the zesty free for all ordinariness of British painter Beryl Cook
Largess was her colorful legacy
The music/literary mag Oxford American produces compilations from Southern states that are certified mondo compendiums of their respective heritages. It’s a 2 cd affair with 50 pieces of the famous and infamous. A few samples
ani difranco 9.23.70
Ani DiFranco has made a contribution with attitude. Her guitar work is replete with a plucky poignance. Perhaps avoiding falling captive to the fickle and stereotypic trends of the biz, she built her own muse. In short, I find her work bears the assurance of search, the wiggle room of joy.
frank zappa
“there’s a big difference between kneeling down and bending over”
from the soon to be published illustrated book of fake band names. coming from baggy pants press!
found this book cover out on the street in a mud puddle some years back. thought it was maybe a joke. looks to be drawn by r. crumb. i think it belongs to a book that explores nitrous oxide, but i can’t be sure.
Ms. Rhodes is accompanied by Joe Ely
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“My name is Fred McDowell. They call me Mississippi Fred McDowell. But my home’s in Rossville, Tennessee. But it don’t make any difference – it sounds good to me, and I seem like I’m at home there when I’m in Mississippi. And I do not play no rock ‘n roll, y’all. I just play the straight natch’l blues”
This was how he opened many of the concerts he performed at festivals and concerts worldwide following his “discovery” by Alan Lomax and Shirley Collins in 1959, when they recorded him for their Sothern Journey series of recordings for Atlantic.
“Fred McDowell’s recordings for me…won him instant and extraordinary fame. After their release in 1960, he cut 14 LPs, and the Rolling Stones invited him to Europe. They…bought him a silver lame suit, which he wore home to Como, and was buried in.” Alan Lomax
In 1971 the Rolling Stones recorded “You Gotta Move” and credited it to Fred. While he was the person that the Stones discovered the song from, it was actually a spiritual that Fred found in a church in Como. Nevertheless, after some period of negotiations, shortly before Fred died from stomach cancer in 1972, he was presented with a check from the Stones of $12,000 for the rights to use the song.
He was born in 1904, the son of farmers. His parents died when he was young. In 1928 he moved to Mississippi to pick cotton. About a dozen years later he settled in Como, Mississippi where he farmed as a sharecropper and performed at dances and picnics on the weekends.
When Fred performed at Clark he was using an electric guitar, though for the bulk of his life he performed on acoustic. I can’t recall the set list from that night, but Fred’s 1969 Capital release must have included many of the songs performed. Some examples include Good Morning Little School Girl, That’s all Right Baby, Jesus Is On The Mainline, Write Me A Few Of Your Lines, Mortgage On My Soul, Red Cross Store and Baby Please Don’t Go.
“His mellow, multi-tonal vocal style lends subtle pathos to every phrase of his songs and evokes eloquent responses from his gnarled and work-wise plowman’s fingers.” Alan Lomax”
Who can tell where Bill Callahan is coming from. But I wish I could visit him there. He is always taking risks and asking difficult questions, sometimes busking down doubtful passageways. He sometimes talks to himself inside a tune without his singing voice. Almost some kind of call and response inner monologue. He wanders through the pieces. Many end like they are falling off a log!