Homesick James Dies

 Blues Legend Homesick James passed away December 13. He was in his mid-90s, but his own accounts of his age would vary. His correct age may remain in doubt (he's claimed he was born as early as 1905), but the slashing slide guitar skills of Homesick James Williamson have never been in question. Many of his most satisfying recordings have placed him in a solo setting, where his timing eccentricities don't disrupt the proceedings Williamson was playing guitar at age ten and soon ran away from his Tennessee home to play at fish fries and dances. His travels took the guitarist through Mississippi and North Carolina during the 1920s,
where he crossed paths with Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Boy Fuller, and Big Joe Williams. Settling in Chicago during the 1930s. The miles and gigs had
added up before Williamson made some of his finest sides in 1952-53 for Art Sheridan's Chance Records (including the classic "Homesick" that gave him his enduring stage name). James also worked extensively as a sideman, backing harp
great Sonny Boy Williamson in 1945 at a Chicago gin joint called the Purple Cat and during the 1950s with his cousin, slide master Elmore James (to whom Homesick is stylistically indebted). He also recorded with James during the 1950s. Homesick's own output included crashing 45's for Colt and USA in 1962, a fine 1964 album for Prestige, and four tracks on a Vanguard anthology in 1965. Williamson has never stopped recording and touring; he's done recent albums for Appaloosa, Earwig and Fedora.

James Brown Dies

 James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died on Christmas day. He was 73 Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him. If Brown's claim to the invention of soul can be challenged by fans of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, then his rights to the genres of rap, disco and funk are beyond question. He was to rhythm and dance music what Dylan was to lyrics: the unchallenged popular innovator. "James presented obviously the best grooves," rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy once told The Associated Press. "To this day, there has been no one near as funky. No one's coming even close." His hit singles include such classics as "Out of Sight," "(Get Up I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine," "I Got You (I Feel Good)" and "Say It Out Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud," a landmark 1968 statement of racial pride. He won a Grammy award for lifetime achievement in 1992, as well as Grammys in 1965 for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" (best R&B recording) and for "Living In America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male.) He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, along with Presley, Chuck Berry and other founding fathers. 'Disco is James Brown, hip-hop is James Brown, rap is James Brown' From the 1950s, when Brown had his first R&B hit, "Please, Please, Please" in 1956, through the mid-1970s, Brown went on a frenzy of cross-country tours, concerts and new songs. He earned the nickname "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business." In 1986, he was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And rap stars of recent years overwhelmingly have borrowed his lyrics with a digital technique called sampling. Born in poverty in Barnwell, South Carolina, in 1933, he was abandoned as a 4-year-old to the care of relatives and friends and grew up on the streets of Augusta, Georgia, in an "ill-repute area," as he once called it. There he learned to wheel and deal. By the eighth grade in 1949, Brown had served 3 1/2 years in Alto Reform School near Toccoa, Georgia, for breaking into cars. While there, he met Bobby Byrd, whose family took Brown into their home. Byrd also took Brown into his group, the Gospel Starlighters. Soon they changed their name to the Famous Flames and their style to hard R&B. In January 1956, King Records of Cincinnati signed the group, and four months later "Please, Please, Please" was in the R&B Top Ten. While most of Brown's life was glitz and glitter, he was plagued with charges of abusing drugs and alcohol and of hitting his third wife, Adrienne.

Blues Grammy Nominations Announced

 The Grammys have announced this years nominations for the Blues categories. The nominations include:

Best Traditional Blues Album:

(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Brother To The Blues
Tab Benoit With Louisiana's Leroux
[Telarc Blues]

Bronx In Blue
Dion
[Razor & Tie]

People Gonna Talk
James Hunter
[Rounder]

Guitar Groove-A-Rama
Duke Robillard
[Stony Plain Records]

Risin' With The Blues
Ike Turner
[Zoho Roots]

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

(Vocal or Instrumental.)

Live From Across The Pond
Robert Cray Band
[Vanguard Records/Nozzle Records]

Sippiana Hericane
Dr. John & The Lower 911
[Blue Note Records]

Suitcase
Keb' Mo'
[Epic/One Haven/Red Ink]

Hope And Desire
Susan Tedeschi
[Verve Forecast]

After The Rain
Irma Thomas
[Rounder]

Jay McShann Dies

  Pianist, singer and bandleader Jay McShann died Dec. 7th, one month before his 91st birthday. Fittingly, he passed away in Kansas City, Missouri, his adopted hometown and one of the most significant incubators of modern jazz. Born in Oklahoma, where he taught himself piano, McShann moved to Kansas City in late 1936, the year before the Basie band was "discovered" there by jazz impresario John Hammond, who arranged for the band to leave Kansas City’s Reno Club for national tours and recording sessions. By the end of 1938, the Kansas City jazz style—extremely hard swinging and bluesy, emphasizing instrumental solos backed by patterns called "riffs"—were essential to the exploding popularity of "swing" music. On December 23, Hammond, a supporter of the Communist Party, made the Basie band the centerpiece of his first "Spirituals to Swing" concert, which sold out Carnegie Hall in New York City as a benefit for the Republican forces fighting Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Eventually, McShann would fill the void Basie left in Kansas City with a swing orchestra assembled from local musicians, including, most notably, a teenaged Kansas City native and budding alto saxophonist named Charles Parker, Jr. In later interviews, McShann relished telling his version of how Parker got his famous nickname "Yardbird"—later shortened to "Bird. " Parker left for New York City, where he worked as a dishwasher, while honing his skills in Harlem jam sessions. McShann kept his band together by touring throughout the Midwest, with occasional stops in Kansas City dancehalls still operating. The Jay McShann Orchestra made its first recordings—without Parker—in late 1939. Parker rejoined McShann the next year and stayed until he became a member of pianist Earl Hines’ band in 1943, a group that included Dizzy Gillespie and several other jazz modernists. Unfortunately, although the Jay McShann Orchestra excelled at popular songs, the success of Walter Brown’s vocal on "Confessin’ the Blues" led Decca management to pigeon-hole the band as "The Band that Plays the Blues." McShann was drafted in 1943, bringing his classic swing band to an end. He unsuccessfully attempted to establish a viable jazz orchestra after his discharge, but times had changed. While bebop took leadership of the jazz world, McShann became a more commercially oriented rhythm-and-blues performer. He scored a huge hit backing vocalist Jimmy Witherspoon on a cover recording of "Ain’t Nobody’s Business." McShann returned to Kansas City in 1950, where he raised his three daughters and performed regularly in local establishments. He toured sporadically, including a highly rewarding 1969 European trip, made occasional recordings and settled comfortably into the role of an elder statesman. He was prominently featured in the excellent 1980 homage to the Kansas City golden age, "Last of the Blue Devils," was interviewed in Ken Burns’ uneven 2001 documentary "Jazz," and performed during the piano segment of Clint Eastwood’s 2003 PBS mini-series "The Blues." On recordings, McShann displayed a high degree of piano skill, with elements of boogie-woogie underlying his always imaginative melodic improvisations. He never developed the more modern sound of his Kansas City contemporary, Mary Lou Williams, however, and sounded increasingly dated as the years rolled on. Eventually, he began singing as well, sounding remarkably like Walter Brown. McShann performed live until last year, when deteriorating health made it impossible for him to continue. It was only a few days before his death, however, when he entered St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City complaining of a respiratory infection.

