Jan Depner wrote:
On Wed, 2006-08-16 at 10:53 -0400, Dave Phillips wrote:
Cale's okay, not nearly so good a writer as Willis Alan Ramsey, but okay
for pop.
I beg to differ. At least as far as the Naturally album is
concerned. Everything on there is great.
He just doesn't reach me. Are you familiar with Willis Alan ?
[re: Mayall]
Mayall lost me when he said he never practiced harp playing. It's
pretty obvious too ;-)
Still, I have to respect him. He dedicated his life to blues music at a
time when that wasn't a sure thing in the music world.
Now everyone's a blues player, no experience necessary. Note that there
are damned few decent white blues *singers*, most aren't even as good
(?) as Mayall.
If you want to hear some core blues try Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, or
Sonny Boy Williamson, especially the old Chess material. If you want to
go deeper, get the complete Blind Willie Johnson. (Apologies if you're
already aware of this stuff).
I prefer Robert Pete Williams, RL Burnside, and Son Thomas. But the
players you mentioned are good too. ;-)
You think so ? :)
I'm looking forward to the next local blues fest (Soulshine), Byron Lee
is playing. Daniel Ballinger is headlining, I don't think he's much of a
bluesman but he does know how to get a house rocking.
Robert Pete, eh ? I have all his stuff, he's truly extraordinary. Saw RL
Burnside a few years ago, he was fine too. Alas, I haven't time to keep
up on the current crop of bluesman, white or otherwise, so I tend to
revert to the classics whenever I want to listen to core stuff.
Best,
dp
