Category Archives: ARTICLES

MIXED BAG: #4 1.) Blues music today is White folks’ music – the audience for it bleaching out as you read this and, as the old ‘uns die off, so are the performers. Today’s cliché concept of a blues performer … Continue reading →

There is another relatively unsung hero in the realm of blues research specifically in the SE, and that is George Mitchell, photographer, writer, “recordist”, and producer par excellence. Much of his work over the years has been outside of his … Continue reading →

On the other hand, Danny McLean had nothing to do with Pernell Charity being recorded… that was the result of a very young Kip Lornell’s initial venture into southern field-work. I had just returned from a trip in late summer … Continue reading →

There was more to Danny McLean’s involvement with blues field-work than Guitar Shorty, although that alone would have been a major “find” and the many photographs taken by Val Wilmer in the seventies are proof of that. There were people … Continue reading →

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 →