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Like a lot of you, I’m always looking for inspiration and part of that is finding the “perfect song” (of course it’s a moving target that changes all the time, just looking for the perfect song for right now). Here are a couple I thought were perfect enough, and I’ve gotten plenty of inspiration from them. Recorded in 1957 in Mississippi, it features Lightnin’ Hopkins’ cousin Frankie Lee Sims on guitar. Going to finish up today’s Blues Roots with a few by Frankie Lee Sims. Mercy Baby is Julius “Jimmy” Mullins, who sings and drums.
The flip.
Maybe this one is even better?
Here’s another one from someone else. Houston Boines (vocal) with Lawrence Taylor (alto), C.W. Tate (tenor), Ike Turner (piano), Little Milton (guitar), Jesse Knight Jr. (bass), Lonnie Haynes (drums); Memphis, December 23, 1953.
Thanks for checking this out. The next Blues Roots will appear on Thursday, October 25.
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To everyone I told I was going to feature B.B. King this week, I’m sorry, it was more than I could get together this time. This is just a repost of the playlist of his music for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
Here’s a YouTube-generated list of some of his early songs.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mFy5wNXlQYTHQ7NLCiebAR5thUfId7iNoThe first four songs he recorded are on that playlist (not in order, although the first one is the first one); they were recorded in Memphis in June 1949, by B.B. King (vocals, guitar) with Ben Branch (tenor), Thomas Branch (trumpet), Sammie Jett (trombone), Phineas Newborn, Jr. (piano), Richard “Tuff” Green (bass) Phineas Newborn Sr. (drums). Two generations of Newborns on this date; Calvin Newborn is a virtuoso guitarist, still living and playing at 85, who was 17 when played on B.B. King’s second studio date (see notes below).
The first 78 from the June 1949 session was “Miss Martha King” backed with “When Your Baby Packs Up and Goes.” The second one was “Got the Blues” backed with “Take a Swing with Me.”
B.B. King sang but didn’t play on the next session in Memphis in July 1950, with Calvin Newborn (guitar), Phineas Newborn, Jr. (piano), Tuff Green (bass), Earl Forest (drums).
The songs were “Mistreated Woman,” “B.B. Boogie,” three takes of “The Other Night Blues,” three takes of “Walkin’ and Cryin’” and “B.B.’s Boogie” (which isn’t on playlist).
The rest of the songs on the playlist came from 4 different 1951 sessions in Memphis with B.B. King (vocals, guitar) and His Orchestra (including Ike Turner on piano on “That Ain’t the Way to Do It”). This is from the same September 1951 session as “That Ain’t the Way to Do It.”
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Lowell Fulson’s early music, right on through the Chess period, has been a huge inspiration and influence. Listening to him, I get the juice that feeds my playing. If you’re only going to listen to one thing, listen to these.
He gets to rocking here!
I’ve got about two dozen of these on a double-LP set. That number seems about right, there are a few too many here.
Here’s a playlist I put together, starting with his too-few filmed and videotaped performances.
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This 5-part series is a slice of Chicago in the 1990s, featuring Hubert Sumlin, Junior Wells, Magic Slim & The Teardrops, Fenton Robinson, Robert Ward, Earl King, Clarence Hollimon, Lonnie Brooks, Keb’ Mo’, and that’s just the first three. Beyond that, I don’t know, I hope to be watching them with you, and I know they will be good.Chicago Blues, Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
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Johnny Temple was a helluva songwriter, singer and guitarist.1935, one of the first shuffles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dksHPdm8YY41936, with a song Howlin’ Wolf made a great record of
1947
1947
1947
March 1950
1950
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You know this tune?
You want to party and have a real good time, bark like a dog and forget what you’re doing? Instructions contained here. You know if you shouldn’t be listening to this—if you shouldn’t, please don’t.
They’re all on here.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m2-JRAcLepak8RlbAj6BNa2u0xLVKlR-E“…I had to call you on the phone,” song of songs, speaking of inspiration, “…always on my mind.”
