of Lewis' recording band for almost the entire seven years he recorded at Sun.
The first single, a hopped-up rendition of Ralph Mooney's "Crazy Arms," sold in respectable enough quantities that Phillips kept bringing Lewis back in for more sessions, astounded by his prodigious memory for old songs and his penchant for rocking them up. A few days after his first single was released, Jerry Lee was in the Sun studios earning some Christmas money, playing backup piano on a Carl Perkins session that yielded the classics "Matchbox" and "Your True Love." At the tail-end of the recording, Elvis Presley showed up, Clement turned on the tape machine, and the impromptu Million Dollar Quartet jam session ensued, with Perkins, Presley, Lewis and Johnny Cash all having the time of their lives.
While Sam Phillips loved the music of Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, he saw neither artist as a true contender to Elvis' throne; with Lewis he thought he had a real shot. For the first time in his very parsimonious life, Sam Phillips threw every dime of promotional capital he had into Lewis' next single, and the gamble paid off a million times over. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" went to number one on the country and the R&B charts. Suddenly, Lewis was the hottest, newest, most exciting rock & roller out there.
But Lewis was sowing the seeds of his own destruction in record time. He sneaked off and married his 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, the daughter of his bass-playing uncle, J.W. Brown. With the Killer insisting that she accompany him on a debut tour of England, the British press got wind of the marriage and proceeded to crucify him in the press. The tour was canceled and Lewis arrived back in the U.S. to find his career in absolute disarray. His records were banned nationwide by radio stations and his booking price went from $10,000 a night to $250 in any honky tonk that would still have him. Undeterred, he kept right on doing what he had been doing, head unbowed and determined to make it back to the bigs, Jerry Lee Lewis style. It took him almost a dozen years to pull it off, but finally, with a sympathetic producer and a new record company willing to exact a truce with country disc jockeys, the Killer found a new groove, cutting one hit after another for Smash Records throughout the late '60s into the '70s. Still playing rock & roll on-stage whenever the mood struck him (which was often) while keeping all his releases pure country struck a creative bargain that suited Lewis well into the mid-'70s.
But while his career was soaring again, his personal life was falling apart. The next decade-and-a-half saw several marriages fall apart (starting with his 13-year-long union with Myra), the deaths of his parents and oldest son, battles with the I.R.S., and bouts with alcohol and pills that frequently left him hospitalized. Suddenly, the Ferriday Fireball was nearing middle age and the raging fire seemed to be burned out.
But the mid-'80s saw another jump start to his career. A movie entitled Great Balls of Fire was about to be made of his life and Lewis was called in to sing the songs for the soundtrack. Showing everyone who was the real Killer, Lewis sounded energetic enough to make you believe it was 1957 all over again with the pilot light of inspiration still burning bright.
In 2006, Lewis released Last Man Standing, which featured duets with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, and others. He followed it up in 2010 with another album of duets, Mean Old Man, which saw Lewis teaming with Eric Clapton, Merle Haggard, John Fogerty, and Kid Rock, among others.
With box sets and compilations, documentaries, a bio flick, and his induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame all celebrating his legacy, Lewis still continued to record and tour, delivering work that vacillated from tepid to absolutely inspired. While his influence will continue to loom large until there's no one left to play rock & roll piano anymore, the plain truth is that there's onlyone Jerry Lee Lewis and American music will never see another like him.

Monday Morning Blues 23/06/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 23/06/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 16 June 2014

This week's playlist

John Oates Band - Please Send Me Someone To Love
Robert Nighthawk - Backwater Blues
Barbecue Bob - Atlanta Moan
Colin Linden - Big Mouth
Jimmy Witherspoon - Killing Time
Mississippi Sheiks - Baby Keeps Stealin' Lovin' On Me
Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials - If You Were Mine
Vinegar Joe - No One Ever Do
Robert Nighthawk - Bricks In My Pillow
Stone Crazy Blues Band - Barnyard Boogie

Kathy Frank - Florida Blues
Robert Nighthawk - You Missed A Good Man
Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey - I Keep It To Myself
Patrick Sassone - What Was I Thinking Blues
Patrick Sassone - Because Of You
Rory Block - Stand By Me
Mary Coughlan - Portland
Johnny Boots - Stone Cold
Grainne Duffy - Test Of Time
Robert Nighthawk - Nighthawk Boogie
Howlin' Wolf - Sitting On Top Of The World

