Portrait : Blues Boy Willie

The man from Memphis… Texas

There's a town in Texas about 130 km south east of Amarillo, in the middle of endless cotton fields, named... Memphis. It's in this “Texas Delta” that one William Daniel McFalls better known as Blues Boy Willie was born in 1946. His father was then a tent show musician known as West Texas Slim that once accompanied Ma Rainey. He was blowing the harmonica and the young Willie wanted to do the same. When his father was out at work he used to sneak in and snatch one of his dad's harps to practice. Later, his father left the “devil's music” to become a preacher, and the young Willie would sing gospel in his dad's church.

Portrait : Sven Zetterberg (1952-2016)

→ Special thanks to L.C. for introducing me to this exciting bluesman from Sweden

Soul of the blues

It took him just a short year to master guitar perfectly when he was already 24. So perfectly that he was able to back the great Muddy Waters at a 1976 show in Stockholm. Since then he could compete with the best US blues guitarists. But his discovery of the blues goes back way before that when by the age of 12 he used to listen to blues on his small radio. After hearing Walter Horton, he started playing harmonica, and later started to sing, soon becoming a skilled blues singer.
His first band, Telge Blues, active from 1972 to 1976, released a unique album in 1975. He was singing and playing harmonica. It is when the band split that he decided to practice guitar intensively.

Portrait : Big George Jackson (1949-2021)

 Nothing Like the Rest (1994), Beggin' Ain't For Me (1998), Big Shot (2001), Southern In My Soul (2003)

Nothing but the groove

George Albert Jackson, dubbed “Big George” when he reached 6,5 feet, certainly was the best kept secret of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St Paul) where he was born in 1949. The release of his first opus Nothing Like the Rest in 1994 on the small local label Cold Wind Records rightly caught the attention of the Dutch label Black and Tan that published his next three albums (Beggin’ Ain’t For Me in 1998, Big Shot in 2001, and Southern In My Soul in 2003) and opened him the doors of concert halls and festivals on the Old Continent from 1999.

A momentary lapse of inspiration

 On sabbatical leave. Will be back soon.

Meantime, I invite you to explore Onurblues through the Archives or the Tags.

Take all care of yourselves in this instable world.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XVI : The Piano “Professors” (Jelly Roll Morton, “Tuts” Washington, Champion Jack Dupree, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Eddie Bo, Ellis Marsalis, Huey "Piano" Smith, Allen Toussaint, James Booker, Dr John, Henry Butler, David Torkanowsky, Tom McDermott, Jon Cleary, Davell Crawford)

A century in ivory
Among the sacred instruments of New Orleans music, piano comes next to the iconic brass instruments. The Crescent City counts numerous influential pianists who brought an essential contribution to the unique New Orleans sound for a century.

Blues 'N' Trouble : highlands boogie & loch blues Not swamp blues but loch blues, not Mississippi Hill Country style but Highlands boogie, not moonshine fueled but soaked in old whiskey, here are...

The volcanic bluesboys from Scotland

Boogie, jump, stomp, shuffle, honky-tonk, ragtime, rock'n'roll..., Blues 'N' Trouble is the most exciting blues band I've heard in a long time. This deserved making a pause in the Journey To Nawlins series (that will continue very soon indeed).

B.B. King who was backed by Blues 'N' Trouble on several occasions in his UK tours complimented them as “the best white blues band in the world”. The album "Lazy Lester Rides Again" (1987) on which they backed the Louisiana bluesman was crowned with a WC Handy award. Still, Blues 'N' Trouble remains largely unknown to many blues fans though it gained a cult status among sharp connoisseurs and local supporters along his touring path.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XV : Wild Injuns Down In New Orleans* (The Wild Tchoupitoulas, Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Donald Harrison Jr & Congo Square Nation, Chief Adjuah & the Xodokan Nation of Maroons, And Many More...)

Flamboyant Black Masked Indians

Mardi Gras Indians are probably the most exotic and picturesque element of New Orleans unique cultural traditions. Actually the term “Mardi Gras Indians” is not used by those it designates. They rather call themselves “Black Indians” or “Masked Indians” or “Black Masked Indians”/”Black Masking Indians”, “masking” meaning dressed in personally hand-crafted costume.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XIV : Mem Shannon (complete discography)

The man from Phunkville

Mem Shannon is a bluesman. But a bluesman from New Orleans, which means that he plays his own local recipe of blues ― I called it Shannon's blue gumbo groove ―, a typical New Orleans mix of swamp rock & blues, R'n'B, soul…, all in a thick funk gravy, with a very attractive jazz underlining, and always a saxophone around. Appealing, exciting, spellbinding !

Born in New Orleans just before Christmas 1959, Shannon started to play guitar in his mid-teens, and got serious about it after seeing B.B. King in concert. King's economical playing style was a major influence for Shannon who always cover a few King's songs during his gigs, a fact largely confirmed through the videos selected below.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XIII : Brass Bands & Second Line (Dirty Dozen Brass Band, New Orleans - Rebirth Brass Band, New Orleans - The Hot 8 Brass Band, New Orleans - Milton Batiste & Alton Carson with the Magnificent Sevenths, New Orleans - Mardi Brass Band, France - Funky Butt Brass Band, St Louis)

Social Clubs, Brass bands, Jazz Funerals and Second line

Early New Orleans brass band

Before going any further, in order to get a basic insight into the New Orleans brass bands ecosystem, it seems necessary to me to remind a few facts through this introduction, actually a remixed version of a text from Chapter III.

The tradition of brass bands in New Orleans appeared in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a fusion between European military bands and African traditional music (especially from the Yoruba culture of Nigeria) brought by enslaved West Africans. New Orleans Brass bands played a significant role in the development of early jazz.

Journey To Nawlins, Chapter XII : Dr. John (Television, 1994 - Anutha Zone, 1998 - Creole Moon, 2001)

 → Thanks also to the late Blue DeVille...

New Orleans' voodoo wizard

Dr. John, who departed this world in June 2019 😢, was a fascinating character ! Not only was he a great pianist, but he was also a fantastic composer, arranger and producer, and he had the most incredible and inimitable voice you could find. The words were rolling around in his mouth as if he was swallowing a gumbo or munching an oyster "po' boy" while singing ! Just listen to the way he pronounces the word "limbo" on track three ! His kind of squeaking voice should normally be hard to bear. Not with the Doc. Instead it's highly captivating.

Self baptized the Nite Tripper and famous for his voodoo witch looks  —  fancy feathered hats, mojo necklaces, sculpted canes, skull on his piano —, he personified New Orleans through his mix of swinging Nola R'n'B and swamp funk soaked in damp Creole voodoo mystery. Not many could do that