SMHAFF
It's that time of the year again folks - the annual Scottish Mental Health Art and Film Festival
On right across Scotland from 1st to 19th October with a theme of power.
For the musical contribution I am taking you back three or four years to the CD Squaring The Circle a collection of songs and poems bringing together the real life experiences of people living with mental health problems who have worked with Lanarkshire singer song writers and musicians to tell their stories.
Organised by the Lanarkshire Recovery Network a small group held regular meetings in the Alona Hotel in Strathclyde Park leading to them being christened The Alonagains.
The musical support is provided by Pat O'Neill , Colin Fullerton and Gary Carmichael.
Copies were given out free across Lanarkshire but I have spotted it in charity shops as far afield as St Andrews and Edinburgh
The Alonagains - Alone Again
The Alonagains - Bridgework Babes
Some Sunday Soul?
Ruthie Foster was one of the first artists ever to appear on CCM way back in December 2012 and I thought it time to feature her again now that the blog attracts a slightly wider audience than it did in it's infancy.
I took down The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, her 2007 album on the Blue Corn label from Houston, from the shelves the other day primarily because I wanted to check the spelling of the word phenomenal which I was using in another post.
This led me to giving it a listen and subsequently sharing it with you.
She used to work in the US Navy which is where she started performing and this was her fifth of nine albums to date.I also have her 2002 album Runaway Soul also on Blue Corn.
Again we could debate whether she is blues,folk, soul or gospel and indeed she appears to have won a number of awards as a blues artist.
Featured here are Mama Said one of her own compositions and Up Above My Head (I Hear Music in the Air) a cover of the terrific Sister Rosetta Tharpe song treading firmly on George's Gospel Sunday toes!
Ruthie Foster - Mama Said
Ruthie Foster - Up Above my Head (I Hear Music in the Air)
Friday Night is Bhangra Night
I recently acquired The Rough Guide to Bhangra- One Way Ticket to British Asia and very good it is too
It is from 1990 and the sleevenotes point out that since the mid 80s when bhangra was a traditional folk music from the Punjab it has migrated to western Europe to be mixed with the likes of house,disco,hip-hop,swing,reggae, drum'n'bass and UK garage.
So like the British population a rich melting pot of cultures and inspirations.
The first song is from Alaap and is written by lead-singer Channi who is dubbed as the "James Brown of bhangra"(take it to the bridge Channi!)This song was the first hit bhangra single in Britain with Alaap being the first bhangra group to release an album in the UK with Teri Chunni De Sitare
Bally Sagoo may be familiar to some of you and indeed he has featured on CCM before . Here he joins forces with vocalist Rama to provide some reggae and ragga- influenced bhangra or "bhangramuffin" which went on to become a trend for a few years.
Fabulous stuff
Off up north for a couple of weeks tomorrow and don't have the time or the inclination to leave you with a daily post whilst I am away. However there are a few posts scheduled hither and dither to keep you going until I return
Alaap -Bhabiye Ni Bhabiye
Rama & Bally Sagoo - Mera Laung Gawacha
If there was any justice in this world Canadian singer/songwriter Ronald Eldon Sexsmith would be absolutely huge.
However he isn't and significantly lesser talents bask in the glory whilst Ron continues to produce a canon of work of the highest standard as these two songs from his 13th album Forever Endeavour clearly demonstrate.
Whilst, like most artists, I'm sure he would welcome some more recognition and record sales I can't help thinking that he would not be too comfortable with fame and all its associated trappings.
When someone pointed out that every record seems to get great reviews but the sales don't appear to match this he responded
It does get frustrating. Every record you make you think there's another chance to bat and you're always striking out. So it is frustrating. I don't want to be like Nick Drake and Tim Hardin. They never really had much success in their [lives]. ... All my heroes had big hits and success. I see progress in the way it's building, but it is not in the way the general public can detect. ... It's out of my hands. I'm a 35-year-old guy from Canada and I don't write groove-oriented music. So, I can't expect too much
Until then, he can remain our little secret
Ron Sexsmith - No Place To Go
Ron Sexsmith - Life After A Broken Heart
This popped upon 6 Music the other day
Liz Green doing a cover of Bowie's 5 Years
Have a listen - breathtaking (9 mins 36 secs in )
Candy Apple Grey
It has all been pleasantly mellow on CCM recently.
