This 1954 recording (the second, after 1952’s original) of blues standard “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters is one of the all-time classic blues records; a vital piece of Chicago-style electric blues that links the Delta to rock & roll..
~Bill Janovitz (allmusic.com)
Hoochie Coochie Man ( Chess 1954):
Continue reading Jan 7: Muddy Waters recorded “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” in 1954
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)
| 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) |
Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:
Continue reading Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903, 110 years ago
I believe musicians have a duty, a responsibility to reach out, to share your love or pain with others.
~James TaylorThat’s the motivation of an artist – to seek attention of some kind.
~James TaylorWhen people use the term “singer/songwriter” (often modified by the word “sensitive”) in praise or in criticism, they’re thinking of James Taylor.
~William Ruhlmann (allmusic.com)
Fire & Rain – Live
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single “Fire and Rain” and had his first No. 1 hit the following year with “You’ve Got a Friend”, a recording of Carole King’s classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released. Wikipedia |
We all have to face pain, and pain makes us grow.
~James Taylor
You’ve Got A Friend (Live on North Sea Jazz Festival 2009)
Sweet Baby James (1970)
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
| 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.
….read more over @ allmusic.com
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Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:
Continue reading Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903 – 99 years ago