Tag Archives: Vocalion Records
This Historic Day In Music: “Sweet Home Chicago”
“Oh, baby, don’t you want to go?” If you were to make a list of “standard” Blues songs, “Sweet Home Chicago” would definitely be among the top ten. I can’t, however, think of any song on that list with roots … Continue reading
“…beaten up, his guitar smashed…”
“I want to tell you all about the way they treated me.” From: “If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day” by Robert Johnson I’ve written about Robert Johnson before. I’ve written about the Mississippi Blues musician’s first recording … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: November 23, 1936, The Gunter Hotel, Rm.414, San Antonio, Texas – Take 2
They had travelled from Mississippi to Texas, the young black man with a guitar and the older, white business man. Years later, people along their route would still remember this unusual sight. The business man was Ernie Oertle, a talent scout … Continue reading
Boogie Woogie: A twohundredandthirtystr story
Boogie – (from: Merriam-Webster.com) verb: 1) to dance to Rock music, also: revel, party. 2) to move quickly. noun: 1) boogie-woogie. 2) earthy and strongly rhythmic rock music conducive to dancing. Boogie Woogie – (from: Harvard Dictionary of Music) Originally, a … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: November 27, 1936, The Gunter Hotel, Rm.414, San Antonio, Texas – Take 2
On Friday, November 27, 1936, Robert Johnson, a 25-year-old Blues musician from Mississippi, had his third recording session for ARC Records. The location of these sessions was The Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. The ARC recording crew of A & … Continue reading
Rewriting The Record For The Electric Guitar Again
One sentence. “On September 23-25, 1935, Leon McAuliffe, a brilliant player from Tulsa, Oklahoma, whose phrasing could have well influenced Charlie Christian, featured both electric steel and electrically amplified Spanish guitar on the first recordings of Bob Wills’s Texas Playboys.” … Continue reading
Rewriting The Record For The Electric Guitar
The book was called: Discography Of Western Swing And Hot String Bands, 1928-1942 by Cary Ginell and Kevin Coffey. It had been published in 2001. I found it one afternoon a few months ago in the Performing Arts Reading Room, … Continue reading
This Historic Day In Music: The King Of The Delta Blues Singers
One of the first times I heard the words and music of Robert Johnson, I was listening to a Rolling Stones album. It was December 1969. I was listening to Let It Bleed, the new album by the Stones. The second … Continue reading
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