Blues Land Records

My view on the subject has changed over the past 20 years. The father of one of my best friends growing up, a white man from Louisiana, mainly only listens to music created by people of African decent. Whether it be the blues of Mississippi John Hurt or Albert King to the soul of James Brown or Otis Redding. He insists that if the music was made by white people, it should not be labeled as blues. I disagreed at that time and used to have debates wih him, but the older I get, the more I think he was right. Blues music was created by oppressed slaves who were not doing it for money. Does the label ‘blues’ lose meaning when a white guy touches down in a jet with a posse of roadies? Thanks for any opinions on the subject. Hello Stella and Smiley, I agree with both of you, I guess it is just more difficult for me to find authentic, quality sounding blues from other races IMO. Thanks for your answer Miles. White people can have the blues. There was a time I was homeless and living in a tent with a wife and daughter; I’ve had the blues. I’m just saying when I listen to blues music created by non-African descent, there is usually something missing. . It just doesn’t sound as authentic for any reason. Excellent examples everyone. Those are the kind of examples I would debate with my friends’ dad years ago. . SRV, Roy Buchannan. I’m white and been very poor in the past. I’m aware there are millions of white people that are homeless, without a penny to their name. I never meant to imply that white people can’t be poor and depressed with the blues, but I think it is more uncommon for them to be able to channel the blues vibe with the same timeless passion and energy. I agree with you 100% sugaree. I don’t like labels anyway and get lost in the sub-genres out there today. Good music is good music. From what I can tell… There are lots of different points in this to talk about. I think the answer to the most important underlying question is that yes, the society that produced music matters when evaluating music. There is a nice bold absolute statement for you. After that there are a lot of smaller questions that come up that can be quite layered and convoluted and it’s difficult to give answers that are as absolute. Like, does blues lose meaning when a black guy touches down in a jet with a posse of roadies? What about all those oppressed former slaves who absolutely were doing it for money? How much of this is a real difference that you can hear in the music and how much of it is a sort of ambiance that we feel we get from perceived authenticity? And how much of a difference does it really make when that perceived authenticity isn’t really as authentic as we were hoping? Is it nostalgia? And if so- nostalgia for what? I guess when it all comes down to it for me, yes, race matters, but at the same time the only way to evaluate music is on a case by case basis. ok, where was i. . Case by case. . Race matters. . Ok, lets modify that last bit to say that the society you were raised in matters and to a lesser extent race matters. . And then lets do any case by case basis. the carter family• i like the carter family as an example in a lot of ways. To begin with, they are strongly associated with country music and not really associated with blues even though, if you really listen a lot of there songs are very similar to the blues recorded at the time and they had a huge impact on blues going forward. A. P. Himself was known to travel around the Appalachians collecting songs and he had a black friend (whose name escapes me) who would mainly travel with him, helping him to gain the trust of black musicians. The carter family also had a lucrative radio contract, something that certainly effected the sort of act they performed and could be considered an opportunity that probably wouldn’t have come along if they had been an african american act. But ultimately, what makes them have that feel of an act that can transcend race? Sarah’s singing and maybelle’s playing. bobby charles• there is a story that bobby charles did a phone interview with leonard chess where he sang for him a little and convinced chess to sign him. When chess finally met the white cajun musician, he was taken aback in surprise. I also think it is interesting that in a tale that sounds a lot like black musicians, charles was a mild success on the R&B circuit until a white guy named bill haley came along and covered “see you later alligator. ” what makes him transcend race? His singing and playing. johnny otis- he was greek, with olive skin and curly black hair, and could generally pass for a very light skinned black man. “As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be black or white, I would be black. ” eh. . I was gonna do more but I dont want to any more.

Apparently January 25th is set to be the most depressing day of 2010. Called “Blue Monday” the Monday on the last week of January each yr is the day when we’re most likely to feel down and lack-lustre. This is often attributed to the combination of debt from Christmas, cold and wet weather, suffering from colds and flu and the lack of a public holiday on the horizon!

What can we do when we succumb to the Winter Blues? The usual distractions of overeating, drinking alcohol or vegging out in front of the TV that many of us are tempted by can lead to addition physical and emotional difficulties. What simple, sustainable alternatives are there?

