Tuesday 31 May 2011

STAR BLUES on 29th May 2011 at 22:00

It seemed fitting that STAR BLUES had a chance to look to this years Glastonbury Festival on a Bank Holiday Sunday.

There'll be a special blues stage (Bourbon Street) to showcase jazz and blues artists. Connie Lush will be on twice and a drum heavy version of "Nobody's Fault" is a good indication of her powerful onstage presence. Dave Kelly will be in duet with Maggie Bell and we sampled wares from earlier in their careers. Paddy Milner went to a Dave Brubek piece for some piano wizardry (if I hadn't seen the video Id swear one pair of hands couldn't play that fast). We've long held Brooks Williams as a favourite and his cover of "Grinning In Your Face" showed why.

Though Eric Bibb isn't on the Bourbon Street stage, he'll be there as well and he did the modern half of a back to back feature with Blind Willie Johnson's last recording: "You'll Need Somebody On your Bond". Chrissi Poland has an awesome voice and her debut album was a late arrival that we were happy to make space for on STAR BLUES. Mike Vernon produced an album by Lazy Lester in 1985 and Ace has just reissued it with 9 bonus tracks; while the subsidiary label BGP anthologises the blues club platters spun every week by Andy Smith - his eclectic selection let us have Young Jessie.

My own eclectic contributions to the history of radio will be on tomorrow night (Bank Holiday Monday) so the white tee shirt gets a break but I can't guarantee anything else sensible will happen in the three hours from 7pm (BST). I'm planning Billie Holiday, Gil Scott Heron, the Chieftains, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Bob Marley and Bruce Springsteen.Or something completely different. Hope you can be there, until then take care of your selves and take care of those that take care of you.

Gary Blue

Num

Track

Artist

Album

1

Move Over

Janis Joplin

[1-2]Ultimate Collection - Janis Joplin{- -}

2

Gloria

Van Morrison With John Lee Hooker

[1-1]Gloria - Van Morrison{- -}

3

You're A Dog

Cookie Mc & Gee

[1-6]Right Place - Cookie McGee{- -}

4

Restless Feelin's

Bobby 'Blue' Bland

[1-4]Blues You Can Use - Bobby 'Blue' Bland{- -}

5

Jack Of Diamonds

Davis Coen

[1-3]Blues Lights For Yours And Mine - Davis Coen{- -}

6

Coffee Grinder Blues

Jaybird Coleman

[2-11]Let Me Tell You About The Blues: Atlanta - Various Artists{- -}

7

You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond

Eric Bibb

[1-9]Spirit And Blues - Eric Bibb{- -}

8

You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond

Blind Willie Johnson

[2-10]Let Me Tell You About The Blues: Atlanta - Various Artists{- -}

9

The Duisberg Blues

Dave Kelly

[1-2]When The Blues Comes To Call - Dave Kelly{- -}

10

As The Years Go Passing By

Maggie Bell

[1-2]Best Of - Maggie Bell{- -}

11

Nobody's Fault

Connie Lush

[1-10]Send Me No Flowers - Connie Lush{- -}

12

Jack The Ripper

Link Wray

[1-15]Ace 30: Doo Wop And Rock'n'roll - Various Artists{- -}

13

Checkin' On My Baby

Barcodes

[1-4]Be Cool - Barcodes

14

Grinnin' In Your Face

Brooks Williams

[1-2]Baby O! - Brooks Williams{- -}

15

Come By Here

James 'Thunderbird' Davis

[1-12]Black Top Blues-A-Rama - Various Artists{- -}

16

Blackjack

Ray Charles

[4-1]The History Of Rhythm & Blues

17

Hard Road

Debbie Davies & Mick Taylor

[1-3]Key To Love - Debbie Davies{- -}

18

Unsquare Dance

Paddy Milner

[1-1]Unsquare Dance - Paddy Milner{- -}

19

Confessin' The Blues

Jay Mc & Shann

[4-19]History Of Rhythm And Blues Part One - Various Artists{- -}

20

Angel Weep For Me

Chrissi Poland

[1-5]Songs From The Concrete - Chrissi Poland{- -}

21

Don't Happen No More

Young Jessie

[1-14]Dj Andy Smith's Jam Up Twist - Smith

22

The Same Thing Could Happen To You (take 2)

Lazy Lester

[1-3]Rides Again - Lazy Lester{- -}

23

Lucy Mae Blues

Frankie Lee Sims

[3-11]Specialty Story - Various Artists{- -}

24

Let's Work Together

Canned Heat

[1-13]The Very Best Of Canned Heat - Canned Heat{- -}

Monday 23 May 2011

STAR BLUES on 22nd May 2011 at 22:00

Robert Allen Zimmerman will be 70 on Tuesday and because he records as Bob Dylan and he has a deep love of blues, our STAR BLUES show last night took him as the theme. We went to some of his recordings in his own voice and those of artists doing interpretations - and we took a healthy smattering from the playlists of his "Theme Time Radio" show (TTRH) originally on XMRadio between May2006 and April2009.

