Key to the Highway   KSCU 103.3FM 

2019-12-07    Noon-5PM          

Harpdog Brown and band LIVE in studio

Jimmy Yancey
Sam and Dave
Shakey Jake Harris

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In going through my past notes, I discovered it was on this same day, Pearl Harbor Day two years ago, that Gil de Leon and I went up to San Francisco’s Biscuits and Blues to see Harpdog Brown’s band.  Anyway, the Dog is in Silicon Valley for only one day on this West Coast tour and it is not in a club but, indeed, right here in our KSCU studio to perform for you (and for free) in this very special show.  When I first got into radio in the late 80s, one ambition I had was to present live music, but I had to give it up because, without a good sound man, it never lived up to expectations.  Therefore it is with the greatest gratitude that I thank my friend and fellow KSCU Blues DJ Gil de Leon for providing his equipment and expertise in order to make this happen.

Dog and I had discussed this for a long time with the expectation of doing it on my regular Sunday show, but you’ve probably heard something about the best laid plans of mice and men.  Due to a schedule change, the only time Dog will be available is between about two and four PM on Saturday as he drives from Sacramento to Pismo Beach, so I also must sincerely thank Uncle P for allowing me to usurp his time slot.  And, of course, thanks to Harpdog.

I am planning on doing my regular Sunday 7-11PM show December 8^th because it will be the last opportunity this year due to the building being closed for the Christmas holiday.  Then I will be back on January 12^th.

Okay, enough of that.  Below is an essay I did on the Dog back in May which should be good as an intro to Saturday’s show.     enjoy

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Press release type of things are something I've never done before, so bear with me.  To my DJ friends, please give the CD For Love & Money some airplay and mention the gigs.  To my blog readers who have become familiar with my taste in music, check them out if you have the opportunity; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!  Here are comments from a couple of well known Blues artists:

"I love Harpdog’s singing and playing. He’s old-school which is a high compliment because Old-School is Real-School! Harpdog is Real Deal Smokin and Cookin Old-School style. Look out and stand back for the real deal!"
- Charlie Musselwhite, Blues Harmonica Legend and Host of Charlies Back Room on 95.9 The Krush.  (Charlie did a harp duet with Dog on his 2017 CD.  Stand Back was also the title Musselwhite used for his very first LP.)

"Hearing Harpdog Brown singing 'Reefer Lovin’ Woman' is a joy with the traditional old school instrumentation here. I am always drawn to the good old downhome style blues and this is certainly it!”
- Duke Robillard, Legendary Blues Musician

For this tour, Dog will be backed by Canadian pianist Dave Webb, who was an integral part of Dog’s 2019 album For Love & Money, and trumpeter Riley Bartlet along with a couple of Americans, Rick Jacobson on drums and Dan Fincher on saxophone.

For further background, here is part of the blog I wrote in advance of his December 2017 Bay Area gigs.

It might have crossed your mind that Harpdog Brown was not this artist’s birth name.  As he explains in his song What’s Your Real Name, taken from the 2016 album Travelin’ with the Blues, he was playing a gig at the club Momma Gold’s in Kitsilano Beach (an area of Vancouver) in the fall of 1989 when a couple of guys in the audience began yelling “Harpdog!  Harpdog!”, and Brown found it fitting and began using it, eventually even having his name changed legally.  His friends just call him Dog.

Brown was born January 28^th 1962 in Edmonton, Alberta, and was adopted by a family including his slide guitar playing mother.  Quite naturally, the guitar was his first instrument and by the age of fifteen he was playing in a garage band.  He moved on to a duo that was the opening act at comedy clubs and, in the early 80s, he signed on as vocalist in a touring band.  That gig lasted six weeks before he quit and put together his own road Blues band.

Dog put out his first album in 1993, Beware of the Dog, and his follow-up, the 1994 release Home is Where the Harp Is, earned him the Muddy Award for the Best Northwest Blues Release from Portland’s Cascade Blues Association as well as a Juno nomination for Canada’s Best Blues / Gospel Recording.  His next album was Once in a Howlin’ Moon in 2001, then his release Naturally garnered the #1 Canadian Blues Album of 2010 as voted by The Blind Lemon Survey.

