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tarist Elijah Jones backed by Yank on man- dolin and Sonny Boy Williamson on harmoni- ca. The remaining eight tracks of Volume 1 all feature Yank as vocalist and playing man- dolin, backed by Sonny Boy’s harmonica and the guitar of either Elijah Jones or Big Joe Williams. On Volume 2, apart from four Joe Williams-led tracks, all other sixteen items fea- ture Yank on vocals and playing either guitar or mandolin, backed by Sonny Boy on har- monica, a bass player, and the additional driv- ing rhythm of Washboard Sam, making for some really great music.
The tradition of blues mandolin lives on with the German duo of Peter Crow C (Peter Krause) (vocals, guitar and harmonica) and Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Kraemer (vocals, guitar and mandolin) who perform and record as Black Patti. Many of the blues they play on No Milk No Sugar ( Rhythm Bomb RBR 5805) have either a spiritual feel (Charley Patton’s I’m Goin’ Home) or with a light, raggy, vaudevillian spirit (their own Black Patti Boo- gie). Their instrumental playing is as tight as a glove and their voices are complementary when they are singing together – only occa- sionally do their native accents intrude into what is generally a convincing performance. They are particularly good at taking a num- ber like the traditional Morning Train or The Mississippi Sheiks’ Please Baby and playing it at a real slow tempo, and wringing it for all its emotional worth, with the mandolin cut- ting and jangling effectively against the gui- tar and vocals. Black Patti have chosen their source material well and play it both with a respect and understanding for the past, and with a musical sensibility that keeps it fresh for the present day.
Back to Wolf, the late (and lamented) Louisiana Red was always convincing. His volcanic live performances exuded so much energy he would often get carried away with the frenzy of the moment. Red’s strong voice would often distort the microphone and his guitar playing could spiral out of control so recording him live could prove a bit of a chal- lenge. The Sky Is Crying (Wolf CD 120.938) selects various (mostly live) tracks recorded in Greece during tours Red made there between 1994 and 2007. Three solo items, plus the title track featuring Red backed by musicians play- ing traditional Greek instruments, present Red on good form. Other tracks with Red backed by some other Greek musicians play- ing in more straightforward blues band mode are OK, but other band tracks get a bit free- for-all and messy. Red loved to jam but wasn’t necessarily good at orchestrating the pro- ceedings. Then there are the four disastrous tracks from a 1996 Athens radio show, ruined by the demented slide guitar of Bob Brozman whose playing clashes and overrides Red’s. Didn’t anyone hear that the guitars are not in tune with each other?
Al Cook is quite a character … but which character? First influenced (in the 1960s) by Elvis Presley and later (in the ’80s) going wild with his own rockabilly outfit. But, for a long time now, Al Cook has dedicated himself to old style blues music. Based in Vienna, he’s a rare example of an Austrian who records albums for the Austrian label. Indeed Missis- sippi 1930 (Wolf CD 120.928) is his eighth release on Wolf since 1993. The album is inspired by the historic May 1930 recording session in Grafton, Wisconsin, that Charlie Patton, Son House, Willie Brown and Louise Johnson had travelled from Mississippi to undertake. Al Cook does his chameleon best to sing, and to speak introductions to each number, in a Mississippi growl (à la Charlie Patton), but he also recreates a range of blues styles by such artists as Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Tampa Red, Charlie Spand, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup and Jaybird Colman, playing both guitar and piano as authentical- ly as he possibly can. He gets some strong support from friends playing bass, harmoni-
wyk. Swapping vocals and trading guitar licks, the guys sound relaxed in front of a small audience for this intimate live-in-the-studio recording backed only by the bass and percus- sion work of Jochen ‘Skinny Joe’ Bens. They put the emphasis on their storytelling and songwriting skills rather than trying to impress with musical overkill and their invited audience are heard to respond warmly.
Vocalist and keyboard player Mighty
Mo Rodgers has two previous albums on Dixiefrog. For his third, Mud ‘N’ Blood (Dix- iefrog DFGCD 8770), he’s conceived “A Missis- sippi blues tale” that’s full of interesting lyrics, music, atmosphere and sounds. Some tracks are moody, others upbeat, as Rodgers explores both dark and light elements of the Southern state, reworking familiar blues imagery with a storyteller’s zeal.
Mighty Mo Rodgers
ca, piano, tuba and violin and lets both Katie Kern and Karin Daym sing a number apiece, which they do very well.
