Episode 107: A History of the Blues (short stories and music to entertain and, ideally, inform) 08 07 2022

There's a story behind this week's show. The Blues Society of Omaha asked me and Glenn, who fills in from time to time, to go on the main stage of our annual, In the Market for the Blues, and discuss the history of the blues.

So we did. Sorta.

The blues is a pretty big topic - especially to pack into 45 minutes. Instead, I put together A History of the Blues (rather than The History...). I decided to discuss some of the events that made the blues the artform it is today including The Great Migrations of Blacks from the American South to the north and west, some of the sources for blues music including field recordings, Chess Records, and John Hammond. I also told some stories like how John Lomax's efforts to get a recording label for Leadbelly tied together with the sit-com Friends, or how John Hammond's search for Robert Johnson created, in large part, the sound that was Classic Rock, or how a Memphis kid's love of a jug band player lead, indirectly, to several hit recording acts in the 60s and 70s. Or how Reg Dwight played the blues and became Elton John.

We are ecclectricity and, ideally, you find that entertaining and informative. At the very least, but perhaps the most important, the show is not predictable or driven by cliches.

Thanks for giving this a lesson.
It was an act of love putting this together.
I hope you enjoy the effort.

Pacific Street Blues
August 7, 2022

Link to Visuals

1. Blue House and the Rent to Own Horns / I Put a Spell on You
2. Dave Alvin / Highway 66
3. W.C. Handy /Beale Street Blues
4. Louis Armstrong / What Did I Do (to be so Black and Blue)?
5. Alan Lomax / Spoken Word
6. Rev. Gary Davis / Candy Man
7. Bessie Jones and the Group
8. Blind Willie Johnson / John the Revelator (Rex Granite Band, Mellencamp, Son House)
9. Tedeschi Trucks Band / Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
10. Leadbelly / New Orleans
11. Lonnie Donegan / Rock Island Line
12. The Animals / House of the Rising Sun
13. Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) / Donegan's Gone
14. Bruce Springsteen / spoken
15. Woody Guthrie / This Land is Your Land
6. The Carter Family / When the World's on Fire
17. Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash / Jackson
18. Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash / North Country Girl
19. Memphis Jug Band / KC Moan
20. Charlie Musselwhite / Blues Gave Me a Ride (Elvin Bishop [Paul Butterfield Blues Band], Ben Harper)
21. Lovin' Spoonful / What a Day for a Daydream (Even Dozen Jug Band; Jonathan Sebastian, David Grisom (Grateful Dead), Steve Katz (Blood Sweat & Tears),
22. Maria Muldaur/ Midnight at the Oasis