STAR BLUES on 20th February 2011 at 22:00

With both Blind Willie McTell and John Alex Mason in the playlist, I doubt another blues show on the planet could cover a wider spectrum of blues than we did last night. Mason has a rap section from RL Burnside’s son, Cedric and Willie’s was a trademark piece of 12string finger picking from 1932. The latter item was this weeks “1001” blues that showed everything you Google about someone is likely to be wrong or incomplete. Michael Gray has written the definitive biography of McTell and even he doesn’t know who Ruby Glaze was.

This May will celebrate 100 years of Robert Johnson and the modestly named Big Head Todd has a project of cover songs helped out by luminaries like Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite and B B King. We chose “Crossroads Blues” to put the King of the Blues in a very different spotlight – he has been influenced by jazz greats like Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt. This came through in his playing, beautifully sculptured jazz accompaniment to Hammond B3 organ – not the five note trills you normally hear from Lucille. At 86 B can still surprise us.

Cassie Taylor provided vocals to Gary Moore’s last album, she’s the daughter of Otis Taylor and is gifted with a breathy vocal and punchy bass style – both are to the fore on her new album “Blue”. She tackles a number of genres but she’s never far from roots or blues. Soul star Bobby Jones has a new project too but I didn’t get too many details, the only track I had was “Little Sally Walker” but I can’t wait to hear more. Soulmen Clay Hammond and Marvin Sease died recently and Little Johnny Taylor’s go on Galaxy at Clay’s “Part Time Love” was the biggest selling blues single of all time (part due to the song, part to Taylor’s vocal and part to the anguished guitar from Arthur Williams). I got a song suitable for family audience to mark Marvin’s death and a star of his stature won’t easily come again. If you want to know more about him, it’d be worthwhile finding the article in Living Blues magazine.

Chain at the top was Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips” and the show ended with the Stones’ version of the same song they cut in St Tropez for “Exile on Mainstreet”. Along the way we had Elmore James, Johnny Heartsman, piano boogie woogie from Meade Lux Lewis and Katie Webster and gospel from Rev. Gary Davis and the Speer Family. I’ve an idea what I can use for the Chain next week, see if you’re right by bringing your best ears on Sunday at 10pm (BST). Until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you.