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Country Blues => Weenie Campbell Main Forum => Topic started by: Johnm on May 13, 2015, 05:39:34 PM
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Hi all,
I think if you've listened to this music over an extended period of time you end up with a handful of recorded performances (at least!) that seem unjustifiably obscure, even among Country Blues aficionados. I thought it might be interesting to see what single recorded performance different people would choose as one that deserves to be heard, acknowledged and celebrated more than it has been. If we limit our choices to one apiece, it will be harder to choose, but more folks can participate. Here's my one choice for right now:
* Dennis McMillon-"Woke Up This Morning"
Any other unjustifiably obscure favorites out there?
All best,
Johnm
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Black Cat Bone by Leecan and Cooksey
Love it every time I hear it
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Shook It This Morning by Joe Evans of The Two Poor Boys.
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A quick, offhand one would be Freddie Spruell's 'Let's Go Riding'
As far as I know, Johnm has the only commercially released cover of this and I think it's got a great tune, rhythm, pace and clever cheeky lyrics that can still be performed today without the kind of work that has to be done to some outdated blues innuendos.
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Locked up in Jail - Johnny Beck
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Bo Carter - Sue Cow
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Stamp Blues by Tony Hollins. It's a good vocal performance with an infectious rhythm and a fairly unique sound.
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"Good Road Blues" by Wright Holmes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-pD6SkLp3Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-pD6SkLp3Q)
INTRO
Now, whatcha gonna do when they cut this good road down?
Now, whatcha gonna do when they cut those good road down?
Gonna get somewhere, I'm goin' to Huntsville all around
When that Katy gets to Memphis gonna look around town for me
When that Katy gets to Memphis, look around town for me
If I don't be on the Katy, I'll be in on the Santa Fe
SOLO (Spoken during solo: Cut your good road. . . Cut it down!)
Got a girl crosstown that works in a grocery store
Got a girl crosstown that works in a grocery store
I got one on the North Side, she ain't got change in clothes
SOLO (Spoken: Play it down!)
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Black Cat Bone by Leecan and Cooksey
Love it every time I hear it
The Dixie Jazzers Washboard Band version or the one that's just Leecan and Cooksey?
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http://youtu.be/afmk5wqoZKc (http://youtu.be/afmk5wqoZKc)
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Smith Casey "Shorty George", great vocal performance
http://youtu.be/35NQkumxbfo (http://youtu.be/35NQkumxbfo)
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Little Son Jackson isn't really obscure, I guess, at least to this crowd... ;) but he's kind of overshadowed by Lightnin'. Anyway, Gambling Blues is a great, driving tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxfaTJkrFV0 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxfaTJkrFV0)
And if you don't have it already, buy this record:
http://www.arhoolie.com/blues/texas-blues-various-artists.html?sl=EN (http://www.arhoolie.com/blues/texas-blues-various-artists.html?sl=EN)
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Suitcase Full of Blues By Ishmon Bracey
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So much of Rooster Crowing Blues is really what early blues is all about for me. And the interesting lyric style of having the third stanza from one verse create the basis for a "chorus" verse, sung over the same blues form. There's a reason not many try to sing this song, thanks to Hosea Woods' ethereal vocal. Cannon and his bands never recorded more than about 4-5 songs in a session, then took a few days, a week or two, couple months, a year, to work up another handful. It really shows in how subtly they work together, thanks to the fact that Victor was recording in Memphis.
(Link created on a mac with Safari using "share" minus the "s")
http://youtu.be/QEp_o7B0X0U (http://youtu.be/QEp_o7B0X0U)
Wax
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"Depression Blues" by Herman E. Johnson always mesmerize me for guitar playing (so strange) and singing
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I put everybody's suggestions in a Youtube Playlist for listening convenience. The only one I couldn't find was the Dennis McMillon record.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLekdhwFI6gbMY83OcW7W2LnoxZRg9lLev (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLekdhwFI6gbMY83OcW7W2LnoxZRg9lLev)
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Great idea!
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Thanks for putting together that list, Lastfirstface. I'm sorry to hear Dennis McMillon's "Woke Up One Morning" is still not available on youtube, but I attached an .mp3 of it for folks who would like to hear it to the first post in the "Dennis McMillon Lyrics" thread, located at http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10315.msg89082#msg89082 (http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=10315.msg89082#msg89082) . For folks who would like to have it in their collections, it can also be found, along with all of his other tracks, as well as those of the Cedar Creek Sheik, Roosevelt Antrim, Sonny Jones, Virgil Childers, Rich and Willie Trice and Frank Edwards on the JSP set, "Blind Boy Fuller, Vol. 2".
