So, what blues artists would make up your Mount Rushmore of the Blues.....your Mount Bluesmore, if you will? I imagine there are as many combinations as there are stars in the sky. You can approach it any number of ways if you like, and I guess I have. You could have a Chess Records Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Pioneers Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Guitarists Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Harp Mount Bluesmore.....the possibilities are limitless.
The presidential faces on the real Mount Rushmore were chosen because they all played important roles in American history. Our first Mount Bluesmore will use the same approach.......four faces that played an important role in the development of the blues as it is today. While you read about who I picked and why, take the time to figure out who your four faces would be on this particular version of Mount Bluesmore and why. In the future, we will look at other versions of the monument, if you'd like. It could end up being a fun topic with lots of discussion.
re in one form or another, but for many listeners (past and present) Waters was the missing link between the blues of Delta and the blues of the City. His raw and ragged sound helped pave the way for modern Chicago Blues. There were others who played a role, but with his prominence as the "Main Man" at Chess Records, one of THE blues labels of the 50's, it's hard to ignore his influence then or now, both with listeners and with fellow musicians. His band was a veritable farm team for future blues stars for over thirty years. There's no doubt that Muddy Waters belongs on this Mount Bluesmore.
2) Robert Johnson - Without Robert Johnson, you don't have the incredible blues resurgence of the 1960's. Johnson is simply the most celebrated and revered blues artists ever. His body of work is relatively small, but is, pound-for-pound (or song-for-song) the most potent group of blues songs ever assembled with phenomenal guitar work, hellhound-on-his-trail desperate vocals, and lyrics loaded with imagery and emotion, all of which have simply blown the minds of young artists like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Lonnie Pitchford, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and scores of others...... bluesmen and rockers..... for decades. That, and the fact that a box set of his recordings, released over fifty years after his death, would sold over a million copies (the first ever blues recording to do so) serves as reason enough to include Johnson on my Mount Bluesmore.
3) T-Bone Walker - Electric blues guitarists everywhere owe an insurmountable debt to T-Bone Walker. He revolutionized the instrument in the early 40's, singlehandedly transforming it into a lead instrument. His guitar playing had an elegance never before heard, and everyone wanted to play like him. Though he was a wonderful vocalist with a smooth, easy style, his guitar was what everyone wanted to hear and for close to twenty years, he enjoyed an impressive run, making essential recordings for Black & White, Imperial, and Atlantic. Over seventy years, Walker's style has influenced just about every blues guitarist in the world and will continue to do so for years to come. This earns him a spot on my Mount Bluesmore.
4) B. B. King - Even music lovers who don't listen to the blues (are there such people?) know who B. B. King is. He's one of the few blues musicians who was able to cross over and have success on the pop charts. He's one of the first blues musicians to appear on regular mainstream TV variety shows, like the late night talkies and even American Bandstand. He's appeared on TV series and movies over the years, and he still packs them in over 200 nights a year at the age of 86. There's a reason for all of that.......King's guitar style, influenced himself by T-Bone Walker, has in turn influenced nearly every blues stringer (and quite a few rockers) plugging away out there today. His vocals are every bit of a match for his guitar, and he's still a master showman after all these years. He's the Face of the Blues today, so he HAS to be on Mount Bluesmore.
There you have it.....my Significant Figures of the Blues Mount Rushmore. Now, of course, your versions could vary quite a bit from mine, and that's part of what makes the blues so special. No two people come to the Blues from the same direction, but once here, we almost all end up headed in the same direction, listening to many of the same artists.
Friday Blues Fix would love to hear who your residents of Mount Bluesmore would be.
Several months back, we explored the "Mount Rushmore" of the blues and I showed you my "Significant Figures of the Blues" Mount Rushmore (for the record, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, and B.B. King made up my significant foursome). This week, I thought we would come up with a Mount Rushmore of Chess Records. This one has some tough choices involved....I mean, you can figure on a couple of them being there, for sure, but there are some pretty close calls between the remaining members. As we said previously, your gang of four may be somewhat different from mine, but I would love to hear about your foursome and your reasons for selecting them.
