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House of the rising Son
Life, John Clewley, Published on 27/09/2022
» Son House is regarded as one of the greats of early blues, along with early recording stars like Charley Patton and Robert Johnson. He made 78rpm records in the 1930s but a spell in penitentiary halted his career and by the 1940s he had abandoned recording. It wasn't until 1964 that Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro "rediscovered" him working at a gas station. He was completely unaware of the interest in folk blues at the time (Skip James and Bukka White were already playing crossover folk clubs).
A smoother blue from North Mississippi Allstars
Life, John Clewley, Published on 13/04/2021
» In 2014, I wrote a review about the unique sound of blues rockers North Mississippi Allstars (NMA), whose music is rooted in the "fife and drum" culture of North Mississippi. Unlike in the Mississippi delta, which has a distinctive brand of guitar-driven blues, North Mississippi African-American hill country musicians use fifes (a small shrill flute used in 19th-century military bands), fiddles, banjos, tambourines, snare drums and a huge bass drum to create their local sound.