Monday 29 April 2013

STAR BLUES on 28th April 2013 at 22:00

STAR BLUES was on the spot last night with a new studio setup, some brand new bits and bobs unearthed on Record Store Day, a couple of passings to mark, and a swing outside the strictest definition of blues - you can chalk another one up as truly "different".

Big George Brock, JB Hutto and Mississippi Heat were found on RS Day and have proved to be nice additions to my collection; especially really liking those early sides with Deitra Farr's voice and Billy Flynn and Bob Stroeger added support to "I Love My Baby". The Buddy Guy live version of "Can't Be Satisfied" was done at Radio City in New York in 2003 and was on the soundtrack to the Scorsese film "Lightnin In a Bottle" - a 2 disc set.

A good night for the ladies too: Edith Johnson is featured in the new issue of Blues & Rhythm magazine and we had her her Eight Hour marathon time (or perhaps she was talking about some other physical exertion?). Hadda Brooks was a very stylish player and her 1946 instrumental outing for the Modern label closed the Vinyl Hour. Mahalia did our gospel duty and Betty James' classic single for Chess was an unexpected late addition to the running order.

Hugh Laurie excites much comment with everything he touches, his new album garnered six out of ten in Classic Rock magazine, I'd score it one or two more because he has never claimed to be an authentic bluesman (whatever that is). He celebrates and is able to bring outside interest to some lesser known artists and the project is a labour of love - as long as he stays away from the hoary old chestnuts we should wish him well. The singer on his version of "Didn't It Rain" is I think Jean McCain and she aquit herself admirably last night.

Similarly Bob Brozman never called himself a blues artist, he believed music to be the universal language. His songs would just as likely include Hawaiian or India influences as anything heard in the Delta cotton fields. At just 59 he died this week and we will miss his mastery of National Steel playing, as well as his knowledge and influence.

Artie "Blues Boy" White died last Saturday - blessed with an engaging voice and a keen eye for song writing, he always seemed to be on the edge of being lauded in the same way as Z Z Hill. We went to his first album he put out on Ronn Records in 1985, he later did projects for Ichiban and Waldoxy as well as four albums on his own label. With last years loss of Lou Pride, this style of singing is getting hard to find.

Pre-war gems from King Solomon Hill (who only cut 8 titles) and Charlie Patton (aka Charley Patton) who died this date in 1934. Neither were in the highest of fidelity but the power of the performances cut across the intervening years. Regular listeners will know the high regard I hold Johnny Shines - he'd have had a birthday this week so I was able to include his 1972 version of "Dyna Flow Blues".

Django Reinhard and Stephan Grapelli were regulars at the Hot Club of Paris and that same beautiful, elegant playing was here on "Swing Gitane" as we tried to usher in something summery - not blues by the strictest meaning but lovely skills nonetheless.

You were great company on STAR BLUES, many thanks for the many kind words about the Vinyl Hour - I was Gary Blue. I will be again next Sunday at 10pm (BST) if you'll have me - until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you.



Track.TitleTrack.ArtistSortIndexAlbum.TitleAlbum.ArtistSortLabel
My Heart Is Achin' To Love YouJ. B. Hutto5SlideslingerJ. B. HuttoEVIDENCE
I Love My BabyMississippi Heat1Learned The Hard WayMississippi HeatVan Der Linden
I Wouldn't-A Done ThatDuke Robillard Band, The1Independently BlueDuke Robillard Band, TheSTONY PLAIN
Rockin' ChairBig George Brock5Round TwoBig George BrockCAT Head
warm roomArtie 'Bluesboy' White1Blues BoyArtie 'Bluesboy' WhiteRONN
the leaning treejohn primer and bob corritore5knockin around the bluesjohn primer and bob corritoredelta groove
Swing GitaneSwing Gitane1Swing GitaneSwing GitaneBlau
I Can't Be SatisfiedBuddy Guy9Lightning In A Bottle. A Salute To The Blues [Disc 1]Various ArtistsColumbia / Legacy
Cypress Grove BluesBob Brozman7Blues ReflexBob BrozmanRuf
Didn't It RainHugh Laurie2Didn't It RainHugh LaurieWARNER BROS
i wanna do it to youSmokey Wilson1Round Like An Apple: Big Town Sessions 1977-1978Smokey WilsonACE
stop lyinTail Dragger9Stop Lyin'Tail DraggerDELMARK
Dynaflow BluesJohnny Shines3Ramblin' BluesJohnny ShinesORBIS BLUES COLLECTION
pony bluescharlie patton7pony Bluescharlie pattonorbis publications
Gone Dead TrainKing Solomon Hill7Blues Images Presents 1920's Blues Classics Cd - Volume 3Various ArtistsBLUES IMAGES
Gonna Tell Your MotherJimmy McCracklin1Modern Recordings, Vol. 2: Blues Blastin'Jimmy McCracklinACE
Eight Hour WomanEdith Johnson37Bedspring Poker - Meat In Motion 1926/1951Various ArtistsINDIGO
lorraineJohnny Young10The Complete Blue Horizon SessionsJohnny YoungBLUE HORIZON
Early MorningFloyd Jones2-17Down Home Blues Classics - Chicago (1946-1954)Various ArtistsBOULEVARD VINTAGE
my real gone rocketjackie brenston1-8rockin memphisVarious Artistsproper
baker street boogiewillie nix1-14rockin memphisVarious Artistsproper
salt in my coffeebetty james2miscVarious Artistsvarious
Dig A Little DeeperMahalia Jackson10As Good As It GetsVarious ArtistsDISKY
bluesin the boogiehadda brooks21946 modern yearsvarious artistsace

