Blues Disciples

In this episode, we take you on a heartfelt journey through the history and impact of legendary blues artists, weaving personal anecdotes with fascinating insights into their lives and music.



• Jimmy Reed: A blues crossover pioneer, known for his unique style and classics like "Big Boss Man." Jamie recalls seeing him live in Atlanta and reflects on his later struggles with alcoholism.
• Junior Wells: Muddy Waters' harmonica player, celebrated for his dynamic sound and his rendition of "Early in the Morning."
• Etta James: A powerhouse vocalist and Chess Records star, delivering emotion and passion in "Something’s Got a Hold on Me."
• Piano Red: A joyful barrelhouse pianist and radio DJ, remembered for his upbeat spirit and his iconic "Right String Baby, but the Wrong Yo Yo."
• John Lee Hooker: Known for his iconic blues style and unconventional changes in musical key, Hooker’s "Boogie Chillin'" is featured.
• Big Mama Thornton: A trailblazing second-generation blueswoman whose toughness matched her talent. Her original "Hound Dog" paved the way for Elvis Presley’s hit cover.
• David Allan Coe: The episode ends with a nod to a crossover classic, "You’d Never Even Call Me by My Name," blending country and blues elements.

Augusta Palmer – “The Blues Society” Documentary

The post 1969 Memphis Blues Festival “Blues Society” Documentary Interview appeared first on Blues Disciples Podcasts.

Roger Brown and George Mitchell with Memphis Jug Band

The post Episode 258 appeared first on Blues Disciples Podcasts.

Episode 257 – Recorded 9-28-24 – This Episode features a medley of 18 songs chosen from a 2015 album from Yahoo Records of Memphis Jug Band recordings from 1927 – 1934.  These recording start in the Roaring, Upbeat 1920’s and end in the depths of The Great Worldwide Depression.  Our featured artists are Will Shade, Charlie Burse, Hattie Hart, Ben Ramey, Will Weldon, Charlie Polk, Big Walter Horton, Jab Jones, Vol Stevens, Milton Robey, Charlie Nickerson, Tee Wee Blackman, Ham Lewis, Robert Burse.  Please give a listen.

This transcript was generated with speech recognition software and reviewed by human transcribers. It may still include inaccuracies. Please listen to the episode audio for precise quotes and email any queries to [email protected].

Jamie Anthony: Hi. Welcome back and thanks for joining us here today. I’m Jamie and I am a Blues Disciple. Now please join me for a little while to hear some excellent blues music from some of the masters of the blues. Blues Disciples is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and please note that earphones or earbuds will definitely enhance your listening pleasure.

And if you’re listening to this podcast through our website, you can click on the playlist to expand its size for easier viewing of the playlist and the featured artist.

Today, we’re going to do things a little differently. Back in 2015, Yazoo Records issued a compilation of remastered recordings made by the Memphis Jug Band from 1927 to 1934, as this band became the most recorded jug band of the era between 1923 and 1934. The Memphis Jug Band was composed of a loose knit group of early blues artists organized and led by the multi talented blues man, Mr. William “Will” Shade, also known as Son Brimmer. Besides Will Shade, the other performing artists would vary depending on the venue, the type of audience and which of the artists were available to perform at that particular date and time.

The Memphis Jug Band used a variety of instruments including individual artist vocals, guitars, violin, mandolin, banjo, harmonicas, kazoo, piano, washboard, wash tub or oil can bass, drums and of course, jugs. This album features 28 recordings by the Memphis Jug Band, and I’ve selected 18 of my favorites to play for you today. Given the 7 year span of the recordings from the band’s first recordings in 1927 until their last in 1934, it’s interesting to observe how the mood and lyrics of the songs changed from the Roaring 20’s optimistic outlook and economy of 1927 up until the Great Depression and stock market crash of October 1929, then a short spurt of optimism in 1930, and finally the acceptance of the dismal depression of the decade to follow. So we’ll present our 18 songs in chronological order as recorded. Now here from the Memphis Jug Band’s first recording session in Memphis on February 24, 1927, we’ll hear the first takes on “Memphis Jug Blues” and then “Newport News Blues.”

Jamie Anthony: Then from their June 9, 1927 recording session in Chicago we will hear “Sometimes I Think I Love You” and “Memphis Boy Blues.”

