The Blues Blogger

Several weeks ago I wrote an article called Still Feeling the Groove. In that post I drifted back almost 40 years; recalling a time where change was occurring in the TheBluesBlogger household. The lively place I called home wasn’t so much fun anymore. We moved out of the house I grew up in and into a small apartment. The vibrant household was now filled with a close stressful silence. But it was always the music that made the hard times of growing up go away… So I filled my new bedroom with the sweetest sounds I could get… And in the process drove my poor impatient father crazy…

The Year Was 1969

and this was the time frame towards the end of the year, that both my sister and brother left town. I can clearly remember when I snagged my brother’s copy of The Allman Brothers Band self titled 1969 album debut. It seemed the album helped fill the void I felt when he moved out from the room we had shared all our life. At the time I certainly had a chip on my shoulder, but I do have to give my family credit for being the influence of so much music back then. Until this day, I have continued to hold on to some of those albums, The Allman Brothers Band’s first LP is one of them…

“Yes Bro it was me who took your album! Close to 40 years has passed and the mystery is finally over.”

I can’t remember the last time I heard this album, but it must be at least 25 years ago. So this weekend I gave it a spin; converting it to an MP3 format so I can be more active and mobile when listening. Right from the very first cut Don’t Want You No More, I was hooked once again. And for the next 35 minutes I took a reflective trip back through time.

I recall how my father thought it was just plain strange that a 9 year old could get so into listening to this stuff. But my father never shared a room with a guitar player who practiced these blues and jazz riffs all day and night. It must have been an innate necessity for me. It also helped me focus my nervous energy on something. Besides… somebody had to play some tunes, because the silence was far too deafening.

Since we moved to the apartment and my brother moved out of town, the Saturday afternoon rehearsals with his band were no more. There were no real instruments in the house for me to pretend with, so I replaced them with chop sticks, different size glasses of water, a comb and plastic film. This of course fueled my dad’s neurosis as I’m sure it sounded bad and the apartment was much closer quartered than our house… It would take over 8 years of separation, but eventually my brother and I did hook up when he moved into my apartment in NYC when I moved there in my late teens. The music would once again continue and a new found respect and partnership would form…

It’s impossible to sum up the almost 40 years of The Allman Brothers Band illustrious history in a few paragraphs. One thing for sure, right from the start, the band had so many challenges… In the beginning years of the bands existence, they endured the deaths of band members Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Drugs would take its toll on most of its members. On again off again separations and re-unions resulted…

Throughout All the Years

from their 20th Anniversary re-union in 1989, to 1995’s Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction, 1996’s Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental performance for “Jessica,” the band has endured the test of time… In 1999, The Allman Brothers Band celebrated their 30th anniversary with an 18-night stand at New York’s Beacon Theater… The 21st Century also saw the Dickie Betts part ways, but still the band continues to this very day playing their special blend of genius for their fans and curious newcomers.

It is interesting to note that in 2003 out of Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 100 guitarists of all time, four are Allman Brothers alumni:

#2 Duane Allman
#23 Warren Haynes
#58 Dickey Betts
#81 Derek Trucks ( the youngest player on the list )

The Allman Brothers Band were the principal architects of Southern Rock. They combined many elements of music and helped advance the rock genre as a medium for improvisation along with bands such as Cream. To this day, the band remains a force to be reckoned with. As I write this, the band is currently on tour. I strongly suggest if you’re in the area that you check them out. They are an amazing band with a rich history and incredible musicians that will soulfully rock you through the past and into the future… You can find their current tour schedule by clicking the link here:

I must admit I have listened to their debut release several times while writing this piece. After all these years, it really was a great listen and a real blast reflecting on. What an inspiration they are …

The videos I chose in this post show two songs from their debut album; a then and now perspective of this amazing band. Notice original drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny “Jaimoe” Johanson as they continue to shoulder the band after nearly 40 years…

Now I think it’s best to turn the ball over to the readers of this article. You can help by filling in those gaps with your comments… So do you have a favorite song? Or a favorite year and lineup that appealed to you the most? Where we’re you in 1969 as The Allman Brothers Band were carving their niche on the music world?

