Rock and the Blues Go Hand in Hand

Rock and the Blues go hand in hand , don't you think?

How many guitar players start off just listening to hard rock music?

How many real guitar players know how to play the Blues?

How many guitar players refuse to listen to the Blues?

Well my friend, Rock and the Blues go hand in hand, if Cream , the 60's most powerful supergroup had not formed with guitariest Eric Clapton I may never have heard "Crossroads" or "Spoonful" I would have never heard of Robert Johnson, who wrote Crossroads, or Willie Dixon who wrote the standrand blues number Spoonful. Then again I would have never heard of Howlin Wolf, or Muddy Waters, so you see the Blues is something we all learn to love.

The lyrics plainly have the narrator attempting to hitch a ride from an intersection as darkness falls. But in close association with the mythic legend of Johnson's short life and death, it has come to represent the tale of a blues man going to a metaphorical crossroads to meet the devil to sell his soul in exchange for becoming a famous blues player. While the idea of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil may be fascinating and evocative, the song itself plainly describes the very real, harrowing situation feared by Johnson and other African Americans in the Deep South in the early 20th century. Historian Leon Litwack has suggested that the song refers to the common fear felt by blacks who were discovered out alone after dark. As late as 1960s in parts of the South, the well-known expression, "Nigger, don't let the sun go down on you here," was, according to Litwack, "understood and vigorously enforced." In an era when lynchings were still common, Johnson was likely singing about the desperation of finding his way home from an unfamiliar place as quickly as possible because, as the song says, "the sun goin' down, boy/ dark gon' catch me here." This interpretation also makes sense of the closing line "You can run/ tell my friend-boy Willie Brown/ that I'm standing at the crossroads" as Johnson's appeal for help from a real-life fellow musician." Furthermore, it is said that Johnson requested that Willie Brown be informed in the event of his death

The legend of Johnson selling his soul to learn to play guitar is said to have taken place in Rosedale, Mississippi, at the intersection of Highway 8 and Highway 1 (33°50′44″N 91°1′39″W / 33.84556°N 91.0275°W / 33.84556; -91.0275). Another, less common, belief is that the crossroad is at the intersection of Highway 49 and Highway 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi

How many guitarist are willing to sell their soul to the devil, just to become a star guitarist?.

What was so cool to me was that Robert Johnson was born on May 8th, 1911, this writer was born on May 8th, but in 1950, maybe that is why I love the down right blues.

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician, among the most famous of Delta blues musicians. His landmark recordings from 1936–1937 display a remarkable combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend.

When you think of Blues most people associate it with B.B.King, wait a minute look back at Albert King, the master who wrote "Born Under A Bad Sign", that went on to become a signature rock bands song. I mean, If you never seen Albert and I have you can only imagine his flying V guitar wailing away as he hit every lick and sucked the air out of the places he was playing.

Born Under a Bad Sign is a blues album by Albert King, recorded between 1966 and 1967, and released in 1967 by Stax Records. This was the first album Albert King recorded on Stax, and the title song became a blues standard. King played a Gibson Flying V through a solid-state Acoustic amplifier; his tone on the second song, "Crosscut Saw," was hailed in 2004 by Guitar Player as one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time

But lets be honest where is Clarksdale, Mississippi?, well to be honest it is in Coalhoma County, in Mississippi.

In 1979 the Carnegie Public Library under the direction of Library Director Sid Graves began a nascent display series which later became the nucleus of the Delta Blues Museum.

Clarksdale has received a historic marker as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail by the Mississippi Blues Commission in recognition of its importance in the development of the blues in Mississippi. The marker is on Stovall Road at the cabin site of famed bluesman Muddy Waters. He lived there from 1915 until 1943 while he worked on the large Stovall cotton Plantation before moving to Chicago. A second Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker is placed at the Riverside Hotel that provided lodging for black entertainers passing through, and was the site of the death of Bessie Smith in 1937 due to injuries from a car accident on Highway 61.0]] In August 2009 a marker devoted to Clarksdale native Sam Cooke was unveiled, just in front of the New Roxy Theatre

Just some of the great Blues Musicians to come out of Clarksdale amazes me even today, like the great, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Big Jack Johnson, Muddy Waters, who real name was McKinley Morganfield.

That takes me to a list of some of the greatest blues guitarist that came from Mississippi and here they are so get ready for some great name.

Big Bill Broonzy from Scott County

James Cotton from Tunica

Bo Didley from McComb

Wilie Dixon from Vicksburg

John Lee Hooker from Clarksdale

Big Walter Hortorn from Horn Lake

Son House from Riverton

Elmore James from Richland

Big Jack Johnson from Clarksdale

Robert Johnson from Hazlehurst

Albert King from Indianola

Mississippi Slim from Smithville

Junior Parker from Clarksdale

Otis Spann from Jackson

Howlin Wolf from West Point

and here is a real kicker

Elvis Presley from Tupelo

So you see Mississippi has had some of the greatest Blues singers, to ever come up, and most bands today play songs by these great bluesmen but have of the time they have no idea who they were are where they came from that is what I call a real shame.

Now lets listen to Robert Johnson's version of "Crossroads"

Are how about Albert King from 1981

How about Eric Clapton giving a lesson on playing in the style of Robert Johnson, even the great guitar players have to sit back and study. This is from the Robert Johnson Sessions.

Now watch Eric tackle "Crossroads" in a practice session, this is so cool, and needs to be watched over and over.

Hope you enjoy learning the backgrounds on different music, we shall continue next week. Thanks to all, and keep playing.

Many Thanks,

Tino Patti