First of all, we need to have a deeper understanding of why the Winter season has a tendency to get us down. In addition to the cultural, materialistic reasons mentioned above, there are natural, energetic reasons why this happens. The energetic nature of Winter is to be cold and damp. The physical effect of this on our bodies is to make us feel like exercising less, expending less energy and eating more. Emotionally the effects are to make us feel like making fewer changes, taking fewer risks and staying grounded.

One of the wonderful benefits of living more simply and sustainably is that our self-awareness becomes supercharged and our sensitivity to our surroundings, and in particular what the natural world is up to, becomes greatly enhanced. As this awareness matures, we are more likely to notice how, when our environment changes with the seasons, it affects how we feel. Then we can start to make any rather different decisions about how to respond to that in a simple, sustainable way.

This might not eliminate “Blue Monday” altogether, but it may well lead to us having a much more comfortable and productive day.

So, how do we change our approach?

Acceptance

Rather than resisting the qualities of Winter that we don’t like, we can choose to accept the cold and the wetness. What can we find about Winter that we enjoy and look forward to? By accepting what is, we can start to relax and reduce the stress that we are imposing on ourselves. We might even begin to enjoy it!

Alignment

This is a kind of “if you cannot beat it, join it” principle. It’s all about engaging with Winter, but in a way that nourishes our minds and bodies. For example, we can make a point of enjoying any light, moderate exercise each day (not as much as we might during the other seasons). If we cultivate a winter habit of wrapping up warm and walking for a short time around midday, when there is most sunlight, then this also boosts our mood and encourages vitamin D production. This in turn can increase our feelings of energy and wellbeing. Eating warming, lightly cooked, balanced foods at our major meal times not only warms us from the inside, but helps to endure that we get adequate nourishment to boost our immunity to colds and flu. This is a time to use our company cafeteria rather than take a cold, packed lunch to work or to take time out to cook our main meal at lunchtime if we’re working from home. Another healthy way to engage with winter is to take steps to improve our sleep patterns. Rather than fighting winter by attempting to get by on the same amount of sleep we need in the summer, we can accept that our needs vary with the seasons and give ourselves permission to sleep a little more.

Action

My third remedy is a favourite of mine for alleviating the blues, feelings of fear and apathy and general malaise – action. What type is prescribed in this case, though?

First, let’s look for any of our favourite sources of positivity. Who out of your friends and acquaintances make you laugh, radiate an aura of well being and positivity? They’re the people to make sure you spend time with on Blue Monday.

Perhaps you have other sources of humour and positivity that you like to turn to when needed.

When socialising, be mindful not to use it as just another distraction, but rather as a means for meaningful connection with others.

Conclusion.

When faced with Winter Blues, we can choose to succumb to our usual materialistic, unsustainable distractions, or we can choose any simple, sustainable ways to nourish our bodies and minds. In this way we can transform Winter Blues into Positive News.

Gigi Salmon brings you all the latest news from the training ground.

What aspect of Mississippi Delta Blues is the most important in influencing later rock musicians? It featured a guitar. The emotional commitment of the performer. It’s “bluesy” feel. The lyrics. After speaking to others on the web, I found the answer. I say it’s the rhythm and guitar and the emotional commitment. You wouldn’t have rock n roll if people weren’t moved to get up and dance and it was that trance enducing repeated rhythm in some blues song that just got people moving.

I’m looking for a songbook I can buy or any sheet music/guitar tab for blues artists like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Scott Joplin, Scrapper Blackwell, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller or Lonnie Johnson, or any similar artists, I’ll probably know them. A link to the website would be greatly appreciated, I can’t find Big Bill Broonzy’s Mississippi River Blues music ANYWHERE. After speaking to others on the web, I found the answer. I use Ultimate-Guitar Archive for all of my tabs and sheetmusic. They pretty much have all the songs that you know, and even any you DON’T know. If you need help, they have a community forum, with tons of helpful members. Mississippi River Blues, is not on the archive, but on the site, bellow, in the source. Enjoy <: