| Robert Johnson |
Crossroad Blues (R. Johnson)Robert Johnson was said to have sold his soul to the devil at a crossroad in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to play the blues. Since he was poisoned by a jealous husband (the bar owner he was playing for at the time), it couldn't have been a very good deal. His legacy of
29 songs are, however, some of the greatest blues ever recorded. Our recording is actually closer in arrangement to Robert Johnson's Terraplane Blues. Stealing (Trad.) This arrangement comes from Jesse "Lone Cat" Fuller, an
exraordinary one man band, known mainly for writing San Francisco Bay Blues. He sang, played 12-string guitar, harmonica and kazoo on a neck holder, high-hat with his left foot and "fotdella" with his right. Invented by Jesse, a fotdella is an upright string bass with 6 piano strings, which were struck by hammers in turn activated by 6 pedals!
| Robert Johnson | Love In Vain (R. Johnson)The Rolling Stones did a version of this in 1969. Ours is somewhere between their version and Robert Johnson. The saddest song in the world. That's No Way To Get Along
(R. Wilkins)Robert "Tim" Wilkins recorded this in 1929. By the time he was "rediscovered" in the early '60s he had become a minister and rewritten it as the biblical story of the prodigal son. The Rolling Stones recorded that version: this is the original lyric, but we strightened the music out a bit because could never
quite get the kinky timing that Rev Wilkins played.
| Brownie McGhee |
So Much Trouble (W. McGhee)
Though best known for his 45 year musical partnership with Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee was a much underrated guitarist and prolific songwriter. Early on, he was forced to go under the name Blind Boy Fuller II to cash in on the popularity and death of Sonny's previous partner! We take this as excuse for a straight ahead boogie since it is the lyric, not the music that always grabbed us about Brownie's song.
| Reverend Gary Davis |
Hesitation Blues (Trad)This arrangement came partly through Charlie Poole And The Nashville Ramblers, partly through Ralph McTell, and partly through
Gary Davis, one of the finest acoustic guitarists of the century. Before his official ministry he was known as Blind Gary Davis and recorded many classic blues; after becoming Rev Gary Davis he would only record gospel and ragtime tunes (blues being "the devil's music"). This seems strange now as many of his rags had lyrics far more "risque" than his blues!
| Muddy Waters | Can't Be Satisfied (M. Morganfield)Muddy Waters (Mr Morganfield himself) first recorded this for the Library Of Congress (who sent out teams to record American folk music) in 1941 on Stovall's Plantation in the Mississippi. When he moved to Chicago and was instrumental in electrifying the blues
this was his first single. Although this is more like the Chicago version, Muddy's first recording was a killer, showing absolutely his Delta roots and Robert Johnson influence. However, it's pretty impossible to play. Bye Bye Blues (T. Johnson)
Tommy Johnson, a wonderful and sadly obscure bluesman (and Derek's personal favourite of the Delta singers), was the mainstay of the blues scene in Jackson, Mississippi. His famous song Canned Heat Blues with its refrain "...canned heat is killing me", proved tragically prophetic when he died of alcohol poisoning from drinking too much Sterno (usually used as cooking fuel). Bye Bye Blues was his version of Charlie Patton's Pony Blues.
| Tommy Johnson |
Big Road Blues (T. Johnson)Tommy Johnson again: he recorded mainly with fellow bluesman Ishmon Bracey and a mandolin/guitar virtuoso, Charlie McCoy.
Charlie eventually teamed up with his brother Wilbur McCoy (better known as Kansas Joe, Memphis Minnie's husband) and ended up playing Italian songs and polkas for members of the Capone family in Chicago! Mean Old World (A. Walker)
| T-Bone Walker |
Aaron T-Bone Walker was probably the first man to play electric blues guitar, and has influenced everyone from BB King to Johnny Winter (to Derek!). He also sang like a dream and wrote classics like this and Stormy Monday. A God amongst bluesmen. | 
