Baza ~ Blues & Roots

I listen to alot of music/musicians on CD, radio, you tube and live performance.  As you all likely would agree there are some amazing players out there.  And, I'm sure I'm not alone when I say or think to myself am I “good enough.”  This is not in comparison to other players but rather an insight to my own development and growth as a player.  

When I attended the Musician's Institute 1981-82, we were given words of wisdom like; “You will have this information to use and learn from for the rest of your life," and “not all of you will earn a living playing music but you are still a musician!"  These words as a player/musician has been useful information that I have carried with me since those days.  It has helped me to stay focused in my learning and kept me humble.

At the same time it has given me insight into who I am as a musician.  I enjoy sharing my music with audiences.  Playing where there is no audience is not my favorite environment/s.  The response I receive from people is just as important to me as the enjoyment I get from learning a new song.

So it is songs I work on and present to audiences where I spend my time these days.  The techniques, scales, chords and arpeggios contained in the songs continue to help me grow as a player.

Could I spend more time on the technical aspects of my playing, sure!  I'd be lying if I said anything else.  But, I'm doing what I like and what makes me happy and keeps me growing.  Back to the original question am I “good enough.”  If the audience responses I receive and the continued bookings at venues is an answer to that question then that's “good enough.”

Blind Willie McTell was born William Samuel McTier in Thomson, Georgia.  He was an American Piedmont blues, ragtime and hokum singer, songwriter and guitarist, who seemed to favor playing 12 string guitars.  William came from a musical family, learning guitar from his mother, relatives and neighbors.  His family moved from Thomson to Statesboro GA in his teens.  He became a very popular street singer in several Georgia cities, including Augusta and Atlanta.  In 1927 he made his first recording for Victor Records.  Eight songs were recorded including, “Statesboro Blues,”  which would become one of his most recorded songs by artists such as, Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, Paul Geremia, John Hammond Jr. and Roy Bookbinder, to name a few.

Mr. McTell, his stage name had a prolific recording career, recording for several labels under different names from the 1920s-30s, like, “Blind Sammie” for Columbia, “Georgia Bill” for Okeh, “Hot Shot Willie” for Victor and “Blind Willie” for Vocalion and Bluebird Records. He remained and active performer during the 1940s-50s playing house rent parties, fish fries, medicine and tent shows and on the streets.  From 1957 until his death in 1959, McTell was a preacher at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Atlanta.

Blind Willie was born sightlees in one eye and lost his vision in his other eye during his childhood.  He attended schools for the blind and learned to read and write music in Braille.

McTell married Ruth Kate Williams in 1934, although for most of their marriage from 1942 until 1959 they lived apart.  He died of a stroke in 1959 and is buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson GA.

McTell's influence on generations of musicians can still be heard today in the recordings of, The Allman Brothers, Chris Smither, Ry Cooder, The Devil Makes Three, Willie Nelson, Jack White and Bob Dylan.

Annually, since 1992 the city of Thomson GA has held The Blind Willie McTell music festival.  He was inducted into The Blues Foundations Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1990.

My hope is that my brief and humble story of this artist will encourage you to dig deeper into his music and life story.

Doug Philbrook

I'm sitting on my couch in my living room, it's 7:20am and I'm writing a blog with absolutely nothing on my mind!  Maybe that's where the best stuff comes from?  Starting from nowhere and just hitting the keys, waiting for inspiration.  I've read books on songwriting and listened to successful songwriters talk about their process for writing.  Some say it's a job and you just have to sit down and do it everyday until you come up with something worth recording and publishing.  Keith Richards would go into a studio with Charlie Watts and just endlessly workout ideas until something clicked.  I can't verify this, I've never met Keith, but I will say I've always been a fan.

A particular songwriter's thoughts on the subject said, there are ideas floating through the cosmos and if they happen to come your way you reach up and grab it.  He went on to say that some of those ideas he failed to follow through on would later show up in other songwriters work, therefore giving some credence to his belief.

