Diggin' Deeper. AKA Alabama Shakes and Janis Joplin

A friend of mine recently got me turned onto the band, Alabama Shakes, a roots band based out of Athens, Alabama.  I loved their songs.  Loved the lead singer's (Brittany Howard) voice and guitar playing and, of course, HATE that Jon Pareles from the New York times mentioned Howard and Janis Joplin in the same sentence.  Ok, why do people see a female lead singer doing rock and immediately compare her to Janis Joplin?  Janis Joplin was terrible.  Brittany Howard can sing.

Another thing.  I love the fact that a band comes out and actually plays good roots music, doesn't have a style consultant and isn't using auto-tune features on their vocals.  I love the fact that the Alabama Shakes have a pretty good grasp of great American music that's come before them (and I know it's hard to believe, but music did happen before them).  They keep it simple.  About the groove and voice.  What makes me scratch my head sometimes is that folks hear bands like A-shakes and immediately freak out and wonder where the Shakes have been their whole life.  People see that the A-shakes come out wearing rock clothes and a female lead who plays guitar and think that they've discovered this new-found music and can't wait to tell everybody.  Believe me, I was just as excited to check YouTube as soon as I heard about them and when I did it was another breath of fresh air for me.  Almost as if I was in a sealed room where the last of the sweet music air that I had been breathing was almost gone and then someone cracked a window and the Alabama Shakes came in to keep me going a little longer.

This post is a suggestion to people to dig back a little and not let some of the earlier artists get swept off to the side for the latest and greatest.  Here's a little YouTube list for your enjoyment.  And you'll find that Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes have a closer connection to these than to Janis Joplin:

Let's start with Memphis Minnie:

We'll jump ahead a little to Sister Rosetta Tharpe:

check out that Gibson SG she's playin'

Now we'll move on to The Duchess (Bo Diddley's 2nd guitar player):

Now to the soulful, Barbara Lynn:

Now, we're going to present day, before the Alabama Shakes, to the great Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings and my favorite, Mavis Staples:

This is a modern film shot in 2007 on vintage equipment!

singing a song that Jeff Tweedy wrote for her.  Mavis has been doing this since the fifties w/ her family gospel group, The Staple Singers.  Check out my buddies backing her up: Rick Holmstrom (g), Jeff Turmes (b) and Stephen Hodges (d)

Managed to get this done w/o any Janis Joplin!  Thanks Alabama Shakes for keeping it going and letting a little more fresh air in the window.

He Stopped And Smiled: The Passing of John Cephas

John Cephas 1930-2009

I am very saddened to report the passing of country blues guitarist, John Cephas. John died of natural causes yesterday, March 4th, at his home in Woodford, VA at the age of 78. Here is an excerpt from the website he shared with his partner, harmonica player, Phil Wiggins:

“Bowling Green” John Cephas was born in Washington, D.C. in 1930 into a deeply religious family. He takes his nickname from Bowling Green, Virginia, where he was raised. His first taste of music was gospel, but blues soon became his calling. His grandfather taught him the folklore of eastern Virginia, where his ancestors had toiled as slaves, and Cephas learned about blues from a guitar-playing aunt. But it was his cousin, David Taleofero, who taught him much of what he plays—the alternating thumb-and-finger picking style that characterizes Piedmont blues.

After learning to play the alternating thumb and fingerpicking style that defines Piedmont blues, John began emulating the records he heard. By the age of nine, John was playing for weekend gatherings with family and friends. Music from the ragtime era and early Piedmont artists such as Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Blake, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Tampa Red were all influences on Cephas.

As a young man, John joined the Capitol Harmonizers and toured on the gospel circuit. After a stint in the Army during the Korean War, he returned to the United States and went through a variety of jobs that included professional gospel singer, carpenter and Atlantic fisherman. By the 1960s, Cephas was starting to make a living from his music and, since forming a duo with Wiggins in 1977, John has performed all over the world, serving as an ambassador of this singular American art form.

Among his many endeavors, John serves on the Executive Committe of the National Council for the Traditional Arts, and has testified before congressional committees. He is also a founder of the Washington, D.C. Blues Society. “More than anything else,” says John, “I would like to see a revival of country blues by more young people… more people going to concerts, learning to play the music. That’s why I stay in the field of traditional music. I don’t want it to die.”

Cephas received the coveted National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1989. These fellowships recognize those who preserve cultural legacies in music, dance and crafts.