Wordie Perkins Dies

 Wordie Perkins, one of the great Memphis blues guitar players of all time, passed away November 24, 2006. Featured as Will Roy Sanders' foil in the fabulous Fieldstones since 1974, Perkins and Sanders' two guitar attack created legions of blues fans from every country in the world, who either saw the Fieldstones on their infrequent tours of Australia and South America or came to hear them play in
Memphis' wildest area juke joints like J&J's Lounge, Green's Lounge, and, most recently, the Blue Worm. Perkins died due to heart failure after a year of various
operations. While the operations and sickness slowed him down and made him weak, the potential for one final European tour kept Perkins' ebullient spirit going through difficult times. Always a prankster with a quip, Perkins constantly had a smile on his face and tune ready in his guitar. Growing up near Senatobia where he learned to play guitar as a youngster, Perkins moved to Memphis in 1950, joining the Thrillers
in 1960. Soon thereafter, he began playing with Leroy Hodges, Sr's. band, the Funky Four, from 1962 until 1974, when the Fieldstones sharp guitar style created some of the Fieldstones' most memorable dance songs like "The Thing," "The Squeeze," and "Let's Do It." He also recently wrote the Memphis River Kings' theme song, "River Kings Rock." His total discography includes 2 full length cds and 2 45s with the Fieldstones as well as the cd single for the River Kings. Perkins amazing guitar playing, cool composure, and positive spirit is already missed by blues fans everywhere.

KBA Recipients Announced

Twenty-one individuals and organizations will be honored with The Blues Foundation's 2007 Keeping The Blues Alive (KBA)Award during a recognition brunch Saturday, February 3, 2007, in Memphis Tennessee. The KBA ceremony will be part of the International Blues Challenge (IBC) weekend of events that will feature the semifinals and finals of the 23rd IBC competition, as well as seminars, presentations and receptions for blues societies, fans and professionals.

The Keeping The Blues Alive Awards recognize the significant contributions to Blues music made by the people behind the scenes. Each is selected on the basis of merit by a select panel of Blues professionals. KBA Chairman Art Tipaldi notes with respect to this year’s recipients, "Once again, the committee was faced with the difficult task of selecting honorees from among the many outstanding men, women and organizations, many of whom could have been selected for the honor in the past due to their record of service to the Blues genre. Each year, we think we cannot match the quality of the previous year’s recipients and, and each year we are wrong. It is a great privilege to be involved in the process that gives these folks their well-deserved recognition." The KBA Committee has this year added an "International" category to specifically recognize the global reach and popularity of Blues music, even though past KBA Awards have presented to Canadians and Europeans. For a complete list of recipients the Blues Foundation Website.

H-Bomb Ferguson Dies

Robert "H-Bomb" Ferguson, a bluesman and pianist who urged listeners to "rock baby rock" at the dawn of the rock 'n' roll era, has died. He was 77. Ferguson, who got his Cold War-era nickname from his booming voice, died Sunday at Hospice of Cincinnati of complications from emphysema and cardiopulmonary disease, said a family friend, the Rev. Julia Keene. "If it wasn't for folks like him, blues wouldn't be what it is today. He was doing it first," said Lance Boyd, guitarist for Ferguson's group, the Medicine Men. Ferguson sang and played piano in a flamboyant style, wearing colorful wigs; he was said to own dozens. "I want the audience to go crazy and enjoy themselves," he told The Washington Post (nyse: WPO - news - people ) in 1988. "Heck, if they don't, I will anyway." His early works were featured in the recent reissue "H-Bomb Ferguson: Big City Blues, 1951-54." It includes the hit "Good Lovin'" and "Rock H-Bomb Rock," both from 1952. "Rock H-Bomb Rock" also was included last year in the elaborate box set called "Atomic Platters: Cold War Music From the Golden Age of Homeland Security." According to the Web site of Conelrad, the record label, the lyrics go: "I said rock, rock and rock, rock baby rock. ... Tell me, do you feel that rockin' bomb? Oh yeah, let's rock." It wasn't until 1955 that rock 'n' roll became a mainstream sensation, when Bill Haley and the Comets' version of "Rock Around the Clock" became a hit. Cincinnati had observed H-Bomb Ferguson Day on Oct. 17, and a documentary directed by John Parker, "Blues Legend: The Life and Times of H-Bomb Ferguson," debuted that day. Ferguson had quit music in the 1970s but resumed performing in the mid-1980s. "He wanted to be remembered as a performer who gave it his all every time," said his wife, Christine Ferguson. "His voice was just so magnetic - a very deep voice with a mix of gravel in it." A native of Charleston, S.C., the 11th of 12 children, Ferguson said his interest in the blues dated back to his childhood. His father, a Baptist pastor, paid for piano lessons "and wanted me to do religious stuff," he told the Post in 1988. "But after church was over, while the people was all standing outside talking, me and my friends would run back inside and I'd play the blues on the piano."

