Walkin' my blues away (Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee) (LP 819)

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee  Sonny & Brownie (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1973) ***

Genre: Blues 

Places I remember: Bought recently from a guy off the Facebook group - Vinyl Lovers of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sail Away 

Gear costume: Sonny's Thing; White Boy Lost In The Blues.

Active compensatory factors: I think this one is a case of too many cooks. The guest list is extensive - John Mayall, Arlo Guthrie, Sugarcane Harris, John Hammond, Michael Franks, and a slew of background vocalists.

I struggle to hear them in the mix (apart from Sugarcane's violin of course).

As far as Sonny and Brownie go, less is more for me in the instrument department. Just a guitar and a harmonica are all they need to set up a vibe. 

That said, there are plenty of great moments on this set, including Sonny's trademark whoops and hollers. Sonny also has an equal presence here - singing, talking and playing that wonderful harmonica.

Where do they all belong? Another worthy addition to the blues section.

Rising son (Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) (LP 785 - 788)

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee Get On Board (CD, Not Now Music, 1952) **** 

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee Washboard Band - Country Dance Music (CD, Not Now Music, 1956) *****

Brownie McGhee Brownie McGhee Blues (CD, Not Now Music, 1955) ***

Sonny Terry Sonny Terry's Washboard Band (CD, Not Now Music, 1955) ***

Genre: Blues 

Places I remember: The Warehouse (Palmerston North)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Cindy

Gear costume: Rising Son

Active compensatory factors: This is a 2-CD pack called Cripple Creek (after a song on the second album listed above). The first album is pretty much just Sonny and Brownie doing what they do best.

The Washboard Band's Country Dance Music has both of them augmented by Pete Seeger on banjo and two other musicians. It is a hoot and a half! Just brilliant playing on exactly what it says in the title - country dance music.

The other two discs are solo albums and while they are, of course, worthwhile, they do both prove that they needed each other to create magic - Sonny's harmonica and Brownie's guitar and vocals are a dynamite combination as those first two albums clearly demonstrate.

Where do they all belong? I missed this compilation when I wrote about Sonny and Brownie's other albums. I loved rediscovering this - especially that Country Dance Music album.

Backdoor Sunshine (Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) (LP 440 - 442)

Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry (Vinyl, Storyville, 1975) ***** 

Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry You Hear Me Talkin' (Vinyl, Muse Records, 1961 - 1978 reissue) ***** 

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee Midnight Special (Vinyl, Fantasy Records, 1977) ***** 

Genre: Blues 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sonny's Squall

Gear costume:  Two Points Of View, Backdoor Sunshine, You Hear Me Talkin', Midnight Special 

Active compensatory factors: One of my cherished memories - standing about ten metres from the stage among a few hundred people at Nambassa in 1978 when these two blues giants were slowly lead on stage. After taking up their two seats, they took flight for their set. 

I was transfixed, and transformed!

Many of the tracks on these albums were recorded in the early sixties or seventies but not released until later. The recordings sound pristine however.

Sonny's Squall, recorded in 1960 is a good example and gets the Midnight Special double album off to a flyer.

Where do they all belong? The blues section and blues history would not be the same without Brownie's guitar and Terry's harmonica combination.

Cryin' and pleadin' won't do no good (Billy Boy Arnold)

I made a compilation of blues songs for Keegan recently and it occurred to me that I write a lot about pop and rock genres and jazz from time to time but seldom about the blues. And when I do venture into the blues it's usually from a white perspective: Alvin Lee; Rory Gallagher; Eric Clapton; Paul Jones, Hot Tuna and so on.

I am not sure why I haven't written more about blues favourites such as Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Muddy Waters. I love their stuff and I love the blues!

Here's the track listing on my CD blues primer for Keegan:

Evil Gal blues – Albinia Jones

Chicago breakdown – Big Maceo

I wish you would – Billy Boy Arnold

Shake your moneymaker – Elmore James

Dust my blues – Elmore James

You don't have to go – Jimmy Reed

Sittin' here thinkin' – John Lee Hooker

Mannish Boy – Junior Wells/ Muddy Waters

Young man blues – Mose Allison

Rollin' stone – Muddy Waters

Got my mojo working – Muddy Waters

That's alright – Jimmy Rodgers

Milk cow blues – Sleepy John Estes

I'm a king bee – Slim Harpo

Good morning little schoolgirl – Sonny Boy Williamson

Whoopin' the blues – Sonny Terry

Good morning blues – Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

The midnight special - Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

Smokestack lightning – The Yardbirds

How many more years – Howlin' Wolf

Moanin' at midnight – Howlin' Wolf

I'm ready – Muddy Waters

I was trying to cover as many bases as I could in roughly an hour and I think I got the balance pretty right - Chicago blues, boogie woogie, harp and guitar, white (Yardbirds and Allison), folk blues, shouters, women blues singers,  dirty blues, slow blues, country blues, electric, urban blues.

It's not supposed to be comprehensive at all (I figured Keegan had heard Robert Johnson for instance) and, of course, there are many omissions and it does show my bias towards Waters/Wolf/Sonny and Brownie.

My love of the blues began properly after I watched Sonny and Brownie playing at the Nambassa music festival (late seventies I think). I remember the moment well because I was standing about ten feet from the stage with not many other people around me.

Someone led Sonny on to the stage, they settled down on their seats and Brownie started playing his guitar and tapping his foot. I watched in awe. 

It was one of those epiphanies I have had from time to time as I listened and watched and grooved.

Obviously I am not alone in letting the blues strike it's chord in my soul. For some reason I never tire of the form, or get depressed when I hear it. In fact I find the tales inherent in the blues very life affirming in a Grapes Of Wrath kind of way. Hardships are overcome and have been sung about in a cathartic way since the genre began in the American south's slave plantations.

It's true that I came to many of these songs from white blues inspired acts like Hot Tuna.

Billy Boy Arnold's I Wish You Would is a case in point.

I first heard it on Hot Tuna's Hoppkov album and then they did a stonking live version on their live double - Double Dose.

I hadn't heard of Billy Boy Arnold until that point. I'm sure Jorma and Jack from Hot Tuna would be thrilled to know that they made Arnold's version accessible via their own, very different treatment.