Singing the Blues

Our Musical History - Blues & Beyond, with Cerys Matthews & Val Wilmer
The former is the Catatonia frontwoman who presents a radio show about Blues, the latter a noted photographer who met and snapped many of the greats. They started with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, championed Champion Jack Dupree, made space for Victoria Spivey, Son House and Ali Farka Toure, and were sure to include the usual suspects.

Music Icons: Chuck Berry
Born in October 1926 in St Louis to a middle class family, he was jailed as a teenager for armed robbery. He formed a vocal quartet in reform school, and got married on release. He learned his music craft whilst working several jobs. He was inspired by T-Bone Walker. He brought blues, pop and country together to create rock & roll. Muddy Waters recommended him to Chess Records. Maybellene got the ball rolling, then there was Roll Over Beethoven and Johnny B Goode. He tried movies. Then he did Sweet Little Sixteen. His wife left him over a row about a teenager. Despite these setbacks, and getting ripped off by the Beach Boys, he produced No Particular Place To Go, You Never Can Tell and more. He moved to Mercury Records. The IRS hassled him. He joined the R&R Hall of Fame in 1986. His final album came out in 2016, and he died in 2017.

Folk America at the Barbican - Seasick Steve
Despite the title, when a blues player plays tunes like Falling Down Blues and Levee Camp Blues, then that's Blues in my book.

John Lee Hooker - The Boogie Man
The story of a ladies man who developed his own sound and won a lot of British musicians over, many of whom were here to sing his praises, such as Keith Richards and Eric Burdon. Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt and Carlos Santana were also vocal supporters. He profited from a late 80s album project of collaborations. Van Morrison took "Baby Please Don't Go" from his back catalogue for a big hit. Burdon covered "Boom Boom". His children were also on board with this piece, a fitting and loving tribute.

New Orleans legend Dr John, aka Mac Rebennack, has died of a heart attack at the age of 77  RIP

The South Bank Show Originals: Boogie Woogie
From 1988, when they got Big Joe Duskin in the studio to demonstrate the piano-playing art, and he was so inspired he came up with a tune to reflect it, South Bank Boogie. Paul Jones was interviewed in 2019 to discuss it. It was described as the accessible face of jazz and blues.

Music Icons: ZZ Top
Billy Gibbons started out forming a band at school, but ZZ didn't really start until 1969. They needed 3 LPs to start making waves. After an expensive tour, they took a hiatus, and returned on a new label, and soon hit paydirt with Eliminator. They got a spot in Back to the Future III. They moved to RCA in the 90s. They had some mixed fortunes. They reached the R&R HoF in 2004. Billy should turn 70 on Dec 16th.

Chuck Berry
Another of Jon Brewer's films, this one from 2018 covered the life, work and death of the "king of rock n roll". St Louis' son was married to Themetta for 69 years, developed his own theme park in Berry Park, but it suffered crowd problems, and he faced legal hassles periodically over the years that a similar white performer would not have done. Many acts spoke up in respect, from Gene Simmons and Alice Cooper, to Wayne Kramer and Jerry Lee Lewis, and even George Thorogood and Nile Rodgers. A much-revered legend.

ZZ Top - That Little Ol' Band From Texas
A major effort interviewing all 3 key band members, with a handful of famous fans such as Steve Miller and Josh Homme. The story runs pretty steady up to Eliminator, which was paydirt for them. Sam Dunn directed, I recognise his name from some others he's done.

Music Icons: Chicago Blues
The stories of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Bo Diddley, and how they made such a huge impact, perhaps not least because they wrote their own material, and their sounds have inspired countless others ever since.

Legend Of Lead Belly
A 2014 effort relating the tale of the blues man whose real gift was for learning and adapting material, so that House of the Rising Sun and others are partially credited to him because he got them across to others. He made sure to be presentable and sharp when later playing, not clinging to some tawdry costume gimmick. Van Morrison, Roger McGuinn, Judy Collins, Robby Krieger and Joe Boyd were all among the contributors.

Later with Jools Holland - Hugh Laurie
Lockdown has curtailed his usual format, so he's doing one-on-ones instead. Laurie brought up the "Walking on Broken Glass" video he and John Malkovich did for Annie Lennox. He found a love for the blues in his childhood, though it wasn't a musical household. He was the youngest of 4, and his first bought record was by Muddy Waters. He met Irma Thomas and recorded with her, and also with Allen Toussaint, whilst working with Elvis Costello. He made a record in New Orleans, and met Dr John in the company of Jools. He brought up Jon Cleary. They finished the show with an instrumental duet on We'll Meet Again.

