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About the musicThe blues is a lot more than a musical form. Among other things, it embodies the history of race relations in our country. Living in Mississippi in a mixed-race community of music and spiritual fellowship has given Sherman Lee Dillon a rare voice for understanding amid ignorance, and harmony amid discord. His own love of traditional, hand-made music – whether Black, White or Cajun in origin – informs his voice and his guitar and harmonica playing in a way few others will ever know. A few years back he was telling me about his part in the project to identify and mark the birth sites and other significant places for seminal Mississippi blues men and women, and I asked him how the Blues were doin' nowadays in that musical form's home state. "The Blues, they's doin' quite alright, thank you," was his answer, and then he picked up his guitar and started playing "Way Cool." There's a lot of people who "cover" the blues out there today; not many who're still making it up; and almost none with Sherman's authority. Here's Sherman Lee with some new takes on an old art form, giving us an update on the "State of The Blues." –Jack Radcliffe, New Bedford, July, 2009 1. Stack O' Lee (Traditional) There are secrets I think everyone knows but me. Sometimes I wish I knew them, sometimes I don't. One of these secrets that I might be figuring out is what determines who the police, FBI, judges, etc. want to arrest and lock up. If I watch TV, I start thinking it has something to do with right and wrong, good guys and bad guys, that maybe laws are intended to be fair and designed to promote justice. When I turn the TV off and look around I see something a little different. My father used to buy his moonshine from a man named Delmar Thornton. I never knew him, didn't know where he lived, and never went with him to buy it. (I did, however, go with Mr. James one time. He drove up the the building and someone came out to the car. This place gave you the option of clear moonshine, or golden, whiskey-colored moonshine. The difference was a little cake coloring put into the whiskey-colored moonshine). Delmar Thornton was a household name through all my childhood and until I was in my 40s, when he passed away. The I heard it his son was going to take the business over. After all, he had been helping his father for years. Funny thing, for some reason within a few months the law came down on him, closed him down, sent him to jail and confiscated everything he owned. How do they determine who they will and will not lock up?
I was standin' on the corner 2. Way Cool (Sherman Lee Dillon) There's something to be said for long legs, big brown eyes, curls all over her head, looking good, sexy smile, brains, good talk, classy walk and all. Better yet if she's "Way Cool." Let me tell you people about the gal I been seein' 3. Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon) Vicksburg is an interesting place. It overlooks "The River." When you go to Vicksburg you see giant Civil War monuments from nearly every state and miles of battle grounds. Thousands of soldiers and civilians died there int he Siege of Vicksburg (May 19 through July 4, 1863). When Vicksburg surrendered it ended the Confederacy's control of the Mississippi River and led to the end of the Confederacy itself. The surrender took place on July 4. For the next 100 years Vicksburg did not celebrate the Fourth of July. Vicksburg was also home to Willie Dixon (July 1, 1915 - Jan. 15, 1992). The Vicksburg Blues Society asked me to represent them twice at the International Blues Challenge. Besides, I've got friends in Vicksburg. This song is for Vicksburg!
Got me a little ol' red rooster too lazy to crow for day (2x) 4. Maybelline (Berry, Frato & Freed) If it was 11 p.m. when you arrived at the Summer Hotel expecting to get a seat at the Subway Lounge, you'd be all by yourself. It was located in a block of a depressed neighborhood in sight of four boarded-up houses, two grown-over lots, and a pack of stray dogs. About 11:30 Mr. Jimmy King and his wife, Ms. Helen, would show up. They'd clean the restrooms, sweep, stock the beer, make sure everything was ready. About 11:45 a few members of the band would show up, and people like yourself who wanted a seat. One by one they'd come in – musicians just getting off, bartenders, waitstaff from deluxe restaurants, celebrities who had heard of the place, and just people who liked the blues. At some arbitrary point around midnight, the musicians there would move from tuning and adjusting knobs to playing Chicken Shack. It had started. If you arrived at 12:30 and things were slow, you might still get a place standing on the back wall. Otherwise you might have to stand around outside. For about five years I played in the house band at the Subway. At this particular night I was just dropping by to hang out with some musician friends. The last set ran from three to four in the morning. The band is subject to pulling anything out at that point. What "King" Edwards pulled out was Maybelline. The perfect mix of wall-to-wall people, two saxes and a trumpet, patrons just grooving to the music, a couple of unknown guitar players sittin' in – and King's attitude made it sound better than I had ever heard it. My next gig it was still in my brain so I felt compelled to play it. I never knew I liked that song so much. The club was featured in a 2003 documentary, The Last of the Mississippi Jukes. By the way, Jackson's long-running late-night club got torn down by the city to make room for a highway. Not to worry, there'll be others.