So it is time to notch the tempo up somewhat by featuring Candy Apple Grey from the legends that were Hüsker Dü
From 1986 it was the fifth of the the six studio albums they were to produce during their career and the first on a major label Warner Brothers.
It was their first album to trouble The Billboard 200 reaching the dizzy heights of #140.
Unbelievable - it is now quite rightly recognised as a classic (in this household at least)
Hüsker Dü were from St Paul, Minneapolis and consisted of Bob Mould on guitars,vocals, keyboards and percussion, Greg Norton on bass and Grant Hart on drums, vocals,keyboards and percussion.
Six of the songs on the album were written by Bob Mould and four by Grant Hart
The two I have selected are by Grant Hart.
All three members are still actively involved in the music career having been involved in bands (most notably Bob Mould in Sugar) and in pursuing solo careers.
Husker Du- Dead Set on Destruction
McCluskey Brothers
Another recent Charity shop purchase is Wonderful Affair a 1996 record on Line Records by The McCluskey Brothers.
For some reason my burning software has recognised this as their 1986 album Aware of All so apologies if the wrong song titles come up.
Ken and David McCluskey were in the Bluebells prior to going off on their own and according to Linn Records for whom they later recorded they produced "perfect pop....Marrying choppy guitar sounds and Celtic soulfulness, these siblings have a unique and intuitive understanding of melody, harmony and rhythm."
You can't really argue with that.
Not to be confused with Peel favourites mcclusky or fellow Scots and X factor contenders The MacDonald Brothers
I had a temporary panic that I may have accidentally purchased the latter by mistake but thankfully not.
The McCluskey Brothers - Release Me
The McCluskey Brothers - Pale Horizon
An Aussie Angel
2004's Wayward Angel is the third album by Australian alt country chanteuse Kasey Chambers and the second of four consecutive number ones she enjoyed in Australia.
You don't come across such gems in Glasgow charity shops very often and when you do it would be foolhardy in the extreme to ignore them.
I also have her first two albums The Captain and Barricades & Brickwalls (three down now, six to go!) and saw her live back in the day.
The title track did not appear on my recent Angel Delight mix on Cooking Up a Quiet Storm primarily because I did not have it at the time.Rest assured it would have featured otherwise.
Kasey Chambers - Hollywood
Kasey Chambers - Wayward Angel
I featured Barricades & Brickwalls a wee while back to considerable indifference. Hopefully more of you will listen to and enjoy these songs.
As promised the continuation of a Sunday Soul selection.
The good thing is that I no longer have to get myself in a lather as to sub genres.
Which is perhaps just as well as this week I am featuring 3+ 3 The Isley Brothers fine fine album from 1973.
Is it funk? Is it soul? It doesn't matter. It is bloody good ,that's what it is.
I have been debating with myself as to whether That Lady is better than the previously featured Summer Breeze.
It is a close call but I feel Summer Breeze just shades it probably on the basis that I have been more exposed to it over the years. Others of course may choose to differ.
The Isley Brothers - That Lady
The isley Brothers -The Highways of My Life
Scottish Saturday Lucky Dip
We stay in Scotland for this week's Saturday Lucky Dip. Sorry but there is no escape!
The featured CD Showcase Scotland - South by Southwest Festival 2007 came free with the Sunday Herald Newspaper and contains an impressive 15 tracks.
Emma Pollock,The Hedrons, The Hazy Janes and wee Paolo have all featured before on CCM and have therefore been excluded from selection.
