Mark "Muleman" Massey - One Step Ahead Of The Blues (2014)

> The album

Soul blues of the Muleman

Born in 1969 in Clarksdale (Mississippi), at 22 he spent two and a half years in the Mississippi State Penitentiary of sinister reputation better known as Parchman Farm (May 1991-November 1993), condemned for drug dealing and shooting at his elder brother.
Fortunately his brother was only wounded, if not he probably would still be inside, or even worse ! Fortunately also, in Parchman Farm, where famous bluesmen Bukka White and Sonny Boy Williamson among others preceded him, he bought a guitar ("for 28 dollars, that's all I had" he recalls), and learned how to play it from inmate David Kimbrough, son of Jr. Kimbrough, before joining the Parchman Prison Band. ▼

Once out, he raised mules (hence his "Muleman" nickname) in his little farm while working week days in a tire shop in Senatobia, in the Hills country, and met Big Jack Johnson who took the succession of David Kimbrough as his mentor and friend, and opened to him the doors of the blues juke joints and clubs circuit.

◄ Don Nix
"One Step Ahead of the Blues", Massey's second album, was co-produced by Memphis Stax Records legend Don Nix, who signed or co-signed seven of the thirteen tracks. It's as much a Nix album as a Massey's one, featuring an impressive list of veteran blues musicians : Eric Gales on guitar, Garry Burnside on bass, and the excellent Grammy/Emmy awarded Billy Earheart on Hammond organ and piano, plus Willie Clayton ("In The Hole") and Bobby Rush ("She's Hongry").

"Muleman" and Billy Earheart ►

Though often presented as a Hills country bluesman, Massey's album featuring a horn section, definitely sounds like Memphis soul. Massey's powerful and soulful vocal and guitar dominates this rhythm'n'soul production, many times leaning towards funk'n'soul : "Plastic Flowers", "In The Hole", "Blind, Crippled And Crazy", "Double Trouble", "She's Hongry" (sic). No matter what style, the whole album has a real groove, even on the gospel "Waiting On The Help To Arrive", or on Massey's final moving ballad "Sun Going Down In Memphis".
If you watch the videos of "the Muleman" below, you'll discover a man totally bewitched by the music in which he found his redemption : the blues. ■

Documentary
► A video portrait of the "Muleman" : https://vimeo.com/232376569

Live stream perfs & interviews

► Virtual confined jams and interviews via Zoom :
→ in May 2021 : https://youtu.be/xWoghLUcLVQ
→ in December 2020 : https://youtu.be/RAQafMANNBA
→ in November 2020 : https://youtu.be/8HFuOJl-Uto
→ in July 2020 : https://youtu.be/gJoc34Sk3c4
► On the Local Yokels radio show  :
→ in 2019 (skip first 3 mn) : https://youtu.be/gXivtcd4al4
→ in 2018 (skip first 3 mn) : https://youtu.be/sISUtY1PL5I

►A Maryland's Sandy Spring Museum live stream solo and acoustic perf. during the Covid confinement (go straight to 1h13mn) : https://youtu.be/sUMN85YriyQ
► On the National Blues Museum's  Howlin' Fridays in 2020 (skip first 17 mn) : https://youtu.be/30HgL8h8AKs
► At the Crossroads Confined Countdown Festival : https://youtu.be/rQecNxQ8VoQ

Pre-confinement live performances videos

► With the Robbert Fossen Blues Band in Haarlem (Netherlands) in  2020 :
→ https://youtu.be/WO8pbgIHw24
→ https://youtu.be/MbTrote8YYg
→ https://youtu.be/ITehCo-e0cQ

► At the GrassRoots Blues Festival
→ in 2020 (skip first 3 mn) : https://youtu.be/osdjoSCVFl0
→ in 2016 : https://youtu.be/QszPxmzLdgM & https://youtu.be/H2qrDlzww8s

► "All Night Long" at Blues Rules 2017 : https://youtu.be/TA9BBqYIVzA
► At Bluesday Tuesday, Overton Square, Memphis, with Billy Earheart (keyboards), Tory Todora (bass) and Joel Williams (drums) in 2015 :
→ https://youtu.be/pTN2abGuro0
→ https://youtu.be/HBh2cgGDTX8
→ https://youtu.be/VK73jYfrQ9Q
→ https://youtu.be/53n5rWeyYDw
► At the Rum Boogie cafe in Memphis in 2015 : https://youtu.be/Gkvhw1_316Q
► At the Howlin' Wolf festival 2011 : https://youtu.be/uvdx_g003uk

► At Clarksdale's Ground Zero Blues Club
→ in 2011 :
- https://youtu.be/o9SUwXEvvdo
- https://youtu.be/qZg6IeGme2g
- https://youtu.be/3ZAj0s4pTgs
- https://youtu.be/FW4L0V26cmg
- https://youtu.be/cTHudrzieNI
→ in 2010 :
- https://youtu.be/xEAc1E8XvCI
- https://youtu.be/BRWVC9blTV4
- https://youtu.be/no5zVdPb4-g
► At BB King's on Beale St., Memphis, in 2009 : https://youtu.be/58Wf8nwZvRc

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