Memphis Radio Pioneer Dies

 John R. Pepper II, co-founder of the first nationwide radio station with programming targeting a black audience, has died. He was 91. Pepper died Nov. 20th at St. Francis Hospital after an extended illness, according to Forest Hill Midtown Funeral Home, where services were held Friday. Still one of Memphis' top stations, WDIA-AM was the first in the South with an all-black on-air staff. Clear Channel Broadcasting Inc. now owns the station, which reaches five states. WDIA, which Pepper founded with Bert Ferguson in the 1940s, helped launch the careers of B.B. King and Isaac Hayes, among others, and eased the way for blacks throughout the country to break into broadcasting. Hayes was a member of the station's "teen-town singers," and King, whose real name is Riley King, picked up his stage name while working as a WDIA disc jockey from 1949 to 1955. He was known then as the "Beale Street Blues Boy" and later as simply "B.B."

Robert Lockwood Dies

 Robert Lockwood Jr., a Delta blues guitarist who became the torchbearer of Robert Johnson's guitar legacy and a revered musician in his own right, died Nov. 21st at a Cleveland hospital. He was 91. Few guitarists had the enduring mystique of Johnson, a hard-living, hardloving musician who created soulful blues landmarks before his death at 27 from poisoned whiskey. Growing up in rural Arkansas, Lockwood learned guitar fundamentals from Johnson, who also functioned as an occasional stepfather though the two were only a four years apart in age. A professional musician at 15, Lockwood reached wider audiences through radio work in the early 1940s from a station in Helena, Ark. One listener, B.B. King, became Lockwood's pupil, and years later, Lockwood advised the addition of horns to Mr. King's band to disguise Mr. King's imperfect sense of keeping time. Lockwood, who also sang and composed songs, was a well-disciplined, unflashy musician — some called him the least-known elder statesman in music. In the past few decades, he almost exclusively played the 12-string guitar. In Chicago, he became a fixture of blues and jazz recording sessions for Chess and other record labels. He played with nearly every blues giant who passed through the city in the 1940s and 1950s, including guitarist Muddy Waters; singer Howlin' Wolf; pianists Roosevelt Sykes, Curtis Jones, Sunnyland Slim, and Eddie Boyd, and harmonica player Little Walter. Long settled in Cleveland, he began recording as a soloist in the 1970s after appearances at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. He continued playing at clubs, college campuses, and festivals around the world and received prestigious awards and blues hall of fame inductions. Lockwood was born March 27, 1915, on a farm in Turkey Scratch, Ark., about 25 miles from Helena. His parents separated when he was young, and he learned guitar from two of his cousins. The grandson of a preacher, he also enjoyed playing the blues on the organ. When he was 11, Johnson showed up on his doorstep. "He followed my momma home," Lockwood told the publication Living Blues. "And she couldn't get rid of him. He wouldn't leave. He hung around there and hung around there. And he and my momma stayed together off and on for 10 years." After Johnson's death in 1938, Lockwood went to Chicago and made his first recordings, backing singer Doctor Clayton. His experiments on the electric guitar gained wide notice on the "King Biscuit Time," a 15-minute radio program broadcast during the noon hour from Helena. He later switched to an all-jazz format for a competing show sponsored by Mother's Best Flour that had national reach. In 1950, he became a session guitarist for Chess Records, the premier blues label. During this boom period in postwar urban blues, he was particularly adept at blending in with classically educated musicians and those with little formal training. "Most of the blues singers were kinda uneducated, so maybe they didn't know when they were being shorted," he said in 1994 of the notoriously bad bookkeeping at most record labels. "The Chess brothers were a little afraid of me because I was outspoken. "One time, Little Walter got shot," he said. "When they took him to the hospital, the police pried open his fist, and he had three sticks of marijuana. They chained Little Walter to the bed, so I told Leonard Chess what happened. "He said, ‘That … Walter's gonna give me a heart attack yet.' I told him, ‘I don't know about that, but I do know that he made you a millionaire, so what you gonna do?' Chess called out there, and they took the chains off of Little Walter, just like that." An old friend, harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson II (also called "Rice" Miller), lured him to Cleveland in 1960. He stayed, figuring he had less competition than in Chicago. He worked as a chauffeur and nightclub manager and made an impressive guitar-piano duet with Otis Spann, who had been Muddy Waters's pianist. Their "Otis Spann Is the Blues" (1960) featured a rollicking version of what became Lockwood's unofficial theme song, "Little Boy Blue." His 1998 release "I've Got to Find Me a Woman," including a guitar duet with B.B. King, received a Grammy Award nomination for traditional blues album. "Delta Crossroads" (2000), released on the Telarc label, received a second nomination.