Featured Artist: Robert Nighthawk

Robert Nighthawk

November 30, 1909 – November 5, 1967

Of all the pivotal figures in blues history, certainly one of the most important was Robert Nighthawk. He bridged the gap between Delta and Chicago blues effortlessly, taking his slide cues from Tampa Red and stamping them with a Mississippi edge learned first hand from his cousin, Houston Stackhouse. Though he recorded from the '30s into the early '40s under a variety of names – Robert Lee McCoy, Rambling Bob, Peetie's Boy -- he finally took his lasting sobriquet of Robert Nighthawk from the title of his first record, "Prowling Night Hawk." It should be noted that the huge lapses in the man's discography are direct results of his rambling nature, taciturnity, and seeming disinterest in making records. Once you got him into a studio, the results were almost always of a uniform excellence. But it might be two years or more between sessions.
Nighthawk never achieved the success of his more celebrated pupils, Muddy Waters and Earl Hooker, finding himself to be much happier to be working one nighters in taverns and the Maxwell Street open market on Sundays. He eventually left Chicago for his hometown of Helena, AR, where he briefly took over the King Biscuit Radio Show after Sonny Boy Williamson died, while seemingly working every small juke joint that dotted the landscape until his death from congestive heart failure in 1967. Robert Nighthawk is not a name that regularly gets bandied about when discussing the all-time greats of the blues. But well it should, because his legacy was all-pervasive; his resonant voice and creamy smooth slide guitar playing (played in standard tuning, unusual for a bluesman) would influence players for generations to come and many of his songs would later become blues standards.

Monday Morning Blues 16/06/14 (1st hour) [the proper one] by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning blues 16/06/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday 9 June 2014

J.B. Lenoir


J.B. Lenoir

March 5, 1929 – April 29, 1967

Newcomers to his considerable legacy could be forgiven for questioning J.B. Lenoir's gender upon first hearing his rocking waxings. Lenoir's exceptionally high-pitched vocal range is a fooler, but it only adds to the singular appeal of his music. His politically charged "Eisenhower Blues" allegedly caused all sorts of nasty repercussions upon its 1954 emergence on Al Benson's Parrot logo (it was quickly pulled off the shelves and replaced with Lenoir's less controversially titled "Tax Paying Blues").
J.B. (that was his entire legal handle) fell under the spell of Blind Lemon Jefferson as a wee lad, thanks to his guitar-wielding dad. Lightnin' Hopkins and Arthur Crudup were also cited as early influences. Lenoir spent time in New Orleans before arriving in Chicago in the late '40s. Boogie grooves were integral to Lenoir's infectious routine from the get-go, although his first single for Chess in 1951, "Korea Blues," was another slice of topical commentary. From late 1951 to 1953, he waxed several dates for Joe Brown's JOB logo in the company of pianist Sunnyland Slim, drummer Alfred Wallace, and on the romping "The Mojo," saxophonist J.T. Brown.
Lenoir waxed his most enduring piece, the infectious (and often-covered) "Mama Talk to Your Daughter," in 1954 for Al Benson's Parrot label. Lenoir's 1954-1955 Parrot output and 1955-1958 Checker catalog contained a raft of terrific performances, including a humorously defiant "Don't Touch My Head" (detailing his brand-new process hairdo) and "Natural Man." Lenoir's sound was unique: saxes (usually Alex Atkins and Ernest Cotton) wailed in unison behind Lenoir's boogie-driven rhythm guitar as drummer Al Galvin pounded out a rudimentary backbeat everywhere but where it customarily lays. Somehow, it all fit together.
Scattered singles for Shad in 1958 and Vee-Jay two years later kept Lenoir's name in the public eye. His music was growing substantially by the time he hooked up with USA Records in 1963 (witness the 45's billing: J.B. Lenoir & His African Hunch Rhythm). Even more unusual were the two acoustic albums he cut for German blues promoter Horst Lippmann in 1965 and 1966. Alabama Blues! And Down In Mississippi were done in Chicago under Willie Dixon's supervision, Lenoir now free to elaborate on whatever troubled his mind ("Alabama March," "Vietnam Blues," "Shot on James Meredith").
Little did Lenoir know his time was quickly running out. By the time of his 1967 death, the guitarist had moved to downstate Champaign -- and that's where he died, probably as a delayed result of an auto accident he was involved in three weeks prior to his actual death.

Monday Morning Blues 09/06/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 09/06/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

This week's playlist

Pork Chop Willie - She Gave Me Joy
J.B. Lenoir - How Much More
Bob Margolin - Wee Baby Blues
Bessie Smith - He's Got Me Going
The Groundhogs - Still A Fool
Judie Tzuke - The Hunter
Steve Hill - I Want You To Love Me
Johnny Dodds and The Dixieland Jug Blowers - Hen Party Blues
Keb' Mo' - France
J.B. Lenoir - Let's Roll Pt. 1
Bonnie Raitt - I Will Not Be Denied


Lucille Bogan - Pay Roll Blues
J.B. Lenoir - When I Was Young
Selwyn Birchwood - Addicted
Selwyn Birchwood - Don't Call No Ambulance
Sleepy John Sestes - Special Agent
Myrella Nascimento - Um Blues Pra Voce
Billy Boy Arnold - Back Door Friend
J.B. Lenoir - Play A Little While
Henrik Freisclader - The Memory Of Our Love