As I was motivatin' over the hill, I saw Maybelline in a Coupe de Ville 5. Rock Me, Baby (Traditional) I learned this song from a 12-ionch vinyl that came off a sales rack. The entire album was a field recording of the Louisiana State prison at Angola. I don't know where the album is now, who recorded it or who the artist was. Since then, I've heard it done by an embarrassing number of people and I've noticed a pattern: The more the performer gets out of the way and allows the song to come through, the better it sounds. That's what I tried to do.
Rock Me Baby, rock me all night long (2x) 6. Spoonful (Traditional)
Some want a spoonful of coffee, others want a spoonful of tea 7. Trouble In Mind (Traditional) Maybe you're like me. Tempted up to the point, but never gave in. "That pretty girl/boy doesn't even know my name and won't talk to me." Or, "I'm a goner, there's no way I'm not getting caught." Or, "I really forgot all about it. It was important, I just forgot." Or, "Wednesday afternoon! That means Judge Fairly is hearing the case. I'd may as well end it now." Or, "He's going to really kill me. I did not know that was his girlfriend." But still you never gave in. Never put your head on that railroad track. Maybe too strong and resilient ... or not. You are still to be commended.
Trouble In Mind, I'm blue, but I won't be blue always 8. Ashtray Taxi (Sam Chatman) Sam Chatman's father had been a slave and was referred to as a "musicianeer." He had a reputation as a square dance fiddler around Jackson and central Mississippi. Sam, the sixth of eleven children, was born in Boltman, Mississippi, on January 10, 1897. In 1928 Sam and two of his brothers, Lonnie and Armentor (a/k/a/ Bo Carter), joined with Walter Vinson to form the "Mississippi Sheiks." Contrary to the stereotype of what black musicians should be doing, the Sheiks performed ballads, ragtime, spirituals, Tin Pan Alley songs, and country dance tunes for black and whiter audiences alike. While they performed in many other configurations, many people claim that the Sheiks were the most influential and popular string band of their time. The recorded more than 70 songs, two of the band members could read music, and Muddy Waters claimed to have once walked 10 miles to hear them play! Sam himself sang, played banjo, bass, mandolin and harmonica. During the '40s he gave up music, but was rediscovered in the '70s and toured with Finger Taylor's Blues Caravan. He outlived his brothers and performed right up until his death in 1983, at the age of 86.
Well, I's sittin' on the corner, in my taxi car 9. Crazy Little Girl (Sherman Lee Dillon) If you love somebody, get up at 5 a.m.. go out to the barn and milk the cow. If you really lovve someoone, you come back in and churn the butter. If you really, really love someone, take 'em their breakfast in bed. But if you're crazy about somebody, let 'em sleep in until two. This whole love thing? Call me crazy, but it might go a little beyond. Mutual indulgence, managed hatred, this might really be love.
I got this crazy little gal she do anything for me (2x) 10. Mississippi Highway 3 (Sherman Lee Dillon) Scattered across Mississippi are deposits of red/orange dirt, clay, and rocks that are between the size of a marble and a Bantam chicken egg (Never as large as a persimmon or double-yolked chicken egg). Dirt roads couldn't survive the rains, but the ground is so soft, something had to be put down. About every 10 miles in any direction there's a gravel pit. So gravel was the obvious choice. Most all the road beds in Mississippi are gravel. As far as stability goes, a good packed down gravel road is pretty permanent. Occasionally you come across an old gravel road that has "grown up" and it will still be good. They did have a few shortcomings. When they were built, they were even on top, with the bed packed down with rocks and dirt on top. As cars passed over it, the rocks would start moving from the most used part of the road and end up on the less-used part of the road. On the average, you'd have three ruts without rocks and four rows with rocks. The appearance was that of a plowed row before it's planted. In the summer months, the dust from the gravel would cover everything. To remedy this, a "road machine'" a/k/a a grader would come by once a month or so to level the gravel, fill in low areas, and keep the ditches opened up. Things are so quiet in the country that you could hear the road machine half a mile before it go there. That gave a pack of country boys plenty of time to come up out of the woods. No matter how many road machines you'd seen, when it would come by, all the boys wanted to see it and wave. Now, when you say "road machine" most people think of a yellow grader with Cat written on the side with only one driver and powered by a giant Diesel engine. What we had was usually, "Owl Head'' Charlie driving a gray Ford tractor and pulling a red manually-operated grader driven by Son Gordon. I grew up on the county line between Meadville (population 500), the county seat of Franklin County, and Liberty (population 1,000), the county seat of Amite County. Even though Liberty had a larger school, my parents chose to send me to school in Meadville. The reason? Gravel roads. We lived on a gravel road just five miles off the blacktop road that went to Meadville (15 miles north). To get from our house to Liberty (15 miles south), you had a gravel road all the way. I was 45 years old before I realized that some people have never experienced gravel roads.