All of which brings us up to the two albums we’ll be hearing today.  I would be surprised if 2014’s What It Is was not a major influence on Dog’s winning the 2015 Maple Blues Award for Harmonica Player of the Year issued by the Toronto Blues Society (which he would win again the next two years and is a nominee this year) and a 2014 Lifetime Award from the Hamilton Blues Society. 

2016 saw Dog win Blues Artist of the Year from the Fraser Valley Music Awards and the release of Travelin’ with the Blues, recorded earlier in the year at Big Jon Atkinson’s Bigtone Records in Hayward and Kid Andersen’s Greaseland Studios right here in San Jose.    

It was very much a fun night (when I heard Dog in Vancouver in 2017) that came to a bit of an abrupt end.  As I was outside the Yale after the show ended, having a nice little chat with the Dog, a couple came by and warned us that there was a skunk approaching us.  Indeed, we were standing next to a van by the front tires and when I looked down there was the skunk cruising down the gutter just behind the rear tires, a little too close for me.  Without a word, I made a quick exit to the other side of the street and proceeded towards the car a few blocks away.  There’s no telling what those Canadian critters might do!

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I’m sure I’ll be exhausted after an afternoon show

(for the last twenty-five years before I retired a couple of years ago, I was driving cab at night and sleeping from about 10AM ’til maybe 5PM), otherwise I might be heading up to the Smoking Pig in Fremont Saturday to catch Johnnie Cozmik’s J.C. Smith Band’s last appearance there due to the restaurant’s decision to cease live music after the end of this month.  Paul, the club’s owner, has been a strong supporter of the Blues for several years now by providing a venue for Blues folk to perform and when I was at KKUP he used to, and still does I’m sure, provide food for the participants on air during the Blues and Jazz marathons, be they DJs or performing musicians, so get out there this year and thank him by showing up.  Johnnie’s show begins at 9PM.

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These essays represent what I plan to get through around our live performance of Harpdog Brown and his band Saturday.  This repeat show from May of 2017 was one that, after its airing, I never took out of my car’s CD player because every time I started the engine the music was just too good to replace.  You might be aware that I love a good piano Blues and Boogie partly because it is the only instrument that can carry the bass, percussion and lead at the same time and Jimmy Yancey is probably my favorite solo pianist.

It’s also probably not news to you that I love the strong Soul of the late 60s with Stax Records the prime example and Sam and Dave perhaps the label’s best representative.

It’s a rarity for me to do a show without one of the choices being fronted by a strong guitar player, but I felt Shakey Jake Harris fit in nicely with the others so the lineup was set.

It must have been a time that I had a lot going on because I did not include any write-up at all, only the playlist.  With only two days before the second airing, I shall attempt to rectify that by completing at least one segment, maybe more, but no promises.     enjoy

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Although the reported year of his birth varies between 1894 and 1903, all my sources agree on February 20^th as James Edwards “Jimmy” Yancey’s birthday.  Yancey had been active in the Chicago club and house party scene since 1915 but, while younger pianists, many of whom attributed inspiration from  Jimmy (Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, and Clarence “Pinetop” Smith) were already recording, Jimmy didn’t get the opportunity until May 1939, recording The Fives and Jimmy’s Stuff.   Soon to follow was an album of piano solos for Victor, the first of its kind.          INCOMPLETE

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There are probably other male Soul duets, but the only one that comes to mind is Sam and Dave, nicknamed “Double Dynamite” for good reason.  Sam Moore and Dave Prater met in Florida in 1961 and by the end of the decade every fan knew them on a first name basis.   Although they recorded a few times previously, the pair didn’t hit their stride until they got to the Atlantic semi-subsidiary in Memphis, Stax Records.    The exact relationship between Atlantic and Stax is somewhat unclear enough for me to try to explain at present, but Prater and Moore signed in 1965 with Atlantic Records who convinced Stax to produce them.