Monday 22 April 2013

STAR BLUES on 21st April 2013 at 22:00

Spot the guitarist - at least two tracks on STAR BLUES have identity problems regarding the axe-man. Our closing Bobby Bland song "Further On Up The Road" is covered by the Ripley Old Sock brigade but in its original form featured some fine guitar playing. was it Wayne Bennett? was it Clarence Holliman? The discographer's bible shows it as Pat Hare. It's almost irrelevant given its power and impact.

The other question concerns Kevin Selfe's new project on Delta Groove - there's no other player credited with guitar on the track "Too Much Voodoo" but it really sounds to me like Robert Cray has added some of his magic. We could be doing Kevin a big disservice with such idle speculation but the song was a nice addition to last night's show. Jimmy Dawkins was one of the very best artists working in Chicago - though he made his album debut late, he had a solid rep as session player and he went on to issue some good records of his own, though to find him at his best he was most at home on stage.

The Arthur Crudup project on Delmark includes Dawkins and wasn't released at the time (1969), its out now on cd and is the Album of the Month in the new Living Blues. The magazine also talks to Carolina guitarist John Dee Holeman and harp maestro James Cotton who also had their music on our playlist. Anyday now there'll be James' new project on Alligator called "Cotton Mouth". For Delta Groove the Mighty Mojo Prophets project is out the same week as the great album from John Primer and Bob Corritore, it would be a shame if it gets missed.

Leading live band the Mustangs are coming to the Elme Hall Rock'n'Blues club on 5th May so we had a nice chance to go to their brand new album.

At long last the committee of the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame has seen sense to include Albert King for induction and we showed them what they've been missing so far. The single "Landromat Blues" came from his seminal album "Born Under A Bad Sign" - the one essential album *every* blues fan must have. It has Albert standing front and centre of Booker T & MGs, with Al Jackson in immaculate form. I urge anyone thinking of putting together a band to play blues to listen to Jackson's touch on this album - if your drummer can't play like that you should go off to do German OOmpah music instead.  JB Lenoir was worried you'd mess up his new haircut and Lloyd Price gave a shout out to Creole who this week has joined Lawdy Miss Clawdy and gone on ahead. Piano from Little Brother Montgomery's 1936 session for Bluebird and Champion Jack Dupree's London album he cut in 1959 with Alexis Korner. We missed our gospel spot last night and I promise to do it next week.

STAR BLUES is Britain's Other Blues Show: different for a reason yesterday with Pee Wee Hughes, Wright Holmes and Harvey Hill who don't often get played elsewhere. There is so much great stuff around its unreal - we hope you found something new on Record Store Day assuming you could still find one. Next Sunday at 10pm (BST) I'll be back with some of the gems I was lucky enough to get, white tee-shirt is ready and raring to go. Until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you