Jamie Anthony: Here now we’ll play 5 songs recorded in the still roaring and booming year of 1928. The songs are “She Stays Out All Night Long,” “Lindberg Hop,” “On the Road Again,” “Whitewash Station Blues,” “Stealin’ Stealin’,” and “What’s the Matter.”

Jamie Anthony: At the dawning of 1929 the US experienced a weakening of the the Roaring 20s optimism and then, in March a mini stock market crash, after which the economy seemed to recover a bit. Later that year on October 4 1929, just 20 days before the October 24 & 29 massive Stock Market Crash, the Memphis Jug Band recorded this little double entendre song sung by the great blues lady Miss Hattie Heart titled “Memphis Yo Yo Blues.”

Jamie Anthony: Folks, after the stock market lost about 50% of its value in 1929, the new decade of 1930s started out looking like an economic recovery might take hold. And from May 14th to May 29th, 1930, the Memphis Jug Band recorded these 5 songs that covered a number of reasons to have and to cry about the blues. Here, they start optimistically with “Everyone’s Talking About Sadie Green,” then, “Oh Ambulance Man,” “Cocaine Habit Blues,” “Caveman Blues,” and “Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues.”

Jamie Anthony: Unfortunately, after those songs were recorded and by the end of the month of May 1930, reality set in and the world started to recognize that the worldwide depression was here to stay for a long time. In 1932, unemployment had ridden to 25% and the stock market had lost 90% of its pre 1929 value, which then marked the bottom of the Great Depression. But it would take almost 7 more years before a recovery could be declared. Unfortunately, the days of the jug bands, as with many other elements of our society, did not survive the Great Depression. And Will Shade’s Memphis Jug Band had its last recording sessions in November of 1934, including 2 great songs titled “Gator Wobble” and “Insane Crazy Blues.”

But before we hear those songs, I wanna suggest that you check out our Blues Disciples podcast number 83 to learn more about the Memphis Jug Band artists, including their leader, Mr. Will Shade, through our interview with my friend and musicologist, Mr. Roger Brown, as he shares his stories about his and his good buddy George Mitchell’s trips to Memphis after their junior and senior high school years in 1961-1962, which was 28 years after the Memphis Jug Band’s last 1934 recordings. You’ll learn far more about Will Shade and his fellow Jug Band artists, including blues legends Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis, Will Shade, Gus Cannon, Charlie Burse, Noah Lewis, and Will Shade’s wife, Miss Jenny Mae Clayton Shade, as they entertain, record, and party with 17 and 18 year old George Mitchell and Roger Brown. And next week, we’ll play a remastered version of our podcast number 83 with expanded narrative as podcast number 258. Now as we close out this Episode, here from November 6th-7th, 1934 are “Gator Wobble” and “Insane Crazy Blues.” And thank you all for listening.

The post Episode 257 appeared first on Blues Disciples Podcasts.

Episode 256 – Recorded 9-7-24 – This Episode features a medley of great blues songs Talkin’ About Love by artists past and present. Here we have 9 excellent recordings and interview snippets about the wonderful artists to inform and entertain you.  Our featured artists are Sleepy John Estes, Georgia Tom & Tampa Red, Susan Tedeschi & Tom Hambridge, Bobby Rush, Blind Willie McTell, Buddy Guy, Buddy Moss, Speckled Red, Barbeque Bob.  Please give a listen.

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Episode 255 – Recorded 8-24-24 – This Episode features a medley of great Blues and Gospel, Past and Present. We present 9 Great recording and interview snippets about the past and present artists for your enjoyment.  Featured artists are Jontavious Willis, John Primer and Bob Corritore, Otis Spann, Diunna Greenleaf, JP Soars, “Big Lucky” Carter, “Hound Dog” Taylor, Lucille Spann, Mud Morganfield.  Please give a listen.

This transcript was generated with speech recognition software and reviewed by human transcribers. It may still include inaccuracies. Please listen to the episode audio for precise quotes and email any queries to [email protected].

Jamie Anthony: Hi. Welcome back and thanks for joining us here today. I’m Jamie and I am a Blues Disciple. Now please join me for a little while to hear some excellent blues music from some of the masters of the blues. Blues Disciples is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and please note that earphones or earbuds will definitely enhance your listening pleasure.