Ruth Brown Dies

 Singer Ruth Brown, whose recordings of "Teardrops in My Eyes," "5-10-15 Hours" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" shot her to rhythm-and-blues stardom in the 1950s, has died. She was 78. Brown, who later in life won a Grammy and a Tony, died Nov. 17th of complications from a stroke and heart attack at a Las Vegas-area hospital, said Lindajo Loftus, a publicist for the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, which Brown helped establish. "Ruth was one of the most important and beloved figures in modern music," singer Bonnie Raitt said in a statement. "You can hear her influence in everyone from Little Richard to Etta (James), Aretha (Franklin), Janis (Joplin) and divas like Christina Aguilera today." "She was my dear friend, and I will miss her terribly," Raitt said. Brown's soulful voice produced dozens of hits for Atlantic Records, cementing the fledgling record label's reputation as an R&B powerhouse. Trained in a church choir in her hometown of Portsmouth, Va., Brown sang a range of style from jazz to gospel-blues in such hits as "So Long" and "Teardrops in My Eyes." She later crossed over into rock 'n' roll with some success with "Lucky Lips" and "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'," a song she co-wrote with Bobby Darin. But as R&B and rock 'n' roll fell out of style in the late 1950s, Brown and her musical contemporaries were forced into retirement. She spent most of the 1960s raising her two sons alone and earning a living as a maid, school bus driver and teacher. Brown enjoyed a career renaissance in the mid-70s when she began recording blues and jazz tunes for a variety of labels and found success on the stage and in movies. She won acclaim in the R&B musical "Staggerlee" and won a Tony Award for best actress in the Broadway revue "Black and Blue." She also played a feisty deejay in the 1988 cult movie "Hairspray." A year later, she won a Grammy for best jazz vocal performance for the album "Blues on Broadway." Brown continued to perform and record in her later years, becoming a popular host of National Public Radio's "Harlem Hit Parade." She also became a prominent advocate for the rights of aging R&B musicians during her long struggle to recoup her share of royalties from Atlantic. Her effort led to the formation of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to providing financial and medical assistance, as well as historical and cultural preservation of the musical genre.

Timothea Dies

 Timothea Beckerman, a New Orleans rhythm & blues singer and songwriter who
dedicated her final years to raising awareness of hepatitis C, died Nov. 14th in
New York of complications from the disease. She was 55. Ms. Beckerman's life story was a blues song come to life. At age 12, she was working the same bar circuit as Earl King, Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas and Aaron Neville. In 1966, at 14, she released her first single, "Teenage Prayer," featuring Dr. John. By 18, she'd had two marriages and two sons. After a long layoff from music, she initiated a collaboration with Johnny Adams and Walter "Wolfman" Washington. She sang at Dorothy's Medallion Lounge and on the road, and wrote songs for Washington's early Rounder albums. After appearing in the film "Down By Law," she moved to New York.

Joe Lutcher Dies

 Joe Lutcher a 1940's and 50's R&B recording artist passed away on October
29th. Alto saxophonist and vocalist Joe Lutcher had R&B hits in the late '40s with "Shuffle Woogie" (for Capitol in 1948), "The Rockin' Boogie" (for Specialty in 1948), and "Mardi Gras" (for Modern in 1949). While he was a competent vocalist, his true forte was the sax. His repertoire mixed instrumentals with vocal numbers, employing an approach that generally fell within the Los Angeles jump blues-R&B style of the late '40s and early '50s, although he often added New Orleans accents and sometimes went into a straighter big-band jazz mode. He's not nearly as well known, though, as his sister Nellie Lutcher, who was a more successful hitmaker as a vocalist. Lutcher was born in Lake Charles, LA, moving to Los Angeles in the early '40s, following his sister (who had moved there in the mid-'30s). He played sax with the Nat King Cole Trio for a time before forming his own band and signing to Specialty in 1947. After some success with both Specialty and Capitol (where Nellie Lutcher recorded), he joined Modern in 1949. Modern encouraged him to add New Orleans spice to his recordings, and one of those tracks, "Mardi Gras," was an R&B Top 20 hit, preceding the more famous version of the song by Professor Longhair. Lutcher did some subsequent records for Peacock, London, and Masters Music, but left R&B for gospel music, forming the gospel label Jordan Records. It's been written that he was influential in advising Little Richard to leave rock & roll for religious studies in the late '50s.

Stanley Mitchell Dies

 Stanley Mitchell has passed away at age 71. Mitchell was a member of the
Hamptones (vocalists with Lionel Hampton) before going on to replace Jackie
Wilson when Jackie was fired him from Billy Ward the Dominoes in 1957. He
later went on to put his own group together, Stanley & the Tornadoes and
had a top 5 R & B hit with "Four O'clock in the Morning". He re-emerged in recent years with two other Detroit veterans; Joe Weaver and Kenni Martin to perform as the Motor City Rhythm & Blues Pioneers. They cut a reord in 2002 for the Blue Suit label.

Henry Townsend Dies

 Blues guitarist Henry Townsend, a Mississippi native who fled to St. Louis as a boy then stayed for a prolific career that spanned eight decades, died Sept. 24th of pulmonary embolism in Grafton, Wis., where he was being honored. He was 96. Townsend, who wrote and published hundreds of songs and accompanied musicians on hundreds more, began recording in 1929 and continued every decade since. Townsend, living in the same brick bungalow he shared for 40 years with his late wife, Vernell, who performed with him, was in Grafton to be honored as the last surviving artist with the old Paramount Records. Townsend was born in Shelby, Miss., grew up in Cairo, Ill., and left for St. Louis as a 9-year-old to avoid a whipping from his father, after he had "blown some snuff," he told The Associated Press in an interview in June. He said his father played a button box accordion, but young Henry loved the guitar, and bought himself one. He also learned the piano. While working as a shoe shine boy in St. Louis, he came to know a generation of piano players who had grown up on ragtime and were teaming up with guitarists to experiment with the blues. He decided on a career in blues guitar after hearing budding bluesman Lonnie Johnson perform in the old Booker T. Washington Theater in St. Louis. In the 1930s, Townsend played with blues greats Roosevelt Sykes, Walter Davis and Robert Johnson at neighborhood parties and fish fries. Townsend recalled they'd "jam up and down the street" on top of a coal-hauling truck during the Depression to help raise rent money for people being evicted. Townsend and other blues musicians deemed worthy of studios' investment survived the Depression. But they fell into near oblivion when the juke box replaced live music, and the materials needed for the war effort slowed down the record industry. It wasn't until the late 1950s, when the old blues "race records" were rediscovered during a growing folk revival, that Townsend, Lonnie Johnson, Big Joe Williams and others found renewed popularity. In the 1960's, he led a few sessions, but they didn't receive much attention. Toward the end of the '60s, Townsend became a staple on the blues and folk festivals in America, which led to a comeback. He cut a number of albums for Adelphi and he played shows throughout America. By the end of the '70s, he had switched from Adelphi to Nighthawk Records.Townsend, who won a National Heritage Award in 1985 that recognized his being a master artist, never stopped performing. In 2000 his autobiography, "A Blues life" was published.

