It’s being billed as the most important US presidential election in history, a “battle for the soul of America.” Judging by the number of votes case two days before election day – 92m, about two thirds of the total votes cast in the 2016 election – Americans clearly agree with that. We in Europe, along with others around the world, also see this election as incredibly important, given the enormous influence that America has on the world.
Despite the way in which the present administration has disengaged from various world bodies and engaged in trade protectionism, Donald Trump has cast a huge shadow over the rest of the world. As well as giving encouragement to strong-arm leaders like North Korea’s Kim Yong-un, India’s Narendra Modi or Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, his utter disregard for the truth has had a dreadful effect of normalizing lying in the public square around the world.
So, yes, we’re all watching keenly America’s election. And, of course, many of us have American friends and there is so much of America we’ve loved. Not least the music. So, on the eve of this momentous election, here are a few election songs for you to enjoy and consider:
First up is Sunnyland Slim’s 1983 Be Careful How You Vote. It’s a cautionary tale, warning that politicians inevitably let us down:
Be careful how you vote
On every election day
‘Cause the one that you vote for
He just might let you down.
When the time comes for him or her to take their seat, all those election promises have somehow flown out the window. That politician you voted for was going to lower prices, create employment and “help the poor and the senior citizens”. Funny how these get left behind as corporate interests are rewarded, tax breaks favour the rich and, as inequality continues to rise, the poor don’t get a look in. Drain the swamp, I remember someone saying. The swamp just got bigger and messier.
Here’s Sunnyland Slim version, followed by Walter Trout live, playing his version from his 2019 Survivor Blues album:
Next up is Rory Gallagher’s Smear Campaign from 1987. The Irish blues-rock guitarist puts the spotlight here on all the dirty tricks that political campaigns get up to when so much is at stake.
The dirty tricks department is working overtime
Trying to stop the candidate from getting this time
The wheels are now in motion all the traps are set
Under this commotion will he walk into this mess.
Smear campaigns are probably as old as politics. If you read Cicero, it’s quite clear that deliberate campaigns to spread false rumours were well-practiced in ancient Rome. In the US, the first smear campaign in presidential politics was against Andrew Jackson in 1824. And here we are in 2020, with Rudy Giuliani and his allies using a mix of unsubstantiated assertions about the former vice president, and innuendo and salacious material about his son, while the President just outright lies about what his opponent has said on a number of policy items.
Our next song is Peace Blaze Foley’s Election Day, this one sung by Lyle Lovett. The singer seems to be a homeless person who is being harassed by the police and pleads for leniency:
Hey Mr. Policeman, please don’t take my stuff
It cost me too much money, and it probably ain’t enough
To get me through Election Day
Didn’t I hear you say
That it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright?
The song is a stark reminder that no matter whether there’s a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, it isn’t likely to change things much for the poor in America. The American Dream has passed millions of Americans by – particularly people of color, many of whom are trapped by systemic racism in education, housing, and economic policies and practices over generations. 35m people in the United States in 2019 suffered from hunger. For a wealthy country, that’s appalling. There’s likely one of the two candidates who cares more about this than the other, but it’ll take much more than the current election to make the sort of change that’s needed.
In 1964, John Lee Hooker certainly felt that one of the two parties was better for those who were poorer off. In Democrat Man he sings:
I ain’t got no shoes, no shoes, no shoes don’t fit
But I ain’t goin’ to that welfare store
You know why? It won’t be long ‘fore election time
Democrats be in.
Lyndon B Johnson, a Democrat who won the election of 1964 in a landslide, instigated a “War on Poverty” which rescued millions of Americans from poverty during his presidency.
Cindy Berryhill’s 2007 When did Jesus Become a Republican hits an important note, particularly for people of faith:
When did Jesus become a politician,
And whisper to the preacher man
To tell the congregation exactly who to vote for?
From a distance of 5,000 miles, it’s very difficult to understand the support of so-called evangelicals in America for Donald Trump. We just shake our heads in disbelief, quite frankly, when we see people who claim to be Christians supporting a man who lies incessantly, who treats women the way he does, whose business dealings are under such question, whose public discourse is so coarse and divisive, who gives succour to far-right racists and who demeans and belittles at every opportunity, In an essay published in the last week, conservative theologian, John Piper bemoaned the fact that “flagrant boastfulness, vulgarity, immorality, and factiousness are self-incriminating, but also . . . they are nation-corrupting. They move out from centers of influence to infect whole cultures. The last five years bear vivid witness to this infection at almost every level of society.”
I read a few days ago about “patriot churches,” a group of non-denominational evangelical churches, which want to “take the nation back for God.” Their buildings typically sport large American flags and members pray for a Trump landslide. Sadly these people have missed the point of Christian faith, which is to give allegiance only to Jesus and his values of kindness, love for neighbour and the immigrant, truth, faithfulness and non-violence. Those values are unlikely to be focused on much by any political party, but Donald Trump? Come on.
Arcade Power’s 2017 I Give You Power features the wonderful Mavis Staples. It’s a nice reminder that in a democracy, the people have the power to install or remove politicians (although, come on America, can that archaic electoral college system of yours really be said to be properly democratic – fair and equal representation, where everybody’s vote counts? If you’re in any doubt, just watch this video: )
And to finish, on a lighter note, check out this Jimmy Durante’s comedy routine with Bing Cosby, featuring Election Campaign Song.
And finally, here’s Steve Goodwin with Election Year Rag, from 1971. Steve Goodwin’s lyrics are always clever, and he clearly remains just a tad cynical about elections!
You know the winner’s always somebody else
And the loser is always us.
The blues emerged in the context of the oppression and suffering of Black communities in the southern US, and singing the blues was a means of responding to that oppression – of giving voice to great sorrow, lamenting the current state of affairs, but also of expressing dignity in the face of injustice. The blues also were a means of protest against this injustice.
That’s worth noting at this time when the United States is facing a reckoning for the systemic racism that has dogged it for such a long time. The push-back against white supremacy, police brutality and a myriad of social barriers faced by Blacks and other people of colour can’t be ignored or written off – notwithstanding Trump’s attempts to do so.
There have been plenty of today’s artists protesting the current lamentable state of affairs and all that has led to it – Leyla McCalla has just released Vari-Colored songs, an album’s whose centerpiece, Song for a Dark Girl, is a stark account of a lynching “way down south in Dixie,” a powerful reminder of the relatively recent history of terrorism against Black communities.
Gary Clark Jr.’s This Land is a howl of protest which rails against the suspicion he gets as a Black man in Trump’s America; Shemekia Copeland’s Would You Take My Blood on her America’s Child album gets to the heart of racism; Otis Taylor’s trance blues in Fantasizing About Being Black, a history of African-American life, from slavery onwards, has Jump Out of Line, an edgy piece about civil rights marchers’ fear of being attacked; and Eric Bibb’s last album had What’s He Gonna Say Today, protesting the “bully in the playground,” aimed directly at Trump.
But the history of the blues is littered with songs protesting inequality, discrimination and White violence against Blacks. Given the huge inequality that existed, and the whole structuring of society that existed under Jim Crow, it would have been impossible for blues artists to sing protest songs in the way that they were sung in the 1960s when the Civil Rights’ movement had gathered momentum. Often the protest was coded, although sometimes it broke through the surface quite clearly. Although the majority of blues songs are about the troubles of love, there is a steady stream of social protest from the early days right through to the present.
In 1930, Huddie Ledbetter – Lead Belly – recorded a song entitled simply Jim Crow, in which he bemoans the state of affairs facing him every day of his life, everywhere he goes:
I been traveling, I been traveling from shore to shore
Everywhere I have been I find some old Jim Crow.
He can’t get away from the racial discrimination he faces – it’s there even when he goes to the cinema to be entertained:
I want to tell you people something that you don’t know
It’s a lotta Jim Crow in a moving picture show.
And finally he pleads with his hearers, “Please get together, break up this old Jim Crow.”
In the early 1930s, nine Black teenagers from Scottsboro in Alabama were accused of raping two white women aboard a train. The case highlighted the racism of the Jim Crow system and the injustice of the entire Southern legal system. In a series of trials and re-trials, which were rushed, and adjudicated on by all-white juries and racially biased judges, the nine boys suffered incarceration in the brutally harsh Kilby Prison in Alabama, and attempted lynching and mob violence.
