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.