Friday Blues Picks (5/29/26)

Several years ago, I got a Facebook friend request from a young guy in Central Mississippi named Harrell Davenport.  Now I wasn't sure who he was at the time, so I checked his profile and saw that he was 15 years old and a big blues fans, which is a rarity in this day and time, at least around here.  I accepted his friend request and soon, we began corresponding.  He was already pretty proficient on guitar and harmonica and would share videos of him playing and singing on Facebook.

The coolest thing about this young man was that his musical tastes went beyond blues.  While we discussed various blues artists like Sonny Boy Williamson I and Elmore James, he also knew quite a bit about other artists in jazz and even reggae.  He was pretty well-read and willing to dig deeper into the music all the way back to the roots, which is pretty remarkable for any blues fan, much less a 15 year old blues fan.

It was really great to see blues musicians commenting on his Facebook videos, offering praise, advice, and encouragement.  That's one of the great things about the blues world......all of the musicians that I've encountered have always been a pleasure to deal with.  They are very nice and giving to their fans and to their fellow musicians, and it made my heart feel good to see how they worked with Harrell Davenport.

Over the past couple of years, Davenport has been playing some of the blues festivals around the country, winning acclaim for his performances and, really, he sounds like he's been doing this a whole lot longer than he's actually been around.  He performs with an understated confidence, energy, and enthusiasm and the fans really respond to his music.

Over the past year, he's released several fine singles (one of which we reviewed here back in November) and they  have also been well-received.  June 5th will mark the release of his first full-length album, Young Rell, on Little Village Records.  I will be reviewing it in depth in the June issue of Blues Bytes, but here's a capsule summary.....

The young man has learned his lessons well.  The twelve tracks include ten originals that range from Chicago blues and Delta blues to southern soul.  His songwriting is quite impressive, drawing from experiences in his own life and he digs deep into his own soul for some of these numbers.  His harmonica playing and guitar work (he plays lead on seven tracks,  Andersen on four) are also first rate and his vocals are also strong.  This is a powerful debut release from a young blues artist who offers further proof that the blues are alive and well and should be for a long time.

My other review this week is a book review.  Many blues fans are familiar with Robert Mugge, the filmmaker who's responsible for some of the best documentaries on blues, jazz, Louisiana music, gospel and soul in the past five decades.  Among those works are Deep Blues, Last of the Mississippi Juke, Pride and Joy:  The Story of Alligator Records, Hellhounds on My Trail:  The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, Blues Breaks, Blues Divas, A Night at Club Ebony, Deep Sea Blues, All Jams on Deck, Big Shoes:  Walking and Talking the Blues, Deep Roots, The Art and Music of Bill Steber and Friends, and Elvin Bishop's Raisin' Hell Revue.  Mugge has also done films on Sun Ra, Sonny Rollins, and the formidable Creole and Zydeco music scenes in Louisiana, plus the moving New Orleans Music in Exile, about the city's musicians and music scene recovering from the double whammy of Hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Mugge's latest book is Quotes from the Road:  The Wit and Wisdom of American Musicians (The Sager Group), which features excerpts from 150 of the interviews that he conducted during the making of his films.  Many of the discussions are items that were not heard in the films, so there's lots of new info if you've seen the films already.  The book is divided into 25 chapters, each addressing a different theme, such as beginnings, family traditions, struggles with recording and touring, musical styles and techniques, favorite performances and venues, and songwriting.  Other topics discussed include racism, politics, and dealing with adversity in daily life and with their careers.

All of the subjects are worth reading about, but blues fans will enjoy the interviews with Lonnie Brooks and his son Ronnie, Lil' Ed Williams, Koko Taylor, Katie Webster, Marcia Ball, Robert Lockwood Jr., Roy Rogers, Willie Coffee (friend of Robert Johnson), Vasti Jackson, Chris Thomas King, Bobby Rush, Little Milton, Willie King, Deborah Coleman, Denise LaSalle, Odetta, Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, Otis Clay, Tommy Castro, Kim Wilson, Buckwheat Zydeco, Elvin Bishop, Ted Drozdowski, R.L. Hulsman, Larry McCray, Coco Montoya, Lee Oskar, Jimmy Thackery, Rev. Billy C. Wirtz, and other contributors.  The interviews with Al Green, Willie Mitchell, Sun Ra and Sonny Rollins are also fascinating, along with artists like Boozoo Chavis, John Delafose, Beau Jocque, Nathan Williams Sr. and Jr., Corey Ledet, Rosie Ledet, Lawrence "Black" and Sean Ardoin, and Major Handy, and the entire chapter on recovering from Katrina is recommended reading.