Rock N Roll RoadTrip w/Sammy Hagar - Blues and Wine - Aged to Perfection
Sammy visits Mountain Winery, Saratoga to chat with Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top legend. Sammy saw his first blues gig in 1965, but Billy inevitably had seen rarer greats. He compared their name with BB King. He has his own brand of tequila. He gives Sammy a ZZ keyring. They chat about guitars, and jam on a couple of tunes. Sammy reflects after how proud he was that Billy played along that much when only a few hours before a show.

Joe Bonamassa - British Blues Explosion Live
A 2016 outdoors gig at Greenwich, London, Joe and a fine band rattle through their versions of many classics from the heyday (i.e. the 60s) of the BBE. I was glad I stuck out that the titles would come up in the closing credits, I wouldn't have been able to guess them.

Born In Chicago
The saga of the blues in the 50s, 60s & later. Paul Butterfield's Band came up with the title song for this, and there was a lot of cunning vintage footage from the likes of BB King, Buddy Guy, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and many more.

Ah, couldn't work out why I wouldn't have done a ZZ Top thread. Legendary bassist Dusty Hill sadly played his last this week, at the age of 72. He'd been an integral part of the band for decades. RIP 

Dusty Hill, bassist for ZZ Top, has died at the age of 72. Very sad news. He was an American patriot. RIP

Video Killed The Radio Star: ZZ Top
A lucky repeat, with Dusty and Billy reflecting partly on their infamous 1980s videos like Gimme All Your Lovin, Legs and Sharp Dressed Man. A Polygram exec, Len Epand, had plenty to say too, as did director Steve Barron, who did the crazy space antics of Rough Boy. Viva Las Vegas and Stages were also included.

Buddy Guy - The Blues Chase The Blues Away
Guitar legend tells his story, how he found his way to Chicago and glory, how he met the greats like Muddy Waters and BB King and how they told him to keep the music alive, and how he feels guys like John Mayer and Gary Clark Jr are similarly keeping the fire burning. Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana were also present.

Mo' Better Blues
Spike Lee's 1990 film has Denzel Washington as a blues quartet band-leader who has woman troubles, manager troubles, and band troubles (Wesley Snipes wants to lead his own band). Spike Lee plays Denzel's manager whom he's known since childhood, but who has a gambling problem. Things reach a head when Spike gets assaulted by debt collectors, and Denzel gets pasted too. Things fizzle out from there, which isn't very bluesy.

Lead Belly - The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll
A new and familiar account of the man whose music prolonged his life and inspired millions more. Much use of archive chat allowed the likes of Pete Seeger, Alan Lomax, BB King and Harry Belafonte to contribute the narrative. Hudie Leadbetter, as was, seems to have been quite the one-off.

Old Grey Whistle Test: Bonnie Raitt
She brought her band to the show in 1976, opening with Love Me Like A Man, and working through a solid set as one might expect.

She's also got a new album out Friday, Just Like That...

misery guts wrote:Folk America at the Barbican - Seasick Steve
Despite the title, when a blues player plays tunes like Falling Down Blues and Levee Camp Blues, then that's Blues in my book.

Folk America at the Barbican - The Wiyos
Quite probably the same event, and they got through three songs, came from Brooklyn, and by all accounts are a blues band.

Two Trains Runnin'
This 2016 doc focused on a June day in 1964 where the quests for old blues men managed to turn up both Skip James and Son House, whilst elsewhere civil rights struggles led to the tragic murder of three people in Mississippi. James and House managed to enjoy a renewed fame for a few years. The murders caused shock and helped accelerate political pushes for greater equality.

Belladrum '22: Christone Kingfish Ingram
He delivered a solid little set, from She Calls Me Kingfish through to Another Life Goes By.

My Name is Ottilie
Dana Masters looked into the story of Ottilie Paterson, who became acclaimed as the "godmother of British blues", despite being a white woman from Northern Ireland. Dana did bring up a couple of times that she found it peculiar that she should have sung the way she did. She came to London, met and joined Chris Barber's band, and latterly was married to Barber for 24 years. But she had increasing mental issues, and regretted being unable to have children (she did get pregnant, but Barber didn't support her choice - after they split up, he did have a child with his new love). Ottilie gave a lengthy audio interview to Jen Wilson in the early 1990s, which at least let her give some of her side of the story. Jools Holland and Jacqui Dankworth also talked to Dana about things.

In Concert: Elkie Brooks
From the Golders Green Hippodrome in 1977, the blues belter did a decent hour of material, including The Sunshine After The Rain, and ending on Pearl's A Singer. She remains an under-rated star.

Radio 2 In Concert: Robert Cray
A jolly turn from 1988 at the Hammersmith Odeon. He did introduce some of his songs, which I was glad of, and he rounded off with Smoking Gun.