The Two Whales Avenue

As a huge fan of bluegrass music I have a keen ear for good old time bluegrass. From Clarence Ashley to Doc Watson to The Stanley Brothers I have listen from the best to the best when it comes to great down home bluegrass. I have stomped my feet to the the fiddle and the banjo many of nights singing along to bluegrass from the 1920's and up. It's hard to find a good bluegrass band in a province that is surrounded by traditional celtic music and what i call lovers of covers, people who don't understand music unless they have listened to it while growing up or they heard it on the radio, something that I pride myself on being not part of. My ears are always open to new music and music that is written by people for people, music from the heart and soul of musicians that lived and are writing directly about their life for people like me. Tonight me and my dear friend Harv took a trip to Port Rexton, a local town outside of Bonavista most famous for their theatrical showings. But tonight a local coffee shop called Two Whales Coffee Shop was hosting a bluegrass band straight from Ontario to play a modest show. As we walked into the place it was a great feeling of walking into someones house, since the coffee shop was actually someones house years ago and renovated into a coffee shop, not much renovation mind you. but it was defiantly warming and hospitable. Me and Harv (owner and operator of Walkhams Gate Pub and Coffee Shop in Bonavista) sat down in the back of the 20 seat kitchen which I was happy to see. It was a great feeling of walking into someones kitchen getting ready for a traditional Newfoundland kitchen party of years ago when friends and family get together to play music well into the night. Tonight was no different. The band was called The Avenues and they will not disappoint us on this night. They were a 3 piece band that ripped through two sets of songs and played not only two cover songs, that I know of , Wild Bill Jones and John Prines' Please Don't Bury Me,  that sounded like it just came off the radio but they also performed original songs that sounded like they were written by bluegrass/country greats. They even had a little bluesy twist onto the songs with the uptempo feel, which I couldn't get enough of being a huge blues fan that I am. After listening to the band that night I came home and slipped on Muddy Waters Country Blues record on vinyl and got taken back to earlier that night. The Avenues were a great band and a great bunch of people that will be playing at various bars and pubs in St Johns this week such as The Rose and Thistle and The Levee. I highly recommend keeping an eye out for them this week and and weekend and catching their show, they will keep you dancing throughout the night and wont disappoint if your a true music fan. Me and Harv walked away happy with what we heard. Thanks Two Whales Coffee Shop for bringing good music to rural Newfoundland that we deserve and hunger for. 

Muddys Birthday

Today is the great Muddy Waters birthday. The innovator of the electric blues, up there with T Bone Walker. Muddy has done more for the blues in Chicago than any other musician there is, rival of Howlin Wolf and friend of Willie Dixon, he has exploded the careers of Johnny Winter, Little Walter, Jimmie Rogers, and James Cotton. Growing up he would go to shows and learn from the greats such as Son House, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, etc. His career would flourish and drop from the 60s to the early 80s. Ups and downs ravished Waters but he never said die, he even taken his music to a whole new level after joining up with Johnny Winter in the 80s and releasing two great albums. Muddy passed away on April 30, 1983 but his influences are immense, millions have covered his songs from Led Zepplin, Humple Pie, Bob Dylan, Allman Brothers, Jeff Beck, Cream, Jimi Hendrex, just to name a few. Even the Rolling Stones named their band after the Muddy Waters hit of the same name. Even The Beatles reference him in their song Come Together. There's no denying Muddy's influence in not only blues but rock from 40 years ago to today. He shall never be forgotten and his great contribution to music will forever be appreciated.

Radiodead

I'm a huge fan of music and a wide range of music. From Led Zepplin to Miles Davis to Doc Watson to Hank Williams to Muddy Waters to Nirvana theres not much I can't stick my ears to. However there is one band that has taken the whole world by storm. They are almost crossing Godlike and are revered as one of the greatest bands ever. Some say the lead singer is a genius and has an angelic voice that stands tall against such greats as Jeff Buckley and Billie Holiday. The band I speak about is Radiohead. I can not wrap my head around why this band is so big. To me their music is not very listenable. Its filled with weird sounds that sound much more like a bad dj than a great band. As for Thom Yorke's angelic voice I cant really see it. It sounds extremely meek and too soft to even understand what hes saying. Today however Radiohead released their new album and new single called Lotus Flower. Apparently I missed the bandwagon on this one because as soon as I started watching the video I was perplexed at what I was watching. Yorke's oddly spastic dance moves was distracting from the song, which probably was a good thing. As soon as I could take my eyes away from the actual video and started listening to the song I was really not impressed. It sounded more like mumbling than what is considered the greatest rock band ever. I was never a huge Radiohead fan and this proves why. I have no idea why there's so many gigantic Radiohead fans, its more of a cult following where it's cool to like a band not for their abilities but for their marketing. Its a shame that this is what the music industry has come to. There's hundreds of better bands out there performing underground that can blow Radiohead away in concert or in the studio. I'm not one to demean music artists out there but I just couldn't sit back and let it go unsaid. I for one can't see the popularity of Radiohead. Its my opinion and I always stick to it.