Mugge always brings the best out of his interview subjects.  They always feel so comfortable talking to him and it actually feels like these artists are talking directly to you.  I have to admit that I read this book in only a few sittings.  It was that interesting and compelling.  If you are a fan of these styles of music, then you will probably find yourself enthralled with its contents as well.

For this week's oldie but goodie, let's check out U.P. Wilson.  Many years ago on this blog, I devoted a post to the life and music of the Texas Tornado way back in 2011.  However, I had not delved very deeply into his non-JSP Records catalog.  I recently began listening to some of those recordings and the first one I picked up was On My Way (Fedora Records).  

Fedora released some pretty good recordings over ten year-plus period from 1997 to around 2008, and this release from Wilson was issued around 1999 and was taken from an LP Wilson released on the European label Red Lightnin' Records in 1988.  The first ten tracks are from the original album with the last two tracks coming from a live appearance, also from 1988.  

When I first heard U.P. Wilson, I was not prepared for his intensity and his energy.  I ended up picking up all of his JSP recordings....he was well represented by them with five albums, a "best of", and appearances on a few compilation discs.  He passed away in 2004, but the label also released a DVD of  one of his performances in the UK, which showed that he was a master showman on stage just like he was on his recordings.

On My Way is a few years before his JSP recordings and it is raw and ragged, with a mix of covers (done in the distinctive U.P. Wilson style) and lots of his fierce and fiery fretwork.  I remember the cover of his first JSP release had a blurb stating that he was one of Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite guitarists and listening to On My Way, it's easy to understand why.  Any of Wilson's releases are worth a listen, but this is a good one to start with if you can find it.

Bottleneck Blues You Can Use

Your humble correspondent is traveling the next few days, so this post will be a quick one.  Please come back next week for more blues that you can use.  In the meantime, here's a neat little album that slide guitar fans might dig that you might have missed some thirty years ago, like I did.  

A few years back, I started listening to some albums from the Testament Records catalog.  Testament was founded in 1963 by writer Pete Welding, who edited Down Beat magazine.  The label released a variety of roots music.....blues, gospel, country, and jazz until it was shut down in 1977.  Hightone Records acquired the catalog in the mid 90's and re-released nearly every album on CD, adding a few new compilations along the way.

There are a lot of fantastic recordings on Testament from artists like Big Joe Williams, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Johnny Shines, Otis Spann, J.B. Hutto, Robert Nighthawk, and several excellent compilations.  One that was intended for release before Testament closed up shop was Bottleneck Blues, which consists of 22 recordings, some of them field recordings made by Welding and blues scholar David Evans, who contributes the extensive liner notes for the CD.

The album showcases a variety of bottleneck guitar styles and features a few tracks from Big Joe Williams, Nighthawk, McDowell, Hutton, Shines, John Littlejohn, Napoleon Strickland (who played a one-string "jitterbug" mounted on a wall), and Honeyboy Edwards.  Some other standouts include Blind Connie Williams, and Mott Willis, who played slide with a knife, adding a bit of Hawaiian style to his slide playing.

If you want to dig deeper into traditional blues, especially slide guitar blues, Bottleneck Blues can still be easily found on Amazon or Discogs and it well worth your time.  I'm glad that Hightone made the decision to release it.  In fact, any of the Testament Records catalog is a pleasure to listen to and they're relatively easy to track down.

We will be back next week with more blues.  

Friday Blues Pick (Looking Back)

This week, I've been busy trying to finish up my reviews for the May issue of Blues Bytes, which should be out sometime next week, so in the meantime let's take a look at an older album that you might have missed the first time around.....

I've been a fan of Otis Rush almost as long as I've been listening to the blues.  He was born in Neshoba County, Mississippi, around 15 - 20 miles north of where I live, so that played a role, but it was his combination of guitar and vocals really grabbed me upon hearing his Hightone Records release, Right Place, Wrong Time back in the late 80's.  Later on, I picked up his live release from Blind Pig, Tops, and not long after that, I found his tracks on the Chicago!  The Blues!  Today! anthology from Vanguard Records and the Chess collection of early 60's Rush and Albert King recordings, Door To Door.

I also managed to round up a two volume set from Paula Records that collected Rush's early sides with Cobra Records, recorded in 1956 - 1958.  As allmusic.com puts it....."If Rush had never recorded another note, his legendary status would remain intact based solely on these recordings."  These tracks were later reissued as The Classic Cobra Recordings 1956 - 1958 by Varese Sarabande in 2000 and included the A- and B- sides of all of Rush's Cobra singles issued, plus alternate takes, all released with slightly improved sound from the Paula release, which was released in 1991.

