Episode 16 Spotlight Eddie Kirkland and Louisiana Red

EPISODE 16 SPOTLIGHT FEATURING EDDIE KIRKLAND AND LOUISIANA RED

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 Welcome to a new Spotlight addition to Brown Shoes Blues that will recognize two blues artists each month. The shows will be shorter than the regular episodes that discuss one artist in depth.

 This episode is a shout out to Eddie Kirkland and Louisiana Red.

 The tracks on my label Big Guitar Music appearing in this episode are from the releases Clarksdale, Mississippi Part 2 and Rhythm and Western featuring the original Howlers.

 The musicians featured in the tracks on this episode are Jimmy Barnett, Tommy Conner, Danny Dozier, R.S. Field, Hugh Garraway, and Casper Rawls. I am on vocals and guitar.

 Visit my website for more info  www.omarandthehowlers.com

 Thank you to Matthew Garza, for his work mastering this podcast.

Transcript

EPISODE 16 SPOTLIGHT EDDIE KIRKLAND AND LOUISIANA RED

Omar Dykes: Welcome to a Spotlight episode of Brown Shoes Blues that features Eddie Kirkland and Louisiana Red. I was honored to participate with Eddie and Red in Finland on the documentary Family Meeting, produced by my friend Robban Hagnӓs in the Wentus Blues band.

Eddie Kirkland was an American electric blues guitarist, a harmonica player, singer and songwriter, best known as the 'Gypsy of the Blues' for his demanding touring schedules. Besides being an excellent slide guitar and harmonica player, Eddie Kirkland was known for his original guitar riffs and unique guitar tunings. 

Eddie Kirkland was born in Kingston, Jamaica on August the 16th, 1923 to an 11-year-old mother. He grew up believing she was his sister until she told him the truth of his birth in his early twenties. He was raised in Dothan, Alabama, and first heard the blues from field hollers, which were originated and used by African slaves as a way of communicating while working in the fields. Often used to express emotion or as communal worship, these field hollers were cries and calls that turned into works songs and are considered to be the beginning of the blues genre.

Kirkland grew up in Alabama in the Jim Crow era. He was poor and rarely attended school, and he mostly worked alongside his young mother picking cotton. Later, his mother married Jim 'Mack' Brown, a sharecropper and blues musician. This relationship furthered Kirkland's interest in music. His stepfather played at the local juke joints, which sparked Kirkland's interest in the life of a performer.

Brown was responsible for giving Kirkland his first harmonica and guitar lessons. This prompted young Eddie into building his first guitar using a cigar box and screen door wire for strings. Around age nine, Kirkland had saved enough money from his picking cotton to buy his first Stella guitar. He was exposed to gospel music on most Sundays when his grandmother took him to sing in the local church choir. In addition to gospel music, she also exposed Kirkland to a wide range of country, classical, and blues music by playing her extensive 78 RPM record collection on her Victrola.

Kirkland stowed away in a medicine show truck and left Alabama when he was 12 years old. During this time, Eddie was highly influenced by Blind Blake. He was a member of a chorus line for one year performing with Blues singer Diamond Teeth Mary McLean, who influenced Willie Big Mama Thornton, and she was with the comedy and dance duo, Butter Beans and Susie. Then like many African Americans in the South, Kirkland joined the Great Migration to the north and west in search of economic opportunities and political freedom. Kirkland continued to work in and outside the music industry, having short stints in the US Army as a boxer and on a Ford Motor Company assembly line for a time.

In 1942, Kirkland was living in Detroit with his mother where he joined, toured with, and recorded with renowned blues guitarist John Lee Hooker. Eddie became a second guitarist in Hooker's recordings from 1949 through 1962. Kirkland said it was hard playing behind Hooker, but he said he had a good ear and was able to move in behind Hooker on anything he did. Hooker was known to play very erratic progressions and things, and you had to be on your toes to do it. Eddie created his own style of playing in open chords and turned the raw Delta Blues into electric blues by using his thumb rather than a guitar pick.

He was offered his own series of recordings with Sid Nathan of King Records in 1953 at Fortune Records in 1958, and by 1961 on his own album It's the Blues Man with King Curtis Band for Prestige Records. He wrote and recorded "I Must Have Done Somebody Wrong" for Fortune in 1959. The song was recorded by Elmore James in 1960, as "Done Somebody Wrong" without any credit being given to Kirkland. This song is most well-known for a 1971 version by the Allman Brothers Band. Kirkland remained angry about this oversight saying in 1984, "I wrote, "Must Have Done Somebody Wrong," which Elmore James stole from me and the Allman Brothers performed."