After three trials, during which one of the young white women who were alleged to be victims had confessed to fabricating her rape story, five of the nine were convicted and received sentences ranging from 75 years imprisonment to death. The one who received the death sentence subsequently escaped, went into hiding and was eventually pardoned by George Wallace in 1976. The case was a landmark one and led eventually to the end of all-white juries in the South.
Lead Belly recorded Scottsboro Boys in 1938, where he warns Black people not to go to Alabama lest they suffer the same fate as the Scottsboro nine:
I’m gonna tell all the colored people
Even the old n* here
Don’t ya ever go to Alabama
And try to live
Lead Belly was clearly not afraid to voice his protest against what he experienced. He also wrote Bourgeois Blues, perhaps the most famous example of 1930s blues protest songs. Leadbelly here sings about his experience of discrimination in the nation’s capital city:
Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a colored man a n* just to see him bow
Lord, it’s a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around
Lead Belly talks about looking for accommodation and being turned away by the white landlord:
Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs
We heard the white man say “I don’t want no n*s up there.
America, according to Lead Belly may have been hailed as “The home of the Brave, the land of the Free,” but it was just somewhere where he was “mistreated” by the “bourgeoisie.”
The Great Depression hit black communities in the South particularly hard. Skip James’s 1931 Hard Time Killing FloorBlues captures the grim reality of the time for many people, with James’s high eerie voice and his D-minor tuned guitar. “The people are drifting from door to door” and they “can’t find no heaven.”
Hard time’s is here
An ev’rywhere you go
Times are harder
Than th’ever been befo’.
One of the blues artists who was most articulate about civil rights during this period was Josh White, who was born in 1914 and recorded under the names “Pinewood Tom” and “Tippy Barton” in the 1930s. He became a well-known race records artist during the 1920s and 30s, moving to New York in 1931, and expanding his repertoire to include not only blues but jazz and folk songs. In addition, he became a successful actor on radio, the stage and film. White was outspoken about segregation and human rights and was suspected of being a communist in the McCarthyite era of the early 1950s.
In 1941 he released one of his most influential albums, Southern Exposure: An Album of Jim Crow Blues. The title track pulls no punches:
Well, I work all the week in the blazin’ sun,
Can’t buy my shoes, Lord, when my payday comes
I ain’t treated no better than a mountain goat,
Boss takes my crop and the poll takes my vote.
The album of mostly 12 bar blues songs, included Jim Crow Train, Bad Housing Blues, and Defense Factory Blues. White attacked wartime factory segregation in the latter with, “I’ll tell you one thing, that bossman ain’t my friend, If he was, he’d give me some democracy to defend.”
In Jim Crow Train, he addresses the segregation on the railways:
Stop Jim Crow so I can ride this train.
Black and White folks ridin side by side.
Damn that Jim Crow.
On White’s 1940 Trouble, he leaves no doubt about the cause of black people’s problems: “Well, I always been in trouble, ‘cause I’m a black-skinned man.” The rest of the song deals with the failed justice system of the time and the inhuman conditions which black inmates suffered when incarcerated:
Wearin’ cold iron shackles from my head down to my knee
And that mean old keeper, he’s all time kickin’ me.
As a black man under Jim Crow, all White could expect from life was “Trouble, trouble, makes me weep and moan, Trouble, trouble, ever since I was born.”
Big Bill Broonzy was one of the most popular and important of the pre-World War II blues singers, who recorded over 250 songs from 1925 to 1952, including Key to the Highway, Black, Brown, and White, Glory of Love and When Will I Get to Be Called a Man. He was a very talented musician, song writer and singer, who Eric Clapton said was a role model for him in playing the acoustic guitar.
Broonzy claims in his autobiography that he joined the army sometime after 1917, and fought in World War I in France, and on returning to the South, he found conditions there quite intolerable. A more recent biography of Broonzy doubts his story of joining up, but there can be no doubting the injustice which Broonzy encountered as a black man in the South. He refers to the way in which black men were referred to disparagingly as “boy” by whites in his 1951 song, I Wonder When I’ll Be Called a Man.
When I was born into this world, this is what happened to me I was never called a man, and now I’m fifty-three I wonder when…I wonder when will I get to be called a man
Do I have to wait till I get ninety-three?
Black, Brown and White, recorded in 1951, rails against the discrimination that Broonzy found everywhere, be it getting a drink at a bar, being paid less money for doing the same job, or even just getting a job:
They says if you was white, should be all right
If you was brown, stick around
But as you’s black, m-mm brother, git back git back git back.
Muddy Waters also highlighted the patriarchal attitudes of whites to blacks in his 1955 release Manish Boy, which on the surface is a rather sensual blues song declaring, “I’m a natural born lover’s man,” and “I’m a hoochie coochie man.” (The hoochie coochie was a sexually provocative dance that became wildly popular in Chicago in the late nineteenth century. The dance was performed by women, so a “hoochie coochie man” either watched them or ran the show). In the context of a black man never being recognized as anything other than a “boy,” however, the song asserts black manhood in the face of white suppression. “I’m a man, I’m a full grown man,” sings Muddy, “I spell M-A, child, N”
Another major and influential blues artist from Mississippi was John Lee Hooker, son of a sharecropper, who came to prominence in the late 1940s and 50s. His House Rent Boogie from 1956 protests the all too familiar tale for black American of losing a job and not being able to make the rent payment; “I said fellows, never go behind your rent, ‘cause if you did it, it will hard so it’s cold in the street.”
The wail of protest in the blues continued on into that decade most associated with protest songs, the 1960s. From 1961 we have the guitar – harmonica duo of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee singing Keep on Walkin’ which takes up again the theme of Blacks being worked hard for little pay:
The bossman was so mean, you know, I worked just like a slave
Sixteen long hours drive you in your grave
That’s why I’m walkin’, walkin’ my blues away.
And then we have Vietnam Blues by J.B. Lenoir, from 1966. Drawing an elegant parallel between the US’s presence in Southeast Asia and the Jim Crow South, Lenoir demanded of President Lyndon Johnson, “How can you tell the world we need peace, and you still mistreat and killin’ poor me?”
Lenoir came to Chicago via New Orleans and became an important part of the blues scene there in the 1950s, performing with Memphis Minnie and Muddy Waters. He was a fine singer and a great showman, sporting zebra striped costumes and nifty electric guitar licks.
But Lenoir composed a number of political blues songs bringing sharp social commentary to bear on events going on around him. Songs like Born Dead, which decries the fact that “Every black child born in Mississippi, you know the poor child is born dead,” referring to the lack of opportunity in his home state; or Eisenhower Blues, which complains that the government had “Taken all my money, to pay the tax.” Lenoir also composed the haunting “Down in Mississippi,” which he performed on his 1966 Alabama Blues. “Down in Mississippi where I was born, Down in Mississippi where I come from,” sings Lenoir,
They had a huntin’ season on a rabbit
If you shoot him you went to jail.
The season was always open on me:
Nobody needed no bail.
He concludes about the place of his birth, “I count myself a lucky man, Just to get away with my life.” The definitive version of the song, however, was to come some 40 years later, when Mavis Staples recorded it on her album We’ll Never Turn Back, Staples adding a little to the song about segregated water fountains and washeterias and how “Dr King saw that every one of those signs got taken down, down in Mississippi.”
Mavis Staples had already made her protest against three hundred years of injustice in 1970 with the no-punches-pulled When Will We Be Paid? The song demanded an answer to the exploitation of Black Americans in the construction of America’s roads and railroads, in the domestic chores their women have done and the wars in which their men have fought. Despite this contribution to the making of America over 300 years, all the remuneration Staples’s people got was being “beat up, called names, shot down and stoned.” “We have given our sweat and all our tears,” she sings, so, “When will we be paid for the work we’ve done?”
In a similar vein, complaining about the discrimination they faced, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee & Earl Hooker in Tell Me Why in 1969 sang,
Every war that’s been won, we helped to fight
Why in the world can’t we have some human rights?
