Topic: Introductions: When the Roll is called...

[mtzionmemorialfund]

Hello all.

New guy on the forum.  I took over for Skip Henderson as director of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund, which erected memorials on behalf of many notable figures for seminal blues artists in the state of Mississippi.  We've kept going as far as memorializations for the purposes of not only honoring musicians and their families, but also ensuring that abandoned burial grounds are  not plowed under into row crops.  We have had to engage in several legal actions for different reasons, but all our work is about preservation and respect for the people who are well-deserving of it.

Aside from that, I'm a PhD candidate in History at the University of Mississippi.  I am writing the narrative on the black freedom struggle for the Burns Belfry African American History Museum in Oxford.  I contribute to Living Blues and have contributed to Jim O'Neal's research for the MBT.  I organize the Oxford Blues Fest panel discussions every summer in July, and I update content for the MZMF Facebook and webpage.  http://www.mtzionmemorialfund.org/

I didn't know about this introductions roll call before I posted about the Nitta Yuma Cemetery project...Apologies

--DeWayne Moore

Deacon Booker T. Young and MZMF director DeWayne Moore in front of the present day Mount Zion MB Church (our namesake).

[Slack]

Welcome DeWayne... no apologies necessary, we are an informal group.  I very much admire your preservation efforts!

[sandmountainslim]

Stumbled across this forum looking for info on Barbecue Bob. 
I'm relatively new to Country Blues.  Always thought I didn't like Blues music because the majority of Blues songs I had heard simply bored me to tears...especially the British bands from the sixties then one day last year I decided to listen to Robert Johnson on Spotify.   The thing that struck me was his subject matter and style reminded me of Jimmie Rodgers of which I was already a fan and had been for years.  I grew up on Rodgers music and my grandpa had his Victor records.  Johnson led me to Blind Lemon Jefferson and I discovered I liked Lemon even better than RJ then I discovered Blind Blake and Charley Patton who both blew me away and only last week I got into Barbecue Bob and Tommy Johnson.    This music is SO much more varied and interesting than I had always associated with the term "blues" and Barbecue Bob reminds me of a Country Blues Grandpa Jones in a strange way    I have a CD by each of these artists now and a friend who runs a record store gave me an original Paramount 78 of Ida Cox which I am going to pick up tomorrow "Graveyard Bound Blues/Mississippi River Blues".    I honestly believe I am hooked on this stuff...like a Jake-Leg on a shot of squeeze.  Look forward to all the posts here!

[Johnm]

Hi sandmountainslim,
Welcome to Weenie Campbell!  I hope you find the site interesting.  I'm just going to move our posts over to a thread where folks introduce themselves to members here. 
All best,
Johnm

[sandmountainslim]

Thanks John!  I would have posted in this thread had I seen it first.   

[mike scott]

I would call this a re-intr.  I was a lurker here a few years ago, by, alas, was unable to log on.  No worries.  I have just returned to playing guitar after a shoulder issue had me out for several months.  I mostly play country blues (thanks to John. on guitar),  but am more of an old time, Celtic and country/bluegrass kind of guy on the mandolin.

[Johnm]

Welcome back, Mike, nice to see you around these parts again!
All best,
Johnm

[DerZauberer]

A quick hello. I have no idea why I've never come across this community before!

Blues fan for about 25 of my 42 years, focus on the old stuff, one of the biggest Son House fans. Avid reader of books, collector of ideally complete discographies in ideally most modern restored quality (not those evil things from the 90s).

I play a bit myself:


Will explore and see how I can jump in!

[Slack]

Welcome DerZauberer!  Nice intro!

[Hwy80]

Hi all -

I found this forum looking for information about "Red River Blues" by Charlie 'Dad' Nelson I heard on a JSP Records 4CD set I just got, The Paramount Masters 1924-1932. 

What a great site: Thanks to all those responsible for creating and maintaining it and also, to all the participants.  The threads I've visited contain a wealth of information about country blues and related music.