Both of our singers had similar Southern musical upbringings including singing in church and later in Soul and R&B clubs in the 50s.  Dave and his brother J.T. Prater were in the Gospel group the Sensational Hummingbirds who released Lord Teach Me in the 50s.  Sam was on the Doo Wop group the Majestics’ 1954 release Nitey Nite b\w Caveman Rock then later sang Gospel as part of the Gales and the Mellonaires.

They met at the King of Hearts club in Miami in 1961 where Moore (the tenor, born in 1935) was host of an amateur night that Prater (a baritone, 1935-1988) was performing in.  That night, Dave had trouble remembering the lyrics to a Jackie Wilson song and Sam guided him through it.  The boys paired up then and became a favorite act around Miami, were signed by Soul singer / record producer Steve Alaimo to Marlin Records, resulting in a couple of singles in 1952.  Then, with the help of Marlin owner Henry Stone, they wound up signing with Roulette Records and releasing a few more singles including one on Stone and Alaimo’s Alston label..

Once they signed with Atlantic, after Stone’s introduction in the summer of 1964 to producer Jerry Wexler, it was Wexler’s decision to have the duo record at Stax.  As Wexler remembered them, “Their live act was filled with animation, harmony and seeming goodwill.  I put Sam in the sweet tradition of Sam Cooke or Solomon Burke, while Dave had an ominous Four Tops’ Levi Stubbs-sounding voice, the preacher promising hellfire.”  While at Stax, much of their success must be shared with the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, who wrote and produced the multiple hits beginning with their third single You Don’t Know Like I Know in December, which hit #7 R&B, the first of ten consecutive Top Twenty R&B 45s including numbers like Soul Man (R&B #1, Pop #2), Hold on! I’m Coming (voted Billboard’s #1 R&B Song of 1966), You Got Me Humming, When Something is Wrong with My Baby, and I Thank You (R&B #4, Pop #9).  After Stax’ distribution deal with Atlantic was ended, so were the services of Hayes and Porter as well as the backing of the house band, Booker T. and the MGs along with the horn section of the Mar-Keys.

In their time with Stax, only Aretha Franklin had more R&B chart success as the boys had ten consecutive Top Twenty hits and three consecutive Top Ten albums.  Soul Man even hit #1 on the Cashbox Pop chart and won them the 1967 Grammy for Best Performance – Rhythm and Blues Group to go along with their multiple Gold Records.  Atlantic seized on the opportunity to cash in on their Stax glory with the Best of Sam and Dave, reaching #24 R&B in 1969, but then only released two new singles from the Stax sessions, Soul Sister, Brown Sugar returning them to the R&B Top Twenty but its follow-up, Born Again barely charted.  Despite taking eight months for Atlantic to issue their first 45, Ooh, Ooh, Ooh was the first time a Sam and Dave single failed to chart at all.  Two more singles missed the rankings, and Wexler was very blunt about it.  “We just made some shit-ass records with them.  I never really got into their sensibilities as a producer.”  Even moving the next session out of New York to work with the Muscle Shoals team failed to list.

Despite their amiable appearance on stage, behind the scenes they could barely stand each other.  Sam and Dave broke up in June of 1970 but held occasional concerts throughout the 70s and once the Blues Brothers (John Belushi and Dan Akroyd from Saturday Night Live) re-popularized their Soul Man number, they put on several concerts in 1980. 

While Prater put out a single for Alston, Moore stayed with Atlantic and released three singles in the year but neither artist had a charting.  Moore was in preparation of an album produced by King Curtis which had to be ceased after Curtis was stabbed to death in 1971.  The boys got back together in the studio one last time for Atlantic and finally got back on the charts with Don’t Pull Your Love hitting #36 R&B and #102 Pop.

Prater teamed with Sam Daniels toured for a few years in the 80s as Sam and Dave.  In 1987, Dave was arrested for selling crack cocaine to an undercover cop and a year later died in an auto accident.