The first two positions on Mount Chessmore are pretty much no-brainers to me. You simply can't have a serious discussion about Chess without mentioning Muddy and the Wolf. Both artists have huge catalogs of blues standards. Their band members were a who's who of Chicago blues, many of whom moved on to their own solo careers or appeared on memorable recordings with other artists. The biggest reason of all has to be the huge influence these two men had on not only blues artists of the future, but also a lot of rock 'n rollers that were getting their start around the same time, and who subsequently influenced other later artists by paying tribute to their mentors. So Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf make up the first two faces on Mount Chessmore. In other news, water is wet, gas is expensive, and fire is hot.
The next two choices are a bit tougher, and I have to admit that I did pause briefly before making my third choice, but only briefly. When you think about it, Little Walter really should be a no-brainer, too. After all, Walter Jacobs revolutionized the harmonica as a lead instrument, adding amplification and therefore hugely expanding the potential sounds the tiny instrument was capable of. Also, Little Walter was the most successful of the Chess blues recording artists...more so than his former boss, Muddy Waters, and more than Howlin' Wolf, too. Every blues harmonica player, no exceptions, owe a massive debt to Little Walter's efforts. For those reasons, Little Walter is Face #3 on Mount Chessmore.
Finally.....our last member. This one is really tough. There are lots of choices, like Jimmy Rogers, who was a mainstay of Waters' first Chess band and also a fine solo artist who recorded several standards, or Otis Spann, whose distinctive piano work was another major contributor to many of the Chess blues recordings, or Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), who enjoyed great success with Chess and is one of the most original songwriters of all time. You could also consider Etta James, who had huge success on the blues and R&B charts in the late 50's/early 60's, or John Lee Hooker, or Buddy Guy. All logical choices, but when you think about it, the fourth spot is a no-brainer, too. When I finally thought of him, I did one of those "V-8" slaps to the forehead because I didn't think of him sooner.
Next to Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon played the biggest role in shaping what the post-war blues sounded like in Chicago. Without Dixon, there really was no Chicago blues sound. He was one of the most prolific songwriters ever, writing scores of songs over a fifteen-year span from 1950 to 1965....songs like "Little Red Rooster," "Back Door Man," "Spoonful," "I Just Want To Make Love To You," "My Babe," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Evil," "Hoochie Coochie Man," and many, many, many more. He not only wrote songs, he played bass on many of the recordings. He also produced and arranged many of them. In addition, he worked as a solo artist occasionally and also discovered many new artists. Without Willie Dixon, you probably wouldn't have had a Chess Records, at least not one that lasted any amount of time or enjoyed much success, or made nearly as big an impact. Mount Chessmore Face #4 has to be Dixon, for his numerous contributions to Chess, and Chicago, blues.
Okay, there you have it.....one man's Mount Chessmore. If you disagree, I would love to hear who you would prefer and why.
Friday Blues Fix has explored the "Mount Rushmore" topic several times with various subjects over the past couple of years, including a Mount Rushmore of Chess Records, Swamp Blues, and one featuring the four greatest blues pioneers (in our opinion). This week, we will look at the Mount Rushmore of blues slide guitarists....a daunting task to say the least, and one that will probably offer a few differing opinions among our visitors, which is cool because there is certainly a wide field of contenders for the top four spots.
Tampa Red
Tampa Red - Many fans that are new to the blues may be scratching their heads right now, but Hudson Whitaker (a.k.a. Tampa Red) influenced numerous blues guitarist with his unique "single-string" slide technique, including Big Bill Broonzy, Robert Nighthawk, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James. He was one of the first, if not the first, black musician to play a National steel resonator guitar, in the late 20's, and this is where he picked up his bottleneck guitar style, which was later an influence not just in the blues, but also indirectly to rock guitarists. He was also one of the first blues men to move to Chicago from the South and make it big. Oh, yeah....and he played a mean kazoo, too.
