CD Review: "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen -- Live in Dallas"
By Naomi K. Shapiro
In Dallas, in 2004, four of our greatest living blues
legends came together for one incomparable evening of music. At the time, they
ranged in age from 89 to 94, and all had received the National Endowment for the
Arts Heritage Fellowship Award, the highest honor in the USA for traditional
arts. The result is the CD titled, "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta
Bluesmen -- Live in Dallas."
Thanks to the activities of Jeff Dyson and his son,
Michael, determined, through their non-profit organization called The Blue Shoe
Project, to preserve history -- and educate and enlighten our youngest
generation -- about this uniquely American treasure, you can think of this CD as
the "Back To The Future" of The Blues.
How did this project come to be? "When he was just a kid,"
says Southwestern Musician Magazine, "Jeff Dyson knew what kind of music he
liked. But he didn't know it was called 'blues.' Years later, he transformed
his life-long passion into his mission -- educating Texas students about their
rich blues heritage. With a passion for the blues and a commitment to
education, Jeff and his son Michael founded The Blue Shoe Project. Since 2004,
The Blue Shoe Project has delivered over 35 programs to educate and promote the
appreciation for the blues and root music through the voice of industry
legends."
 The Blue Shoe Project's eponymous website
www.blueshoeproject.org talks
about the importance of our children knowing what The Blues, an American
original, meant, saying: "America was the home of jazz. As a country, there is
one thing we have undeniably given the world that no other culture can lay claim
to: our music... Blues music. Travel outside the US and it's Blues they idolize.
From the UK to Japan, to South America, Blues above all is the music of all
music."
Thanks to the CD, "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta
Bluesmen -- Live in Dallas" – we can hear the sounds that evolved over the
decades to become the blues, jazz, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues we know
today.
The CD jacket explains the urgency of this recording:
"The legends of the blues and those influenced by it are
aging or passing, and with it their rich history and culture. These legendary
figures made a profound impact on American music and our society...
"The blues is America's gift to the world, idolized around
the globe, and no other culture can lay claim to its mighty influence... There
was a time when Dallas was viewed as an epicenter for the blues. It was home to
such legends as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Huddie "Ledbelly" Ledbetter, T-Bone
Walker, Freddie King, Sippie Wallace, Victoria Spivey, Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert
Collis, Freddie King, Johnnie Taylor and Stevie Ray Vaughan all left an
indelible mark on Texas and the world..."
These musicians devoted their entire life to playing the
blues, and staging such an epic event was a rare opportunity.
Once reunited, the old magic re-emerged. It was if they
were long-lost school buddies."
 The performers included:
-- Henry James "The Mule" Townsend, the only American
recording artist to have recorded in every decade since the 1920s had never
played in Dallas in his 94 years; his nickname possibly referring to his
stubborn will to keep playing. (Townsend passed away in 2006).
-- Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, born July 7, 1913 in
Belzoni, Mississippi, Grammy Award winner who took up piano mid-career after he
was stabbed in the arm; accompanied such blues legends as Big Joe Williams and
Sonny Boy Williamson; and, also notably, he played piano for the legendary Muddy
Waters Band. He made his first solo recording with Sun Records in 1953. Today,
"Pinetop" Perkins is regarded as one of the world's greatest blues and
boogie-woogie piano players.
-- David "Honeyboy" Edwards, known for "his skilled slide
guitar playing", was born June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Mississippi. Program notes
say he played a pivotal role in shaping the seminal moments of blues history and
is often sought after by documentary filmmakers for his detailed accounts of
blues folklore, including his recollections of the day Robert Johnson died.
-- Ninety-year-old Robert Lockwood, Jr., or "Robert Jr." to
his friends, used to "play" one-month gigs in Fort Worth during the 50s and
60s. He learned to play guitar from the legendary Robert Johnson, who lived
with Lockwood's mother during his formative years. Robert was also one of the
original King Biscuit Boys who once opened for King Biscuit Time, now the
longest running live radio show in America. Today, Mr. Lockwood is recognized
as one of the most prolific guitar players in the world. His unique chord
progressions earned him two honorary doctorate degrees for music theory. (Mr.