Over time, I managed to fill in most of Rush's recordings that followed, including his two studio releases in 1994 and 1998, his Cotillion/Atlantic, Delmark and Evidence releases, and the controversial Alligator Records release originally released in Europe in the late 70's (Alligator overdubbed keyboards from Lucky Peterson in hopes of giving it a full, more modern sound).  There were also a few live releases during the 90's and early 00's, as well, including a pair of DVDs.

However, I had difficulty tracking down his two sides recorded for Duke Records in 1962.  Duke signed him and just sat on him, only recording one single for release at the time....I've always assumed that the label signed him, basically to sit on him where he wouldn't be able to cut any new records to compete with their other artists.

The A-side of that single, "Homework," appeared on a Duke Records compilation in the 90's, but that was it, until I discovered another winning CD from the UK label Jasmine a couple of years back.  I Won't Be Worried No More - Otis Rush's Chicago Blues 1956 - 1962 captures 27 tracks from Rush's Cobra, Chess, and Duke recordings, and it should be required listening for anyone who digs Chicago blues.

Rush really had buzzard luck as far as recording.  His sides for Cobra generated several tracks that charted on the R&B charts, and he was backed by some of the future legends of the blues, such as Willie Dixon, Lafayette Leake, Odie Payne, Jody Williams, Wayne Bennett, Little Walter, Little Brother Montgomery, Fred Below, and Ike Turner.  

However, this is where the bad luck kicked in.......Cobra Records, which released Rush, Buddy Guy, and Magic Sam's first recordings, folded in 1958 due to money woes.  Rush's Cobra output included several tunes that are considered blues standards today, including "Double Trouble," "My Love Will Never Die," "Three Times A Fool," "Keep On Loving Me Baby," and "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)."  That's about as good a run as you can ask for in the blues world.  All of those tracks are on this collection, along with most of his other Cobra output.....there are a couple missing, but they're hardly noticeable.

Rush signed with Chess Records in 1960, where that label recorded six sides, but only released two singles, one of which was a great one - "So Many Roads, So Many Trains."  This collection included all six of Rush's sides, the same ones collected on the Door To Door album from 1970, plus two additional tracks that had only appeared on an LP for Blue Light Records.  The Duke single, "Homework," is also included along with it's B-side, "I Have To Laugh."

Rush remained active until 2004, when he suffered a stroke.  I got to see him in 2009, when the state of Mississippi dedicated a blues marker for Rush in his hometown of Philadelphia, MS.  He was extremely moved by the honor as he sat with friends and family for the unveiling.  He passed away in 2018 on September 29.  His guitar work has inspired so many later guitarists and many of his songs have been recorded by other blues and rock artists.  

Any of Otis Rush's recordings are worth a listen, but I Won't Be Worried No More - Otis Rush's Chicago Blues 1956 - 1962 captures his first eight years as a recording artist in one sitting and those tracks serve as an excellent introduction to not just Chicago blues, but to one of the genre's masters.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue #24

 

It's time once again for another edition of Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue.  This makes our 24nd edition.  For a long time, this was one of our favorite themes and it dates back to FBF's early days as a weekly email sent to co-workers.  It serves as a great way to introduce new and old tunes to new and old blues fans.  

For those unfamiliar with the format, we offer a song from the early days of the blues (Something Old), a song from a recent blues artist (Something New), a blues artist covering a rock song or vice versa (Something Borrowed), and finally, someone who epitomizes the blues.....usually a legendary artist (Something Blue).  Here we go......

For Something Old, let's go way back to 1930 for "Everybody Oughta Make A Change," by Sleepy John Estes.  I first heard this tune recorded by Eric Clapton on his Money & Cigarettes album in the early 80's.  Born in Tennessee in 1899, he and his family moved to Brownsville when he was a teen.  He lost his right eye soon after when a friend hit him with a rock.  He started performing at 19 at parties and picnics while working in the fields during the day.  He was usually accompanied by harmonica player Hammie Nixon and James "Yank" Rachell, who played guitar and mandolin.  He played with both of these musicians for over 50 years.

