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Written by John Miller
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I have been listening a lot to Henry Thomas lately, and I think he was just great--so great that I want to talk about him. There's a lot you could talk about, too: His choice of material and its cross-over with Old Time repertoire, his music as dance music, his guitar-playing, etc. I have been focusing a lot on his tunes with quills (panpipes). Of his 23 recorded titles in the period 1927-1929, nine featured quills in addition to guitar accompaniment and vocals.
* John Henry
* The Fox and the Hounds
* Red River Blues
* Little Red Caboose
* Bull Doze Blues
* Fishing Blues
* Old Country Stomp
* Charmin' Betsy
* Railroadin' Some
For all but two of these numbers, Henry Thomas was capoed up, playing in standard tuning out of the D position, sounding about concert G# (capoed at the sixth fret). "The Fox and the Hounds" moves back and forth between D position at that pitch and G position. "Railroadin' Some" is the only tune played solely in the G position (though it modulates to D position right at the end).
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Johnny Temple--The Essential Classic Blues, CBL 200038 |
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Written by John Miller
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 This 2-CD set collects a large roster of the greatest hits of Johnny Temple (1906-1968), a transplanted Mississippi blues singer (to Chicago), who enjoyed a great deal of popularity in the period between his initial recording in 1935, and the early Post-War period. There are 36 songs included in the set, so you really get a hefty sampling of what Johnny had to offer.
Johnny's first recorded number, "Lead Pencil Blues", was very forward-looking number--a shuffle with duet guitar accompaniment in which the guitar laying down the time was employing the classic riff associated with Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago" and countless blues since then. Also anticipating the future in the cut is the flat-picked lead guitar, something encountered with great frequency on Johnny's later recordings. Two early recordings, similarly duets, "Big Boat Whistle" and "The Evil Devil Blues", are terrific. The interplay of the two guitars, one of which was Johnny's and the other, I believe, Charlie McCoy's, is excellent, as was Johnny's singing. "The Evil Devil Blues" is a bona fide oddity--a cover of Skip James's "Devil Got My Woman" that shows you can really end up with good things occasionally by NOT copying someone too carefully. Unfortunately, these two songs were the last time that Johnny was to participate so prominently in his own accompaniments. From this point onward he operated almost exlusively as a vocal soloist with various instrumental ensemble types backing him.
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WeenieCampbell gets a Facelift! |
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Written by Slack
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 Greetings Weenies and other Dignitaries!
As you may have noticed
we've done a major overhaul of the website. We have put a Content
Management System (CMS) called Mambo in control of the website. Do
not be alarmed: the forum is still here somewhere. The main reason for
the upgrade is that it provides us with an easy way to extend the
functionality of the website and better tools to organize its content.
In
the past we've used the Forum or Board Index as a main menu system.
This worked for awhile, but button proliferation was starting to take
over the board index. Many of the menu options that appeared at the top
of the forum page now appear in Mambo's left column menu system.
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Stop and Listen to Suzy Thompson |
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Written by uncle bud
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Country blues and old-time fiddle master Suzy Thompson has a new release from Arhoolie. Stop and Listen was recorded live last year at  Berkeley's Freight and Salvage, with guests that include Del
Rey, Eric Thompson, Ben Sigelman, Larry Hanks, Thompson String
Ticklers, and Kate Brislin. Featuring blues classics like the title
track from the Mississippi Sheiks, Bessie Smith's Easy Come Easy Go
Blues, and some great obscure fiddle tunes, blues fiddle fiends will
want to snap this up. And Weenie Juke Radio had the online premiere of Suzy's new CD
in February! Read the liner notes at Suzy's website.
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Written by Weenie Campbell
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Our favorite guitar master, John Miller, delivers another
exclusive Online Audio
Lesson that teaches you the tricks to figuring out country blues
classics and obscurities, this time featuring ear training in the keys of G and D in
standard tuning. This is the second in a series of ear training lessons. Whether
John is teaching private lessons in Seattle or at one of the various
workshops he attends throughout the year, he
always includes ear training as part of his classes. John shares the
‘keys’ to
figuring out on your own the playing of Country Blues.
The new lesson includes many snippets of tunes used as
examples and focuses in detail on two tunes to test your newly acquired
skills: Mattie Delaney's Down the Dirt Road Blues and Tom Dickson's
Happy Blues. The new lesson is posted in the John Miller Instruction Board on the forum.
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Stop the Presses! Juke News |
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Written by Weenie Campbell
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Not to be outshone by the new-look Weenie
site, some hot news just in says that the Juke has also been pretty busy and has produced, via its extensive UK
studios, two brand  new shows for your delectation, possible education and utter aural enjoyment. These shows should not be missed!
With his somewhat irreverent style, Richard has produced two
fascinating programs using more material from his own record
collection. The first features some of the great Female Blues
artists of the pre-war period and offers an opportunity to hear several
different styles and performers, some less well known than others.
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Bukka White-The Vintage Recordings (1930-1940) Document DOCD-5679 |
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Written by John Miller
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 This CD collects all of Booker T. Washington "Bukka" White's pre-rediscovery recordings, and based on its copyright date, 2003, and artwork, it falls into the category of Document CDs that have been re-mastered recently. This means it should still be available (I bought it last week), and that it is not simply surviving in a relict stock. I am glad this is the case, because it is sensational.
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