This Week In The Blues: Nov 24 - Nov 30, 2024

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of Nov 24 - Nov 30, 2024.

Some of the highlights include Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Johnson, The Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, and Briefcase Full of Blues, the debut album by The Blues Brothers.

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:

Jimmy Johnson - "Cold Cold Feeling" (Biscuits and Blues - SanFrancisco) - https://youtu.be/BEx1p5iLmYw?si=rGj7m6tiblREZ5yN

John Mayall - "The Train" (1970) - https://youtu.be/K_DOnKJ232M?si=XBrxcycxI7HZxIj9

Blues Brothers - "Soul Man" (SNL) - https://youtu.be/SCRrXZP8b0I?si=0ZQrGhRcyEtwp4Wk

Join me every weekday from 12:15pm-12:45pm CT to watch a live stream on Facebook of the longest running blues radio show program. https://www.facebook.com/DeltaCulturalCenter


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 Nov 24 - Nov 30 2024

blues pianist Eddie Boyd was born November 25, 1914. Born near either Clarksdale or Stovall, Mississippi he learned to play the guitar and the piano. Boyd moved to Memphis in 1936, where he played piano and then joined the Great Migration of African Americans north to the factories of Chicago in 1941. He accompanied musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson, Jazz Gillum, Muddy Waters, and Tampa Red. 

Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Johnson was born November 25, 1928.  Johnson followed a circuitous route back to the blues he grew up with in Mississippi to reemerge on the Chicago blues scene in the 1970s heralded as a fresh and exciting “new” voice in the music. His father and younger brothers Mac and Syl were all musicians, and as a teenager he counted Matt “Guitar” Murphy as a best friend. The piercing, soulful quality of his vocals and guitar playing earned him a staunch following among blues fans, bringing him several W.C. Handy Blues Awards (now called Blues Music Awards) along the way.

blues harmonica Jerry Portnoy was born November 25, 1943 in Evanston, Illinois. He first heard the blues played outside his father's carpet store in the Maxwell Street market in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Maxwell Street was a mecca for blues musicians, who would play on the street for tips. Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Johnny Young, Big Walter Horton and many others all played on Maxwell Street.

jazz and blues pianist "Kansas City" Frank was born November 26, 1907! His real name was Franklyn Melrose and he became one of the leading figures in the Chicago blues and jazz scene of the 1920s and 1930s. He was strongly influenced by his brothers’ business partner, Jelly Roll Morton. On Labor Day of 1941, he was found dead in the street after being killed in a bar fight in a club in Hammond, Indiana.

Happy Birthday to Bernard Allison was born November 26, 1965 in Chicago. He is the son of blues guitarist Luther Allison. He accompanied his father to blues festivals in the early 1970s. There he was introduced to Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor and Albert King, among others. A week after his graduation from high school, he was invited to join Koko Taylor's touring band. During that time, he furthered his skills under the tutelage of Johnny Winter, whom he had met when younger, and Stevie Ray Vaughan whom he met in the first year of his career.

Happy Birthday "Mr Purple Haze" Jimi Hendrix who was born November 27, 1942! In the early 1960s, Hendrix worked as a pickup guitarist, backing musicians like Little Richard, B.B. King, Ike & Tina Turner, and Sam Cooke. Hendrix went to London in 1966, where he created the Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell. The band’s first single, “Hey Joe,” hit No. 6 on the British pop charts, and the band became an instant sensation.

Briefcase Full of Blues, the debut album by The Blues Brothers (Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi), was released on November 28, 1978. It is among the highest-selling blues albums of all time. It was recorded live on September 9, 1978, at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, when the band opened for comedian Steve Martin. The album consists of covers of blues and soul songs from the 1950s to 1970s. Say what you want about it, but the album and subsequent movie introduced a new generation to the blues.

The Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, was born November 29, 1933!  Mayall developed an early interest in blues, boogie woogie, and jazz from his father. Mayall took up piano, guitar, and harmonica, formed his first band in 1962, and founded the legendary Bluesbreakers in London in 1963. The band featured a succession of guitarists who went on to greater blues/rock fame, including Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor, as well as future Fleetwood Mac founders Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.

Early blues diva and recording artist Lucille Hegamin was born November 29, 1894! By the age of 15 she was touring the US South with the Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock Company. In 1914 she settled in Chicago, Illinois, where, often billed as "The Georgia Peach", she worked with Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton. In November 1920, Hegamin became the second black blues singer to record, after Mamie Smith. She made a series of recordings and one of her biggest hits was "Arkansas Blues". She recorded one of Tom Delaney's earliest compositions, "Jazz Me Blues", in 1921, and it went on to become a jazz standard.

outstanding bluesman Robert Lee McCollum, who you may know better as Robert Nighthawk, was born on November 30, 1909. He was the father of the blues musician Sam Carr. Nighthawk was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983. He bridged the gap between Delta and Chicago blues effortlessly, taking his slide cues from Tampa Red and stamping them with a Mississippi edge learned first hand from his cousin, Houston Stackhouse. He eventually left Chicago for his hometown of Helena, AR, where he briefly took over the King Biscuit Radio Show after Sonny Boy Williamson died, and continued to play every small juke joint in the area until his death in 1967.

Piedmont-style blues singer and guitarist Brownie McGhee was born November 30, 1915! He's best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Born and raised in Tennessee, when he was 4 years old he contracted polio, which incapacitated his right leg. His father, George McGhee, was known for playing guitar and singing. Brownie's uncle made him a guitar from a tin marshmallow box and a piece of board. At age 22, McGhee became a traveling musician, working in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and befriending guitarist Blind Boy Fuller,

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, 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!