Red played on hundreds of recordings over his 30-year career, his own sessions and sessions with artists like Sonny Boy Williamson (Version 1, John Lee Williamson), Georgia Tom Dorsey, Big Maceo, Memphis Minnie, and many others, becoming one of the first Chicago blues guitar legends while excelling on acoustic and electric guitar. Newer fans may not have heard Tampa Red, but they have heard many of his songs, including "Let Me Play With Your Poodle," "Black Angel Blues," "Love Her With A Feeling," and "It Hurts Me Too." Billed as "The Guitar Wizard," Red combined the rural Delta sound with a more urban feel, helping to pave the way for the Chicago blues that we all know and love today.
Robert Nighthawk
Robert Nighthawk - Nighthawk learned to play slide guitar from listening to Tampa Red, and later returned the favor by influenced many other notable slide masters, starting with Earl Hooker and Muddy Waters. We've discussed the guitar wizardry of Robert Nighthawk here previously. He probably would have been better known if he had been prone to stay in one place for an extended period, making it hard to pin him down for recording sessions. His wandering nature, generally shy nature, and seeming contentment just to play the juke joints and clubs from Chicago to Helena all contributed to his limited number of recordings, but man, what he did record was incredible. He had the smoothest, cleanest sound and his warm, burnished vocal style was pretty distinctive, too. Though his recording catalog is fairly slim, he was a huge influence on a lot of other great slide guitarists, one of whom took what he did and moved it to the next level.
Elmore James
Elmore James - Without a doubt, James' signature riff is the most duplicated slide lick in all of bluesdom. No blues guitarist can play slide guitar without repeating that riff at least once in their repertoire. James himself repeated it on numerous tracks of his own over the years, but it's most identified with his reworking of Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom." Despite his distinctive style, James was influenced by Robert Johnson and Tampa Red, among others, and he recorded several of Red's songs during his career and made them his own. We discussed Elmore James a while back at FBF....the number of blues guitarists that he's influenced (basically everybody) and the number of songs of his that are recognized as blues standards. Though there could be some debate about who belongs on Mount Slidemore, there's not any way that Elmore James can be left off this list.
Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker - Though Robert Nighthawk taught and influenced him, Earl Hooker took slide guitar to previously unreached heights. Like Tampa Red, Hooker played on numerous sessions besides his own, though he wasn't nearly as prolific with his own recordings as Red was. He was so good that the consummate slide guitarist, Muddy Waters, enlisted him to play slide on Waters' "You Shook Me," one of Hooker's finest performances on wax. As good as he was playing slide, he was equally impressive playing other styles, moving easily from the blues to R&B, jazz, and even country when the mood hit him, but it's his slide guitar playing that sets him far above the pack. He bounced around from label to label, was somewhat limited vocally, and was as notorious a wandering musician as Nighthawk was, but the only way that it could be argued that Earl Hooker doesn't belong on Mount Slidemore is if the person arguing against it had never heard him play. For more info on Hooker, go here.
That's it for this list. I do realize that I left several of the greatest, and most influential slide guitarists off of Mount Slidemore.....Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson immediately spring to mind. Waters has been on two of my previous three Mount Rushmores, so I decided to give somebody else a spot in his place. Robert Johnson deserves a monument of his own.
Friday Blues Fix has explored the "Mount Rushmore" topic several times with various subjects over the past couple of years, including a Mount Rushmore of Slide Guitarists, Chess Records,Swamp Blues, and one featuring the four greatest blues pioneers (in our opinion). This week, we will look at the Mount Rushmore of harmonica players. Since there have been so many greats over the years, FBF will focus on pioneers....the most influential players over the years. It was pretty hard to narrow it down to four, but if it was easy, everybody would do it, right? Anyway, look over our list and if you have a better foursome, we'd love to hear from you.
