Elizabeth Cotten: Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes

The name Elizabeth Cotten first came to this blogger's attention on the 1987 Firehose album If'n and its fine ballad "In Memory of Elizabeth Cotten," written and performed by the band's guitarist and singer Ed Crawford.

Years later, a couple of her albums were acquired and this Smithsonian Folkways release is the first part of an amazing story.  Cotten, who was born in 1895 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, learned to play guitar upside down in her distinctive finger-picking style as a young girl, married, raised a family, divorced and was working in a department store in Washington, D.C. when she returned a lost child to her family.

It turned out the child was Peggy Seeger of the well-known musical family, including her older half-brother Pete, the famed folk singer, and her brother Mike, compiler of this recording.  Hired to work for the Seeger family, Cotten saw a guitar on the wall of the home, stated that she used to play and "started playing again, recalling one by one many of the songs and tunes of her childhood and youth."

That led to her being recorded by Mike Seeger in 1957 and 1958 with the result being this album with the very long title, but a great many attractions.  The main one is that Cotten was remarkably dexterous and played the guitar and banjo with great senstitvity and skill.  Another is that her fragile voice rings with authenciity and the weight of experience for someone in her early sixties who'd raised a family and worked for decades.  Finally, the material is beautiful, constituting the marriage of folk and blues that made so much of the folk revival of the time so interesting.

Cotten's "Freight Train," which she wrote in her pre-teen years, became well-known, but there are other excellent songs, like "Oh, Babe, It Ain't No Lie," "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad," and a trio of medleys.  It's stated that she recorded many of the pieces on this phenomenal record at her home, while her grandchildren silently watched and listened.  This makes this one of the more interesting "live albums" you could imagine from a musician of immense talent and charm!

Blues by Roosevelt "The Honeydripper" Sykes

Roosevelt Sykes (1906-1983) may not have been one of the big names in blues, but the Arkansas native was a tremendous talent on the piano and had a great vocal style laden with humor and confidence.

This stellar Smithsonian Folkways recording, first issued under the Folkways imprint in 1961, and reissued in 1995, was produced by Memphis Slim, another great blues pianist/singer.  Sykes, however, had been around a long time, having made his first recordings in New York for the "race" label Okeh Records in 1929.

As to his nickname, Sykes stated that, because he was so popular with the girls in school when he played the organ, "the boys said the girls wqas buzzing round me like bees or something, and so I must be dripping honey."  Sykes wrote a well-known tune by that name in 1931 and it was a big hit for Joe Liggins nearly fifteen years later.  The composer even said, "I reckon he made a better job of it than I did!"

A formidable composer who penned hundreds of tunes, Sykes was also in high demand as an accompanist and his superior playing on this record shows why.  "Memphis Slim Rock," which features Slim as the only additional presence on the album, and "R.S. Stomp" are pertinent examples of his remarkable technique and his impromptu rapping about his pal aptly demonstrates his irrepressible humor, as well.  Sykes' vocal technique is amply shown on tunes like "Sweet Old Chicago," "44 Blues," "The Sweet Root Man," and "Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone."

Really, though, everything on this album is great and it is consistently entertaining.  There are more famous blues musicians out there, but Roosevelt Sykes deserves to be better known.

The Complete Blind Willie Johnson

Blind Willie Johnson's voice is something else--a "false bass" growl that bursts forth from his tenor range and pulls the listener in with powerful lyrics generally of a strong religious nature and makes for an unusual deep dark blues and gospel stew.  On top of this, the remarkable slide and straight picking acoustic guitar playing might get short shrift with all the attention to Johnson's voice, but it is uniformly excellent playing.

With digital remastering, these 1920s recordings sound more immediate and, perhaps to some more listeners, more claustrophobic, but it is also true that just having the man's voice and guitar is all that is needed for a spectacular performance.

There are some tracks here that are well-known to even casual blues listeners (this blogger doesn't pretend to be a connoisseur), such as "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground"; "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine"; "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time"; "Let Your Light Shine on Me," which partly dispenses with that guttural growl; "John the Revelator," which has a female backing vocal from Willie B. Harris present on other tracks, as well, and others.  The first-named piece is a revelation, with the wordless emotional singing and beautiful guitar playing tingling the spine in ways that few others have.

