03-27-2023, 02:56 AM
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The Delta Blues Giants
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03-27-2023, 03:01 AM
I said baby if you can't cook sweet jelly roll, please ma'am stop knockin' on my door.
03-27-2023, 03:05 AM
I enjoy a wide variety of music, but I must admit...
Delta blues is the most soothing music that exists.
03-27-2023, 03:06 AM
The blues in general is cool but... I dunno, these Mississippi musicians were magic.
03-27-2023, 03:18 AM
I have a lot to say.
But it'll have to wait, because once again, it's 3AM... 
03-27-2023, 01:18 PM
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James
At the top of my personal list of favorite Delta blues artists, Skip James reigns supreme.
03-27-2023, 01:24 PM
Skip James played in the greatest alternate tuning ever, the open D-minor "Bentonia" tuning, named after the town where he was born. I call it the "Scorpio" tuning...
03-27-2023, 01:55 PM
Skip James got done wrong. He got done dirty.
Back in the 1960s, a few years before Skip's death, a "biographical author" weaseled into his world and had the honor of spending one-on-one time with Skip as he recounted the good times and bad times of his life. This "author" individual was profoundly mentally ill... twisted, sick, sorry and sad. Here's the book... https://www.amazon.com/Id-Rather-Be-Devi...B0050DRWCQ The author shall not be named. Skip James was (presumably) audio recorded over a period of time, sharing stories and other information, and this audio has never been made public, most likely because it would contradict what was ultimately written in the book. The only solace regarding this book and its portrayal of Skip James is that Skip died before it was released, and thankfully, he never knew how badly he had been betrayed by this cretin. Yes, I do think the author was very mentally ill. But that doesn't excuse what he did. Nothing excuses the magnitude of this wasted opportunity... Imagine getting to sit down with such an historically significant musician and have the honor of listening to him recount his life, only to turn around and paint a warped picture of that legend. This article goes a long way in explaining how and why the "biographical" book was so wrong... "Meeting Skip James" by Tom Jacobson http://www.ficara.net/writing/meeting_skip_james.html The transcribed letters from Skip (and his wife) are my favorite thing about this article. Predictably, someone in proximity to the psycho "biographical" author got hold of a letter that was written by Skip James to the author's sister and put it up for auction. While it is a bittersweet piece of memorabilia due to the betrayal that took place, it's still fascinating to see Skip's handwriting... https://i.imgur.com/yJeM46z.jpg He seemed like a lovely soul and I wish the tapes of their discussions had been released. Maybe someday. It gets more unlikely as the decades go by, considering that the quality of such tape degrades over time, especially depending on how it's stored.
03-27-2023, 02:08 PM
The author was known for the insane, cruel comments he'd make about the people he was writing about...
Here are some examples: Quote:SON HOUSE: "...a hapless derelict..." pg 300 http://www.ficara.net/writing/meeting_skip_james.html Guy seemed like a total asshole. I wish Skip's story had been in better hands, but oh well. I guess things turn out the way they're meant to. Just seems pretty unfair.
03-27-2023, 02:15 PM
The late 1960s saw a resurgence of interest in the Delta blues, and those legendary artists who were still alive at the time got sought out and brought back into the spotlight. This is the only reason we have any footage whatsoever of these mythical musical figures.
Son House, Skip James, and Bukka White shared the stage at the Newport Folk Festival... This is some of the most historically significant musical footage in existence, akin to Mozart or Beethoven being caught on film.
03-27-2023, 02:20 PM
It reminds me of the footage of Annie Oakley...
These icons of American culture lived so long ago that it's mindblowing to think they were even recorded. Robert Johnson, the most famous Delta blues musician of all time, came pretty close to being lost to history and never recorded at all... Quote:American blues musician Robert Johnson (1911–1938) recorded 29 songs during his brief career. A total of 59 performances, including alternate takes, were recorded over a period of five days at two makeshift recording studios in Texas. Producers selected 25, which Vocalion Records issued on 12 two-sided 78 rpm record singles between 1937 and 1939. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson_recordings Here's my write-up of Robert Johnson, obviously a must mention for this thread... "The Crossroads Moment: Fame and the deals made to attain it" https://www.sectual.com/thread-6662-post...#pid162027
03-27-2023, 02:36 PM
(03-27-2023, 02:15 PM)Chatwoman Wrote: Son House, Skip James, and Bukka White shared the stage at the Newport Folk Festival... Bukka's percussive use of the guitar body is what really drives it all home for me. From the comments... Quote:Son House is the only person who can get away with talking through an entire Skip James performance lol 4:40 indeed, it would seem Son is "feelin' it" while Skip plays Cherry Ball Blues. At first I was like, "WTF?" but then I saw the point some other commenters were making about Son adlibbing as sort of a "back up" vocal approach. Still, like I said in my post about Robert Johnson... (02-04-2023, 09:27 PM)Chatwoman Wrote: There was a huge amount of jealousy surrounding Robert. I don't even believe that he was ever a "bad" guitar player at all. The only recordings of him are in the last 2 years of his life. I'm gonna need proof he was ever "bad" at playing, and if the only people who could attest to this concept were his competitors on the scene at the time... am I gonna trust them? Um, no. Whether he was "friends" with these people or not is irrelevant... some of life's biggest betrayals come from people who you thought were your friends. https://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136063911...ling-myths Quote:In an interview included in the 1997 documentary Can't You Hear the Wind Howl, Son House recalls that the young Johnson would annoy audiences with his lousy guitar playing. "Folks they come and say, 'Why don't you go out and make that boy put that thing down? He running us crazy,' " House said. "Finally he left. He run off from his mother and father, and went over in Arkansas some place or other." Now in no way am I trying to suggest Son House was a jealous person and somewhat intimidated by the other blues giants... But, I mean, hey, he might have been. |
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