Popdose (Free subscription) | 14/10/2008
John Fahey has been recommended to me enough times that I’ve lost count, and has been cited as an influence by a decent chunk of the bands in my listening library, and yet, though I’ve had The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death for ages now, it’s taken me an absurd amount of time to [...]
Billboard (Free subscription) | 12/09/2008
Writer-musician Gioia (Healing Songs, 2006, etc.) undertakes the daunting task of reconsidering the blues of the Mississippi Delta, musicological terrain well-plowed in several noteworthy books, most prominently the late Robert Palmer's seminal Deep Blues (1981).
Spinner.com (Free subscription) | 05/09/2008
Filed under: I Freakin' Love This Song Spinner.com : 'He's a Mighty Good Leader,' BeckFrom 1994's 'One Foot in the Grave'Before 'Where It's At' and 'Loser,' there was 'He's a Mighty Good Leader,' a Skip James cover by Beck. I love this song because you can sense in Beck's delivery that he knows how to... Read more
RegnYouth Archives (Free subscription) | 30/08/2008
To evaluate almost a century of blues recordings and narrow it down to thirty albums takes much thought. First and foremost, you must include recordings that were important for their wide influence. Early Delta musicians like Charlie Patton and Son House influenced Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, respectively, who themselves started in the Delta and [...]
The KEXP Blog (Free subscription) | 01/08/2008
by Damian Bradley The great thing about Seattle is that great musicians grace our presence every day. Last night, blues legend and historian John Hammond (son of the also legendary John Hammond, Sr.) opened a two night run at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, taking the crowd on a musical journey through the history of American blues. [...]
BLUES TOWN (The City Of Blues) (Free subscription) | 27/07/2008
At different times preacher and cat house pianist, Skip James personifies the contradictions that seem to permeate the blues. He was born Nehemiah James in 1920 in Bentonia Mississippi. His father, according to most accounts, was a minister but others have him as a bootlegger. What is generally agreed is that James graduated from high school, and that he learned to play the guitar from the locally...
cowsarejustfood (Free subscription) | 26/06/2008
more crackly ancient beauty from mississippi records today, following yesterdays post on the magnificent skip james vinyl reissue. washington phillips was a preacher, instrumentalist and gospel singer. he did not die in an asylum in 1930. he probably did not play the bizzaro dolceola instrument that’s often accredited to him. he did play more than likely some kind of [...]
cowsarejustfood (Free subscription) | 25/06/2008
jeebus bless those good folks at mississippi records. not only did i pick up this collection of skip james songs from the 1931 session today but i also bagged washington phillips’ what are they doing in heaven today? all on sweetsweet vinyl. lovely sleeve too, with this picture of skip and john hurt glued to the front. mississippi records [...]
cowsarejustfood (Free subscription) | 24/06/2008
jeebus bless those good folks at mississippi records. not only did i pick up this collection of skip james songs from the 1931 session today but i also bagged washington phillips’ what are they doing in heaven today? all on sweetsweet vinyl. lovely sleeve too, with this picture of skip and john hurt glued to the front. mississippi records [...]
DETAILED TWANG (Free subscription) | 28/05/2008
A few weeks ago we talked to you about this amazing wife-n-husband duo we'd just discovered called BIG BLOOD , based in the wilds of Maine (Portland!). At the time, way back in early May, we'd only heard an incredible CD-R of theirs called "The Grove". Since then, a lot has happened. I friended the band on MySpace . They friended back ( they totally have the internet in Maine!!). I got another of their...
The Way of the Fathers (Free subscription) | 15/05/2008
The New York Times quoted Yours Truly for the first (and surely last) time today. Actually, the Times quoted Rock n Roll Hall-of-Famer Dion quoting me on the subject of St. Jerome. An Italian-American bluesman records a song in Florida. An Irish-American disc jockey plays it at a radio station in Woodstock, N.Y. He tells a friend [...]
A.V. Club (Free subscription) | 08/05/2008
This is the second in what I hope will be a fairly extensive series highlighting some of the terrific performances by old-school blues musicians that...
Cynical-C Blog (Free subscription) | 30/04/2008
(via Clusterflock )
Minor Wisdom (Free subscription) | 25/03/2008
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video of Skip James playing “Devil Got My Woman.” Here is an interesting response: “Woman Got My Devil,” performed by Grady. This video has heavy-metal blues and (for Ashley and his Mrs.)...
Minor Wisdom (Free subscription) | 15/03/2008
Before Aaron Neville’s angelic tenor, before Johnny Adams’ unbelievable falsetto, there was Skip James. Besides accompanying himself on guitar or piano, he sang with a voice most ethereal. He didn't hit the high notes; he caressed them. But don't take...
