Topic: Who's Who in the Contemporary Acoustic & Country Blues

[jtbrown]

John,

The list doesn't seem to be restricted to living artists (note that it includes John Cephas).  I didn't realize "Big Boy" Henry had died; I'm sorry to hear it.

[sustaireblues]

We had a short thread on here a while back about Tom Waits, blues rooted and original!

Also Ramblin' Jack Elliot, does some very nice acoustic blues and is dam near an historical legend himself! 

Joe

[thecountryblues]

This is not so easy.
What happens if the list is CONTEMPORARY
(meaning, not just alive but active)
and somebody active (like John Cephas) goes and dies? So, I decided not to take people off the list if they died once on it.
However, I do not want to include the aged old masters who are really not doing it anymore. The list was intended for those making a contribution to the genre today.
That's why most of the Music Maker artists are not on here.

That means no dead people get on the list, and to be on it you have to be actively playing--thus the term "contemporary".

[jtbrown]

Sorry I misunderstood; I assumed "contemporary country blues" was roughly analogous to "contemporary art" and "contemporary classical music," neither of which ceases to be called "contemporary" when the artist who produced it dies. It also seems a little inconsistent to leave dead people on the list, if you want to restrict it to people who are actively contributing to the genre today, and your exclusion of some "aged old masters" doesn't quite jibe with your initial description of the list as "the definitive worldwide directory of EVERYBODY."  In any case, Payen and Grosswendt are both still alive and not particularly aged, so you might want to consider adding them.

And thanks for doing this -- looks like it will be a useful resource.

[thecountryblues]

Like I said, it ain't easy.
What I am doing is placing a cross after the artists that die.
John Cephas was a friend. I could no bear taking him off after he died.
As I said, I will not populate the list with artists who are not alive or not active.
But, once they are on it, they are on it forever, but with a dignified markation.
It's the best I could do.

[Stuart]

I suggest that you add Martin Grosswendt, an incredibly talented singer and multi-instrumentalist who is based in the Providence, RI area...

I'll second that. I first heard Martin in Vermont back in the early 70's when he was doing some work with Philo--talented guy.

[frankie]

Pat Conte
Joe Bellulovich

[Coyote Slim]

::::raises hand:::

www.coyoteslim.com

[Johnm]

Mr. O'Muck should be added to the list also.  And Frank and Kim Basile.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Since we already had an earlier thread dealing with the same topic (though in less detail), I merged it with the new topic, and since it deals with currently working and gigging musicians, I moved it to the Performance Corner.
All best,
Johnm

[Slack]

Mr. O'Muck should be added to the list also.  And Frank and Kim Basile.
All best,
Johnm

Indeed!
http://www.myspace.com/mromuck

http://donegone.net/

[Parlor Picker]

Thanks for that, Slack.  It just helped me rediscover donegone.net, i.e. Frankie & Kim's website, which is cram packed full of great videos, interesting information and ramblings pertaining to a lot of the music I like.  A truly great site.

A Golden Weenie for interesting website of the week (well, maybe year actually).

[Pan]

Just another little typo I spotted:

"Jorma Kaukonen" is the correct spelling, instead of "Jorma Koukonen".
I guess being a Finn helped spotting this one.

Cheers

Pan

[waxwing]

Looking over your list again, FM(not FM), I realized I don't see any of the myriad jug bands from around the world. I see several duos, so you aren't listing only solo performers. As in the African American jug bands from the '20s and '30s , of course, most of these don't limit themselves to "acoustic & country" blues, but neither do many of the players on your list. You might want to join the Yahoo jug band group at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/jugband/ to get in touch with these players, most of whom I'm sure are not listed individually on your list.

Wax

[frankie]

Nate Layne - http://www.youtube.com/user/Bayrum78

Todd Cambio (he sure as hell DOES play!) - http://fraulini.com

Sam Jessin - http://www.youtube.com/user/samjessin7

Mr. O'Muck - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=786131

Sausage Grinder - http://www.myspace.com/sausagegrinderband

Chris Berry - http://www.youtube.com/user/banjochris

Mike 'cheapfeet' Dixon - http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=522994