Etta Baker Dies

 Etta Baker, an influential blues guitarist who recorded with Taj Mahal and was awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, died Sept. 24th. She was 93. Baker was raised in a musical family in western North Carolina. She made her first mark in music in 1956, when she appeared on a compilation album called "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians." The recording influenced the growing folk revival, especially her versions of "Railroad Bill" and "One-Dime Blues." She worked for 26 years at a textile mill in Morganton before quitting at age 60 to pursue a career as a professional musician. Baker became a hit on the international folk-festival circuit, playing Piedmont blues, a mix of the clattery rhythms of bluegrass and blues. She won a 1991 Folk Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mahal, who recorded an album with Baker in 2004, was among those who found inspiration from her rhythmic finger-picking. Baker toured well into her 80s, but finally quit because of heart problems. Baker also is to appear on blues-rock guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd's next album due out in November.

Dick 'Huggy Boy' Hugg Dies

 Dick "Huggy Boy" Hugg, a pioneering rhythm and blues disc jockey whose career spanned five decades in Los Angeles radio, has died. He was 78. Hugg had been battling poor health for the last several years. Born in Canton, Ohio, Hugg made his way to Los Angeles shortly after World War II to pursue a career in radio. The young man, who would become famous for his smooth baritone voice and playful banter, soon found it. By the early 1950s, Hugg was broadcasting a late-night show from the window of Dolphin's of Hollywood record store, then a hot spot for R&B music. Hugg is credited with exposing white teenagers to Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Throughout a radio career that took him to as many as nine local AM and FM stations, Hugg's programs were so popular with Latino audiences that he often jokingly referred to himself as "the Dick Clark of the Chicanos." One of his more famous radio signatures was: "Remember.. Others imitate, but none can duplicate the sound found here.. The Huggy Boy Show must be the best. It's outlasted all the rest." After making as much as $100,000 a year at his peak in the 1950s and early '60s, Hugg struggled financially during the '70s and '80s. Forays into the record and television business never succeeded. With the help of disc jockey Art Laboe, Hugg landed a job in 1983 at KRLA-AM (1110), which then had a loose "Oldies" format. Hugg stayed until 1998. Hugg's career in radio ended in 2002 after a stint at KRTH-FM (101.1).

Jesse Mae Hemphill Dies

 Jessie Mae Hemphill, whose award-winning blues career lasted decades and was heavily influenced by her upbringing in rural Mississippi, died here on July 22nd. She was 71. The cause was complications of an infection that may have resulted from an ulcer, according to Olga Wilhelmine Mathus, the founder and president of the Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation. Wihelmine, a blues singer who spearheaded Hemphill's nonprofit foundation, also produced her last album, "Dare You to Do It Again", on her 219 Records label in February 2004. Ms. Hemphill began playing guitar at age 7 or 8, and later moved on to other instruments. She lived in Memphis for 20 years and played the clubs on the city’s famous Beale Street before finding an international audience. "She had a creative, unique sound that was what people call country blues," said University of Memphis blues scholar and bluesman David Evans, who toured as a guitar accompanist with Hemphill. It was Evans who produced her first three albums -- "She-Wolf", "Feelin' Good" and "Get Right Blues" and encouraged Hemphill to start her professional career in the 1980s. Ms. Hemphill won the W. C. Handy Award for best traditional female blues artist in both 1987 and 1988. In 1991 she won the Handy Award for best acoustic album. In 1993, Ms. Hemphill had a stroke that paralyzed her left side, leaving her unable to play guitar. She retired from touring and returned to Senatobia, Miss., where she lived with her dog, Sweet Pea. She recorded one final album a decade later, titled "Dare You to Do It Again."

Floyd Dixon Dies

 West Coast jump blues and R&B pianist/vocalist/songwriter Floyd Dixon died Wednesday, July 26, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, of kidney failure. He was 77. The critically acclaimed performer - best known for his 1954 song "Hey Bartender" (popularized by The Blues Brothers) - stood alongside Charles Brown, Ray Charles and Louis Jordan as one of a few artists who helped transform swing music into Rhythm & Blues. Dixon was one of the true heroes of early R&B and jump blues. He first recorded for Supreme Records in 1947 and then for Modern Records in 1949. He switched to Aladdin Records and had his first hits, "Telephone Blues" and "Call Operator 210" in 1951 and 1952 before hitting it big in 1954 with "Hey Bartender" for the Cat label. Floyd Dixon was born in Marshall, Texas on February 8 1929. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was 13. A self-taught pianist, Dixon began his career by singing mostly cool, after-hours piano blues in the Charles Brown mode. Soon enough, however, Dixon charted his own territory with a more rocking, jumping style. From traditional, slow blues to booming R&B, pop and proto-rock and roll, Dixon's created a sound and style that was his alone. After Dixon won a few talent contests in Los Angeles, bandleader Johnny Otis encouraged him to
record. Dixon recorded his first single, "Dallas Blues," while still working his day job at Orenstein's Drug Store. He went on to record hits for a number of labels, including Modern, Supreme, Aladdin, and Specialty. By the time he released the classic "Hey Bartender" 1954, Dixon was an established star in the West Coast R&B scene. He toured constantly and at various times shared the stage with
the likes of Ruth Brown, B.B. King, Charles Brown and Ray Charles. It was an early tour with Charles that Dixon encouraged Ray to switch from his suave Nat King Cole approach to a more gospel- inspired delivery. Charles took his advice, and the result for Ray Charles was an unsurpassed string of R&B hits. Although he continued to perform and record sporadically through the 1960s and early 1970s, Dixon nearly dropped out of music altogether, living a secluded life in Paris, Texas. He was invited to perform in Sweden and quickly developed an international following. With reissues of his older material beginning to surface, European interest in Dixon continued to rise. In 1980, he joined the European Blues Caravan tour with old friends Charles Brown and Ruth Brown. Dixon performed occasionally on the West Coast during the 1980s and even spent time on the road with the then-unknown Robert Cray and Little Charlie & The Nightcats. In 1984 he received a "Billboard" Blues Award for "Hey Bartender," recorded by the Blues Brothers. The following year, he received a "Billboard" Country Award for the song, recorded by country singer Johnny Lee. In 1993 Dixon received the Rhythm & Blues Foundation's Pioneer Career Achievement Award. This helped him secure gigs at major outdoor blues festivals, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Sacramento Blues Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival. In 1996 a new album, "Wake Up And Live!," was released on Alligator Records. The album won the 1997 Blues Music Award from The Blues Foundation for "Comeback Album of the Year." The CD reintroduced Dixon to old fans and brought him many new ones. He never stopped performing, and he recorded another CD, "Fine, Fine Thing," for the HighJohn label in 2005. In June 2006, Dixon recorded a live CD/DVD with fellow pianists Pinetop Perkins and Henry Gray, scheduled for a fall release on HighJohn.