Tell me why?
They give the cruel answer themselves – “It’s got to be my skin, that people don’t like.”
And one of the most hard hitting of songs in the blues genre is Mississippi Goddamn, written and sung by Nina Simone in 1964.
Hound dogs on my trail
School children sitting in jail
Black cat cross my path
I think every day’s gonna be my last.
The song was Simone’s response to the murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four black children. She performed the song in front of 10,000 people at the end of the Selma to Montgomery marches.
The blues chart the history of the indignities face by African Americans over the decades. The blues allowed Black Americans to assert their humanity and dignity in the context of an oppressive system that declared they were less than human. Whether the songs expressed explicit protest at this or not (and most blues songs didn’t), the blues, nevertheless, was Black music and, whether they were complaining about unfaithful lovers or problems with the landlord, whether they were performed as dance music in the juke joint or sung on the street corner, they reflected the abuse and indignities suffered by blacks under Jim Crow and beyond. No wonder Black theologian and writer, James Cone, said, the blues are “the essential ingredients that define the essence of black experience.”
Willie Dixon gets it spot on when he says “The blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.” In telling the truth about the misery of black experience, but as well as that, a hope for change, the blues were a part of the endurance and resistance of the Black community.
For many white listeners to the blues, the blues are at heart a genre of music, a certain musical form, twelve bars, flattened notes, blue notes. But if we listen carefully, we can hear the history of people who have been sorely mistreated; we can, perhaps, get some understanding of what it means to be Black. But it does require careful listening. And that listening is as urgent as ever just now.
Finally, to help us stop and listen, here is the ultimate protest song written by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. Strange Fruit.
Another year, another superb collection of Americana/roots music to choose from. This year’s selection has a number which have addressed pressing social issues, as well as giving us great music.
Here’s Our Top 10
Our Native Daughters: Songs of Our Native Daughters
The thirteen-track album, featuring Rhiannon Giddens. Allison Russell, Amythyst Kiah and Leyla McCalla, explores the history of slavery and its legacy, especially from the point of view of black women. It’s a stunning piece of work, a tour de force, musically, lyrically and thematically. Rhiannon Giddens, the driving force behind the album, has said that she sees this album “as a part of a larger movement to reclaim the black female history of this country.”
Rich, typically Keb’ Mo’ style rootsy blues, featuring collaborations with Rosanne Cash, Taj Mahal, Jaci Velasquez, and his wife, Robby Brooks Moore. Producer Colin Linden and Robert Randolph pitch in too, to great effect in a potent and hugely enjoyable set of songs which will surely compete for a Grammy. Check out our longer piece on the album here.
The Avett Brothers: Closer than together
“At some point, [our] conversations grow melodies,” said Seth Avett of this terrific album which combines the Brothers’ commitment to Americana with some hard-hitting songs about gums, the threat of violence, injustice and the legacy of American racism. “I live in the country because I love peace and quiet / But all of my neighbors have closets full of machine guns.”
Paul Nelson: Over, Under Through
A terrifically fresh collection of Americana, featuring great arrangements of really fine songs. It’s a well-produced album, with a top notch set of musicians. It’s laid back and bluesy, yet with a gentle intensity. It’s still one the best albums we’ve heard this year. Highly recommended. You can find our full review combined with a chat with Paul here.
Luther Dickinson & the Sisters of the Strawberry Moon: Solstice
Dickinson, in the background for the most part, along with Amy Helm, Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago), Shardé Thomas, Amy LaVere, and the Como Mamas, have given us a wondrous, soulful album of both old and new songs, which live and breathe delight.
Drew Holcombe: Dragons
An upbeat, infectious affair, with songs co-written by Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Zach Williams of The Lone Bellow, producer Cason Cooley, and Ellie Holcomb. You’ll find yourself humming along, tapping your toes and generally the better for having listened to it. It’s an assured slice of sunny Americana. Catch our interview with Drew here.
Dori Freeman: Every Single Star
Wonderful, melodic set of classic country songs from the ever consistent Dori Freeman, aided and abetted by producer Teddy Thompson. “A master of blurring the lines between Appalachian folk and Nashville country,” said one reviewer.
Marc Cohn & The Blind Boys of Alabama: Work to Do
These Grammy winners seem made for each other, Cohn’s gospel-tinged songs blending perfectly, and given new life by the Blind Boys. An album consisting of Cohn hits, gospel standards and two newly penned Cohn songs is mesmerizing stuff, guaranteed to bring a big smile onto your face.
Vince Gill: Okie
Intensely personal collection of songs, from a master songwriter which tackles sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, and racial inequality. Gill’s fine singing voice is to the fore here, rather than his blazing Telecaster in a beautiful set of songs. A highlight is, of course, Forever Changed, a song he wrote some years ago that was inspired by a moment in middle school when a gym teacher touched him inappropriately. “There is so much shame,” says Gill. “If you speak out, you are persecuted. I wanted to speak out for innocence.”
North Mississippi Allstars: Up and Rolling
11th album from the Dickinson brothers’ band, which is effectively a soundtrack to photographer Wyatt McSpadden’s shots of local musicians which sought to capture the musical heritage of North Mississippi. With guest appearances from Mavis Staples, Sharde Thomas, Jason Isbell and Duane Betts, this is a hugely enjoyable album, with its roots in the past but a distinctly modern feel.
And Our Next 10
Gidden & Anthony Turrisi: There is No Other
Rhiannon Giddens continues to give us albums of wonderful music which can’t quite be pinned down to one particular genre or region. There Is No Other is a collaboration with Italian pianist and percussionist, Francesco Turrisi, twelve songs effortlessly fusing influences from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and America. You can find our review of the album here.
Sean McConnell: Secondhand Smoke
Terrific album from the talented songwriter and performer McConnell. Thirteen songs choc full of great melodies, engaging stories and biblical imagery. “You could buy the world for the price of your soul,” he sings against the background of the McCrary sisters gospel harmonies. McConnell’s singing is consistently outstanding and the whole album is one you want to play again and again.
The Allman Betts Band: Down to the River
Recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, recorded live to 2-inch analogue tape and no digital editing. Allman (the son of Gregg Allman) and Duane (the son of Dickey Betts) and Berry Oakley Jr. (son of Berry Oakley) pay homage to a famous pedigree. A great set of songs, full of life and energy, is completed by a wonderful cover of Tom Petty’s Southern Accents, which features some delicious slide guitar.
The Highwomen: The Highwomen
The country supergroup, composed of Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires, Maren Morris and Natalie Hamby, puts a feminist spin on country music, whilst sounding classic. Produced by Dave Cobb and backed by a top-notch band, this is fine stuff, great tunes, lovely harmonies. What’s not to like?
Pierce Pettis: Father’s Son
Ten years on from his last album, folk troubadour Pettis returns with this outstanding release. Sometimes hailed as the “songwriter’s songwriter,” Pettis gives us a 10-set of songs quietly introspective, spiritual, nostalgic, and humane, beautifully arranged and performed. Recommended for sure.
Various Artists: Come On Up to the House: Women Sing Waits
What’s not to like about an album of Tom Waits covers? Especially with a stellar cast of women artists which includes Iris Dement, Rosanne Cash, Shelby Lynne, Patty Griffen, Courtney Marie Andrews and others. Twelve songs, beautifully arranged and performed, which shine a light on Waits’s lyrical artistry in a new way.
Mavis Staples: We Get By
Remarkable vocal performance by the 80 year-old Staples, aided and abetted by producer Ben Harper. In songs of hope and determination, she sings, “things gotta change around here” and we’re “not too far down the wrong road to turn around.”
Jamestown Revival: San Isabel
Austin-based duo of Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance deliver their third album of nostaligic Americana, with beautiful harmonies and melodic storytelling. Watch out for the masterful cover of the Mama and Papas’ California Dreaming.
Ian Noe: Between the Country
Rich storyteller with a large cast of characters in this 10 song set from Kentucky songwriter, Noe, who brings them to life in a world-weary, plaintive kind of way. Produced by Dave Cobb, the sparse arrangements blend perfectly with Noe’s Dylan-esque vocals and the subject matter.
