Do you Yazoo?

[mike]

click me This era of music is just wonderful. I can't stop listening to their "Best Their Ever Was" comp. wow! :eusa_clap
Anyone else have any of their releases and want to gush about them? gush away!

 

[Feraud]

Now you are talkin' my kind of music. Back to the Crossroads is excellent!

 

[mike]

I haven't heard that one... yet! I'm listening to Geeshie Wiley - Last Kind Words. Haunting songs played in minor key and she's singing about how her man died 'in the german war' (pre WW2) and she's standing on the riverside deciding to jump in and meet her man in death!

Hello friday night! hahaha

Actually I tried to mix in some of this collection with my regular dj set last weekend, going from bunker hill to howlin wolf to William Harris' Bullfrog Blues and then back to John Lee Hooker and some Sun Blues tracks. I don't think it stuck out too much... usually delta blues is a no no for bar dj'ing unless your'e doing a mellow happy hour set but no one seemed to mind it, so I did it again Back in NY I've got a monthly dj night at Otto's Shrunken Head, expect more o'the same

 

[Feraud]

Very cool. Let me know what night you will bet at Otto's. I will stop in for some of that Delta blues mix.

 

[mike]

Very cool. Let me know what night you will bet at Otto's. I will stop in for some of that Delta blues mix.

Sure! I've been running the Midnite Monster Hop since 2002/3 the last saturday of the month there. It's generally 50's monster themed r'n'r, 40's-50's r&b, rockabilly, 60's garage-punk, neo rockabilly & psychobilly all smushed together cause if it's all just great wild music, well it works together. And I've been convinced for a long time the delta blues is the backbone of everything. I also slip in some 30's-50's true trinidadian calypso. Everyone leaves happy! Or atleast plastered lol

Anyway, sounds like Astoria is gonna be a lot of fun! Do you know how to play anything? I've got a few important things on my to do list, including learning harmonica

 

[Feraud]

All you need is to add a bit of The Misfits into the mix and I am there!
It sounds like a good time.

The Delta blues is definitely the backbone of later rock and roll music. Guys like Clapton and The Stones were directly influenced by Robert Johnson, Son House, Bukka White and other bluesmen.

I play the drums but have not picked up the sticks in a while.

 

[mike]

All you need is to add a bit of The Misfits into the mix and I am there!
It sounds like a good time.

The Delta blues is definitely the backbone of later rock and roll music. Guys like Clapton and The Stones were directly influenced by Robert Johnson, Son House, Bukka White and other bluesmen.

I play the drums but have not picked up the sticks in a while.

A friend of mine just gave me a fleetwood mac early album where they're trying to completely be elmore james! But I think that beyond that 60's era of rock bands' direct inspiration, everything else that is rock n roll today is in a round about way based on this stuff. Delta Blues eventually became rhythm & blues which became rock n roll but apart from slight changes it's the same thing. A lot of upbeat 20's-30's blues if giving a pounding drumbeat IS r'n'r! Or so I think

 

[Feraud]

I heard about Fleetwood Mac doing Elmore James. Is it any good and worth seeking out?

What I found interesting in reading some blues history is how progressive and current the musicians were and wanted to be. There is an assumption that the blues was a fixed and archaic form of music. The reality is blues performers were always looking to better their skills and perform in the current style.
In a book I read the author quotes Muddy Waters as a young man being musically influenced by listening to Fats Waller on the radio! That is not the typical blues story. We usually hear of a poor fellow waiting on the crossroads to sell his soul to the devil! lol

 

[mike]

I heard about Fleetwood Mac doing Elmore James. Is it any good and worth seeking out?

What I found interesting in reading some blues history is how progressive and current the musicians were and wanted to be. There is an assumption that the blues was a fixed and archaic form of music. The reality is blues performers were always looking to better their skills and perform in the current style.
In a book I read the author quotes Muddy Waters as a young man being musically influenced by listening to Fats Waller on the radio! That is not the typical blues story. We usually hear of a poor fellow waiting on the crossroads to sell his soul to the devil! lol

It's not bad.. although why listen to some dopey white kids play elmore james and not just put on elmore james...? haha
I'd like to read more about the lives of the blues musicians. I know lots about rockabilly musicians' lives but not this earlier generation. One interesting guy is Blind Blake who was able to balance doing the blues AND calypso yet never melding them. He's very convincing as a native of both cultures (which he's not)!
Also, one thing I never understood about Charlie Patton is I always thought he looked like a white guy in black face, which was very common at the time. But on the other hand, apparently the one photo believed to be him, might not even be him at all! There's stories of him being a mix of native american, african american and some sorta white too. If any of this is true, how interesting that the melting pot that is/was america could be summed up with Charlie Patton!

 

[Feraud]

One interesting guy is Blind Blake who was able to balance doing the blues AND calypso yet never melding them. He's very convincing as a native of both cultures (which he's not)!

Was Blake never able to combine the two styles at his doing or due to outside influences? I notice the record industry then (and now) had a need to categorize. I would not be surprised to hear he was urged to stick to a particular style of music in order to sell more records.
It is interesting to note the blind musicians playing then.
Lemon Jefferson, Blake, Roosevelt Graves, Joe Reynolds, and others.

Also, one thing I never understood about Charlie Patton is I always thought he looked like a white guy in black face, which was very common at the time. But on the other hand, apparently the one photo believed to be him, might not even be him at all! There's stories of him being a mix of native american, african american and some sorta white too. If any of this is true, how interesting that the melting pot that is/was america could be summed up with Charlie Patton!

Is there a question as to the photos authenticity? I did not know that.
Patton had an amazing voice. It is said he was on the smallish side and surprised people who heard him sing.

Speaking of photos what do you think of the Robert Johnson stamp?
I mostly hate it. They took the photobooth picture and edited the life out it. First they slapped a silly wooden shack background behind him. I guess they needed to make him look more "down home". Then p.c. steps in and airbrushes the cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
What a mess of a stamp.