Tag Archives: Mississippi John Hurt

September 25, 2017

365 Days of Album Recommendations – Sep 25

By pbistyping

Mississippi John Hurt – Last Sessions

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I was talking about this with my missus today; how strange it is to feel that you’ve learned so much from someone—so much that has impacted your life, and has shaped who you are—when it’s someone you’ve never met.

Many, many, many musicians have influenced me, but I think I can only name a few that have truly TAUGHT me—I feel that Mississippi John Hurt genuinely taught me. Which is impossible of course, because he passed on a few years before I was born.

All the same, I have learned so much from him.

I find these final sessions so poignant, perhaps for this very reason. Knowing this was the end of his music, somehow it feels like a final statement, a final lesson, a final truth.

Yes, Goodnight Irene, but more than that, Goodnight John.

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July 1, 2017

365 Days of Album Recommendations – July 1

By pbistyping

Mississippi John Hurt – Complete Studio Recordings

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Once you’ve meditated on the 1928 recordings like a Zen student trying to wrap their heads around what “Mu” is, you might consider jumping up to these recordings.

They’re crystal clear, beautifully rendered, and Hurt’s bodhisattvic presence will quite literally reach out of the speakers to touch your cheek softly, and in so doing, teach you something really important about the meaning of life.

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February 22, 2017

365 Days of Album Recommendations – Feb 22

By pbistyping

Mississippi John Hurt – 1928 Sessions

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This is quite possibly one of the most important collections of recorded music in the history of important collections of recorded music. I honestly don’t know how to describe how influential these performances have been, and continue to be. Not just in my life, but in the lives of thousands upon thousands of others as well.

For my part, it’s no exaggeration to say that the direction my life has taken over the last three decades has been shaped in no small part by the mere fact of this album. I first heard Louis Collins when I was 16 years old. I’ll be playing it on stage this weekend. I’ve loved it for that long.

Every time I pick up a guitar, I am in essence picking up this album. My fingers learned to move to the music of Mississippi John Hurt. My whole understanding of how to play guitar, or how to deliver a song, comes from this man’s music.

There is so much I could say about Mississippi John Hurt. His influence, the effect he’s had on me, and so many, is truly extraordinary. At some point before this year of album recommendations is over, we’ll probably talk about every recording he ever made. But for today, let’s start at the beginning.

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May 31, 2016

Setlist Chronicles -or- The Strange Bird Songs I Played Tonight

By pbistyping

Preacher Boy, Mission St. BBQ, photo by Jake J. Thomas

(Preacher Boy, live at Mission St. BBQ. Photo by Jake J. Thomas.)

Kind of an intriguing set tonight, if I do say so myself. I certainly bookended with a pair of the usual suspects, and there were a few other familiar chirps throughout as well, but all in all, quite a lot of strange birds making sonic appearances tonight. Lots of country blues in here. Here’s the full list of what I ran down:

  1. If I Had Possession Over My Judgement Day (Robert Johnson, arr. PB)
  2. Preachin’ Blues (Son House, arr. PB)
  3. Levee Camp Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell, arr. PB)
  4. Old Jim Granger (from the Preacher Boy album “The Tenderloin EP”)
  5. Diving Duck Blues (Sleepy John Estes, arr. PB)
  6. Evil Blues (Mance Lipscomb, arr. PB)
  7. A Little More Evil (from the Preacher Boy album “The National Blues”)
  8. Revenue Man Blues (Charley Patton, arr. PB)
  9. Milk Cow Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell, arr. PB)
  10. Catfish Blues (Willie Doss, arr. PB)
  11. The Dogs (from the Preacher Boy album “The Devil’s Buttermilk”)
  12. Spoonful Blues (Charley Patton, arr. PB)
  13. Down And Out In This Town (from the Preacher Boy album “Gutters & Pews”)
  14. Sliding Delta (Mississippi John Hurt, arr. PB)
  15. Stagolee (Mississippi John Hurt, arr. PB)
  16. A Person’s Mind (from the Preacher Boy album “The National Blues”)
  17. Down South Blues (Sleepy John Estes, arr. PB)
  18. Coal Black Dirt Sky (from the Preacher Boy album “Crow”)
  19. Black Crow (from the Preacher Boy album “Crow”)
  20. Railroad (from the Preacher Boy album “Gutters & Pews”)
  21. Motherless Children (Blind Willie Johnson,/Mance Lipscomb/Dave Van Ronk, arr. PB)
  22. Shake ‘Em On Down (Bukka White)

And for your listening pleasure, two straight-from-the-stage-to-yer-ear-buds guerrilla-live tracks:

Preacher Boy – Sliding Delta [LIVE]


(arrangement based on the Mississippi John Hurt version)

Preacher Boy – Levee Camp Blues [LIVE]


(arrangement based on a recorded performance by Mississippi Fred McDowell)

For the guitar heads amongst ye, this version of Sliding Delta is performed on a ’36 National (Grandpa’s National), which is set up for standard tuning. This chords are based on Key of E forms, but the guitar is capo’d at the 4th fret. Levee Camp Blues is performed on a different ’36 National (THE National), and the guitar is tuned to an Open G tuning, then capo’d at the 2nd fret.

