Monthly Archives: April 2015

One of the many unsung heroes of Piedmont blues research and field-work in the seventies is Danny McLean, then a young resident of Rocky Mount, NC, birthplace of Thelonious Monk. He was just out of the Army… about the only … Continue reading →

During the couple of years after the first album was released, I spent time with Robert Lockwood at his home in Cleveland whenever I was in town, usually stopping off when en route to Chicago or Detroit. I got to … Continue reading →

From the standpoint of direct involvement in my life, the most important artist that I have dealt with has been Robert Lockwood. Eddie Kirkland (O&S # 49, 50, 51), Willie Trice (O&S # 9), Tarheel Slim (O&S # 4), and … Continue reading →

When all is said and done, there is only one constant in life and that is change. No matter what we might prefer to be the case, nothing ever stays the same and the music W.E. see (see O&S 20 … Continue reading →

And so by 1970 my masochistic tendencies began to come forward in a public way with the creation of Trix Records. What with all the material I had recorded the previous year being good in both performance and recording quality, … Continue reading →

The blues of the Piedmont was documented on commercial recordings for some thirty-five years, with the bulk of them by guitarists, often of great technical ability. Since we were often looking for guitarists, I figured that I should take along … Continue reading →

The bulk of my active field-work was done over two decades, from 1968 to 1989, with recordings taking place between 1970 and 1980 – the results are 333 rolls of tape with around 1600 musical selections. It all began with … Continue reading →

One of the great labels of the post-war era was Savoy Records, the product of the mind of Herman Lubinsky, and begun in a small way in 1942. After WW II, things had become interesting in the music business as … Continue reading →

MIXED BAG: #3 1.)   It was THE NEW YORKER’s jazz critic Whitney Balliett who first used the phrase “the sound of surprise” to describe the effect of a good performance on the listener. Now while Balliett was using it in … Continue reading →

Of course, most of my “real” blues activity for Joe Fields took place after he had purchased the secular Savoy catalogue from the boys at Arista Records (Clive Davis hadn’t a clue). Joe embarked upon a major program of releases … Continue reading →