We started our show off with Muddy Waters' "Blow Wind Blow" just as he did for TTRH show number 1 on the weather. It also gave us the link back to Sonny Boy Williamson who closed 15th May show with Muddy's band in tow. Muddy had an Indian Summer career from 1976 onwards thanks to Johnny Winter, whose version of "Highway 61 revisited" was at the other end last night. (see how this stuff is immaculately planned weeks in advance (ahem, ahem))

Big surprise was the jazzy piano of Nina Simone from 1971 with "Just Like A Woman", covered inn the same year by another African-American woman, Roberta Flack. The irony was that Dylan wrote the song for Otis Redding who didn't fancy it. Our gospel offering was a song Bob wrote during his conversion to Christianity in a beautiful version by the Fairfield Four. The regular piano spot dipped into the New Orleans corner of TTRH for Professor Longhair and Fats Domino. More Dylan covers included the Solomon Burke triumphant go at "Maggies Farm" and a gorgeously sensual reading of "Lay Lady Lay" by Maria Muldaur whose voice has really improved with age, like cask-aged whisky.

Others have given fulsome tribute in celebration of Bob Dylan and two hours seemed barely enough to convey how he has influenced this author and changed the way folks listen to the radio by refusing to label the music he chose. Thanks Mr. Z. I've been invited back for some more eclectic fandangling on Bank Holiday Monday as well as STAR BLUES as normal on Sunday. I hope you can come along. Until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you.

Blow Wind Blow

Muddy Waters

14

Radio Bob: 16 Brilliant Tracks From Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

Various Artists

Someday Baby

Bob Dylan

4

Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

Bob Dylan

Maggie's Farm

Solomon Burke

4

How Many Roads: Black America Sings Bob Dylan

Various

Pledging My Time

Duke Robillard

5

Blues On Blonde On Blonde

Various Artists

Everything Is Broken

R.L Burnside

4

Tangled Up In Blues

Various Artists

Just Like A Woman

Nina Simone

16

How Many Roads: Black America Sings Bob Dylan

Various

Corrina Corrina

Bo Carter

9

The Early Blues Roots Of Bob Dylan

Various Artists

Corrina, Corrina

Bob Dylan

11

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

36-22-36

Bland, Bobby "Blue"

1

Theme Time Radio Hour - Season 3

Various Artists

Homework

Otis Rush

8

Theme Time Radio Hour

Various Artists

Mona

Bo Diddley

24

Theme Time Radio Hour

Various Artists

Pouring Water On A Drowning Man

James Carr

23

Theme Time Radio Hour

Various Artists

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again

North Mississippi Allstars

5

Uncut: Happy Birthday Bob

Various Artists

Walkin' With Frankie

Frankie Lee Sims

7

Theme Time Radio Hour - Series 2

Various Artists

Soul On Fire

Lavern Baker

4

Radio Bob: Vol 2

Various Artists

In The Night

Professor Longhair

14

Theme Time Radio Hour - Season 3

Various Artists

Dignity

Bob Dylan

3

Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

Bob Dylan

Don't You Lie To Me

Fats Domino

10

Theme Time Radio Hour - Season 3

Various Artists

John The Revelator

Blind Willie Johnson

8

Radio Bob: 16 Brilliant Tracks From Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour

Various Artists

Are You Ready (Album Version)

Fairfield Four, The

4

Gotta Serve Somebody - The Gospel Songs Of Bob Dylan

Various Artists

Not Dark Yet

Bob Dylan

7

Time Out Of Mind/Love And Theft

Bob Dylan

Walkin' Dr Bill Aka Gotta Find My Baby

B.B. King

21

Theme Time Radio Hour - Series 2

Various Artists

Lay Baby Lay

Maria Muldaur

2

Heart Of Mine : Love Songs Of Bob Dylan

Maria Muldaur

Like A Rolling Stone

Bob Dylan

9

Bootleg Series - Vols. 1 To 3

Bob Dylan

Highway 61 Revisited

Johnny Winter

7

Second Winter (Deluxe Edition)

Johnny Winter