Kirkland served as John Lee Hooker's road manager on many tours from Detroit to the deep South.  Kirkland went to Macon, Georgia and began performing with Otis Redding as his guitarist and band leader. As Eddie Kirk, he recorded with Stax Volt Records and had a hit single "The Hog" in 1963. Kirkland's career was busy with an extensive tour schedule alongside numerous well-known musicians, including Muddy Waters, Honey Boy Edwards, Ruth Brown, Little Richard, and Johnny Taylor. At one point, Kirkland became discouraged by the music industry and returned to work as an auto mechanic to earn a living for his growing family.

In 1970, one of the revivals of the blues was taking place. Peter B Lowry found Kirkland in Macon and convinced him to record again. His first sessions were done in a motel room, resulting in the acoustic solo LP Front and Center. His second was a studio recorded band album, The Devil and Other Blues Demons. Both were released on Lowry's Trix blues record label. It was during the mid- seventies that Kirkland became friends of the British rock band Foghat. It was during this period that Kirkland appeared on Don Kirschner's rock concert with Muddy Waters, Honey Boy Edwards, and Foghat. Eddie's thumbpick and his finger style gave him freedom to play powerful chord riffs by playing baselines, chord kick, and counterpoint at the same time.

In 1973, Kirkland performed at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. In the 1990s, Eddie began recording on the Deluge record label where he released three albums in Maine. By 2000 Kirkland was on his own again, always doing his own driving to concerts in his Ford, now called the 'Road Warrior', traveling across the country several times a year. While performing, Kirkland had developed a powerful stage presence that consisted of capes, jumpsuits, and a turban-style headdress. His high-energy performances also included acrobatic backflips and playing his guitar behind his back. Kirkland contributed two songs to longtime friends Foghat's album, Last Train Home, and that was in 2010.

Well into his eighties, Kirkland continued to drive himself to gigs along the West Coast and in Europe, frequently playing with the Wentus Blues Band from Finland. I had the distinct pleasure to spend time with Eddie during the taping of the Wentus Blues Band's documentary called Family Meeting that featured many blues artists who were friends of the Wentus Blues Band. Eddie seemed a little reserved until you got to know him, but when he cut loose and told some remarkable stories, it was all you could take in. After all, he was John Lee Hooker's right-hand man. He never really achieved the recognition or financial success that many other of his musical friends received. Kirkland won the prestigious W. C. Handy Blues Award in 1987.

According to some sources, he was married twice with at least eight daughters and two sons. Eddie Kirkland died in a car accident on February the 27th, 2011 in Crystal River, Florida. A bus hit Kirkland's car, and Kirkland suffered series injuries. He was transported by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital where he died a short time later. He was buried at Cherry Blossom Memorial Gardens in Lizella, Georgia.

That was an original song called "Tease Me," played by Casper Rawls and me in an Eddie Kirkland funky-style beat. It is from my release, Clarksdale, Mississippi, Part 2.

Iverson Minter, best known in the blues world as 'Louisiana Red' was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer who recorded more than 50 albums. He was a master of the slide guitar playing both traditional, acoustic, and urban electric styles. His lyrics were honest, personal, and sincere. His career includes collaborations with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Eric Burdon, and my friend and great harmonica player, Bob Corritore, who recorded the album Tell Me About It with him.

Louisiana Red was born on March the 23rd, 1932 in Bessemer, Alabama. His mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in 1937. His aunt placed him in an orphanage, and he later lived with his grandmother and uncle in Pittsburgh. At 16 Minter, lied about his age and joined the US Army serving in Korea during the Korean War. While in the Army, Red spent his nights singing the blues for the servicemen.

His first album, Low Down Back Porch Blues, was recorded in New York City with Tommy Tucker and released in 1963. His second album, Seventh Son, was released later the same year. Louisiana Red released the single," I'm too Poor to Die" for the Glover label in 1964 that peaked at 117 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 30 on the R & B chart Cash Box. He had a busy recording and performing schedule through the 1960s and 70s working in sessions for Chess, Checker, Atlas, Glover, Roulette, LNR, Tomato, and other labels. He was another label man like John Lee Hooker. You always see the numerous labels. I always laugh at that, Lightning Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Louisiana Red, Omar Dykes. I was the man of many labels. I had some good company, didn't I?

Like many other blues musicians, Red struggled to make a living in America, so in the early 1980s, he moved to Germany where he found audiences far more receptive to his music. He lived in Hanover, Germany from 1983. He continued to tour, including regular returns to the United States until his death in 2011. Louisiana Red released the album Memphis Mojo that was a huge success. During his life, Minter had three wives and five children. Louisiana Red passed away on February the 25th, 2012 from a stroke after having been in a coma. He died in Hanover at the age of 79. He appeared in the German film Rockpalast in 1976, Comeback in 1982, Red and Blues in 2005 and the Finnish Wentus Blues Band's documentary Family Meeting in 2008.

