It just gets better.
With the Mixcloud system of storing the shows we can now put old shows on there so, if you missed one of the interviews we've done, they are now on there.
Go to the Mixcloud site, type in Monday Morning Blues, and they should be there (or click on my name [not sure about the tech])
You can also download a free app for smartphones, so you can catch up anywhere :-)
We'll keep you updated with any changes.
Thanks for listening.
"Legs"

This week's playlist

Janis Joplin - "Kozmic Blues"
Seasick Steve - "Hobo Low"
Bukka White - "Bukka's Jitterbug Swing"
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry - "Ain't Got No Home"
'Champion' Jack Dupree - "Big Time Mama"
James 'Buddy' Rogers - "Guitar Sue"
Blind Blake - "Come On Boys Let's Do That Messin' Around"
Cannon's Jug Stompers - "Pretty Mamma Blues"
Hooker 'N' Heat - "Let's Make It"
Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown - "Choo Choo Boogie"
Seasick Steve - "My Home (Blue Eyes)"
Buster Brown - "Crawling King Snake Blues"

Leadbelly - "Rock Island Line"
Seasick Steve and The Level Devils - "Hobo Blues"
Blind Boy Fuller - "Untrue Blues"
Chris Rea - "Boss Man Cut My Chains"
Kevin Selfe - "Second Box On The Left"
Brownie McGhee - "Dealing With The Devil"
Blind Gary Davis - "Cross And Evil Woman Blues"
Memphis Minnie - "Black Rat Swing"
Peter Karp and Sue Foley - "More Than I Bargained For"
Josh White - "Good Gal"
Professor Longhair - "Every Day I Have The Blues"
Seasick Steve - "Walking Man"
Leroy Carr - "Mean Mistreatin' Mama"

Featured Artist: Seasick Steve

Steven Gene Wold,

commonly known as Seasick Steve, (born 1941)

Wold was born in Morocco. When he was four years old, his parents split up. His father played boogie-woogie piano and at five or six years old, Wold tried to learn but could not. At age eight, he learned to play the guitar (he later found out that it was blues) from K. C. Douglas, who worked at his grandfather's garage. Douglas wrote the song "Mercury Blues" and used to play with Tommy Johnson.
Wold left home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, and lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. At various times, Wold worked as a carnie, cowboy and a migrant worker.
Of this time he once said:
Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three.
In the 1960s, he started touring and performing with fellow blues musicians, and had friends in the music scene including Janis Joplin and Joni Mitchell. Since then, he has worked, on and off, as a session musician and studio engineer. In the late 1980s, while living in Olympia, near Seattle, he worked with many indie label artists. Kurt Cobain was a friend. In the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf of May 31, 2011 Steve denied this, saying (in translation): "Just like everybody else I saw him pass by in the street and said hello to him. That doesn't make us friends, does it?". Regarding his 'friendship' with Janis Joplin (same source): "We both lived in San Fransisco in the sixties. Period". In the 1990s he continued to work as a recording engineer and producer, producing several releases by Modest Mouse, including their 1996 debut album “This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About”.
At one time, living in Paris, Wold made his living busking, mostly on the metro. After moving to Norway in 2001, Wold released his first album, entitled “Cheap”, recorded with The Level Devils (Jo Husmo on stand-up bass and Kai Christoffersen on drums) as his rhythm section. His debut solo album, “Dog House Music” was released by Bronzerat Records on November 26, 2006, after he was championed by an old friend, Joe Cushley, DJ on the Ballin' The Jack blues show on London radio station Resonance FM.
Seasick Steve performing in 2009 at the Hard Rock Calling festival in London's Hyde Park.
Wold made his first UK television appearance on Jools Holland's 'Annual Hootenanny' BBC TV show (broadcast on New Year's Eve 2006) where he performed a live rendition of "Dog House Boogie" on the 'Three String Trance Wonder' and the 'Mississippi Drum Machine' (see below). After that show his popularity exploded in Britain.
He was well received in the UK, winning the 2007 MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act and going on to appear at major UK festivals such as Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury. In 2007 he played more UK festivals than any other artist.
Wold toured early in 2008, playing in various venues and festivals in the UK. He was joined on stage by drummer Dan Magnusson. KT Tunstall also dueted with Wold at one concert (Astoria, London, January 24, 2008). Wold also played many other festivals throughout the world in 2008, including Fuji Rock in Japan, East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival in Australia (also in April 2008), and Roskilde in Denmark.
Wold's major-label debut, “I Started Out With Nogthing And I Still Got Most Of It Left” was recorded with Dan Magnusson on drums, was released by Warner Music on September 29, 2008, and features Ruby Turner and Nick Cave's Grinderman.
In 2009, Wold was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist. That same year, BBC Four broadcast a documentary of Wold visiting the southern USA entitled Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home. On January 21, Wold hosted "Folk America: Hollerers, Stompers and Old Time Ramblers" at the Barbican in London, a show that was also televised and shown with the documentary on BBC Four as part of a series tracing American roots music.
In February 2010, Seasick Steve was nominated for a Brit Award in the category of International Solo Male Artist for the second consecutive year.
In 2010, Seasick Steve made numerous festival appearances throughout the summer, including the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, the main stage at V Festival, the main stage at the Hop Farm Festival and many more. Also, he collaborated with Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall on a song called "Golden Frames", for her third album “Tiger Suit”.
In February 2011, Seasick Steve signed to Play It Again to release his new album with the exception of the US, where it will be released on Third Man Records. Subsequently his new album “You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks” was released on his new labels and it was announced that former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones had played on the new album, and performed alongside Seasick Steve to promote it.
In July 2011, Seasick Steve played on stage with Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters & John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (both of whom are members of the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures) at Milton Keynes National Bowl in front of a sold-out audience of 65,000.
In August 2011, Seasick Steve played at Reading and Leeds Festival, and the Fairport's Cropredy Convention, sharing the stage with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
On August 20, 2011, Seasick Steve finished his European festival season of 2011 with a show on the Lowlands Festival in Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
On May 28, 2012, Seasick Steve played on the main-stage of the Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, The Netherlands.