National Endowment for the Arts Announces 2006 Recipients

 The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced the 2006 recipients of the NEA National Heritage Fellowships, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Eleven fellowships, which include a one-time award of $20,000 each, are presented to honorees from nine states. These awardees were chosen for their artistic excellence, cultural authenticity, and contributions to their field. They represent a cross-section of ethnic cultures including Hispanic, Hawaiian, Alaskan, and African American artistic traditions expressed through art forms ranging from hula dancing and cedar bark weaving to blues piano and gospel singing. The 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellowship recipients are:

Charles M. Carrillo; santero (carver and painter of sacred figures); Santa Fe, NM
Delores E. Churchill; Haida (Native Alaskan) weaver, Ketchikan, AK
Henry Gray; blues piano player, singer; Baton Rouge, LA
Doyle Lawson; gospel and bluegrass singer, arranger, bandleader; Bristol, TN
Esther Martinez; Native American storyteller; San Juan Pueblo, NM
Diomedes Matos; cuatro (10-string Puerto Rican guitar) maker; Deltona, FL
George Na'ope; Kumu Hula (hula master); Hilo, HI
Wilho Saari; Finnish kantele (lap-harp) player; Naselle, WA
Mavis Staples; gospel, rhythm and blues singer; Chicago, IL
Treme Brass Band; New Orleans brass band; New Orleans, LA

Joe Weaver Dies

 Pianist and vocalist Joe Weaver died on July 5 following a stroke. He was 71. He and his high school pal, guitarist Johnnie Bassett, started the Bluenotes and won local talent competitions. Their first hit was "1540 Special" on the Deluxe label. The Bluenotes became the house band for Fortune Records and also recorded their own tunes; "Baby I Love You So" was their biggest hit. Weaver backed the Miracles on their first recording for Berry Gordy, leading to many sessions and live gigs with Motown acts like Martha Reeves, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gaye. After the heyday of Motown, Weaver went to work in a Ford factory, retiring after 31 years, and came back to music, making three tours of Europe (as recently as last Autumn) and a new CD in 2000, "Baby I Love You So", on the Black Magic label. In 2002, Weaver got together with two old friends, Stanley Mitchell of Stanley and the Hurricanes and solo singer Kenny Martin, both '50s hitmakers out of Detroit, to form the Motor City Rhythm and Blues Pioneers. The R&B Pioneers released a self-titled CD that year on Blue Suit.

Johnny Jenkins Dies

 Influential guitarist Johnny Jenkins died in his home town of Macon, Georgia, on June 26. He was 67. He was a left-handed guitarist who helped Otis Redding in his early career and influenced Jimi Hendrix with his acrobatic style. In the late 1950s and early '60s Jenkins toured the South with his band, the Pinetoppers. He was legendary on the college circuit for stunts like playing his guitar behind his head. Hendrix, whose aunt lived in Macon, saw Jenkins perform; vocalist Arthur Ponder, who sang with Jenkins, recalled Hendrix as a "little guy who would follow us around a lot. Next thing we know, he's Jimi Hendrix." Jenkins discovered Otis Redding at the Douglass Theater, Macon's leading venue for black performers, and it was at the end of a Jenkins recording session at Stax in Memphis that Redding made his first hit record. Redding died in a plane crash in 1967. Phil Walden, who had begun as an agent booking bands to play at colleges, formed Capricorn Records in 1969 and signed Jenkins. Walden, who died in April this year, was convinced that Jenkins could have been the greatest thing in Rock'n'Roll, but Jenkins didn't want to fly, which limited the amount of promoting he could do. His only album on Capricorn was "Ton Ton Macoute!" in 1970, with members of the Allman Brothers Band, which got good reviews. Capricorn went out of business in the 1980's, but Walden produced a Jenkins comback album, "Blessed Blues", in 1996. Jenkins' last two albums, "Handle With Care" (2001) and "All in Good Time" (2003), issued on Mean Old World Records.

Big Bill Broonzy Box Set Released

 Two CDs capturing live performances by Big Bill Broonzy will be released in the U.S. as a box set by Munich Records on September 19. Featuring the long awaited recordings of two shows from February of 1953, Big Bill Broonzy: Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 contains 25 songs and between-song storytelling, plus extensive liner notes about Broonzy's legacy and his little-known second life as a European, and dozens of previously unseen photos.

 After an afternoon performance in Holland in 1953, Broonzy was taken to a pub in old Amsterdam. When he was asked to sing a few more songs he refused, to the surprise of his Dutch friends. When they asked for the reason, he explained that he was afraid he'd be arrested for being black. After it had been explained to him that there was no reason to fear that in the Netherlands, Bill played for over an hour. Thus was Big Bill's experience of Europe, but especially the Netherlands, where he was made to feel welcome and would live different life than he knew in the States. He met and fell in love with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.

