Hylda was one of the Skiffle/Blues pioneers in London in the 1950s. She was part of the City Ramblers and is still playing this style of music in clubs in 2015. This poem or free song, Blues Medicine, is Hylda’s homage to the Blues.
It is about the need for some blues medicine which can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Maybe it is the first Skiffle Rap!
Here is the live performance of Blues Medicine from the radio show with Hylda speaking, Doc Stenson on harmonica and Simon Prager on guitar.
It was recorded live on Jonathan Ballie Strong’s Live Lockdown#3 show on London’s K2K radio in November 2013, in a program I did about the life of the UK pioneer harp player, Cyril Davies.
Norman Ives died in 2015. This collection is from the wide range of blues, rock, ballads, country, and international harmonica music which he sold on cassettes in the 1990s. These tapes introduced me, and many others, to the potential of the harmonica.
This is a tribute to Norman, who introduces the first track. He had run an important mail order harmonica business in Caistor, Norfolk, UK, since the 1980s.
1 – Intro – Norman Ives – 0:00
2 – Harmonicats – Peg O’My Heart – 00:23
3 – Rory McLeod – Bansheesh Dance – 02:28
4 – Charlie Musselwhite – Hard Times – 07:32
5 – Fingers Taylor – Harpoon Man – 11:18
6 – Rowland Van Straaten – Orientango – 14:52
7 – Charlie McCoy – Pots and Pans – 18:06
8 – Norton Buffalo- So Much To Say – 20:13
9 – Cajun – Indian On A Stump – 23:48
10 – J.J.Milteau – The Hook – 27:22
11 – Deford Bailey – Fox Chase – 29:54
12 – Little Walter – Quarter to 12 – 31:15
13 – Paul Orta – Wailing at Weavers – 34:34
14 – Sonny Boy Williamson – Help Me – 37:52
15 – William Clarke – Blowing like Hell – 40:59
16 – Stagg McMann – Pinetop Boogie – 43:41
17 – Mox Gowland – Hollor For More – 46:41
18 – Sonny Terry – Change The Lock On The Door 50:17
19 – Jim Darby – Snake Dance – 53:43
20 – Walter Horton & Carey Bell – Have Mercy – 57:17
21 – Lee Oskar – The Immigrant – 61:01
22 – Paul Lamb – Snake Skin Jump – 65:06
23 – Junior Wells – Messing With The Kid – 67:32
24 – Blues Birdhead – Mean How Blues – 71:08
25 – Don Les – Check to Cheek – 74:26
26 – John Hammond – Cat Man Blues – 77:28
27 – John Popper/Blues Travelers – But Anyway – 81:30
28 – Randy Charles – I’m so Lonesome I could cry – 85:37
29 – George Harmonica Smith – Situation Blues – 88:03
30 – Ted Roddy – Honky Tonk Rhythm – 91:37
31 – Michael Herblin – M’pyramid – 97:15
32 – Pete Madcat Ruth – Froggy Went a’Courting – 99:53
33 – J Geils Band – Wammer Jammer – 103:15
You may have heard of some of these performers and groups but there will probably be others that are new to you. Joe Filisko shares his awesome knowledge of the early blues harmonica players and the techniques they developed to play the instrument. The music styles range from early jazz to country blues and popular novelties. If you like this, Part 2, you can listen to Joe on Part 1, on The Archivist web page.
Most of the recordings are from rare 78rpm shellac records, so be ready for the surface noise. In most cases there are no master recordings and for some of the performances only one or two 78s are known to have survived intact.