For the footwear fanatics amongst ye, the stomps come courtesy of my cowboy boots, which are a Size 13.

 

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May 21, 2016

Rollin’ the PreachSongs Dice

By pbistyping

PB_VT

Tonight, Virgil and I, we gon’ jus’ roll the dice, and see what songs come up. Recent “set lists” (in quotes of course, cuz they’re not exactly planned!) have included songs from just about every Preacher Boy album over the last 20 years (including some I’ve NEVER played live before), plus a whole slew of groovy ol’ country blues gems and other Preachorum Obscurata. Here’s just a sampling:

 

The Cross Must Move & Dead, Boy (from Preacher Boy and the Natural Blues, Blind Pig Records)

Ugly & In The Darkened Night (from Gutters & Pews, Blind Pig Records)

Old Jim Granger & Rollin’ Stone (from The Tenderloin EP, Blind Pig Records, Wah Tup Records)

Black Crow & Coal Black Dirt Sky (from Crow, Wah Tup Records)

The Dogs & At The Corner Of The Top And The Bottom (from The Devil’s Buttermilk, Manifesto Records)

A Little Better When It Rains & One-Way Turnstile (from Demanding To Be Next, Coast Road Records)

A Person’s Mind & A Little More Evil (from The National Blues, Coast Road Records)

 

-plus-

 

Mama, Let Me Play With Your Yo-Yo (Blind Willie McTell)

Stagolee (Mississippi John Hurt)

Levee Camp Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell)

Milk Cow Blues (Kokomo Arnold)

I Just Hang Down My Head And I Cry (Mance Lipscomb)

Diving Duck Blues (Sleepy John Estes)

Fixin’ To Die (Bukka White)

Preachin’ Blues (Son House)

Spoonful (Charley Patton)

Maggie Campbell (Tommy Johnson)

 

And more, and more, and more!

 

#DIG

 

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February 17, 2016

The 11 Greatest Mississippi John Hurt Songs

By pbistyping

I’ve been diggin’ the number 11 of late. It’s got gravitas.

It has theological significance, of course. 12 apostles minus 1 betrayer.

It has numerological significance too, being the first of the “Master Numbers.” A good blues number, given its colloquial reputation as the “old soul” number.

And there is of course the inevitable Nigel Tufnel “one louder” …

Plus, it’s the value of the Ace. RIP Lemmy.

And there is of course that end-of-days urgency, the 11th hour. (An early review of my first album said I sung as if I was about to expire at any minute. I loved that review, and remain proud of it to this day. I like to think I sing like it’s the 11th hour …)

And there are, of course, 11 songs on the new Preacher Boy album, “The National Blues.”

Which brings me to Mississippi John Hurt. My first Country Blues hero.

Narrowing down a list of his songs to a group of favorites is not unlike limiting your breaths to an A list. You can’t really do it. They’re all necessary.

But, in honor of the number 11, I am nonetheless going to present to you a list of what are indisputably the 11 greatest Mississippi John Hurt songs. There can be no doubt this list is 100% accurate, objective, and correct. You’re gonna like it. I guarantee it.

Without further ado, in alphabetical order:

The 11 Greatest Mississippi John Hurt Songs:

Ain’t nobody’s dirty business

It’s in the Key of C, which for my money is Mississippi John’s money key. It’s from the 1928 sessions, which are to be considered the canonical recordings. And it’s just brilliant.

Avalon blues

Without this song, we likely would have been robbed of many more wonderful years of Mississippi John Hurt’s music. Thank you US Postal Service, for making sure that fateful letter made it to Avalon.

Candy man

The song is rightly considered a guitar tour-de-force. They’re largely forgettable lyrics, and honestly, it’s not my favorite Mississippi John song. But it’s simply too hard to deny the sound of the guitar on this cut.

Coffee blues

The Lovin’ Spoonful. Say no more. The song has entered our folklore. The bit about Maxwell House from the live version on Vanguard is worth the price of admission …

Got the blues and I can’t be satisfied

A devastating example of the nuanced and utterly singular way in which Hurt could deliver pathos and joy in the same song. Never have whiskey and murder sounded so jaunty.

