The Blues Time Machine

The long flight of Muddy's 'Honey Bee' Feb 25, 2014

Muddy Waters was born in rural Mississippi, and learned his blues at the feet of Son House and Robert Johnson. By the 1940’s he took that delta blues to Chicago and led the gradual transition to electrified urban blues. He then recorded “Honey Bee” in 1951 with just bass and guitar accompaniment. The sound was closer to the delta, but you can hear the beginnings of the more aggressive modern sound starting to happen.

Hendrix inspired by Earl King's 'Come On' Feb 07, 2014

Earl King is one of the great songwriters and performers to come out of New Orleans, and his legacy continues to live on. Many of his compositions, including “Big Chief," “Trick Bag” and “These Lonely, Lonely Nights” have become an important part of the New Orleans “songbook." His 1960 recording of “Come On Pts. 1 & 2” is punctuated with many starts and stops, featuring his expressive voice and aggressive and precise guitar work. If you look through Jimi Hendrix ’s early releases, there are only a handful of songs among the dozens that he did not write. Earl King’s “Come On” is one of those.

'Black Rat' comes from the most powerful singer to walk the Earth Jan 31, 2014

The urban blues of places like Detroit and Chicago came from country blues. Little Son Joe and his better known partner Memphis Minnie were among the players who brought the blues to the cities, paving the way for Muddy Waters and others who would follow. Memphis Minnie is known as one of the best guitarists and singers in the blues, and had a prolific career lasting 40 years. She married Little Son Joe (Ernest Lawlars) in the late 1930’s and they recorded “Black Rat Swing” in 1941 with Joe on vocals.

Everybody's got the 'Fever,' but Peggy Lee's got it bad Dec 06, 2013

Chances are you’ve heard Peggy Lee’s iconic version of “Fever”– it’s one of the steamiest love songs ever written. But the original recording was released two years earlier by Little Willie John in 1956.

'Kokomo Blues' Among the Roots of 'Sweet Home Chicago' Nov 29, 2013

“Sweet Home Chicago” is one of the best known blues songs ever written. But historians seem to agree that when Robert Johnson recorded the song in 1936, he borrowed heavily to make his masterpiece. “Kokomo Blues” is clearly one of the building blocks of that better known blues song. Scrapper Blackwell came out with it in 1928.

Following "Blues With a Feeling" through cutting-edge changes Nov 22, 2013

Here’s a perfect example of a song that changed with the times, and was at the cutting edge of those changes. Drummer and singer Rabon Tarrant recorded “Blues With a Feeling” in 1947, a time when big band swing music was in transition to rock and roll. This version straddles both genres with the beat of rock and roll, but the more jazzy instrumentation of piano, sax and trumpet.

Robert Johnson at the Crossroads represents Delta blues the best Nov 15, 2013

If I had to pick one person to represent Delta blues at the peak of its expression, it would be Robert Johnson . Saying that he was a superlative guitar player, impassioned singer and masterful lyricist seems barely adequate to convey the importance of the work he accomplished in his 27 years. Many of his songs became not only blues standards but would be a huge influence on rock music.

'Eyesight To The Blind' and the Rock Opera 'Tommy' Nov 08, 2013

Sonny Boy Williamson was a blues originator who helped shape the sound of modern blues. In his life, he knew the first generation of Delta bluesmen, and would go on to see the birth of modern rock music. He played with Robert Johnson in the 1930’s, and with Eric Clapton in the 1960’s. His ability to span eras is a testament to the timelessness of his voice and harmonica. As a major radio star in the 1940’s on King Biscuit Time , America’s first live blues radio show, he helped up-and-coming players like Elmore James and Robert Nighthawk get exposure. Many of his songs have become standards of the blues including “Help Me”, “Bring It On Home” and “Eyesight to the Blind”, which he recorded in early 1951. The Larks were an early vocal group that blended the sound of their gospel roots with the R & B that was becoming popular in the 1940’s and 50’s. One of their most popular recordings was “Eyesight to the Blind”, which they released later in 1951. In 1969 the British rock group The

'Traveling Riverside Blues' and the Roots of Led Zeppelin Nov 01, 2013

Robert Johnson has become a mythical figure of the blues, who acquired his prodigious skills in a deal with the devil at the crossroads. The truth is he was a man who worked very hard to turn himself into a musician. His early attempts at music – sitting in with legends Charley Patton and Son House—were not successful, and he didn’t appear to have much in the way of musical talent. But then Johnson found a teacher in Ike Zinneman, an unrecorded Mississippi blues player, spending a year developing his musicianship.

The Piedmont Blues of "Crow Jane" Oct 25, 2013

It’s hard to trace the exact source of “Crow Jane”, but it’s a song that has outlasted many others from the early days of the blues. Its roots lay in the Piedmont region of Virginia and North and South Carolina. Rev. Gary Davis was known to perform it during the 1920’s, and the first recording was made in 1927 by guitarist Julius Daniels . Daniels is important partly because he was one of the first Black guitarists to record in the Southeast, inspiring others to follow. Piedmont blues guitar has a distinct sound that’s very different from Delta blues, which emphasized single note melodies, often played on slide-guitar. Piedmont guitar is based on a fingerpicking style, with the thumb playing rhythm and the fingers playing melody notes. It is also different from Delta blues in that the rhythms are related to ragtime. Skip James developed his unique fingerpicking guitar style while living in Mississippi in the 1920’s, and was one of the first bluesmen to record, with a session in 1931.

