Topic: Some Great Blues-Related Internet Stuff

[CF]

Some of this stuff has been brought to the Weenie attention before but I thought it might be nice to remind others of all the great (& free & legal (I think) blues stuff circulating on the old info highway.

Some of David Evans' field recordings are available for free streaming & download over at the UCLA Digital Collections. This includes a bunch of Babe Stovall & Roosevelt Holts but what really excited me was that there are long excerpts from Evans' interviews with Rev. Rube Lacey & Ishmon Bracey!!! Use the search engine to find what you're looking for

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/Search.do?selectedProjects=all&viewType=1&keyWord=david+evans

Jeff Harris has probably the best blues radio show in North America with his Sunday Big Road Blues program. A lot of us here are already well aware of Jeff's efforts but it's worth reminding fellow blues fans that his show streams free on the net every Sunday night & he of course keeps an exhaustive & detailed blog of all his shows. He includes lotsa great ephemera & often has something of interest to download. You can actually subscribe to his show through itunes & get a bunch of his older programs but I can't remember how it's done! Here's a link to a recent Big Road Blues show about Son House. Look at all the great articles for download below the Son poster

http://sundayblues.org/archives/1977

Wolfgang's Vault has a bunch of live blues recordings that are available for download or free streaming. Hurt, Lipscomb, Rev. Davis & many more are represented. Again, use their search engine to find what you're looking for

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/concerts/

One more for now . . . Just came across this last night. This gentleman is offering some boots of live recordings from his (I think) private collection. This stuff has never been commercially released & includes live performances by Skip James, Rev. Davis, MS John Hurt, Mance Lipscomb, Johnny Shines . . . . These are zip files & you need winrar to unzip em. If anyone needs assistance with these files I'm sure me or someone else can help you get to those blues goodies.

http://michaelmesser.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=talkingblues&action=display&thread=1904&page=1

More later. And if anyone else knows of more great stuff why not post it here.

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for posting these links, Mike.  I especially look forward to listening to the Rube Lacy and Ishmon Bracey interviews once I get my head above water.
All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

Maybe the powers that be could set up a "Links" page under the Main Menu on the left.

[Slack]

http://weeniecampbell.com/wiki/index.php?title=WebLinks

via WeeniePedia.  Have at it. 

[jharris]

Thanks for the nice words about my radio program. For those who want to check out the podcast here's the details:

http://sundayblues.org/brb-feed.xml   -> To add the podcast to iTunes, click on the Advanced drop down menu, then click on the 'Subscribe To Podcast ' section. A pop-up window will appear asking to you submit the URL which is listed above.

Juts a heads up that the last two show are unavailable due to a computer glitch. The podcast will resume next week.

-Jeff H.

[CF]

Bessie Smith's biographer Chris Albertson keeps a blog & here's a post concerning an unopened Lonnie Johnson letter!

http://stomp-off.blogspot.com/2010/03/letter-from-lonnie-johnson.html#comments

[uncle bud]

Thanks for the nice words about my radio program. For those who want to check out the podcast here's the details:

http://sundayblues.org/brb-feed.xml   -> To add the podcast to iTunes, click on the Advanced drop down menu, then click on the 'Subscribe To Podcast ' section. A pop-up window will appear asking to you submit the URL which is listed above.

Juts a heads up that the last two show are unavailable due to a computer glitch. The podcast will resume next week.

-Jeff H.

Hi Jeff - I didn't know the show was available as a podcast. Good to know since I never get to tune in. However, when I do what you describe above, iTunes starts downloading a podcast that is listed as being 200 hours. And all previous episodes are that length as well. So I stopped downloading! ;-) I know you are dedicated but doubt you're doing 200-hour shows. Any idea what might be happening? 

[Mr.OMuck]

Now here's some major shtick for yez! Frank & Kim take notes!