This week's playlist

Harry Bodine - "Travellin' The Southland"
Tom Archia - "Ice Man's Blues"
Maria Muldaur - "Soulful Dress"
The John Pippus Band - "Mean Hearted Woman"
The Jelly Roll Kings - "Catfish Blues"
Lonnie Johnson - "Life Saver Blues"
Mississippi Sarah and Daddy Stovepipe - "Greenville Strut"
Five Harmaniacs - "What Makes My Baby Cry?"
Mississippi John Hurt - "Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight"
Gaye Adegbelola - "The Dog Was Here First"
Albert King - "I Won't Be Hanging Around"
Charnley and Grimes - "Pay Day"
Harmonica Frank - "Howlin' Tomcat"
Marcia Ball - "Roadside Attractions"
The Super Super Blues Band - "Who Do You Love"
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - "Tennesse Stud"
Jimi Hendrix - "Red House"
Little Walter - "Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)"
Shaun Murphy - "Ugly Man Blues"
J.J. Cale - "Any Way The Wind Blows"
Laura Rucker - "Crying The Blues"
Philipp Fankhauser - "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark"

Featured Artist: Chess Records

 Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases.
Run by brothers Leonard and Phil Chess, the company produced and released many important singles and albums, which are now regarded as central to the rock music canon. Musician and critic Cub Koda described Chess Records as "America's greatest blues label."
The Chess Records catalogue is now owned by Universal Music Group and managed by Geffen Records.
Chess Records was based at several different locations on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, initially at two different locations on South Cottage Grove Ave. The most famous location was 2120 S. Michigan Avenue from around 1956 to 1965, immortalized by British rock group The Rolling Stones in “2120 South Michigan Avenue”, an instrumental recorded at that address during their first U.S. tour in 1964; the Stones would record at Chess Studios on two more occasions. The building is now home to Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation. In the mid-60s Chess re-located to a much larger building at 320 East 21st Street, the label's final Chicago home.
Leonard bought a stake in a record company called Aristocrat Records in 1947; in 1950, Leonard brought his brother, Phil into the operation and they became sole owners of the company, renaming it Chess Records.
The first release on Chess was the 78 RPM single "My Foolish Heart" b/w "Bless You" by Gene Ammons, which was released as Chess 1425 in June 1950, and became the label's biggest hit of the year.
In 1951, the Chess brothers began an association with Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service One of the most important recordings that Phillips gave to Chess was “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats which topped Billboard magazine's R&B Records chart and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 because of its influence as a rock and roll single.
One of the most important artists that came out of Memphis was Howlin' Wolf, who stayed with the label until his death in 1976. Many songs created by Chess artists were later reproduced by many famous Rock n' Roll bands and artists such as "The Beatles", "The Rolling Stones", "The Beach Boys" and "Eric Clapton." Some of the core riffs created by Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and others were the basis of a wide amount of Rock n' Roll.
In 1952, the brothers also started Checker Records as an alternative label for radio play (radio stations would only play a limited number of records for any one imprint). In December 1955, they launched a jazz and pop label called Marterry (a name created from the first names of Leonard and Phil's sons Marshall and Terry). This was quickly renamed Argo Records, but the name was changed again in 1965 to Cadet Records to end confusion with an older British classical music label.
In 1953, Leonard Chess and Gene Goodman set up Arc Music BMI, a publishing company that would publish songs by many rhythm and blues artists.
In the mid 1950s the Chess brothers received two doo-wop groups by Alan Freed, the Coronets and the Moonglows; the former group was not very popular but the latter achieved several crossover hits including “Sincerely”, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. Several of Chess's releases gave a writing credit to Alan Freed.
During the 1950s, Leonard and Phil Chess handled most of the production. They brought in legendary producer, Ralph Bass in 1960 to handle the gospel output and some of the blues singers. Bassist and songwriter Willie Dixon was also heavily involved in organizing blues sessions for the label, and is now credited retroactively as a producer on some re-releases. During the 1960s, the company's A&R manager and chief producer for soul/R&B recordings was Roquel "Billy" Davis, who had previously worked with Motown founder Berry Gordy on songs for Jackie Wilson, Etta James, Marv Johnson and on early Motown releases.
In 1958, Chess began producing their first LP records which included such albums as “The Best Of Muddy Waters”, “Best Of Little Walter” and “Bo Diddley”.
Chess Records was also known for its regular band of session musicians who played on most of the company's Chicago soul recordings, such as drummer Maurice White and bassist Louis Satterfield, both of whom would later shape the funk group Earth, Wind & Fire; guitarists Pete Cosey, Gerald Sims and Phil Upchurch; pianist Leonard Caston, later a producer with Motown; and organist Sonny Thompson.
In 1969, Chess Records established a subsidiary label called Middle Earth Records in the U.K., which was distributed by Pye Records. The subsidiary specialized in Psychedelic rock and was a joint venture with the Middle Earth Club in London. The Middle Earth label released only 4 albums titles and about a dozen singles before it was closed in 1970.
The company was briefly run by Marshall Chess, son of Leonard, in his position as vice-president between January and October 1969, and then as president, following its acquisition by GRT, before he went on to found Rolling Stones Records. In 1969, the Chess brothers sold the label to General Recorded Tape (GRT) for $6.5 million. In October 1969, Leonard Chess died and by 1972, the only part of Chess Records still operating in Chicago was the recording studio, Ter-Mar Studios.
Although Chess had produced many R&B number ones and major pop hits over the years, it was in 1972 that the label finally reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with Chuck Berry's “My Ding -a-Ling”, a live recording from a concert in Coventry, England. However, this became the company's 'swansong' release. GRT had moved the label to New York City, operating it as a division of Janus Records. Under GRT, Chess effectively vanished as an important force in the recording industry. In August 1975, GRT sold what remained of Chess Records to New Jersey-based All Platinum Records.
In the early 1980s, noticing that much of the Chess catalog was unavailable, Marshall Chess was able to convince Joe and Sylvia Robinson, who ran All Platinum, to re-issue the catalog themselves under his supervision (All Platinum had been licensing selected tracks out to other companies, which ultimately resulted in the disappearance of some original master tapes). The re-issued singles and LPs sold well, but by the mid-80s, All Platinum fell into financial difficulties and the Chess master recordings were acquired by MCA Records, which itself was later merged into Universal Music imprint, Geffen Records.
In February 1997, MCA started releasing eleven compilation albums for the 50th anniversary of Chess Records.
In the 2000s, Universal's limited-edition re-issue label, Hip-O Select began releasing a series of comprehensive box-sets devoted to such Chess artists as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry.
Chess Records was the subject of two films produced in 2008, “Cadillac Records” and “Who Do You Love?”. In addition to the Chess brothers, both films feature portrayals of or based on Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf and Etta James.

Just to let you know that, if you missed the show, from now on you can catch up on Mixcloud.
Type in Monday Morning Blues, and you'll find us there.
There is also an app. you can download for free to your smart phone, so you can hear us anywhere.
Enjoy!

This week's playlist

"Bright Lights, Big City" - Jimmy Reed
"Sa M'Appel Fou (They Call Me Crazy)" - Clifton Chenier
"Lullaby" - Ginger St. James
"Beer Bottle Pockets" - Ginger St. James
"Mean Old World" - The Mannish Boys
"Rising Sun Blues" - King David's Jug Band
"Sugar Mama" - Tail Dragger and Bob Corritore
"24 Hours" - Eddie Boyd
"In The Mood" - John Lee Hooker
"Sleep Talking Blues" - Ma Rainey
"Please Mr. Driver" - Ginger St. James
"Heygana" - Ali Farke Toure
"Didn't Mean No Harm" - Frank Frost
"Lost My Baby Blues" - Tresa Street
"Trick Bag" - Johnny Winter
"Boyfriend Blues" - Jo-Ann Kelly
"West Side Baby" - Little Willie Anderson
"Boogie Woogie Blues" - Clarence Samuels
"Salvation" - Ginger St. James
"Back In The Doghouse" - Seasick Steve