Rosco Gordon was Memphis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOgHt8jvK3UHere’s a playlist of Memphis music I put together, with a focus on electric blues and R&B, but there are also, for example, some songs by Frank Stokes and Memphis Jug Band songs from the late 1920s. There are over 50 songs by Rosco Gordon on here, a lot are right near the beginning. Ike Turner was at times a prominent Memphian, as was Little Milton, who kicks off the playlist in a clip from The Beat!, a Nashville-based TV show that was filmed in Dallas because they had a color studio. There’s very little of Sun’s rockabilly, but there is some.
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This isn’t the first time Frankie Lee Sims has been featured here, and it won’t be the last.First recording he appeared on, 1947
This is side B of the first record under his own name, 1948
Playing with his cousin, 1949
A masterpiece, Dallas, 1953
1954
Another Lucy Mae song, 1957
Another masterpiece, coming back around, Mercy Baby plays drums, Jackson, Mississippi, 1957
Don D.
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Lotta work went into that, Don. I’m thinking you should start a Youtube channel called “Blues Masters from the Past” and collect all your links into that. Within it, you could include playlists with different subjects or artists. It would be a good way of archiving the research you have done so far, and more permanent than archiving it here on the forum.
Sunjamr Steve
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Thanks for your comment, Steve. This may be what you have in mind (click on link). If it doesn’t take you straight to the playlist page, choose that in the dropdown. It takes a few hours to put one of these together, but I figure people enjoy them, and maybe one day someone will find their favorite musician in one of them. I love the blues and sifting through them to make a presentation is really rewarding, even if I only think people are checking it out.
The drawback with YouTube as it’s currently configured, I can’t sort and order the playlists. The order is determined either by the date the playlist was made or when the last video was added. I do add some useful historical-discographical information and links to the playlist descriptions.
I started these playlists in Spring 2009, appropriately enough, with one called BLUES! (first video was Otis Rush’s “All Your Love” off of an album I didn’t have and I only recently got). BLUES! is still there, I add to it all the time, 2,956 videos at present, now it’s called
B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S
I sometimes scroll in and listen randomly. I’ve since found “fewer but better” is better, and the most recent playlist represents Goree Carter’s complete recorded works, one copy of each in chronological order, trouble is, about a third of them don’t play in the U.S., someday!
Say, what is your favorite song at the moment.
Don D.
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I see what you mean about Youtube. That led me to surf Youtube a bit and see how some of the other channels were organized. None of them are ideal. Maybe you need your own webpage or blog. There must be a way.
As for my favorite song or artist, after racking my brain, I realize I don’t have one. I like them all. It’s like if you have 10 children, asking which one is your favorite. My mom only ever listened to classical music all her life, and felt that all modern music was rubbish. Finally I pointed out that there are musicians and composers today who are as skilled and creative as the classical composers of the past, they just compose a different type of music. And 500 years from now, classical music lovers will be listening to BB King, SRV, and yes – rap and hip hop – and consider this to be the only worthwhile music. And so on.
Sunjamr Steve
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I hear you, Steve, that’s an interesting take on music.
I could see settling a comfortable number of playlists in a few years and using the “last video added” to produce an order, and then leaving them in that order, but I have several things I want to do first. Most important, I need to create individual playlists for some the musicians associated with Muddy Waters.
Don D.
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Lotta work went into that, Don. I’m thinking you should start a Youtube channel called “Blues Masters from the Past” and collect all your links into that. Within it, you could include playlists with different subjects or artists. It would be a good way of archiving the research you have done so far, and more permanent than archiving it here on the forum.
Amen to that! A dedicated site would be a great online blues resource.
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Thanks for your comment, Roger! Is this what you have in mind?
You replied while I was answering Steve. I won’t repeat all of that, but I forgot to ask Steve if there’s there a particular artist you’d like to see featured? I stick mostly to traditional blues but there’s a dedicated playlist for Peter Green and one sprawling blues-rock one called Freightyard Birdhouse. There are playlists for jazz and vintage R&B as well. There are so many, I sometimes have a hard time tracking one down but I pretty much know what’s there, so if you’re looking for something don’t hesitate to ask me if it exists.
What is your current favorite song?
Don D.
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Exactly. Some categories or headings would be helpful, but that’s a gold mine of blues classics. Thanks for all your work, Don.
What is your current favorite song?
