Category Archives: ARTICLES

Long ago and far away, I was pulled away from my Southeastern focus in a couple of different directions. Detroit (and the pianists; O&S #23) was one, while Cleveland, OH had Robert Lockwood (O&S # 39, 40). Jim O’Neal was … Continue reading →

Before going to the University of Pennsylvania to “folklore school” in the fall of 1980 and after receiving (and properly spending) my N.E.. Folk Arts Grant in 1978, I found myself at loose ends. An unexpected phone call put an … Continue reading →

There’s a long list of musicians I was privileged to record in my decade of intense field-work, many for the first time in their lives. It is much easier to lay claim to an individual “first” than it is to … Continue reading →

My more recent epiphany that I alluded to last time came via some reviews in Nat Hentoff’s publication of some LPs on a label I’d never heard of before… Chess Records. The albums were “The Best of Muddy Waters”, “The … Continue reading →

Blues music is still having something of another boom period, although today the main audience is White, as are most of the newer practitioners. The days of blues being solely a Black music made for a Black audience are slipping … Continue reading →

Robert Johnson… Robert Johnson… I’m almost as sick of hearing the name Robert Johnson as is Robert Lockwood! There’s more to blues music and blues performance than he… even more to so-called “Delta” blues. This over-emphasizing and mythologizing of Johnson … Continue reading →

After Bastin’s year at Chapel Hill, I continued on with the South East research for close to a full decade. Of course, the New York area (O&S # 13) connected into this work (as did all Eastern Seaboard cities, from … Continue reading →

MIXED BAG: # 1 1.)   I have to own up to it… one day I was not well and so I was stretched out on the couch watching England being beaten up by Australia in one-day cricket. I was desperate. … Continue reading →

It was in the fall of 1972 when I drove to the Jackson family compound accompanied by Kip Lornell… autumn in Jonesville, SC and the med show season over until the following Spring. There were a number of outbuildings on … Continue reading →

Reading Peter Cooper’s book on Spartanburg, SC (O&S # 10) got me to thinking about my experiences thereabouts and made me realize how much began to open up and “happen” after meeting Baby Tate so successfully. Once he realized that … Continue reading →