I shall not be moved

I include this for personal reasons. It’s always been my mother’s favorite Mississippi John song, and it’s now my daughter’s. My missus and I sing her to sleep with it.

Let the mermaids flirt with me

A criminally overlooked masterpiece for which Mississippi John gets significant songwriting credit.

Louis Collins

Such a beautiful lyric, set to such a beautiful melody: “Miss Collins weep, Miss Collins moan/to see her son Louis leavin’ home/Oh, the angels laid him away.”

Richland women blues

Pound for pound, possibly his greatest song. Killer lyric, both sly and poetic. Killer guitar part; bouncin’, swingin’, and bluesy. Totally masterful vocal. The Alpha and the Omega of American roots music.

Sliding delta

Personal reasons again. The first Mississippi John song I ever heard, and the song that launched me on what is to date a 3o+ years-and-counting love affair with this music.

Stagolee

The canonical murder ballad. THE definitive version.

If you do nothing else for the world today, please just play some Mississippi John Hurt music through speakers, so that this music enters our atmosphere anew. We’ll all be the better for it.

And turn it up to 11.

 

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December 8, 2015

A Scholarly Paper On Preacher Boy?

By pbistyping

PreacherBoy_TheOldWeirdAmerica

Preacher Boy: A Citations-Included Scholarly Performance Review, and Guerrilla-Raw Recordings From The Show

I have been fortunate to receive a great many press reviews over the years. Most of them have actually been quite favorable, for which I’m grateful. Some even remarkably so. Many have been funny, some almost frighteningly spot on, and virtually all have had something insightful to contribute.

That Canadian publication that likened my singing to “Motorhead’s Lemmy singing the blues?” That was awesome.

The Seattle newspaper that described my music as “dark, beautiful, desperate, and soulful?” I loved that.

And of course, getting reviewed by Rolling Stone was pretty special, though getting a nod from Living Blues may have even topped that, given that I pretty much grew up reading that magazine. Still hard to believe I ended up in those hallowed pages.

The point being, I’ve been lucky that so many generous individuals have elected to write about my music. But a scholarly article, complete with citations and the like? That’s something new for me.

Yet that’s exactly what has transpired. Jonathan Dryden, one of the finest musicians working today–a true piano virtuoso–and a deep musicological student of all things Americana, has penned what I think is a rather extraordinary article based on a recent Preacher Boy performance, and focused on a suite of turn-of-the-century songs that feature in my rather ramshackle repertoire.

I am humbled beyond imagining by this piece of prose, and honestly hesitated to even share it. Well, at least I hesitated for a second or two. Truthfully, I couldn’t wait to share it. I am proud and humbled both, and genuinely stunned to find what I do so deeply understood, so “gotten.” Mr. Dryden is as sensitive and intelligent a writer as one could hope to be on the receiving end of, and I am so grateful to have been considered in this fashion.

Here is an excerpt from this paper:

“Compared to Len Spencer’s jerky and hurried version from the 1910s [Preacher Boy’s] pace was leisurely but well-timed. In his hands, the song didn’t sound one hundred-twenty years old. It was fresh and exciting, and the lyrics weren’t dated. He played it in a modern shuffle rhythm, alternating between G major and minor from beat to beat in the opening four measures instead of the traditional G major throughout. Where there had only been a tonic and dominant chord in the song, he found ways to insert sub-dominant and relative minor chords that brought out the melody and lyrics even more than a plain rendition would have done.”

You can read the full paper by clicking Preacher-Boy-at-Aptos-BBQ-1232015.

And should you wish to listen to some of the performance yourself, here are a few live guerrilla-raw recordings from the show in question:

Take Me Back

Stagolee

You’ve Been A Good Old Wagon, Daddy But You Done Broke Down

Shine On Harvest Moon

For my versions of the above, I am indebted to recordings by Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Leon Redbone, and Dave Van Ronk.

And for this post, and the story it contains, I am indebted specifically to Jonathan Dryden. Thank you, sir! And I am of course indebted to all at Aptos St BBQ, upon whose stage I had the pleasure of performing these songs. I am also indebted to anyone who has been gracious enough to write about me and/or the music I play. And finally, I am indebted to the music that came before me, and the musicians who made it. Deep bows to all.

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March 23, 2015

The Country Blues

By pbistyping

In Memory of Samuel Charters

Samuel Charters passed away last week. A man to whom I owe an almost inexpressible debt.

