Radio Show Tonight!!!
9-11 EST - www.uncg.edu/wua listen up or be square.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful emails, I’ll be adding links and information through out the week, so don’t fret. Also thanks those willing to share some great music with me, I’d love to hear even more!

Tech Note. Apparently windows users are having a hard time with some of my files. They play fine, but save as MPEG files rather than MP3 files, which should play in winamp, but might not play on all computers. I think I have fixed the problem, by switching to another rip/encoding program. This Blind Willie Johnson track should be a test to make sure everyone can hear the music no matter what their platform is.

Someone posted a nice comment about how wonderful this version of John The Revelator is, and I tend to agree, Blind Willie Johnson’s voice is something that can never be duplicated (no matter how hard Wim Wenders tries) and is certainly not comparable to anything else. One of his last tracks recorded before his death, Johnson certainly has no fear of dying.

I got a free HIDDEN counter to keep all ya’ll in check. The results from the first couple of days, most of friday, saturday and sunday, are shocking in fact. Here are my conclusions:

1) Lots of random sites I never knew about have links to me. Email me at pkpatnaik at gmail and I’ll put up a link to yr site.

2) Those sites that compile RSS feeds from mp3 blogs are pretty awesome, but I bet the days I don’t start off talking about the song, I get less hits.

3) speaking of hits, I get a fair amount of hits, I’m shocked and happy.

4) I’m the only opera user.

5) I’m the only linux user.

6) The East Coast Loves Me.

7) Re_Invigorate is the best counter ever.

Before Charley Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson and William Harris there was Tommy Johnson. Johnson a man of legend ,was reported to have sold his soul to the devil to give him his guitar playing talent. Either that, or he was just born with the talent. Johnson’s style gave birth to the Delta Blues style that Son House , et al would later perfect. There is a certain power behind Johnson’s voice on this track - Maggie Campbell. It’s not like Son House’s boom of a voice, but it’s a voice that draws from some part of the body that most people must not have and pushes itself out. These are haunting blues for me, something seems very surreal and foreboding to me. This track was recording during Johnson’s second recording session for Victor Records in February 1928. Charlie McCoy plays second guitar on the track, Johnson would disappear at the end of 1929.

This past tuesday the Drive By Truckers released their sixth or so album, entitled The Dirty South. THe only thing i can say, to describe this band is that it sounds like Walter Percy teamed up with Lynrd Skynrd to put out a great rock and roll album. easily my favorite band working right now. i can’t wait to see ‘em live next month with allison moorer!

Apparently my CD player just won’t read the two discs I tried extract tracks from yesterday. This turned out to be a good thing, actually because I discovered that I love Son House’s alternative take of John The Revelator more than the standard version.

Son House has a special place in my heart, because after a long trip to Chicago, I randomly picked up his complete 1965 recordings at the Jazz Mart, and fell in love with his music and blues in general. By 1965, House’s guitar playing skills had faltered, and it was becoming increasingly harder to understand the lyrics - but his voice said everything for him. That sound that I heard for the first time driving back from the airport - made me understand the quality about the blues that I had always misunderstood or avoided. That the blues were not just about sadness, but about expression and freedom in the midst of circumstances (the blues) that try to oppress them.

I really need to get a new cd drive, this one i think is one its last legs. i couldn’t rip anything at all at first, but then i could only rip certain tracks from some cds, but then most of those tracks were just silence. so i don’t know what’s up.

anyway. here is a track i ripped awhile ago and didn’t post. from the ever amazing, and never over-rated Lead Belly, Duncan and Brady, one of my favorite murder ballads.

Two reminders:

1) Drive By Truckers - The Dirty South was released today, and my first impression of it so far, is that it is amazing. Godamn lonely Love and Where The Devil Don’t Stay are some of their best tracks so far and I can’t wait til I see them live with Allison Moorer in a few weeks.

2) I will be doing a radio show tonight from 9-11 EST at www.uncg.edu/wua (click the streaming link) be sure to check it out, last weeks I thought was one of my better shows, so I have high hopes for this one.

For the next couple of days I’ll be posting some accapella blues tracks and field recordings that I love so dearly. I’m starting of with a man named Hollis “Fat-Head” Washington, who Alan Lomax recorded in 1939 at the Parchman Penitentiary in Mississippi. Nothing is know about him and this was the only track he was able to record - his song speaks of oppression and a lonely hunger for freedom. It is an incredibly moving number.

Bleh. You’d think that i’d learn about when/why blogspot will deleted your post. But I haven’t. The gist of it was as follows:

1) Drive By Truckers - Dirty South comes out tommorow
2) Rounder Records could be a lot better if they tried harder
3) Blues In the Mississippi Night, should not have snippets of tracks between the interviews and the music.
4. Sonny Boy and Memphis Slim are amazing together, and this track, recorded live by Alan Lomax, sounds a lot better than their studio recordings because it has that passion that the studio takes away from a lot of blues preformers.

The Year is mostly over, so i’m going to post some of my favorite tracks from the year so far. Lots of great stuff this year across the board mostly (though i haven’t heard any really great rap albums year, outside of ghostface and madvillian), but of course this is all going to change when the new drive by truckers album drops next week.

1. Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
2. Tv On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
3. Fiery Furances - Blueberry Boat
4. The Concretes - S/T
5. Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose
6. Divine Comedy - Absent Friends
7. Xiu Xiu - Fab. Muscles
8. Wilco - Ghost Is Born
9. Ghostface - Pretty Tony Album
10. The Degados - Universal Audio

Reissues

1. Candi Stanton
2. Aceyalone - All Balls Don’t Bounce
3. The Third Unheard
4. So Young - But So Cold
5. DCC - This Is Riphop
6. Johnny Burennete Trio - The Complete Recordings
7. Discordence Axis - Jou Hou
8. Otis Clay - Testify
9. Ebony Rhythm Band - Soul Heart Transplant: The Lamp Sessions
10. The Consintines - S/T

I just picked a few songs at random to post.

This might be the first year that I’ve followed the olympics so closely and it has been some great fun. Last night’s mens gymnastics contest was some of the best sports I have ever seen. So good.

I am watching Deception on TCM right now, so this will be a quick be great update.

Casey Bill Weldon was one of the most unique and highly talented guitar players of the era. This track “I Believe I’ll Make A Change” opens up with a great steel guitar opening by Weldon and the song allows Black Rob, Big Bill and Charlie McCoy to show off their chops as Weldon sings and brings everything together. This is one of the better larger group blues songs that i’ve heard.

This past week or so has been pretty awesome for new music. I picked up the new Fiery Furances album, and after a few reservations about the opening track, i really love this album. Also, New Delgados and Giant Sand (!) leaked and they both will be featured quite hight on my end of year list.

Last Night’s show went real well i thought, one of the best blues sets i’ve done. I played a lot of stuff i hadn’t played in a long time and played some real goofy Charley Jordan and Tampa Red songs.

The Charley Jordan song I can’t get out of my head. The chorus of “Give ‘em Coca-Cola, lemon soda, saucer of ice cream, take soap and water to keep it clean. There isn’t a whole lot of information about Jordan. He was shot in 1924 which left him paralazied from the waist down. Despite that he recorded a lot and traveled some with Peetie Wheatstraw. He sounds a bit like Bo Carter, but isn’t as vulgar or over the top.