Among the cities in which the blues initially took root were Atlanta, Memphis, and St. Louis. He hosts a daily program from 3pm-9pm eastern time Monday through Friday and Saturday & Sunday from 6pm to midnight eastern. You have to believe in yourself and bring a quality product. Signing with Okeh Records in 1925, Johnson recorded an estimated 130 songs over seven years, including several groundbreaking duets with Blind Willie Dunn (actually white jazz guitarist Eddie Lang). In 1950, his family moved to the Windy City where he started regularly attending local blues clubs. They all recorded in 1923. He brought with him to Chicago a traditional style of Delta blues learned on the Stovall Plantation where he grew up, incorporating elements from the new urban terrain. He started playing blues early on in his life and began playing professionally under stage names like Joe Willie James and Cleanhead. Blues singers Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and Clara Smith recorded for Columbia, while Ma Rainey, Ida Cox, and Alberta Hunter recorded for Paramount, which billed itself as the Premier Race Label. Over the next several years, Black musical director Clarence Williams signed and recorded for OKeh many leading blues, jazz, and gospel artists, including Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Lonnie Johnson. Her career success would continue until the 21st century with an album entitled Matriarch of the Blues. Bobby is a wonderful guy and on a side note our two real elder statesmen in the blues world are Bobby Rush and Buddy Guy. Even if I am writing a song with more of a blues pop sensibility I know what chords I can throw in to take the song in a different direction without sounding too heady or brainy. Often when listening to Bluesville Ive wondered who is this guy who calls himself Early Times? His follow-up recordings include 1993s Hobo-Deluxe; and 1995s The Comedown. Jefferson born on October 26, 1894, or at least that's what he wrote on his World War I draft registration . Mojos Working: A History Of Recorded Blues | uDiscover Born Riley B. The duo is joined by drummer Bill Vitt and bassist John Kahn, who soon became a lifelong Garcia collaborator. On Deuces Wild (1997), King enlisted such artists as Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, and Eric Clapton to create a fusion of blues, pop, and country that dominated the blues charts for almost two years. He started playing guitar at eighteen and began out performing at nightclubs and house parties in Ruleville, Mississippi. Of the 31 records that topped the chart in those years, Decca, Victor, and Capitol could only muster five between them. Her records sold tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of copies, an unheard of level for those days. Blind Blake lived in the early part of the twentieth century and was an accomplished blues guitarist and singer, known for his distinctive ragtime style and is credited with helping to establish the Piedmont Blues style of playing. Patton began recording late in his career but made up for lost time by laying down 60 songs in less than five years, including his best-selling first single, "Pony Blues." Out on Americas West Coast a new record label was flexing its muscle though Capitol Records was not specifically a blues imprint. Scott and plays guitar on her 1998 album Hard Act to Follow. It is effective to have a great story about a song or a session that you cant find by Googling something on the internet. Sacramento raised Early Times is a blues guitarist who started playing professionally when he was sixteen. She adopted the name Etta James - a play on her first name - in 1954 and began her solo career soon after. These and other blues musicians with pseudonyms took on new monikersfor a wide variety of reasons. Once I have a little spark, I can turn it into a song. At twenty-two, King hitched a ride to Memphis to launch his musical career. It is the title track to the album. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); About Us Contributors Terms of Service Privacy Policy 2023 uDiscover Music, Robert Johnson - Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues (Official Video), Charlie Patton High Water Everywhere, Pt 1, A Family Affair: The Blood Bonds That Stormed The World, Dub Music: Exploring The Genres Jamaican Origins, DIY Music: How Musicians Did It For Themselves, How LGBTQ Musicians Broke Barriers To The Mainstream, All You Need Is The Summer Of Love: How 1967 Sparked A Revolution, Walking In Memphis: A Guide To The Birthplace Of RocknRoll, Anarchy Around The World: Punk Goes Global, The Sinister Urge: How The Marriage Of Metal And Horror Terrified The World, Impulse For Change: A Short History of Impulse! British rock musicians in the 1960s, especially the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and John Mayall, were strongly influenced by the blues, as were such American rock musicians as Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and the Allman Brothers Band. Dealers Choice Records/Vizztone Label Group. At eighteen, Holiday met a producer named John Hammond and after that, her career took off at lightning speed. During his time in Sacramento he received an unprecedented 10 nominations in the Sacramento Area Music Awards (Sammies), more than any other artist in the area. The Greatest R&B Artists and Bands of All Time. Blue Horizon, in the UK, briefly carried the torch, and, later, labels such as Alligator Records, Delmark, Arhoolie, and Yazoo have done a great job in recording modern-day blues artists. While in Angola Leadbelly met and recorded for Library of Congress musicologists John and Alan Lomax. Not for one second did they think they were about to make history. The blues have influenced many other musical styles. It also marked a sea change for the music industry, with the need for men, machinery, and raw materials creating change throughout the entertainment industry. His strongest studio albums of this era were those that most closely tried to emulate the live experience, and the critically acclaimed Live in Cook County Jail (1971) was particularly noteworthy. There, he recorded his latest CD, The Corner, which was produced by Jay Messina. Everybody usually thinks the earliest blues is from the Mississippi Delta, but Blind Lemon Jefferson was recording in Texas before a lot of people started recording as did Texas Alexander. He moved to Paris in 1963 and settled there permanently. Out on the West Coast, the Rene brothers, Leon and Otis, started the Excelsior label around the same time as Savoy. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Over the next decade, his prestige would only continue to grow. Lee Hildebrands (SF Chronicle) 4-star review of Hard Act to Follow declared: Featured throughout is the scorching guitar work of a Sacramento musician by the name of Early Times.. was an instant hit and is still one of the biggest rock albums of all time. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That is a question that goes around in my mind. Victor, taken over by RCA in 1929, had recorded The Memphis Jug Band, Luke Jordan, Blind Willie McTell, Canons Jug Stompers, Frank Stokes, Ishman Bracey, Furry Lewis, and Robert Wilkins across the previous three years. 10 Early Artists Who Defined the Blues - LiveAbout They soon became one of the most popular bands in the state. out of his New York studio.