And if you’re listening to this podcast through our website, you can click on the playlist to expand its size for easier viewing of the playlist and the featured artist.

Today, our first artist is Mr Jontavius Willis, who was born in West Georgia in 1996, making him 27 years old. Jontavious grew up singing gospel music alongside his grandfather in their Baptist church in Greenville, Georgia. When he was 14 years old, Jontavious saw a YouTube video of blues legend Muddy Waters performing hoochiecoochyman and immediately caught the blues fever. For the most part, Jontavious Willis is self taught with guitar, blues harp and 5 string banjo.

One of his mentors, Taj Mahal, described Jontavious as his wonder boy and a wonder kind. At this point, Jontavious has several albums under his belt and has won numerous Blues Foundation Blues Music Awards for his albums and songs. JonTavious’ latest album, 20 20 four’s West Georgia Blues album, was produced by Jontavious and recorded at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia. This album contains 15 excellent songs written by Jontavious Willis. On one of our earlier interviews with Jontavious podcast number 46, I had asked Jontavious how he got started in music and chose to focus on the blues.

Jontavious Willis: Well, my first experience with with music, as far as I can remember, was playing singing behind my grandfather at church when I was 3 years old. Around the age of 9 or 10, I started to take lessons for piano. And then about 11 or 12, I get trombone, started guitar at 14, and band, harmonica at 17, and banjo a little bit of banjo at 18. I stuck with the latter 3 and let let let go of the first two.

Jamie Anthony: That’s quite a plethora of instruments there. Breaking into the big time, how did you get an invite up to the stage when Taj Mahal was doing his performance in Atlanta?

Jontavious Willis: Well, he had seen a video of me and well, heard about a video and watched it and enjoyed it. So and then though we’re in the young folks from down south and that was from the culture doing the thing. And so he was like I gotta Episode. I thought that he would just want me to come to the Episode later on in the 60 that I’d get up and do 2 songs. That’s kinda how it started.

Yeah. My dad and my friend, we went to the concert together and sat right on the side of the chart.

Jamie Anthony: Now here is Jontavious Willis with his Charlie Brown Blues.

Jamie Anthony: A few months back, we had a joint interview on our podcast number 245 with major blues legend, Mr. John Primer and the great blues harp genius, Mr. Bob Corritore. These two gentlemen have been performing and collaborating on various projects for more than 10 years. And on that podcast, we shared a few of their remarks and the music from their latest album collaboration titled Crawlin’ Kingsnake.

But first, a little about John and Bob. John Primer was born in 1945 and started plucking at a diddly bow on the side of his house when he was 4 years old. And then he would borrow his cousin’s guitar whenever he had a chance and taught himself how to tune it and play it. Mr. Primer didn’t get his own guitar until after he had moved from Mississippi to Chicago when he was 18 years old. Over his career, John had been a principal member and band leader for blues greats Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before focusing on his own solo career.

Self taught blues harp great, Bob Corritore, was born in 1956 in Chicago where he studied and learned blues harp as a a teen by listening to and watching blues harp masters like Junior Wells and Big Walter Horton. Bob moved to Phoenix in the 1980s and has played with and produced recordings with many blues legends and artists. On their Crawlin’ Kingsnake album, John and Bob pulled together a great team of blues artists including John Primer with his excellent vocals and slide guitar, Bob Corritore with his brilliant blues harp, Bob Stroger and his steady electric bass. Jimmy Prime Time Smith with his great guitar work and supporting vocals, Anthony Geraci with his piano and West Star kept it all together with his drums. Here from our interview, John introduces and the band performs their rendition of the title song from their new album, Crawling Kingsnake.

How about John Lee Hooker’s Crawlin’ Kingsnake, your album title?

John Primer: Well, it was my earliest song when I was young. You can hear my walkin I was in Mississippi there. Maybe I heard in the cotton field and stuff singing.

So I got it from them. I didn’t know who made the song. I love that song and it’s a good song and I heard he and Muddy Waters sing it. And so, I got the idea to sing it when I heard Muddy sing it. I like the way Muddy did it cuz John Lee Hookie, he do a great song, but he’s strange the way he do it.

