The way I think about the blues, comes from what I learned from Big Joe Williams. The blues is more than something to sit home and arrange. What made the real blues singers so great is that they were able to state all the problems they had; but at the same time, they were standing outside of them and could look at them. And in that way, they had them beat. What’s depressing today is that many young singers are trying to get inside the blues, forgetting that those older singers used them to get outside their troubles.
-Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan Liner Notes – 1963)
Joseph Lee “Big Joe” Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded the songs “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama”, among many others.
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go
“The way I think about the blues, comes from what I learned from Big Joe Williams.”
~Bob Dylan (“The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” Liner Notes)
From Wikipedia
Birth name
Joseph Lee Williams
Born
October 16, 1903
Crawford, Mississippi, United States
Died
December 17, 1982 (aged 79)
Macon, Mississippi, United States
Genres
Delta blues
Occupations
Musician, songwriter
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Labels
Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige, Vocalion Records
Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982),billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama” for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion.Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.
Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman’s Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:
“When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield’s “blues night” at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard”.
Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptionally idiosyncratic guitarist. Despite his deserved reputation as a fighter (documented in Michael Bloomfield’s bizarre booklet Me and Big Joe), artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman. Even so, they may not have chosen to play with him, because — as with other older Delta artists — if you played with him you played by his rules.
~Barry Lee Pearson (allmusic.com)
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Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:
Album of the day – The Very Best Of Big Joe Williams
18-July-2013 – Hebridean Celtic Festival – Stornoway, Scotland
In order to prepare well for an upcoming Van Morrison concert @ Notodden Blues Festival in early August, I’ve collected setlists & put together some statistics from this summer’s concerts. Videos are also embedded in this post.
Summer Tour 2013
Castleward Bread Festival – May 26
Dunluce Castle 7th June, 2013
Dunluce Castle 8th June, 2013 —
Cornbury Festival, Oxford – July 7
Larmer Tree Festival, Salisbury – July 17
Heb Celt Festival, Stornoway – July 18
Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 21 July
Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 22 July
Notodden Blues Festival, Notodden (Norway) – 2 August
Setlists – July:
Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 22 July
Coney Island
Celtic Excavation
Into the Mystic
In the Garden
What Am I Living For
Playhouse
Sometimes We Cry
Going Down to Monte Carlo
Retreat and View
Haunts of Ancient Peace
Common One
Enlightenment
Thanks For The Information
Baby Please Don’t Go/Rock Island Line/Boogie Chillin
Help Me
Gloria
Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 21 July
Coney Island
Higher Than The World
Stranded
Pay The Devil
What Am I Living For
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
Have I Told You Lately
Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue
Sometimes We Cry
Playhouse
Going Down to Monte Carlo
Retreat and View
Fame
Too Many Myths
Take Your Hand Outta My Pocket
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Gloria
Heb Celt Festival, Stornoway – July 18
sorry… can’t find VM’s setlist for this concert…. yet…
Larmer Tree Festival, Salisbury – July 17
Avalon Of The Heart
Got To Go Back
The Mystery
Days Like This
Baby Please Don’t Go
Here Comes The Night
Moondance
What Am I Living For
Playhouse
Tupelo Honey
Open The Door (To Your Heart)
Sometimes We Cry
Brown Eyed Girl
In The Garden
Haunts Of Ancient Peace
Whenever God Shines His Light
Help Me
Gloria
Cornbury Festival, Oxford – July 7
Only A Dream
Precious Time
Baby Please Don’t Go
Days Like This
Moondance
Jackie Wilson Said
Real Real Gone
Here Comes the Night
Have I Told You Lately
Help Me
My Pagan Heart
I Can’t Stop Loving You
Crazy Love
Whenever God Shines His Light
Brown Eyed Girl
Gloria
Statistics – after 7* concerts:
*8 concerts played, but I miss one setlist..
The clips from this tour shows he’s in excellent form…
Gloria (7/7) Dunluce 2013:
live at the Hollywood Bowl, 2008
Brown Eyed Girl (3/3) Dunluce 2013:Live with the Caledonian Soul Orchestra in 1973:
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go
From Wikipedia
Birth name
Joseph Lee Williams
Born
October 16, 1903
Crawford, Mississippi, United States
Died
December 17, 1982 (aged 79)
Macon, Mississippi, United States
Genres
Delta blues
Occupations
Musician, songwriter
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Labels
Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige, Vocalion Records
Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982),billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama” for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion.Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.
Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman’s Story, Virginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:
“When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield’s “blues night” at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard”.
From allmusic.com – Barry Lee Pearson
Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptionally idiosyncratic guitarist. Despite his deserved reputation as a fighter (documented in Michael Bloomfield‘s bizarre booklet Me and Big Joe), artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman. Even so, they may not have chosen to play with him, because — as with other older Delta artists — if you played with him you played by his rules.
….read more over @ allmusic.com
–
Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:
Album of the day – The Very Best Of Big Joe Williams