As I read Mr. Charters’ obituary, I was stunned to realize that I first read his book “The Country Blues” 30 years ago. Because of his book, I have been playing this music for 30 years. 30 years! If I read that number in someone else’s bio, I’d immediately assume elder statesman; a grizzled veteran; a lifer. Strange to realize that number 30 applies to me now.

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But that’s how important that book was to me. It literally changed my life. Dramatically. Who knew one seemingly innocuous trip to the library by my mother would result in a 30-year immersion in this music?

PreacherBoy_BlindPig

I signed my first record deal in 1994, with Blind Pig Records. This was approximately 10 years after I first read “The Country Blues.” If you look up my first bio on the Blind Pig Records website, you’ll find the story of the book right there:

“When he was 16, he stumbled upon Samuel Charter’s book entitled The Country Blues, which his mom had brought him from the library, knowing his current fascination with a Howlin’ Wolf record that he had found in the family record collection. Although he had never heard of any of the names in the book, their stories and personalities completely swept him away. He immediately ran to the record store and purchased a compilation album from the Newport Folk Festival, and thus began a lifetime of respect, love and devotion for the music of players like John Hurt, Son House, Fred McDowell, Bukka White, Mance Lipscomb and many others.”

GuttersAndPews

On my second Blind Pig album (Gutters & Pews), we did a version of Catfish Blues, based on a performance from the Newport Folk Festival by Willie Doss that I discovered on that Vanguard album noted above. The Vanguard album I bought because of Samuel Charters.

DemandingToBeNext_1

My album Demanding To Be Next was released in 2004. 20 years after I first read The Country Blues. On it, I did a version of “Death Letter Blues” by Son House. A song I first heard when I was 16 years old. Because of that book by Samuel Charters.

It’s early 2015 now. It is 30+ years since I read “The Country Blues.” And I am going to release a new album this year. (Actually, I’m going to release 3 new albums! But that’s another story …). And that album is going to contain performances of songs I first discovered because of Samuel Charters.

I won’t name names, but there are a lot of writers out there these days trying to make their names by debunking the idea of Country Blues. Writers who seem to think they’re awfully clever for “proving” that the whole story of Country Blues was “invented” by a bunch of misguided young white kids in the 60s who “rediscovered” Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, Fred McDowell, and more.

Well, listen. I’m not rendering judgement on the conduct of those individuals. Dick Waterman, Stephan Grossman, John Fahey, Dick Spottswood, et al. But what I will say is this: I don’t care how clever you think your book is, or how deep your research is, or how many myths you think you’ve debunked, or how much you think you know about race issues as they relate to this music. Nothing — I repeat, nothing — can change the truth of those recordings. They exist. They are real. Those performances happened. Those songs were written. Those voices were lifted. Those chords were played. And my life –and the lives of so many others — was changed. Not because of any myth. Not because of some false and over-romanticized narrative. Not because of some imagined and perpetuated legend.

We were changed by the music.

I read the book, and the book took me to the record store. (Tower Records, Seattle). And the book and I, we found that Vanguard Twofer full of names that were in the book. And so the book and I bought it. And then the book and I took ourselves home on the bus. And when we got home the book and I went to the living room and put the album on the record player. And the book and I sat back and listened as Mississipi John Hurt began to play “Sliding Delta.” And my life changed.

And that is a true story.

And I would not have experienced any of this truth if it wasn’t for Samuel Charters. So to him I offer deep bows. Very, very, very deep bows.

Samuel Charters, you changed my life. And I cannot thank you enough.

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March 5, 2015

Blues Under The Moonlight: The Setlist From Tonight

By pbistyping

If every picture is a poem, this is a haiku:

PB_LiveBlues_Moonlight

 

What song to sing when
the moon’s white eye shines? Which tu-
ning, and how open?

~

In alphabetical order, these are the songs I chose:

  1. 99 Bottles (PB)
  2. A Little More Evil (PB)
  3. Baby, Please Don’t Go (Bukka White)
  4. Big Road Blues (Tommy Johnson)
  5. Catfish Blues (Willie Doss)
  6. Comin’ Up Aces (PB)
  7. Cornbread (PB)
  8. Dead, Boy (PB)
  9. Death Letter Blues (Son House)
  10. Down & Out In This Town (PB)
  11. Down South Blues (Sleepy John Estes)
  12. Down The Drain (PB)
  13. I Shall Not Be Moved (Mississippi John Hurt)
  14. If I Had Possession Over My Judgement Day (Robert Johnson)
  15. Jesus, Make Up My Dying Bed (Blind Willie Johnson)
  16. Livin’ On A Bad Dream (PB)
  17. My Car Walks On Water (PB)
  18. Seven’s In The Middle, Son (PB)
  19. That’s No Way To Get Along (Rev. Robert Wilkins)
  20. There Go John (PB)

PB_#SauceAndASideOfSlide

 

 

 

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February 5, 2015

What’s A Preacher Boy Setlist Look Like These Days?