I had the good fortune to hear Screamin Jay live and to meet him. He was one of the greatest singers I've ever heard. Absolutely beautiful, world class voice with volume that made a sound system irrelevant even with a full band behind him. Had he wanted to sing opera he would have been one of the greatest. Very nice fellow to talk to as well.

[Parlor Picker]

I look forward to seeing videos of Frankie and Kim in similar attire!

[CF]

Ran across this last week.
Gayle Dean Wardlow's tapes (I don't know how complete this collection is) are available online. What's kinda neat about these is that the field/tape notes are in a pdf. file format. Clicking on the descriptions of what is contained on the tapes opens an mp3 of the recording.
Here's the page's description of the tapes' contents:

'Wardlow [also] interviewed other blues musicians, their family members, and acquaintances, like Willie and Elizabeth Moore, Willie Young, Reverend Rice, Lilly Hester and Roberta Jameson (sisters of Son Sims), Tommy Lee, Henry Austin, Roberta Hagan Allums (wife of Joe Holmes), Sammy Watkins, Fred Gordon, Ishmon Bracey, Booker T. Miller, Nathan "Dick" Banks, Jack Cooper, Chester House, John Willis, Kin Abram, Ben Curry, Ledell Johnson, various acquaintances of Tommy Johnson (not all identified), Jessie Hills, Sam Williams, Marie Fields, Joe Reynolds, Rosalie Harris (friend of Blind Joe Reynolds), Reynolds Sheppard (Uncle of Blind Joe Reynolds), and Gress Barnett.

Wardlow also interviewed some early record company talent scouts, including H.C. Speir, Polk Brockman, and Harry Charles. There is one interview with and several audio letters to Stephen Calt.'

The Bracey interviews should be of particular interest here. There is also music by Hayes McMullen & others . . . . and an interview with Tommy Johnson's brother Ledell Johnson.
Some of this material is available on the Charlie Patton Revenant set 'Screamin' & Hollerin' the Blues'.

http://popmusic.mtsu.edu/archives/inventory/wardlow.htm

[eric]

Well this is pretty cool:  A KPFA interview with Mance Lipscomb, plus tunes.  Good sound, too.

http://www.archive.org/details/FM_1963_07_16

[CF]

If there's a copyright issue with this please delete post . . . Here's a download for a pdf. of the first two issues of 78 Quarterly

http://record-fiend.blogspot.com/2009/05/78-quarterly-no-1-2-silver-anniversary.html

[CF]

Jas Obrecht has a blog with a bunch of Blues articles including an interview with Sam Chatmon where he talks about his love for electric guitar

http://jasobrecht.com/

[JohnLeePimp]

Some of David Evans' field recordings are available for free streaming & download over at the UCLA Digital Collections. This includes a bunch of Babe Stovall & Roosevelt Holts but what really excited me was that there are long excerpts from Evans' interviews with Rev. Rube Lacey & Ishmon Bracey!!! Use the search engine to find what you're looking for

http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/Search.do?selectedProjects=all&viewType=1&keyWord=david+evans

...is it me or do the sound files on this site not play? Even after installing realplayer 

also, as per custom, I'll once again exclaim that I don't get why [David Evans] doesn't release his [field recordings] on itunes or something - what's the worse case scenario?
 
I mean Art Rosenbaum did it and as far as I recall the earth didn't split into two and consume him whole

[jpeters609]

[/quote]
also, as per custom, I'll once again exclaim that I don't get why [David Evans] doesn't release his [field recordings] on itunes or something - what's the worse case scenario?
 
I mean Art Rosenbaum did it and as far as I recall the earth didn't split into two and consume him whole
[/quote]

I'm not certain (and I may be wrong), but I think much of the material David Evans recorded in the field is now available for license only through Steve LaVere. Perhaps Evans sold these materials to LaVere or is licensing them through him. If so, this may explain why it's not readily available. I agree with you: it would be wonderful to hear these artists at length. Some of the recordings were available many years ago on vinyl.