Lockwood passed away in 2006).
Reviewing the CD, "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta
Bluesmen -- Live in Dallas":
 Close your eyes. You can't help movin' to the sounds – you
can feel, hear, experience -- and share in the age-old expressions of life -- in
both the words and the music -- the universal language -- of feelings – sadness,
despair, hope, life; life gone awry; love; love gone good; love gone awry;
everyday happenings, like getting the biscuits, going to the chicken shack, the
weather....
This CD puts you "right there."
 The blues "pattern" -- the simple, plaintive repetition of
the first two lines, followed by a resolution of sorts in the third line --
musically and verbally -- convey the montage of "life". The keeping of the beat
by the musician's foot; the exclamations in the midst of the songs...
The Delta bluesmen's individual performances stand in their
own right, but, equally important, they presage what is going to come. And, for
those of us who weren't students of the blues before, who weren't aware of this
musical genre's evolution, "the proof of the pudding" is on this CD, to educate
and inform.
The sound quality and mixing makes each musical moment a
highlight -- on every one of the CD's 18 tracks, almost 77 minutes of music --
providing a clarity that belies the age of the artists – all in their 90s or
close to it. Consummate artists. Men who learned and played with the likes of
Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters... performing with such passion, grace, and
acumen and experience... much experience... and it instantly transports
listeners to the early 1900s... to the Mississippi Delta area... Texas, New
Orleans, Clarksdale, Mississippi, (where actor Morgan Freeman has resurrected a
"Juke Joint" called "Ground Zero")...
Deep down, subconsciously, you can feel what's coming...
you just know that, without this music, we wouldn't have today's music... this
was the harbinger, the source, the root, the fountainhead, the foundation... of
the blues, jazz, modern jazz, rhythm and blues, big band music, rock'n roll, hip
hop, rap music that would evolve through the decades. And this taste of
fast-fading living history is helping schoolkids appreciate how the music they
like today, got here.
Some of us will hear in the CD, sounds presaging Duke
Ellington and Cab Calloway... big band sounds of Woody Herman and his Third
Herd. Echoes of jazz greats to come, like Dave Brubeck and Stan Getz.
 Others will feel the hints of "something" that would become
"rock 'n roll"... tones and style that would, by and by, come out of Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, American Bandstand, "The King," The
Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and so many more. For yet others, it's Les Paul,
or Al Green.
But, however popular you think the
latter-day-rock-'n-roll-saints or rap artists might be, you have no idea how
things truly sounded or felt, until you hear iconic songs, like "Kansas City" or
"CC Rider" or "Sweet Home Chicago," done by these "originals". Songs with names
as evocative as the music itself: "King Biscuit Time," "Hangin’ On," "Got To
Find Me a Woman," "For You My Love," "It’s Got To End Somewhere," "If I Asked
You," "If You Don’t Want Me," "Blind Girl Blues," "All My Money’s Gone,"
"Catfish Blues," "Apron Strings," "Country Boy," "Chicken Shack," "Down in
Mississippi," and "Got My Mojo Working."
These men "lived it" and "felt" it as no-one can imagine –
we can only let this CD transport us – and try and understand – and feel. Like
when I lived in Washington, D.C. in the 60s and went and heard Mississippi John
Hurt perform, with a style and sounds of another original, Huddie Ledbetter (Ledbelly).
It's ALL there on this CD. Hard to define, but you know it
when you hear it -- and feel it.
Perhaps, when describing the blues, Ledbelly said it best:
"If this music don't do nuthin' for yuh, then you ain't breathin'."
Take a deep breath, then run, don't walk, to get this CD.
You'll congratulate yourself again and again.
What's also nice is that a portion of the proceeds helps
ensure The blue Shoe Project can continue educating Texas students about their
rich blues heritage.
For more information about the project and to order the CD,
please visit www.blueshoeproject.org
or write The blue Shoe Project at: PO Box 1375, Colleyville, Texas 76034.
Photos courtesy of The Blue Shoe Project
Naomi K. Shapiro is a writer based in Madison, Wisconsin.
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