Sonny Boy Williamson I (John Lee Williamson): The first Sonny Boy took what he learned from artists like Hammie Nixon and Noah Lewis and advanced blues harmonica to the point where it became a worthy lead instrument. He was the first to use the classic call-and-response style, alternating vocals with his sharp harmonica blasting in response. Never done before he did it, it became Standard Operating Procedure after he did it. He influenced scores of harmonica players like Billy Boy Arnold (who actually took lessons from him), Junior Wells, Little Walter, Snooky Pryor and many others, as well as non-harmonica players like Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers (whose first recording featured him playing harp). He was one of the most prolific recording artists of the pre-war era, recording over 120 sides for RCA, many of which have become blues standards ("Good Morning School Girl," "Sugar Mama Blues," "Shake The Boogie," "Bluebird Blues," "Stop Breaking Down," "Sloppy Drunk," "Early in the Morning"). Tragically, Williamson was murdered during a robbery in 1948, but his legacy continues to be heard today by Arnold and many who followed after his death.
Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller): We discussed the whys and wherefores of the two Sonny Boy Williamsons in the early days of the blog. Even though Rice Miller performed under the name of John Lee Williamson, he mostly worked in the south while his namesake was in Chicago. Though he shared the same stage name with Williamson, Miller was a distinctively different harmonica player, and recorded for multiple labels, most notably with Trumpet and Chess Records. Some of his hits are also standards today ("Don't Start Me To Talkin'," "Nine Below Zero," "Eyesight To The Blind," "Help Me," "One Way Out," "Fattenin' Frogs For Snakes"), and he was influential on many harp players like Junior Wells, Billy Branch, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison, and many others. His harmonica playing was as distinctive and clever as his songwriting.
Little Walter: Little Walter Jacobs took what his predecessors developed to a new level, playing a harmonica with a small microphone cupped in his hands and plugging into a guitar amp or P.A., so he could be heard. In his hands, the harmonica was transformed into an almost-saxophone instrument on hundreds of recordings he did as a solo artist and with Muddy Waters. Some of his instrumentals have an almost jazz-like quality to them. His work basically changed what blues fans could expect from the harmonica. Before he came on the scene, nobody played like Little Walter. Soon, it was hard to find a harmonica player who didn't play like him. He influenced many of the great future stars of the instrument, like Junior Wells, James Cotton, Carey Bell, Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Butterfield and left a phenomenal footprint on blues music that's still felt today, over forty-five years after his death.
Big Walter Horton: Horton is not as well-known as the other three artists previously mentioned. He was extremely shy and quiet and didn't really have the personality type to lead a band or even a recording session. He learned his craft from Will Shade of the Memphis Jug Band, and Hammie Nixon, backed legends like Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Homesick James, B.B. King, Eddie Taylor, and Honeyboy Edwards, and later played on numerous records by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush, and many others. He also took the time to occasionally recorded a single or two of his own. No less an authority than Willie Dixon called him "the best harmonica player I ever heard." How good would that look on a resume'?!! His instrumental single, "Easy," is considered one of the greatest harmonica instrumentals ever put to wax. Later in his career, he was able to record as a solo artists on sets like Chicago/The Blues/Today!(on Volume 3 with Charlie Musselwhite), and on Alligator's second-ever album release with pupil Carey Bell. He also appeared as part of Willie Dixon's Blues All Stars, which toured America and Europe during the 60's and 70's, later appeared on one of Muddy Waters' comeback albums in the late 70's (I'm Ready), and an excellent pair of solo albums for Blind Pig Records. Newer fans who watched The Blues Brothers have seen Big Walter playing during the Maxwell Street scene (see extended outtake of the scene below), backing John Lee Hooker. If Horton had possessed the right temperament and been able to overcome his shyness and excessive drinking, he could have been a big star, but it was not to be. However, he's an easy choice for the fourth position on Mount Harpmore.
Two Sonny Boys and two Walters!! So, who would be the four faces on your Mount Harpmore???
