Happy Birthday, Blind Willie and Tammy!
Blind Willie McTell (5/5/1898-8/19/59), “Dying Crapshooter’s Blues” (1940)
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Tammy Wynette (5/5/42-4/6/98), medley (“Apartment No. 9,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Stand By Your Man”), TV show
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Imagine what this country would be like if everything were as fine as the music.
James Blood Ulmer, “Are You Glad to Be in America?”
Live, 2008
Imagine this with bass and drums. Can’t? Me, neither. That’s one sign of a great solo performance: accompaniment is unimaginable.
going back home
Davis Sisters, “I Believe I’ll Go Back Home”
TV Gospel Time (introduced by Brother Joe May), early 1960s
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lagniappe
Here’s a secular take.
John Lee Hooker, “I Believe I’ll Go Back Home” (That’s My Story: John Lee Hooker Sings The Blues, 1960)
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reading table
Home is never what you think it is.
Meaning lies in meaning’s absence. The mist
Is always just about to lift.—J. Allyn Rosser, “Sugar Dada” (excerpt)
Blues is a big tent. Over here is Slim Harpo (“I’m A King Bee,” 2:18-). And over there are the Stooges (“I Wanna Be Your Dog,” 4:48-).
Alejandro Escovedo, live, Austin (Continental Club), 11/29/11
With guests Marc Ribot & David Hidalgo (guitars)
More Alejandro Escovedo? Here. And here.
Marc Ribot? Here. And here. And here. And here. And here.
David Hidalgo? Here.
There are all kinds of love songs.
Sonny Boy Williamson II (AKA Aleck [or Alex] “Rice” Miller), “Your Funeral and My Trial,” live, Europe, 1960s
More? Here.
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lagniappe
reading table
Moonlight in the kitchen is a sign of God.
—Anne Carson, “God’s Work” (excerpt)
lighter than air, funkier than dirt
Otha Turner (1907-2003) and the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (with guest Luther Dickinson, guitar), “My Babe,” live, Memphis, 1990s
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lagniappe
art beat: more from Wednesday’s stop at the Art Institute of Chicago
Vincent van Gogh, The Poet’s Garden (1888)
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musical thoughts
Last night, at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall, I heard what may be the finest encore I’ve ever heard. After devoting the second half of his concert to Beethoven’s mammoth Diabelli Variations, pianist Peter Serkin, following several trips offstage to rapturous applause, sat down and played, slowly, meditatively, the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations. As the last note was fading, if someone had turned to me and said, with the kind of confidence one often encounters in Hyde Park, that the greatest achievements in the history of humanity can be heard at the piano, I couldn’t have done anything other than agree.
passings
Etta James, singer, January 25, 1938-January 20, 2012
“I’d Rather Go Blind”
Live, Austin, Tx. (Austin City Limits), 2005
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Recording (1967)
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lagniappe
She was discovered, as a teenager, by yesterday’s featured artist; he produced her first record, which was a hit.
Etta James, “Roll With Me Henry” (AKA “The Wallflower”)
Produced by Johnny Otis, 1954
passings
Hubert Sumlin, guitar player, November 16, 1931-December 4, 2011
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Howlin’ Wolf, with Hubert Sumlin (guitar)
“Smokestack Lightning” (AKA “Smoke Stack Lightning”; rec. 1956, Chicago)
In a country that paid proper respect to its cultural heritage, this would be played for children in school, as part of their cultural education. Instead kids encounter it, if at all, on TV—the soundtrack to a Viagra commercial.
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“Back Door Man” (rec. 1960, Chicago)
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“Wang Dang Doodle” (rec. 1960, Chicago)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I started listening to people like Hubert Sumlin and trying to deal with a less muscular way of reaching people . . .
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random thoughts
Rankin, Loda, Cissna Park, Schwer, Gilmer, Watseka: the world is filled with places we’ve never even heard of (many less than 150 miles away), as I was reminded yesterday driving home from Danville, Illinois, where I’d gone to see clients at the prison.
Has Monday ever sounded better?
Snooks Eaglin (with George Porter, Jr., bass; Kenneth Blevins, drums)
Live, New York (Lone Star Roadhouse), early ’90s
“I Just Cried Oh”
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“Baby Please”
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“Lipstick Traces”
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“You Don’t Have To Go”
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“Young Girl”
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“Red Beans” (with Jon Cleary, piano)
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Great guitar players don’t play notes—they play sounds.
music clip of the day 