This Week's Show: April 1-4, 2011

Barrelhouse, Boogie Woogie and the Blues!

     This week Spinning Tales will be taking a tour through the raucous, upbeat piano blues that had emerged as dance music in the barrelhouses and juke joints of the south at the end of the 19th century and had found its way into the bars and dancehalls of the urban north as the recording industry took off in the 1920's.
     Often played in the same 12 bar chord structure as the guitar based blues, what became known as the boogie woogie, had a distinctive percussive quality, relying on a strong left hand bass line and distinctive treble embellishments on the piano. 
      That may sound awfully technical, but if you tune into the show or take a spin through a few of this week's YouTube selections you'll catch the drift.  It'll sound quite familiar. Whether these artist are labeled barrelhouse players or masters of the boogie woogie--and some are called both by various writers--to folks of my age, (Michael's too) it sounds a whole lot like the "rock and roll" that we heard as kids from the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Haley.  A rose is a rose is a rose.

This Week's Show: March 25-28

Georgia on My Mind:
The Blues Men and Women of Georgia

When you bring up the history of the blues, many folks will immediately envision the Mississippi delta, or perhaps, depending on the era, refer to the cities of Memphis or Chicago. But throughout the years, from the early recordings of Barbeque Bob to the sizzlin' blues rock of the Allman Brothers Band, the red clay roads of rural and small town Georgia and the city streets of Atlanta have provided the world with a wealth of the blues.

"Barbecue Bob" Hicks

This week Spinning Tales has Georgia on its mind as we hear from blues artists like Robert "Barbecue Bob" Hicks. Hicks, his brother Charlie and Curley Weaver were taught to play the guitar by Curley's mother, Savannah "Dip" Weaver, a highly regarded pianist and guitar player and his 1927 recording "Barbecue Blues" made him Columbia's best selling artist at the time. By the time of his untimely death in 1931 (at age 29)

This Week's Show: March 18-21

Rosetta Records: 
Independent Women's Blues 

When Rosetta Reitz set out with $10,000 of borrowed money in 1979, she seemed to have a clear vision of what she wished to accomplish.  In founding Rosetta Records, she was out to set the record straight.  It was clear to Ms Reitz that, as had often happened in a patriarchal society, the contributions of the women who had created the blues and jazz of the 1920's and 30's  had often been overlooked and discounted.  Although many male blues musicians, as well as a few female singers had been "rediscovered" in the 60's folk revival, she had a deep sense that the true story was yet to be told.  (see the biography of Rosetta Reitz to the right)    
Eighteen albums later, 

This Week's Show: March 11-14

Ma Rainey

Man! Those Women Could Sing--and Play-- the Blues!!

A few days ago the world celebrated the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day as we here in the United States continue through Women's History Month. So, it seems a perfect time to turn our attention to the important contributions made by women blues artists to the music that, as Michael says, "can remind us that we are all in it together!

(To be perfectly honest we had actually planned to focus shows in March on the blues women artists before we realized this month was an epicenter for women's celebrations.  It seems The Goddess knows what She's doing--even as Michael and I continue to bumble along.)

To be sure, women have been at the heart--and soul--of blues music all along.  "Crazy Blues" by Mamie Smith in 1920 was the first recorded blues vocal and some sources cite the prolific Gertrude "Ma" Rainey as having coined the term the blues in the first place as she added a song lamenting the loss of her man to her repertoire in 1902. 

This Week's Show: March 4-7, 2011

The Blues Meets Rock and Roll 
 
It was too good to pass up!

Last week, I stumbled across Henry Thomas's "Bulldoze Blues" as I was researching the itinerant blues musicians who had made their way into recording studios in the 20's and 30's--and when I heard the melody line that Thomas played on the quills, I immediately recognized Canned Heat's "Going Up Country", one of my favorites from the movie Woodstock! 


Maybe we're showing our age (Michael is 61, I'll be 65 later this month), but Michael and I made a quick decision at that point:  This week Spinning Tales is going to Rock the Blues! (You might say we'll be caught between a hard rock and a blues place???)