Hayes Carll: What It Is
This 6th album from Texas troubadour, Carll, is choc full of snappy lines, great tunes and sharp wit. Twelve fine songs, most driven by Carll’s acoustic guitar, but backed by a fine band. “I just wanna do my labor, love my girl, and help my neighbour, while keeping all my joie de vivre.” (Times Like These)
We’ve had some terrific blues albums during 2019. It’s always hard to compare blues-rock with acoustic blues or with Americana blues; or more traditional sounding blues with modern blues that stretch the boundaries of the genre. But, nevertheless, here’s a list of the 30 albums that we’ve enjoyed listening to and that we consider a cut above the rest. (Click on the links as you go through to find full reviews or interviews.)
Here’s our Top 10
Keb’ Mo’: Oklahoma
Rich, typically Keb’ Mo’ style rootsy blues, featuring collaborations with Rosanne Cash, Taj Mahal, Jaci Velasquez, and his wife, Robby Brooks Moore. Producer Colin Linden and Robert Randolph pitch in too, to great effect in a potent and hugely enjoyable set of songs which will surely compete for a Grammy. Here’s our comments on the album.
Martin Harley: Roll with the Punches
Top-notch slide guitarist, Martin Harley’s album is upbeat, it’s positive, the musicianship is superb, the songs and their arrangements are terrific. It’s everything a bluesy Americana album ought to be. It’s a little piece of “sunshine to keep in your pocket everywhere you go.” Check out our full review here.
North Mississippi Allstars: Up and Rollin’
11th album from the Dickinson brothers’ band, which is effectively a soundtrack to photographer Wyatt McSpadden’s shots of local musicians which sought to capture the musical heritage of North Mississippi. With guest appearances from Mavis Staples, Sharde Thomas, Jason Isbell and Duane Betts, this is a hugely enjoyable album, with its roots in the past but a distinctly modern feel.
Beth Hart : War in My Mind
Bluesy, at times hard-rockin’, Hart’s album gives full vent to her powerful and emotive vocals. Honest, revealing and passionate.
Gary Clark Jr.: This Land
Texas bluesman’s 3rd studio album and his best. Seventeen tracks where he cleverly and successfully fuses a number of styles from rock, R&B, hip-hop and soul, with a dash of reggae. Here’s our comment on the album.
Mary Flower : Livin’ With the Blues Again
Eleventh album from fingerstyle blues maestro, Mary Flower is a 12-song set that comprises instrumentals of blues, gospel songs and some Mary Flower originals which showcase her acoustic guitar chops. It’s the blues, but its uplifting as well. Check out our interview with Mary here.
Jontavious Willis: Spectacular Class
Wonderful Grammy-nominated album of acoustic blues, produced by Keb’ Mo’. Described as a “wonderboy” by Taj Mahal, no less, Willis matches his skilful country blues guitar with rich, soulful vocals. Find our interview with Jontavious here.
Rory Gallagher: Blues
New collection of blues recordings from the Irish artist released in what would have been his 50th year of recording. Gallagher was one of the great white blues guitarists of the rock’n’roll era. 36 tracks over 3 CDs – electric and acoustic and live – exude a raw energy, and include special guest sessions with legendary blues artists Muddy Waters and Albert King. A wonderful overview of Gallagher’s career.
Christone Ingram: Kingfish
Quite simple a terrifically enjoyable album, with twelve original songs that feature Ingram’s mellifluous vocals and stunning guitar work. The album is very definitely the blues, with familiar themes of lost and unrequited love but there’s a positivity throughout that is very tangible. Our full review is here.
Peter Frampton Band: All Blues
Ten classic blues tracks deliciously delivered by the vintage rocker and his top-notch band. With guest appearances from Sonny Landreth, Larry Carlton and Steve Morse, this is just terrific stuff.
And here’s the next 10
Kenny Wayne Shepherd: The Traveler
Eight originals and two covers from the ever-consistent Shepherd, accompanied by a group of talented musicians. Shepherd has become not only a not class blues rock guitarist, but a fine song-writer. Mind you, it’s the acoustic Tailwind, with its positive vibe, that stands out for me.
Elles Bailey: Road I Call Home
Superb sophomore album from English singer-songwriter. Blues-infused Americana, with eleven strong songs featuring Bailey’s impressive, soulful vocals.
Robert Randolph: Brighter Days
Pedal steel guitarist and his band are in fine form here with ten excellent songs, some true to their gospel roots, others full out rockers. It’s great fun, full of energy, groove and inspiration.
The Jorgensens: The Lexington Stretch
A completely captivating slice of timeless Americana, that is at once bluesy, jazzy, retro, modern and rocking. Seriously good music, to be enjoyed by anyone who loves blues or Americana. Find our full review here.
Southern Avenue: Keep On
Vintage blues and soul from Memphis-based band. Singers Tierinii and Tikyra Jackson are outstanding in these 12 tracks of fresh, soulful grooves. Outstanding new band, with refreshing new sound.
Walter Trout: Survivor Blues
Walter Trout’s 28th album covers songs that have inspired him along his long musical journey, including numbers by Elmore James, John Mayall, Hound Dog Taylor, Fred McDowell and J.B. Lenoir, putting his own inimitable stamp upon them. Walter Trout is an exquisite guitarist, an accomplished singer and he’s given us another gem.
Jimmy “Duck” Holmes: Cypress Grove
Produced by Black Keys frontman, Dan Auerbach, and features musical support from Auerbach and members of his band. The result is a raw explosion of genuine Mississippi juke-joint blues, with 11 traditional Delta blues songs from Holmes’s extensive repertoire. It’s fabulous stuff, a treat for any blues fan. Check out this great interview with Jimmy here.
Matty T Wall: Transpacific Blues
This new eight-song features Matty T Wall and some of the finest guitarists on the international music scene, including Eric Gales, Walter Trout, Kirk Fletcher, Dave Hole and Kid Ramos. With traditional blues songs and new approaches to the genre with plenty of creative twists, this is some of the best guitar playing in one place you might hear all year. Find our full review here.
Mavis Staples: We Get By
Remarkable vocal performance by the 80 year-old Staples, aided and abetted by producer Ben Harper. In songs of hope and determination, she sings, “things gotta change around here” and we’re “not too far down the wrong road to turn around.”
Tulle Brae: Revelation
Ten original, well-crafted and hugely enjoyable songs, full of energy and emotion. Blues rock, delivered with a huge amount of soul and underpinned by Tullie’s gospel roots. Our full review is here.
3 Top Live Albums
Hans Theessink: 70th Birthday Bash
Last year, for 4 nights in April, Hans celebrated his 70th birthday in the Metropol in Vienna, with musical friends from all over Europe and North America, including The Blind Boys of Alabama. The result is a double album of delightful, top-notch roots music. Find our full review here.
Joe Bonamassa: Live at the Sydney Opera House
Another top drawer live album from blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa and his band at this iconic venue in 2018. Some epic performances here from what was clearly a very special night.
Lee Boys: Live on the East Coast
High-energy, funky, bluesy, sacred steel ensemble delivers a set of songs pulsing with contagious energy and inspiration, fuelled by Chris Johnson’s pedal steel and the band’s tight musicianship. Our full review is here.
And our final set of 7
Tedeschi Trucks: Signs
4th studio album from the impressive Tedeschi Trucks outfit, with its typical meld of classic rock, old soul and blues, into a full-bodied Americana. It’s a calmer than previous outings, however, with Tedeschi’s incredible vocals to the fore, supported, as always by Trucks’ exquisite slide guitar.
Colin Linden, Luther Dickinson & the Tennessee Valentines: Amour
Bluesy dose of Americana covers, including classics like Careless Love and Honest I Do. First time collaboration between Linden and Dickinson, two outstanding musicians, here on top form with 10 songs of bittersweet love.
Joanne Shaw Taylor: Reckless Heart
Blues rock, full of energy from Detroit-based British artist. It’s an upbeat album with some fiery, up-tempo tracks, driven by Taylor’s top-notch guitar work (with no guitar pedals) and her superb, raspy vocals.
Joanna Connor: Rise
Blues, jazz and rock from this incendiary slide guitarist. It’s an accomplished set of 12 original songs which show off Connor’s versatile guitar chops and her impressive song-writing skills.
