Tag: Blues

Today is the birthday of two  blues – W.C”s the first is W.C. Handy the “father of the blues” from Wikipedia…..

William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was a blues composer and musician.^[1] He was widely known as the “Father of the Blues”. Handy remains among the most influential of American songwriters. Though he was one of many musicians who played the distinctively American form of music known as the blues, he is credited with giving it its contemporary form. While Handy was not the first to publish music in the blues form, he took the blues from a regional music style with a limited audience to one of the dominant national forces in American music. Handy was an educated musician who used folk material in his compositions. He was scrupulous in documenting the sources of his works, which frequently combined stylistic influences from several performers. Full Biography read more

The harmonica amazes me. Such a simple little instrument yet in the hands of a master it’s one of the most expressive of all musical instruments. One of those masters Carey Bell was born on this day in 1936! For those of you who are unfortunate enough not to know Carey here’s some background from Wikipedia:

Carey Bell (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007)[1] was an American blues musician, who played the harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Born Carey Bell Harrington in the blues-fertile state of Mississippi, Bell played harmonica (harp) and bass for other blues musicians during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s before embarking on a solo career. Besides his own albums, he recorded as an accompanist or duo artist with Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor, Louisiana Red, Jimmy Dawkins as well as a frequent partner with his son, guitarist Lurrie Bell. Blues Revue called Bell “one of Chicago’s finest harpists.”[2] The Chicago Tribune said Bell is “a terrific talent in the tradition of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter.” Continue Reading read more

So on Sunday as I was doing some errands before the Eagles game I listened to a couple of new blues albums the first was Jeff Strahan‘s latest Monkey Around and Five Finger Discount from Soulstack. I enjoyed both  albums! Let’s start with Jeff Strahan first. From his website……

“Strahan is a fiery Texas spirit, a killer guitar player & piano pounder and singer, as wild as the high plains from which he hails, and as cool as the hill country where he lives. He’s as real & strong as lightning, I swear, and I love being around him, to hear how he’s going to knock me out next.” read more

So this morning when I was researching Greg Lake I was listening to his latest album Songs of a Lifetime. One of the songs was of course “From the Beginning” somehow during the search and listening I came across a version of the song from the band Glass Harp that appears on their album Glass Harp Strings Attached Live with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Track seven on the album is a nice cover of the song “John the Revelator” Later in the morning I was looking for some new music on the Roots Music Report charts. One of the names on the Roots Rock chart Joe Grushecky was familiar. I remembered that I did like his music so I went and checked out his current release Somewhere East of Eden. The third track on that album is also “John the Reveltor” So this all got me thinking about this classic blues song. So I went to Wikipedia to see what I could find out……
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With the IQ test over and having done better than my wife anticipated, I now have my eyes set on my first 5K of the year, this Saturday in Delanco. Tonight was my second to the last workout before the race, and it turned out to be my best run of the late summer early fall! I tried to run short pickups throughout the run and a couple of times my pace dropped below 9 minutes per mile and was under 10 minute per mile pace through most of the run. I pushed it through the first 3.1 miles of the run and then backed off.  I was able to pick it back up though for a decent push at the end. Overall the time was 39:32 over 4.03 miles for a final pace of 9:48. which I am happy with! The soundtrack of the run was Bona Fide, the latest release from Chris Thomas King who is somewhere today celebrating his 49th birthday (according to his website and 50th according to All ?Music)! read more

Ok so here’s a little experiment. I don’t know whether it will work or not, it’s just a little attempt to get some group participation!! Here goes!!

[polldaddy poll=7471388]

1. Thom Swift ” – The Fortunate Few

2. Mark Bird Stafford – Live at the Delta

3. The Strange Tones – At Home With The Strange Tones