Topic: Legendary Country Blues Guitarists from Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was just over at the Woodshed at www.guitarvideos.com, and Stefan announced the release of a new DVD, "Legendary Country Blues Guitarists" and posted some film clips from it.  Whew!  The first clip is of an artist described as unknown, who happens to be Blind Connie Williams doing "Precious Lord"!  Next up is Ralph Willis followed by Henry Johnson doing his version of "Crow Jane".  This is a must-have item for serious fans of the music I would think.  I'd get it if the only thing on it was the Connie Williams footage.  Wow!
All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

Wonderful performances!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[blueshome]

Trailer

[joe paul]

Looks good, thanks !

Gordon

[uncle bud]

Just clicked on it innocently on facebook and nearly fell off my chair when Blind Connie Williams started singing. Wow, this dvd looks fantastic. The Henry Johnson clip in the trailer is great too.

[Gumbo]

"footage of ralph willis??" (he blurted)

[Pan]

I never thought we'd see Blind Connie Williams performing on film! Fantastic stuff! 

Cheers

Pan

[harriet]

what you all said. whoa!

[Mr.OMuck]

These are great, and congratulations on having a Crumb portrait John! I browsed and saw your "Country Blues Musicianship" DVD.

[CF]

Isn't this something? Can't wait to see it.

Weird they didn't reach out into their immediate community to identify Connie Williams.

[TonyGilroy]

and where and when was Ralph Willis filmed?

Did he actually die in 1957 and if so where and when etc.

Staggeringly unexpected.

[Bunker Hill]

Stefan's Willis discography shows a September 23, 1948  Savoy session with these artists, two issued 78s and one not. Maybe the footage comes from around that time...or not!

[uncle bud]

Just watched for the first time tonight.

The Ralph Willis footage was filmed in Philadelphia, at least the stuff not in the trailer, which is filmed on the street. My guess is early 1960s, maybe late 50s. Since the interior footage looks like the same location as footage of Connie Williams, I assume Philadelphia as well. Frustratingly, there are no details about where and when any of the clips were filmed, aside from information revealed in the footage itself (Willis and Washboard Pete Sanders do an interview as well as play). The most we get is some "footage courtesy of..." credits at the end, which is not very helpful.

That said, the actual footage on the DVD is great. Completely essential collection!

[TonyGilroy]

And yet Willis is reported to have died in 1957. I think it would be almost unique for this sort of performance footage to be earlier than that and if it is, as presumably it must be, it really does beg questions as to the circumstances, the time and place and what else there might be.

[uncle bud]

Well, it's definitely Philadelphia, because they say so in the footage. It could be late 50s, but the fashion and hairstyles of some of the male onlookers says early 60s to me. Blind Connie Williams was recorded in 1961 after Pete Welding met him on the streets of Philly, and I wonder whether this is related to that discovery somehow - the stage that both Williams and Willis are filmed on is definitely the same place and time.

The interviewer is a woman, and we only catch a couple partial glimpses of her, but she is very comfortable interviewing them and the hair colour and style and the bit of her face we see made me wonder whether it was Ann Charters. Wild guess.

Willis is the picture of health, confident, charming. If this was filmed in the late 50s and if he in fact died in '57, it must have been very sudden.

He talks about coming up from Durham, NC, first to Baltimore, then Philly. He left Philly for New York but returned and had been back in the city for 7 months when this was filmed.