When you consider that there are songwriters with vast catalogs John and Paul, Keith and Mick and authors, John Grisham, Stephen King to name but a few.  Then those ideas floating around the cosmos must fly over their heads quite often.  So maybe it's geography?  You have to be standing in the right place at the right time, in the right frame of mind and have a pencil and pad of paper handy or your instrument at the ready.

Does any of this make sense to any of you who will read this blog?  I started writing this morning saying I had absolutely nothing on my mind, but look what I came up with!  Not worthy of a grammy or other accolade, but I just sat down and started writing.  So maybe that's it just do it.  Whatever that is, songwriting, stories, poetry, the art of jewlery making, painting, card making, acting, cooking!  

The art of self-expression has been with us since the beginning of time, (cave drawings), it is healthy for the individual and society as a whole.  So just do it, without any thought of who might see it, like it, wear it or taste it.

Please, if you have any thoughts on what I've written today, then express yourselves and let me read it.

Doug Philbrook, husband, father, musician, abstract artist, nurse, builder of unique furniture and blogger!

I can never seem to get enough of Robert Johnson. Either his music or the story of his life.  So, hats off to Bruce M. Conforth & Gayle Dean Wardlow for writing "Up Jumped the Devil" The Real Life of Robert Johnson.

Through painstaking research and interviews the two authors have uncovered and cleared up questions about RJ's life, death, marriages, music and recordings.  I finished this book with a deeper understanding of the man and the musician.  His struggles, disappointments, loses, choices and his demons are brought too light.  Uncovered is the myth of the deal with the Devil at the crossroads.  His lust for wandering, women and alcohol that all eventually led to his early demise is written as a search for truth and with deep appreciation for one of music's most important figures.

I've read many books over the years about the blues and several about Mr. Johnson.  I couldn't wait to finish this read and uncover the truth.  I was left with a sadness for the man and his untimely death/murder and the loss to the world and to the world of music.  Who knows, what might have been if he had lived?  Would he have given us more great music, become the father that he wanted to be and, enjoy the celebrity that he has become?

We can only speculate, but given what he left us, (listen to "The complete recordings of Robert Johnson") I'd like to believe it would have been worth a deal with Devil!  Just kidding

Doug

I recently started working on a song from Mance Lipscomb's repertoire, a little number called "Ella Speed."  It's a classic blues song with a familiar blues theme about murder, and in this case the murder of a prostitute, named Ella Speed.  In my never ending research into the origin and background of songs, I discovered the story that follows; 

Ella Speed was the 28 year old wife of Willie Speed and a mother of two children.  Ella was a prostitute referred to as an "octoroon" (a person who is one-eighth black by descent) by her "landlady" and sent to Louis "Bull" Martin, a 28 year old bachelor of Italian descent who worked as a bartender at the Dryades Street Market in New Orleans.

Ella and Louis quickly formed a "special relationship" - in fact it appeared Louis became obsessed  with her.  When he discovered that Ella had special relationships with other men he was enraged.  Miss Lou Prout, Ella's "landlady at the time asked Ella to leave because of Louis' frequent threats and behavior.

On August  14th, 1894 Louis had severely beaten an "old colored man" named Sam Johnson at the Dryades Street Market.  He was awaiting trial for his heinous crime, when on the morning of Sept 3rd at about 9:30 a.m. he shot Ella Speed with a Harrington and Richardson 0.38 caliber pistol in her upstairs room in the house kept by Miss Pauline Jones at 137 Customhouse Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Ella died shortly afterwards, sprawled on the floor near the door to her room.

An unsuccessful manhunt for Louis was mounted, who turned himself into the authorities the next morning.  At his trial, Louis claimed the shooting was an accident.  He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20years hard labor at the state penitentiary by Judge John H. Ferguson.  By 1901, Louis was back at his old bartender's job.

for more reading about the death of Ella Speed go to; WeenieCampbell.com

Doug