Similarly The Twilight Sad and The Fratellis are pretty well known and may well feature at a later stage.
So it is a case of selecting two of the remaining nine for your listening pleasure
Jo Mango is a folk and acoustic band from Glasgow and is also the adopted name of the lead singer.
Here on the single My Lung I think she may well be on a solo mission and her appearance at SXSW was as a solo artist
The Draymin are a band that hail from a hut in Rosyth in Fife.
At the time they were unsigned. I haven't been able to find out very much about them other than they sold out the 900 capacity Dunfermline Velocity in 2009 and supported local legends The Skids in Dunfermline's Glen Pavilion for a couple of gigs in July 2007
Jo Mango - My Lung
The Draymin - Rise Up
The Morning After The Day Before
By the time you read this we will know who has won the Scottish referendum.
As I type on Thursday evening the polls are still open so I don't know yet who has won and this is intentional
Whatever the result it will have been close and here I would like to quote our esteemed colleague The Vinyl Villian
I'm going to accept the outcome and live with it. If I 'pick' the winning side I will not gloat, and if I end up on the wrong end of the result then I will be sad but not to the point of despair.
We live in a democracy and as such should respect the democratic choice of the people particularly in this instance given the phenomenal turnout.
Approximately 50% of the population are going to be somewhat disappointed and disillusioned. But we require to live and work together whatever the outcome.
Some family members and close friends have voted a different way from me. I don't imagine that this will be a significant issue for me and them but I realise that in some quarters bridges will have to be built and friendships hopefully renewed.
This goes for our friends and neighbours South of the border as to the vast majority of us it has never been an anti England issue. Hopefully the reception that English medal winners got at the recent Glasgow Commonwealth Games goes some way to demonstrating this.
From now on in it's back to the music
Dick Gaughan - Both Sides The Tweed
STOP PRESS: No wins by 55% to 45%
A Date With Destiny?
So finally the day is here. Probably the most important day in Scottish history for over 300 years.
After much soul searching I have decided to vote yes.
Originally it wasn't an easy decision as I see myself as left leaning and someone more comfortable voting Labour that nationalist.
However, I feel I have made the right choice for a variety of reasons.
The UK is lurching worryingly to the right as the Tories pander to UKIP. They are against Scotland leaving the Union but happy to take us out of Europe.
They are intent on privatising the NHS and are destroying education in England and I want no part of that.
I also do not want to be part of a country which persecutes the disabled and the most vulnerable in society and has no qualms about the use of food banks.
Labour have been no better in recent years and Milliband does not have a snowball's chance in Hell of getting elected.
I am sure many friends and readers in England feel the same but we have a once in a lifetime chance to move towards a fairer and more just society and we have to take it.
The fact that we have been ignored by the Establishment until the last few days when they finally realised what was happening 500 miles from Westminster, the scaremongering and outrageous bullying and intimidation over the last few days and the bias of the supposedly impartial BBC have only served to help me justify my decision.
Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, and apparently a committed Christian's comments that Scottish independence would let down the families of dead Scottish soldiers was perhaps the lowest of many low comments.
It is too close to call but it could indeed be a date with destiny
King Creosote - Something To Believe In
For some strange reason on this week of all weeks I suddenly felt the urge to dust down my copy of Enough is Enough and to give it an airing
Chumbawamba & Credit to the Nation - Enough is Enough
Chumbawamba & Credit to the Nation - Hear no Bullshit (On Fire mix)
Chumbawamba & Credit to the Nation - The Day the Nazi Died (1993 mix)
Bedsit Disco Queen
I am currently reading Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn.
It is well written and an interesting read as you would expect from someone with a first in English literature.
She is obviously mostly famous for her work with partner Ben Watt in Everything But The Girl.
They are not a band I have anything on apart from their Covers EP from 1982.
After a few quirky indie albums they seemed to change direction with a cover of Rod Stewart's I Don't Want to Talk About It which became their biggest hit and led to this follow up EP.