Electric Murder Blues

One of the lesser known father of the electric blues, Robert Nighthawk murdered the guitar. His carnage could have been found in all the juke joints around the Mississippi area. Wowing spectators with his dirty blues with a spectacular slide guitar work. You can tell in this video by the smiles on peoples faces and how they just danced with each other. It was raunchy but the people loved it. Nighthawk was a huge influence on a one Muddy Waters. You can tell in this video how much fun it would have been, in the crowd drinking moonshine, dancing with disregard.

Muddy Rodgers

I was always a huge fan of Paul Rodgers. From his First band Free to Bad Company to The Firm with Jimmy Page to The Law and now heading the great band Queen. Rodgers has dont it all and in good fashion. All his bands have released great songs and some may say its because of Rodgers and his golden voice. Hes considered one of the greatest rock voices in rock and roll history. With great range and being able to bend a note with ease there's probably nothing Rodgers cant do. Hes always been influenced by the blues, you can surely hear it in his first band Free. But it wasn't untill the early 90's that Rodgers released his first full out blues album called Muddy Waters blues, it was a dedication to the late great blues singer Muddy Waters, covering his songs Rodgers was accompanied by legendary guitarists as David Gilmore, Slash, Jeff Beck, Steve Millar, and Gary Moore. But nothing compared as to when Buddy Guy stepped up to the guitar and laid down the blues like no ones business. Having played with Muddy before Buddy knew just how to bring back the old time electric blues like no body else. Rodgers voice alongside Buddy's guitar is a treat to hear.

The Son Is Shining

One man has a spot on top of the blues world. He’s not a multi millionaire like Eric Clapton. He’s not covered by millions like Robert Johnson or Willie Dixon. He’s not considered the greatest guitar player to ever live like Jimi Hendrix or Page. In retrospect he didn’t see much fame at all until in his later years and not much then.  His name is Eddie James House Jr., more commonly known as the great Son House.

House was born on March 21, 1902 in Riverton Mississippi. By the age of 7 he and his mother left his father and moved to Tallulah, Louisiana. There a young Eddie House was determined to become a Baptist preacher and by the age of 15 he began his preaching career. He rejected the church’s firm stance against blues music; House was attracted to it and taught himself the guitar by his mid-20’s. Inspired by a traveling musician named Willie Wilson, Son House traveled around Mississippi and Tennessee with such legendary blues musicians such as Charley Patton,  Robert Johnson, Willie Brown and Fiddlin’ Joe Martin.

To give House more of a blues credibility he spent 2 years at the Parchment Farm State Penitentiary. He spent all of 1928 and 1929 in the prison after allegedly killing a man and receiving a 15 year sentence. The story goes Son House was working a juke joint one night when a man came in and started shooting everyone. House got shot in the leg then shot and killed the man. It was self defense but Son still did the time.

Son’s early recordings can be heard on Paramount in the 1930’s and later he was recorded by Alan Lomax for his Library of Congress recordings in 1941 and 1942.

After that he faded into black. He was rediscovered in the 1960 after the huge country blues revival. He was found after a long search in the Mississippi delta region by Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro. They could not find him in the delta but later found him in Rochester, New York where he has lived since 1943. He had been working for the New York Central Railroad there and hasn’t played music in years. He had no idea that so many great musicians had been listening to his early recordings and built a career from his style.

He toured frequently in the US and Europe as the revival was growing and growing. Playing the Newport Folk Festival alongside of Mississippi John Hurt, Rev Gary Davis, Bukka  White, Skip James, Mississippi Fred Mcdowell, etc. They were loved everywhere they played alongside such amazing artists as Bob Dylan, Pete Seegar, Joan Beaz, Dave Van Ronk, etc.

The success of the touring took a toll on House. He started having a drinking problem and it showed at the Newport Folk Festival one evening. A dear friend of his and great blues musician Howlin' Wolf was performing on stage. Son was horribly drunk and making a lot of noise off stage to a point where Wolf stop playing to tell House that all he cared about was whiskey. Also that he could have had a great career but he threw it all away.

Drinking really distorted his style and had an effect on how House played. He couldn’t play like he did on those field recordings by Alan Lomax. To help him out Producer John Hammond Sr. asked Canned Heat guitarist Alan Wilson, who was a huge Son House fan,  to teach Son House how to play like Son House. So Alan went to work and the result was the Columbia recording The Father Of The Delta Blues – The Complete 1965 Sessions.

House later moved to Detroit, Michigan where he retired once again in 1974. Ill health plagued him and House died as a result of cancer of the larynx on October 19, 1988. The Detroit Blues Society performed benefit concerts to raise money to raise a fitting monument on his grave. RIP.

The influence of Son House can be seen everywhere in the music world. From Gary Moore to Andrew Bird to The White Stripes to Warren Haynes and Govt Mule. Lynyrd Skynard’s song  Swamp Music was a  tribute to Son House.

Long live the memory of the greatest blues musician to ever sing of love and pain. To ever write of whiskey and murder.  Be it belting out field hollars or Gospel tunes or just deep and dirty gut wrenching blues. The master of the slide guitar with just using a broken bottle neck as well as a great a capella  singer as heard in John The Revelator and Grinnin In Your Face. He could do it all before anyone knew what it was.