A lot of people relate me to the blues but I don’t think it’s a hindrance at this point. I’ve been doing it long enough that I can do different things and be accepted.
~Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was the first white harmonica player to develop a style original and powerful enough to place him in the pantheon of true blues greats. It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of the doors Butterfield opened: before he came to prominence, white American musicians treated the blues with cautious respect, afraid of coming off as inauthentic. Not only did Butterfield clear the way for white musicians to build upon blues tradition (instead of merely replicating it), but his storming sound was a major catalyst in bringing electric Chicago blues to white audiences who’d previously considered acoustic Delta blues the only really genuine article.
~Steve Huey (allmusic.com)
Hey joe, where you goin’ with that gun of your hand
Hey joe, i said where you goin’ with that gun in your hand, oh
I’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady
You know i caught her messin’ ’round with another man
Yeah, i’m goin’ down to shoot my old lady
You know i caught her messin’ ’round with another man
Huh! and that ain’t cool
“Tonight you’re gonna hear the concert of your life”, the guy of KSAN states to his listeners at the beginning of this radio broadcast, and it is the truth!Interview with Bob Harris from 1978:
“I think a guy who’s had just the right amount of booze can sing the blues a hell of a lot better than a guy who is stone sober.”
~Charlie Rich
“Charlie Rich had the intuitive instinct to feel, see and hear pain, disappointment, happiness and joy and somehow transmute it into music. I don’t know anyone who has ever written or sung in a way that depicted more of the humanity of man, with greater melodic beauty, than Charlie Rich.”
~Sam Phillips
“Charlie Rich was the best. His talent and style knew no boundaries. After years of being the victim of stereotypical critics who could neither understand nor label him, Charlie’s beautiful, haunting voice, surrounded by his piano, was discovered by the world. I’m just glad I was around for the ride.”
~Billy Sherrill (Record Producer)
Except maybe for Ricky Skaggs, this folksy eccentric sings fewer embarrassing songs than anyone in country music. Unlike Skaggs, he plays at innocence rather than striving for it, which is why there always seems to be something comic bubbling under the eager warmth of his voice. And as you soon learn from lyrics like “Black Sheep” and “Swingin’,” he’s unlike Skaggs in another way as well: he’s not a moralistic tight-ass
~Robert Christgau (about JA’s “Greatest Hits”)
