... and the rabbits sat quietly until we threw holy water on them: blues

Showing posts with label blues. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2023

Radio Memphis | Blues in the Basement

Ric Chetter started broadcasting an internet radio station in his living room in 2011. Radio Memphis, featuring music from independent artists in the Memphis area, now broadcasts from a former recording studio in the basement of an office building on Poplar Avenue. (Happy 10th Anniversary!) The Sunday night "Booze & Blues" show features live in-studio interviews and performances.

Ric Chetter

At the helm of the pirate ship that is Radio Memphis.

Here's a few of the guests Ric hosted in the basement in 2017:

Tony Manard

Just another fool from Memphis, ya'll.

Cam Kimbrough - Straight Outta Marshall County and the grandson of Junior Kimbrough.

Mario Monterosso and Cam Kimbrough

Click to hear what happens when Italy meets north Mississippi in Memphis.

Mario and Cam were introduced to each other for the first time just minutes before.

Paul Rogers

Keeping the low end nice and greasy for Joyce "She-Wolf" Jones.

Robert Kimbrough carries on the cotton patch soul blues of his late father Junior Kimbrough along with brothers Kinny Kimbrough (background top photo) and David Kimbrough, Jr. (foreground bottom photo).

Carlos Elliot, Jr. from Peirera, Colombia, South America. Carlos was heavy influenced by the Mississippi blues of Paul "Wine" Jones and T-Model Ford.

Bobby Gentilo - guitar picker for The Cornlickers.

Dale Wise - drummer for The Cornlickers and the late Big Jack Johnson.

Grammy nominated north Mississippi hill country bluesman RL Boyce

(see this post for more on RL)

You can tune in to Radio Memphis at www.radio-memphis.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Steve

Tuesday, July 27, 2021

RL Boyce | RL Got Gramminated

"Which R.L. do you want?"

R.L. Boyce at the 2004 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival

I know of three R.L.s - my late uncle R.L. Robertson, a South Carolina farmer; R.L. Burnside, the late Blues Hall of Famer from Marshall County, Mississippi; and R.L. Boyce, a hill country bluesman from Como, Mississippi. My grandma Georgia was a Boyce. So, I'm sure that if you dig down deep enough and remove enough people, you'll find that the third R.L. and I are related. At least, I'd like to think so.

"Cousin" R.L. and I did a lot together during this blog's nine year hiatus. There are too many stories to recount in just one post. But, the following is a start.

R.L. Boyce | North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic

R.L. began his music career as a drummer in Otha Turner's fife and drum band (mentioned in this post). He "learned guitar" to become a lead man on his own. In 2015, I helped R.L. on his South American tour with Carlos Elliot, Jr. and the Cornlickers. By that time, I had known him a couple of years but had yet to solve the mystery of the initials. When the time came to book his flight, I told R.L. that the name on his international ticket had to match his name exactly as it was on his birth certificate and I needed to know what it was. The trap was set. "You got your pencil ready," he said over the phone. "I'll go real slow. ... R period L period B-O-Y-C-E."

with the Cornlickers
Tony Ryder, RL, Dale Wise, Carlos Elliot, Bobby Gentilo

Peirera, Colombia | soundcheck

Hard Rock Cafe - Medellin | in the green room

Envigado, Colombia | Contenedoros

Prior to the show in Peirera, a local news crew asked RL why it was important to him to be part of the event. For what would not be the last time in my life, RL turned to me and said, "You tell 'em, buddy." Staring at the camera, I blurted out the only thing that came mind. "Because he likes to boogie and he wants you to boogie, too."

Skipping ahead to 2017, RL released an album of extended, improvisational blues jams recorded live in the front yard of his house in Como, Mississippi. Entitled Roll & Tumble, it features RL on guitar and vocals, Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars) and Lightin' Malcolm on guitars, and the father-son duo of Calvin Jackson (Junior Kimbrough) and Cedric Burnside (the other RL's grandson) on drums. In November that year, the label called me with news. Within minutes, RL called me, too. "Hey, buddy. Luther called and said I won tickets to the Grammys." "No, buddy," I replied. "You got nominated for a Grammy." As a result, more people started asking RL the same question I did and RL kept giving the same answer he gave me.

promoting Roll & Tumble at Radio Memphis

at home in Como, Mississippi

The Recording Academy held the 2018 Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York City, rather than Kodak Theater in Hollywood where the show took place in previous years. January in Los Angeles beats January in New York hands down. Nevertheless, I would not have missed this trip to NYC in January for anything.

