A few blues things for the weekend

There are a few interesting blues and blueslike events happening over the weekend. And a couple of them are actually free.

It begins Friday night with one of the county's free gigs at the South Park Amphitheater, with Jr. Walker's All Star Band. There are only two of the original members left -- Autrey DeWalt (Jr. Walker died  in 1995.They were a soul band, not exactly blues, but yet, where would they have been without the blues? They'll be at South Park, if you're in the mood.

Saturday night begins a two-part appearance by Mick Taylor, one-time Rolling Stone who now seems to specialize in blues-rock. He'll be putting in an appearance with the local band, Blues Junkies, at the Hard Rock Cafe in Station Square Saturday night, then with the Mick Taylor Band, will offer up another free county concert at Hartwood Acres on Sunday night.

Also on Saturday night, Jakes Blues Band, out of Erie, shows up at Moondog's in Blawnox.

And most of the usual local blues bands are in most of the usual places around town. Enjoy.

Izzy & Chris: "Preachin' the Blues"

Sometimes the blues comes at you out of the corner of your eye, when you least expect it. Case in point: Country blues guys Izzy Stetar and Chris Nacy. They've been playing in and around the Burgh for a while now, most recently as a country blues duo. Izzy was a 2006 finalist for the International Blues Challenge from the Blues Society of Western Pa. Izzy & Chris represented the West Virginia Blues Society in the 2008 blues duo category. So they've been around. And they've got some cred.

But it took Betsie Brown, a music publicist out of Memphis who's always on the lookout for regional acts to promote nationally, to send me "Preachin' the Blues, Vol. 1" (80/20 Music), last year's fine little gem of an album by Izzy and Chris. As often as they've been in the area, I have to admit to not having seen them. Heck, even BeerNotes missed them at the Bocktown Beer and Grill last year.

Let me say first that I'm sorry I missed them -- these young guys write, sing and play country blues with a vengeance, as well as an uncanny feeling for the spirit of the music. Guitarist Izzy, from Weirton, W.Va., is the vocalist. His whiskey-flavored vocals ride mean guitar licks, carried along by Chris on harp, flowing out of the great tradition of acoustic blues. If couldn't see the album cover, you might not think this rootsy music was possible from a couple of young white dudes.

Even more impressive is that their music here is all original, except for one track. It's one thing to be able to perform a musical style, it's another to re-create it yourself.

Since the CD has been out since last year, and I'm just catching up with it, some of you are probably already hip to their music and this album. If you're not, give it a spin. Go see them.

Here's a YouTube video of them playing a song from the CD, "Flat Broke and Busted":

By the way, thanks to everyine for all the comments lately, and especially to Bluzer for all the great links.

Another look at Charley Patton; happy birthday Pinetop

Just a few days after I took a quick look at Charley Patton and a new boxed-set retrospective of his music, I ran across a very thorough and interesting post about Patton on a blog called "The Old, Weird America," in a post titled "Charley Patton's World."

Among other things, the blog makes the very valid point that Patton, like many of the musicians we call bluesmen were probably much more like popular entertainers of their day. It's similar to the themes raised in Elijah Wald's very excellent book, "Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues."

There are a lot of interesting references and links in "Charley Patton's World." It's good reading about one of the key figures in the history of blues music.

It's Pinetop's birthday

Today is Pinetop Perkins' 96th birthday. I hope the blues keeps me alive that long. If you happen to be in Austin, Texas, tonight, drop into Antone's, where Pinetop (Joseph William Perkins) will be be found at a big birthday party. He's another one of the living links to blues history, and seems unstoppable. (That's him at right, at the 2008 Chicago Blues Festival.)

Blues and cognac

The Festival Cognac Blues Passions is coming up -- in France. Yes, I know the link goes to a French web site. I just couldn't resist taking note of a blues festival with the word "cognac" in the title. BlueNotes raises his glass in appreciation.

Little Brother Montgomery: Pure blues piano

It was a holiday weekend, so BlueNotes decided to take a holiday from new CDs and relax with some fine old blues right from  the source. I remembered a while back that I mentioned that it might be fun to look into one of the great old pianomen of the blues (and other genres), Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery.

So I dug out a couple of vintage CDs: "At Home," an Earwig compilation (at right), and "Tasty Blues" from Prestige/Bluesville, recorded in 1960.

Of course, Montgomery's career goes way back beyond that. He was born in Louisiana in 1906, and according to usually reliable sources, began to pick at the piano when he was four. At the ripe old age of 11, he left home to play the barrellhouses of Louisiana, modeling himeself after, among others, Jelly Roll Morton, who was a visitor in his home when Montgomery was just a lad. And he first recorded in the late '20s, on a trip to Chicago. He recorded some fine sides for Bluebord in the 1930s.

