This Week In The Blues: June 2 - June 8, 2024

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of June 2 - June 8, 2024.

Some of the highlights include blues pianist and guitarist Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston, Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Rogers, blues harmonica player James Harman, and slide guitar master Derek Trucks. 

We just covered some of the highlights here. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:
https://bigtrainblues.com
https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Photo credits (if known) and past episodes are posted on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@BigTrainBlues

Here are links to a few of the artists or songs we've referenced in this week's episode:

Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston - "Intro / Pie In The Sky (1984)" - https://youtu.be/B7BHM_GF_T4?si=cV9xHizcvJAGGv7x

Jimmy Rogers with Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters - "Left Me With A Broken Heart" - https://youtu.be/M9wM2qtAz-8?si=ulTxWXUrXnotSfyK

James Harman and Kid Ramos - "Tony Holidays Porch Sessions" - https://youtu.be/WzR96B4BMBA?si=8Civrq3F-BKPIMkx

The MASTER of Blues Slide Guitar - Derek Trucks - https://youtu.be/3I2jnA8L4xU?si=PgdMiCDVBQQWKpT7


We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!

ARE YOU A FAN OF BLUES HISTORY? US TOO!

 If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:

     https://bigtrainblues.com

     https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Transcript

This Week In The Blues June 02 - June 08  2024

 blues pianist and guitarist Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston was born on June 2, 1917. He learned to play piano under the influence of Leroy Carr and Art Tatum. Caston is best noted for the tracks "Blues at Midnight" and "I'm Gonna Walk Your Log". He was born in Sumrall, Mississippi, and lived in Chicago from 1934 to 1936 but then moved back to Mississippi after his family relocated to Natchez. 

 Memphis Minnie was born on June 3 in 1897. She was the most popular and prolific blueswoman of her day, and she earned the respect of critics, the support of record-buying fans, and the unqualified praise of the blues artists she worked with throughout her long career. Her real name is Lizzie Douglas, and she recorded around 200 songs. Some of the best known being "Bumble Bee", "Nothing in Rambling", and "Me and My Chauffeur Blues". Despite her Southern roots and popularity, she was as much a Chicago blues artist as anyone in her day. Big Bill Broonzy recalls her beating both him and Tampa Red in a guitar contest and claims she was the best woman guitarist he had ever heard.

 blues pianist Buster Pickens born June 3 in 1916. He was born in Hempstead, Texas, and by the 1930s Pickens, and others, were part of the "Santa Fe Circuit", named after touring musicians utilizing the Santa Fe freight trains. Pickens later accompanied Alger "Texas" Alexander and regularly performed with Lightnin' Hopkins and played on several of Hopkins's albums in the early 1960s. Pickens was shot dead by his cousin after an argument in a bar in Houston, in November 1964

 Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Rogers was also born on June 3 in Ruleville, Mississippi. He learned to play the harmonica with his childhood friend Snooky Pryor, and as a teenager he took up the guitar. He was best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. His solo career included the blues hits "That's All Right", "Chicago Bound", "Walking by Myself" and "Rock This House". He withdrew from the music industry at the end of the 1950s but returned to recording and touring in the 1970s. In 1995, Rogers was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

 Blues singer and harp player Raful Neal was born June 6, 1936. Neal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and raised by his aunt and uncle on a tenant farm in Chamberlin, West Baton Rouge Parish. He began playing the harmonica at age 14. He played with Buddy Guy in a band called the Clouds. Neal toured globally. In 1997, his harmonica playing was featured on the album Live: Swampland Jam by Tab Benoit. Nine of his ten children are also blues musicians, and several performed with him on his later releases on the Alligator label.

 Blues harmonica player James Harman who was born on June 8 in 1946.  Born in Anniston, Alabama, Harman began taking piano lessons at the age of four. Harmonicas owned by his father were stored in the piano bench, and James tried playing them after his piano lessons ended. In time, he learned to play several other musical instruments, including the guitar, electronic organ, and drums. By the age of 16 he had launched his own band and subsequently recorded a number of singles and albums with various ensembles, including Soul Senders, Snakedoctor, King James And The Royals, the Icehouse Blues Band and Icepick James And The Rattlesnakes.

 Slide guitar master Derek Trucks was born June 8, 1979. He displays a command of slide guitar styles running the gamut from blues to classic R&B and early rock & roll to classic jazz. He is the nephew of longtime Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks. Trucks began playing guitar when he was nine, and shared stages and sat in with the likes of Buddy Guy and the Allman Brothers Band by the time he was 12. Trucks later married blues guitarist Susan Tedeschi and the pair continue to record and perform as the Tedeschi Trucks Band.

 Well blues fans, we just covered some of the highlights here. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, it’s really, really easy. Just be sure to follow our social media pages or visit our website at Big Train Blues.com. We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!