Featured Artist: Ginger St. James

Ginger St. James

A tiny firecracker of a woman, raised on a farm near Hamilton has become a serious artist who combines, night after night, two great American traditions: Burlesque and the blues.
St. James found her way into the entertainment business the way most kids do — a guitar at 13, a cheerful streak of exhibitionism , talent contests, and — a defining moment — a guest appearance with a burlesque troupe in a little theatre. A challenge, she says now, looking back: “I was a little nervous backstage, and then it’s like "bring it on!’” In 2002, she first appeared on the Toronto scene as a member of Les Coquettes as a sultry singer; her affection for good old rock and roll and the lure of footlights led her to Broadway songs. And Les Coquettes, one of the first Burlesque troupes in Canada to revive the old vaudeville tradition, led her to form her own group in her hometown, the Steeltown Sirens.
Eighty shows later, St. James had emerged as a singer as well as a saucy soubrette with slithery moves, legs to die for and a smile to melt the ice in your gin and tonic. Along the way, she worked as an artists’ model, took the femme fatale role in Lucky 7, an indie film feature and performed as a guest with many well known Hamilton bands.
Backed by her band, it was her voice, sultry and surprisingly strong, that took her to her present level as one of Ontario’s most exciting new artists. This was, after all, an artist who could handle show tunes, swing, rockabilly, country and good ol’ rock and roll. Most of all, though, she developed a taste for the blues — which she vivaciously mixes with the rest of the musical genres she loves.
​The first folk to take notice were the editors of View Magazine, Hamilton’s guide to what matters in Steeltown — for four consecutive years, beginning in 2008, she was picked as Best Female Artist. Her debut recording Spank, Sparkle and Growl earned St. James the Alt/Country Recording of the Year at the 2010 Hamilton Music Awards and nominations for Female Artist of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.
Following the success of her debut EP, St. James’ dance card has been packed with gigs at major festivals, clubs and two East Coast tours. With the 2012 release of her sophomore recording, aptly titled Tease, Ginger St. James has now well and truly broken out of her role as a Hamilton phenomenon; the rest of us are discovering her. Now, with the confidence and smarts she’s acquired since she shed most of her clothes at her first burlesque shows all those years ago, she has become a singer with the heart and soul and sexiness of the blues.
Ginger St. James, in short, has arrived. And you should — you will — pay attention. Blues, Country and Rock n' Roll are her primary weapons, though it's her sultry, expressive voice that steals the show.

This week's playlist

"Needle And Spoon" - Savoy Brown
"Long Legged Woman" - Rick L. Blues
"Look Again" - The SOME X 6 Band
"Curveball" - The SOME X 6 Band
"Please Take Care" - Grainne Duffy
"The Rooster's Crowing Blues" - Cannon's Jug Stompers
"Give It Up Or Let Me Go" - Bonnie Raitt
"Dimples" - John Lee Hooker
"Hoochie Coochie Gal" - Etta James
"Little Stevie's Shuffle" - The Elmores
"The Old Folks Started It" - Minnie Wallace
"Hey Stranger" - The SOME X 6 Band
"The Sky Is Falling Down" - Walter Trout
"Paper In Your Pocket" - Mitch Laddie
"Company Underground" - Hat Fitz and Cara
"Could Be You, Could Be Me" - Eric Bibb
"I'm A King Bee" - Slim Harpo
"Stick To The Promise" - Giles Robson and The Dirty Aces
"All Right Now" - Jeff Black
"Cops And Robbers" - Bo Diddley
"The Stomp" - The SOME X 6 Band
"Walked All Night Long" - Byther Smith

Featured Artist: The SOME X 6 Band

Since 2002, founding member, songwriter, vocalist and bassist Brad Curtis has played with a variety of excellent musicians, each helping shape the sound we now know as The SOME x 6 Band
In the early years the band was influenced by artists such as The Doors, Jimi Hendrix , Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Robin Trower and BB King, but the biggest influence on early SOME x 6 was Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Murray McLaughlan was the original guitar player in SOME x 6 and left the band in 2009 to "go fishin". Murray stops in for an occasional jam now and then.
Brad has surrounded himself with very capable players in Bart Dwyer and Gordon Cole, both on Guitar.
The band is released it’s new all original CD “The Hoodoo Shake” August 31 at The Cottage Bistro, Vancouver.
Some x 6 has supported many causes over the past 10 years and is a big supporter of The Cancer Relay For Life events !
The SOME x 6 Band is currently performing all original songs and plays with a blues/rock style.

