Downhome Blues 2014____________________________________________ Downhome Blues 2014 was a photographic exhibition at the Foto Galleria, Colne, Lancashire which ran from August to October 2014 and coincided with The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival. The exhibition was dedicated to American blues artists and their home towns. I gave a series of talks about the exhibition during the Rhythm & Blues Festival and sereral other venues including The Carlisle Blues/Rock Festival and Upton Blues Festival. |
Chuck Berry One of the pioneers of Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He had an interest in music from an early age but it was not until he was 29 when he met Muddy Waters in Chicago who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records that his musical career took off. The rest is history, within five years he was an established star with several hit records and film appearances as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St Louis-based nightclub ‘Berry’s Club Bandstand’. Now aged 88 he still performs and has just clocked up his 205th show at his local Blueberry Hill Club, St. Louis.
Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri Gateway Arch, the internationally famous symbol of St. Louis, is a 630ft stainless steel monument to the westward expansion of the United States, the tallest man-made monument in the USA and the world’s tallest arch. The arch sits at the site of St. Louis’ founding on the west bank of the Mississippi River. There is public access to an observation area at the top of the arch and a visitor centre underground directly below the arch under its legs with a museum, theatres, cafes and other tourist attractions. There are over 4 million visitors annually with over a million travelling to the top in trams of eight egg-shaped (somewhat claustrophobic) compartments.
James Cotton Born in Tunica, Mississippi James Cotton moved a short way to West Helena, Arkansas at an early age to be mentored by Sonny Boy Williamson in blues harp. He began his professional musical career playing harp in Howlin’ Wolf’s band and over the years has performed and recorded with many more great blues artists: Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, Otis Spann, Freddie King, B.B. King to name but a few. The photograph was taken at The Chicago Blues Festival 2010: ‘Celebrating the Centennial of Howlin’ Wolf’, performing with his own band alongside Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, together with such other luminaries as Jody Williams, Sam Lay and Hubert Sumlin.
Helena, Arkansas Home of The King Biscuit Blues Festival named after ‘King Biscuit Time’ radio show on KFFA radio (which was named after the locally distributed King Biscuit flour), the longest running blues radio show in the USA. Sonny Boy Williamson was a regular performer on the show. The festival came about in the mid 80’s to celebrate and bring greater recognition to local blues artists and to help rejuvenate Helena’s ailing downtown area. James Cotton, Robert Lockwood Jr, Pinetop Perkins and Sam Carr were booked for the first festival to acknowledge their contributions to the blues world. The photograph is a mural of blues artists painted on the Mississippi Levee wall celebrating the festival.
Omar Dykes Kent ‘Omar’ Dykes hails from McComb, Mississippi, a town with the distinction of also being the home turf for Bo Diddley. Weaned on his mother’s collection of country, rock & roll and soul records, he began visiting local juke joints in his teens, and after picking up a guitar he returned to these same clubs to launch his performing career. He then moved to Austin, Texas where he befriended Stevie Ray Vaughan and formed his long time band The Howlers. Omar and The Howlers settled in Austin releasing some 25 albums over 30 years (including one with Jimmy Vaughan), also attracting a large European audience.
McComb, Mississippi Founded in 1872 after Henry McComb, President of the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, who decided to move the railroad’s maintenance shops to a more isolated area away from New Orleans with the city’s saloons and its ‘moral temptations’. He selected the present-day McComb area, purchasing much of the land and offering low-cost building lots to employees to build their homes there. The photo shows 2542, the Railroad Museum’s 200-ton steam locomotive, one of the two largest steam engines in the Illinois Central railroad fleet. It was not far from here, in Vaughan, Mississippi where the famous Cannonball Express accident occurred with one fatality, Casey Jones.
Honeyboy Edwards David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi and at the age of 14 he left home to travel with Big Joe Williams to begin his life as an itinerant musician which he led throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He performed with blues legend Robert Johnson and they developed a close friendship. Honeyboy was present on the night Johnson drank poisoned whiskey which killed him and his story has become the definitive version of Johnson’s demise. Honeyboy played with many other leading Mississippi Delta bluesmen including Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson and Johnny Shines. The photo was taken performing at The Chicage Blues Festival 2010 a year before his death in 2011.
Highway 61 Blues Festival Poster A rare photo of the 9th Annual Highway 61 Blues Festival 2008 dedicated to the headliner David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards. The festival is run in close association with the Leland Blues Project and Blues Museum, and is now part of the mighty Mississippi Music Festival and ‘Bridging The Blues’, a series of blues events over several consecutive weeks which aims to promote the richness of the blues tradition in the Mississippi Delta region. The photo was taken on a storefront in Leland Mississippi.
