Comments on: Mojo’s Cold Shot: R.L. Burnside, “First Recordings”

By: edmur

edmur — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:58:35 +0000

You're right about Iglauer and Alligator keeping the blues flames flickering…but man, I can't stand to listen to most of the crap they put out…maybe it had more to do w/ the label's production techniques, or that it was the '80s, but it all sounded (and still sounds) soulless to these ears.

By: MojoHater

MojoHater — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:46:22 +0000

This time you've gone too far, Mojo…you're now the Sarah Palin of music criticism.

Wait a second, though – I'm in the middle of sending emails to folks like Chris Cotton, Otis Taylor, Hillstomp, Jimmy Wolf, Patrick Sweany, Isaiah Owens, Elvin Bishop, Keb' Mo' and countless others that they're painstaking and wonderful efforts are futile because they're laboring in a DEAD MEDIUM…

Yeesh.

By: mojo

mojo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:29:30 +0000

Nah, not authenticity. That's hard stuff to argue in music--one of my old saw debate tricks is to point out that all musical sound is derivative, traceable to some cave dude banging a stick against the cave wall.

MOre like audiences. Tedeschi brings young and old blues fans together, everyone agrees she's blues.

You might convince an old Yardbirds fan that Jack White's rendition of "Death Letter" is blues, but he might tell you to take you black keys and cram it up yours.

Scissormen, of course, played Deep blues festival. However, they predate most the other Deep Blues bands. You might make an argument that Ted predates the genre, and he's just and RL Burnside friend and student doing his own blues thing. BLack Keys did that, too, but to me they sound rock-ier.

Perhaps in the lexicon of blues 15 years from now, folklorists will say that Howling Diablos and BDH made blues music. For now, they're hard to wedge into the same category. They are bringing new fans to the table, however, who are getting into old blues for the first time. I likes that.

Don't diss Alligator. Bruce Iglauer and his pals at Delmark almost singlehandedly kept blues alive for a 20 year stretch while Americans listened to Disco and New Wave. If they didn't give a crap, we wouldn't be having our Cold Shots.

By: edmur

edmur — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:14:37 +0000

so, “authenticity” plays a role, then? is that what you're saying? BDH are not blues…Black Keys are? How about the Scissormen (to pick another random name off of the Deep Blues Festival lineup)…would they confuse ol' Muddy Waters?

I'm not disagreeing w/ you, either…and I feel the same way about Delbert McClinton and pretty much anyone that's ever been on the Alligator label (including the “Iceman” Albert Collins). Maybe it's their SOUND more than their songs. Their STYLE (flash) rather than their SUBSTANCE. All sizzle, no steak, as the old saying goes…

Agree w/ you also about Tedeschi and Shemekia…but I think you are now making my original point that the Blues is FAR from dead

By: mojo

mojo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:53:12 +0000

Oh yeah, I love Susan Tedeschi. She is new, exciting blues. And Shemekia Copeland, Johhny Clyde's daughter. They both are furthering the milieu and indeed should get they own Cold Shots in the future.

By: mojo

mojo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:49:46 +0000

I guess I consider Deep Blues more like blues-rock, stuff that has as much in common with Cream and Hendrix and Zeppelin and ZZ Top, even the Sex Pistols and lo-fi punky stuff...as it does with blues ...and not blues proper.

If the Black Diamond Heavies showed up on a bill with confirmed blues artists such as Buddy Guy or BB King at a Harborlights in Boston (or whatever Corporate Name it has Now)...blues fans who came out to see it would boo them off the stage.

Not that that would be a bad thing. The last Harborlights gig I saw included delbert McClinton. HIs tired act made me want to cast myself into the harbor with a bass amp tied around my ankles. But he's blues. BDH is not.

I agree, the Deep Blues is fantastic, exciting, regenerative, and excellent to listen to. I just dispute the taxonomy. It's something new, it's an evolution of blues into some postpunk something. It would confuse old Muddy Waters.

By: Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:37:29 +0000

If you're curious, info on the Deep Blues Festival can be found at

http://www.deepbluesfestival.com

http://www.myspace.com/deepbluesfestival

By: edmur

edmur — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:30:27 +0000

Right on, Mojo…right on. RL is the real deal, that's for sure…”First Recordings” confirms that, much more than Fat Possum's other RL releases.

But, how can you say Blues has “one foot and two thirds of the other in the grave”? Just because there aren't any more original blues dinosaurs roaming the earth doesn't mean the the blues as a musical form is any less vital today. You mentioned a handful of current practioners…and there are TONS more out there. Chris Johnson's annual Deep Blues Festival alone should prove to you that, far from being almost dead, the Blues is as alive and kicking as ever.

By: edmur

edmur — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:58:35 +0000

By: MojoHater

MojoHater — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:46:22 +0000

This time you've gone too far, Mojo…you're now the Sarah Palin of music criticism.

Yeesh.