This week's playlist

"Monday Morning Blues" - Mississippi John Hurt
"Party On" - John Pippus
"Tell Me Why" - John Pippus
"Didn't I Say" - The Mustangs
"Hot Tomales And They're Red Hot" - Jake Leg Jug Band
"It's A Sin" - Guitar Mikey
"Whiskey River Blues" - Shameless Rob Band
"All Your Love" - The Deluxe Blues Band
"Captured Me" - Sunday Wilde
"Save Some Mercy For Me" - Sandi Thom
"Walk On" - Cee Cee James
"I'm On The Road Again" - James 'Buddy' Rogers
"Blues Is My Business" - No Refunds Band
"That's What Love Will Do" - Shaun Murphy
"What'd I Say" - Geno Washington
"Holler And Stomp" - The Cash Box Kings

This week's playlist

"Christmas Train" - Carey Bell
"The Christmas Song" - Mark jungers
"Christmas Day Blues" - Cephas and Wiggins
"Please Let Me Be Your Santa Claus" - William Clarke
"Stay A Little Longer Santa" - Shemekia Copeland
"Fattening Up The Turkey" - Dave Hole
"Christmas Iz Coming" - Christmas Jug Band
"Back Door Santa" - The Holmes Brothers
"Christmas Time" - Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials
"Santa Claus" - Little Charlie & The Nightcats
"Zydeco Christmas" - C.J. Chenier and The Red Hot Louisianna Band
"It's Christmas Time Again" - JD Myers
"X-Mas Blues" - The Preston Shannon Band

"A Bluesman's Christmas" - Coco Montoya
"Christmas Time In The Country" - Kenny Neal
"Santa Claus, Do You Ever Get The Blues" - Roomful Of Blues
"Lonesome Christmas" - Son Seals
"Merry Merry Christmas" - Koko Taylor
"Deck The Halls With Boogie Woogie" - Katie Webster
"Really Been Good This Year" - Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women
"Santa Claus" - Bo Carter

This week's playlist

"Strange Fruit" - Pete 'Snakey Jake' Johnson
"I'm Cryin'" - Stevie Ray Vaughan
"I Ain't Superstitious" - The Jeff Beck Group
"Don't Cry" - Shirley Jackson & The Good Rockin' Daddies
"21 Days In Jail" - Magic Sam
"Mud Bears Park" - Tippy Agogo and Bill Bourne
"Beale Street Breakdown" - Jed Davenport and His Jug Band
"Bring It On Home" - Hawkwind
"Hey Santa Claus" - Jillaine
"Christmastime Blues" - Jaimi Shuey
"Cold Shot" - Stevie Ray Vaughan
"I Wanna Be" - Riot and The Blues Devils
"Lights Out" - Dr. Feelgood
"Ain't Gone 'N' Give Up On Love" - Stevie Ray Vaughan
"Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" - Charles Brown
"Chemistry" - Jack Derwin
"I Won't Be Your Fool" - A Ton Of Blues
"Christmas Snow" - Michael Burks
"Backup Plan" - Mark Robinson
"Chick 4 Christmas" - Chick Willis
"Good Texan" - The Vaughan Brothers
"I Can't Quit You Baby" - Led Zeppelin

