Blues

Classic concert: Muddy Waters & Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, November 22 1981

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

 

Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 is a concert video and live album by American blues musician Muddy Waters and members of British rock band the Rolling Stones. In the middle their American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago for a three-night run at the Rosemont HorizonOn their night off, several of the Stones hit Buddy Guy’s club, the Checkerboard Lounge, to see Muddy Waters and his band (which featured guitarist John Primer and harpist George “Mojo” Buford at the time). An impromptu blues jam ensued, and before the night was done, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Ian Stewart, Lefty Dizz, Junior Wells, and Guy himself had all appeared on the stage with Waters and his band. (Allmusic)

It was recorded on November 22, 1981 by David Hewitt on the Record Plant Black Truck, mixed by Bob Clearmountain, and released on July 10, 2012.

The Checkerboard Lounge was a blues club in Bronzeville, on the South Side of Chicago, which was established in 1972 by Buddy Guy and L.C. Thurman. During the club’s existence, it frequently hosted musical acts including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Magic Slim, Vance Kelly, and Chuck Berry. Continue reading “Classic concert: Muddy Waters & Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, November 22 1981” →

Classic album: B.B. King – Live at The Regal 1965

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

“B.B. King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he’s also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents.”
– Allmusic

Live at the Regal is a 1965 live album by American blues guitarist and singer B.B. King. It was recorded on November 21, 1964 at the Regal Theater in Chicago. The album is widely heralded as one of the greatest blues albums ever recorded and is #141 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2005, Live at the Regal was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress in the United States.

“Ladies and gentlemen, how about a nice warm round of applause to welcome the world’s greatest blues singer, the king of the blues; B.B. King.”

This is how one of the best live blues albums ever made starts,  we get 35 minutes of blues captured just as blues music was designed to be heard, live and loud! Continue reading “Classic album: B.B. King – Live at The Regal 1965” →

November 11: Dave Alvin was born in 1955

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

dave-alvin

I started writing poetry before I started writing songs. In my checkered college past I was a creative writing major at Long Beach State University, which had a great writing program, and that’s where I learned all the nuts and bolts that helped me out in songwriting. They forced us to write in traditional forms — sonnets, iambic pentameter — just so we could understand that writing wasn’t just splaying free verse all over the page. But then the more songs I wrote using all those poetic forms, the more my poetry become like prose, almost to the point of journalism…
~Dave Alvin (Interview by Jim Catalano)

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Classic documentary: Blues Story by Jay Levey

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

BLUES STORY: A Documentary (2003)
Directed by Jay Levey

The blues was born at the turn of the century in the Mississippi Delta and other regions of the South. It would become the cornerstone of all popular American music. This is its story as told by the artists who lived it.

Produced and directed by Jay Levey, executive produced by Levey and Richard Foos (the man who founded Rhino Records as well as Shout!), with Edward Marritz directing photography and Mark Mandler serving as the sound engineer, the film also counts Jim O’Neal (the founder of Living Blues magazine and owner of Rooster Blues) as executive consultant and associate producer. What a great production crew.

Hubert Sumlin, guitarist with Howlin’ Wolf for many years, tells a story about his mother telling him that if he wanted to do church music, he should do church music. If he wanted to go the other way, he should. His smiles and says, “Yes, ma’am, I’m going the other way.” Continue reading “Classic documentary: Blues Story by Jay Levey” →

Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Grateful Dead and more cover Blind Lemon Jefferson (born September 24, 1893)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]A great blues singer, also a guitarist and composer, born on October 26, 1894 (given until recently as September 26, 1893) in Wortham, Texas, about 60 miles south of Dallas. Hugely influential because he shaped the Texas blues and put it on record, though his recording career was, typically, very short (1926-1929). He was the main blues influence on Leadbelly and, through Leadbelly, an important tutor to many, many others.
-Michale Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Lemon Henry “Blind Lemon” Jefferson (September 24, 1894 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the “Father of the Texas Blues”.

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Bob Dylan, Elvis, The Rolling Stones and more cover Jimmy Reed (born September 6, 1925)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed’s songs such as “Honest I Do” (1957), “Baby What You Want Me to Do” (1960), “Big Boss Man” (1961), and “Bright Lights, Big City” (1961) appeared on both Billboard magazine’s rhythm and blues and Hot 100 singles charts.

Here some great cover versions of the 3 songs mentioned above.

Baby What You Want Me to Do

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]We’re goin’ up, we’re goin’ down
We’re goin’ up, down down up
Any way you want to let it roll
Yeah, yeah, yeah
You got me doin’ what you want me
Oh baby what you want me to do[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Bob Dylan

Universal Studios, Los Angeles, California – September 19, 1985
Farm Aid Rehearsals

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