Jamie Anthony: Now we’ll hear from a very talented gentleman born in the Boston area in 1951 and who grew up with the love of the blues and, importantly, he had the talent and capabilities to allow him to perform and work with some of the very greatest blues legends of all time. That gentleman is guitarist, producer, and entrepreneur, Mr Peter Malick. Peter started playing guitar early in life, and by his teens, he proved he was ready for an incredible journey into the heart of the blues. So I’m going to jump ahead a few years here to the spring of 1969 when Peter Malick had his first opportunity to record with blues legends Mr Otis Spann, Mr Johnny Young, Mr Luther Georgia boy Snake Johnson, and Mr P Leary in New York for early blues and movie legend Miss Victoria Spivey’s Spivey Records. Here from my interview with Peter Malick on our podcast number 239, Peter tells us how the resulting April 1969 album titled “The Everlasting Blues versus Otis Spann” came about, and I introduced Otis Spann’s great composition, I’m a Bad Boy.

Peter Malick: So this all happened, you know, there’s this one week that I think it was maybe more than we may might might have been a couple weeks that I played with Spann at the Cafe a Gogo in Greenwich Village. And it was a quartet. It was, Spann, SP Larry, Johnny Young, who was quite a fascinating character himself – the world’s only blues mandolinist – and then myself. So when I got there and I went up to maybe went up to Spann’s room, we all stayed at the Albert Hotel, which was kind of like the rock and roll hotel for rock and rollers who couldn’t afford the Chelsea Hotel. And Victoria was sitting in there when I walked in, the first time I went up to the hotel, and she was quite a character.

I liken her to the blues version of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. It’s exactly what she was. She was living in this world that was like when she was this famous singer, which had been in the thirties, so it had been like 30 something years ago, but she was quite a character. And so she she was like, you know what? You know what, Pete? We’re gonna make a record. We’re gonna make a record. And I was, okay. And I didn’t really know the first time I met her, I really didn’t know the whole thing, but I quickly learned more about her. So some days later, she was like, okay, we’re gonna meet tomorrow at noon, here’s the address, and the address was the NOLA Penthouse Studios which was this midtown skyscraper, maybe not wasn’t a skyscraper, but it was fairly tall building.

And NOLA had an incredible history too. There were a lot of, you know, the early candid label jazz records were were, recorded there, and they did a lot of really cool stuff there. At the time a state of the art recording studio had an 8 track. Nola had a 3 track tape, but she didn’t wanna spend the money on the 3 track tape. So, basically, we recorded that album straight to mono.

It was like, recorded. It’s done. And and so it was just really we kinda winged it, is what it was. And one of the things that happened, which is sort of give you an idea of, what about the times and so forth. So Spivi, Victoria, was walking through the studio and tripped over Luther in Snake Johnson’s guitar chord and broke the chord.

So she was very upset about that. But, anyway, there wasn’t another guitar chord in the entire studio. So that’s why some of the tracks on the record, Snake isn’t playing guitar because he had no way to play guitar. And then at the end, she gave ...

Hammie Nixon Part 3 of 3

The post Episode 254 appeared first on Blues Disciples Podcasts.

July 27, 2024

Show 253 – Recorded 7-27-24 – This show features an interview with ethnomusicologist, music producer, guitarist, researcher, friend and advisor to many blues artists, and recent Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Dr David Evans who provides excellent insights and information about Blues Harp, Jug and Kazoo Legend Mr Hammie Nixon. On this Part 2, Dr Evans provides background and introduces eight recordings by Hammie Nixon from 1972 – 1982.  Please give a listen.

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by Dr David Evans, Mr Hammie Nixon

Jamie Anthony

by Jamie Anthony | Aug 12, 2024 | Blues Disciples Podcast

Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Dr David Evans provides insights and information about Blues Harp, Jug and Kazoo Legend Mr Hammie Nixon.

by Jamie Anthony | Jul 29, 2024 | Blues Disciples Podcast

Blues Hall of Fame Inductee, Dr David Evans provides insights and information about Blues Harp, Jug and Kazoo Legend Mr Hammie Nixon.

by Jamie Anthony | Jul 15, 2024 | Blues Disciples Podcast

Interview with Harlem busking team, Satan & Adam who created a worldwide buzz with their long running Netflix documentary, Satan & Adam