She has also done solo stuff and collaborations with the likes of The Style Council (Paris Match on Cafe Bleu), The Go-Betweens (she was best pals with their drummer Lindy Morrison) and Massive Attack.
I am quite intrigued as to references to her earlier work with the all girl band The Marine Girls with two albums Beach Party from 1981 and Lazy Ways from 1983. If anyone has any gen on them I would be glad to here it.
Everything But The Girl - Time After Time
Everything But The Girl - Alison
There are about half a dozen Sheryl Crow albums gracing the CCM shelves.
Her earlier albums are commonplace in charity shops.
However, I think Detours her 6th studio album from 1998 was actually purchased by Mrs CC rather than acquired via a charity shop.
On this album the former beau of Lance Armstrong comes across as completely bonkers but in a good way.
It was no surprise to learn that she practices transcendental meditation.
All very far removed from Tuesday Night Music Club
Sheryl Crow - Peace Be Upon Us
Sheryl Crow - Gasoline
Southern Soul Sunday 50
It's the final installment of Southern Soul Sunday and obviously that means that the artist to feature is the mighty and peerless James Carr the man with the finest voice in Soul.
I'm not sure if compilation records count when considering the top 10 albums of all time but if the do The Essential James Carr from 1995 on Razor & Tie would be there or there abouts.
The two songs I have selected were both singles on Quinton Claunch's Goldwax label from 1966.
Firstly we have the O.B.McClinton (no relation to Delbert I think) song You've Got My Mind Messed Up - Goldwax single 302 releases on 16th April 1966 and peaking at 7 in the R&B chart and 63 in the pop chart of the Billboard Top 100.
We then move to 29th October and the release of Pouring Water on a Drowning Man (Goldwax 311) written by D Baker & D McCormick peaking at 23 in the R&B and number 85 in the pop chart.
Unbelievably the greatest soul song of all time the previously featured Forgetting You was only the B side of this single
The series has come to a natural end as I was beginning to struggle for material and was fretting over whether songs and artists were Southern Soul or not.
However I still intend to continue with a Sunday Soul series without getting hung up on sub genres.
James Carr - You've Got My Mind Messed Up
James Carr -Pouring Water on a Drowning Man
Today's lucky dip comes from Uncut's 17 track guide to the Month's Best Music from September 2001 and features three great singer songwriting storytellers two from the Lone Star State and one from the Kingdom of Fife.
First up is the great Tom Russell bemoaning the fact that the world went to Hell When Sinatra Played Jaurez .Taken from his 2001 album Borderland.
Fellow Texan legend Delbert McClinton with the fabulous When Rita Leaves from his album Nothing Personal is up next
Finally we are off to the Kingdom of Fife where the late great Jackie Leven ponders on The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ from Creatures of Light and Darkness on Cooking Vinyl
Rebus author Ian Rankin was a great fan and friend and they collaborated on Jackie Leven Said a story with musical interludes and songs.
Sadly missed but thankfully Tom and Delbert are still very much still with us
Tom Russell -When Sinatra Played Saurez
Delbert McClinton -When Rita Leaves
Jackie Leven - The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ
A Wynn Wynn Situation
It has been reasonably quiet and mellow on CCM these last few days.
This is about to change temporarily with the first of two tracks from Static Transmission a 2003 album by Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 on the great German Americana label Blue Rose.
Here the ex- Dream Syndicate man is joined by the Miracle 3 - Jason Victor on Guitar, Dave Decastro on bass and his wife Linda Pitmon on drums. Chris Cacavas also pops up on many of the tracks so it really should be the Miracle 3 1/2.
I saw them live at the Continental Club in Austin around this time one sunny Saturday afternoon in a free show that also included the previously featured Mary McBride and it was easily one of the best live shows I have ever witnessed. In particular the incendiary guitar playing of Jason Victor will live long in the memory.