Mindi Abair and the Boneshakers: No Good Deed
This is a fine album of joyous, upbeat, full-production blues rock, with a dollop of soul and funk here and there. The musicianship from the whole band is outstanding, the choice of songs interesting, the arrangements fabulous and the whole thing makes for a hugely enjoyable summery record. Our full review is here.
Ronnie Earl the Broadcasters: Beyond the Blue Door
15 traditional sounding and soulful blues delivered by Earl’s band with guests Kim Wilson, David Bromberg, and Greg Piccolo. We get a range of covers, including a heart-felt version of Howlin’ Wolf’s How Long, and a number of Earl originals. Look out for the duet between Earl’ Stratocaster and David Bromberg’s acoustic guitar on Dylan’s “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry.”
Samantha Fish: Kill or Be Kind
An album which pulls you in with strong melodies, top notch guitar work and Fish’s versatile vocals which can belt out rockers, go all sultry or give-it-some-soul, in turns sweet, passionate, and gritty. It’s an impressive vocal performance, actually, on a set of songs that encompass soul, blues, pop and melodic love songs. Find our full review here.
We’ve had a tasty batch of blues albums during the first half of 2019. Here’s the ones that have risen to the top for us:
Elles Bailey, Road I Call Home
Superb sophomore album from English singer-songwriter. Blues-infused Americana, with eleven strong songs featuring Bailey’s impressive, soulful vocals.
Tulle Brae, Revelation
Ten original, well-crafted and hugely enjoyable songs, full of energy and emotion. Blues rock, delivered with a huge amount of soul and underpinned by Tullie’s gospel roots. Here’s our review.
Savoy Brown, City Night
Savoy Brown’s Taste and Try Before You Buy was one of the first blues songs I ever heard on Decca’s 1969 World of Blues Power. With many line-up changes along the way, the band has been powering through the blues for over five decades – this is their 40th album. Now a 3-piece, headed by original band member Kim Simmonds, they’ve given us a thoroughly unreconstructed, but hugely enjoyable album of powerful blues rock
Gary Clark Jr., This Land
Texas bluesman’s 3rd studio album and his best. Seventeen tracks where he cleverly and successfully fuses a number of styles from rock, R&B, hip-hop and soul, with a dash of reggae. Check out our piece on this album.
Rory Gallagher, Blues
New collection of blues recordings from the Irish artist released in what would have been his 50th year of recording. Gallagher was one of the great white blues guitarists of the rock’n’roll era. 36 tracks over 3 CDs – electric and acoustic and live – exude a raw energy, and include special guest sessions with legendary blues artists Muddy Waters and Albert King. An wonderful overview of Gallagher’s career.
Christone Ingram, Kingfish
Quite simple a terrifically enjoyable album, with twelve original songs that feature Ingram’s mellifluous vocals and stunning guitar work. The album is very definitely the blues, with familiar themes of lost and unrequited love but there’s a positivity throughout that is very tangible. Full review.
Keb’ Mo’, Oklahoma
Rich, typically Keb’ Mo’ style rootsy blues, featuring collaborations with Rosanne Cash, Taj Mahal, Jaci Velasquez, and his wife, Robby Brooks Moore. Producer Colin Linden and Robert Randolph pitch in to, to great effect in a potent and hugely enjoyable set of songs which will surely compete for a Grammy.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Traveler
Eight originals and two covers from the ever-consistent Shepherd, accompanied by a group of talented musicians. Shepherd has become not only a not class blues rock guitarist, but a fine song-writer. Mind you, it’s the acoustic Tailwind, with its positive vibe, that stands out for me.
Joanne Shaw Taylor, Reckless Heart
Blues rock, full of energy from Detroit-based British artist. It’s an upbeat album with some fiery, up-tempo tracks, driven by Taylor’s top notch guitar work (with no guitar pedals) and her superb, raspy vocals.
Mavis Staples, We Get By
Remarkable vocal performance by the 80 year old Staples, aided and abetted by producer Ben Harper. In songs of hope and determination, she sings, “things gotta change around here” and we’re “not too far down the wrong road to turn around.”
Walter Trout, Survivor Blues
Walter Trout’s 28th album covers songs that have inspired him along his long musical journey, including numbers by Elmore James, John Mayall, Hound Dog Taylor, Fred McDowell and J.B. Lenoir, putting his own inimitable stamp upon them. Walter Trout is an exquisite guitarist, an accomplished singer and he’s given us another gem.
Tedeschi Trucks, Signs
4th studio album from the impressive Tedeschi Trucks outfit, with its typical meld of classic rock, old soul and blues, into a full-bodied Americana. It’s a calmer than previous outings, however, with Tedeschi’s incredible vocals to the fore, supported, as always by Trucks’ exquisite slide guitar.
Jontavious Willis, Spectacular Class
Wonderful album of acoustic blues, produced by Keb’ Mo’. Described as a “wonderboy” by Taj Mahal, no less, Willis matches his skilful country blues guitar with rich, soulful vocals.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Mavis Staples has had a remarkable career. She sang with her family band which moved from their church roots in the 50s to the vanguard of the Civil Rights movement in the 60s, before becoming a commercially successful R&B group in the 70s. Turning solo, Mavis recorded with Prince and in the last twelve years or so, has re-invented herself as a rootsy, bluesy, Americana artist, with a heavy dose of gospel. Her latest album, If All I Was Was Black addresses the broken heart of today’s America, suggesting that, despite the racism, violence and lying, redemption is possible. Mavis Staples wants to “Bring us all together as a people – that’s what I hope to do. You can’t stop me. You can’t break me. I’m too loving,” she says. “These songs are going to change the world.”
Down at the Crossroads caught her show in Union Chapel, London. Here’s what we learned:
Mavis Staples is a lovely person. That’s it. No qualifications. She loves her band, she loves performing and she loves her audience. And it showed from the moment she breezed onto the stage to warm applause and cheering at Union Chapel.
Union Chapel is a wonderful concert venue in north London. It’s a working church which hosts gigs by major artists and recording sessions, and has fantastic acoustics. Nobody is very far from the artist which gives the whole things a wonderful, intimate feeling. You can sign up for dinner before a gig and so get in early to nab your seat – and contribute to the church’s homeless ministry by so doing.
Mavis’s first song set the stage for the rest of her set – she sang about “love and peace,” and invited the audience to “take my hand.” “I got people who love me,” she sang, in that unmistakable voice which can rasp, croon, scat or belt it out, as the need may be. You begin to feel the love, forgetting for a while Trump, Brexit and all the other stuff that has been annoying you. We ended up, most of us strangers, holding each other’s hands and beaming like children.
Love and peace for sure – but also, she said, she was there to bring us some “joy, happiness, inspiration and positive vibrations.” And that she did for about 75 glorious minutes (too short, Mavis, but then you have just turned 79, sorry for bringing that up!).
And the joy and inspiration clearly comes from Mavis’s Christian faith – she unabashedly gave us the old blues song, Death Comes Creeping (covered by a host of artists, including Mance Lipscomb, Fred McDowell and Bob Dylan) – asking “whatcha gonna do when death comes creeping at your door?” Followed up by Far Celestial Shore, with its “jubilation, joy and exaltation when I see my lord.”
That faith is no other-worldly faith, but one that is driving for change here and now. She talked about working for justice in the 1960s, inspired by Rev Martin Luther King Jr., and about needing to continue that work, especially at the moment. “I’m thinking about going up to that White House,” she said, to the biggest cheer of the evening. Go for it Mavis!
Her five-piece band was everything you’d expect from long-time collaborators. Guitarist Rick Holmstrom treated us to a wonderful virtuosic display in a variety of styles, rewarded along the way by a fist bump from Mavis, and singers Donny Gerrard and Vicki Randel rounded out the sound, allowing Mavis to let her vocals soar with freedom.
A glorious, inspirational evening – keep going, Mavis, we love you!
