Charley Jordan:Christmas Blues

Delta Christmas Blues!

Mississippi Tourism

The Mississippi Delta Tourism Association has a contest offering 3 days in the Delta with a concert by BB King.  Check out the details below.

Enter to win the Delta Backroads & Blues Getaway, a three-day freewheeling adventure for two through the magnificent Mississippi Delta. You'll savor Mississippi soul food, relax in the best in Southern hospitality accommodations and enjoy a performance by the blues king himself - B.B. King. Don't miss out! Contest ends soon....enter to win....

R L Burnside: Old Black Mattie

R L tells a cool tale about playing the blues.

RL Burnside - Blues Story - Poor Black mattie
Uploaded by fredozydeco

Sweet Angel In Cleveland Mississippi

Big gig in Mississippi! Boy does that sound better than the frozen tundra of Iowa:-) To all the blues fans down in the delta, Sweet Angel is performing in Cleveland Mississippi.

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Club Fermier
211 N. Chrisman
Cleveland, MS
8:30 pm

Sweet Angel "Up Close
and Personal"

http://www.sweetangel.org

To Book Sweet Angel at
your venue,
call (901) 246-7545.

Taj Mahal And Corey Harris: Sitting On Top Of The World

Cool video from the PBS blues series of Taj Mahal and Corey Harris. Classic!

Keb Mo: It Hurts Me Too

Of all the current delta style players out there, the one that comes closest to Robert Johnson in my mind is Keb Mo. Here is Keb mo playing harmonica, slide guitar, and singing.

Sam Chatmon: That's Alright

Some classic delta blues from the hills of Mississippi. The great Sam Chatmon.

Big Bill Broonzy: Hey Babe

Instrumental guitar by honorary Iowan Big Bill Broonzy:-)

Big Bill Broonzy - Guitar Shuffle
Uploaded by nighttripper

Eric Sardinas: Come On In My Kitchen

A very nice version of Robert Johnson's Come On In My Kitchen. Sardinas can play it all from acoustic delta, to rocking smoking guitar!

Furry Lewis: St Louis Blues

A short clip of Furry Lewis performing WC Handy's St Louis Blues.

Touring The Delta

This is a great story (Click HERE)that I found on the Canadian Press site, although I think that it is really a story from the AP by Justin Norton. It is about Norton and his tour of the Mississippi Delta. It is a really good story, and Norton writes a paragraph that tells me that he knows what he is talking about when it come to the Delta blues!

I arrive in Clarksdale after a daylong drive through Oklahoma and Arkansas, passing the famed "Crossroads" of blues legend as I enter town. The Crossroads have a special place in blues mythology as the location where aspiring musicians sold their soul to the Devil in exchange for musical prowess. A bluesman could wait at a crossroads at dark for the Devil, who would take the musician's guitar, tune it, and hand it back. The musicians could then play any song they wanted.

When blues artists referred to the Crossroads, they were likely talking about any number of backroads intersections, but the story has stuck to the intersection of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale.

The story is usually associated with Robert Johnson, who hints at the diabolical on songs like "Hellhound on My Trail." But the myth of a Crossroads deal would be better attached to guitarist Tommy Johnson, who boasted about a backroads pact with a shadowy apparition. The Crossroads don't seem as menacing now with a kitschy sign of interlocking guitars marking the spot. But they are a sign that what matters here is the music - and your ability to play it well.

That is what good journalism is about. Doing your homework, and knowing what you are talking about!!

Mississippi Tourism

So did you wonder who won the contest to the delta, and how did their trip go? Wonder no more! Our good friends down at Visit The Delta have a some blog posts from the winner as she took her trip down through the Mississippi Delta. You can check out her adventures on the Mississippi Delta myspace page HERE.

Win A Trip Across The Delta!!

The Mississippi Delta Tourism Association has a very cool contest going on. You can win a trip across the Mississippi delta. Click Here to enter the sweepstakes. If you win here is the itinerary from the website: Visit the delta.

Monday, September 10th – Arrive in Vicksburg for Gaming, Town Tour and Overnight

• Accommodations at the AmeriStar Casino
• Dinner at the Bottleneck Blues Bar located in the casino
• Vicksburg gift basket
• Passes to area attractions

Tuesday morning, September 11th – Travel to Yazoo City for lunch and town tour

• BBQ for two at “Memphis in May award-winning” Ubon’s
• Town tour
• Gift basket from the Yazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Tuesday afternoon, September 11th - Travel to Greenwood for Town Tour and overnight

• 1 night stay for 2 at the Alluvian Hotel
• 2 free passes to Cottonlandia Museum
• Walking tour of historic downtown Greenwood
• Visit to Robert Johnson's gravesite
• Dinner for two at Lusco's on Tuesday night

Wednesday morning, September 12th – Travel to Indianola for lunch and town tour

• Lunch for two from the Crown Restaurant
• Gift basket and gift certificates from Taste of Gourmet and the Indianola Pecan House.
• Copy of Steve Cheseborough’s “Blues Traveling”
• Behind the scenes tour of B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, under construction
• Tour of Indianola blues sites

