This is a bit of a detour from our other posts, but I hope people reading this will like it anyway. The Gun Club are one of my all-time favorite bands, and like the old blues music they drew inspiration from, I think their influence and sound remain just as relevant today. It will soon be 15 years since Jeffrey Lee Pierce passed away, but he still remains one of the best frontmen to ever live, and I'm using this as an excuse to make this post. It's not easy to describe their sound, as they pretty much created a genre all their own, so I'll let the music do the talking. This first video is their cover of Tommy Johnson's great Cool Drink of Water Blues from the groundbreaking album Fire of Love.
This is the first three songs from Jeffrey's somewhat overlooked solo album, Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee and Cypress Grove with Willie Love. This album is mostly a great collection of blues covers, spanning everything from electric style Chicago blues to acoustic, country blues.
And Mother of Earth from the album Miami, just because I felt like posting my favorite song.
Pinetop Perkins has passed away at the age of 97. What a true legend and incredible musician. He recorded music over the span of eight decades, yes, decades. He played with and had influence on just about every blues musician, including touring and working with Muddy Waters. Pinetop continued to record up until his death, even winning a Grammy last month for Best Traditional Blues Album. What an inspiration.
Never fear, Amy's finally here! Sorry I've been neglecting the blogosphere. Next up on our Delta blues list is Big Joe Williams. He was born in Crawford, Mississippi and started playing music at an early age, traveling and performing all over. His recorded work is impressive to say the least. He recorded for several labels over the span of five decades. Big Joe was known for his unique 9-string guitar sound, songwriting, voice, and possibly for being a bit...difficult. But, when you were the first to record 'Baby, Please Don't Go,' you can act however you want, right?
Yes, we've been slacking. Moving from child to adult can do that. Just
part of the blues. Amy's got an excuse and I do too. I promise to crank out some more insightful posts in the near future. For now, I'll let Blind Boy Fuller explain my absence for you.
The blues has a long tradition of passing songs from one generation to the next. This passing of the torch led to Rock and Roll. Many times we are so familiar with the newer rock version of a song that we either forget who originally created it or we never knew in the first place. Every Thursday (or at least when I can remember) I'll take a look at the songs that fall in this category.
Todays song is I'm a King Bee. Originally written and recorded by Slim Harpo in 1957, it has become a standard cover by many artists. The most prominent being the Rolling Stones version recorded for their debut album in 1964. Featuring a slide solo by Brian Jones their take is a generally more acoustic interpretation. Mick Jagger is quoted as saying
"What's the point in listening to us doing "I'm a King Bee" when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?"
Muddy Waters later recorded a version in 1981.
Not to mention the Blues Brothers performing it on SNL in bee costumes.
