Topic: We should have heard more from them

[uncle bud]

The Smokey Babe Hottest Brand Goin' CD is well worth picking up. One of my favorites of those Bluesville/Fantasy rereleases of lesser knowns. The Arhoolie CD with Herman E. Johnson stuff I haven't heard but it's available here.

Re. rereleasing country blues. I know that in the past some of the heavy hitters on the prewarblues list have spoken about their experience trying to do this and characterized the experience as miserable. If that's true, it's too bad because I think it's a tremendous idea. Perhaps it's time for the Weenie Campbell record label.

The hardest part though may be securing the license to release stuff not previously issued. It seems to me people are sitting on this material. Stuff that has been released like Shirley Griffith may be difficult to get as well, since why would Fantasy license something that falls into their Bluesville series, even if they don't intend to do anything with it.

But what do I know, and I am being pessimistic too early in the game. Again, I think this is a great idea worth pursuing. Putting out a John Jackson record would be wonderful!

andrew

[jed]

fantasy alone takes you to some porn site!

I'll add it to the Links section...

Thanks Uncle Bud, I knew I could count on you to keep that links section absolutely up to date.

From what I've been hearing lately, our appointed federales may be cutting such links in the not-too-distant future - or maybe they'll erect a National Firewall.

More nearly on-topic, has anyone heard Alvin "Little Pink" Anderson?  Not quite an elder himself, he's continued his dad's tradition of playing: http://www.musicmaker.org/reviewpinkadnblues.html, adding "modern" stylings: http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/Delta/1915/littlepink.html.  Perhaps closest to the tradition, though, is his particular snake oil, mentioned in the second paragraph of this link: http://www.oafb.net/once108.html.

I don't know how unrecorded Floyd Council is, but - for whatever reason - his recordings seem to be mostly unreleased, according to this post:  http:/hem.passagen.se/evilclown/pinkfloyd/FC.htm

And thanks, Uncle Bud, for linking to those videos of Hacksaw Harney.  I'd sure like to see the rest of that reel!

Cheers,
Jed

[Rivers]

Perhaps it's time for the Weenie Campbell record label.

Now there's an idea.

[uncle bud]

Perhaps it's time for the Weenie Campbell record label.

Now there's an idea.

Yup. I wasn't kidding either.

[lindy]

Y'all,

I thought this was an appropriate topic for this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/21/national/21BLUE.html?adxnnl=1&8hpib=&adxnnlx=1079878661-jlZCMUz1OAqebsCFsDV4sQ

It's a story about Tim Duffy's Music Maker organization, and there are plenty of mentions of people we should have heard a lot more from before they were (re)discovered.  Several new names of performers that I didn't recognize.  Also, a photo and some ink on John Dee Holman.

Lindy

[eric]

Neat article.  There are still a lot of the old players around.  I've run into them in every town I've lived in.  Fresno had Kenny Hall and Mercy Dee, and a bunch of others.  Sacramento had Peppermint Harris, living in total poverty.  There was an old guy in the Sacramento area that would show up at County fairs and sit on a bench playing country blues with a harmonica rack.  Check out your own community.  Some of my favorite musical memories are of these folks.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One person who falls into this category I think, who is still sounding great is Santa Cruz resident and erstwhile Port Townsend instructor Robert Lowery. Wouldn't it be great to have a current recording of Robert, sounding as good as he did, singing and playing last summer? It's something to think about.
All best,
Johnm

[Buzz]

Yep, John, I enjoyed Robert Lowery in person very much at PT. And I confess that , for me, he has fallen back into obscurity since then, what with on-line lessons, our sites, PT and minidiscs we made while there. He would be a good one for a new CD and another visit to PT.
I have been enjoying the work on Lawdy, Lawdy Worried Blues. I am very glad to have made the acquaintance of Teddy Darby, thatnks to you.  We do seem to have extant a few  of his recordings. I do wish there were more of his and Pink Anderson's stuff.

Ciao !
Miller

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One current player who I think falls into this category is New Orleans native Snooks Eaglin.  I don't think Snooks has ever really stopped recording since he began in the late '50s, but it is a long time since he did any acoustic recording.  I still remember the old Folkways record recorded by Dr. Harry Oster, where Snooks played "High Society", "Sophisticated Blues", "Come Back, Baby", and most amazing of all, the mambo "Lookin' For A Woman".  It was some pretty scary playing, and I liked his singing, too.  I don't really care if he is playing acoustic or electric, but it would be great to have a solo album of Snooks that really showcased what he can do.
All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