I had a long personal relationship with Louisiana Red that started in 1978 when we played a show together at Tramps Blues Club in New York City. We became fast friends. I crossed paths with Red many times over the years, and it was always an honor to know him. Years later, we were both playing at a festival in a remote fishing village in Norway, and he and I were used to joking around back and forth when we saw each other. I didn't know it, but the festival put a picture of me on the festival t-shirt. When I arrived, I saw Red wearing the t-shirt with my picture on it. He said to me, "Ain't that a fine howdy do that they put you on the t-shirt instead of me?" We both started laughing, and Red saw the shirt I was wearing. It was a shirt from Tater Red's Shop on Beale Street in Memphis, and Louisiana Red had to have it. He wanted it bad, and right then and there. I said, "Red, I need a shirt to wear." He went and bought a 3X shirt for me to wear so I could give him the Tater Red shirt. I told him, "You need to wash this shirt. I've been wearing it for a week now." He said, okay, but he put that dirty shirt on and told everybody he saw, he said, "I'm Tater Red." He would point to the Tater Red on the t-shirt and laugh and people would laugh. He was very special. I played many festivals with him, and we spent a lot of time together with his wife, who was the only person who could keep Red in line. That's saying something. We ate breakfast and told our stories, and I adored both of them. 

Another story I got about Louisiana Red it makes me laugh now, I chuckle. At the time I wasn't laughing 'cause it wasn't funny to me. I was playing in Sweden at a large outdoor concert. The promoter told me to be ready at two o'clock and somebody would come and give us transportation to the festival which was way out in the country somewhere from the hotel. The festival featured Omar and the Howlers and then Louisiana Red with the Wentus Blues Band was supposed to play, and then the headliner of the festival was Dr. Feel Good from England. Great band, and great friends.

At two o'clock we were sitting out in front of the hotel waiting like we were told, and nobody showed up. We sat there for an hour, nobody showed up. We sat there for an hour and a half, nobody showed up. I said, "Well, guys, I guess they're not gonna pick us up. I don't know what to do. Go to your rooms. You might wanna stay dressed and just watch TV or something 'cause I don't know what's going to happen." So, way later, three hours late, somebody calls our rooms and say, you need to come down to the lobby 'cause somebody's here to pick you up. By the time we get there, it's a good four and a half, hours late. Well, we're walking down the hill. I have my guitar in my hand, and Paul Junior, my bass player has his bass in his hand, and Steve, the drummer's walking with this stick bag and they're booing the three of us and giving us the middle finger. I was going, this ain't good. So, I get down to the stage and the promoter meets me and goes, "Why are y'all so late?" I went, "Because nobody picked us up like you said."

And he said, "You need to get right on that stage right now and play. "Oh, no," I said, "I'm not getting up on the stage till you get up on stage with me and tell everybody it's your fault that we're late, not mine and the bands. I know you speak Swedish, but you speak good English. I want you to tell 'em in English where I know what you're saying." The crowd was just furious, angry 'cause they hadn't had any music for four hours, and they blamed it on us. So, I got up there and made the guy stand right beside me and say," It's my fault. I messed it up. Omar and the band didn't do anything wrong." And people cheered us then. And Louisiana Red thought that was hilarious that I made him do that.

Dr. Feel Good thought it was funny. Dr. Feel Good didn't even play. They were the headline band. He got so far behind, that the buses left that took everybody back to town. Dr. Feel Good said, "Well, we're not gonna play. It's an empty field full of cups. The promoter was arguing with Dr. Feel Good saying, "You have to get up there and play. I paid you money to play a concert." And Kevin, the drummer for Dr. Feel Good said, "You know, I studied law and technically you paid us to play yesterday and now it's tomorrow." And I got a good chuckle out of that one. So, everybody had a good laugh, especially Louisiana Red. The look on his face when he said, "I can't believe Omar made that guy get up and do that." Thank you, Louisiana Red.

Red received several distinguished awards during his music career. He was given the W. C. Handy Award in 1983 for Best Traditional Blues Male Artist. He won three awards in 2009 for his release Back to the Black Bayou that included the Grand Prix Blues Award, the German Record Critics Award, and the Blues News Poll Award. One year later in 2010, he received the Blues Music Award for Acoustic Album of the Year for You've Got to Move.

Here's an original song by me playing slide guitar and performed with the Howlers called "I Think I'll start Walkin'" from my release Rhythm and Western.

Thank you, Matt Garza for the excellent work in the engineering and mastering of Brown Shoes Blues and the tracks used in this program. We could not do this podcast without you!

Be sure to check out the Brown Shoes Blues playlist on all major digital musical sites to enjoy the music included in the episodes at any time.

Thank you for joining me today for this special spotlight episode of Brown Shoes Blues. Check out my website for all the current projects going on. Be sure to join me for the next episode, and don't forget to boogie!