But, there are many pieces, less familiar to amateurs like this blogger, that amply show the immense talent of a man who never received his due.  One standout is "If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down," which has a great rhythmic sense to drive the piece vocally and instrumentally.  Another is "I'm Gonna Run to the City of Refuge," another vocal jewel with the female backing vocal on the chorus.  "God Won't Never Change" is sung completely in Johnson's straightforward tenor and is a gem.  "You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond" is another example of stellar slide guitar and Johnson's "false bass" vocals harmonize nicely (this isn't always true, however--as on "Praise God I'm Satisfied"and others) with his female counterpart.  "God Moves on the Water" has some very tasty slide work and a nice, growl-less vocal.

This is a collection of consistently rewarding early recorded blues and gospel from a master of acoustic guitar and deeply personal and stylized vocalizing.  Kudos also go to Samuel Charters for his detailed essay on Johnson and his music.

Particularly affecting is the fact that, as Charters tells so well, Johnson was a preacher in Beaumont, Texas, when, in 1945, his house burned down and he was left to live among the charred ruins, catching a fever that developed into pneumonia.  According to the woman who was married to him, a hospital refused to treat him because he was blind and Johnson died needlessly at 48.  Too many great black musicians of all genres died too young and in shocking circumstances at a time when they were creating some of America's greatest music and not given their due.  The story of Blind Willie Johnson may be one of the most heartbreaking of all.

Son House: Delta Blues

One of the masters of the acoustic blues tradition from the Deep South, Son House was born outside of Clarkdale, Mississippi (fans of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant will recognize that reference) in 1902 and then spent much of his early years in Louisiana.  He was a Baptist preacher as a teen and didn't start playing guitar until his later twenties, working with Willie Brown, who is heard on some of these recordings.

Quickly, House became a name in the blues world and had an influence on such legends as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. It is said that Johnson's remarkable transformation as a guitar player was due, in no small measure, to his keen and close observation of House's technique.  Another master bluesman, Charley Patton, made a connection for House with Paramount Records, which recorded eight tracks with House in early 1930.

It was more than a decade, though, before House got another session, this time with Alan Lomax, who found him in Mississippi in summer 1941.  Getting together with his old partner, Brown, House recorded the first five songs on this 2003 Biograph disc with assistance from Fiddlin' Joe martin and Leroy Williams on four of the pieces.

Lomax came back the following year with a partnership with the all-black Fisk University of Nashville, and recorded more of House's performances, including the nine that close out the album.  Unlike the first session, the 1942 dates find House working solo and, it being wartime America, he even added a new tune, "American Defense" to the selections, all of which were attributed to him.

With the 1930 and 1941-42 sessions constituting the body of his recorded work, House moved to Rochester, New York, where he lived after 1943, but it was another twenty years before he got back into a recording studio.  As the folk revival exploded in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a rediscovery of blues artists, including those who played acoustic, took place.  In 1965, Columbia Records recorded an older and more wizened House in a series of sessions that are captured in a two-disc complete box that will be featured here some day.

With his career brought back to life, House kept busy for several years until health problems slowed him down, though he lived on until fall 1988 when he died of complications from throat cancer at the age of 86.

This "Delta Blues" compilation of what is now referred to as "The Original Library of Congress Sessions from Field Recordings" from 1941-42 are full of fleet guitar performances, House's powerful county blues vocalizing, and on those early pieces, some fine accompaniment on guitar and harmonica.  Though the conditions were far more primitive-sounding than what he put down on tape in the mid-Sixties, the passion and soulfulness of these fourteen gems are among the greatest of blues recordings.

The Best of B.B. King: The Millenium Collection

The announcement yesterday of the death at 89 of the great B.B. King takes away one of the last of that generation of classic blues performers.  King's piercing, keening and sharp soloing and that slightly husky and emotive singing style are among the most easily recognizable in music over the last fifty plus years.

This greatest hits compilation by MCA is a brief survey of a stellar career that is mostly from material recorded from 1966 to 1976, excepting his mid-80s hit "Into the Night," which was wisely put at the end of the collection as it is obviously different in production values and intent.

You can't find a better example of the pure soulfulness of King's work than the opening track, "The Thrill is Gone," which features his voice more than his guitar.  This 1969 masterpiece is easily one of the great songs of the last fifty years.

