TECHNO NIGHT

Here we go. Still trying to get the kinks out of the new machine so I'll keep it short. (If you think I'm milking my computer problems you're correct. That's what I do.) Here's four from Robert Johnson, the OG of OGs. And yeah, I know most of you are familiar with these songs. For those who aren't, figure it out. This is crossroads and devil shit. Spotify is stunting your growth.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Robert Johnson - Come On In My Kitchen mp3 at Internet Archive
Robert Johnson - Last Fair Deal Gone Down mp3 at Internet Archive
Robert Johnson - Love In Vain mp3 at Internet Archive
Robert Johnson - Rambling On My Mind mp3 at Internet Archive

LOCK DOWN THEATER NIGHT 33

I don't think I've ever seen a cooler photo of Son House. From the clothes he's wearing, to the guitar he's playing, to the look on his face. Which reminded me, I've never posted anything by him. Here's one, recorded in 1965 after he'd already been recording for something like thirty years. No guitar though, this one is just vocal and what sounds like knee slapping. Believe me, his voice is enough. To Son House, Muddy Waters might as well have been Blues Hammer. The feature tonight though is the video linked below, from 1969 a "Full live performance". It looks very much like a TV studio, but that's splitting hairs, It really is worth watching because he was one of the last, truly OG, delta blues guys. His playing is good, and there's a taste of him singing with no guitar at all.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Son House - Grinning In Your Face mp3 at 30 Milkshakes 

Video:

Son House - Full live performance at YouTube 1969

WHAT'S THAT THING ON YOUR FINGER?

Man, Mississippi Fred McDowell was some kinda slide player, wasn't he? Good, no, excellent, but not too flashy, and not afraid of a sour note. Relaxed. Like he owned the style. Rock guitarists could try all they wanted, and many did, but the bigger they were, the more self aware they were and that is what dissipates the feel. McDowell, though, was the real thing. They wished they could be him, maybe, if only for a song.

Here's a few of his, including "Good Morning Little School Girl", a song that became a staple in the sets of Ten Years After and Johnny Winter, and "You Gotta Move", one the Stones covered on Sticky Fingers. Speaking of Stones, check out "61 Highway" and tell me you don't hear more than a little of Exile on Main St., that is until he takes a solo at 3:30. That starts out sounding like like someone fooling around with a slide for the first time (see "sour note" above) and gets reeled in just as it ends.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Mississippi Fred McDowell - Good Morning Little Scchoolgirl mp3 at Internet Archive
Mississippi Fred McDowell - Sheke 'em On Down mp3 at Internet Archive
Mississippi Fred McDowell - You Gotta Move (streaming) at YouTube
Mississippi Fred McDowell - 61 Highway mp3 at Fredrator

THANK YOU ALAN WILSON

You know how it goes. One of your friends posts a video that it never occurred to you to look for, and it leads to digging out the records, rereading profiles, and basically boning up on someone you haven't listened to in a while. In this case it was the Son House video below, posted by my friend Joe. (Surprisingly, it was not Ray "the guy who always finds the cool shit on YouTube.")

Practically everything that's written about Son House touches on the fact that he played with Charlie Patton, and knew Robert Johnson, and that he influenced Muddy Waters (among many others). This was after doing two years (of a fifteen year sentence) for killing someone who had gone on a shooting spree in a juke joint he was playing. But, probably the most interesting thing about his career is one that involves a 22 year old Alan Wilson, who would later end up in Canned Heat. House had been recorded, in 1930 by Paramount's Art Laibly, and twice by Alan Lomax, in 1941 and 1942, for the Library of Congress. He moved to Rochester, NY in 1943, and retired from music, working as a railroad porter and as a chef. In the early sixties there was blues revival of sorts, and the hunt for Son House's current whereabouts was on. Once House was found, John Hammond Sr. recruited the young Wilson, an insanely learned blues freak, to head up to Rochester to reteach Son House the songs he'd recorded in the forties. New recordings and tours would follow, until he re-retired in 1974, due to health problems. Wilson died of an overdose in 1970.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Son House - Death Letter Blues mp3 at Those Who Dig
Son House - Grinnin' In Your Face mp3 at Those Who Dig
Son House - Levee Camp Moan mp3 (via Box.net) at Dr. Mooney's 115th Dream
Son House - Yonder Comes My Mother mp3 at Moistworks
Son House - Downhearted Blues mp3 at Moteldemoka
Video:
Son House - Grinnin' In Your Face at YouTube
Son House with Buddy Guy - My Black Mama at YouTube
Visit:
Son House at Wikipedia
Alan Wilson at Wikipedia
Honey, Where You Been So Long? - Excellent pre-war blues site
Hell Hound on My Tail - Another humdinger, all eras of blues