Featured Artist: Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan

                        (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990)
With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the '80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre.
Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll.
Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar as a child, inspired by older brother Jimmie. When he was in junior high school, he began playing in a number of garage bands, which occasionally landed gigs in local nightclubs. By the time he was 17, he had dropped out of high school to concentrate on playing music.
Vaughan's first real band was the Cobras, who played clubs and bars in Austin during the mid-'70s. Following that group's demise, he formed Triple Threat in 1975. Triple Threat also featured bassist Jackie Newhouse, drummer Chris Layton, and vocalist Lou Ann Barton. After a few years of playing Texas bars and clubs, Barton left the band in 1978. The group decided to continue performing under the name Double Trouble, which was inspired by the Otis Rush song of the same name; Vaughan became the band's lead singer.
For the next few years, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played the Austin area, becoming one of the most popular bands in Texas. In 1982, the band played the Montreux Festival and their performance caught the attention of David Bowie and Jackson Browne.
After Double Trouble's performance, Bowie asked Vaughan to play on his forthcoming album, while Browne offered the group free recording time at his Los Angeles studio, Downtown; both offers were accepted. Stevie Ray laid down the lead guitar tracks for what became Bowie's “Let's Dance” album in late 1982. Shortly afterward, John Hammond Sr. landed Vaughan and Double Trouble a record contract with Epic, and the band recorded its debut album in less than a week at Downtown.
Vaughan's debut album, “Texas Flood”, was released in the summer of 1983, a few months after Bowie's “Let's Dance” appeared. On its own, “Let's Dance” earned Vaughan quite a bit of attention, but “Texas Flood” was a blockbuster blues success; receiving positive reviews in both blues and rock publications, reaching number 38 on the charts, and crossing over to album rock radio stations. Bowie offered Vaughan the lead guitarist role for his 1983 stadium tour, but he turned him down, preferring to play with Double Trouble. Vaughan and Doucle Trouble set off on a successful tour and quickly recorded their second album, “Cou;dn't Stand The Weather”, which was released in May of 1984. The album was more successful than its predecessor, reaching number 31 on the charts; by the end of 1985, the album went gold.
Double Trouble added keyboardist Reese Wynans in 1985, before they recorded their third album, “Soul To Soul”. The record was released in August 1985 and was also quite successful, reaching number 34 on the charts.
Although his professional career was soaring, Vaughan was sinking deep into alcoholism and drug addiction. Despite his declining health, Vaughan continued to push himself, releasing the double live album “Live Alive” in October of 1986 and launching an extensive American tour in early 1987. Following the tour, Vaughan checked into a rehabilitation clinic. The guitarist's time in rehab was kept fairly quiet, and for the next year Srevie Ray and Double Trouble were fairly inactive. Vaughan performed a number of concerts in 1988, including a headlining gig at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and wrote his fourth album. The resulting record, “In Step”, appeared in June of 1989 and became his most successful album, peaking at number 33 on the charts, earning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording, and going gold just over six months after its release.
In the spring of 1990, Stevie Ray recorded an album with his brother Jimmie, which was scheduled for release in the autumn of the year.
In the late summer of 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble set out on an American headlining tour. On August 26, 1990, their East Troy, WI, gig concluded with an encore jam featuring guitarists Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray. After the concert, Stevie Ray boarded a helicopter bound for Chicago. Minutes after its 12:30 a.m. takeoff, the helicopter crashed, killing Vaughan and the other four passengers. He was only 35 years old.
"Family Style”, Stevie Ray's duet album with Jimmie, appeared in October and entered the charts at number seven. “Family Style” began a series of posthumous releases that were as popular as the albums Vaughan released during his lifetime.