Believe it or not, this week marks the third anniversary of Friday Blues Fix. Thanks again to all you loyal participants who stop by weekly. Hopefully, we will continue to make it worth your while for many more years to come.
Once again, it's time to visit one of FBF's most popular topics, constructing one of the various Mount Rushmores of the Blues. Previously, we've covered Chess Records (Mount Chessmore) as well as an "All Time" Mount Rushmore of the Blues (Mount Bluesmore). This week, Friday Blues Fix will focus on the Sounds of the Swamp...namely Excello Records...so buckle in and hang on while we look at what could be called Mount Swampmore.
(As always, your opinions may vary from mine. I would love to hear from anyone who thinks there should be a different face somewhere in the formation, so drop me a line if you have soemtbody else in mind)
Lightnin' Slim - Slim (born Otis Hicks) was the Father of the Louisiana Swamp Blues sound. His attack was pretty straight forward, gritty vocals with rudimentary electric guitar attack backed by harmonica and drums.....the country blues plugged into that magnificent atmospheric echo-ey production that was so exclusive to the recordings being produced by Excello in their Crowley, LA studios. His music sounds easy, but if it was, everybody would be playing it, and there hasn't been anybody who played it quite like Lightnin' Slim. Songs like "Rooster Blues," "I'm Evil," "Bad Luck and Trouble," and "I'm a Rollin' Stone" are Swamp Blues at their finest. There may have been others who sold more records and maybe achieved a little more popularity down through the years, but Lightnin' Slim was the one who put the music on the map and paved the way for others to follow.
Slim Harpo - To me, there are a couple of no-brainers that will adorn this monument, and Slim Harpo (born James Moore) is one of them. Though he came a decade after Lightnin' Slim, he achieved a bit more success than his predecessor. His music wasn't as intense and cathartic as Slim's could be.....not even close, but his country-flavored vocals, mixed with the occasional rock & roll rhythms, and his laid-back delivery was appealing to a wider and more diverse audience, so Harpo enjoyed a bit more commercial success over his career with such classic tunes as "Baby, Scratch My Back," "I'm A King Bee," "Rainin' In My Heart," "I Got Love If You Want It," and "Te Ni Nee Ni Nu." Harpo's music was not only covered by black musicians, but also numerous white musicians, both in the U.S. and over in Europe. It was music that appealed to people of all colors, and it still does.
Lazy Lester - In 1987, I got to see Lazy Lester (born Leslie Johnson) perform with some of his biggest admirers, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, before I even knew what Swamp Blues was. I had no idea what it was, but I knew I liked it after I heard him. Lester started out backing Lightnin' Slim on harmonica and graduated to recording his own songs in the mid 50's, doing so until the mid 60's, resulting in such blues standards as "I Hear You Knockin'," "Sugar Coated Love," "The Same Thing Could Happen To You," "Ponderosa Stomp," and "If You Think I've Lost You." Then, he just stopped playing music for a long time, resurfacing in the late 80's and recording five or six great discs that sounded like he'd never been off the scene. He is still active today, and if you've not experienced Lazy Lester in action, I strongly recommend that you seek him out first chance you get.
However, I opted for one Ernest L. "Tabby" Thomas to fill the fourth and final spot and I don't think many could argue. Though he didn't score a lot of hits over his career (the Crescent City-flavored "Hoodo Party" was his biggest hit in the early 60's), he is most widely known for his Baton Rouge blues club, Tabby's Blues Box and Heritage Hall, which he opened in the late 70's/early 80's. The Blues Box played the blues and only the blues, mostly by local talent, so even when the music hit a dry spell, Thomas' club allowed most of these local Swamp Blues artists ample opportunity to play and a friendly venue to boot. Most of the artists mentioned above played at the Blues Box and many others, too. Even Thomas' son, Chris Thomas King (you may have seen him in O Brother Where Art Thou) got his start in the club. Thomas continued to perform and record over time...his 1999 release, Swamp Man Blues, updated the Swamp Blues in an impressive fashion and wasn't heard by nearly enough people. He suffered a major stroke in 2004, but has recovered to the point where he can sing. The Blues Box had to close around that time as well, due to an overpass that was being constructed in the area. Thomas still hosts a radio show on WBRH in Baton Rouge that plays nothing but the blues every Saturday afternoon. For not only playing the Swamp Blues, but also providing a longtime venue for so many others to play them, Tabby Thomas gets the fourth and final spot on Mount Swampmore.
