Blues Historian: John Hammer Blues Update

Be sure to visit www.bluemondaymonthly.com to read our entire June 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

Bawdy and Blue on Yer Radio

As we bask in the season that accomodates outdoor fests, we thought we would share some of what you may catch on the blues highway this summer. This week on Hammered By The Blues ( Sunday on KOWZ 10pm on 1170am. Classic episodes rebroadcast on line Tues at 9am and Sat at 11am on www.boundarywatersradio.com) we dug into my old homestead mailbox for some of the fresh stuff. We kick our roll with The Dynaflows and a handful of butt shakers off their self titled CD. Then to bring a little sweat to yer brow and fire in yer pants, we slide up close and personal next to Candye Kane as she steams yer personal windscreen with some smokin' selections off 'Superhero'. To finish out our time together, we tap brother Zac Harmon testifyin' as only he can off 'From The Root', his latest off Northern Blues Music label. Throw another slab of ribs on the grill, 'cause we're just gettin' started!

From guitars that scream to horns that moan;

We plays the blues so you won't be alone;

Whether yer in the car or on the back porch;

We support the music and carry the torch!

Hammer-time!

Willie Foster
By Vince Cheney
I've lived in the southern United States all my life, lived in the areas where the blues began..
In these areas the economy isn't much different than today. Just like 100 years ago, not many of us sing the blues, however hard times are very familiar. I guess I know more unsung heroes than anyone else I've met and it's one of the few subjects I feel qualified to talk about! Several years ago I became fascinated with the songs sung by field workers and folks that actually lived the "blues life"! It intrigued me how a few words expressed so much feeling and what most of us take for granted today, many lived without (like shoes, love, family, and money). Amazing how these innocent songs they wrote would later be what kept them from starving if they were lucky. Most (much like today) died unheard and wasn't given the opportunity to abandon the "blues life", like my mentor Lightnin Hopkins and better known, the "king of blues" BB King. When I met Willie Foster playing a juke not far from my house, it changed my life. I went to his house and immediately made a good friend. While I was asking him of how life is different today, he finaly told me of a horror story that I never heard him tell anyone else. He showed me a small scar where he was traveling to a distant town and got caught by a few "whites". The white men had thrown a rope around his neck and drug him to a nearby tree. Luckily the men were in a good mood and allowed Willie to escape with only a few scratches, deep bruises and the promise to "stay on his side of town". Willie, like a few more have experienced such assault as beer bottles crashed over the head, hangings, muggings and even sexual assault in some cases. These "unsung heroes" of the blues were the ones that taught us to sing about life. I tell Willies story cause he's not here to tell. He always preferred to talk of the better things or current events and avoid the past. He wasn't a racist and didn't hold it against later generations; in fact he kept a love for everyone and hardly noticed color. Today I, like many try to be like the past "Unsung Heroes". However, we are expecting to be heard for some reason. Though I would like to be heard myself, several years ago I decided to create an online connection to bring blues musicians and fans together thebluessite.com. The site not only has helped give light to other musicians that are truly struggling, but makes me feel I'm doing my part as a blues lover. I personally think that the unheard artists are the few real bluesmen, for it is them that lived the "blues life" and till this day remains unheard. Almost every ones life is hard, only a few are given the gift to explain it in a few songs! And only a few of them are heard and actually make a difference in one persons life, I want to be one of them!

YOUR 7 DAY BLUES FORECAST