BackAlleyBlues

Blues guitarist Lee Gates was born in Mississippi sometime in the 1940s. As a first cousin to blues legend Albert Collins it seemed ordained that he would love the blues and become a blues artist. It’s easy to hear the family influence when Lee picks up his guitar and the music begins to flow.

Lee moved to Milwaukee in 1959 and started playing at Wilson’s Club at 10th and Center Street with the house band. He stayed with the club for 15 years straight and has been treating fans in Milwaukee to his brand of down home blues for almost fifty years.

Even though Lee and Albert both played the blues they never met until Lee was in his early 30s. Lee says it was due to his uncle living in Texas, “My daddy’s brother had a lot of kids out there in Texas. I never met them as a child, but we all knew of each other.”

After he finally met his legendary cousin in 1974, he would show him around Milwaukee whenever Albert came to town and they would do some gigs together. He remembers those times as something special and said, “He was a good friend to me.”

Even though Lee has performed his fluid style of music for 50 some years it has only been recently that he decided to record any of his music. In October 2003 he traveled to Alabama, spent three hours recording, pronounced the CD done, and gave the world the glorious tones of his magical guitar. Hopefully this will just be the start of a long and fruitful recording career.

At the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival this year Lee will give his thirsty public a long and cool drink of his down home traditional blues.

Texas Boogie - Riding High

Mississippi John Hurt

1892 - 1966

Mississippi John Hurt's father was Isom and his mother Mary Jan McCain. He was born in Teoc, MS on July 3, 1892 in the hill country not far from the tiny town of Avalon whose population was not even one hundred. He was one of three children who at the age of nine, began to teach himself how to play the guitar when his Mother had bought him his first, "Black Annie." She paid $1.50 for it. Hurt had soon developed a style like no other artist of his time or from the area

Hurt was originally discovered in 1928 by Okeh recording director Tommy Rockwell when he had heard about John Hurt from two white country musicians he had recorded in the area, guitar player Shell Smith and fiddler Willie Narmour. After recording Narmour, Rockwell quickly auditioned Hurt. Hurt, who again had rarely left the Avalon area soon traveled to Memphis, TN where he recorded eight titles. It was at this time that "Frankie" and "Nobody's Dirty Business" were released. Hurt remembered being very nervous and completely out of his element as the producer made him sit up straight and still in front of the microphone, practically frozen as he sang. His poor neck ached for days on end afterwards. He also recalled being seated outside the recording studio with whom would become legends themselves, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Bessie Smith. Each of them would occasionally get up to sneak a peek at what was happening on the other side of the glass before they were unceremoniously brandished away and back to their seats. These first recordings made Hurt a staggering $240.00 and all of his expenses were paid for. Both "Frankie" and "Nobody's Dirty Business" sold very well and Hurt found himself traveling to New York City to once again record for Okeh. Just before Christmas of 1928, Hurt recorded legendary tracks like "Spike Driver Blues," "Stack O' Lee," "Avalon Blues" and "Louis Collins." "Louis Collins" was a ballad written about the murder of the man named in the title. Hurt had opined that Collins was a good and decent man who had been killed by two thugs named Bob and Louis. He had heard of the story and known just enough about the events to turn them into a complexity of peaceful weariness and prophetic magic.

The Radiators blend some Creole spice with a little bit of bayou funk and then add some of that mean river blues to create what is know as Fish Head Music. Like fine jambalaya, you just never know exactly what the Radiators will cook up. Their non stop yearly tours include the top clubs and festivals, from BB Kings in NYC to High Sierra fest in Quincy, CA. Their fans have honored the true New Orleans connection the Radiators represent by forming private krewes all over America. But instead of beads these people throw Radiators shows. Their DADs ball every Halloween in Minnesota has become legendary.

In only its fourth year, The Monkey Krewe of south Florida has followed valiantly in its predecessors footsteps. Like the Minnesota DADs krewe, many members of the Monkey Krewe are frequent visitors to New Orleans and have an eye for keeping things as authentic as possible. There is a Monkey Krewe Court with coronations and the weekend builds up to a masquerade ball known as the Monkey Ball, of course. And these fans do not miss a detail. They have a website and an email list. This is serious fun. When Monkey Ball rolls into South Florida the first weekend of January it will seem as if New Orleans was visiting, and that's the whole idea.

Willie’s first recording was a local production with Alabama bluesman “Birmingham” George Conner, titled Walkin’ the Walk, Talkin’ the Talk. This CD created an unexpected amount of interest, and promoted reviewer Gordon Baxter to state, “No label, no catalog number, and definitely no doubt about it, Walkin’ The Walk Talkin’ The Talk will feature in my top 10 albums of 2000.”