I had the good fortune and pleasure to see and play with John Cephas on a few occasions. Last July Nathan James and I opened up for he and Phil Wiggins at a house concert in Gig Harbor, WA to support the Centrum Country Blues Workshop. One of the songs they played that afternoon (I can't remember it's name) is featured in the video below. It was both peaceful and melancholy, a beautiful tune that made the whole place silent and gave me chills.

Several years before, my partner and I were playing a corporate BBQ at the Taylor Guitar factory, at which John Cephas was an invited guest. He arrived as we were playing and started to walk right on by us to join the crowd and shake some hands. But just as he stepped a couple of feet past the bandstand he stopped, turned around and looked at as us both, a little surprised (I'd like to think) that two young guys here in San Diego county were playing piedmont-style country blues. Mr. Cephas nodded and smiled, pausing for a few seconds more to listen then continued on. That smile was one of the greatest compliments I could have ever received as a country-blues musician. The song we had been playing was by the great Blind Boy Fuller and later in the day John told us that it was one of his favorites.

At a time when our country is faced with economic and political uncertainty we need to remember what really makes us American--the history, passion, and SOUL of our traditional music. This is the thing that people turn to when they are confronted with adversity or heartbreak not governmental institutions. We overlook sometimes, the use of art and music as a tool to help keep us feeling human, flesh and bone, to help us avoid being made into hardened cogs to keep the "machine" running.

Country blues and gospel music are two of the major foundations of American music as we know it today and John Cephas had mastered both of those styles in his lifetime. He toured the world sharing our musical traditions and he worked tirelessly to make sure that our inheritance would be secure by passing those traditions on to countless others here at home.

John Cephas was a national treasure and he will be sorely missed, but I'm thankful his music will continue to live on.

--BH

Cephas and Wiggins: http://www.cephasandwiggins.net/
Nathan James & Ben Hernandez: www.nateandben.com
Blues At Centrum: http://www.centrum.org/blues/
Ben Hernandez: www.benhernandezmusic.com

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today. But as you've, no doubt, been hearing and seeing on the radio and television, this year's MLK Day is slightly different. It falls on the eve of January 20th--the day the United States of America will officially call into office an African-American president. I use the term "call into office" because that's what so many Americans did this year when they cast their ballots. They called Barack Obama into office. They asked for a change in the way the country governs itself. But not only that, they asked for a change in the way our country views itself.

Tomorrow is going to be a big deal! I've been listening to interviews on the radio featuring prominent African-Americans in our country--politicians, writers, war veterans, responding to questions about what today and Barack Obama's inauguration means to them. Most said that they never thought they would see this day. Many were proud of their country and the steps forward that it's taken, but also mindful of how far America has to go.

I'm not black. I didn't march with Dr. King. I didn't experience the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's. But I have a lot of hope in people. As an American I'm sharing in the excitement of this time. I haven't always been proud of things that have gone on in this country or that the United States have been involved in with other countries, but I've never been one of those people to say that I'm going to move to Canada because I don't like a particular administration in office. It's kind of like my father. He may not have always been proud of everything I did, in fact, I know I disappointed him many times, but those things never amounted to him not loving me and encouraging me.

Things have been bad. The current, soon-to-be past administration was disappointing in many ways, but let's not dwell on them. This is a time of encouragement in our country.

I'm excited about tomorrow. I have to be honest, I didn't really think I would be seeing the inauguration of an African-American president. But I'm thrilled. I'm proud knowing that in my lifetime I can look back and show my children and grandchildren one of the "high water marks" of American history.

I've been to the civil rights museum in Memphis, TN twice. It's the place where Dr. King was assassinated. It's a powerful place. It gave me chills and made my eyes water when I saw the balcony where he fell. But I was also inspired. The Lorraine Hotel was such a humble place. It wasn't a plush hotel where dignitaries or celebrities stayed. It was a small motel, but it represented to me the power of humility and strength in ordinary people who act against extraordinary circumstances.

Here is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech in it's entirety. And I know you're probably thinking, "I don't need to listen to it. I've heard it millions of times." But I encourage you to listen to it just one more time. It's a good one.

Parking Garage

I was in uptown Charlotte, NC yesterday and discovered a pretty amazing parking garage located near the corner of 5th and Wilkes Place. What you're seeing are small reflective plates that are shimmering in the wind giving the effect of ripples of water. Not bad for a parking garage. The city probably bulldozed over some historic building or site to put it there, but at least they made it interesting.