Click on the link below -- open in a new tab -- and let it play as you visit the Six String Sanctuary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVR8lg1YLuc
Ahh-h-h-h, yes: it's Sunday, a day that's just right for hymns, gospel music and their cousin, the blues. The blues, you realize, grew from our musical roots, the kind of roots with 12 bars, three chords, three lines of verse and a feeling we call … The Truth.
Such are the blues.
You probably recognize this song -- “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday’s Just as Bad)” -- from the interpretative organ-and-guitar treatment given it by the Allman Brothers Band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDhR1R3S0s&feature=related
But this by T-Bone Walker, a Texas-born guitarist who was one of the first to electronically amplify his fat, sumptuous guitar leads.
An immortal, essential and widely influential song, "Stormy Monday" was the result of a long, smokey record label session with pianist Lloyd Glenn and Teddy Buckner on the trumpet. Never heard of them? Sometimes the best fruit grows on the shady side of a tree.
In "Stormy Monday" you’ll find everything you could say about the blues, wrapped up in this one tidy composition. "Stormy Monday" may not be the Rosetta Stone of rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s certainly a perfectly pristine skull and jawbone found on the shifting sands in the desert of time.
And it’s no stretch to say T-Bone Walker created the modern electrified blues; there's little argument that the man influenced the sound of all post-World War II guitar players. Let me put it this way: Had there been no
T-Bone Walker, you may never have heard of a guy by the name of Riley B. King: B.B. King.
"Stormy Monday" is considered by many to be the ultimate example of the blues. The Allman Brothers knew it for what it was, and they introduced "Stormy Monday" to a whole new generation of music fans.
You know this tune, you've heard this song, and now you're listening to the original.
Relax, it's Sunday. Monday may bring stormy skies, and Tuesday? Well, you know ...
Wayne Shelor, a Florida boy who walks the blues in both his shoes, is a regular contributor to Six String Sanctuary.
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ReplyDelete(Of course it's possible this one says: "Way to go Wayne the Train!" because we loved the posting. But we're skeptical...)