Blues Historian: John Hammer Blues News

Be sure to visit www.bluemondaymonthly.com to read our entire April issue. Pass this along to friends and tell them they can sign up for this weekly e-bluesblast right on the bottom of the first page of the website. Check out the links and support yer local blues band! Hope to see you at a LIVE show soon! Until then, Take care of each other, and we'll catch up with ya real soon!

John 'blueshammer' Hammer

Why Fly When You Can Crawl on the AM/FM

In the dark moments of a mis-spent youth it can become apparent that you may just have to take a safer mode of transport. Nothin' is safer or more sure than crawling on yer hands and knees, thats why babys do it! This week on Hammered By The Blues (TWICE on Sunday on KOWZ. Noon on 1170am and 8pm on 100.9fm. Classic episodes rebroadcast on line Tues at 9am and Sat at 11am on www.boundarywatersradio.com) we won't be able to top that sage and meaningful wisdom, but we do explore the fringes of the best blues on the airwaves. Just as we promised last week, we will indulge in disc two of 'Things Are Lookin' Up' by the Greg McCullough band. To dance off with something completely different, we hook up with Commander Cody (oh yeah, THAT guy) for some serious wackiness off 'Dopers, Drunks, and Everyday Losers'. Tho by now your footing is mighty unsure, we slip and slide with the master of slide Roy Rogers and some truely unhummable stuff off his latest 'Split Decision'. As it seems as we have lost all control, we let Webb Wilders new CD 'More Like Me' just climb up on the old handcrank victrola and play itself. I don't know about you, but I'm gonna call 1-800-Axe-Gary 'cause this ain't Kansas no mo'!

Don't get all depressed 'cause ya can't say no;
Join our healin' hour whether yer rich or dirt po';

Our mission is simple, just one of basic trues;

We will cure what ails ya with a dose of the blues.

Hammer-time!

"I can do that!
By Jason Ricci.
I remember my mother bringing me to see James Cotton at a club in Portland, Maine where I grew up. Portland is a true breeding ground for authentic blues men. I was fifteen years old, everyone there was over 21 mostly late forty's and mostly intoxicated as well. The show was incredible and that evening Cotton was a stellar performer and harmonica player.He was arguably at the peak of his career (circa 1989), however I remember thinking arrogantly through much of it: "I can do that, or I will be able to that", until he ended his show and the audience roared and the legendary long time Muddy Waters side man reemerged from back stage with his band for the encore. The song they did was a minor key blues ballad called "Black Night". Halfway through this already haunting ballad on the downbeat, the band broke the volume down to a whisper with one stunning, life changing, snare crack. At that point Cotton stepped away from his microphone and began to sing and play without the aid of any amplification to the formerly festive, drunk and raucous audience, now ominously quiet without the aid of artificial amplification. It was at that moment that I realized that on one level there was no difference between the artist and his/her audience. Through the expression of his pain, joy, anger and unapolagetic sexuality we were all united in our humanity and within that unity we were all silent, silent except of course for the ghostly wailings of James Cotton's blues harp. I also realized that was one harmonica riff I hadn't learned yet and maybe couldn't. I hadn't suffered enough. When asked: "How did a white boy from Maine get the blues?" I often answer: "If you don't have the blues when you start playing them you will after ten years of trying to make a living at it." My musical and personal mentor Pat Ramsey, a real unsung hero of the blues told me long ago:" This is the only business I know where raw talent, dedication, perseverance and hard work guarantee you absolutely nothing.

-Jason Ricci has won multiple blues and harmonica contests, traveled the entire U.S. and over seas playing blues and jazz music, has played as a member of the bands: Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys, R.L. Burnside, The Big Bad Smitty Band, Keith Brown, and many more. He is currently one of the few pioneers of the jazz-worlds "overblowing" technique which transforms the diatonic harmonica into a fully chromatic three octave instrument. He is currently on tour with his own band Jason Ricci and New Blood featuring Shawn Starski on guitar.

YOUR 7 DAY BLUES FORECAST