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Al compás del mundo – programa #119 –Blues Harmonica


Any program that starts and ends with Little Walter has got something going on right. And in this version of Mexican radio’s Al compas del mundo (radioactivaTX.org – in Tequisquiapan, Queretaro) I can do no wrong. Though I kind of, sort of, do a chronology of the harmonica in American blues, I had to start off this playlist with Little Walter Jacobs for reasons obvious to me and, I’m certain, many others. Followed by an all-time favorite – Rollin’ and Tumblin’, with Walter again, Muddy Waters, Baby Face Leroy Foster and an unnamed participant or two. It is a given that the blues developed in the United States brought by an enslaved population that introduced African characteristics from many different roots and regions. This lyric-less version of Rollin’ and Tumblin’ is played, moaned and wailed to create a mood that – to these ears – evokes the sound of the motherland, how distant that might be. Followed by early recordings of a novelty harmonica solo, jug bands, and country sounds. Followed by city sounds, largely out of Chicago through the great migration from the African American South. Followed by a touch of R&B (and Walter to finish). Big harmonica names throughout – Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson I and II, Howling Wolf, Slim Harpo, Junior Wells, Walter Horton, James Cotton…and a host of others who made the tiny blues harp into an icon of homegrown American music. - J.H.


Run List for Blues Harmonica Episode - First broadcast 3-14-24


01 Little Walter - Blues With a Feeling

02 Baby Face Leroy Foster - Rollin' and Tumblin' (part 2)

03 Palmer McAbee - Lost Boy Blues

04 Cannon's Jug Stompers - Viola Lee Blues

05 Memphis Jug Band - On the Road Again

06 Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - Red River Blues

07 Houston Boines - Monkey Motion

08 Sonny Boy Williamson I - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl

09 Sonny Boy Williamson II - Ninety Nine

10 Howling Wolf - Who's Been Talkin'

11 George 'Harmonica' Smith - Yes Baby

12 Billy Boy Arnold - I Ain’t Got You

13 Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back

14 Junior Wells - Messin' With the Kid

15 Walter Horton - Have A Good Time

16 George 'Wild Child' Butler - Jelly Jam

17 Big Mama Thornton - Everything Gonna Be Alright

18 Carey Bell - What My Mama Told Me

19 James Cotton - Soul Survivor

20 Little Walter - Sad Hours


Re:Cannon's Jug Stompers - Viola Lee Blues  On their first record, the Grateful Dead introduced many young Americans to one of the greatest Jug Band Era gems. The song is on Harry Smith's Anthology, which was a Lodestar for the Dead and others. Viola Lee Blues is almost a drone, it flowered into hallucinogenic patterns in the Dead's version. Many '60s bands came up with more than a little Jug Band influence. Count the Grateful Dead, the Youngbloods, Loving Spoonful and arguably the Velvet Underground here. Viola Lee Blues starts with a sentencing.The shaman narrator goes to jail for life, not clear why. Must have been a difference with Viola Lee. It makes sense, since this is "Viola Lee Blues". In this day in court, different cases lead to different sentences, but our narrator gets Life. He's been drinking white lightning, it's gone to his head, that is some kind of explaination. As a guy wrote on YouTube, the song: The haronica player Noah Lewis drives this song. The short exhaust chord at the conclusion is like a train arriving. It fires a synapse in my radio head. -J.V.

For more of a longer take on  the roots of Jug, go to Beedle-ee-bum: 8more miles to the Louisville Jug Bands  

jv





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