By pbistyping
The stage at Aptos St. BBQ

The stage at Aptos St. BBQ

To be honest, I’m not much of a setlist person, though I will say, there do tend to be patterns as regards the songs I select, and the order I play them in. More often than not, it comes down to simple questions of tuning. Because I use a number of different tunings, I generally try to do songs in such an order that I don’t spend the entire time mucking with the pegs.

So, what’s a Preacher Boy set list look like these days? Well, it’s pretty heavy on the country blues, that’s for sure! Here’s the crop from tonight’s show at Aptos St. BBQ, though to be honest, I have no idea what order I played these in, but I do know these are the songs I played (in parentheses, either the composer, or the musicianer I got the arrangement off of):

  1. If I Had Possession Over My Judgement Day (Robert Johnson)
  2. Fixin’ To Die (Bukka White)
  3. Death Letter Blues (Son House)
  4. Jack & Jill Blues (Sleepy John Estes)
  5. Cornbread (PB)
  6. One Good Reason (PB & Eagle-Eye Cherry)
  7. Catfish Blues (Willie Doss)
  8. That’s No Way To Get Along (Reverend Robert Wilkins)
  9. Baby, Please Don’t Go (Bukka White)
  10. 99 Bottles (PB)
  11. Old Jim Granger (PB)
  12. There Go John (PB)
  13. A Golden Thimble (PB)
  14. A Little More Evil (PB)
  15. Down & Out In This Town (PB)
  16. My Car Walks On The Water (PB)
  17. Need Mo’ Blues (Sleepy John Estes)
  18. Seven’s In The Middle, Son (PB)
  19. Death Don’t Have No Mercy (Reverend Gary Davis)
  20. Motherless Children (Dave Van Ronk)
  21. Slidin’ Delta (Mississippi John Hurt)
  22. Cornbread (PB)

I’m just starting to read Dave Van Ronk’s autobiography, so that’s what got me in the mood to play one of his arrangements. The book is:

and so far, it’s pretty delightful. Dave Van Ronk was such a huge influence for me. All those Tom Waits comparisons over the years used to just make me laugh, ‘cuz for fuck’s sake, haven’t you ever heard of Dave Van Ronk before?

The first time I ever performed a country blues kind of tune before an actual audience was courtesy of my old high school English teacher substitute Mr. Tom Nolet. He was a blues player, and knew I was hopelessly into it all as well, and very graciously invited me to sing a song at his gig at a coffeehouse. I was 16, and I played (or attempted to play, I should say) Dave Van Ronk’s version of Po’ Lazarus, and I was bloody awful, and Tom apparently lost the gig, and well, that wasn’t a very good start to my career (and obviously not good for his either!) and I don’t think I sang on mic again for another 5 years!

But I still play Po’ Lazarus sometimes, as well as a spin-off of Dave’s version of Come Back, Baby, and of course the version of Motherless Children that I noted above.

So that was me tonight. The Mayor of Aptos St. BBQ.

If ya’d like a lil’ taste, here’s a VERY rough live track from tonight’s show. The tune is “A Little More Evil,” a never-yet-recorded-and-released PB cut (and that thumpin’ sound is me boot!):

Preacher Boy: A Little More Evil (live at Aptos St BBQ, 2.15.15) 

Lyrics below:

a little more evil

jesus christ, look at you, you lookin’ like you dead wrecked
i wish i had a way to pay for you to get your head checked
you so fuckin’ strung out man it’s time to face the music
you ain’t got but the one life and you about to lose it

that isn’t opportunity
that’s knockin’ on the door
and it ain’t fire that you playin’ with
it somethin’ that’s a little more evil
a little more evil

it’s always a maria gettin’ suckers like you laid up
tryin’ to live the myth the ones that came before ya made up
i hate to break it to ya but her name is not maria
she might look ya in the eyes but i swear she doesn’t see ya

that isn’t opportunity
that’s knockin’ on the door
and it ain’t fire that you playin’ with
it somethin’ that’s a little more evil
a little more evil

i ain’t gon’ to be the john to baptize ya in the river
and you too old to be a baby that i’m called on to deliver
there’s a train to judgment and you got a ticket to go
but it ain’t gonna be the lord who come to meet ya at the depot

that isn’t opportunity
that’s knockin’ on the door
and it ain’t fire that you playin’ with
it somethin’ that’s a little more evil
a little more evil

(p) PreachSongMusic/KobaltMusic/BMI

 

 

 

 

 

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