“The Sky Is Crying”, a collection of studio outtakes compiled by Jimmie, was released in October of 1991; it entered the charts at number ten and went platinum three months after its release.
“In The Beginning”, a recording of a Double Trouble concert in 1980, was released in the autumn of 1992 and the compilation “Greatest Hits” was released in 1995.
In 1999, Vaughan's original albums were remastered and reissued, with “The Real Deal: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2” also appearing that year. 2000 saw the release of the four-disc box “SRV”, which concentrated heavily on outtakes, live performances, and rarities.

This week's playlist

"Blue Railroad Train" - Doc Watson
"A Spoonful Of Blues" - Charlie Patton
"Walk On" - Grant Lyle
"Honky Tonk Girl" - Pete Anderson
"Chained" - Shaun Murphy
"My Babe" - Narvel Felts
"Jug Rag" - The Prairie Ramblers
"Bottle Up And Go" - Hooker 'N' Heat
"Reconsider Baby" - Elvis Presley
"Screamin' And Hollerin' The Blues" - Charlie Patton
"But Anyway" - Blues Traveler
"Monday Morning Blues" - Mississippi John Hurt
"Stone Pony Blues" - Charlie Patton
"ESP" - Eliza Neals
"The Hoodoo Shake" - The Some X 6 Band
"All I Want For Christmas (Is To Be With You)" - Lonnie Brooks
"Up The Line" - Paul Orta and The Kingpins
"Christmas Fais Do Do" - Marcia Ball
"Why Me" - Dellie Hoskie
"Winter Time Blues" - Big Maceo
"34 Blues" - Charlie Patton
"Tollin' Bells" - Lowell Fulson and Willie Dixon

Featured Artist: Charley Patton

Charley (or Charlie) Patton
1891 (?) - April 28th 1934

Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta . Most sources say he was born in 1891, but there is some debate about this, and the years 1887 and 1894 have also been suggested.
Though Patton was considered African-American, because of his light complexion there have been rumors that he was Mexican, or possibly a full-blood Cherokee, a theory endorsed by Howlin' Wolf. In actuality, Patton was a mix of white, black, and Cherokee (one of his grandmothers was a full-blooded Cherokee). Patton himself sang in "Down the Dirt Road Blues" of having gone to "the Nation" and "the Territo'"—meaning the Cherokee Nation portion of the Indian Territory.
If the Delta country blues has a convenient source point, it would probably be Charley Patton, its first great star. His hoarse, impassioned singing style, fluid guitar playing, and unrelenting beat made him the original king of the Delta blues. Much more than your average itinerant musician, Patton was an acknowledged celebrity and a seminal influence on musicians throughout the Delta.
Although Patton was a small man at about 5 foot 5, his gravelly voice was rumored to have been loud enough to carry 500 yards without amplification. Patton's gritty bellowing was a major influence on the singing style of his young friend Chester Burnett, who went on to gain fame in Chicago as Howlin' Wolf.
His guitar playing was no less impressive, fueled with a propulsive beat and a keen rhythmic sense that would later plant seeds in the boogie style of John Lee Hooker.
His slide work -- either played in his lap like a Hawaiian guitar and fretted with a pocket knife, or in the more conventional manner with a brass pipe for a bottleneck -- was no less inspiring, finishing vocal phrases for him and influencing contemporaries like Son House and up-and-coming youngsters like Robert Johnson.
Most of the now-common guitar gymnastics modern audiences have come to associate with the likes of a Jimi Hendrix, in fact, originated with Patton, who gained notoriety for his showmanship, often playing with the guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back.
He first recorded in 1929 for the Paramount label and, within a year's time, he was not only the largest-selling blues artist but -- in a whirlwind of recording activity -- also the music's most prolific.
No one will never know what Patton's Paramount masters really sounded like. When the company went out of business, the metal masters were sold off as scrap, some of it used to line chicken coops. All that's left are the original 78s -- rumored to have been made out of inferior pressing material commonly used to make bowling balls -- and all of them are scratched and heavily played, making all attempts at sound retrieval by current noise-reduction processing a tall order indeed.
That said, it is still music well worth seeking out and not just for its place in history. Patton's music gives us the first flowering of the Delta blues form, before it became homogenized with turnarounds and 12-bar restrictions, and few humans went at it so aggressively.
He died on the Heathman-Dedham plantation near Indianola on April 28, 1934 and is buried in Holly Ridge. A memorial headstone was erected on Patton's grave, paid for by musician John Fogerty through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in July, 1990.