What a great year for music! Here’s a list of Americana albums we enjoyed most in 2017. It’s really too hard to rank these – they’re all great. But in our view the top five listed were really outstanding. The Blind Boys of Alabama’s Almost Home is full of vitality and poignancy, and is very inspiring; Jason Isbell continues to set exceptional standards for song writing and performance; Dori Freeman’s second album showcases her lovely voice and outstanding song writing skills; Rhiannon Giddens’ Freedom Highway is a powerful set of timely songs featuring her amazing musical talents; and Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’s collaboration on TajMo was our Blues Album of the Year. All quite mouth watering.
Here’s our first ten:
Blind Boys of Alabama – Almost Home
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – That Nashville Sound
There were a lot of outstanding blues albums during 2016. Here’s Down at the Crossroads’ pick of the top 21.
First of all our top 10 –
1. Various – God Don’t Never Change
No doubt about this year’s best album. Produced by Jeffrey Gaskill, ten years in the making and as a result of a successful crowd funding campaign, it features a stellar cast including Tom Waits, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Lucinda Williams, Maria McKee, Luther Dickinson, the Cowboy Junkies, Sinead O’Connor and Rikki Lee Jones. Each song, with the possible exception of Jones’s version of Dark Was the Night, is outstanding, the artists’ interpretations doing full justice to the grit, passion and commitment of Blind Willie Johnson.
2. Luther Dickinson – Blues & Ballads
This latest release is a joy from start to finish, featuring twenty one songs from throughout Luther’s career, new songs, North Mississippi Allstars songs and old favourites – all stripped down, loose and relaxed. It’s the perfect vehicle for Dickinson as carrier of the Mississippi Hill Country blues torch.
3. Luke Winslow King – I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always
Painfully honest break-up album where, as in all good blues songs, King manages to sing himself out of his blues. The music is infectious, the band in fine form and King’s guitar playing and vocals are a delight.
4. Mavis Staples – Livin’ on a High Note
Livin’ On A High Note, her 13th solo album, is terrific, typically Mavis, and is joyous. She told her songwriters, “I want something joyful. I want to stop making people cry. I’ve been making people cry all my life. The songs I sing, the freedom songs and my gospel songs — I know I’ve been inspiring and uplifting people. But now I want to reach them in a joyful way.” Check out our take on this album here.
5. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Let Me Get By
With horns, grooves, and jazzy, funky, bluesy rhythms, and add in the world-class guitar chops of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi’s outstanding soulful vocals, you have a band at the height of powers – mature, confident, utterly engaging, and hugely enjoyable.
There are 10 new original songs, and the Deluxe version includes 8-track bonus disc that features live recordings. Trucks’ sublime slide guitar has never sounded better. 6. Joanne Shaw Taylor – Wild
Taylor’s fifth studio album is, without doubt, her best yet. This is an artist brimming with talent, and boy, can she sing and play the guitar. Her guitar work, prominent throughout, is technically superb, but always musical and artistic. Her voice is superb – bluesy, smoky and full of expression. Taylor’s own song writing talents are to the fore, but there’s a quite wonderful cover of “Summertime” for added value.
7. Brooks Williams Blues
The album is a gem, featuring just Brooks’ voice and guitar – acoustic, resonator and cigar box, and was recorded live in the studio. The result is a very fine album of traditional and classic blues numbers from the likes of Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Memphis Slim and the Rev. Gary Davis. Given his family background in Stateboro, Blind Willie McTell’s Statesboro Blues had to feature – eat your heart out, Allman Brothers!
This really is an terrific album. It’s positive, it’s upbeat, it’s a celebration of happiness from an artist that clearly has come to understand the power of love through the trials and difficulties of life. The songs are strong and the arrangements throughout are terrific, varied enough for the album to defy exact categorization, but coherent enough to gel together as a collection.
9. Keith Richards Cross Eyed Heart
In his first solo album for 23 years, Richards delivers the goods. Full of cool guitar licks, his unmistakable gravelly delivery, some dry humour and, above all, some beautifully arranged old blues songs. It’s the blues, but full of fun and quite compelling.
10. Kaz Hawkins Feelin’ Good
This Belfast-based band’s third album is a spirit-lifting, joyous affair, which features a tight-knit instrumental group and the soaring vocals of Kaz Hawkins. Hawkins is also a highly talented song writer responsible for 8 of the 10 songs on offer here. The title track, a cover of Newley & Bricusse’s song, sets the tone for the rest of the album and gives you an immediate take on the immense talent of Kaz Hawkins and her band.
And here’s the next 11 –
11. Rolling Stones Blue and Lonesome
The World’s Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band give us a covers collection that pays tribute to the post-war Chicago blues that inspired the group’s name. It’s terrific back to basics stuff, with the band in great tight-knit form, Richards playing his characteristic guitar licks and Jagger’s vocals really hitting the spot. Eric Clapton’s guest appearance on a couple of tracks adds some cool solo licks as an added bonus.
12.The Rides – Pierced Arrow
Excellent second album from the Rides – the perhaps surprising combination of Stills & Nash and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Tens solid songs mostly blues rock, with the highlight Shepherd’s top notch guitar solos. There’s good fun too with the covers, especially “My Babe,” and “Virtual World,” with its Stills and Nash harmonies and 70s vibe, and its worry about the digital world robbing us of proper, human connections is a great song. “The world is full of clutter, and it’s in the way.”
13. Joe Bonamassa Blues of Desperation
Joe Bonamassa just gets better and better. His guitar work, of course, is extraordinary, and capable of stirring your very soul, but his singing on this album is very, very good. As is his song writing. Thoroughgoing blues rock, as you might expect, with great production on each of the eleven songs. “Drive” which doesn’t have the usual solo guitar pyrotechnics is for me the stand out track.
14. Mark Harrison – Turpentine
This is one very fine album, full of strong songs, cool arrangements, and lovely guitar work, with a joyous vibe evident throughout. This is a fresh take on the blues which should be in every blues and roots music lovers collection.
15. Mike Sponsa with Ian Siegal – Ego Sum
Now here’s something you don’t come across much – an album of blues music based on the work of the Latin poets Horatius, Catullus, Martialis and Juvenalis. The music and the band are terrific, driven by Mike Sponza’s cool guitar work. But it’s the vocals from Ian Siegal and Dana Gillespie which really make this album a keeper.
16. Michael Jerome Browne – Can’t Keep A Good Man Down
Released towards the end of the year, this is an album of sixteen acoustic blues songs. Just Browne and his delightful acoustic guitar picking. It’s a compilation of traditional blues, taken from various albums going back to 1998. There are five original songs, including one brand new recording from 2016, “Four Years, No Rain.” Blues classics from the past include songs by Tampa Red, Jesse Fuller, Frankie Lee Sims, Mississippi John Hurst, Reverend Gary Davis, and Frank Stokes.
17. Eric Bibb – Happiest Man in the World
Upbeat collaboration between Bibb and English multi-instrumentalist, Danny Thompson with Finnish trio, North Country Far. Lovely bluesy, country songs with Eric Bibb’s usual infectious warmth shining through.
Another fine outing from the ever-consistent Beth Hart. To be sure, this set of twelve original songs is more jazz than blues, with the first very cool track, “Jazz Man,” setting the tone. Hart’s vocals shine throughout, sultry, emotional and powerful in turns.
19. Eric Clapton – I still do
Blues, nearly blues, Dylan and J J Cale covers and various other originals. Old Slowhand clearly still does – play and sing as well as he ever did. This is not a demanding album of the listener, but there are some fine songs here. But Clapton’s at his best with the blues – the Robert Johnson “Stones in My Passageway” is terrific. And a nice surprise is his cool version of “We Shall Overcome, here I’ll Be Alright.”
20. Jeff Healey – Heal My Soul
What a talent was the late Jeff Healey. And what a great collection of previously unissued Healey recordings, released to coincide with what would have been his fiftieth birthday. It’s powerful blues rock stuff, with Healey’s blistering guitar work to the fore. There are some nice more acoustic numbers as well – “Baby Blue,” “Love in Her Eyes,” and the delightful “All the Saints” – which bring Healey’s attractive vocals to the fore.
21. Bonnie Raitt Dig In Deep
You can’t go wrong with a Bonnie Raitt album – funky, bluesy, great band, and Bonnie’s laid back, well-phrased, vocal delivery and her electric slide – never less than satisfying. Twelve highly enjoyable, distinctive, Bonnie Raitt songs.