By contrast is the upbeat "Ain't Nobody Home," where King's restrained vocals backed by a female trio and including organ, piano, horns in a bigger band, but a thinner sound.  This pleasant piece is then followed by a rollicking live version of "Let The Good Times Roll" with the irrepressible Bobby Bland working with King to take the sound to a higher level.  It's a fantastic version and King gets in some tasty soloing, as well.

The party gives way to one of the sweetest and finest ballads of King's work, introduced by a highly soulful and mournful solo backed by horns and piano in the excellent "Guess Who," from 1972.  Here, though, it's King voice that  takes center stage and his singing is just beautiful.

"I Like to Live the Love" has the horns, basslines, and, especially, the drum tuning that is pretty clearly an attempt to emulate the Al Green sound, since that soul singer was at the top of his game in 1973 when the tune was recorded.  King, though, sings with great effectiveness, even putting in a little Green-like effect on the chorus.  A nice addition, as well, is the percussion (conga drums and so on), though there isn't much guitar at all.

On 1966's "Don't Answer the Door," the first of a trio from blues central in Chicago, there is a deep blues groove with the high trebly guitar intro over an organ drone sounding like it is in another room, but it is a sweet solo to start. King's vocal is outstanding, imploring, shouting and showing the man at his best.  It's quite a contrast to the previous song and shows King at the peak of his classic blues period.

Another great live tune, also from '66, is "Sweet Sixteen," another slow blues groove where King's soloing at the start has a lower range than on "Don't Answer the Door" until he moves higher up in range and lets loose some hot licks, before his impassioned vocals, accompanied by a sax, elicit screams, yells and other loud affirmations from a highly-appreciative crowd.

The short, radio-ready, "Paying the Cost To Be the Boss," shuffles along nicely behind the short opening solo until King hits his soulful stride in his vocal.  With some tasty horns, percolating organ, a sinewy and prominent bassline and a nice steady drum beat, this is another classic King tune from 1967.

1971's "I Got Some Help I Don't Need," has a short intro with a bit of an organ solo before King launches his vocal, mixed in an interesting way, but it's great because his singing his outstanding.  The drums are also mixed in a strange way, though the crystalline cymbals work well.  It may be that the sound came out as it did because the tune was produced by Ed Michel, who did a ton of great jazz records for Impulse! and other labels at the time.

That leaves "Into the Night," which is definitely an artifact of that mid-1980s film soundtrack era.  The synthesizers, at least two of them, and the bass are jarring compared to the other pieces on the record, but there is some good soloing by the guitar master and his singing is given a blues shouter gusto, especially as he bellows out the title, that does offset to a significant degree the instrumental backing.  It's as if King knew that he had to turn up the heat on his singing to take attention away from the rest of the performance!

R.I.P. B.B.

Clearly, B.B. King enthusiasts will point to any number of proper albums or other compilations as more representative of the greatness of this outstanding blues legend.  The Best of B.B. King is, however, a good overview of a decade of some of the master's best work, even if "Into the Night" is a bit out of place.

The Rounder Records Story

For sheer volume, the 25th anniversary box set, The Real Music Box, issued in 1995 by the amazing Massachusetts label, Rounder, is pretty tough to beat for value, as it includes four double-disc sets on Louisiana-based, blues, folk and bluegrass music, plus a bonus disc with a wide variety of material on it.

However, the 40th anniversary four-disc compilation, The Rounder Records Story, is highlighted here because, though it offers less music, it does provide overviews by each of the four decades, including, of course, material from the latter half of the 1990s and the 2000s, giving a different kind of range of the prodigious and diverse output of this exemplary record label.

The other attraction to this set is that, by going through the four decades, the music is intermingled, so that a bluegrass piece is followed by a zydeco tune, which then is followed by a blues song and so on.  That kind of sequencing is more jarring and gives something of a different sense of adventure to the listener than music organized around a genre (this is, by no means, a big knock on The Real Music Box, which is a real pleasure to listen to, as well.)

Starting from a song from its first artist, bluegrass legend George Pegram, up through material by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and from the Holy Modal Rounders to Rush, and from Buckwheat Zydeco to George Thorogood, the music may be highly differentiated in sound, but there is one characteristic that spans the whole set.  That is the absolute devotion of the founders of Rounder to present American "roots" music in all of its diversity and quality.  Well, not quite all American--there is a song from African kora master, Alhaji Bai Konte  and another from the great Jamaican reggae outfit, Culture (the albums from which these songs came were favorites of this blogger back in the early 90s, but were on cassette--CD versions are hard to come by.)

