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Blues You Should Know goes True Crime! Two programs about actual crimes enshrined in the blues.Blues You Should Know goes True Crime! Two programs about actual crimes enshrined in the blues. In Pt.1 we listened to different versions of a single case: the murder of Wm. Lyons by "Stack" Lee Shelton. In Pt.2 we check out several different crimes, from the 1890's through the 1950's. All true and all sung about by Blues Singers including John Hurt, Bukka White, Chuck Willis, & Eric Bibb. Always free and available on your favorite podcast platform.

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Blues You Should Know goes True Crime! Two programs about actual crimes enshrined in the blues. Program #1 focuses on a single crime: the  murder of William Lyons by  "Stag" Lee Shelton, in St. Louis, MO, on Christmas 1895. How is it that a 130 year-old crime has become so embedded in our national zeitgeist? Over 502 different performers have recorded songs about “Stagolee”. Obviously, we won’t play all of them but we’ll tell the real story of what happened as opposed to some of the fanciful versions that have appeared in song over the years. Available on your favorite podcast platform and always free. 

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This program features what I, and the original interviewer Ron Weinstock,  believe is the first ever extended interview with Robert Lockwood, Jr. This took place at the studios of radio station WRUW-FM on the campus of Case-Western Reserve University  in early 1971. Present in the studio were Weinstock, Lockwood, Dave Griggs, and myself. Robert had recently emerged from a ten year semi-retirement and was playing as a featured guest in the Dave Griggs band, in clubs around the Greater Cleveland area. He had not yet put together his own band. Robert talks about himself (Robert never had problems with self-esteem), and many of the people he worked with over the years including Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Lester Melrose, and Doctor Clayton. This program may be a bit esoteric, but I believe it's an historically significant document that deserves and needs to be heard. A special thanks goes out to the late Nick Amster, who paid to have someone go through a large box of reel-to-reel tapes to find the one that had this interview on it. 

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The second half of our two part series on blues mandolin features several of the post-war stars of the mandolin including Johnny Young, Martin, Bogan & Armstrong, Steve James, and more. This program also includes our first ever live interview, here with mandolin player/educator/promotor Rich DelGrosso. By the conclusion of this program we hope you'll agree that the mandolin is indeed a blues instrument that should be used a lot more. Blues You Should Know is always free and available on your favorite podcast platform. 

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Do you think of the mandolin as a blues instrument? You should and you will after hearing these two programs. In part 1 we'll hear some of the early practitioners of blues mandolin like Coley Jones, Yank Rachell and Charlie McCoy. We'll even hear from mandolin slingers heavily influenced by the early masters, Bill Monroe and Ry Cooder. Part 2 will feature mandolinists from the post-war era and will also include our first ever live interview with mandolin player/promoter/educator Rich Del Grosso.  Always free and available on your favorite podcast platform. 

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In part two we explore Lonnie's post-war recordings and life. We hear how he adapts his music to a new era. Lonnie has his biggest hit, "Tomorrow Night" for King Records, in 1947 and becomes a favorite of British trad-jazz fans. In the '60s Lonnie has yet another comeback (he was the king of comebacks) and records a series of albums for Prestige Bluesville. Lonnie tours Europe again with the AFBF and eventually moves to Toronto. In 1969 he is struck by a car,  which he survives, but leads to a decline in his health and his eventual death in 1970. Lonnie leaves a legacy of revolutionary guitar playing, brilliant songwriting, and superb singing. Hear why BB King called him the most influential guitar player EVER. Blues You Should Know is always free and available on all major podcast platforms and through the Blues You Should Know website. 

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Lonnie Johnson may arguably be the most influential guitarist of all time. He was the first guitarist to play single string solos in both jazz and blues styles long before even Django Reinhardt or Charlie Christian. Robert Johnson imitated him on record and BB King and many others cited him as a major influence. He was also a superb singer with a gentle, mellow voice and was a terrific and prolific songwriter. His career, which began in the mid 1920s, before the advent of electric (microphone) recording, lasted through parts of six decades and included multiple comebacks. Part 1 covers his life, carreer and recordings through the recording ban of the Second World War. 

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One of the most interesting characters in genre full of interesting characters was J.B. Long of North Carolina. Long was a shopkeeper who, for reasons we may never fully understand, made recording great bluesmen a hobby/passion/obsession. In the summer of 1935 Long, along with his wife and baby girl, drove Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, and George Washington (Bull City Red) to New York where they made their first recordings. Davis's records did nothing commercially, but Fuller's sold well, and Long made many more subsequent trips with Fuller and other artists including Floyd Council and Brownie McGee. With Fuller, Long acted as a manager and collaborator, insisting that Fuller continue writing original songs, often polishing them and finishing the lyrics himself. Long never received any pay for his work other than reimbursement for auto expenses. 

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One of the most interesting characters in genre full of interesting characters was J.B. Long of North Carolina. Long was a shopkeeper who, for reasons we may never fully understand, made recording great bluesmen a hobby/passion/obsession. In the summer of 1935 Long, along with his wife and baby girl, drove Blind Boy Fuller, Rev. Gary Davis, and George Washington (Bull City Red) to New York where they made their first recordings. Davis's records did nothing commercially, but Fuller's sold well, and Long made many more subsequent trips with Fuller and other artists including Floyd Council and Brownie McGee. With Fuller, Long acted as a manager and collaborator, insisting that Fuller continue writing original songs, often polishing them and finishing the lyrics himself. Long never received any pay for his work other than reimbursement for auto expenses. 

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Known today mainly for his sensitive and evocative compositions like Hit the Road Jack, Please Send Me Someone to Love, and Rivers Invitation, Percy Mayfield began his career as a big band vocalist of the Bronze Baritone genre, until a serious auto accident nearly killed him, disfigured his face, and ended his career as a matinee idol/singing heartthrob. After his recovery, he continued his career as a songwriter writing hit records for others and making the occasional recording himself. 

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