The ceremony has two parts. Awards in most of the 84 categories, including Best Traditional Blues Album, are handed out during the afternoon. The awards in the remaining ten or so categories are announced that evening during the live TV broadcast. Before we headed off for the Big Apple, Luther offered some advice from personal experience. "It's a long day," he said. "Bring snacks." So, on the way to the ceremony, we stopped at a corner convenience store to stuff the pockets of my new tux with goodies. "What do you want?" I asked. "Nothing. I'm fine," RL assured. Sure enough, though, less than 30 minutes into the broadcast portion, he whispered, "Hey, buddy. You got any more of them Snicker bars?"

Mrs. L. and the nominee in NYC

promo stop at City Winery NYC during Grammy week - photo by Mrs. L.

Did RL win? In the words of fellow nominee Elvin Bishop, "Aww, hell no. We was up against the Rollin Stones."

Thanks for stopping by.

- Steve

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Leo Bud Welch | I Don't Know What You Come To Do

Otha Turner and his Rising Star Fife and Drum Band performed all over the world. But back home, he was famous for the picnics hosted on his farm in Gravel Springs, Mississippi. Musician friends would drop by for a bar-b-que goat sandwich, and an adult beverage or two, and then stay to play all night long. The Gravel Springs community in Tate County borders on neighboring Panola County. Tate was dry. Panola was wet. The story goes, at least the one told to me, that on the morning of a picnic local politicians would declare Otha's place to be in Panola County for the day. Since his passing in 2003, Otha's granddaughter Sharde Thomas has kept his fife and drum and picnic legacies intact.

It was at one such gathering on Otha's old homestead in the summer of 2013 that I met Leo "Bud" Welch. His manager, Vencie (who I did not know at the time), saw the camera hanging on my neck and walked over. "That's Leo Bud Welch," he said, nodding back at the gentleman sitting behind us. "He's 81 years old and plays guitar. Would you take some pictures?" Leo stood up. Vencie introduced us. We chatted a bit. Leo proudly told me he was from Bruce, Mississippi. He also confided that today was not only one of his first public performances outside the church, but one of his first public "blues" performances. I snapped a few shots. Then, it was Leo's and his red guitar's turn to take the stage - a flatbed trailer parked behind Otha's old house. Accompanied by a solitary drummer, Leo played a brand of blues both raw and gritty, yet deeply infused with the gospel music he grew up performing in church.

The photos from that impromptu shoot would soon help introduce Leo to a world-wide audience. Elmore magazine published the photo at the top of this post, which Leo also used in one of his early videos.

Garden & Gun published the following photo, which also appeared in The StarTribune, The Morton Report, and the fundraising trailer for the full-length documentary, "Late Blossom Blues," by Austrian filmmaker and promoter Wolfgang Almer.

Over the next four years, I was blessed to spend time with Leo on several more occasions and photograph him again.

Photos above | May 2017 Kimbrough Cotton Patch Blues Festival

I took this one at the Foxfire Ranch Blues Barn near Waterford, Mississippi:

When Leo passed in December 2017, the family included it as one of three photos etched into his headstone. I am humbled and honored to remain with him in this way.

photo courtesy of Mt. Zion Memorial Fund

Not long after that picnic performance, Leo recorded his first record, "Sabougla Voices." It was released in 2014 on Big Legal Mess Records a division of Fat Possum. In condensed form, the lyrics of the opening track are a fitting conclusion for this post:

I don't know what you come to do.

I come to praise his name.
I don't know what you come to do.
I come to sing my song.
I don't know what you come to do.
I come to kneel in prayer.

You can listen to it on Leo's still-active YouTube channel.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Steve