And worth a mention are two excellent albums from very talented young guys – Quinn Sullivan and Matty Wall.
Quinn Sullivan – Midnight Highway
17 year old Sullivan, a prodigy mentored by Buddy Guy and supporting Guy in his recent tour, has it all – unbelievable guitarist, excellent singer and talented songwriter. This highly enjoyable album of blues and American rock showcases his incredible talent.
Matty Wall – Blue Skies
Hailing from Perth, Australia, Matty Wall plays a mean blues guitar. The boy can sing too, with nice phrasing and sweet vocals throughout.
Luther Dickinson is one of today’s outstanding blues musicians, well known for his work with the Black Crowes and North Mississippi Allstars. He’s also got a number of top notch solo albums to his credit – Hambone’s Meditations, Rock ‘n Roll Blues and now Blues and Ballads, Parts I and II. This latest release is a joy from start to finish, featuring twenty one songs from throughout Luther’s career, new songs, North Mississippi Allstars songs and old favourites – all stripped down, loose and relaxed. It’s the perfect vehicle for Dickinson as carrier of the Mississippi Hill Country blues torch.
Down at the Crossroads caught up with Luther at the Blues Kitchen in Brixton, London, the third of three nights at the Blues Kitchen’s three London venues. Luther played an outstanding set of his psychedelic folk-rock blues, showing why he is renowned for his slide playing and guitar playing generally. Armed with a couple of Gibson Les Paul semis, his Martin Dreadnaught and a guitar he had fashioned out of a coffee can, Dickinson rocked the joint with a selection of songs from Blues and Ballads as well as fuelling Bob Dylan, Fred McDowell and Jimi Hendrix in his own inimitable, captivating style.
He’s a great entertainer, frequently interacting with the crowd and regaling us with stories and comments throughout. Particularly moving was his story about his father, when very ill, suggesting he record Dylan’s Stuck Inside of Mobile, as a one-chord Hill Country blues. “There are things in life which will disappoint you,” Jim Dickinson told his son “but not Bob Dylan.” That’s about right, isn’t it?
Luther, easy-going and relaxed, greeted me warmly as I waited for him before the gig and we found somewhere quiet to have a conversation. We talked about the new album, passing on the musical tradition, the Saturday night-Sunday morning tension in American music and the enduring power of the blues.
DATC:Luther, thanks for talking to us at Down at the Crossroads. First let me ask you about your new album, Blues and Ballads, which has had a great reception and great reviews.
LD: Fooled ‘em again! It’s cool because I realized that the more casual and honest and humble the production and recording experience is, the more people like it. And that’s a good lesson to learn.
It’s very, very pared down, it’s very acoustic and it’s all live. Buddy Miller, the guitar player and producer in Nashville, he really turned me around. He told me – because we were jiving each other about working together, because he’s busy and expensive!; and I was like, come on, Buddy, just produce this, and he was like, look, just don’t overdub. And it’s so true, just commit to live vocals; and if you need a fiddle player, then call the fiddle player, and if you need background singers, then call ‘em up and wait for them. Get everyone in one room and capture a real performance.
And you know, we grew up with our father, Jim Dickinson, who was a great producer, but he taught us to make the band tracks first and then the vocals being secondary, And that’s a great way to make records too, but, it’s really been liberating for me to just commit to the live voice. It’s all about the voice.
DATC:You know I thought the vocals in this record were perhaps the best you’ve ever done. Really, really good, really noticeable on this.
LD: Thank you.
DATC:The record’s called Parts I and II. Does this imply more to come in the same vein?
LD: It’s a double album. The inspiration for the record was the song book context. I wanted to make a songbook, because I love songbooks, folk songbooks, hymnals, whatever. I grew up pre-Internet, I learned from the library, I memorized every book in the Hernando Mississippi library. My grandmother’s hymnals, the early folk songbooks, magazines. I love sheet music, and so I wanted my own proper songbook.
So I re-recorded my favourite songs in a folk fashion befitting a folk songbook, and a handful of new ones, so it’s volumes one and two – and the plan is, my previous solo record, Rock ‘n Roll Blues, I would like to have it transcribed – that would be volume 3, and then have another solo record, HambonesMeditations, [an instrumental album] – transcribed as Volume 4.
And then it starts amassing, you know – it’s not like I’m going to record another Blues and Ballads anytime soon. But the plan is for the songbook to grow.
DATC:The song book is only available with the vinyl, isn’t that right?
LD: Yes.
DATC:And you’ve got a stellar cast on the album. Jason Isbell, Jim Lauderdale, Amy LaVere, Shardé Thomas, JJ Grey, Charles Hodges, Jimbo Mathus. And one of my favourites – Mavis Staples.
LD: Aw, Mavis is the queen! That was the beginning of the whole record.
DATC:She does Ain’t No Grave, which I know is a very personal song. But it’s wonderful what she does with it.
LD: Aw, man. We went to Chicago, she said she wanted to record the song, and I wanted to make sure that happened. If she wants to record one of my songs – let’s make that happen! So I set it up with my band, Amy LaVere and Shardé Thomas, and we go to Chicago and we get the track – first take – band and vocals, first take. And Mavis shows up about an hour later and we get her first take. She sits and listens and reads the lyrics, and it breaks her down. She starts crying.
DATC: It’s a very moving song. I know the context of it. [the song was written by Luther after the passing of his father, producer/singer/songwriter Jim Dickinson in 2009]
LD: My father passed in ‘09. I wrote a lot of songs when my father passed – as he was ill, and when he passed. But that one just came – I woke up one morning, I was on the tour bus and I wrote that song down before I even turned on my light, in my little bunk. It just came out, top to bottom. And at the end of the night, after the concert, I took my songbook and my guitar into the bathroom of the bus and the melody came just as easy. But it was hard to record that song, originally, for Keys to the Kingdom in ‘09. So I asked Ry Cooder to help me with that song. It was so easy to write but I couldn’t figure out the right interpretation. And Ry just played slide guitar – like the master that he is – and I went, of course, slide guitar! And once again there’s another great lesson.
That is another version of the Buddy Miller story, just to keep things simple. And Seasick Steve, he grabbed me by the shoulder and was like, you are the link, you grew up with Otha Turner and R L Burnside, and you are the link, and you’ve got to keep it primitive. He literally shook me and said, “Keep it primitive.”
And you know, my brother and I, we’d fallen prey to, you know, delusions of grandeur and over producing records, but Ry Cooder, just simply playing it on slide guitar and Seasick Steve yelling at me and Buddy Miller saying don’t overdub – these things have formed my new production aesthetic. It’s been really fruitful.
So Mavis came in and she was just first take, and that was the beginning of the record. And every other recording was just as casual. I had a handful of songs. So if I was in Memphis, I’d call my Memphis friends or if I was going to be in Nashville, I’d call my Nashville friends. JJ Grey had always liked Up over Yonder, so I knew I wanted to get him to sing on it . Because we’d been touring together. The songs are like snapshots of who we’re with, when we’re making the record.
DATC:And is Ain’t No Grave a song that you sing often?
LD: Not in night clubs. Unless it’s requested. You know, it’s a sad song about losing a loved one. I don’t want to violate the escapism of having a good time, but if people request a song…but I’m not going to sing that song over a loud crowd, or people who wanna dance.
DATC:There are a number of songs on the album with a gospel feel or theme (Up Over Yonder; Ain’t No Grave; How I Wish My Train Would Come; Let it Roll); we get that coming through in your work over the years, all sorts of scriptural references and echoes, old hymns – what’s the inspiration for this sort of material?
LD: It’s when my loved ones pass away. I always celebrate them when they pass away. And it started with Junior Kimbrough, Otha Turner, and then Lee Baker, my father’s guitar player in Mudboy and the Neutrons – he was murdered, you know. I’m a folk musician, I play loud psychedelic blues rock, but I’m a folkie at heart. And it dawned on me, like, Cassie Jones, Stagger Lee, once upon a time, these were just men that walked the earth, It was folk songs that made them legends. So I thought, I’m going to start celebrating my heroes, and sing about Kenny Brown or sing about my father, or Otha Turner, and make them my folk heroes, celebrate them in song.