Pretty as she could be 11. Devil With The Blue Dress (Frederick Long, William Stevenson) 1 borrowed my cousin's 45 rpm record of this song in the middle '60s. If I put a 45rpm record on the spindle it would sit about 3 inches above the turntable. There was an arm that kept the records balanced. As many as five records could be stacked at a time. As the last one dropped, the arm also dropped. The arm dropping below the holding point told the record player the last one had played and it would automatically turn off. There was a way to "trick" the record player by dropping the records manually and leaving the arm in the up position. The result was the record player would play the same record over, and over, and over, and over. I always put Shorty Long's "Devil With The Blue Dress" at the top of the stack. That way, it would be the last to play and would keep playing over, and over, and over, and over. A few years later I was horrified to hear Mitch Rider make a power rock 'n' roll song out of what was clearly intended to be a sassy, soulful bluesy and giving the dream girl the name "Molly." What gave him the right? Maybe just that The Detroit Wheels was one of the hardest rockin' bands ever!
Fee, fee, fi, fi, fo-fo, fum. Looka here fellows 'cause here she comes. 12. Good Morning Little School Girl (Sonny Boy Williamson) Malaco Records had just released a comeback album for Mississippi Fred McDowell. It was the buzz. Everyone knew his name but not many people knew his music. He was scheduled to play at Costa's Lodge in Jackson, Mississippi. It was the early '70s. Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, John Mayall and others had sparked new interest in the blues so all the ''now'' people were there. Some of my friends were opening for Fred - 26-inch double bass drums, Twin reverb amps turned up to 10, B-3 organ with 2 Leslie cabinets and Voice of the Theater PA (Like I'd just seen Jimi Hendrix use). These cats were great! and LOUD! Imagine if you will: Full scale concert volume to a 300-seat room for one hour. Twenty minutes of audience
noise, then old man Fred McDowell walks out with his acoustic guitar, sits in a chair and
begins.one mike on his voice,one on the guitar. I wasn't there, but accounts fell into
one of the following categories:
Good morning little schoolgirl, 13. On The Road Again (Willie Dixon) Most every society in history had a tradition of traveling musicians. While it sounds like everybody's dream, when it comes to the road, there is a love/hate relationship. John Prine said he once drove six hours to do a gig so he could buy a a refrigerator Another band I knew ran out of gas 20 miles outside of town returning from a two-week tour. Willy Nelson (On the Road Again) couldn't wait to go out again. Some musicians have watched their career and record sales vanish because they wouldn't tour. Even though we've got recorded music at everyone's fingertips and in their pockets, there's no substitute for touring. Music is supposed to be experienced fresh, not micro-waved. We've always had traveling musicians and should. I'm so tired of crawlin' but l'm back on the road again,(2x) 14. Jackson Stomp (C. and J. McCoy) Mississippi has recently established a Blues Commission. One of its projects is identifying significant blues players and putting markers up at their birthplace or at the location of significant events in their lives. These markers are on a map and the whole thing is called the Blues Trail. The McCoy Brothers grew up in Raymond, Mississippi, and the commission was about to honor them with a marker there. Charlie and his brother Joe played several different instruments and styles – mandolin, guitar, banjo, violin,and whatever else they wanted to play, as well as sing and write. Since I play a little mandolin I was asked to perform some of their music at the unveiling of the marker. I was pleased to be part of the presentation, but researching studying, learning, and performing the McCoy brothers' material is a project I'll personally pursue for years to come. Enjoy the music! – Sherman Lee Dillon Credits
Sherman Lee Dillon: resonator guitar, banjo, harmonica and vocals Tracks and times
1. Stack O Lee 5:35 |
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