Mickey Baker
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
I’m always surprised, and somewhat disappointed when folk tell me that they are unaware of the work of guitarist/singer/composer, Mickey Baker. Most guitar players know well of the man and his talent, having learned to play from any or all of his 14 excellent books on guitar playing, but somehow he seems to have evaded the attention of so many music fans. However, with the publication of the excellent and very established French language book, “Mickey Baker” – Life Is Strange”, I have now got a statistic that is enough to convince anyone of Mickey’s importance. The statistic is, that the list ..read more
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From Earth To Black Sabbath Part I
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
With the 53rd anniversary of the release of the album, “Black Sabbath”, clearly in sight, it seems/seemed appropriate to dig into “Don’t Worry ‘Bout The Bear”, for an insightful view of the band’s journey from being Earth to the release of that first, all important classic album. “Don’t Worry ‘Bout The Bear”, the book by my brother Ron and myself, charts my time in what we laughingly refer to as The Music Business from the 1960s Brum Beat years, my time with Sabbath, working with American bluesmen through until more recent times. There are three hefty chapters devoted to The Sabbs. The origina ..read more
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Birmingham’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Afghan Hound
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
A cutting from the October 2017 edition of HEM Life publication. I used to rent the upstairs room every Tuesday, proclaimed that Tuesdays is Bluesdays, and named the venture Henry’s Blueshouse, after a particularly handsome Afghan Hound that lived in my street. From 1968 until the early 1970s a steady stream of emerging UK bands played at Henry’s, including Black Sabbath, Status Quo, Rory Gallagher and Taste, Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull and many more. The image of Henry that we used on tickets, T-shirts, posters and flyers was a jokey caricature which, to this day, I ..read more
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Big Bear Believing In The Blues
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
In the wake of our recent office move, we’ve been trying, without notable success, to bring some sort of order to our vast archive of music-related material going back some 60 years. Here’s a sample. Launched in 1959, Music Week was the weekly music industry essential reading from major record company execs through to record retailers. We must have been encouraged by this headline in the Music Week Talentscene feature back in April 1974. L to R: George G.P. Jackson, Cousin Joe From New Orleans, Doctor Ross, Eddie Playboy Taylor and Big John Wrencher Big Bear Records is not an American company ..read more
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Remembering Rosa Henderson, Trixie Smith and The Texas Nightingale
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
The history of The Blues is littered with long-forgotten names, who, in their day, achieved significant success, some reaching impressive heights. Almost always they came from the most humble beginnings and left us with fascinating recordings. Take Maggie Jones, for instance. Known variously as The Texas Nightingale and sometimes as The Texas Moaner, she was a fine singer and pianist whose name has probably slipped under the radar of most blues fans. She must have been something special in her day, as she recorded with accompanists that included Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smit ..read more
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Bob The Bear Talks To Big Bear
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canned Heat were among the best and biggest blues attractions around. Taking their name from Tommy Johnson’s 1928 recording of “Canned Heat Blues”, a song about an alcoholic who, in desperation, turns to drinking Sterno, which was known as Canned Heat. The band was formed by guys from a community of blues collectors. Singer Bob The Bear Hite teamed up with guitarist, harmonica player and vocalist Al Blind Owl Wilson, who, after a few changes to the initial line-up, recruited guitar player Henry Vestine, known as The Sunflower, who had just been sacked fr ..read more
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Blow That Harmonica, Son
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
On January 6th in 1973 I took off on a 5 week tour in the company of Homesick James, Snooky ‘Little Bear’ Pryor, Boogie Woogie Red, Lightnin’ Slim, Washboard Willie and Whispering Smith. Brummie guitarist Roger Hill, playing bass on this trip and drummer Tom Farnell – dubbed Uncle Tom only partly because of his avuncular manner – completed the line-up while Rob Cowlyn, whose impulse purchase of a puce green Mercedes van, triggered off the whole affair, did the driving. This was American Blues Legends 73, the first of Big Bear Records touring blues package shows. By March 1st that year, it had ..read more
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Mr. Blues Is Coming To Town!
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
The most important thing to happen every July hereabouts is the annual jazz festival. Jazz, I hear you say, what’s that to do with us blues guys? Well, admittedly, most jazz festivals deliver what it says on the tin, but The Birmingham, Sandwell and Westside Jazz Festival is really like no other. This, the 38th consecutive year of the festival, just like the earlier editions, features swing, Dixie, gypsy and big band jazz, some ska, barber-shop quartets – and The Blues. Lots of it. Some 60 performances over the 10 days of July15 to 24 – and almost all of it is free admission. Blues bill-topper ..read more
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Little Smokey Smothers
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
L to R: Billy The Kid Emerson, Jimmy Dawkins, Jim Simpson, Lester Davenport, Little Smokey Smothers, Eddie C.Campbell, Good Rockin’ Charles, Chico Chism. Photo by Jim O’Neal. I met Little Smokey Smothers in Buddy Guy’s South Side Chicago club in 1979 at a gathering organised by the criminally neglected blues guitar man Jimmy “Don’t Call Me Fastfingers” Dawkins. I was planning that year’s American Blues Legends UK/European tour and, as so often before, asked Jimmy to help me get the team together. To my eternal embarrassment he insisted that I audition all the musicians – “Do the job properly ..read more
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Lonesome Jimmie Lee Robinson
Henry’s Blues Blog
by Henry
1y ago
It would be stretching the truth to say that Lonesome Jimmy Lee Robinson was a bunch of fun. On the other hand, he always turned up on time and did his job, that is singing, playing guitar and bass guitar, extremely well. He didn’t, at least in my presence, drink heavily nor dabble in exotic herbs and I never did hear of him ever punching anybody out. But to spend nearly seven weeks on the road through UK and Europe, with him, on the tour bus and in hotels, well, that wasn’t the most exhilarating of experiences, with his demeanour varying from introspective to unremittingly sullen. On stage, h ..read more
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