Al Cook is a self-taught musician, but should you want to learn how to play old- style acoustic blues guitar then Tom Feld- mann could be your man. He is a specialist in guitar workshops and has an online guitar lesson site (
tflessons.com). He’s like a younger version of Stefan Grossman (and, actually, has thirteen instructional DVD lessons produced by Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop avail- able). He’s also recorded twelve self-released albums of which Delta Blues & Spirituals (Magnolia Recording Company, no cat no) is the latest and contains a nice selection of thirteen old-time delta blues and spirituals all impeccably played and sung in authentic tra- ditional acoustic vein … but without any hint of originality.
Michael Jerome Brown is also a fine acoustic old-style blues player. His latest, Slidin’ Delta (Borealis Records BCD233), has a nice relaxed feel, showcasing his warm, throaty vocals and instrumental dexterity. He switches between six-, twelve-string, reso- phonic and amplified guitars, banjo, man- dolin and harmonica on numbers by such blues stalwarts as Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Fred McDowell, Blind Willie McTell, Charley Patton, and Cryin’ Sam Collins. Eric Bibb (who Brown has toured with) puts in a guest vocal appearance on the album’s closer, the spiritual Choose Your Seat And Sit Down.
Eric Bibb is also a presence on Big Daddy Wilson’s Time (Dixiefrog DFGCD 8775), an album co-produced by Bibb, Staffan Astner and Wilson. Between them all three men have written all fourteen songs, and Bibb also adds a variety of instrumental and vocal contributions. Fans should note that in tone, feel and originality Time is very much like an Eric Bibb album, but with the deeper, fuller voice of Big Daddy Wilson. Wilson, orig- inally from North Carolina, now a long-term resident of North Germany, brings a fresh contemporary edge to his music of which the blues is just one of the elements.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, bluesman Larry Garner has been touring Europe regularly for years and concentrates his recording career on this side of the Atlantic. He’s made a number of albums for the German RUF label, and has a previous release on the French Dixiefrog which now presents Larry Garner & Michael Van Merwyk Upclose And Personal (Dix- iefrog 8767). Garner is primarily known for his electric guitar but here plays as an acoustic duo with German guitarist/ vocalist Van Mer-
Slavery is one aspect of the Black experi- ence Rogers confronts and that’s a subject explored in depth on the triple disc Slavery In America – Redemption Songs 1914- 1972 (Frémeaux & Associés FA 5467). The informative 44-page booklet contains essays in both French and English plus a discography detailing the 70 blues, calypso, folk, jazz, R&B, spiritual and work songs selected which includes many rare and unusual items. Disc One contains songs about slavery itself start- ing with two pieces recorded in Africa, fol- lowed by items grouped under the headings “Welcome to America”, “Forced Labour”, and “Slave Entertainment Music”. Disc Two starts with examples of “Candoble, Obeah, Voodoo, Santeria” then moves on to “Negro Spirituals & Slave Songs” before closing with “Civil War & Abolition” items. Disc Three has twelve tracks listed under “Jim Crow” and finishes with twelve more under “Promised Land – Back to Africa”. The earliest recording dates from 1914 (a native Trinidad kalenda sung by Jules Sims backed by bamboo drums) and the latest from 1972 (a quadrille record- ed in Guadeloupe). Slavery brought the seeds of the blues to America but also spread a vari- ety of other musical seeds across the islands of the Caribbean and into South America. From Africa to Chicago and New York and all the way down to Rio De Janeiro, the multiple musics born of slavery are brought together on this exceptional compilation.
To round up this round-up, the two-disc
box set Le Mississippi (Accords Croisés AC 156.57) presents current music of many styles emanating from places that are in close prox- imity to that mighty river. The most northern place is Minneapolis, Minnesota, represented by our friend Spider John Koerner delivering his version of Ezekiel. St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, get a brief look in, but it’s the states of Louisiana and Mississippi that take the lion’s share of tracks (twelve apiece) with lots of hard blues, pumping Cajun and zydeco and vibrant brass bands blowin’ up a storm. One virtue of Le Mississippi (apart from a lot of great music) is the decision to select a number of lesser name artists whose music is released (mostly) on local, and artists’ own labels, many of which are not known or easily available in Europe. Thanks Accords Croisés for helping blues fans keep up to date with what’s been happening musically all along the Mississippi.
www.acerecords.com www.delmark.com www.charliemusselwhite.com henri@sonic.net
www.wolfrec.com www.tomfeldman.com info@borealisrecords.com RootsDuo.com www.bluesweb.com/Dixiefrog Records
accords-croises.com www.black-patti.de
Dave Peabody
Photo: Dave Peabody
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