Yes, he was a blues piano player, but his smooth and rippling style also lent itself to work in jazz, with jazz bands, at a time when blues and jazz seemed a lot closer than they do today.

Listening to some of his work, it's very impressive just how smooth he was, with an almost lazy, loping style that was elegant in its simplicity, yet full of innovation. His vocals tended to be high-pitched in his earlier years, but were still packed with emotional content. He wrote much of what he played, but sometimes covered other great songs as well. His left hand created a solid foundation for the melodic structures of his right hand.

He wrote traditional blues lyrics with the best, but his instrumentals stood on their own. On the tracks on "Tasty Blues," the guitar bass, piano and drums produced tight, melodic, powerful tunes in such simple sturctures that they sound almost effortless. It's really great music -- not just great blues. And that's why the blues is such a powerful music -- it works on multiple levels, filling heart, mind and soul with passionate music.

And o course, unlike way too many players today, he played a real piano, not an electronic keyboard. I think many modern blues fans have lost touch with the warmth of a real keyboard. Yes, I know that bands can't fit one in their vans, and that most clubs don't have one handy. But when they do, it's a pleasure to hear the music sound like it was first played. It's a shame that you can still hear fine acoustic guitar music, but much less frequently hear blues piano played like it was played back in the primeval blues days.

Montgomery died in 1985, but had managed to make good use of the blues revival in the '60s and '70s, traveling to national and international festivals, and continuing to record, getting at least some credit for his massive contributions to the blues piano genre. He wasa  true living link to the origins of bues and jazz.

You could do a lot worse than find a few of his CDs to insert into your collection and pull them out when you want to hear some great old piano blues, played by one of the originators.

Here are some samples:

Here's a 1966 performance of the classic "Pinetop's Boogie."

Here's a 1976 video of Montgomery performing "Vicksburg Blues"

And here's a recording by one of his main influences, Jelly Roll Morton, playing "Hesitation Blues"

Otis Taylor's somber, ethereal blues: "Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs"

Otis Taylor is one of those musicians who's usually identified as a blues musician, but whose music often seems to edge away from the blues, experimenting with nuance and flavor that suggest the blues, but don't necessarily sound like "blues." Taylor has called his music "trance blues," and I think that's just about right. It's not the actual music as much as it is the mood.

While his last CD, "Recapturing the Banjo" (his first instrument as a child), took on blues forms as performed by some accomplished banjo players, and felt much like old blues, his latest is a lot different.

Even the title is different: "Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs." It's a little obscure, but Taylor has always had a tendency to move in his own direction, once giving up his music from 1977 to 1995 to run an antiques business and coach an amateur bicycling team. Since '95, he's been a musical dervish, recording albums and apearing in festivals, spinning out new musical ideas with passion and intelligence.

Taylor's musical arrangements skillfully weave layers of instruments and vocals, always behind sensitive and thoughtful lyrics. He uses unconventional instrument mixes with things like violin and cornet, sometimes changing focus part way through a song. It's an intrguing blend of instruments, vocals and lyrics, with an almost hypnotic result. It seems to be true to his self-described "trance blues."

Taylor's vocals are gruff and tender, working well with the themes here of love and loss. His daughter Cassie plays bass, sings some backup, and provides haunting solo vocals on a trio of songs.

Here's a clip of Taylor on "Looking for Some Heat":

And here's "Sunday Morning," with Cassie in an ethereal vocal turn:

 Just to give you an idea of some of the sort of unconventional story lines floating around in Taylor's lyrics, here are a few descriptions of songs that he inlcudes in the liner notes:

-- "A story about a ghost who wants his lover to join him in the afterlife."
-- "A story about a married man who kills his mistress."
-- "A married woman leaves her husband for a woman."

It all makes for an album of excellent, thoughtful, well-crafted music.

Here's a sample video of Taylor and band at the Chicago Blues Festival last year.

The Living Blues poll

In mentioning the Blues Blast online mag poll in my previous post, I forget to also mention another ongoing poll in Living Blues magazine, one of the premier blues print publications. The magazine doesn't make its contents available online, but you can visit its web site and click the link at the top of the home page to vote. I like them because I think they stick closer to blues artists. You can vote through July 5.

Here are the nominees, in case you're interested (yes, I copied the whole thing, including the voting buttons -- that's why they don't work here!):

More on Delbert in the rain; a blues poll

 Here's another note on the recent Delbert McClinton concert in Kittanning that was stopped by the rain. An earlier poster had complained about the quick pulling of the plug. This one comes from Mark Passaro:

Hi Jim, me again...the Delbert show that the rain halted in Kittanning was at the direction of the local PD and the promoters. We spoke to a police lieutenant, who said there were two more lines of severe storms approaching (after the initial downpour). Delbert apologized prior to leaving the stage, as did several band members, and finally the Arts on The Allegheny comittee head announced they (the band) wouldn't be back. Delbert did announce the Aug 18 release of a new disc, and was the perfect gentleman while holding my wife's hand...good while it lasted, and free.

