Posts by Bluesman
LARRY WILLIAMS
Larry Williams was a great singer, pianist, producer and songwriter, who had long and fruitful partnerships with both Little Richard and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. However, he also had a long term drug problem, and he died from gunshot wounds in LA at the age of 44. Born in New Orleans in 1935, Lawrence Eugene ‘Larry’…
Read MoreSonny Landreth
Combining his wicked side-guitar work with a fretting and chording technique, and a whole bagful of right hand tricks with finger-picking, hammering and a heavy thumb-pick, Sonny Landreth brings a unique style to his Southern Blues. Also known as ‘The King of Slydeco’, Sonny’s playing has strong zydeco and Swamp Blues roots, but his expansive,…
Read MoreLead Belly (Huddie Ledbetter)
Lead Belly was an enigma. Nobody could claim to have a wider repertoire; popular songs, dance tunes, blues and folk songs, prison ballads; the man was a human juke-box accompanying himself on guitar, mandolin, accordion and piano. Yet a man so rich in talent lived and died in poverty. In 1889 Huddie Ledbetter was born…
Read MoreTHE EALING CLUB
In 1959, The Ealing Jazz Club was a basement room opposite Ealing Broadway station, and it was reached by descending steep narrow stairs to an alley that leads out into a suburban street. On the left is a doorway that became a portal to the British R&B that re-invigorated the Blues and spread it to…
Read MoreTHE ZOOT SUIT
A Zoot Suit is a baggy, but well tailored, matching jacket and pants. The coat is long and flared, usually reaching down to the knee, with a high waistline, wide lapels, broad padded shoulders and a big pleat in the back. The pants are high-waisted too, but cut extremely generously in the leg before tapering…
Read MorePIANO C RED
Piano C Red was born in the South in 1933, and had been playing piano in Atlanta bars for ten years when he moved to Chicago in the mid-50s. He recorded briefly for Chess records in 1963, but his main work came as a backing musician for the big names of the day, working with…
Read MoreJOHNNY WINTER
Johnny Winter was probably the most consistent Blues-rock player of his generation, pounding the highways of the world, bringing his high-powered Texas style to many generations of fans. From his breakthrough in 1969, he toured and recorded almost without a break, and when he left us in 2014, he was about to launch a new…
Read MoreBUSTER BROWN
This Georgia-born singer and harp player had a wild, animated style with whoops and shrieks borrowed from Sonny Terry. Someone said he played harp like he was falling off a cliff! Buster was well into his forties when Fire Records brought him to New York to record ‘Fanny Mae’ in 1960. It was a big…
Read MoreDICK TAYLOR
Dick Taylor is a British Blues guitarist who played with Mick Jagger and Keef Richards before they were in a band, and went on to form The Pretty Things. Mick and Dick went to the same school in Dartford, near London and when Dick went to Sidcup Art School, he met up with Keef. The…
Read MoreHUEY ‘PIANO’ SMITH
New Orleans pianist Huey specialised in the rocking R&B flavoured boogie-woogie that was so popular in his home-town in the early 50s. He played local clubs in the company of his friend Eddie Jones (Guitar Slim) for about four years, and after session work with Little Richard and Lloyd Price he formed The Clowns in…
Read More