As an alternative to the prevalence of electric blues-rock STAR BLUES celebrated the bedrock of the music we love by playing the acoustic, delta, country and pre-war variants of blues. The sound quality was scratchy at times but better that than cleaned up copies with the guts processed out of em I say.
Booker Washington White was second cousin to BB King, he beat the heck out of his axe on our opener "Bukka's Jitterbug Swing" that set out our stall last night. Quite a few years ago I remember Paul Jones on Radio2 playing a Scrapper Blackwell track which completely knocked me flat on my bottom. He recorded "Kokomo Blues" in April 1928, a full 8 years before Robert Johnson reworked it as "Sweet Home Chicago", the rest is history. Napolean Strickland learnt his craft from Otha Turner (becoming adept at diddley-bow as well as fife) - his version of "My Babe" owed more to the gospel original than the composition Willie Dixon wrote down. We kept the uptempo theme going with Blind Boy Fuller and one of the leading advocates Catfish Keith (with a spirited run through of Jimmie Davis' "Hum Dum Dinger").
Indeed there's a very healthy scene of traditional/country-blues players spreading the good word, we made space for Keith and for Toby Walker and Lauren Sheehan. "Stomp Down Rider" was Guy Davis' first cd project (he already had a vinyl album in 1978 and a cassette only piece) - it was a live document of a thriving interest in blues twenty years ago; we had his lovely cover of Robert Johnson's "Dust My Broom". Alvin Youngblood Hart is regarded as Davis' contemporary - he certainly benefited from the reactivated OKEH label with his "Big Mama's Door" album: he set up quite a momentum with his go at Lead Belly's "Gallows Pole". Huddie's own "Linin Track" showed the master had left a great legacy.
I felt honoured to be able to show off John Jackson, Mance Lipscomb, Blind Boy Fuller and Etta Baker who each proved in their own way that you don't need electric guitars to play blues. Twenty two years ago today (27th Aug 1990) we lost Stevie Ray Vaughan who loved the blues but created a sound that so many try to emulate but end up so far away from blues that the genre gets hijacked by rouges, scoundrels and talentless dilettantes. Don't forget Jackson, Fuller, Lipscomb and Baker used just naked fingers to express themselves. Fred McDowell's rediscovery in 1965 brought us a beautiful instrumental treatment of "I Wish I was in Heaven Sittin' Down"
BTW. Thats just the *FIRST* 12 years, you wait to see what mischief I can get up to in the next twelve. Starting next Sunday at ten pm (BST) with some of the last recordings with drummer Wilie Big-Eyes Smith and the brand-new album from Smokin' Joe Kubek on Delta Groove, not bad eh? Until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you
| Bukka's Jitterbug Swing | Bukka White | 2 | Broke Black And Blue | Various Artists | PROPER |
| my babe | napolean strickland fife and drum band | 20 | TESTAMENT RECORDS SAMPLER | VARIOUS ARTISTS | TESTAMENT |
| Shake That Shimmy | Blind Boy Fuller | 11 | 1935-1940 | Blind Boy Fuller | TRAVELIN' MAN |
| She's A Hum Dum Dinger From Dingersville | Catfish Keith | 5 | The Best Of Kicking Mule - Vol.1 | Various Artists | LASERLIGHT |
| Harlem Bound | Sleepy John Estes | 4 | Stone Blind Blues | Sleepy John Estes | CATFISH |
| Howling Tom Cat Blues | Bo Carter | 19 | Bo Carter's Advice | Bo Carter | CATFISH |
| Long Tall Girl Got Stuck On Me | Mance Lipscomb | 7 | Blues Roots | Various Artists | TOMATO |
| Cannon Ball Blues | Furry Lewis | 6 | Beale Street Blues | Frank StokesFurry Lewis | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
| KOKOMO BLUES | SCRAPPER BLACKWELL | 1-20 | HISTORY OF RHYTHM AND BLUES | VARIOUS ARTISTS | R AND B |
| Can't Afford To Lose My Man | Lauren Sheehan | 14 | Rose City Ramble | Lauren Sheehan | INDEPENDENT |
| Gallows Pole | Alvin Youngblood Hart | 5 | Big Mama's Door | Alvin Youngblood Hart | OKEH |
| Lining Trunk | Lead Belly | 6 | Roots Of Taj Mahal | Various Artists | CATFISH |
| cool drink of water blues | tommy johnson | 1-16 | 20th century blues | various artists | catfish |
| (I Believe I'll) Dust My Broom | Guy Davis | 1 | Stomp Down Rider | Guy Davis | RED HOUSE |
| Hard Times Killing Floor | Little Toby Walker | 9 | Hand Picked | Little Toby Walker | CD BABY |
| Bear Cat Blues | John Jackson | 12 | Blues Roots | Various Artists | TOMATO |
| GOIN DOWN THE ROAD FEELIN' BAD | ETTA BAKER AND TAJ MAHAL | 1 | MUSIC MAKERS WITH TAJ MAHAL | Various Artists | MUSIC MAKER |
| Because I Love My Dady So | Lil Green | 16 | Why Don't You Do Right | Lil Green | BLUES COLLECTION |
| Me And My Chauffeur | Memphis Minnie | 7 | The Blues Box | Various Artists | METRO |
| Searchin' The Desert For The Blues | Blind Willie McTell | 14 | Statesboro Blues | Blind Willie McTell | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
| I Wished I Were In Heaven Sitting Down | Fred McDowell | 6 | Mississippi Blues | Mississippi Fred McDowell | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
| Old Jim Canaan's | Robert Wilkins | 2 | Let Me Tell You About The Blues: Memphis | Various Artists | Fantastic Voyage |
| Build Myself A Home | Hans Theessink & Terry Evans | 6 | Delta Time | Hans Theessink & Terry Evans | BLUEGROOVE |
| Nobody's Fault But Mine | Blind Willie Johnson | 1-2 | HISTORY OF RHYTHM AND BLUES VOL. 1 | Various Artists | R AND B |
| STEP IT UP AND GO | Brownie McGhee | 1-13 | COMPLETE | BROWNIE MCGHEE | COLUMBIA |
| STACK-O-LEE | MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT | 2-12 | BLUES BOX | Various Artists | METRO |
| Early Morning Blues | Blind Blake | 2 | Essential | Blind Blake | CLASSIC BLUES |
| terraplane blues | robert johnson | 2-3 | blues box | various artists | metro |
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