I Am the Blues, Willie’s next CD, was a solo project, produced by Willie King in collaboration with the Alabama Blues Project. Again, despite being independently produced and initially only locally distribute, this album gained a lot of critical acclaim. This CD was a “Top 10 Album of 2000” for Niles Frantz, host to Chicago Public Radio’s Comin’ Home program. He described it as “Howlin’ Wolf meets B.B. King in the Alabama backwoods. The real deal . . . brilliant.”

Jim O’Neal eventually caught up with Willie King to record Freedom Creek, Willie King’s debut album on Rooster Blues Records. With international distribution, this was King’s powerful introduction into the wider music and blues world. Not only was the album acclaimed by critics worldwide, it also received awards from Living Blues Magazine for Best Male Blues Artist (2001), Best Blues Album (2000) and Best Contemporary Blues Album (2000).

http://www.willie-king.com/

We all come from diverse backgrounds and have joined together to create a unique sound of Blues Jam Rock. James and Dave played in Simple Agression, a metal band, and their CD was sold in the U.S. and in Europe. James went on to play in another blues band, Jamestown. Dave also played in Quadimondi a progressive rock band. Keith was in Swan, Factor S, and Painter all cover and original bands. Painter toured the East Coast and was on several album projects. His latest project was West End, an all original contemporary rock band. Their CD was well received and they had a very loyal following. We have taken all of our combined musical tastes, experiences and love of all great music and formed eastsouthern. It has been a challenge but, well worth it.

Being an independent artist. This move started out by having a few labels tell you they love you and your the best etc........ but they are not taking risk on this kind of music. Its not the 1970's anymore. Holding on to what I loved I continued on without any financial support from labels etc. Everything I did was on my own. This was now the late 90's and in investing my own money I started buying and selling analog multitrack recorders. There was a huge second hand market for these recorders as the turn of the independent musician and a home studio revolution was just starting to take place. I had Tascams, Otaris, MCI's, Ampex you name it they all came through my door. With all this going on I successfully got enough recording gear to do my own thing and not pay for studio time for recording. I was now ready for the next generation of music MP3's. MP3 sites were popping up all over the web. Only one was the real deal. The original MP3.com site. It no longer exists just a shell make shift version created by download.com. I do not have my music anywhere on that site.

I decided back in 1999 to place some of my recordings on the MP3.com site. Just a few Flying Without Wings, Homesick Blues and Cruising The Rainforest. These songs were from my massive collection of reel to reel tapes I recorded in my home studio. I checked back in a few days and noticed my songs were topping the charts. I was like is this real or what. The formula at mp3 was to have CD's for sale and make money off each CD. MP3 would burn CD's one sale at a time if need be and the artist collected a few dollars from each one sold. In my accounting over the years 1999-2001 I had sold over 250,000 CD's and had over 1 1/2 million downloads. This equaled out to big money. I mean enough to buy a new house, new cars, and all new furniture. Kinda like the rappers of today you know MTV cribs LOL!! This was my payoff for all the hard years trying to make it happen. I earned this and I waited a long time for this moment in time. Man I paid big bucks in taxes those years! Did I learn my lesson from the past NO............ I spent all the money but I have the rewards to show for it. Sure enough the easy street ride came to a sudden halt in 2001. MP3 got sued and Universal took over and piece by piece shut down the site. The financial good times once again were over except this time I got to ride it out and reap the rewards. Funny thing MP3 would never release the names of who bought the CD's from me so I never really knew who did, just where they were located. Even with these crazy off the charts sales figures I once again have a grammy award winning producer who believed in me represent me once again to the labels with all my sales results and guess what... Once again they passed on me. They said I was an amazing artist but they did not handle what I was doing musically. As if I didn't expect this. The producer thought for sure it would be a sure deal but no go. I was not surprised. OK so where to now you say......

http://jackfalk.wolfnetradio.com/MP3Music.htm.

http://www.uncleshag.com

thanks uncle shag for love of the music and desire to share jack falk music. Thanks for all you do

Indianapolis blues royalty Da Bottomfeeders know how to rock a house party. They stay true to the original formula and hold it tight all night long. Their tasty licks and smoking harp tones would be welcome at any fish fry.

http://music.download.com/Dabottomfeeders/3600-8373_32-100632724.html?tag=MDL_FA_artistI

http://www.oswegoharborfest.com/schedule.php?type=reg&day=sunday

http://music.download.com/bernieclarkeandtherhythmsharks/3600-8410_32-100576927.html

This is the title track from the Corby Yates Band "Back From Yesterday" CD.

The album was released in 2005 and features Corby Yates on lead guitar and vocals, his dad Jim Yates on bass and Andy Doerschuk on drums.

The whole "Back From Yesterday" album rocks solid, just like this track. It's available at www.CD Baby.com.

If you enjoy guitar driven, heavy blues rock, you'll be happy you bought this album. Corby dominates the genre of "psycho-active blues rock."

And if you ever get a chance to see Corby Yates perform at a live show, DON'T MISS IT. The Corby Yates Band is an incredible and electrifying live act.

http://www.corbyyates.com/Home.cfm