His recording career, at least his first one began in 1929 and recorded tracks like "Drop Down Mama," "Milk Cow Blues" (a.k.a "Leaving Trunk"), and "Someday Baby Blues."  He recorded for Decca Records and Bluebird Records, and later returned to record in the early 50's for Sun Records unsuccessfully.  He was rediscovered by Bob Koester and Sam Charters in 1962, completely blind by then and destitute.  He appeared in Charters' move The Blues and later recorded for Koester's Delmark Records.

Although he was in his late 20's/early 30's when he recorded his first sides, he sounded like an older man when he sang.  A lot of the blues revivalists searching for artists in the early 60's sort of wrote him off because they figured he was dead, but he was very much alive and his later recordings were as powerful as his early recordings.  I guess he grew into his voice.  He passed away in 1977 from a stroke, but he was a big influence on artists like Robert Plant, Bob Dylan, and Taj Mahal.  His early recordings and later recordings are uniformly fine, so if you're not familiar with him, check him out.

For Something New, how about a track from one of the young lions of the blues scene, 27 year old D.K. Harrell from Ruston, Louisiana.  An amazing guitarist and singer, Harrell sang along to B.B. King when he first heard him at age two.  He sang in his church as a boy, but continued to follow the blues.  After he got his first guitar at age 12, he was writing songs by 16.  He was inspired by King and you can hear a lot of him in his music, the tone of his guitar and his vocals.  His first paying gig was at the B.B. King Symposium at Indianola, MS, where he got to play "The Thrill Is Gone," backed by King's band.

Harrell also is influenced by Albert King, Freddie King, Muddy Water and other and he has used a little bit of their style forging a distinctive style of his own.  He release the excellent album The Right Man on Little Village Records in 2023 and it won acclaim from blues fans all over.  Last year, he signed with Alligator and released Talkin' Heavy, which improved on his first release and made many Top Ten lists last year (including FBF's).  Blues fans should love D.K. Harrell's music, which is a mix of traditional and contemporary blues.  Here's "Grown Now," a single from Talkin' Heavy.

For Something Borrowed, let's stay close to the present time with a track from the B.B. King's Blues Summit 100 collection compiled by Joe Bonamassa.  If you haven't heard this set and you're a blues fan, you are missing out.  This is one of the best tribute albums I've heard because it honors its subject, is fairly reverential, and it seems like the participants are having a blast with the opportunity to acknowledge one of the true legends of the blues.

Our selected track is performed by jazz guitar legend George Benson, who actually doesn't play guitar on the track (Bonamassa and Josh Smith do a wonderful job in that capacity), but he turns in a marvelous vocal performance.  Benson was one of my first guitar heroes and the reason that I started my long journey to listening to the blues via his excellent guitar/vocal recordings throughout the 70's.  I got into jazz before I moved to the blues and his guitar work was a huge reason why.  

Benson, at 83, is still playing in the states, but stepped back from international touring in 2024, having released an album of standards in 2024 that he originally started recorded in the late 80's, but completed it with his record label's encouragement.  Joe Bonamassa continues to be incredibly prolific with his own recordings, but even more important is his work in bringing under-recorded blues artists back, such as Larry McCray, Eric Gales, Dion, and Jimmy Hall, with new releases on his Keeping The Blues Alive Records. 

For Something Blue, here's the harmonica legend James Cotton.  Cotton was born in Tunica, MS and was mentored on the harp by Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller version) after losing his parents at a very young age.  When Williamson left Cotton to live with his wife in Milwaukee, he just gave his band to Cotton, still very young, and the band fell apart.  He started playing harmonica in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 50's, also recording his own single for Sun Records, "Cotton Crop Blues," in 1952.

He began playing in Muddy Waters' band in the mid 50's, though Little Walter played harp on most of Waters' recordings.  By 1957, Walter and Cotton were alternating on the recording sessions.  He formed his own band in the mid 60's with Otis Spann on piano, and they performed both blues and R&B tunes, adding a horn section for some tunes.  Cotton was one of the few blues artists who really crossed over to the rock audience during this time, recording with Buddha Records and appearing at numerous festivals.

In the 80's, he recorded for Alligator Records, where this track comes from, a dynamite version of Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Ain't Doin' Too Bad."  The album this track comes from, High Compression, was a cool album that was part traditional and part contemporary.  Incidentally, Bland and Cotton found out that they were half-brothers shortly before Bland passed away.  There's a great documentary about Cotton, Bonnie Blue:  James Cotton's Life in the Blues, which can be seen on Tubi TV that you should check out if you're a fan of blues harp.  Cotton remained active, despite losing his voice due to throat cancer, until shortly before his death in 2017.  Even though he couldn't sing anymore, he could still blow the back off a harmonica.