It's hard to pick out highlights, but there are some standouts, including the amazing but troubled piano James Booker and his "Classified"; the amazing The Three Pickers of Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson and Ricky Skaggs in a stirring live "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms"; teen sensation Mar O'Connor's "Tom and Jerry" from the mid-70s; a great "Down to the Wire" by Son Volt; the intricate lyrics of Bill Morrissey in "Birches"; Plant and Krauss's "Please Read the Letter"; anything Krauss, actually; Thorogood's popular version of "Who Do You Love"; "La Porte Dans Arriere" by D.L. Menard and the Louisiana Aces; Bela Fleck's banjo workout, "Whitewater"; the strange, but really pleasurable "Tipitina" by Professor Longhair; Charles Brown's "A Virus Called the Blues"; Linda Thompson's beautiful "Versatile Heart"; Tish Hinojosa's plaintive protest song, "Something in the Rain"; and the aforementioned Alhaji Bai Konte's "Jula Jekere" and Culture's "Babylon's Big Dog."

Again, though, there are dozens of great songs in this set of 87 tracks, but the biggest takeaway from this set for this listener was the material relating to bluegrass and Cajun and other Louisiana-based music.  This is simply because these arenas of music were not familiar at all, as opposed to the blues, rock, folk and other forms represented.  The quality of the performances by so many violinists, banjoists, horn players and singers is uniformly excellent and opened this blogger's eyes to large swaths of American music that had, regrettably, been unheard before.

So, kudos to Rounder for 45 years of great work and for issuing box sets that really give a nice cross-section of the immense music the label has issued over the near quarter century since its very modest start in 1970.

Big Bill Broonzy: Trouble in Mind

This release on Smithsonian Folkways Records highlights the acoustic "country blues" of the great Big Bill Broonzy, from sessions in 1956 and 1957 as well as two performances from a concert at Northwestern University near Chicago.  Despite the musician's struggles with throat cancer, from which he died in 1958, his playing and singing are fantastic.

Moses Asch, the owner of Folkways Records, was determined to record Broonzy solo and to emphasize his singing and lyrics, which, in Asch's view, were often not as well-recorded in his earlier years.  A bonus is the opportunity to hear Broonzy introduce or add commentary to some of the pieces, including on "Joe Turner Blues No. 2 (Blues of 1890," "Black, Brown and White," and in his live performances of "This Train," and "In the Evening."

As remastered for compact disc, there is a clarity of sound that might be too clean for listeners who like the grittier recordings of the era as represented on the original vinyl releases.  This is certainly understandable, especially when it comes to classic blues material, but, on the other hand, the acoustic guitar and vocals do shine nicely on this release.

Among the many gems, in addition to those mentioned here, are the standard blues and folk tune "Frankie and Johnny," in which the jilted Frankie takes out her anger on her roaming lover Johnny; the hilarious "Mule-Ridin' Blues," an excellent example of the talking blues genre; the emotive "Poor Bill Blues," a personal adaptation of a tune called "Worried Life Blues"; the double-entendre loaded "Digging My Potatoes"; the plaintive "When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too)," best known in a version by Tampa Red from 1940 and best known in a rendition by electrical guitarist Elmore James; the famed standard "C.C. Rider"; and the fantastic "Southbound Train."

In truth, though, all of the nearly two-dozen songs are great, showcasing the variety of Broonzy's repertoire and use of varying styles in the blues genre.  There is a great quote from Studs Terkel, who did interviews with the musician and was a major figure in oral histories of Americans for many years.  Turkel stated that "Big Bill Broonzy was not only the greatest country blues singer I ever heard, he was one of the wisest of men. He knew the human heart as well as anyone."

As to Broonzy, his introduction to the live performance of "This Train," which had the audience singing along in a true interaction that only great performers can bring about, is hilarious and telling.  In it, he said "Well, they say that everything I sing whether it's a spiritual or folk song  . . . it's still the blues . . . Well, I'm a blues singer, what else am I gonna do with it . . . Some people call these folk songs . . . I never heard horses sing none of 'em."

True enough, but most folk wouldn't be able to sing these songs with the flair, passion and exquisite blues phrasing and guitar accompaniment of the amazing Big Bill Broonzy.