 Although these performances were recorded in the early '50s, Louis van Gasteren, who was a sound engineer at the time and went on to become one of the Netherlands' most acclaimed filmmakers, ensured the integrity of the recordings. Locked away in van Gasteren's safe for more than 50 years, they are finally surfacing now after a few failed attempts at releasing them between the '50s and '80s. The first concert took place on February 26 at the Ons Huis club in the Rozenstraat in Amsterdam and the second on February 28, in the middle of a sold-out European tour.

 Also included in the box set are never before published photos from the private collections of Michael van Isveldt, The Maria Austria Institute and the Netherlands Jazz Archive.

 Broonzy was born in Scott County Mississippi in 1901. Learning guitar from his uncle Jerry Belcher, he played country dances and picnics. Bronzy served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and in 1924, following his discharge plus a short return to Arkansas, he moved to Chicago, where he joined such musical contemporaries as Memphis Minnie, Tampa Red, Jazz Gillum, Lonnie Johnson and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. In 1938, Broonzy performed as part of John Hammond's famous "Spiritual & Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall - his first show for a white audience. He recorded more than 260 blues songs as he traveled between Chicago and the South. With the arrival of electric artists like Muddy Waters, Broonzy's brand of folk blues was pushed aside. He found adoration in Europe, where he first toured in 1951. The material from Amsterdam Live Concerts was recorded on tour in '53. In 1957, Broonzy was diagnosed with throat cancer, and died in August 1958.

Clifford Antone Dies

Clifford Antone, owner of the namesake blues club credited with launching the careers of Stevie Ray Vaughan and other musicians, died May 23. He was 56. Fats Domino, John Lee Hooker and B.B. King all performed at Antone's, and it became famous as the home club of then-rising Texas stars Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in 1990. Antone was 25 when he founded the club, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. "My friends and I in Port Arthur just wanted to hear the blues," he said last year. "We figured the only way we could hear it is if we bring it to us." He said that "between '75 and '85, I don't think there's any question we were the best blues club in the world." In 1987, he started Antone's Records, a label that featured many of the nightclub's top acts. Antone went to prison on federal charges of drug trafficking and money laundering in 2000 and was released in 2003. The charges stemmed from a plot to distribute more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana and launder roughly $950,000 in drug proceeds.

Little Buster Dies

 Edward James Spivey-Forehand, a self-taught blind blues singer and guitarist
who was a key player in helping the blues flourish on Long Island, died
Thursday in a Nassau County nursing home. He was 63. Forehand was born in Hertford, N.C. His father, Edmund J. Spivey, was a barber and his mother, Martha Lee Forehand, was a stay-at-home mom. He was the fourth of 11 children. He started losing his sight to cataracts when he was about 9. He joined his father in Philadelphia for unsuccessful surgeries but, homesick, he returned home and later went to a state school for the blind and deaf in Raleigh, N.C. Forehand left for New York in 1959 with his childhood friend, drummer Melvin Taylor, and 25 cents in his pocket, his wife said. Forehand became a staple on the Long Island blues scene, playing five nights a week from the Steer Inn in Freeport to Hansom House in Southampton during the '70s. He later toured in Europe, Japan and Canada. Forehand made a name covering such standards as "I Got You," "Knock on Wood"
and "The Thrill Is Gone." But at 52, after 30 years atop the Long Island bar band circuit, Little Buster released his first album of his own songs, "Right on Time." In 2000 Fedora released "Work Your Show."

Willie Kent Dies

 Willie Kent, 70, died March 2nd at his home in the Englewood neighborhood. The
cause, according to friends, was cancer. Born in 1936, in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness, Mr. Kent worked at gas stations in Florida and Memphis, Tenn., before coming to Chicago. It was in the smoky clubs here that he would take a childhood love of music, ingrained after turning an ear toward a Helena, Ark., radio station's "King Biscuit Time" Delta blues music show, and turn it into a six-decade career
as one of the blues' most prominent bass guitarists, earning him repeated W.C. Handy Awards and countless rousing receptions. After arriving in Chicago, Mr. Kent hung out in clubs and started playing music by sitting in with a friend's band. He switched from guitar to bass when the band's bassist showed up for a gig too drunk to play, and he quickly found himself in demand, backing up Chicago blues greats such as Little Walter, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. In the 2002 interview Mr. Kent stressed the simplicity of what he was trying to do on the four strings of his bass. "So many people now [are] playing so much funk, it doesn't even sound like the blues," Mr. Kent told the Tribune in 2002. "I don't do a lot of solos, I don't do a lot of funk. I try play a no-nonsense sound."

Wilson Pickett Dies

 Wilson Pickett, the soul pioneer best known for the fiery hits "Mustang Sally" and "In The Midnight Hour," died of a heart attack Jan. 19th in a Reston, Va., hospital. He was 64. Pickett - known as "the Wicked Wilson Pickett" - became a star with his soulful hits in the 1960s. "In the Midnight Hour" made the top 25 on the Billboard pop charts in 1965 and "Mustang Sally" did the same the following year. Pickett was defined by his raspy voice and passionate delivery. But the Alabama-born Pickett got his start singing gospel music in church. After moving to Detroit as a teen, he joined the group the Falcons, which scored the hit "I Found a Love" with Pickett on lead vocals in 1962. He went solo a year later, and would soon find his greatest success. In 1965, he linked with legendary soul producer Jerry Wexler at the equally legendary soul label Stax Records in Memphis, and recorded one of his greatest hits, "In the Midnight Hour," for Atlantic Records. A string of hits followed, including "634-5789," "Funky Broadway" and "Mustang Sally." His sensuous soul was in sharp contrast to the genteel soul songs of his Detroit counterparts at Motown Records. As Pickett entered a new decade, he had less success on the charts, but still had a few more hits, including the song "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You." Pickett suffered through some tough times. In 1991, he was arrested for allegedly yelling death threats while driving a car over the mayor's front lawn in Englewood, N.J., and less than a year later was charged with assaulting his girlfriend. In 1993, he was convicted of drunken driving and sentenced to a year in jail and five years' probation after hitting an 86-year-old man with his car. In 1987, he was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for carrying a loaded shotgun in his car. Besides his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1991, he was also given the Pioneer award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation two years later. In 1999 he released the critically acclaimed comeback "It's Harder Now."

