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

BBQed Blues For Yer Ears on the AM/FM

Oh Yeah, Baby! Ain't NUTHIN' better'n hangin' with like minded folks and greasin' down on the life givin', smile creatin', belly fillin' food of the Americas while havin' yer ears filled with the best blues on the airwaves! 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 will slather the sauce all over yer dimestore pocket transistor radio with a feast fit for Kings! First off, we gently sautee a hand picked selection of mouth watering goodness off 'Grizzle and Bone', the freshest of the fresh from Taz Cru. Then we toss some sides of grits and gravy atcha from those respected and venerable purveyors The Nighthawks off 'American Landscape'. Now that you've loosened yer belt and are ready to top off yer meal we serve up sum 'mo Taz Cru off his earth shaping 'Gravi-Tas'. Good Lord, folks; if this don't sit right and you've taken in too much, please stick around for the bromoseltzer. They'll be playin' Whoopy John after the show.

Some times it looks bleek when things get tough;
But we gots the cure, just grab you enough;

At our blues buffet you know it's all good;

So join us this week in our blues neighborhood.

Hammer-time!

Blues Dreams
By Brian Kramer
My Name is Brian Kramer, I grew up in Brooklyn NY and I have been on this Blues Journey for over 25 years. I never dreamed I would be recording albums or playing along side legends like Junior Wells, Mick Taylor, Larry Johnson, Eric Bibb, etc. as I sat in my little basement apartment as a teenager playing guitar to used blues records. In the early 80's it was the height of the "Disco" age and blues was being swallowed up and almost forgotten in the marketable sense. However the local music scene was thriving in NYC and you could find great musicians and jam sessions all around town. I first saw Larry Johnson at a small NY club called Dan Lynch (the main watering hole for raw blues). I was just learning how to put simple chords together on the guitar when I saw this amazing fingerpicker playing his six strings like it was a whole orchestra! I learned many of his songs from his records (particularly an album called Fast & Funky -Blue Goose) and made this style of playing the focus of my attention... About 8 years later, I met Larry and had the opportunity to put some shows together for him. He invited me to sit in on stage at NYC's Tramps and realized I knew most of his repertoire. We played together constantly for many years and recently recorded a wonderful album called Larry Johnson with Brian Kramer & the Couch Lizards- Two Gun Green (Armadillo-Armd00013). I met Junior Wells through a drummer who was his friend in Chicago. It was at the old Lone Star Cafe in NY and he & Buddy Guy were playing two nights. There were very few people in the club and I wound up hangin' with Junior & Buddy all night (I was about 21 years old). The next night, I showed up with my Dobro & asked Junior if I could play something with him (a very ballsy move). After the show, I waited in the dressing room when Junior walked in, dripping with sweat from his
performance. He saw me sitting there, with my guitar out & said "Whut you wanna play?". We jammed for an hour, with Junior showing me how to do it right! We became good friends and a few years later, I got my first record deal. When I asked Junior if he would play on the record he eagerly said "just tell me where & when". We recorded an album together called Brian Kramer & the Blues Masters Featuring Junior Wells & Mick Taylor (unavailable). I moved to Sweden in 1996 and met Eric Bibb when he was playing a regular gig in a tiny, dark club called Lilla Maria's. We hit it off right away as we were both New Yorker & found that we both knew many of the same musicians from back home, including Larry Johnson. Eric's career was just about to take a better direction and he asked me if I would accompany him for his first tour in California for two weeks, partly because I had a driver's license. I agreed, but made it clear I was a very inexperienced driver... He had no concern about this, though. When we arrived in LA, via Sweden & the UK for a meeting with his agent, we had been flying & traveling for over 20 hours with little sleep. We rented a car right away and made our way carefully onto the LA freeway. This way the FIRST time I ever drove on a freeway, let alone the most notorious one on the planet! Eric held on to his hat for the next 5 hours as we drove to our first "official" gig together ever. I told him "you be my eyes in the rear & I'll watch the front, until I get my drivin' legs!" When we pulled up to the art center, Eric sighed with relief "I can't believe we made it!" We performed & traveled together all over the world for the next two years and I am featured on his album, Eric Bibb Home-To Me (Manhaton) Needless to say, he never let me be a driver on tour again. These are just a few, brief moments of Blues Dreams come true in a long history of discovering myself through blues music. Through these travels I've been personally introduced to many Idols like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Johnny Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Buddy Guy, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Bernard Allison, Jimmy Dawkins, Bobby Rush, Otis Rush, the list goes on & on! My whole life has been shaped around these experiences and each one opens up a new chapter...The Journey continues!
Brian Kramer
More info. www.briankramerblues.com
CD's available at www.bluearmadillo.com

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