And many more for Pinetop Perkins

A few years back we received a CD in the mail that came with no advance billing or promotional sheet.  It was Pinetop Perkins' Ladies Man, and this was our first thought: Well, sure, he probably was and maybe still is a ladies man. No doubt there are some stories steeped in the Mississippi delta blues that we'd love to hear and won't read in the liner notes.

And that was true, about the liner notes anyway. But what we did immediately discover was an impressive lineup of contributors that helped make this CD sing.  Marcia Ball, Ruth Brown, Odetta, Madeleine Peyroux and Susan Tedeschi all appear on this 2004 release from M.C. Records.

And it's going back in the player this morning on account of Pinetop is 97 years old today!  According to his website he's still going strong, so mark your calendars now for the annual Pinetop Perkins Homecoming Jam on October 10 at Hopson's Plantation in Clarksdale, Miss.

Now get a load of today's Birthday Band, for certain one of the most diverse ever assembled at the Sanctuary:

Pinetop Perkins (1913): Piano, Delta bluesman
Tickled ivories for Muddy Waters

Mary Ford (1924-1977): Singer with Les Paul
How High the Moon, Vaya Con Dios

Charlie Louvin (1927): Singer, Louvin Brothers
I Don’t Love You Anymore; My Baby’s Gone, I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby

Doc Severinsen (1927): Trumpeter, bandleader
The Tonight Show Band

Ringo Starr (1940): Drummer, Beatles:
Act Naturally, It Don’t Come Easy, Photograph, You’re Sixteen

Warren Entner (1944): Singer/guitarist, Grass Roots
Let's Live For Today, Midnight Confessions

David Hodo (1950): Singer, Village People
YMCA