And then the biblical imagery, growing up in the south, my grandmother played piano in the church. And I don’t talk religion or anything, but I love gospel music, it’s just a positive feeling, and I think a lot of musicians relate to it. But once again it’s not right to play it in the night clubs, it’s not appropriate. Maybe slip one in at the end, you know! And then the imagery – funny thing is, I’ve never studied the Bible. I mean I’ve poked around, but when you do pick it up, it’s like, oh my God, here’s this song, here’s that song. Every soul and R&B song has a biblical reference, and the blues too. To be honest, I’ve learned more from Pop Staples or Blind Willie Johnson about the Bible than I ever did reading it myself – listening to Samson and Delilah – you know what I’m saying?
Thing is, I just love the vernacular. I love the phrases of folk music and blues music and conversation with the elders, and the biblical stuff slips right in there. Bob Dylan’s a master of this, and also Robert Hunter [Grateful Dead songwriter]. Ain’t No Grave – there are multiple songs entitled that, or Rollin’ and Tumblin’ or Let Your Light Shine, or whatever – these phrases, they have weight, when people hear ‘em, they have, like, repercussions, sub-conscious repercussions. All those phrases I’ve internalized over my life, that’s the oral tradition of making it your own, and making it your own story, using the timeless vernacular of our culture.
DATC:So you mentioned Blind Willie Johnson. There’s kind of thread over the last century – from Blind Willie Johnson to Robert Wilkinson to Fred McDowell to Gary Davis to Kelly Joe Phelps, and many others. Why do you think that is, given the other darker side of the blues where some church goers felt it was the devil’s music, and the myth of the crossroads and mojo and all of that?
LD: Well, Robert Wilkins quit playing blues so he could become a preacher and only play gospel music. Son House went back and forth. Fred McDowell, he was a bluesman, but he played in his local church every Sunday. But when he passed away, they wouldn’t bury him there, because he was a bluesman. And that church is in Como Mississippi. Rev Robert Wilkins’ son is the preacher in that church [Hunter’s Chapel Church] now, and even he is a bluesman that preaches. In that culture, it’s a very treacherous line.
And it still goes on. Like, I’ve known Robert Randolph since before he was a professional musician with a career, and he and the Campbell Brothers, they don’t play in church any more. The Campbell Brothers were kicked out of church. Many, many of the sacred steel musicians have been pushed out of their churches for one reason or another. And there’s a new batch of sacred steel players playing in the church, but – they don’t know the tradition or the history, they’re just starting with Robert Randolph. So with sacred steel, the roots have been cut off and the new growth is going to be starting from scratch.
But, it’s just that American experience of church and blues. You know, Saturday night, Sunday morning.
LD: Yes, I didn’t realize how emotional that was going to be. Interesting thing.
DATC:You started off playing Just As I Am on slide guitar. Took me back to my own childhood, those were the songs I grew up with and nearly had me in tears!
LD: I learned that from my grandmother. That was one of the invitational hymns… My Mom is a huge believer, teaches Sunday School to elderly ladies. It’s very interesting, I could say that I’m well balanced, because I’ve got all the extremes. I just try to navigate it!
DATC: The blues is traditional music, with a long heritage, and were essentially the music of African Americans in the trauma of the early part of the 20th century. Why has this music endured? And why does it have an appeal beyond people whose lives were as harsh as those among whom it grew up?
LD: I think there’s a human quality to it. But as well as blues, there’s also country music, Appalachian music, and music just brings people together. It did for my dad’s generation in the 50s, rock ’n roll, the 60s, music helped transcend segregation… And with the blues, the lyrics and the melodies are ancient and they just resonate, you know, and it evolves. And what I play is not Delta Blues, it’s psychedelic folk blues rock, you know – that’s just where I am – but I grew up in Mississippi, second generation musician studying songs and blues, and I will claim that what I do is modern day blues. But it’s like what Buddy Guy says, I got ten fingers, I got two hands, I can play some blues!
DATC:Thank you Luther.
Postscript:Three quarters way through his set that evening, Luther switched from the Les Paul to his Martin acoustic. First thing he played? Just As I Am on slide guitar. This being a London audience, I was probably the only person there who recognized it. Thank you Luther!
Mavis Staples is a youthful 76. She says, “It puts a wonder on your mind. I’m losing all of my friends, and you really wonder how much longer you have, and how it will be when you leave. But whenever I have to go, I feel like I’m ready. I feel like I have lived a wonderful life.”
This joie de vivre comes through in spades in the new documentary about her life, Mavis!, which if you’re not lucky enough to see in a movie theatre, you can download from itunes. Mavis! is an hour and a half of sheer joy, taking you through Mavis Staples’ career from the 1950s until now. And what a career, from singing gospel in her family’s band to their becoming civil rights icons with the freedom songs of the 60s, to funky soul in the 70s, to two albums with Prince in the 80s, and of late 3 excellent rootsy, bluesy, stripped back albums produced lovingly by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedie.
The Staples Singers led by the indomitable Pops Staples and featuring Mavis’s charisma and amazing voice moved against the tide of gospel singing in the 60s under the influence of Martin Luther King Jr. whom Pops admired greatly. They began to sing protest and freedom songs, like Why (Am I Treated So Bad), where other gospel groups wanted to stick with the more spiritual stuff. The truth is, of course, that the freedom material is every bit as spiritual as the “spiritual.” Faith without works is dead, as someone put it a long time ago.
Staples still sings these political songs. “They’re still relevant. You know, sometimes I can watch the news on the television and I feel like I’m back in the 60s,” she says. MLK Song on her new album, Livin’ On A High Note is based on a Martin Luther King speech she remembers hearing: “In the march for peace / Tell them I played the drum / When I have to meet my day.”
Livin’ On A High Note, her 13th solo album, is terrific, typically Mavis and, like the film, joyous. She told her songwriters, “I want something joyful. I want to stop making people cry. I’ve been making people cry all my life. The songs I sing, the freedom songs and my gospel songs — I know I’ve been inspiring and uplifting people. But now I want to reach them in a joyful way.”
And what a great panel of songwriters she has – a testimony to the respect in which Mavis Staples is held. They include Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards), Nick Cave, Neko Case, Ben Harper and M. Ward.
One song I find very intriguing is Nick Cave’s contribution, Jesus, Lay Down Beside Down Me. The song is interesting from a theological point of view. We tend to think of God – rightly – as the one who looks after us, cares for us, loves us. This song inverts things and invites us to think about us caring for God, for Jesus. “Jesus, lay down beside me, lay down and rest your troubled mind…lay down your worries,” it says, trying to get us to a perspective other than our own. What is the world like from the perspective of the divine? “The truth has fallen on deaf ears, Lord…And the flowers of your love, Lord, refuse to seed, In a world full of greed.”
It reminds us a bit of those doleful verses in John’s gospel, chapter 1, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” In a world where everyone is more concerned about getting more than their fair share, and truth is whatever you want it to be, and Jesus is irrelevant, can we imagine a God’s eye view of things?
“Are you in need?” sings Mavis to the Lord. It reminds me a little of the old John Wesley hymn, O God of Good The Unfathomed Sea, where Wesley says, “yet self sufficient as Thou art, thou dost desire my worthless heart.” Somehow, incredible though it may seem, God – self-sufficient, eternal, omnipotent – desires human love in return for his love. And Nick Cave’s song somehow seems to me to capture this. Love is never a one-way street where one party does all the giving and one all the taking. So perhaps Cave is onto something here, making us think about our part in a relationship with God – real love given, with a care and concern for the other. It starts to take the divine-human relationship away from a sterile belief system into the realm of something real, tangible, alive.
The relationship, given the nature of God, can never be equal. The dependence ultimately will be us upon God. And yet God’s love calls for love in return and love can never be simple dependence; it must be active if it is to mean anything. As St. Augustine once said, ‘To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”
When Mavis Staples first heard the words of Cave’s song, she said “Woah. I’m going to comfort Jesus instead of him comforting me.” Perhaps they’re both on to something.