In March, EllerSoul Records released Blues for Big Walter, a wonderful and loving tribute to one of the genre's most underrated harmonica players, Big Walter Horton. Compiled and produced by longtime harmonica ace Li'l Ronnie Owens, this is a fantastic set of tunes from some of the genre's current harp wizards. Current stalwarts like Kim Wilson (with Big Jon Atkinson), Nighthawks front man Mark Wenner, Mark Hummel, Steve Guyger, and Sugar Ray Norcia joins forces with up-and-coming players Kurt Crandall and Andrew Alli to play a mostly-familiar set of blues standards, many associated with Horton. Another harmonica veteran, Bob Corritore, appears on two vintage recordings that feature a pair of Horton contemporaries, guitarists Jimmy Rogers and Robert Lockwood, Jr. It's a fantastic listen for anyone who digs traditional blues and harmonica played well.
Friday Blues Fix paid tribute to Horton as part of the quartet that made up our Blues Mount Rushmore of harmonica players a couple of years ago, but he's certainly deserving of a lot more attention. As a harmonica player, he had few peers, and few imitators. He was a master of timing and tone (almost horn-like), both of these qualities are instantly recognizable in his music, and he was as adept an accompanist, backing such blues stalwarts as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Tampa Red, Jimmy Rogers, Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Shines, as he was a solo player.
Born in 1917 in Horn Lake, MS, he learned to play the harmonica by the time he was five years old. His family had moved to Memphis by that time, and Horton also learned from two of the city's harp masters, Will Shade and Hammie Nixon. Horton claimed to have recorded a couple of sides with the Memphis Jug Band in the 20's.....possibly so, since he did play with them during that time as a preteen.
In the 30's, he backed many of the artists listed above.....Johnson, Edwards, Shines, and Homesick James Williamson, even venturing north to Chicago for a time, where he backed a guitarist named Charlie "Little Buddy" Doyle on a few sides for Columbia Records. Horton also claimed that he began to experiment with playing amplified harmonica during the late 30's/early 40's. If this claim is true, then that would make him one of, or the first to play in an amplified setting.
Horton suffered from poor health throughout most of the 1940's and actually stopped playing harmonica for most of the decade, working odd jobs and giving the occasional lesson to musicians like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II. In the late 40's, he returned to playing, backing B.B. King and Eddie Taylor while recording solo sides for Sam Phillips. These were farmed out to Modern/RPM Records and released under the pseudonym "Mumbles," which was a name that Horton hated.
Around 1953, Horton hooked up with Muddy Waters and recorded and toured with him for a year after Waters' regular harp blower Junior Wells was drafted. After one session, he was fired from the band, either for drinking too much or doing too many side gigs. By that time, he was entrenched with Chess Records as a session player. He also found time to return to Memphis to record for Phillips with Sun Records, including the classic instrumental "Easy." In addition to his recordings with Chess and Sun, Horton recorded for Cobra, States, and Jewel Records during the 50's. Horton's distinctive harmonica can be heard on several Windy City classics, such as Jimmy Rogers' "Walking By Myself," Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You Baby," and Johnny Shines' "Evening Sun."
Horton continued to be active into the 60's, recording a full album for Chess, The Soul of Blues Harmonica, which featured Buddy Guy on guitar. He also contributed several sides to the third volume of Vanguard's Chicago/The Blues/Today! series. Those sides were some of Horton's best recorded work, and also featured one of Horton's prize students, Charlie Musselwhite. During the 60's, Horton also worked and recorded with Rogers, Shines, Sunnyland Slim, Robert Nighthawk, and another pupil, Carey Bell, with whom he recorded the wonderful Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell LP for Alligator Records, the label's second-ever release, in 1973.
