A heated discussion on 'Race, Gender & the Blues'

[Pam]

I am very lucky to have gone around twice.  In my formative years, I was
fortunate to be in an area able to get the signal from WHAT-FM a jazz
station with very strong folk music programing thanks to Gene Shay, who
still is on the air and puts on the Philadelphia folk festival every
year.  The blues musicians were part of his programing, include Son
House, Leadbelly, etc., etc.  I used to tape the programs and somewhere
I have a tape with Leadbelly playing the Eagle Rock on piano.  There
were several very very active coffee houses in the area, too, and I
lived in the Village for a while, so I got to see so many of the
"classic" blues artists in cozy settings.

 I was turned off by the Brits and their covers because I was a "purist"
and wanted things done in the original way.  Dave Van Ronk, Eric von
Schmidt and Tom Rush were the ones whose covers led me to the originals.

NBC:  If there are old folkies like me out there, Doc Watson is in ICU
in Winston-Salem right now and the family has been called to be with
him.  He is 89 and certainly has lived a full life, but I hope he will
be with us a little longer.

Jimmy Jacobs wrote:

>I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to see those players in the
>dvd's of those festival programs.  The name of the series reminds me of the
>importance of folk music's influence in bringing awareness of
>African-American blues music to the white population.  I recall buying
>albums by Dylan, Baez, Lightin' Hopkins and Muddy Waters' "Folk Singer"
>while I was in high school.  I was familiar with many of the 50's and 60's
>blues performers from WLAC radio, but recall my knowledge of Son House,
>Mississippi John Hurt and Bukka White came from folkers.  Later, when the
>Stones and others became popular, I knew where their influences (and covers)
>came from, but most of my white contemporaries did learn about blues from
>the British artists.
>
> There have been a lot of interesting comments in the responses to this
>thread.  Given me a lot to think about.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Blues Music List [mailto:BLUES-L@LISTSERV.NETHELPS.COM] On Behalf Of
>jinxblues@AOL.COM
>Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 10:37 AM
>To: BLUES-L@LISTSERV.NETHELPS.COM
>Subject: Re: A heated discussion on 'Race, Gender & the Blues'
>
>
>
>
>Does that start make me a fake blues fan? Tip of the hat to the promoters
>who influenced a slew of Brits by exposing them to black american artists in
>the early 60's, thus creating a new blues audience that became musicians.
>The American Folk Blues Festival by German promoters Horst Lippmann and
>Fritz Rau were the catalyst.
>
> ---------------
>
>Lippmann and Rau got their long overdue induction into the Blues
>Foundation's Hall of Fame last month in Memphis.
>
>It's not just that they brought over real blue, they insisted on top of the
>line players.
>
>I remember one tour (maybe 1967) with Son House, Skip James, Booker White,
>Hound Dog Taylor, Brownie & Sonny, Sippie Wallace, etc.
>
>And the rhythm sections were great with Willie Dixon on bass, Fred Below on
>drums, Otis Spann or Roosevelt Sykes or Lafayette Leake on piano.
>
>
>
>Dick Waterman
>1601 Buchanan Avenue
>Oxford, MS 38655
>
>
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