Blues Blast blues poll

The online blues mag Blues Blast is ready for voting in its annual Blues Blast Music Awards.  Anyone can vote for their favorite Blues artist and your vote gets you a free subscription to Blues Blast Magazine. Here's a list of nominees.  Go here to vote. Or go to GLT Blues Radio 24/7 to listen to samples of the nominees.  You can vote until Aug. 31.

And by the way...

Thanks to Bluzer for adding that great info about the Charley Patton boxed set.

Charley Patton -- a piece of blues history

Charley (or Charlie) Patton is widely known as the one of the originators -- or maybe the originator -- of the Delta blues style, and he's known as the "father of Delta blues."

His music inspired many of the blues artists that today we think of the first generation of Delta bluesmen -- but Patton almost single-handedly created much of that music. He played more than blues, and his influence  was such that music and blues historians such as Robert Palmer believe him to be one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century -- period.

Why do we care? Well, first we care because we are all blues lovers, and should be aware of the history of the music we love. Second, it's just a little past Patton's May 1 birthday (a belated card is on its way), and third, there's a new collection of Patton's works available that sounds like it should be like mother's milk for blues fans in general, and Delta fans in particular.

The collection is a three-CD, DVD boxed-set retrospective of Patton's music and the music that followed in its footsteps -- "The Definitive Charley Patton - 75 Year Anniversary Edition" (Proper Records, 2009). I haven't heard it yet, but this review that I found makes it sound like something I'll track down soon, and might belong in every blues fan's library. Here's an informative review of the package  on World Music Central.

The interesting thing about this set is that it's not just the classic Patton recordings, but recordings of music that followed, to show how the blues evolved from Patton's work.

It sounds like a great boxed set, especially if you don't have any Patton discs in your collection. Here's a YouTube recording of one of Patton's songs, "Pony Blues":

Ben Prestage - a one-man band with a new CD

One-man bands are a fine tradition in the blues, although there aren't too many around any more. One that I'd never heard before is Ben Prestage, out of Florida, where he's been honing his blues skills with swampy, gritty, singing and playing -- on a specially made drum kit and sometimes, a cigar-box guitar with a fierce slide.

Prestage was a 2008 International Blues Challenge runner-up in the solo/duo category, and a listen to his latest double CD -- "Live at Pineapple Willy's" -- shows why.

The man comes from a deep blue musical family --  his great-grandmother was a vaudeville musician who toured with Al Jolson and in medicine shows. Her daughter was a boogie pianist. His grandfather was a Mississippi sharecropper who
turned Prestage onto the sounds and culture of Mississippi and blues. Of his background, Prestage says: "When I was growing up there was only one kind of music in the house. Whether it was played on an instrument or an old recording, it was blues."

Ben's blues are a fascinating blend of acoustic old-timey music, down-home blues, and nicely crafted original tunes.  If you set them to some scratchy background noise, they could easily have been ripped from old 78s.

There's enough variation in the styles and the songs here that the one-man band backing doesn't get monotonous. Prestage is a dexterous picker and talented guitarist, so there's plenty of different music styles to go around.

He also picks up on a few classic blues as well, from the deliciously salacious Mississippi John Hurt tune, "Candy Man," to Muddy Waters fine old "Can't Be Satisfied," with some appropriate slide work, and the Robert Johnson warhorse, "32-20 Blues." Here's a sample of "If You're a Viper"

This is a fine little album. It's fun to play sides like these and get the kind of real enjoyment that you get from discovering something fresh and new. Ben Prestage may not be a household word, but his music should be welcome in every blues household.

This is a live CD, recorded, as the title implies, at someplace called Pineapple Willy's. Anyplace with that name has to be a fine blues bar, so I looked it up and found that it's in Panama City Beach, Fla., founded by a guy named -- Panama Willy -- with a rum drink of the same name. Sounds like it could well be the southern branch of the BlueNotes World Headquarters.

Here's a YouTube video of Prestage at the 4th Annual Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza at the Flying Monkey Arts Center June 21, 2008 in Huntsville Alabama.

And just for fun, here's a video of one of the most famous of the one-man blues bands, Charles Isaiah "Doctor" Ross:

Some blues photography

 If you're a regular BlueNotes reader, you probably know how much I like the blues photography of Joe Rosen, who has become one of the country's foremost practitioners of capturing the blues with a camera. Joe is based in New York now, but graduated from CMU and haunted blues clubs in the Burgh for a few years after that, back in the 1970s.

He's just sent along a note about his coverage of two recent New Orleans musical events, and photo galleries from those festivals now available at ModernGuitars.com