To me Static Transmission and its 2001 predecessor Here Come the Miracles represent the pinnacle of Steve Wynn's long and illustrious career and they are two albums which any discerning collection should not be without.
Play loud.
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 - Amphetamine
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3 - California Style
Big in Montrose?
The Montrose Avenue do not come from the town of Montrose situated on the East Cost of Scotland approximately halfway between Aberdeen and Dundee.
Nor do they have anything to do with the godawful American hard rock band Montrose who shall never darken the door of CCM.
No, they were a five piece rock/country band from Wokingham in Berkshire consisting of lead singer and guitarist Robert Lindsey-Clark, pianist and vocalist Scott James,vocalist and guitarist Paul Williams,bassist James Taylor and drummer Matt Everitt
I went to see them on February 27th 1998 at King Tuts no doubt largely because of the hype:
Country rockers The Montrose Avenue are being hotly tipped for stardom after the release of only their second single Where Do I Stand?
Music industry experts are already comparing them to bands such as REM and The Byrds.
At King Tut's on Wednesday night, the five fresh-faced lads proved they've got what it takes to get to the top and that there are no dead-ends on this Montrose Avenue . The Daily Record
Needless to say that didn't happen.They released one album Thirty Days Out and Where Do I Stand was their biggest hit peaking at number 38 in the UK charts.
I've just listened to it for the first time in ages and it's not bad at all.
You are getting tracks 1 and 3 with every likelihood that tracks 2 and 4 will feature at some juncture in the future.
The Montrose Avenue - Where Do I Stand?
The Montrose Avenue - Helplessly Hoping
My worse viewing figures for a while yesterday. I can only assume that the words Pointer Sisters and Country in the same sentence are an anathema to many
When the Pointer Sisters Were Country
Fairly recently I purchased Black & White the 1981 album by June, Anita and Ruth more commonly known by their collective name of The Pointer Sisters
It is a pleasant album full of lite soul/disco and includes Slow Hand one of their two most famous songs along with Jump (For My Love)
However it wasn't the first Pointer Sisters music in my collection. Oh no1
They feature on the fabulous Trikon album Dirty Laundry - The Soul of a Black Country with their 1974 song Fairy Tale.
It is not commonly known but they started of by trying different genres including country. They were a quartet at that time with sister Bonnie in tow.
Not only did Fairy Tale, written by Anita and Bonnie, win them their first Grammy in 1974 it led them to be invited to play on the Grand Ole Opry.
High praise indeed.
Pointer Sisters -Slow Hand
Pointer Sisters - Fairy Tale
There's Only One John Holt
There's only one John Holt was a song often sung from the Shed at Tannadice between 1973 and 1987 when the splendidly moustached full back was performing in one of his 269 games as a full back for Dundee United.
However it is not strictly accurate in that there is in fact more than one John Holt.
There is for instance the American author and educator who was a proponent of home schooling.
And then there is the Jamaican reggae singer and songwriter who is responsible for the two tracks below.
He is a former member of the Paragons and the writer of The Tide is High famously and brilliantly covered by Blondie.
Unfortunately these two songs are not in that league. Hardly surprising really as they are taken from Here I Come - 18 Reggae Love Songs which a got for a quid in Fopp.
He may have written The Tide is High but he never won a Scottish Championship winners medal in 1982/83!
John Holt - Here I Come
John Holt - Stealing, Stealing
Hollywood Town Hall
It took my ages to getting round to posting The Jayhawks but now the buggers are popping up on CCM with alarming regularity.
The excuse for today's posting is to pay homage to Hollywood Town Hall one of the top 10 albums of all time.
Released in 1992 on Def American it was their third album and their first release on a major label and the one that shot them to prominence.
Ten tracks and every one a cracker.it includes two songs Two Angels and Martin's Song which had appeared on their previous album 1989's Blue Earth on the Twin/Tone label.
The band hailed from Minneapolis and on this album there is the classic line up of Marc Olson on Vocals, Acoustic Guitar and harmonica, Gary Louris on vocals and electric guitar, Marc Perlman on bass and Ken Callahan on drums.