0 Introduction , Joe Filisko , 0:00
1 Long Haired Doney , Johnny Woods , 0:20
2 Stove Pipe Blues , Daddy Stovepipe , 3:00
3 Mean Low Blues , Blues Birdhead, 7:45
4 Central Track Blues , William McCoy , 12:00
5 One Mint Julep , Peg Leg Sam , 16:00
6 Black Pine Waltz , Gwen Foster , 19:22
7 Key to the Highway , Jazz Gillum , 24:06
8 Police and High Sheriff , 0llis Martin , 27:18
9 Mouth Organ Blues , Hezekiah Jenkins , 31:03
10 You Belong To Me , Arteleus Mistric , 34:40
11 Blues , Wild Bill Phillips , 40:14
12 Sugar Blues , Salty Holmes/Mattie O’Neil , 44:01
13 Son Brimmer’s Blues , Will Shade/ Memphis Jug Band , 47:40
14 Boarding House Blues , Rhythm Willie , 51:33
15 Mistreatin’ Mama , Jaybird Coleman , 55:20
16 Step It Up and Go , Jordan Webb/Brownie McGhee , 59:50
17 St Louis Blues , Willie “Red” Herman , 63:25
18 Jack 0′ Diamonds , Percy Randolph , 66:20
19 Fourth Avenue Blues , Eddie Mapp , 68:30
20 Tampa Blues , Sheffield and Skoodle Dum Doo , 71:53
21 Troubled ’bout My Soul , Frank Palmes , 75:23
22 Wabash Blues , Johnny O’Brien , 79:54
23 Go Back Home , Hot Shot Love , 83:45
24 Beale Street Breakdown , Jed Davenport ,87:04
25 Baby Please Don’t Go , Whispering Smith , 90:50
26 Hill’s Hot Sauce , Robert Hill , 93:52
27 She’s Got Good Dry Goods , Walter Horton/Little Buddy Doyle , 97:12
28 Drink, Drink, Drink , Robert Diggs , 100:35
You can buy the original double CD without Joe’s added information from – Bluebeat Music
Sit back and listen to Joe Filisko introducing 31 solo harmonica recordings from the 1920-30s. The recordings include many examples of train imitations, fox chases and early blues tunes. Joe mentions which harp and key he thinks is the correct one so maybe you will be inspired to play along. Part 2 is now available here – Rare Early Blues Harp Recordings by Singers and Sidemen introduced by Joe Filisko.
You may have heard of some of the performers but there will probably be others that are new to you. Most of the recordings are from rare 78rpm shellac records, so be ready for the surface noise. In most cases there are no master recordings and for some of the performances only one or two 78s are known to have survived intact.
This video is dedicated to Joe Filisko for sharing his awesome knowledge of the early blues harmonica players and the techniques they developed to play the instrument, and also to Ben Hewlett for contacting me when the recording had been taken offline and explaining how valuable this resource is for teaching blues harmonica. This is an updated version as a video with subtitles to help people with difficulties in understanding the speech.
Over to Joe…
Rare Early Solo Instrumental Blues Harp Recordings introduced by Joe Filisko. Introduction , Joe Filisko, 0:00 1 Cracker Cops , Sonny Terry, 0:30 2 McAbee’s Railroad Piece , Palmer McAbee, 4:15 3 Fox Chase , DeFord Bailey, 8:00 4 Middling Blues , George “Bullet” Williams, 11:30 5 Fast Train , Lonnie Glosson , 15:00 6 Rain Crow Bill Blues , Henry Whitter : 19:00 7 Train , Salty Holmes , 22:40 8 Red Pig , Kyle Wooten , 22:20 9 Train Imitations and the Fox Chase , William McCoy , 28:15 10 Up Country Blues , DeFord Bailey , 32:24 11 The Fox Chase , Wayne Raney , 36:21 12 Frisco Leaving Birmingham #3 , George “Bullet” Williams , 39:15 13 Mocking the Dogs , Edward Hazelton , 42:55 14 The Fox end the Hounds , Roger Mathis , 44:30 15 The Alcoholic Blues , DeFord Bailey , 47:4616 16 Mama Blues , William McCoy , 50:30 17 Train and Model-T Race , Curly Fox , 54:45 18 The Old Time Fox Chase , Henry Whitter , 57:40 19 Riding the Blinds , Eddie Mapp , 60:40 20 Dixie Flyer Blues , DeFord Bailey , 64:40 21 C & N.W Blues , D.H Bert Bilbro , 68:25 22 Fox Chase , Salty Holmes, 72:30 23 Devil in the Woodpile , Noah Lewis, 74:20 24 Lost John , Lonnie Glosson , 77:50 25 Pan-American Blues , DeFord Bailey , 81:35 26 Lost John , Walter “Red” Parham , 85:15 27 Mocking the Train , Edward Hazelton , 87:05 28 Lost John , Oliver Sims , 88:25 29 Muscle Shoals Blues , DeFord Bailey , 92:15 30 When the Saints Go Marching In , Jesse Stroller, 95:55 31 Poor Little June Bug , Sonny Terry , 97.15
You can buy the original double CD without Joe’s added information from – Bluebeat Music