From The Blues Brothers
Also during the 70's, Horton performed with Willie Dixon's Blues All Stars on numerous tours of the U.S. and Europe. He also toured solo off the success of the Alligator release with Bell, and backed Muddy Waters on his I'm Ready album in 1977. During the same period, he recorded two excellent solo CDs for Blind Pig, Fine Cuts and Can't Keep Lovin' You, A regular performer at the famed open-air market on Maxwell Street in Chicago, Horton also appeared briefly in the street scene of 1980's The Blues Brothers, backing John Lee Hooker.
Horton passed away in 1981 of heart failure, Although he was widely respected among his peer, he never became the major figure he could have been due to several factors. First, he simply lacked the temperament to be a band leader or session leader due to his extremely shy nature. He also drank heavily and had trouble holding on to his money. Fortunately, he still managed to work steadily for several decades, appearing on many of the classic blues recordings of the 50's, 60's and 70's and making some fine recordings of his own at the same time.
Blues for Big Walteris highly recommended.....there are some terrific performances by many of the blues' finest current harmonica players, with a few surprises along the way. However, it is also highly recommended that listeners check out some of Horton's own recordings. Chances are good that you already own many sides that he backed other artists on, but his own recordings are also a treat as well.
Over a year ago, Friday Blues Fix took a look at some of the Mississippians currently helping to keep the blues alive. This week, we revisit the Magnolia State with a look at more Mississippi bluesmen, past and present. Since everyone is familiar with the usual Mount Rushmore figures of Mississippi Blues (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, B. B. King......your mileage may vary on who would make up that quartet, but that's another post for another week), we will be focusing on some of those that you might not be familiar with, both living and dead.
It was announced this week that Mississippi blues legend Honeyboy Edwards is retiring from the music scene due to health reasons. This is a devastating blow to blues fans all over the world. Edwards has been an incredible source of information about the pre-war blues era (especially Robert Johnson) for numerous writers and interviewers over the years and served as a source of encouragement to blues musicians all over the world. The 96-year-old maintained a very active schedule up until recently. He was the last of the pre-war bluesmen and if you were able to see him perform, you were in for a treat. Fans wishing to send him get-well wishes can do so by emailing mfrank@earwigmusic.com. Friday Blues Fix wishes Honeyboy a long and enjoyable retirement.
James "Son" Thomas was a regular sight at most of the Mississippi Delta Blues Festivals until his death in the early 90's. He was one of the most visible artists in the state, due to being the subject of several books, notably Bill Ferris' Blues From The Delta, and he even appeared on several documentaries, commercials, and television shows. He was also a renowned sculptor and his replicas of human heads often brought him more money than his music did. His son, Pat Thomas, has continued his father's legacy, both as a musician and an artist, appearing on the recent M for Mississippi documentary. Thomas was a talented singer and guitarist who even got an opportunity to play at the Jimmy Carter White House in the late 70's. Here's one of his classic tunes, "Beefsteak Blues. By the way, if you happen to visit Thomas' grave in Leland, MS, you will see the opening verse of this song engraved on Son's tombstone.
Son Thomas pictured with a few examples of his artwork
Othar Turner was a part-time musician and a full-time farmer. He specialized in playing fifes that he made himself from river cane. Fife players were once numerous in the Delta, but Turner was one of the last ones when he passed on in 2003. He was also famous for his Labor Day picnics when he would slaughter and cook a goat in an iron kettle for his friends and family while entertaining with his band, the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band. Eventually, it grew from a family gathering to include fans from all over the world. Turner died in 2003 at the age of 94. His daughter Bernice, who had been living in a nursing home for some time suffering from cancer, died that same day. She was 48. Funeral services were held for Othar and Bernice and a procession leading to the cemetery was led by Turner’s band, with 13 year-old Sharde' Thomas, Othar's granddaughter, at its head playing the fife, as taught to her by her grandfather. Turner played many traditional tunes with his band. This is one of them…..”Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?” Not the usual blues sounds you hear at FBF, but blues nonetheless.