Track.TitleTrack.ArtistSortIndexAlbum.TitleAlbum.ArtistSortLabel
Rock Your TownCarl Weathersby1Don't Lay The Blues On MeCarl WeathersbyEVIDENCE
Bad Luck CardKenny Neal12Walking On FireKenny NealAlligator
She's GoneMighty Mojo Prophets, The11Flyin' Home From MemphisMighty Mojo Prophets, TheDelta Groove Productions
T. V. MamaBig George Jackson2Nothing Like The RestBig George JacksonCOLD WIND
aint't never had nothin'jimmy dawkins3tribute to orangejimmy dawkinsEVIDENCE
110 WoodlandJimmy Dawkins1Oldies But Goodies - Northern SoulVarious Artists
Mistake I Made in L.A.Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup5Sunny RoadArthur "Big Boy" CrudupDELMARK
Mojo HandJohn Dee Holeman & The Waifs Band3John Dee Holeman & The Waifs BandJohn Dee Holeman & The Waifs BandMUSIC MAKER
Boot Knockin' BoogieJames Cotton4Fire Down Under The HillJames CottonTELARC
Too Much VoodooKevin Selfe (with possibly Robert Cray?)8Long Walk HomeKevin SelfeDelta Groove Productions
when god met the devilmustangs3speed of lovemustangsraging horse
Sliced ApplesErnest Lane19Trouble Up The RoadIke TurnerSECRET RECORDS
Don't Throw Your Love on Me SoAlbert King20Trouble Up The RoadIke TurnerSECRET RECORDS
laundromat bluesalbert king1-8ultimate collectionalbert kingrhino
Country Boy BluesPee Wee Hughes57Down Home Blues ClassicsVarious ArtistsBOULEVARD VINTAGE
Good Road BluesWright Holmes1Alley SpecialVarious ArtistsCOLLECTABLES
She Fool MeHarvey Hill Jr.49Down Home Blues ClassicsVarious ArtistsBOULEVARD VINTAGE
Good Rockin' ManRoy Brown2The R'n'b Years 1952: 100 Hot Rhythm And Blues Tunes From 1952Various ArtistsBOULEVARD VINTAGE
Boot ‘em UpDu-Droppers, The25We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna RollVarious ArtistsPROPER
lawdy mis clawdylloyd price25we're gonna rockvarious artistsproper
Farish Street JiveLittle Brother Montgomery19The Best Of Boogie WoogieVarious ArtistsDOCUMENTS
Bad Luck Bound To ChangeChampion Jack Dupree20Two Classic Albums Plus SinglesChampion Jack DupreeAVID
T Model BluesLigtnin' Hopkins36The R'n'b Hits Of 1949Various ArtistsINDIGO
Don't Touch My HeadJ.B. Lenoir11The Best Of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio HourVarious ArtistsCHROME
Farther Up The RoadBobby ‘blue’ Bland12The Rough Guide To Blues Legends: B.B. King: Birth Of A Legend (Cd2)Various ArtistsROUGH GUIDES

Created: 21/04/2013 23:54:42

STAR BLUES on 14th April 2013

No show - sorry

Sunday 7 April 2013

STAR BLUES on 7th April 2013 at 22:00

John Primer played lead guitar for Muddy Waters - just consider the significance of that for a moment, lead player for the greatest of them all. John is still in cracking form and he's with Bob Corritore (who we chose as our artist of 2012) for a brand new project on Delta Groove: "Knockin Around These Blues". We were proud to premier it last night on STAR BLUES. Bob is great player with a knack for bringing out the very best in his partners and "Man or Mouse" is just one of the gems on offer.

Hugh Laurie doesn't claim to be an authentic bluesman and his mannered vocals aren't easy listening; he is a neat piano player with an obvious enthusiasm for the form. We had the radio edit of his new single last night - the song was co-written by Dr John and the late (and underappreciated) Bobby Charles. We hope Laurie's celebrity status can point a few new fans in the right direction (which I'm sure he'd regard as a decent outcome). Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans do old-timey stuff using fiddles and an upright bass and it was nice to show there's more to the current scene than screaming white-hot guitar wizardry.

I almost passed over the new EP from the Atomic Road Kill - the press release mentions rockabilly, hard rock and punk as influences. Lucky I read further and found the names Little Walter, Paul Butterfield and Jerry Portnoy - a far better indication of the nimble harp skills on offer. As a nice balance we went back to 1930 for "Coffee Grinder Blues" on Columbia by Jaybird Coleman to showcase one of the very first stars of blues harp. Coleman got a name for playing harp to the US Armed Forces and Cecil Gant was known as the GI Sing-Sation for his urbane vocal style on sides such as "I Wonder". He also had a muscular piano boogie style that he brought along to STAR BLUES.

