etsy metal (Free subscription) | 01/09/2010
The Dirty Projectors Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Regina Spektor Hem The Avett Brothers Stephen Lynch Blind Lemon Jefferson Son House The Kinks Andrew W.K. Snowden
SqueezeMyLemon (Free subscription) | 12/24/2009
Blind Lemon Jefferson preforming "Christmas Eve Blues". Blind Lemon Jefferson @Amazon.com
Little Hokum Rag (Free subscription) | 12/22/2009
It wouldn't be Christmas if the 2010 calendar from Blues Images wasn't under my tree. You get a free CD of hokum tunes inside each one. This year the CD features an unreleased Blind Blake song, two Henry Townsend numbers, Frank Palmes, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ida Cox and more. Plus, lots of interesting blues ad artwork from the 1920's for each month of the year. It's a great deal. LINK:...
Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Free subscription) | 12/19/2009
Blind Lemon Jefferson died 80 years ago today. I've posted a short piece about him today here on my other blog Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes , but here is the entry on him from The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia : Jefferson, Blind Lemon [1894 - 1929] A great blues singer, also a guitarist and composer, born on October 26, 1894 (given until recently as September 26, 1893) in Wortham, Texas, about 60 miles south...
Take me to the Water Black Grooves (Free subscription) | 12/08/2009
Title: In the Christmas Groove Artists: Various Label: Strut/!K7 Format: CD Release Date: September 29, 2009 No doubt the funkiest holiday CD released this year, In the Christmas Groove is guaranteed to spice up your parties. The compilation features 12 rare soul, funk and blues tracks from the golden era of ‘60s and ‘70s soul music “when the good [...]
Take me to the Water Black Grooves (Free subscription) | 12/08/2009
Title: Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920’s, vol. 7 Artists: Various Format: CD + Calendar (12 x 12) Publisher: Blues Images Date: 2009 John Tefteller has produced another great calendar featuring classic artwork and rare photographs of legendary Blues performers. The 2010 calendar (Vol. 7) is once again accompanied by a not-to-be-missed CD that includes two Henry Townsend songs (newly [...]...
Bob Dylan Encyclopedia (Free subscription) | 12/06/2009
Leadbelly died 60 years ago today. Here's his entry in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, but if this were being written now it would add that there is a recent Leadbelly biography, published in the States, co-compiled by John Reynolds - the man who rescued the classic shot of Blind Willie McTell from a pile of trash back at the beginning of the 1960s, and without whom we simply would not have that crucial...
SqueezeMyLemon (Free subscription) | 11/10/2009
Another famous song with lots of versions From earlyblues.com “Catfish Blues” was another example of animal-symbolism in blues which according to Paul Oliver (see “Screening The Blues”) extended along the lines of the ‘black-snake’ motif made famous in recordings by Victoria Spivey and Blind Lemon Jefferson in the 1920s; interestingly, both from the state...
Times Online (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
A leading figure of the largely overlooked Nashville blues scene, Johnny Jones was an outstanding guitarist who helped to launch the musical career of Jimi Hendrix. And it was with a Hendrix tune, Purple Haze, that Jones first attracted attention in the UK. He was born in 1936 in the small Tennessee town of Edes to a musical family. His father sang in local gospel groups, and his grandmother had a...
Music Musings and Miscellany (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Here’s the latest batch of Music Musings and Miscellany’s unapologetically subjective selection of the twentieth century’s best 1000 singles. COASTERS – Searchin’ / Young Blood (Atco 6087 1957) Not the Coasters at their most comic, but a fine pair of catchy doo-wop / pop tunes nevertheless. COCKNEY REBEL – Sebastian / Rock and Roll Parade (EMI 2051 [...]
Virtual Lancaster News Blog (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
Here's the line up of folk music at Lancaster's Robert Gillow pub for November courtesy of local musician about town, Tony Cooke, which includes appearances by the superb Graham Robinson , pictured above. Thursday 5 November: Simon Nicholls Simon lives in Rugby and is a singer and guitarist of great repute who makes regular tours of Great Britain. A set from Simon will typically contain both traditional...
SqueezeMyLemon (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
It's the birthday of "Blind" Lemon Jefferson (October 26, 1894 – 12 December? 1929) Black Snake Moan - Blind Lemon Jefferson Blind Lemon Jefferson mp3s @Amazon.com Blind Lemon Jefferson @Hype Machine Blind Lemon Jefferson mp3s @Elbos Music Aggregrator Blind Lemon Jefferson @Amazon.com
Critic-O-Meter (Free subscription) | 09/21/2009
GRADE: B- Written by Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde. Direction, musical staging, and choreography by Akin Babatunde. At the York Theatre through October 4th. The major outlier in this show's crop of reviews is The New Yorker's unsigned (and apparently, unproofed) blurb deriding the show as a soporific. Otherwise, notices range from appreciative to borderline-ecstatic. Debate arises over whether or...
post-gazette.com (Free subscription) | 09/16/2009
A few bluesy notes: If you find yourself in the Big Apple one of these days, there's a new play out that celebrates Blind Lemon Jefferson , called "Blind Lemon Blues." Jefferson was a Texas bluesman with a distinct high-keening sound, and who eventually became an influence on more modern blues players. His "See That My Grave is Kept Clean" is one of my all-time favorite blues songs,...
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 09/01/2009
Sam Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins' nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating...
Videos