'Sitting on Top of the World' with the Mississippi Sheiks Oct 18, 2013

The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular string band of the 1920’s and 30’s, with a sound that was a crossover between country music and blues. Though Mississippi-based, their music differed from delta blues in some important ways.

'Nobody Knows You', Classic in Any Genre Oct 11, 2013

This iconic hard-luck song was a hit when Bessie Smith recorded it in 1929, and with its timeless message and memorable melody, Nobody Knows You When Youre Down And Out has been a favorite for singers in almost every genre including jazz, blues, folk and rock. Bessie Smith was the most popular female jazz and blues singer of the 1920s, and the highest paid black entertainer of the day. Known as The Empress of the Blues, she often worked with the top tier players in the business, including Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and James P. Johnson. Although her career declined somewhat in the 1930s, its likely that she would have continued to be a major influence but for her death in a car wreck in 1937. This is the only film that exists of Bessie Smith, from the 1929 movie St. Louis Blues . Though the sound quality is primitive, her voice is still commanding: Josh White recorded Nobody Knows You When Youre Down And Out in 1945. A country bluesman in the Piedmont style, he was responsible

'Mercury Blues' Still Running after 60 Years Sep 27, 2013

Cars make great musical metaphors, and theyve inspired some famous blues songs like Cadillac Boogie, Maybelline and Mustang Sally. K.C. Douglas came out with Mercury Boogie in 1949, a song that would go on to be a widely covered blues standard, known as Mercury Blues. Ford purchased the rights to the song for advertising (Crazy Bout a Ford Truck), and it was a #2 hit for country singer Alan Jackson in 1993. K.C. Douglas was born in Mississippi and as a young man in the 1930s performed with the influential bluesman Tommy Johnson. After relocating to the Bay Area, Douglas continued to record and perform into his 70s. Steve Miller began his career with an interest in blues. After playing in the Chicago blues scene in the mid 60s, he headed to San Francisco, eventually putting his own group together and having considerable success in the commercial music world. Miller released Mercury Blues on his album Fly Like an Eagle , which was called the best of album of 1976 by Rolling Stone

Patton's 'Pony Blues' Still Kicking Sep 20, 2013

Charley Patton was one of the first to play what we might recognize as Delta blues, putting blues into a strong and syncopated rhythm. A powerful singer with an aggressive guitar style, he was also a masterful entertainer, and one of the best-known traveling performers of his time.

The Long Life of 'Stop Breaking Down' Sep 13, 2013

Eric Clapton called Robert Johnson " the most important blues singer who ever lived." Saying that Johnson was a superlative guitar player, impassioned singer and masterful lyricist seems barely adequate to convey the importance of the work he accomplished in his 27 years.

Blues for the 'Big Boss Man' Sep 06, 2013

Jimmy Reed is one of the most influential bluesmen in history and his songs will always be part of the blues repertoire. "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," "Bright Lights, Big City," “ You Don't Have to Go”, are just some of the songs Reed made popular. His style was easy-going and non-threatening, which made it accessible to white audiences of the 50’s and 60’s. Perhaps because of that, Reed sold more records than other blues stars like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

'The Milk Cow Blues'—Alive and Well 80 Years Later Aug 30, 2013

Sleepy John Estes was a Tennessee-based blues singer of the 1920’s and 30’s. Though not a flashy guitarist, his voice was packed with power, and the songs he wrote have lasted through the years to be sung by Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan.

4 Ways to Sing 'The Same Thing' Aug 23, 2013

This deceptively simple blues song is a masterpiece of restraint and execution. Recorded first in 1964, it features the voice of Muddy Waters and the piano of Otis Spann in call-and-response. Buoyed by composer Willie Dixon’s bass, Waters slide guitar speaks only twice in the entire song, with bone-chilling results.

Blues Turns Electric with 'Crawling King Snake' Aug 16, 2013

Big Joe Williams was part of the first generation of blues players, and lived to help spark the blues revival of the 1960’s. An active performing and recording musician, he traveled the country starting in the 1920’s, and by the 1970’s, had become very popular on the folk circuit as well. He is best known for the songs “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Crawling King Snake” which he recorded in 1941. His unique sound came in part from his custom 9-string guitar, which could sound like a mandolin or banjo at times. He had a tremendous sense of rhythm and would also use the guitar percussively. John Lee Hooker also had an original sound, very different that the blues coming out of Chicago. Landing in Detroit, Hooker virtually invented his own genre of blues. Built on a traditional North Mississippi style that emphasized a droning, modal blues sound, he refined the fine art of the “endless boogie”. His “Crawling King Snake” was recorded in 1949. One of a few blues players to cross into pop

Gershwin's 'Summertime' Becomes a Rock Classic Aug 09, 2013

“Summertime” is considered one of George Gershwin’s finest songs. Collaborating with his brother Ira and lyricist DuBose Heyward , Gershwin composed the piece for his 1935 “folk-opera” Porgy and Bess .

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