Sleepy John Estes. For my money, one of THE voices of country blues. The reason why we have the cliche “cryin’ the blues.” So plaintive, so heartbreaking, so present, so cool, so real, so powerful, so compelling. An almost laughably clumsy guitar player, and yet the perfect accompanist for himself. With Hammie Nixon and Yank Rachel of course. But really, who’d want a whole mess of guitar gettin’ in the way of that gorgeous voice?
As for myself, I can’t sing like that. And actually, I love guitar like that. Which essentially explains the arrangement of “Down South Blues” that I’ve landed on. And by landed on I mean played endlessly, over and over, year after year, stage after stage, night after night. I’ve been playin’ this song almost since the beginning of Preacher Boy. I’ve had the pleasure of playing this song with SO MANY great musicians: Jim Campilongo, Ralph Carney, David Immergluck, Big Bones, Jamie “Beatnik Beats” Moore, Tim Luntzel, Virgil Thrasher, and many, many others that I’m regretfully not name-checking here but am nonetheless very grateful to …
The point being, I love this song, and I always have, and I’m really excited about the opportunity to commit it to recorded posterity. And with that, a video to share; a wee bit o’ raw behind-the-scenes footage from a recent recording session in the wilds of the Santa Cruz Mountains:
By way of comparison, and if for no other reason than to hip you up to this beautiful song if ya don’t yet know it:
See ya Down South …
Preacher Boy | The National Blues 