Next up is R.L. Boyce, who got his start in Turner’s band, playing the bass drum.Boyce is also a guitarist and has weekly houseparties of his own in Como, MS on Sundays.The recent documentary, M for Mississippi, captured one of these parties on film, which was a study in chaos.It was not only filmed but the music was recorded for a soundtrack.Recording engineer Bill Abel worked out of the back of a Volvo station wagon, with sound equipment where his back seat used to be.He did all this during a thunderstorm with wires of all kinds coming from the house to the Volvo outside.The interview with Boyce was also classic, riddled with multiple interruptions ranging from barking dogs to drunken partygoers….all captured on film. If you haven't seen the documentary yet, you really need to check it out. Here’s Boyce during a visit to Jimbo Mathus' Delta Recordings Studio in Como, MS
Another star of the M for Mississippi documentary is Terry “Harmonica” Bean. Bean is a relative youngster in the blues, in his late 40’s. He plays guitar and harmonica and sings. He started out as a stud athlete in high school, working on a baseball scholarship, but suffered a career-ending injury. He took up the blues and now tours throughout the state and the country. He was also recorded for M for Mississippi, at the Ground Zero Blues Club, singing “I’m A Bluesman.” Bean once was only a harmonica player, but was encouraged to learn to play the guitar by fellow harmonica player John Weston after Bean's band stood him up a couple of times. The clip below, though hard to see, features Bean with T-Model Ford at Red's in Greenville. The song is "Red's Hideaway," which would serve as this blog's theme song if I could ever figure out how to do it.
Speaking of one-man bands, here’s the previously mentioned Bill Abel, from Belzoni, MS. In addition to his recording engineer skills, Abel is also a noted painter and musician who makes and plays guitars made out of cigar boxes. Very cool. He recently released his own disc, called One-Man Band, and played all the instruments on it with no overdubs at all. Below is from Abel's appearance at the 2008 Mississippi Delta Hip Hop Festival, where he plays Muddy Waters' "Can't Be Satisfied" on a homemade diddley bow made of a cigar box, broom stick and string, sounding better with a one-stringed instrument than many guitarist sound with six strings.
When New Orleans native Corey Harris decided to record his Mississippi to Mali disc in the early part of the last decade, he was going to use Othar Turner, but Turner passed away the week before recording was to begin. Harris decided to use Turner’s band with his granddaughter, Sharde' Thomas, in her grandfather’s place, and they appear on several songs on the disc. Fortunately, there is some footage of Harris and Othar Turner performing together, in the clip below, the pair tackle the blues standard, "Sittin' On Top Of The World."
Mississippi to Mali took Harris from the Mississippi Delta to Africa and he used both Mississippians (Turner’s band along with Sharde' Thomas, Bobby Rush and Sam Carr) and Africans (Ali Farka Toure and his band) to help him make music. It's a remarkable record, showing that there's actually little difference between the blues as it developed in the Mississippi Delta and at the origin point in Africa. Harris is one of the few modern country blues artists these days, but has begun to move more and more toward world music, notably reggae, to the point where his last few releases have been pretty much devoid of blues. Hopefully, he will return to the blues in the near future.
There are plenty more Mississippi bluesmen out there today that we will check out another time. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to record labels like Broke & Hungry, Cat Head, Hill Country, Fat Possum, and numerous others for getting these artists on record.
So, what blues artists would make up your Mount Rushmore of the Blues.....your Mount Bluesmore, if you will? I imagine there are as many combinations as there are stars in the sky. You can approach it any number of ways if you like, and I guess I have. You could have a Chess Records Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Pioneers Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Guitarists Mount Bluesmore, a Blues Harp Mount Bluesmore.....the possibilities are limitless.
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