Tags: Blues News, Blues Reflections, Reflections, The Seventies, The Sixties by The Blues Blogger
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It’s quiet in TheBluesBlogger household this weekend as TBBW and son have headed away for a little getaway. So my loyal golden retriever Lucille and I are lazing around… Sure we have some chores to do around the house, but we do plan on taking advantage of the time by catching up on some reading and of course music listening.

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Janiva Magness, but I really never paid too much attention until recently. So I printed off some biographical information on Magness and I went out on the deck and started doing a little reading… With Lucille resting at my feet, I started flipping through the pages, getting intrigued by Janiva’s story.

It didn’t take too long for Lucille to get up and force her snout into my hand; continuously flicking my wrist as a reminder of my promise of an early walk… I loaded up some of Janiva’s songs on my MP3 player and we headed out on our evenings hike. Occasionally I would glance and make notice of Lucille’s typical golden smile and curious look whenever a hare ran by. As we continued down the trail, I started recalling what I was reading…

Adopted by the Blues

Janiva Magness is no stranger to the music industry. She is currently entering her career’s third decade, and the light that shines upon her gets brighter every day. Born in Detroit, Magness was influenced by the blues and country music she heard while listening to her father’s record collection. She was also inspired by the city’s rich soulful Motown sound… Tragically losing both her parents to suicide by the time she was in her early teens, Magness lived on the streets enduring an incredible amount of conflict as she went from one foster home to another. She would become a teenage mother who gave her child up for adoption. Wearing a heavy heart, she traveled from city to city; feeling discouraged and distressed. On a cold winter night while hitchhiking across Minneapolis to attend an Otis Rush concert, Magness saw a path that lead her to the future.

“There was something that happened to me that night,” Magness says. “Otis … is such a vibrant musical force. Everything he played [was] with such complete commitment — you know, no half-steppin’ anything. And I knew when I left that club that morning in the wee hours that whatever it was that happened to me that night, I had to have more of that experience.”

While working as an intern at a recording studio, she got her first real break when her boss asked if she would sing support vocals on a track. She would begin her career as a background singer, eventually making her way to Phoenix in the early eighties where she met Bob Tate. (who was once the musical director for the late great Sam Cooke.) Magness formed the band The Mojomatics which was extremely popular in the Phoenix area. She would then re-locate to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly find work.

After her cassette debut More Than Live, she married musician Jeff Turmes and together they recorded her second album It Takes One to Know One in 1997. After three independent releases, Janiva signed with Northern Blues and recorded Bury Him at The Crossroads in 2004 and Do I Move You in 2006. Both of these releases were co-produced by Canadian roots artist Colin Linden, and they created a huge amount of critical acclaim for Magness. The word was definitely spreading now…

Janiva won the best contemporary female artist award in 2006 and 2007. She was nominated for the 2008 B. B. King Entertainer Of The Year award at the Blues Music Awards. Magness also traveled to Iraq and Kuwait co-headlining Bluzapalooza in the Spring of 2008; the first-ever blues concert tour to perform for American troops.

Casey Family Programs

Janiva Magness has come full circle. She is now a national spokesperson for Casey Family Programs promoting National Foster Care for the organization. She has recently re-connected with her daughter that she gave up for adoption and is now a grandmother. Magness has dedicated her latest release What Love Will Do on Alligator Records to this this fantastic cause. Here is a great link that you should definitely check out. Its one of her songs called “Sometimes You Got To Gamble.” It’s a tribute to children at risk …

Back on the Trail

As Lucille and I started to make our way back home, out of nowhere a rabbit swiftly crossed in front of us. Her natural instincts took over and she snapped the poor fella up. We both seemed shocked as it all happened so fast. I was concerned as Lucille is supposedly trained to drop on command. But was the thrill of the catch too tempting to let go? It took a few seconds, but I firmly asked her to drop the rabbit. With only a slight hesitation and very delicately, she did. The little hare hopped away totally safe and unscathed, running down the path before taking the yield through the forest. Lucille stood there looking up at me as if to say, ” Did you see that? Wasn’t that awesome!”

As I continued listening to Magness belt out her tunes on my MP3 player, I found myself incredibly moved by the power and feeling of Janiva’s music and her story… She is somebody that sure has a right to be singing the blues as she certainly has lived them. What an incredible journey she has taken! I started thinking that as popular as Magness was getting, if I even made one more person aware of her wonderful talent, then this post would be well worth it… What do you think? Your comments are always welcome.

