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

Monday 2 June 2014

This week's playlist

Janiva Magness - I'm Not Ashamed
Lowell Fulson - You Better Rock This Morning
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (with Peter Green) - I Need Your Love
Paul Rodgers - Muddy Water Blues (Acoustic)
The Mescal Canyon Troubadours - Walking With The Devil
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Standing On The Rock
Elder Richard Bryant and His Sanctified Singers - Come Over Here
Alvin Jet and The Phat noiZ Blues Band - Boogie To The Blues
Josh White - Good Gal
Lowell Fulson - Do Me Right
Jimi Hendrix - Red House


Alger Texas Alexander - The Rising Sun
Lowell Fulson - So Many Tears
Isaiah B. Brunt - Where Is Your Man
Isaiah B. Brunt - Beale Street
U.P. Wilson - 7 Comes 11
Canned Heat - Dimples
Champion Jack Dupree - Bus Station Blues
Danny Bryant's Redeye Band - The Hard Way
Lowell Fulson - Coming Home (Someday)
Soulstack - In my Time Of Dying

Featured Artist: Lowell Fulson

Lowell Fulson
(March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999)
Lowell Fulson recorded every shade of blues imaginable. Polished urban blues, rustic two-guitar duets with his younger brother Martin, funk-tinged grooves that pierced the mid-'60s charts, even an unwise cover of The Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It in the Road!" Clearly, the veteran guitarist, who was active for more than half-a-century, wasn't afraid to experiment. Perhaps that's why his last couple of discs for Rounder were so vital and satisfying -- and why he remained an innovator for so long.
Exposed to the Western swing of Bob Wills, as well as indigenous blues while growing up in Oklahoma, Fulson joined up with singer Texas Alexander for a few months in 1940, touring the Lone Star state with the veteran bluesman. Fulson was drafted in 1943. The Navy let him go in 1945; after a few months back in Oklahoma, he was off to Oakland, CA, where he made his first 78s for fledgling producer Bob Geddins. Soon enough, Fulson was fronting his own band and cutting a stack of platters for Big Town, Gilt Edge, Trilon, and Down Town (where he hit big in 1948 with "Three O'Clock Blues," later covered by B.B. King).
Swing Time records prexy Jack Lauderdale snapped up Fulson in 1948, and the hits really began to flow: the immortal "Every Day I Have the Blues" (an adaptation of Memphis Slim's "Nobody Loves Me"), "Blue Shadows," the two-sided holiday perennial "Lonesome Christmas," and a groovy midtempo instrumental "Low Society Blues" that really hammers home how tremendously important pianist Lloyd Glenn and alto saxist Earl Brown were to Fulson's maturing sound (all charted in 1950!).
Fulson toured extensively from then on, his band stocked for a time with dazzling pianist Ray Charles (who later covered Lowell's "Sinner's Prayer" for Atlantic) and saxist Stanley Turrentine. After a one-off session in New Orleans in 1953 for Aladdin, Fulson inked a longterm pact with Chess in 1954. His first single for the firm was the classic "Reconsider Baby," cut in Dallas under Stan Lewis' supervision with a sax section that included David 'Fathead' Newman on tenor and Leroy Cooper on baritone.
The relentless midtempo blues proved a massive hit and perennial cover item – even Elvis Presley cut it in 1960, right after he got out of the Army. But apart from "Loving You," the guitarist's subsequent Checker output failed to find widespread favor with the public. Baffling, since Fulson's crisp, concise guitar work and sturdy vocals were as effective as ever. Most of his Checker sessions were held in Chicago and L.A. (the latter his home from the turn of the '50s).
Fulson stayed with Checker into 1962, but a change of labels worked wonders when he jumped over to Los Angeles-based Kent Records. 1965's driving "Black Nights" became his first smash in a decade, and "Tramp," a loping funk-injected workout co-written by Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin, did even better, restoring the guitarist to R&B stardom, gaining plenty of pop spins, and inspiring a playful Stax cover by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas only a few months later that outsold Fulson's original.
A couple of lesser follow-up hits for Kent ensued before the guitarist was reunited with Stan Lewis at Jewel Records. That's where he took a crack at that Beatles number, though most of his outings for the firm were considerably closer to the blues bone. Fulson was never absent for long on disc; 1992's Hold On” and its 1995 follow-up. “Them Update Blues”, both for Ron Levy's Bullseye Blues logo, were among his later efforts, both quite solid. Fulson continued to perform until 1997, when health problems forced the career bluesman into a reluctant retirement. His health continued to deteriorate and on March 6, 1999 - just a few weeks shy of his 78th birthday – Lowell Fulson passed away.
Few bluesmen managed to remain contemporary the way Lowell Fulson did for more than five decades. And fewer still will make such a massive contribution to the idiom.

Monday Morning Blues 02/06/14 (1st hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud

Monday Morning Blues 02/06/14 (2nd hour) by Kev "Legs" on Mixcloud