This week's playlist

"Bring It On Home To Me" - The Angel Band
"Unemployment" - J.J. Cale
"Show Me A Man" - Sunday Wilde
"I Can't Shake That Guy" - Sunday Wilde
"I Dreamed About Muddy Waters Last Night" - John Pippus
"Walkin' Cane Stomp" - Kentucky Jug Band
"Black Dog Blues" - The Barrelhouse Brothers
"I'm A Mover" - Free
"Down Hearted Blues" - Bessie Smith
"James Alley Blues" - Richard 'Rabbit' Brown
"Captured Me" - Sunday Wilde
"When The Train Comes Back" - Chicken Shack
"It's Gonna Rain" - Philipp Fankhauser
"I Don't Live Anywhere" - Joe Bonamassa
"I Can't Be Satisfied" - Big Bill Broonzy
"Train Kept A-Rolling" - The Yardbirds
"Holy Water" - Jon Amor Blues Group
"He Thrills Me Up" - Sunday Wilde
"The Hard Way" - Danny Bryant's Redeye Band

Featured artist: Sunday Wilde

Sunday Wilde

Sunday Wilde is from the wilds of a small northern Ontario town, but she has been found singing everywhere from small logging and mining towns at coffee houses, funeral parlours, and blues joints and all the way to large festivals, house concerts and bars in bustling metropolises.
She has won jazz and blues awards with co-writers and her own compositions on garageband and has been ranked as high as 8 on Myspace Canada Gospel music charts.
Beyond her powerful vocal delivery is her equally powerful lyrical delivery which shows us all that she understands the ups and downs one can go through and thoroughly knows how to deliver that message, via her music, and people seem to have started to take notice.
She is influenced by the greats, such as, Ruth Brown, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Bessie Smith, Big Bill Broonzy, Tom Waits, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, to name a few of the more prominent ones. Her delivery of the styles of those greats is probably as good as most anyone else can do in these modern times and it is a delivery that perhaps isn't quite offered nearly enough in todays overly popped up music scene

This week's playlist

"Stop Breakin' Down Blues" - Robert Johnson
"Lovin, Kissin, Huggin'" - James 'Buddy' Rogers
"I'm On The Road Again" - James 'Buddy' Rogers
"Guitar Sue" - James 'Buddy' Rogers
"Long Tall Mama" - Big Bill Broonzy
"Choker" - Eric Clapton
"Rockin' Rollin' Stone" - Grainne Duffy
"Whoa Mule" - Tennessee Mafia Jug Band
"The Sun Is Shining" - Fleetwood Mac
"Colleen" - A Ton Of Blues
"From Four Until Late" - Robert Johnson
"Since I Met You Baby" - B.B. King & Katie Webster
"I'd Rather Go Blind" - Rod Stewart
"When You Got A Good Friend" - Robert Johnson
"Fives And Ones" - Ray Manzarek and Roy Rogers
"If You Were Mine" - Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials
"Leaving Blues" - Big Maceo
"I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More" - Sleepy John Estes
"Deeper Side Of Blue" - Walter Trout
"One Track Love" - Jimmy McCracklin
"Oh Papa Blues" - Ma Rainey
"Deep River" - John Oates Band
"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" - Robert Johnson
"Vivienne" - Louisiana Rd

Featured Artist: Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson
May 8, 1911 (?) - August 16, 1938 
50th Featured Artist