Buddy Guy: Buddy's Blues

This is another exceptional entry in the Chess Records 50th anniversary series from the late Nineties and features fifteen tracks from Guy's tenure at the legendary Chicago blues label from 1960-1967.  Guy was truly a triple threat--a fine songwriter, an excellent soulful singer, and a staggering guitarist-and these selections are a great cross-section to his years with the label.  Notably, he was not as well regarded in those years as some of the other Chess greats like Muddy Waters, B.B. King and so forth, but his time would come years later with his 1991 album Damn Right, I Got The Blues, which sold loads of copies and got tons of acclaim.

Still, there's no denying the stunning quality of Buddy's Blues from his singing and playing to the beautiful remastering that opens up the sound of these Sixties recordings to the stellar bands he performed with, including pianist Otis Spann, bassist Jack Meyers, drummer Fred Below and horn players Jarrett Gibson, Bob Neely, Donald Hankins, Gene Berge and more.

Guy originals like "Worried Mind;" "I Found a True Love;" "Stone Crazy;" "Ten Years Ago;" and "My Love is Real" are complemented by a raft of tunes by the great Willie Dixon, including his "I Cry and Sing the Blues;" "Let Me Love You Baby;" "Pretty Baby;" and "When My Left Eye Jumps."  There is also a standout cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Keep It To Yourself," retitled here as "Keep It to Myself."  Throughout, Guy sings with great power and intensity, while his guitar burns with a fantastically clean clear tone.

Guy just celebrated his 78th birthday on 30 July and it was intended to get this post together for that day, but here's a belated birthday wish to one of the great musical figures in American history, not just in the blues.  Long may Buddy Guy live and play live and otherwise!

John Lee Hooker: The Definitive Collection

Beware of the word "definitive" in most cases, whether in regard to music or most anything else.  Still, this British anthology of two dozen blues pieces released on the American Vee-Jay label by the great John Lee Hooker is pretty damn good.

Hooker was from near Clarksdale, Missisippi , born there probably in 1917.  While his father, a part-time preacher, wouldn't allow blues in the home, Hooker was exposed to the guitar through his step-father.  At 15, however, the young man left his family to live with relatives in Memphis and Cincinnati.  During World War II, he was in Detroit, where he began to make a name for himself.

After his "Boogie Chillen" became a #1 R&B hit, Hooker, who saw almost no royalties from it, began recording for many labels under a wide array of monikers.  In 1955, he signed to Vee-Jay, one of the big Chicago labels, are re-recorded many of his earlier pieces, with a 1959 album, I'm John Lee Hooker, showcasing Hooker in his prime.

Among the blues masterpieces on this album are his first hit "Boogie Chillen," first recorded in 1948 with this version being done about a decade later; "Crawlin' Kingsnake," and "Boom Boom."  Less well-known, but still amazing are pieces like "I'm In The Mood," "Dimples," "Little Wheel," "Trouble Blues," "Wheel and Deal," "She's Long, She's Tall."

There is also the hilarious, "I'm Mad Again," where Hooker intones in his deep voice how he's going to deal with a homeless friend he's taken into his house only to find the friend fooling around with his wife.

Probably the most surprising track has to be 1964's "Don't Look Back," which finds Hooker crooning with angelic backup singers and accompanied by horns, including the ubiquitous baritone sax found in so much of the R&B of the era.  There is a fine sax solo and Hooker's singing is really great and very different than his usual blues vocalizing.

Hooker's guitar playing was totally distinctive and had a thick and hypnotic rhythmic quality to it.  When he toured England in 1963, his playing and singing had a huge impact on a generation of young guitar players who became rock gods, including Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page (who recorded a late 90s album with his Led Zeppelin partner Robert Plant titled Walking into Clarksdale) Keith Richards and many more.

 

 

While Hooker's popularity and influence was greatest in the 1960s, he did enjoy a renaissance in the late 1980s, including a Grammy for The Healer and for a duet of "I'm in the Mood" with Bonnie Raitt and a repeat in 1998 for Don't Look Back, a record that featured another award-winning duet, this time with Van Morrison on the title track.  The bluesman died in 2001 at age 83, with his last recordings coming a few years prior and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award presented to him the year before his death.

 

This blogger is something of a blues novice, but this is a great album and John Lee Hooker was a phenomenal singer and guitarist, who was as distinctive as some of the other greats in the genre.  Again, this record doesn't really qualify as "definitive," if anything does, but it is a good sampling of a true master of the form.