Atlanta has always been a southern
hub for commerce, agriculture and music.
Throughout the 1920 and 30s music scouts and the recording industry scoured
the streets and surrounding counties. Today the sky line of the city has
changed but the heart of the music is still beating and inspiration is
around every corner. Rarely rewarded with good pay and recognition Atlanta
musicians somehow form a strong community. Many of the older bluesmen and
woman are no longer with us but their families and their legacy lives on in
every note we play. The roots of the blues feed the trunk, branches and
leaves of this community that struggles to move forward yet remember the
rich history and our roots.
The goal of this project was to use
vintage instrumentation from the golden era of blues and create a tribute
collection of original songs. Songs that would express my own originality
yet pay tribute to the sounds of the great Georgia blues musicians of the
past. The two guitar sound is
a major part of the Georgia blues from the days of Blind Willie McTell,
Curley Weaver, Buddy Moss and many others. The washtub bass and rub board
add the sounds you heard from artists such as Mr Frank Edwards along with
Washboard Sam and Pop Corn. The kazoo is also an important addition and in
memory of the late great Pigiron a musician, historian and founding producer
of Atlanta's Good Morning Blues radio shows. The retro look of the CD and
the art work pay homage to the past including the cover photo which is the
old
Jenkins Steakhouse at the corner of Auburn Avenue and Piedmont at the very
heart of the African American community and the old black business district
from the golden era of blues in Atlanta. The building is no longer there but
the memories live on. I knew there was a reason I took that photo years ago.
Inside photo montage includes many
but
not all of the great people and musicians I've
known or worked with
over the years. I'll try to name as many as I can starting at the top left
and going right. Row 1: Original Felix and The Cats with me on stage at RHB
club; My band in front of Fat
Matt's very early 1990s; JuJu Root Band with Grady Fats Jackson in front of Blind
Willies; Tony Bryant and I performing an acoustic duo; Urban Shakedancers with Stoney
Brooks guest; Kathy and Juanita at Fat Matt's early days; Judge, Juanita and Dell
Long under Matt's Menu; Inkspot fame Eddie Tigner and his Route 66 hat; Mr Frank Edwards
with Cora Mae Bryant; Grady Fats Jackson performing double saxophones with JuJu Root; Franky Moates;
Danny "Mudcat" Dudeck with Evan Lee; Felix Reyes, LB and Sean Costello reunion
show; Carlos Capote and Ross Pead; Magic Fred with Tim "Spider" Webb and Paul
Linden after they performed a 3 hour set; My bassist John Wieland and
drummer Steve Harding as the Soul Shakers; Randy Chapman
and Rich Iannucci; Joe "Pig Iron" Shifalo at the Petunia Fest
paying tribute to Cora.
Photos above left the Fox Theatre on
Peachtree St. Center photo of the Varsity sign and world famous restaurant
of Atlanta since around 1900. Right is the old Royal Peacock club where
are the great bluesman and woman performed.
Photo left shows a building from the
older Atlanta days with no air conditioning and a maximum height of 4-5
floors compared to the new modern skyline. To the right a country farm
setting only 40 minutes drive from the downtown. This truly explains the
nature of the music that develops in this area and why blues of the
Georgia region had so much variety and interesting qualities.
Here's a photo of a couple of washtub
basses that I made with inspiration from
players like George Mitchell, Matt Sickle and others. My design
incorporates a fretboard and the neck slides into a slot at the base of
the tub. You play it just like a one string upright bass and tune the
string with a tuner
with each song as needed. This
combines the control of a traditional fretless bass with the
percussive soulfully simple sound of
the washtub or oil can basses. My design does not require the wearing of
gloves or pulling
of
a stick and in many ways requires much less elbow
grease and more finesse but the
payoff is rewarding with the best of
all worlds and a sound that does not compete or cover the sound of the
other acoustic instruments. This is an essential part of the sound I was
seeking for this tribute recording project. The washboard coupled with a
can of pebbles rounded out the sound without dominating the overall mix. A
couple of acoustic instruments, vocals and this rhythm section can put out
an impressive and complex wall of sound. I believe acoustic instruments
are highly under estimated in many cases. I think they had it right back
in the early 1900s.