Alvin Youngblood Hart Whilst born in California, Alvin spent a lot of his youth with his grandparents in Carrollton, Mississippi soaking up Country Blues. In a recent interview he commented: “Well, the thing was, everybody assumes that because my parents’ generation left the state of Mississippi that they didn’t bring anything with them. They brought everything with them, cultural things, music, food, so all that was there anyway. Mostly what I did, soaked up in Mississippi was just country living. My grandma was still basically living in the 19th century even though it was 1966″. Alvin is recognised as one of the world’s foremost practitioners of country blues, even though he has wider musical horizons at times successfully venturing into western swing, ska and blues/rock. He has toured with Bo Diddley, Gary Moore, and more recently The Mississippi Mudbloods.
Valley Store, Avalon, Mississippi Just off Highway 35, about 14 miles north of Carrollton in Carroll Country, there is this old derelict country store, representing the Mississippi country living that Alvin spoke of, except it was on the front porch of this store that blues legend Mississippi John Hurt played country style blues guitar every Saturday night after a week farming in the fields close by. John had a love for his country home, writing his seminal ‘Avalon Blues’ whilst at a recording session in New York, yearning to be back in the country. Indeed Alvin is co-author of a CD ‘Avalon Blues: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt’, along with Taj Mahal and others.
Homemade Jamz Blues Band Tupelo, Mississippi based blues trio consisting of siblings Ryan (vocals an guitar), Kyle (bass) and Taya (drums). They made music history as the youngest blues band to achieve a record deal when Ryan was aged 16, Kyle was 14 and Taya was 9, with their debut album ‘Pay Me No Mind’ released in June 2008. They have since played blues festivals and gigs across North America and Europe (including Maryport!). Aside from their youth, the band has been noted for their homemade instruments: the guitar and bass used by Ryan and Kyle are crafted from Ford motor parts that still feature the manufacturer’s logo. The photo was taken autographing their debut album at The Chicago Blues Festival 2010.
West Main Street, Tupelo, Mississippi Famed for the Tupelo Hardware Company store, founded by George H. Booth in 1926 and run as a family hardware store ever since. As the Tupelo community grew, so did the hardware business, evolving from an agricultural community store to a 21st century business where laser technology survey instruments are sold. It was here that Gladys Presley brought her 10 year old son Elvis to buy him his birthday present. Elvis would have preferred a rifle, but his mother succeeded in persuading him to have a guitar instead. Elvis strummed the guitar for a while whilst his mother paid $7.75 plus 2% sales tax. I wonder if Homemade Jamz have bought parts for instruments here?
Lightnin Willie Originally from Arlington, Texas, Lightnin’ Willie is now based with his band The Poorboys in Los Angeles, California. They are seasoned musicians with years of steady gigging, from Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July picnic to the Royal Albert Hall and everything else in between. Lightnin’ has a love of playing the “Devil’s Music” with a hint of West Coast Swing, but has not lost his roots – cowboy boots with cuban heels, stylish hand-stitched black suit, red neckerchief with a traditional Texas star, and of course an enormous ten gallon hat, he looks every inch the Texan country gentleman. However, oweverHLightnin’ Willie can now be seen gigging all over California!
Capital Records Tower, Los Angeles, California Located in Hollywood, Los Angeles the Capital Records Tower is one of the city’s landmarks, on the List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles. Home to Capital Records’ West Coast operations, it is also home to the recording studios of Capitol Studios. The wide curved awnings over the windows on each storey and the tall spike emerging from the top of the building are said to be ‘only coincidentally resembling a stack of records’, it remains as the only building of its kind in the world.
Louisiana Red Iverson Minter “Louisiana Red” was born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1932. He lost his parents early in life, his mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1937. He ended up in an orphanage in Pittsburgh and it was on the streets there that he started his music career. In one of my interviews with Red he stated: ‘My grandmother came and got me out of the orphanage and I began to hang around these street players in Pittsburgh and I got in touch with the music. I’d go to joints which were dangerous and I’d hang around to hear the blues. It got to me, inside. My grandmother bought me a Stella and I started playing on the streets and I finally got there’. He made over 50 albums with many guest artists such as John Lee Hooker, Brownie McGhee, Roosevelt Sykes and Champion Jack Dupree.
Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, Alabama Sloss Furnaces is a National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama. Now closed, it was the first industrial site (and only blast furnace) in the U.S, to be preserved for public use. Birmingham, Alabama is an industrial and railroad centre focusing on the iron and steel industry, and has an urban area (including Bessemer) much the same size as it’s namesake Birmingham, England. In the 1950s and 1960s it brought international attention as the centre of the Civil Rights struggle for African-Americans and it was even during this period that the Ku Klux Klan, reflecting the social tensions of urban industrialisation, continued to be active in the area.
Coco Montoya Emanating from Santa Monica, California, Coco Montoya’s 30-year career began in the mid-70s with a chance meeting with legendary bluesman Albert Collins, who asked him to join his band as drummer. Albert took him under his wing, becoming his mentor and teaching him the Collins “icy hot” style of blues guitar. In the early 80s, John Mayall asked Coco to join the Bluesbreakers. This led to Coco touring the world for ten years with the legendary Bluesbreakers before moving on to go out on his own in 1993. Coco averages over 200 tour dates a year and in August 2009 he appeared at The Great British R&B Festival, Colne.
Beach Volleyball, Santa Monica, California Famed beachfront city on the borders of Los Angeles, Santa Monica has been a resort town and beach playground since the early 20th century. Beach volleyball was first developed here during the 1920s and of course now has worldwide popularity. In 1922 permanent nets were erected on the beach for playing recreational games on public parts of the beach and in private clubs, and even today permanent poles and nets are maintained on the beach year-round. The Santa Monica Pier is of course the final destination of the iconic Route 66.
Charlie Musselwhite Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, harp player Charlie Musselwhite is often classed as a “white bluesman” although claims to be of Native American descent, being born in a region originally inhabited by Choctaw Indians. However, he said his mother told him he was actually Cherokee. Whilst still a teenager he took off up Highway 51 to Chicago where he received much musical education on the South Side, meeting blues legends such as Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter. Since then he has released over 20 albums, has won 14 W.C. Handy Awards and 6 Grammy nominations as well as several Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Tupelo-Baldcypress Swamp, Natchez Trace, Mississippi Not really noted for its swamps, here is a small swamp area off the Natchez Trace Parkway, just south of Kosciusko, Mississippi. There is a trail that leads through an abandoned river channel full of water tupelo and baldcypress trees living in deep water, full of pesky mosquitoes when we were there! However, its an interesting diversion from The Natchez Trance Parkway, an historical path that extends 440 miles from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Kosciusko was in fact named after a Polish general who assisted the US military during the American Revolution. It is also the birthplace of Oprey Winfrey and the town is now featured on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Kenny Neal Born in New Orleans Kenny comes from a musical family and has often performed with many of his six brothers in his band. Kenny preserves the ‘swamp blues’ sound of his native south Louisiana, as befits someone who learned from Slim Harpo, Buddy Guy and his father, harmonica player Raful Neal. It was Slim Harpo who handed three-year old Kenny an old harp one day as a toy, and that was it! At 13 years old he was playing in his father’s band and at 17 he picked up a bass for Buddy Guy. Neal’s guitar work, harp and ‘age-beyond-his-years’ gravelly voice have served him well ever since. He had an acclaimed stint on Broadway in 1991 performing acoustic versions of Langstone Hughes’ poetry set to music by Taj Mahal. The photo was taken when Kenny appeared at the Burnley Blues Festival 2009.
Voodoo Blues Sign, Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana Sign outside a souvenir shop, being the epitome of shops selling New Orleans tourist merchandise. Louisiana Voodoo (also known as New Orleans Voodoo) describes a cultural form of Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish and Creole speaking African American population of Louisiana, originally brought there from Africa and Haiti by enslaved people. A key aspect is the knowledge of herbs, poisons and the practice of wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or other harm of others. Of course, today Voodoo is a major tourist attraction in New Orleans.
Ben Prestage Born the grandson of a Mississippi sharecropper and great grandson of a vaudeville musician who toured with Al Jolson, Ben Prestage has been soaked in blues tradition and Mississippi culture since birth. Growing up in the swamps of south central Florida, Ben began to mix Mississippi Country Blues with his own brand of Florida Swamp Blues. This muddy-water-meets-black-water stew has led him to perform throughout America, in large festivals, every kind of bar, and even on downtown sidewalks, spending some time as a street performer outside the New Daisy Theatre on Beale Street in Memphis.. He uses a cigarbox guitar, giving him the facility to play bass and guitar strings independently, adding a series of foot pedals that can be manipulated by the heels and toes of both feet to play a drum kit.
Beale Street, Memphis, Tennessee The famed Beale Street, a National Historic Landmark, significant both in the history of Memphis and in the history of the blues. The New Daisy Theatre can just be seen on the right (the red boarding), opposite the original Daisy Theatre on the left. It was on these sidewalks that Ben performed as a street musician. Beale Street today is a major tourist attraction in Memphis, with blues clubs, restaurants, shops, festivals and outdoor concerts (the photo was taken early on a Sunday morning before the crowds arrived). Interestingly the only remaining original business on Beale Street is ‘A. Schwab’ dry goods store. A family owned store open 7 days a week with the motto: “If you cant find it at A. Schwab, you’re probably better off without it”.
Hubert Sumlin Born in Greenwood , Mississippi Hubert got his first guitar when he was 8 years old. As a boy, he met Howlin’ Wolf by sneaking in to a performance and later was asked by the Wolf to relocate to Chicago to join Wolf’s band as second guitarist. Two years later Hubert moved up to primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters) for the remainder of Wolf’s career. After Wolf passed in 1976 Hubert continued with other members of the band under the name “The Wolf Pack”. He also recorded under his own name winning multiple blues awards and 4 Grammy nominations. His final solo recording was in 2004 just before undergoing lung removal surgery, yet he continued performing until just before his death in 2011. The photo was taken at The Chicago Blues Festival 2010.
City Hall, Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood, nicknamed “Cotton capital of the World” lies at the meeting of the Tallahatchie River and the Yalobusha River, forming the Yazoo River. City Hall was built in the Beaux Arts architectural style. On the day of its grand opening in 1930, visitors were greeted by a sign of a Greek Letter Delta with the legend, “Greenwood, Gateway of the Delta”, and in the centre of the letter, a bale of cotton. Greenwood was the home of WGRM Radio, a gospel music station which aired live performances including in 1940 (some say 1943) the St John’s Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi featuring the first live performance of a young guitarist named Riley King, who later moved to Memphis and become known as B.B. King.
Earl Thomas Hailing from San Francisco, California Earl Thomas came from a family of singers, many singing blues, country but all singing gospel music. His father, grandfather and uncle were all bluesmen, his uncle performing with Buddy Guy in the early days. Whilst at college he and his friend petitioned the college to make a record instead of some classical piece as was the norm. They followed a book called ‘How to Make and Sell Your Own Record’ and produced a blues record called “I Sing The Blues” and marketed it themselves. It was eventually recorded by Etta James. A lifelong fan of Ike and Tina Turner, Earl got a call one day inviting him to sing the credits of a movie remake of ‘Soul to Soul’ , featuring Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Picket and the Staple Singers. When Ike Turner passed Ike’s band invited Earl to be Ike’s replacement.
Powell & Hyde Cable Car, San Francisco, California The San Francisco cable car system is the world’s last manually-operated cable car system and an icon of the city. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places the cable cars carry 7 million passengers a year, mostly tourists, and have been running since 1873. Each car has a capacity of 60, 29 of them seated with up to 31 standing, some on the open-sided grip sections hanging on as best they can! The Cable Car Museum is about seven blocks away from the Biscuits and Blues Club on Mason Street where Earl Thomas regularly performs. The photo was taken on the steep incline of Powell Street, a few blocks from the Biscuits and Blues Club.
Gregg Wright Gregg first took up guitar while attending high school at Wichita Falls where his father, a career military man. was stationed. Gregg’s musical career began in the mid 70s, playing years of one-nighters in the Texas and Louisiana southern circuit, including opening several times for Albert King and Freddie King. In the 80s Gregg moved from Louisiana to Los Angeles becoming a “hired gun” touring guitarist doing albums and major tours with Mick Fleetwood, Michael Jackson, Spencer Davis and many others (he spent 18 months touring with Michael Jackson at the time ‘Thriller’ was at its peak). Gregg has been given the accolade “King of the Rockin’ Blues” and is the only person in music history to have played with the two biggest record sellers of all time.
Britten Water Tower, Groom, Texas Wichita Falls is currently under exceptional drought conditions and is conserving water in every way possible with emergency action being taken by local authorities. Coincidentally just north of Wicheta adjacent to Route 66, there’s a large water tower leaning markedly in a pasture, maybe spilling their precious water? Many Route 66 travellers think the tower’s angle is due to having “one leg shorter than the others.” However, the true reason is that the tower’s central water conduit, intended to lead below ground, is longer than any of the legs, and, since it was never permanently installed in the ground, causes the structure to lean. Gregg would no doubt have taken the Route 66 trail west to Los Angeles when he became a “hired gun” guitarist.
Zora Young Born in West Point, Mississippi Zora Young shares the same hometown as Howlin’ Wolf, indeed she is in fact a distant relative. Zora’s family moved to Chicago when she was seven years old where she sang gospel at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church. As an adult she began singing blues and R&B and over the course of her career played with Junior Wells, Bobby Rush, Albert King, and B.B. King amongst others: also recording with Willie Dixon and Sunnyland Slim. She has been the featured performer at six Chicago Blues Festivals, has toured Europe more than 30 times and played the role of Bessie Smith in the stage show ‘The Heart of The Blues’.
West Point, Mississippi Famed as the hometown of Howlin’ Wolf, West Point had its early beginnings as an agricultural and railroad town with a rich heritage, historically the area has a blend of African-American, White and Native American lineage. Today it is the home of the Howlin’ Wolf Museum (where the photo was taken), sponsored by the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society and on each Labor Day the town hosts the Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival and Praire Arts Festival. Interestingly previous blues festivals have included artists featured in this exhibition: David Honeyboy Edwards, Hubert Sumlin, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Ben Prestage.
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