Have some pops from the past. This is Lightnin’ Hopkins with Couldn’t Be Satisfied. Otis Spann began playing piano when he was 7 and by the age of 14 was already playing with bands around his home town of Jackson, Mississippi. This is Ain’t Nobody’s Business. I don’t think I’ve
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Peace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night John Henry blogging
My earliest recollection of a song about John Henry and his hammer involved Harry Belafonte and Carnegie Hall. My father had the album. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a live performance of the song by Belafonte on YouTube. What I have found are a number of variations on the song just
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Sunday morning: Commodity
This is Guthrie Trapp.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
Good evening. This is a solo piece by Davy Knowles called Saving Myself. I thought he looked pretty young so I did the math: he was 22 when this was recorded in 2009. I bumped into this entirely by accident yesterday evening — Lyle Lovett and an “unplugged” ensemble performing
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
You Upset Me Baby was written by B.B. King, whose recording of it was on the R&B charts in 1954. This is Buddy Whittington. Here’s The Allman Brothers Band, featuring both Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, with Eric Clapton sitting in on Stormy Monday. You can crank this one up
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
This is Robert Johnson’s Come On In My Kitchen as performed by Kara Grainger and her band with her brother, Mitch Grainger, on harp. I’ve seen Otis Taylor’s music referred to as “trance blues.” Judge for yourself. This is Blue Rain in Africa. Jonny Lang took up the guitar at
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
Let’s ease into it. This is Johnnie Bassett fronting the Brothers Groove and the Motor City Horns. He’s still got the blues but now he’s got them in his Fleetwood Cadillac. Shakura S’Aida is going to slow things and then pick up the pace again. This is called That Ain’t
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Sunday morning: While You Wait For The Rain
She’s an interesting songwriter. Good morning.
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night: RIP JJ Cale
According to his bio at Wikipedia, JJ Cale was considering giving up the music business when Eric Clapton recorded After Midnight in 1970. Cale spent the next forty years writing songs, recording and touring. He passed away last Friday after a heart attack. Let’s open with Mama Don’t. Here’s another
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night: Trains
I’m pleased to be able to report that no Toronto city councillors were injured in the debate over which train songs to include in tonight’s post. This is British blues band Nine Below Zero performing Riding on the L & N. Now Brian Setzer, Mark Winchester and Bernie Dresel are
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
Like so many blues musicians, Larry Garner is from Louisiana — he was born in New Orleans and grew up in Baton Rouge. Here he is performing Buster. One of the interesting things about music festivals like the Crossroads series is the way it bring musicians together who might not
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
This is Keb’ Mo’ covering Robert Johnson’s Kind Hearted Woman Blues. It seems like a good place to start (h/t to Moose at Classic Blues Videos). Tab Benoit hails from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He writes a lot of his own songs and I believe One Foot in the Bayou is
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
Outside Woman Blues was originally recorded in 1929 by Blind Joe Reynolds. This is Doyle Bramhall II at one of the Crossroads festivals (where they really seem to have a thing for double drummers). This is John Hammond performing at a concert staged as a tribute to the Mississippi Sheiks,
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
According to Janiva Magness, this is a true story: The Devil is an Angel Too. This is the second piece I’ve posted from this session, whatever it is. There doesn’t seem to be a very big crowd but it certainly looks like the musicians are enjoying themselves. We go all
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
I’m opening with the big band this evening. But I’m closing with Buddy Guy so it should work out. This is Roomful of Blues with Jambalaya. I Won’t Cry was written by Janiva Magness, the lead vocalist, and Dave Darling, the guitar player. New music! As promised, here’s Buddy Guy
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
Good evening. This is the Heritage Blues Orchestra with Get Right Church. This is what happens when you let Jeff Beck into the White House. It’s a slow instrumental called Brush with the Blues. (Is it me or does the First Lady looked a bit bored?) So we’ve gone from
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
If you enjoyed the Son Seals performance I posted a few weeks ago, you might like this one too. This is On My Knees, taken from a TV performance in the eighties. Here’s a slow blues by the James Cotton Blues Band. It’s called Easy Lovin’ (and comes with a
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
It’s Friday. Have some tunes. This is Jim Byrnes, with Steve Dawson on guitar, performing a Hank Williams song called Honky Tonk Blues. This is billed as Kenny Neal and the Neal Brothers Blues Band but the second harp player and, I’m pretty sure, one of the guitar players are
Continue readingPeace, order and good government, eh?: Friday night blues blogging
This is Kelly Joe Phelps in a recording studio in Vancouver performing The Holy Spirit Flood. There’s some pretty intricate fingerpicking here. How did I not know about the Heritage Blues Orchestra until now? The song is Joliet Bound. And for a rowdy finish, here’s the Asylum Street Spankers with
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