Doug MacLeod Fans Organize Grass Roots Effort To Win Blues Award

 Fans of acoustic blues legend Doug MacLeod have launched a "grass roots"
effort to support his nomination for two Blues Music Awards in 2006. The Blues Music Award (formerly known as the WC Handy Award), presented by The
Blues Foundation (www.blues.org), is the most prestigious award in Blues music. Mr. MacLeod has been nominated in two categories: "Acoustic Artist of the Year" and "Song of the Year" for "Dubb's Talkin' Politician Blues". A new web site ­ dubbheads.com ­ has been created to promote The Blues Foundation and organize the voting drive for Mr. MacLeod. "He's the real thing. Doug has been bringing us passionate blues storytelling and incredible acoustic guitar work for years now. We figured it was high time more people knew about him" said Phil Matuzic, one of the movement's organizers and self-confessed "DubbHead". Membership in DubbHeads is free to all blues fans. A free DubbHeads t-shirt will be given to the first 50 people to join The Blues Foundation and cast their vote.

Phil Elwood Dies

 Phil Elwood, one of the best friends jazz and blues ever had, died Jan. 11th of
heart failure. He was 79. Elwood covered jazz, rock, blues and comedy, the entire panorama of nightlife, for the San Francisco Examiner beginning in 1965. He continued his career at The Chronicle after the two papers merged in 2000 and retired in 2002. He was an endless fount of jazz lore, an unflagging enthusiast of the music and a world-class raconteur blessed with an extraordinary memory. He was also one of the first people to broadcast jazz on the FM dial. His weekly radio program, "Jazz Archive," began in 1952, when very few people even owned FM radios. His show continued on Berkeley's KPFA until 1996. Over the course of his distinguished career, Elwood covered anything that moved on stage. In his 2002 farewell column for The Chronicle, he noted the breadth of acts he covered in just his first weeks on the job. "I reviewed Stan Kenton one night and Lena Horne the next," Elwood wrote. "I heard Charlie Byrd at El Matador, and Tom Lehrer at the hungry i; also Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton, Denny Zeitlin. Kay Starr, the Mills Brothers, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Bushkin and bassist Vernon Alley, and Duke Ellington at Basin Street West. My first seven weeks (21 reviews or features in print) ended Aug. 31 with a Beatles show at the Cow Palace that afternoon and Judy Garland at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos that night." After his retirement from The Chronicle, Elwood continued to write a column for the Web site Jazz West. In 2002, he received the Beacon Award from the San Francisco Jazz Festival and was the subject of a tribute concert, underwritten by See's Candies.

Blues Legend Recorded In Dallas

 Blues legend Robert Johnson's whole life is shrouded in mystery, from his alleged pact with the devil to how he died to where his body is buried. But at least one riddle -- the Dallas site of his landmark 1937 recordings -- has finally been solved. For years, historians guessed Mr. Johnson cut "Hellhound on My Trail" and other blues classics at 508 Park Ave., a three-story art deco building that still stands two blocks east of Dallas City Hall. Yet nobody knew for sure. The only person who recorded Robert Johnson, producer Don Law, died 23 years ago without ever writing
down the location of the Dallas session -- or so the experts thought. But now, San Diego blues fanatic Tom Jacobson has tracked down a long-lost 1961 letter that says 508 Park is indeed the spot where Mr. Johnson recorded 13 songs that changed the course of the blues and influenced the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. "It's a big deal for us," says Dr. Michael Taft, head of folk
culture archives at the Library of Congress, which acquired the letter in December. "I'm not going to say the building should be a shrine. But it's a very important site because we know so little about Robert Johnson. To finally be able to say this is the building he recorded in, that's a way of bringing Robert Johnson back to life." According to a letter, 508 Park Ave. was the recording site for 13 of Robert Johnson's songs. Some theorized the site was 508 Park Ave, since that was where Don Law and Brunswick Records were based in 1937. Legend has it that everyone from Charlie Parker to Bob Wills recorded in the building, which was originally a Warner Bros. film distribution center for the movie theaters on Elm Street. So, in 1998, Mr. Jacobson -- a 57-year-old San Diego blues freak and photography expert -- traveled to Dallas to see the old building where Mr. Johnson probably recorded. Later, he went to New York City to meet Frank Driggs, who produced and wrote the liner notes for King of the Delta Blues Singers. There, in Mr. Driggs' basement, sat piles of rare recordings and documents he'd taken from Columbia Records because he said his bosses didn't care about blues history. The two men spent three days digging through the cellar before literally tripping over a stack of rare test pressings of the Robert Johnson sessions. Mr. Jacobson bought the recordings from Mr. Driggs -- as well as the 1961 letter in which Mr. Driggs asks Mr. Law to describe Robert Johnson, and Mr. Law scribbles his answers in the margins. The old yellow document confirms some of the few stories that exist about Robert Johnson -- like the night in San Antonio he asked Mr. Law for money to pay a prostitute ("She wants 50 cents and I lacks a nickel") and how he was so secretive about his guitar technique that
when other musicians watched, he played facing the wall in a corner of the room. The letter says the blues legend was paid all of $25 per song. It could also play an important role in the future of 508 Park, which has sat vacant for years in a part of downtown that's yet to see urban renewal. Glazer's, a Dallas beverage distribution firm, has owned 508 Park Ave. since the 1950s. The company has been trying
to sell it for years, to no avail, says R.L. Glazer, chairman of the board.