Wednesday afternoon, September 12th – Travel to Clarksdale for Town Tour and overnight

• Delta Blues Museum admission
• Ground Zero Blues Club Gift Certificate
• Gift Certificate for Dinner at the Silver Moon
• Gift Basket with Gift Certificates from Downtown
• Merchants
• Overnight Accomodations at the Big Pink
• Guesthouse
• Gift Certificate for breakfast at Resthaven

Thursday morning, September 13th – Travel to DeSoto County for County Tour and Shopping

• Complimentary breakfast in Olive Branch
• Tour of Brussel’s Bonsai including a gift certificate
• Travel to Old Towne to shop
• Travel to Southaven for shopping at Southaven Towne Center
• Travel to Hernando for a free lunch at Timbeaux’s
• Tour of DeSoto County Museum and the Historic Hernando Courthouse

Thursday afternoon, September 13th – Travel to Tunica for Gaming, Town Tour and overnight

• 1 night stay at one of Tunica' 9 Casino Hotel Resorts
• Admission to the Tunica RiverPark Museum including a Cruise on the Tunica Queen
• $100 in gaming coin

Friday, September 14th – Travel to Cleveland for Town Tour and overnight

• Gift certificates for dinner at the Pickled Okra and lunch at the Warehouse
• Tour Guide: Blues and Culture Tour
• One Night Accommodations: The Holiday Inn including continental breakfast
• Gift basket and discount shopping coupons

Saturday, September 15th – Travel to Greenville for Town Tour, MS Delta Blues and Heritage Festival and overnight

• Overnight accommodations at the Greenville Inn & Suites for Saturday, September 15
• Dinner for two at one of our local restaurants
• Tickets for two to the MS Delta Blues & Heritage Festival.

Sunday, September 16th – Depart for home

Transportation not provided.

It does look like you will have to transport yourself, which could be expensive given the current 3.00 dollar a gallon gas. However, it looks like a good time. So good luck!!!!

RL Burnside: Poor Black Mattie

Another cool RL video. Burnside was one of the greats, and his family is keeping the blues alive. There are several videos of this set. I assume it was probably taken in his house in the hill country of Mississippi.

Matt Woods And The Thunderbolts

These guys are unoffically the best blues band in Iowa! They won the Iowa Blues Challenge put on by the Central Iowa Blues, Mississippi Valley Blues , and Linn County Blues Societies. These guys are also good friends of mine. I briefly had a band with Scott Cochran, and Michael Swanger, with Jeff Baker on guitar as we backed the legendary Jimmy Pryor. Matt Woods came on to the Des Moines scene about the time I was leaving, but him and his friends put on a killer set on the very last Iowa Blues Showcase! Here is Matt and the guys doing a little nasty slide thing.


Matt Woods & The Thunderbolts

Add to My Profile | More Videos

R L Burnside: Just Like A Woman

The late RL Burnside doing Just Like A Woman.

Eric Clapton Playing Robert Johnson

Eric Clapton doing Walking Blues. This is one of Robert Johnson's songs, although some of the lyrics and melody come from Son House. This has cause a few blues scholars much concern about the originality of Robert Johnson. However, I think one has to look at blues as a continuing music, that is passed down from player to player. You pick and chose words, and melodies as you go. I also think that propriety, or ownership of creative material probably wasn't a big issue among blues players. Elmo James is just as much the author of Dust My Broom, as Robert Johnson, and Robert took it from someone else, who took it from someone else, and the line continues on. Old songs, like Kansas City, C C Rider, Stagger Lee, and Frankie and Johnnie, are a few examples of songs with multiple authorship. Who was first? Some people think that the first is the most important, but the most important historically speaking is the person who made the biggest impact with the song. Hands down Robert wins it most of the time.

ACK! Tommy Johnson Tribute album, dressed as Robert Johnson

Over to the far left is Tommy Johnson. next is the Chris Thomas King CD cover, and below is the famous Robert Johnson photograph




















Is it any wonder people are confused! Chris Thomas King's photo looks remarkably like Robert. Now at least it has Tommy Johnson listed as the tribute, but anyone looking at it without thinking will think it is Robert. It is probably just a marketing ploy to get people who like Robert to pick up the CD. I haven't seen the CD myself so I cant comment on it, but I am sure it is good. However, this only contributes to the confusion over the two great delta artists.

Artist of the Week R L Burnside

This week's artist of the week is R L Burnside. I chose R L because his family is featured in the current issue of Living Blues. R L's legacy lives on with a large number of kids who are carrying on his work, including Iowa's own Burnside and Reed. (however, I didn't notice them in my first quick scan of the magazine) I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about people lamenting the death of the blues, but this months Living Blues is proof positive that the blues is alive and well in the Mississippi Hill country. I also caught an episode of the PBS show Globe Trekker. Normally they travel to such exotic places like Africa, the jungles of Asia, or the heart of India, but last night they were trekking across the American deep south. They stopped in Clarksdale the heart of the Mississippi Delta, and sure enough in an old juke joint was an unknown blues band belting out hard core eletricfied blues like it was soaked in Mississippi moonshine. All I can say is the Blues Lives!