Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I'm So Glad




We've been listening fairly obsessively to Blind Willie McTell radio on Last FM, and I'm in awe of these amazing artists, some I'd heard of, some I hadn't, but there aren't enough exclamation points to express how excited I am about these new discoveries.

And I'm in love with this song, and this version of it...
I'm So Glad

It's by Skip James, and that's him in the picture.

This one is killer, too...KAZOO! Sleepy John Estes I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More

8 comments:

AliMunday said...

Fabulous music, Steenbeck - thank you!

Blimpy said...

Loved it! Very refereshing, cheers Steen!

tincanman said...

To me that country Delta blues has always been music at its most real. Glad you are enjoying it.

When I first discovered blues it was Muddy Waters and all that Chicago electric blues - which don't get me wrong is great and as we all know was highly influential. And then when I started hearing John Lee Hooker too, that brought me to the Delta and all these wonderful guy and guitar records.
I used to have a ton of these records on vinyl. I had a few low budget ticks and fizzes ones recorded in cheap hotel rooms where you could hear people walking past in the corridor. Priceless.

*sighs

steenbeck said...

Thanks for listening, Ali & Blimpy--

And TCM, I started the same way, in college, with Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker and Howlin Wolf--I was just obsessed with them for a while. And then much later I discovered Mississippi John Hurt, and I was obsessed with him for a while, and a few others like him. And now my newest obsession is Skip James. There's a fellow in town who is going to teach me how to play guitar like him. I may be way too old to ever be a rock star, but you're never too old to be an old blues guy!

ejaydee said...

I checked if I had I'm So Glad (on the CD I bought thanks to you), but it was completely different, I don;t know which one I prefer!
By the way, it's my duty to alert your attention to this:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=231904_-1__0_~0_-1_5_2008_0_0&em3161=&em3281=
and this:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/index.php?em3106=231295_-1__0_~0_-1_5_2009_0_0&eM=

steenbeck said...

I like that Mos Def video, too. The track is brilliant. Can't wait for the album.

DId you get a Skip James album? Just trying to decide which one to get. I've been listening today to a piano blues album by him on Spotify. I think I need to get a guitaring one, but I like his piano-playing, too. I read a comparison of his technique to Monk's. Not sure why, though.

ejaydee said...

Yep. I got Cypress Grove Blues, from that Complete Blues collection. I got one also of Mississippi John Hurt, again thanks to you. It's got both guitar and piano.
I think I'll post that Mos Def video, it's my recent favourite, along with a K'Naan one.

steenbeck said...

Ha! I've been trying to pick which Skip James album to buy for MONTHS. Last FM and Spotify are delaying the decision. I tuned my guitar to D-minor, which is, amusingly, DADFAD. Hmm--that would make a good screen name. Supposedly that's how James played, and it does sound instantly skip jamesish.