The line up changed many times over the years with usually at least two out of the three of Olson, Louris and Perlman involved.
All songs by Olson and Louris and production by George Drakoulias.
The cover picture is from Hollywood Township, Carver County , Minnesota
They went on to record a further 5 studio albums all invariably excellent but Hollywood Town Hall was the one that first brought them to my attention and it still remains my firm favourite to this day.
The Jayhawks - Crowded in the Wings
The Jayhawks - Take Me With You (When You Go)
As this is the penultimate week of Southern Soul Sunday I hope you will indulge me by allowing me to share some more Bobby " Blue" Bland with you.
For two reasons a) because he is Bobby Bland and b) I took receipt earlier this week of the ridiculously cheap Bobby "Blue " Bland - The Absolutely Essential 3 CD Collection.
57 tracks for less than the price of a couple of pints and some absolute gems amongst them.
The sound quality in about half a dozen of the songs is pretty poor but the rest are not bad at all.
Blues, soul, jazz -call it what you will.
The man had talent and a superb voice and is sadly missed.
The final installment next week.
H'aud me back I hear you cry!
Bobby "Blue" Bland - You Did Me Wrong
Bobby "Blue" Bland - Don't Want No Woman
Our friend Brother John was laid to rest today.
He was a Marist brother who had spent much of his life teaching in Africa and in particular Cameroon.
It was very moving to see a number of his former pupils from Cameroon (many of whom had travelled a considerable distance) at the funeral in Glasgow today to pay tribute to and carry the coffin of a man they obviously held in high regard.
As one said of John and his friend and colleague Brother Norbert "they made us the men we are today" - a fine tribute.
And here is a musical tribute from Cameroon by Les Têtes Brulées with a song called Des Hauts et Des Bas which translates into English as The Ups and Downs.
Anyone who had the honour of knowing John will surely agree that this is an apt choice.
les Tetes Brulees - Des Hauts et Des Bas
For a brief period , in around 2004 I think, The Guardian Newspaper, issued a series of Free Compact Discs imaginatively titled FCD
From memory I think they came with the Saturday magazine section.
Anyway it would appear that I have about half a dozen of these kicking about which contain between 6 to 10 tracks and which are perfect for the morning commute as I experienced this week.
The randomly selected choice today has a bit of a Scottish slant in that 4 of the 6 tracks are from Scottish artists with the other two from an Australian and a proud English man.
I have other records by The Delgados, Sons and Daughters, Nick Cave and the Bad Seed and The Trashcan Sinatras so they will not feature today.
Rather, you are getting the Modfather himself Mr Paul Weller with his version of Dylan's All Along the Watchtower from his Studio 150 album. Not a patch on Mr Young's version which in turn is not a patch on Mr Hendrix's.
This is followed by Mr Colin MacIntyre better known as Mull Historical Society with Casanova at the Weekend from his 2004 album This is Hope
Paul Weller -All Along The Watchtower
Mull Historical Society - Casanova at the Weekend
For those of you that have not already done so can I recommend that you pop over to Sexy Loser to witness Dirk's epic homage to what would have been John Peel's 75th birthday with a staggering 75 Peel session tracks. Outstanding.
Sean, I'd Say the Best One Came From Tupelo Mississippi
Sean I'd say the best one came from Tupelo, Mississippi
I'll tell you now that grown men cry and Irish girls are pretty
Erik who has very kindly being giving us Mississippi geography lessons was scheduled to visit Tupelo this week.
This had me reaching for the shelves for references to the birthplace of a certain Elvis Aaron Presley.
First up is Mr Nicholas Edward Cave and his Bad Seeds with Tupelo from The Firstborn is Dead loosely based on the John Lee Hooker song of the same name about a flood.
This is swiftly followed by Uncle Tupelo the band that started a movement bringing Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar to the world's attention.