Prepping for upcoming electric blues jam:
– Jimi’s Red House (slow blues)
– Clapton: Old Love . (minor blues)
– 10 Years After: Me and My Baby (shuffle):
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Don,
You have this knack of finding tracks that I am not familiar with. So who’s my favorite artist this week? I am pretty much focused on jump/swing blues these days (outside maybe of this month’s challenge). I like the Little Walter track (Juke). But I am listening to Bill Jennings, Tiny Grimes, and Bill Butler in the older players. Besides some of the obvious more modern players, I like Kid Ramos. I think his recordings mostly are more traditional blues, but there are some live performances that I would put into the jump/swing genre.
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Thanks for your comments, Bob! Little Walter’s “Juke” is such a great song. I’ve used it to lead off that B!!!!!L!!!!!U!!!!!E!!!!!S playlist for several years. I also uploaded a version of Big Walter playing it, T-Bone Walker and Eddie Taylor, among others, supporting (full personnel, etc., at video). It’s so good.
I like all the guitarists you mentioned, except I don’t know much about Kid Ramos. You might find something you like on here. The first song is one I posted above in regard to Rosco Gordon.
If you haven’t heard the early Lowell Fulson records above and you have a minute, there might be something there you like too.
Don D.
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Lowell Fulson stuff is tops. Raw, but its got the soul of the blues.
The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete
It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete
Pete
Active Melody
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I too enjoy OBR, sadly though I don’t have the time to follow each to it’s conclusion, an interactive downloadable blog in the OBR style may be a good thing.
..Billy..
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Thanks for your comment and suggestion, Billy. I’m thinking about it. If I do something like that, it will be after I retire. While it isn’t a BIG deal to set up a blog, I just don’t have a vision for it. A lot of what I cover is just bread and butter for people who are into the blues, but here I have a concrete idea who I’m writing for, guitarists who are primarily into blues rock. It seems like a good match as I love the Stones, the Animals, Savoy Brown, Yardbirds, Humble Pie, Ten Years After, Jimi Hendrix, Allman Brothers, Butterfield Blues Band, War, John Mayall’s many groups, and a host of others. They were who I was listening to when I was discovering music for myself as a preteen and teen. I just don’t listen to them these days, but they formed my tastes early on. If love is an action, maybe I should say loved.
Nowadays, they mostly don’t have the power to move me, but I just learned the Beatles “Don’t Let Me Down,” and I was blown away. I listened to a few other Beatles songs, and I am impressed by their structure and playing. Although they didn’t play blues much at all (“She’s a Woman” is the only one I can remember off the top), they picked up a lot of blues feeling and riffs in many songs (particularly George). “I Saw Her Standing There” had to come from a blues song. Do you happen to know which one?
Don D.
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Thank you, Don for an educative post again. Seems like a bottle of whiskey with you would be much educative than a semester in university.
Hoe can I say my favourite blues song when there is only one blues in the world. But Rosco Gordons Just a Little Bit is very nostalgic. This was the first song which took me to rock music when I hear Slade to play it.
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My favorite song changes often. Right now I’m fond of the harp played by Little Sonny on the song ‘Creeper Returns’. Little Sonny was influenced by Sonny Boy Williamson II.
I prefer the guitar part in ‘Creeper Returns’ in Bleeding Harp’s version though. -
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It’s great to see these old posts springing back to life.
Rosco Gordon’s “Just a Little Bit” is a classic. I can listen to just about everything Rosco Gordon did with pleasure. And Little Sonny’s “Creeper Returns” is a great one for sure, but I have to find out more about Little Sonny (that’s a great thing, if I find enough, I’d like to do a Blues Roots on him). And thank you for introducing me to Bleeding Harp.
There are a lot of Rosco Gordon cuts in here…
For some reason I didn’t get an email telling me you had commented.
Don D.
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I have been spending a bit of time with some of the crossover gospel/blues female singers lately. I don’t know why.
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Wow, amazing choices. Spent a bit of time listening to a few…of course Rosco Gordon’s was a keeper. Thank you Don D for all the music this aft!
My personal favourite TODAY is Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee’s,and Lightnin’ Hopkins “Blues for Gambler’s” I love the feel of this song, the squeals and “whoa’s by Sonny,and the harmonica. The part “yea hey” makes this song so cool.
I was also introduced to Lowell Fulson with AM. So, great big thanks for him too!
Roots Blues is where I’m at!Blues forever!
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