Country blues is one of the styles of American vernacular music that I have been a fan of since the early '70s.  Other styles are old time mountain ballads and bluegrass. I play guitar but don't consider myself an especially adept performer, per se;  I use the guitar to write.  I also recently rekindled my interest in the banjo and have a fretless with nylgut minstrel strings (tuned down a fourth from standard pitch).  I have a blog where I post articles about a variety of music, most recently about music which is appropriate to Weenie Campbell. 

I am preparing to launch a new site devoted to telling the history in song about the region where I grew up: Northwest Louisiana and the Highway 80 corridor which cuts across the South from Dallas to Macon, Ga.  Reading about how this region was settled, from the 18th century, through the war years and into the early 20th century has been something I've enjoyed immensely.  Of course, country blues and other vernacular music is a big part of that history.

I look forward to following more threads and will probably lurk for a while until I get the hang of the place.  But I wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

F.D.

[omar]

Hello everybody,

I was having one of those age-related blackouts, trying to find some Scrapper Blackwell lyrics, when I very happily found this wonderful site!

My tag is "omar," but my given first name is Simeon - been listening to old New Orleans music lately & modified the name of great clarinetist Omer Simeon.  But you can call me whatever you want, as long as you don't call me up late for supper.

I'm an exiled New Yorker living in France. I'm old enough.  My family was musical & I found this music as a kid in the mid-late '60's via Dylan, Butterfield Blues Band, Fresh Cream, Lovin' Spoonful, Van Ronk,
Kweskin Jug Band etc, although I'd already heard Weavers, various Seegers & Leadbelly records and the Smithsonian Anthology now referred to by its compiler, the terrifying Harry Smith.  My parents thought maybe "folk" music would deflect the malignant influence of the dreaded rock'n'roll. The Smith anthology fascinated me as it did and does most people - sounded like ghost music from beyond the veil.  I know I'm not the only person to describe the impression made by that collection with that analogy, but it fits better than anything else.

After a very long hiatus, I play guitar, mandolin and couple of other instruments, all poor to middlin'.  I'm lucky to still own an old Gibson L-00, probably 1933-35, and it still sounds beautiful and plays well.  At various times when I was young, I've had a National & a few Stella's, Harmony's etc pass through my hands when they were still available in pawn shops and yard sales.  Unfortunately, neither I nor my friends treated them very well (except for the National, which was already pretty banged up - at some point in its life somebody thought it a good idea to paint the body yellow and glue flowered wallpaper on the back!).  I'm afraid I couldn't give you model numbers, and aside from hanging on to the gibson, I'm not really a guitar fetishist, although I admire and value the knowledge of people who are.

My musical tastes are pretty eclectic, but old blues and jazz have been lifelong loves.  As I've gotten older, I've become much more interested in the history and social/cultural contexts of the music, although I'm no musicologist! Just a dilettante, as in someone who takes delight from something.  Maybe it's also my last real link with the United States.  When I was young I mostly wanted to learn songs and techniques.

Thank you to everybody who keeps this site going and contributes so much precious knowledge and enthusiasm .  I hope I can contribute something at some point, but for now I'll probably just lurk around.

Cheers,

omar (Simeon)

[Johnm]

Welcome to WeenieCampbell, omar, and welcome to Hwy80, too!
All best,
Johnm

[Haans]

Afraid I haven't been around for a while, but hope to frequent a little more. For those that don't know, I used to build mandolins and guitars. I have retired from retirement.
Can anyone steer me toward a section for Piedmont?

[Johnm]

Welcome to Weenie Campbell, Haans!  There is no section specifically dedicated to Piedmont Blues, but if you go to the tag index in the menu line at the top of the page and click there, you will be taken to a page where you can access threads devoted to your favorite Piedmont artists, sorted alphabetically by first name.
All best,
Johnm

[Haans]

Thanks John!
Look forward to finding some good stuff...soon as I get the site figured out.