Robert Johnson was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, possibly on May 8, 1911, to Julia Major Dodds and Noah Johnson
If the blues has a truly mythic figure, one whose story hangs over the music the way a Charlie Parker does over jazz or a Hank Williams does over country, it's Robert Johnson, certainly the most celebrated figure in the history of the blues.
Of course, his legend is immensely fortified by the fact that he also left behind a small legacy of recordings that are considered the emotional apex of the music itself. These recordings have not only entered the realm of blues standards ("Love in Vain," "Crossroads," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Stop Breaking Down"), but were adapted by rock & roll artists as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Steve Miller, Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton.
The legend of his life - which by now, even folks who don't know anything about the blues can cite to you chapter and verse - goes something like this: Robert Johnson was a young black man living on a plantation in rural Mississippi. Branded with a burning desire to become great blues musician, he was instructed to take his guitar to a crossroad near Dockery's plantation at midnight. There he was met by a large black man (the Devil) who took the guitar from Johnson, tuned it, and handed it back to him. Within less than a year's time, in exchange for his everlasting soul, Robert Johnson became the king of the Delta blues singers, able to play, sing, and create the greatest blues anyone had ever heard.
Of course, Robert Johnson's influences in the real world were far more disparate than the legend suggests, no matter how many times it's been retold or embellished.
As a teenage plantation worker, Johnson fooled with a harmonica a little bit, but seemingly had no major musical skills to speak of. Every attempt to sit in with local titans of the stature of Son House, Charley Patton, Willie Brown, and others brought howls of derision from the older bluesmen. He idolized the Delta recording star Lonnie Johnson - sometimes introducing himself to newcomers as "Robert Lonnie, one of the Johnson brothers" -- and the music of Scrapper Blackwell, Skip James and Kokomo Arnold were all inspirational elements that he drew his unique style from. His slide style certainly came from hours of watching local stars like Charley Patten and Son House, among others.
Although Robert Johnson never recorded near as much as Lonnie Johnson, Charley Patten, or Blind Lemon Jefferson, he certainly traveled more than all of them put together. After his first recordings came out and "Terraplane Blues" became his signature tune, Johnson hit the road, playing anywhere and everywhere he could.
In Jackson, Mississippi, around 1936, Johnson sought out H.C. Speir, who ran a general store and doubled as a talent scout. Speir put Johnson in touch with Ernie Oertle, who offered to record the young musician in San Antonio, Texas. The recording session was held on November 23, 1936 in room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, which Brunswick Records had set up to be a temporary recording studio. In the ensuing three-day session, Johnson played sixteen selections, and recorded alternate takes for most of these. Johnson reportedly performed facing the wall, which has been cited as evidence he was a shy man and reserved performer.
In 1937, Johnson traveled to Dallas, Texas, for another recording session in a makeshift studio at the Vitagraph (Warner Brothers) Building, 508 Park Avenue, where Brunswick Record Corporation was located on the third floor. Eleven records from this session would be released within the following year. Johnson did two takes of most of these songs and recordings of those takes survived. Because of this, there is more opportunity to compare different performances of a single song by Johnson than for any other blues performer of his time and place.
The end came at a Saturday-night dance at a juke joint in Three Forks, MS, in August of 1938. Playing with Honeyboy Edwards and Sonny Boy Williamson, Johnson was given a jug of moonshine whiskey laced with either poison or lye, presumably by the husband of a woman the singer had made advances toward. He continued playing into the night until he was too sick to continue, then brought back to a boarding house in Greenwood, some 15 miles away. He lay sick for several days, successfully sweating the poison out of his system, but caught pneumonia as a result and died on August 16th.
Research in the 1980s and 1990s strongly suggests Johnson was buried in the graveyard of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church near Morgan City, not far from Greenwood, in an unmarked grave.
A one-ton cenotaph in the shape of an obelisk, listing all of Johnson's song titles, with a central inscription by Peter Guralnick, was placed at this location in 1990, paid for by Columbia Records and numerous smaller contributions made through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund.
In 1990 a small marker with the epitaph "Resting in the Blues" was placed in the cemetery of Payne Chapel near Quito, by the cemetery's owner. This alleged burial site, in an apparent attempt to strengthen a claim, happens to be located in the center of Richard Johnson's family plot.
More recent research by Stephen LaVere (including statements from Rosie Eskridge, the wife of the supposed gravedigger) indicates that the actual grave site is under a big pecan tree in the cemetery of the Little Zion Church, north of Greenwood along Money Road. Sony Music has placed a marker at this site.
Since his death Johnson's name and likeness has become a cottage growth merchandising industry. Posters, postcards, t-shirts, guitar picks, strings, straps, and polishing cloths -- all bearing either his likeness or signature (taken from his second marriage certificate) -- have become available, making him the ultimate blues commodity with his image being reproduced for profit far more than any contemporary bluesman, dead or alive. Although the man himself (and his contemporaries) could never have imagined it in a million years, the music and the legend both live on