All best,
Johnm
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Tom Turner - Gonna Bring Her Right Back Home
http://youtu.be/jIFyypf9W1Y (http://youtu.be/jIFyypf9W1Y)
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Bo Carter - Nobody Knows My Baby
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One I was listening to recently -- Blind Boy Fuller's "Funny Feeling Blues." What a performance!
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One I was listening to recently -- Blind Boy Fuller's "Funny Feeling Blues." What a performance!
One of the rare 12 bar blues with 8 bar breaks.
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I'll keep updating the playlist as people add suggestions.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLekdhwFI6gbMY83OcW7W2LnoxZRg9lLev (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLekdhwFI6gbMY83OcW7W2LnoxZRg9lLev)
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Hi all,
One I would definitely put in this category is Sam Collins' recording of "It Won't Be Long". It's kind of other-worldly, and I think he sings some notes on it that haven't been sung since. It has one of the most complicated arcs of any performance I can think of--what a ride!
All best,
Johnm
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I'll second that choice, John. Me and my few friends who appreciated such things decided that It Won't Be Long was truly psychedelic when we first heard it on the OJL release in the late 1960s!
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Will Batts, Cheatin? Woman :)
Peg Leg Howell and Jim Hill, Monkey Man Blues :)
Both have sing-along-with quality, plus they sound deceptively "simple". But more than this, the "bounce" that Jack Kelly manages while just varying the same riff that he employs on almost all South Memphis Jug Band titles is just catching me every time. Here the guitar interpleay of Jack Kelly and Dan Sane is just fine and perfect :)
Peg Leg Howell?s voice has the IMO unique quality in which "rough" equals "friendly" and "having fun"; this is different (again, IMO) with Tommy McClennan, here, in my book, "rough" equals "having fun" but without the "friendly" component. Purely my imagination of course but this has haunted me for the past 20+ years. Monkey Man Blues has a shout-out quality of melody line, the composition of slide guitar, strumming power and mandolin sounds just perfect to me here and transcends "string band blues" to "just music" for me :)
EDIT Limiting to one title....it?s Monkey Man Blues for me then-
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Pigmeat Terry just kills me when he moans--make a poor man leave his home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnukL5Y1q6g
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Hi all,
I was thinking about this thread and some other performances that I think should be famous. I think pretty much anything by Herman E. Johnson should be famous, but perhaps in particular "Depression Blues", "She Are Looking For Me", "I Am Growing Older" and "She Had Been Drinking". Likewise, I think anything Rosa Lee Hill did deserves to be famous, with sepcial kudos for "Bullyin' Well", "Rolled and Tumbled" and "Faro". If you haven't heard them, seek them out!
All best,
Johnm
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whbHDjUnTYY
I've made it my personal mission to make this song famous somehow.
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Not a particular performance, but an artist that I located in the '70s - Henry "Rufe" Johnson. The finest singer/guitarist/pianist/banjoist/harmonicist and probably mandolin player! A once in a lifetime experience - all his recordings are brilliant. Would that he hadn't died when he did, but "we" were lucky to have known him at all. Had he not been working at the Union County, SC hospital, he'd have died well before my meeting him. It's all a crap shoot. Lignite will vouch for his ability, I suspect!
pbl
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Very much agreed about Henry Rufe Johnson. Wonderful recordings.
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Yes I will!!! Saw him many times. One special performance was a duet with Peg Leg Sam at The Endangered Species in Chapel Hill.
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Perhaps a mite too famous among the hardcore, but for me Cleeve Reed and Harvey Hull's Stack-a-Lee has to make the cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CfmZ1-CQbo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CfmZ1-CQbo). Even though neither the music nor the vocals are obviously emotional, the overall effect absolutely floors me on a level very few pieces of music in any genre can. In particular, this one verse:
One of them's a boy
And the other one's a girl
Well you'll be seeing your children again
But it'll be in another world
Has come close many times to bringing a tear to my eye. But maybe I'm just a weirdo. :-\
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But maybe I'm just a weirdo. :-\
If you're looking for normal, you've come to the wrong place. ;)