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Goin Down to the Delta


thebes

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Its Spring, its starting to warm up, the flowers are blooming, but in the back of your mind any day now the weather will make a slight temporary change, a harbinger, an anticipation, of the hot steamy blast furnace of High Summer.

When I smell, feel on the back of my neck, that first change for the worst, I always think of Delta Blues. The cotton may be high, the chain gang maybe working the roads, but in my mind Im in a jam-packed Delta roadhouse where the gin is cheap and the blues play all night.

Just finishing up some Big Bill Bronzy, wondering what tune I should throw on next while I head down the middle of Tobacco Road.

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I never appreciated them until too late, but I always liked Koerner, Ray and Glover. Three white boys from Minneapolis. At first you think they are sloppy (well, they were in a way -- they hardly practiced together at all), and then you try to PLAY theiur music. Tricky stuff.

Marvel

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Malette, be happy to pick you up, head on down to the crossroads, I'll see if the Greyhound can swing by and pick you up. Marvel will already be on board, with his beat up 5 string banger at his side. I hear we might pick up Son House himself on our way through Biloxi. Hopefully we'll find somebody on the way who can play a mean harp-temperatures risin= already wiping that red bandana 'cross my forehead......

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Bag is packed. I expect to hear the squeal of the Greyhound shortly after my head settles into my pillow tonight. The three of us will make a quorum, but all others are welcome to join us in this reality. I'm thinking we'll take US 61 down to Cary, then 14 over to Mayersville on the river. As soon as the diesel fumes and noise from the bus clear, we'll smell the dirt from Missouri and Arkansas flowing down the river and hear the blues wafting through the heavy southern spring air just freshened by a passing thunderstorm. Following the sound, we'll settle into plastic covered chairs with holes in their covers supported by rusty stainless steel supports while a musician, by our estimate, of some 135 years old, preaches the Word oblivious to our existence while affirming our experience collectively and individually. That timeless prophet with his worn, nameless guitar will make clear that that life is not about wealth, power, recognition, but about being, here, now, in eternity.

Then, the alarm will go off, and I'll have to see if my computer crashed and ruined my rendering while I visited reality.

Dave

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On 4/22/2005 8:03:45 PM thebes wrote:

Malette, be happy to pick you up, head on down to the crossroads

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Me too! Me too! I've been listening to blues lately here are 5 of my favorites that can take me to the sound of bass and frogs even in the dead of winter!

The five CDs are as follows:

1. Jeannie & Jimmy Cheatham & the Sweet Baby Blues Band. Back to the Neighborhood. Concord Jazz Records. (another of theirs - Luv in the Afternoon - is equally good.

2. Son House. Father of the Delta Blues: the Complete 1965 Sessions. Columbia. 2 CDs (Some people say that House was better in his earlier recordings from the 1930s, but his 1960s recordings (after he was rediscovered) are still awe inspiring and have better sound quality.

3. Buddy Guy. Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. Silvertone Records. Guy has made many recordings. This is one of his best, imo. Other great recordings include the ones he made with Junior Wells (famous harmonica player), his recordings with the great pianist Otis Spann from the 1960s on Vanguard, and the album "Muddy Waters, Folksinger" (Chess Records), which has Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy playing acoustic guitar duets.

4. Madeline Peyroux. Careless Love. Rounder Records. Both jazz & blues, sounds a bit like Billie Holliday, the CD includes songs by Leonard Cohen, W. C. Handy, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan. A *great* CD.

5. Jimmy Witherspoon. Rockin' Spoon. Charly Records. This is a British release, you may not find this exact CD, but he made a number of recordings. He recorded with a bunch of famous jazz guys, including Jay McShann, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Earl Hines. But he was definitely a bluesman.

Right now, however, the radio is tuned to NPR's American Routes, and the Blind Boys of Alabama are putting some musical healing on me.

Forrest

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The Delta is damned near deserted. Drive down 61 from Memphis to Vicksburg and you can hardly find a place to take a leak.

Most of the people went to Chicago, that's where you go to hear the blues now. All kinds of places here, including Buddy Guy's joint on Wabash.

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On 4/22/2005 9:06:04 PM Woodog wrote:

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On 4/22/2005 8:03:45 PM thebes wrote:

Malette, be happy to pick you up, head on down to the crossroads

----------------

Me too! Me too! I've been listening to blues lately here are 5 of my favorites that can take me to the sound of bass and frogs even in the dead of winter!

The five CDs are as follows:

1. Jeannie & Jimmy Cheatham & the Sweet Baby Blues Band. Back to the Neighborhood. Concord Jazz Records. (another of theirs - Luv in the Afternoon - is equally good.

2. Son House. Father of the Delta Blues: the Complete 1965 Sessions. Columbia. 2 CDs (Some people say that House was better in his earlier recordings from the 1930s, but his 1960s recordings (after he was rediscovered) are still awe inspiring and have better sound quality.

3. Buddy Guy. Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. Silvertone Records. Guy has made many recordings. This is one of his best, imo. Other great recordings include the ones he made with Junior Wells (famous harmonica player), his recordings with the great pianist Otis Spann from the 1960s on Vanguard, and the album "Muddy Waters, Folksinger" (Chess Records), which has Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy playing acoustic guitar duets.

4. Madeline Peyroux. Careless Love. Rounder Records. Both jazz & blues, sounds a bit like Billie Holliday, the CD includes songs by Leonard Cohen, W. C. Handy, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan. A *great* CD.

5. Jimmy Witherspoon. Rockin' Spoon. Charly Records. This is a British release, you may not find this exact CD, but he made a number of recordings. He recorded with a bunch of famous jazz guys, including Jay McShann, Woody Herman, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Earl Hines. But he was definitely a bluesman.

Right now, however, the radio is tuned to NPR's American Routes, and the Blind Boys of Alabama are putting some musical healing on me.

Forrest

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One of the best blues CD's I've heard in a long time is SRV - Blues at Sunrise, the slow blues album. This is what killer blues guitar is all about. And on Belles-incredible.

Rich

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On 4/23/2005 12:03:57 AM TBrennan wrote:

Selim--What's shakin' in Arcola?

Just read a book about the flood of 19 and 27, Rising Tide. Had some good Delta history.

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prolly the same thing that's shakin' in mound bayou or shaw or tutwiler or hollandale or anguilla or belzoni or .......................... 1.gif

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Don't forget to stop in Helena for the King Biscuit Blues Festival! I went once in high school but was more interested in the buzz than the blues. This year I should make a trip down there October in Arkansas is usually not that bad.... Blues right on the Mississippi....

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On 4/22/2005 10:36:37 PM jheis wrote:

Sorry Guys:

I love the blues, but I actually spent a year in Biloxi when I was in the Air Force. Nothing even slightly romantic about it. I'm NEVER going back.

James

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That's because it was Biloxi and the AF. You are right that there is NO romance there.

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