Fifth Wednesday      12-30-2015                                                                                          

T-Model Ford                                       1998
Larry Carlton                                        2004
Blind Blake                                          1926+
Bee Houston                                         1970?

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So it’s the last show of the year and another chance to get together with Paul before I begin the third year of my developing the British Blues saga and, boy, have I been looking forward to playing some good old American stuff.  I was kinda thinking of going Jazzy on my half of the show, but our first set is anything but.  T-Model Ford was recommended to me years ago by a friend who worked at one of our local CD stores and said he was a cross between Hound Dog Taylor and R.L, Burnside.  Well, any mention of Taylor creates a compulsion to hear it and, yes, there is a raw quality similar to Hound Dog’s music and listening to this album made me delve further into Burnside as well.

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When I was thinking Jazzy, the particular album I had in mind was Sapphire Blues by Larry Carlton.  I came across it in our new additions library maybe a decade ago and it was well worth digging it out of my archives.  It fits almost perfectly the mood I was in.

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And here’s something I wrote a few years ago for a project I’ll probably never finish:

Achieving popularity about the same time as Blind Lemon (Jefferson) was Blind Blake, Florida-based guitarist of whom extremely little is known.  On one recording, he stated his given name to be Arthur (he also recorded as Blind Arthur), and his sponsors claimed him to be from Jacksonville, Florida, a theory backed up by his accent on spoken asides.  What else is known is mostly about the music, not the man.

Blake first recorded in the autumn of 1926 for Paramount, and his initial success with West Coast Blues was the first (and last) solo instrumental race record.  He had a more structured style than his contemporaries, which leads to the belief that he was used to ensemble play, possibly in a jazz format.  It is fairly certain that in the late twenties he lived in Chicago, often playing house parties with pianists like Charlie Spand (with whom he recorded Hastings Street and Police Dog Blues) or Little Brother Montgomery.  As the go-to guy among Paramount's guitarist, he also performed and recorded with banjo players Papa Charlie Jackson and Gus Cannon as well as Classic Blues singers Ma Rainey and Ida Cox.  Blake toured with the vaudeville show Happy-Go-Lucky in parts of 1930 and 1931.  He would release 79 titles over six years until 1932 when Paramount ceased to exist, but unlike most Blues singers of the time, never recorded a spiritual.  His lack of reappearance in the recording studios presumes his death shortly afterwards.

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For a guy who I think only made this one record on his own, Bee Houston has long been one of my favorite guitarists.  Not in Houston but close enough, in 1938 Bee was born and then raised in San Antonio, Texas and infused Gospel-based Soul music into his powerful Blues style.  During the late 50s and early 60s, Edwin Wilson Houston could be found in the backing bands of artists Little Willie John, Bobby Bland and Junior Parker.  After his military service, Bee relocated to the west coast and I believe that when he made this album for Arhoolie, in my mind more of an acoustic Blues label, Houston had been backing Big Mama Thornton on tours and recordings.  I think I tend to go for this album more often than most of my other favorites because he is undeservedly less familiar to most of our listeners.

Anyway, all in all a great way to wind up the year, with good company and good music.  Paul’s playlist follows mine below and to all of you, thanks for the last many years and looking forward to sharing more stuff with you as the new year progresses.

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I’ll have another chance to hear some more of my American Blues as I fill in on John Fuller’s Backstroke program beginning at 10pm Monday January 18^th and ending three hours later at 1am, but that’s next year!

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Since it is still relatively new, I thought I’d mention that KKUP is now streaming on the internet and, while it is still in a developing stage, we have been putting out the word.  I’m not all of that good with high-tech stuff, but it seems pretty easy to access.  If you go to our website at KKUP.org you will see on the home page a strip of options immediately above the pictures of the musicians the next to the last option being LISTEN ONLINE.  By clicking this, it brings up a choice of desktop or mobile.  I can only speak for the desktop but after maybe a minute I was receiving a crystal clear feed.  As already mentioned, this is still a work in progress and we are currently limited to a finite number of listeners at any one time.  I mention this so you will be aware to turn off the application when you are not actually listening.  (I put the player in my favorites bar for the easiest of access.)  Now we can reach our listeners in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, even my family in Canada.  Let your friends elsewhere know they can now listen to your favorite station, and while they have the home page open they can check out our schedule.

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To the Left to the Right
The Old Number
We Don’t Understand
These Eyes
Come Back Home
   T-Model Ford

A Pair of Kings

Sapphire Blue
Slightly Dirty
Take Me Down
   Larry Carlton

Hastings Street

Diddie Wah Diddie
Southern Rag
C.C. Pill Blues
Too Tight Blues #2
   Blind Blake

You Think I’m Your Good Thing

Busy Bee
The Hustler
So Proud to be a Black Man
Breakaway
Things Get Better
Never
   Bee Houston

·      

Paul’s list   2015 – 12-30

WATCH YOUR STEP - BOBBY PARKER  V-TONE 223  1960

THREE HUNDRED POUNDS OF JOY - HOWLIN' WOLF  CHESS 1870  1963

LET'S HAVE A NATURAL BALL - ALBERT KING  BOBBIN 126  1960

SOMETHING INSIDE ME - ELMORE JAMES  SPHERE SOUND 713  c.1966 rec.60

I CAN'T LOSE - B. B. KING  KENT 393  1964

SHAKE IT BABY - JOHN LEE HOOKER  AMERICAN BLUES FESTIVAL  (HAMBURG)  1962

IT WON'T BE LONG - LYDIA PENSE WITH THE NEW INVADERS   INVADER 401  1965

CAN'T AFFORD TO DO IT - HOMESICK JAMES  COLT 632  1962

JUVENILE DELINQUENT - T V SLIM AND THE SOUL BROTHERS  TIMBRE 510  1966

DON'T START CRYIN' NOW - SLIM HARPO  EXCELLO 2194  1961

GOT ME A NEW WOMAN - JOE HILL LOUIS (Lewis) rec.1952 Sun Studios  NranRel. 1989 CD

HARD HEARTED WOMAN - EDDIE BURNS  HARVEY 111  1961

PLAYHOUSE - FLOYD JONES  GENESIS; SWEET HOME CHICAGO (CHESS 6641 174) (LP) (U.K.) rec.1951

COME ON - DENNIS ROBERTS (Long John Hunter)  Yucca 133  1961

I'D RATHER GO BLIND - ETTA JAMES  CADET 5578  1967

NOBODY KNOWS - FiRD (Snooks) EAGLIN  IMPERIAL 5671  1960

BLUES WITH A FEELING - PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND  E;ECTRA EKL-294  1965

ROUGH TREATMENT - MOODY JONES  J.O.B. Unissued  1952 FLYRIGHT LP  FLY 565  1980

BEST DAYS - BABY FACE TURNER (rec.1952)  Nran Kent LP KST-9007 1969

GOOD MOANIN' BLUES - SHAKEY (Big Walter) HORTON   ARGO 5476 1964 CHESS LP CH 9268  1987

DETROIT MOAN - EUNICE DAVIS  L and R 42.016 (LP)  1980

BIG CAR BLUES - LIGHTNIN HOPKINS  FROM CONCERT AT  ASH GROVE, HOLLYWOOD  AUG, 1961

THAT MAN - EARL HOOKER AND THE EARLETTES  AGE 29114  1963

DO YOU WANT ME TO CRY - EDDIE TAYLOR  VIVID 104  1964

HENRY LEE - BETTY JAMES  CHESS 1837  1962