The recent drama-documentary on Richard Feynmann solving the Challenger disaster included his refusal to work on the atomic bomb project in World War 2 - I went to the shelf for Pete Johnson's "Atomic Boogie" as another piano blues offering. Lafayette Leake did a fair number of sessions for blues and rock'n'roll records but very little under his own name (his first single came out in 1967). It was long thought to be his first work until the guys at MCA put together the Chess Blues box set - they found a December 1956 session with his name on: the loping instrumental with Willie Dixon and Odie Payne got the title of "Slow Leake" but no-one thought to make a note of the guitarists name. For tracks like this you wonder why there was no second track to create a single for the label, and if they didn't intend a single release what then? Nice skills in any case.


Nice guitar skills too at either end of our Vinyl Hour: Johnny Guitar Watson and Larry Dale. The former was a b-side to "Looking Back" on a local Los Angeles label miraculously picked up by John Mayall for his live set - and later into that of Dr. Feelgood, who also covered Solomon Burke's "Stupidity" on Atlantic. Lavern Baker was one of Atlatic's earliest female stars and in 1959 she was joined by the Alex Bradford Quartet for a gospel album, we chose her version of Mahalia Jackson's "In the Upper Room" for our sacred spot.

Mark Lamarr insists there is a law which says if you play Chuck Berry you must also play Bo Diddley - and rather than cause an international legal incident, we were more than happy to comply. Our Muddy Waters show was oh so brief (many thanks for the kind feedback: we will certainly plan to do more) and we didn't get time to include anything by either of his sons Big Bill Morganfield or Mud Morganfield. Put that right last night, the apple don't fall far from the tree is all we can say.

We're up for some more STAR BLUES next Sunday at 10pm (BST), you were absolutely magnificent last night and I was Gary Blue. Until next week take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you








Track.TitleTrack.ArtistSortIndexAlbum.TitleAlbum.ArtistSortLabel
AttitudeJohnny Heartsman5TouchJohnny HeartsmanAlligator
She's A BurglarFreddie King7BurglarFreddie KingPOLYDOR
sugar sweetfreddie king8burglarfreddie kingrso
Look What You DoneBig Bill Morganfield1Blues With A MoodBig Bill Morganfield101 Distribution
Dallas Blues-BonusBrad Vickers & His Vestapolitans15Great Day In The MorningBrad Vickers & His Vestapolitansmanhattones
man or mousejohn primer w. bob corritore9knocking around the bluesjohn primer w. bob corritoredelta groove
automaticatomic road kings2a r katomic road kingsrip cat
coffee grinder bluesjaybird coleman16harmonica bluesvarious artistsindigo
wild honeyhugh laurie1wild honeyhugh lauriewarner bros
I Feel So BadMike Eldred Trio, The2Elvis UnleadedMike Eldred Trio, TheRIP CAT
elevate me mamamannish boys w. mud morganfield1-6atomic bluesmannish boysdelta groove
just got to hold you tightBilly Boy Arnold15Billy Boy Arnold Sings: Big Bill BroonzyBilly Boy ArnoldElectro-Fi
The Eagle Is BackJohnny 'Guitar' Watson4Untouchable! The Classic 1959-1966 RecordingsJohnny 'Guitar' WatsonACE
Zig Zig LightningLittle Johnny Taylor20The Galaxy YearsLittle Johnny TaylorACE
Wise Man's BluesBobby 'Blue' Bland2The 3B Blues Boy. The Blues Years : 1952-1958Bobby 'Blue' BlandACE
Bullet BoogieCecil Gant20Let Me Tell You About The Blues: NashvilleVarious ArtistsFantastic Voyage
Atomic BoogiePete Johnson1Jump 'N' JiveVarious ArtistsMETRO
Slow LeakeLafayette Leake18Chess BluesVarious ArtistsCHESS
StupiditySolomon Burke9Home Is In Your HeartSolomon BurkeRHINO
You Never Can TellChuck Berry14His Best Volume 2Chuck BerryMCA/CHESS
Road RunnerBo Diddley3White LightningVarious ArtistsINSTANT
T Model BoogieRosco Gordon17No More Doggin' : Introduction To Rosco GordonRosco GordonPROPER
That Ain't RightJimmy McCracklin7Modern Recordings, Vol. 2: Blues Blastin'Jimmy McCracklinACE
in the upper roomlavern baker2-8gospel celebritiesvarious artistsfantastic voyage
Sad Life BluesJimmy Witherspoon11Sings The Blues SessionsJimmy WitherspoonACE
Look What You've Done To MeLittle Willie John19Mule Milk And Fire WaterVarious ArtistsWESTSIDE
midnight hour blueslarry dale3-16Let Me Tell You About The Blues: New YorkVarious ArtistsFantastic Voyage
Created: 07/04/2013 23:53:37