For more information on Janiva Magness you can go to her official website by clicking here.

Tags: Blues News, Blues Reflections, Reviews by The Blues Blogger
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Several days ago during a routine upgrade to Wordpress, the TheBluesBlogger site suffered a major glitch … I’m happy to report that somebody came through and fixed my site. It absolutely made my day. I’m going to have a piece of my birthday cake and I will have an updated post soon …

Really Happy,

TBB

In the meantime, here is something I just finished watching … I thought I’d share … Enjoy.

Tags: Blues Reflections by The Blues Blogger
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It’s family summer vacation time in TheBluesBlogger household. TheBluesBloggersWife or otherwise known as TBBW and son are hitting the road for a week… Before I left, I wanted to leave you with an updated post. And I have just the right artist to feature …

There may not be a guitar player alive that has influenced more elite artists like Buddy Guy. He has inspired artists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. And the list goes on and on … My earliest recollections of Buddy are from his LP’s in the late sixties. I can still visualize the album covers to this day… And I recall the upbeat atmosphere that was generated everytime I heard his music being played in our household.

For over five decades

Buddy Guy

has been part of the blues landscape, and he is still going strong. At the age of 72 he has a new release called Skin Deep due out July 22, 2008. With all new material and guest guitar luminaries like Eric Clapton, Robert Randolph, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, this is looking like a strong release.

Here are three songs from the album including a sneak peak of title track and single Skin Deep due out on AAA radio on July 14th. (photo credit:Christian Lantry)

“I just try to get the best players, and hope I can pop the top off this can and show that the blues are back,” he says. “I learn from them—bring them in and see what they can do. And these guys got me feeling like when I was 22 years old and went into the studio with Muddy Waters.”

 

 Best Damn Fool [4:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Everytime I Sing the Blues ( with Eric Clapton ) [7:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

 

 Skin Deep (with Derek Trucks) [4:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

I believe this record has the potential to be one of the best-selling albums he has ever released. I also predict that Skin Deep will introduce Buddy to a whole new group of fans that may only just be learning of his work the first time… I just love what I’m hearing and I have found myself coming back to these files to take another listen. (photo credit:Christian Lantry)

Buddy was born in 1936 to a sharecropper’s family, and was one of five children raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, Louisiana. In these early years Guy remained tolerant of the all too familiar characteristics of “separate seating on public buses, whites-only drinking fountains, and restaurants where blacks—if served at all—were sent around back.” Several of the songs on Skin Deep like “Out in the Woods” and “The First Time I Met the Blues,” touches on those early years.

“I used to play with this boy, ride horses, down close to where I was born,” he says. “Then when we were 13, his parents made us stop. They used to say you had black blood or white blood, but we’d get a flashlight and hold it up to our skin and we’d just see red blood. That’s what I mean by “skin deep.”

He was recently featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, as part of the magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs” issue. His 1961 recording of “Stone Crazy” made the list. Guy was recently seen in Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert film, Shine A Light and was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by friends Eric Clapton and BB King in 2005. (photo credit:Christian Lantry)

Buddy Guy is slated to receive the first annual Great Performer of Illinois Award and will be honored at a special tribute concert on July 20th in Millennium Park for his outstanding contributions to popular music and American culture. Currently, Guy is on a world-wide tour, with U.S. dates beginning on July 23rd in Silverton Oregon with George Thorogood & The Destroyers.

Working on this post made me reminisce to moments in my life that to me were really cool. I just love reflecting back to the sixties … Between my brother’s blues band rehearsals in the basement and my own imaginative warm-ups, the blues were pouring out of our house. On occasion my father would be featured playing harmonica on one of the songs my brother was working on that afternoon. You could always gauge my father’s mood by his harmonica playing… And a lot of Buddy Guy’s music was part of that vibe I so fondly remember… Thanks Buddy!

It’s great to hear this new material and get the opportunity to preview it. I can’t wait to see how well this album performs. So what do you think? … Have you listened to the songs above? Do you have any favorite Buddy Guy LP’s? Any moments where Buddy played an influence on you?

On The Road,

TheBluesBlogger

Tags: Blues News, Blues Reflections, Reviews by The Blues Blogger
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