[Original “Statesboro Blues” lyrics by Blind Willie McTell are here. But of course, since this is a blues song, individual performers often wander away from the “official” version…]
Tom Rush, oh yeah: him I knew about. His Wikipedia entry summarizes:
Thomas Walker Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and has continued his own singing career for 60 years.
…which — because, well, Wikipedia — doesn’t tell you everything (or much, really) that you need to know about him; even the details provided there kinda skim the surface. (Visit his own site to get meatier info about him.)
But James Johnson? I confess — that was a new name to me… See, I subscribe to a newsletter — a blog, really — called “The Lefsetz Letter,” by a music industry insider named Bob Lefsetz; this post of a couple days ago alerted me to the presence of this video. It was so euphoric — rhapsodic — a writeup that I just had to see the video for myself. In typical Lefsetz fashion, he rambles quite a bit, and quite a bit entertainingly, before getting to the point; I recommend the full post, but here’s an excerpt:
Tom talks about playing a song. They’re going to do “Statesboro Blues.”
James says he’s not sure he remembers all the lyrics, but he’ll give it a whack. And then Tom starts strumming his guitar, and then James comes in on his harp… JAMES COME IN ON HIS HARP!
Man, this is the sound that launched a million careers. The blues of yore. We heard it, locked into the groove, and were influenced by it. We played the blues, we listened to the blues, but the blues are nowhere in today’s modern music world. Oh, you can hear influences. But the pure element? That’s gone. But Tom and James are locked right into it.
And then James starts to sing and…
Man, this is good!
So I go back to Wikipedia, to find out more details, I mean where’s this guy been? Performing! But in the Boston area. He’s still doing it, like a bluesman of yore. And he’s got it.
And just like pornography, you know it when you hear it, and I’m hearing it. I’m woken right up. James is positively wailing on that harp, like a pro, not an amateur, it’s everything it used to be, BUT IT’S NOW!
So this, in any case, seems an ideal excuse to resuscitate my old “Midweek/Weekend Music Break” series — something I’ve been contemplating since we finally settled down here a couple months ago. I can’t promise to post regularly in the series… but jeez, I do miss music.
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