Sam and Dave made the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.  They have also been made members of the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

To say their tours were a success would be damning with faint praise.  Between 1967 and 1969, Sam and Dave averaged 280 gigs a year, including an amazing 1967 when they only had ten nights off all year.  Otis Redding’s manager Phil Walden said, “I think Sam and Dave will probably stand the test of time as the best live act that there ever was.  These guys were absolutely unbelievable.  Every night they were awesome.”  According to Walden, after headlining the March 1967 Stax \ Volt Revue in Europe when he had to follow their exhausting set every night, Redding refused to ever again be on the same bill.

An October 1968 Time magazine article opined that, “Of all the R&B cats, nobody steams up a place like Sam and Dave … weaving and dancing (while singing!), they gyrate through enough acrobatics to wear out more than a hundred costumes per year.”  Dubbed the Sultans of Sweat, Sam saw it as, “Unless my body reaches a certain temperature, starts to liquefy, I just don’t feel right without it.”

          ALMOST COMPLETE

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I picked Shakey Jake Harris for today’s show because his name came up in our last show, two weeks ago, when we wrote about Luther Allison.  Unlike a few harmonica players who acquire the Shakey moniker because of the way they shake the microphone, James D. Harris took on the name because gamblers, when someone was about to roll the dice, would yell, “Shake ‘em, Jake”.

By the age of seven, Jake had moved to Chicago from his birthplace of Earle, Arkansas          INCOMPLETE

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P.L.K. Blues

South Side Stuff

Rolling the Stone

Steady Rock Blues

Yancey’s Stomp

How Long Blues

Yancey’s Getaway

   Jimmy Yancey   21mins

Soul Man

I Thank You

When Something is Wrong with My Baby

You Don’t Know What You Do to Me

Soul Sista, Brown Sugar

Soothe Me

Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody

You Got Me Humming

Hold On!  I’m Coming

   Sam and Dave   25mins

Worried Blues

Keep a-Loving Me Baby

My Foolish Heart

Huffin’ and Puffin’

Jake’s Blues

You Spoiled Your Baby

Just Shakey

   Shakey Jake Harris   16mins

Yancey’s Bugle Call

State Street Special

Crying in my Sleep

Tell ‘em about Me

Make Me a Pallet on the Floor

La Salle Street Breakdown

   Jimmy Yancey   18mins

You Don’t Know Like I Know

I Take What I Want

I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down

Can’t You Find Another Way

Gimme Some Lovin’

(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay

Bring It On Home

Another Saturday Night

Summertime

Wrap It Up

   Sam and Dave   30mins

It Won’t Happen Again

Mouth Harp

Love My Baby

Jake’s Cha Cha

Easy Baby

Gimme a Smile

My Broken Heart

   Shakey Jake Harris   27mins

White Sox Jump

Five O’Clock Blues

Monkey Woman Blues

The Mellow Blues

35^th and Dearborn

Shave ‘em Dry

Yancey Special

   Jimmy Yancey   21mins
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For Your Information

To listen to KSCU on a computer, use either iTunes or WinAmp for the media player.

To listen to KSCU on a smart phone use either the NextRadio or TuneIn apps.

The studio phone number is (408) 554-KSCU or, for the digitally inclined 554-5728 but, as always, make sure no one is speaking on the air before you dial.

The mailing address for sending CDs, et cetera, is:

KSCU Local Music

500 El Camino Real

Santa Clara, CA

95053

KSCU radio’s studio is located in the basement of Benson Hall

KSCU’s Sunday morning Blues rotation has the Jakester, Mister G, Dave the Blues Dude and the Bluesevangelist between 9AM and 1PM.  Sherri Jones does her Blues show between 10:30AM and 12:30PM on Saturdays.  And, of course, me!

The best way to reach me is by email at coyledon@yahoo.com (my computer’s autocorrect adds a letter t, so if that shows up here please remove it before trying to contact me; apparently, cotyledon is some kind of botanical term).  I do send out my blog via email so, if you would like to be added to that list, just give me your address and I’d be happy to do so, otherwise all my writings going back to 2014 are still available at key2highway.blogspot.  I do recommend the direct email to let you know when I will be on, especially now that I will occasionally waiver from the second and fourth week of each month format.  Thank you all for your continued support.  Feel free to call me during the show; it gets lonely in the dungeon.