I was also under the impression that I had Tupelo Honey but a quick search of the Grumpy Irishman section proved fruitless. I'm sure it's there somewhere
Nick Cave &the Bad Seeds -Tupelo
Uncle Tupelo - Give Back the Key to my Heart
I have absolutely no idea as to how, when or why Flower Girl a 1998 single by The Crocketts found its way into my collection.
Perhaps I heard it on the radio or perhaps I saw them in concert, presumably supporting someone else. Who knows.
I do know that it is almost certainly the first time this millennium that it has had an airing
The Crocketts were Welsh and had two albums on V2 We May be Skinny and Wiry from 1998 from which presumably this song was taken and The Great Brain Robbery from 2000.
They disbanded in 2002 with two members going on to form The Crimea.
And that's about it.
The Crocketts - Flower Girl
The Crocketts - Mrs Donnelly
A Right Couple of Charlies
I've just finished reading Lost Highway by Peter Guralnick.
At first I was a wee bit disappointed as I thought it would be pretty exclusively about country music. Country music does feature writ large but there is also a smattering of blues and rockabilly - which on reflection is no bad thing.
It features stories about artists lives on the road and as well as famous artists such as Elvis, Ernest Tubb,Merle Haggard and Howlin' Wolf it also features less famous ones such as Deford Bailey,Sleepy LaBeef and James Talley and the chapters on these rarely featured artists are perhaps the most interesting.
The book was written in the late 1970s and the chapter on Charlie Feathers is entitled the Last of the Rockabillies and features him playing a series of small clubs in an attempt to recapture the fame he enjoyed during his early years.
Charlie Rich also enjoyed fame at Sun at the start of his career. There then followed a period in the wilderness before he achieved world wide success with The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and Behind Closed Doors.Interestingly the book relates how he struggled to come to terms with this new found fame and all it's trappings.
Interesting stuff and well worth a read (and a listen).
Charlie Feathers -Tongue Tied Jill
Charlie Rich - Sittin' and Thinkin'
Dolly and Porter
I downloaded this terrific picture of Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner ages ago and ever since have been looking for an opportunity to post it.
The thing is I don't own any of the music they did together.
However my dilemma was recently resolved when I acquired Like a Rose by Ashley Monroe only to find her doing a duet with Blake Shelton in a Dolly and Porter stylee
As an added bonus you are getting my all time favourite Dolly song.
The only Porter Wagoner song I seem to own is an average version of Satisfied Mind. I could of posted that but felt it would be a whole lot better to post a video of his terrific version of Johnny Cash's Committed to Parkview.
You Ain't Dolly (And You Ain't Porter)
Dolly Parton -Coat of Many Colours
Porter Wagoner - Committed to Parkview
The Blues Collection - Magic Slim
Magic Slim and his missing finger
Magic Slim (Morris Holt to his mum) was born in 1937 in Torrance , not the one in Stirlingshire, Scotland but the one near Greneda in Mississippi. I am looking forward to receiving more information about Torrance from Erik our Mississippi Delta correspondent.
He moved to Chicago but not before losing a finger in a cotton gin accident (Morris not Erik) putting pay to any hope of a career as a pianist.
There he got in tow with Magic Sam who bestowed his nickname upon him.
He quickly became an integral part of the Chicago blues scene performing in the Juke Joints with his band The Teardrops.
Here on these two tracks from 1982 (the first one of his own composition and the second a bluesed up cover of Rufus Thomas' Walking the Dog) the band consists of his brother Nick Holt on bass, Pete Allen on guitar and Nate Applewhite on drums. On occasions another brother Lee Baby Holt performs the drumming duties.He also had a sister known as Hercules who was over 6 feet tall as were all the brothers.
Sadly, he died in Philadelphia in February 2013 at the age of 75 .
Magic Slim - Early Every Morning
Magic Slim -Walking The Dog
Sean, I'd Say the Best One Came From Tupelo Missis...