Mike Durbin Talking To Blues Friends (Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, May 2017) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The Blues Project
They called it a project, a Blues Project, but really, it was a party — a party for family and friends to share happy times, talk about living life, and a love for good old blues music.
Once this party began there would be no stopping it, even when forced undercover of rain, friends laugh and talk about déjà vu the evening had become.
Just sitting on the front porch doing that front porch thing telling stories now embellished by all the good times dancing and singing the night away in the woods off Old Houston Road.
The Blues Project may be over so listen, the night will lead you to the music, the stories told, and smile one more time for each house concert was just a rehearsal for what our tomorrow’s will bring.
— kenne
Kenneth Harris shares the story of how Ken & Mary’s Blues Project came about. (May 20, 2017)
Mr. V (James Vaughn) of Mr. & Mrs. V on Houston’s 90.1, KPFT — HDR Image by kenne
Mike Durbin of the Moe Hansum Band — Image by kenne
The Houston Blues community is feeling the pain. Two of the communities well known personallities past away this past week. To hornor the memory of these Houston friends, I’m sharing a Diunna Greenleaf video I posted several years ago — Growing Up and Growing Old in the Fellowship of Family and Friends.
“I’m a bluesman moving through a blues-soaked America, a blues-soaked world, a planet where catastrophe and celebration- joy and pain sit side by side. The blues started off in some field, some plantation, in some mind, in some imagination, in some heart. The blues blew over to the next plantation, and then the next state. The blues went south to north, got electrified and even sanctified. The blues got mixed up with jazz and gospel and rock and roll.”
Houston Blues (The Rhythem Room, 2005) — B&W Collage by kenne
“Working in black and white makes me feel like a painter, not a photographer. Shooting this way allows me to focus my attention on the light and shade, textures, shapes and expressions. It’s really a matter of personal choice, but in my opinion black and white can lead to a more abstract reading of reality, which is arguably more demanding and more challenging to produce. Here photographers cannot use flattering colours or coloured light to distract the eye. You cannot cheat in black and white.”
Michael Stevenson has the blog The HOBBLEHOY. Recently he posted a The Irish Times review of Rhiannon Gidden’s new album with Francesco Turrisi, “They’re Calling Me Home.”
We first became aware of Giddens about 15 years ago as one of the founding members of the country, blues, and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she is the lead singer, fiddle, and banjo player. In 2008, we attended the annual Houston iFest where local and international musicians and the “iFest New Artist of the Year,” the Carolina Chocolate Drops, were scheduled to appear. Since then, this very talented musician and her unique artistry continue to blossom.
Carolina Chocolate Drops (April 2008) — Images by kenne
“For nearly a decade, Giddens has been heralded as a luminary in the world of Americana, and for some time, she was one of the few African-American faces represented.” — American Songwriter
There are no words for a voice that evokes so much complexity of emotion. This music and video will transform you into a different place. — kenne
Houston’s Little Joe Washington (April, 2008) — Image by kenne
“Personal inconvenience, experience, and environmental impact notwithstanding, a willingness to drive all over and beyond Harris County has its rewards for the Houston blues aficionado wanting to make the rounds. Not only is that travel necessary to access the various widely separated business establishments featuring live performances on a weekly basis, but for those in the know, it’s also the key to experiencing some unique presentations of the music — both of which evoke an earlier era.”
— Roger Wood (Down in Houston: Bayou City Blues, 2003)
The Blues On Campus (Lone Star College, Montgomery – 02/19/03) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
“The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues.”
Texas Johnny Brown at Houston’s Shakespeare Pub — Photo-Artistry by kenne (Click on Texas Johnny Brown to see archived blog posting on TJB)
Texas Johnny Brown is a major talent who simmered on the blues scene longer than all the beef stew cooked in the ’40s, the decade when he first began playing and recording. Like pianist Johnny Johnson of St. Louis, Brown is an artist who did not get a chance to record a full album as a leader until he had been in the music business more than half-a-century. Also like Johnson, the results of coming in so late in the game have been a pair of highly acclaimed, prize-winning albums including the righteous Blues Defender. Brown can take plenty of the credit, since he has taken over almost complete control of his ow arranging, production, and mixing, as well as the string bending and blues moaning. He began his career as a sideman for the Duke and Peacock outfits in the ’50s about which discographers make comments such as “… the record keeping at that time was less than desirable.” As a result, some of Brown’s playing on releases by artists such as Lightnin’ Hopkins and Joe Hinton remains uncredited. The guitarist, singer, and songwriter began his professional career as an original member of the great Amos Milburn band known as the Aladdin Chickenshackers. Brown’s picking is killer on early Aladdin recordings by both Milburn, and on Ruth Brown’s first Atlantic sides. Atlantic allowed Brown to make a few recordings of his own in 1949, buoyed by the enthusiasm the label had for Milburn, who played behind his sideman on these sessions along with the rest of the Aladdin Chickenshackers. T-Bone Walker is the dominating force in Brown’s stylistic palette, an influence that was considered something of a driving permit for any guitarist venturing out of Houston during this period. Before finally getting the biggie recording opportunities in the late ’90s, Brown did an ARC session in Houston in the early ’50s that was never released. He also performed regularly with Junior Parker during that decade, remaining based out of Houston. As a songwriter, Brown’s most famous work is “Two Steps from the Blues,” a big hit for Bobby “Blue” Bland, with whom he also toured as a lead guitarist in the ’50s and ’60s. By the ’80s, he was considered only sporadically active on the blues scene, but this turned out to be only a temporary brown-out, so to speak.
Chris Duarte at the Cactus Moon, Humble, Texas (January 2003) — Images by kenne
When it comes to Blues/Rock guitar players, Texas has produced some of the best. I saw Chris live several times in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and each time his performance drained me. He is very intense and emotional — literally mindblowing.
Becoming is Superior to Being 