I certainly echo JohnM's sentiments about Snooks Eaglin. The folkways recording has always been one of my favourites, so much so that the grooves were worn thin a long time ago. Only this week I had a parcel from the good folks at Folkways with a  custom CD version of that record - pricey but well worth it in this particular case, if only to marvel at Snooks's version of High Society again. I was lucky enough to see Snooks on a rare (possibly only) visit to these shores a few years ago. The occasion was  a poorly attended festival in the grounds of a castle in North Wales. The weather was superb, the festival stage was outside, and Snooks's playing (unfortunately on one of those modern pluggy-inny guitars) was unbelievably good. In the grand scheme of things, Snooks must still be of an age where he's at the top of his game. I think some of our US contributors should get in a suitably vintage automobile and do a road movie, destination New Orleans, with an acoustic guitar in the boot(sorry, trunk) - aim and objective  to record and film Snooks playing his entire repertoire, and stopping on the way there and the way back to similarly record and film the many other under-recorded artists of Snooks's generation.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Returning to this thread after a bit of a lay-off, I thought of a musician I would have liked to have heard more from in the '60s:  Alec Seward.  He did one album for Prestige Bluesville, "Creeper's Blues", on which he was backed by Larry Johnson, of "Fast and Funky", but on harmonica.  Alec Seward was a wonderful Blues singer and nice player.  One of his biggest boosters was Sonny Terry, who said of him, "Alec could sing a bitch!".  There are two re-issue CDs available of the duo Alec Seward played in with Louis Hayes in the '40s, Guitar Slim (Seward) and Jelly Belly (Hayes), one on Arhoolie and one on Delmark.  Both are reviewed in the Reviews section of the site.  I know he lived into the mid-60s at least, and possibly into the early '70s.  He certainly deserved more recognition.
All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

One I've been listening a lot to lately and wishing there was more of is Pernell Charity. Charity was discovered by Kip Lornell I believe and recorded by Pete Lowry in the early 1970s. The album Pernell Charity - The Virginian, released on Trix Records, is the only material I know of that's available. Charity is influenced by the music of Blind Boy Fuller, as are a number of those Trix artists it seems, and I would say he is very near the top of the list. I saw him dismissed as "derivative" somewhere, and he is certainly strongly influenced by Fuller's records - and to a lesser extent, Lightnin' Hopkins - but he is a wonderful player and solid singer. Lowry and Lornell recorded him on a number of different guitars, so there is also a nice variety to the material. There's even a hybrid Lemon/Fuller piece in Blind Lemon's Blues. I know from the notes that Lowry recorded much more of Charity than we have on this record, and it would be great to hear more.

I recently got a few of the Trix CDs through the Amazon marketplace at a ridiculously cheap price, so those interested in Trix artists like Charity, Henry Johnson, Willie Trice, Roy Dunn and the like should take a look.  These guys have also been on the Juke for awhile.

[Bunker Hill]

Returning to this thread after a bit of a lay-off, I thought of a musician I would have liked to have heard more from in the '60s:  Alec Seward.  He did one album for Prestige Bluesville, "Creeper's Blues", on which he was backed by Larry Johnson, of "Fast and Funky", but on harmonica.  Alec Seward was a wonderful Blues singer and nice player.  One of his biggest boosters was Sonny Terry, who said of him, "Alec could sing a bitch!". 

I own a 1975 Blue Labor LP entitled Late One Saturday Evening (BL103) which is a 1966 "house party" recording. The LP is under his name but he doesn't appear on songs, those items marked * below he's not present:

V/g with Julia Carr (v -1) Sonny Terry (v -2/h) Brownie McGhee (v -3/g -4) Joseph "Washboard Doc" Doctor (v /wb -5).
                                                  New York City, Autumn 1966
What has Annie got
Risin? Sun shine on   
Her ways are so sweet *-2,3,4,5   
C.C. rider -4   
C.C. rider -1,4   
Goin? down slow   
Rock me darlin?   
Late one Saturday evening (omit Terry)   
Blues all around my head *-1,4,5   
Feel so good   
Blues all around my head* -2,4   
Trouble in mind -1   
Creepin? blues   
Cousin John* -2,4   
I wish I?d listened   
[Seward does not appear to feature on titles ]

[Johnm]

Hi Bunker Hill,
The time before last that I was in England I saw a CD version of that recording (which was the source of the Sonny Terry quote) and stupidly did not pick it up.  Of course I've never seen it again, but next time I go to England . . . .
All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

The time before last that I was in England I saw a CD version of that recording (which was the source of the Sonny Terry quote) and stupidly did not pick it up.  Of course I've never seen it again, but next time I go to England . . . .

Stupid is my middle name! Had I bothered to look at Chris Smith's gigantic booklet "That's The Stuff: The Recordings of Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Stick McGhee & J. C Burris" I could have reported that it had been available on the Blue Alliance label (TBA13007) and that the CD booklet only lists one of the versions of C. C. Rider although both are present.