Marc Broussard - HOME

Marc Broussard - HOME

 

Going back to 2004 and a soulful southern song - Home by Marc Broussard. If you like a gritty soulful voice then this is a must listen.  

He is another Louisiana artist and his style is often referred to as bayou soul.  He did an album a couple of years ago covering some soul classics from the 50's and 60's called Save our Soul that also worth a listen.  Especially his cover of Solomon Burke's - Cry to Me. The original was featured on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.. but don't hold that against a great song.

Home is from from the album Carencro in 2004. Carencro is a town in Louisiana where Marc Broussard is from, so one would imagine the inspiration for this song

Click here for the HOME video

ZZTOP - BLUE JEAN BLUES

Throwback Thursday

Now when I say Throwback Thursday, I am not talking about the year 2000 - although some would say twenty years is long enough.  I am going back to the 70's and before.  

There is a new Netflix documentary on ZZTOP that inspired this first tune in this category.  These guys have had a long and interesting run.  Although they are known for cars and a few of their popular hits, I prefer this.  Blue Jean Blues is a laid back classic blues with some great guitar and not something you would think of when ZZ TOP comes to mind.

This tune was on the original Fandango album which came out in '75 and also had I Heard it on the X, and a cover of Jailhouse rock.

Jeff Healy covered this years later and that is also worth a listen -- but I still prefer the original.

Listen Here

Buddy Guy - FEELS LIKE RAIN

 

Buddy Guy truly is a legend.  And, when this pandemic is over, you get a chance to go to Legends - his Chicago blues club - it's certainly worth a visit..  Not sure if he still does this - but he used to play a lot of shows himself in January. 

I took this picture at a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where he played with George Thorogood and the Destroyers.  Tom, a longtime friend and fellow rock/blues music fan, have seen a number of shows together - but travelling to New York for this show ..stands out as one of the best. trips.  Great show, great venue, great time with close friends.  Tom and I saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd in Jersey  around this same time -- that was also a memorable night.

Feels like Rain is a great John Hiatt song comparing the feeling of a new relationship to that of rain - and sometimes a hurricane.

Listen to Feels Like Rain - Buddy Guy

And a complete Spotify playlist of Unsolicited Song Recommendations can be found here ( click here for Spotify playlist)

Rev. Gary DAVIS - SAMSON AND DELILAH

 

Rev. Gary DAVIS

Rev. Gary Davis was born in 1896.  He travelled the south as a blues and gospel singer and was credited with a very unique finger picking style that went on to influence many.  He only used this thumb and first finger to play the guitar.  

While this post is about Samson and Delilah, I have included a link to Hard Walkin' Blues at the end of this post which shows a video of this unique stylings.

The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many others credited 'Blind Gary' as the influence to a number of their songs.   

Samson and Delilah was covered by groups as diverse as the Grateful Dead and Peter Paul and Mary -  although for some reason the latter changed it's name to If I Had My Way.

LINK: Here is the original version of Samson and Delilah. 

LINK: Here is the Grateful Dead version

LINK: Here is Peter Paul & Mary version

LINK: Hard Walkin' Blues

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - WHILE WE CRY

It's hard to believe that I have been a Kenny Wayne Shepherd fan for 25 years. 

Another Louisiana native, Shepherd was discovered at a young age and came on to the blues scene.  I was watching one of those news magazine shows one evening and the story was on a 'new crop' of guitar players who were coming on the scene.   'Monster' Mike Welch, Jonny Lang and  Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  

I have fortunate enough to see them all play live and while they were all great shows, I will not forget when a friend of mine called me one day to tell me that Kenny Wayne was doing a show not far from where he was living at the time - in New Jersey.  So off we went and the show delivered... and I was particularly moved by While We Cry.  I had heard the songs many times before....but there was something about this performance of this song that was just magical.

If you are not familiar with Kenny Wayne,  Blue on Black, Somehow Somewhere Someday, and King's Highway are a few good ones to get you started..

Have a listen to 

While We Cry

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Sister Rosetta Thorpe - DIDN'T IT RAIN

After a few weeks and a dozen posts, I can't thank you enough for your feedback.  Listening to, and finding new artists and songs has always been fun, but now it's a great distraction that I sometimes need.  I am very happy that people are submitting some song recommendations.  There is a Submit button in the right hand column.

This week I am posting a recommendation from my good friend Tony.  Tony and I have similar tastes in music, both live in the Toronto area and we take the opportunity to share music and go to the occasional concert together.  One of my highlights last year is when we saw  Wild Tchoupitoulas and others in the New Orleans Take Me To The River tour and then Joe Bonamassa in the same week. 
This year our musical outings are curtailed, so this blog this blog serves as a surrogate for sharing music and artists we like.
Tony send me a few recommendations, but this first one came from a comment he made on my Throw Back Thursday.  I put in ZZ Top's Blue Jean Blues from the '70s in last week.  While I thought that was 'throwing back' far enough Tony suggested going back another decade to 1964 and the roots of Rock 'n' Roll.
His recommendation is Sister Rosetta Thorpe's Didn't it Rain.  Sister Rosetta was a blues/gospel singer who really came into mainstream success in the '60s with her unique electric guitar playing and gospel/rock/soul songs.   Her performances heavily influenced the entire UK Blues movement and she is often referred to as the god-mother of Rock'n'Roll by people like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. You can also hear a lot of Sister Rosetta's influence in tunes by Elvis, Carl Perkins and Little Richard.. just to name a few
Tony also provided the interesting bit on Hugh Laurie Factoid below... thanks.

Click Here to watch Didn't it Rain

Factoid ... Hugh Laurie (yes "House") made album with this as the title track. The singers on his rendition are amazing: Gaby Moreno and Jean McClain. Hear this version here:  

Click here