After Hours - Ernest Lane

Growing up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Ernest had the right background for a bluesman; his father was a barrelhouse pianist, his boyhood friend was Ike Turner and Pinetop Perkins was a family friend who showed the youngster a thing or two. Ike fell in love with the piano when he peered in at The King Biscuit Boys, featuring boogie pianist Joe Willie Pinetop Perkins, rehearsing in the basement of his buddy Ernest Lanes house. When he was just a teenager, Lane hooked up with legendary slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk. Nighthawk eventually took him to Chicago where his solid piano work graced a number of sides cut for the Chess label in 1948-49. These cuts include the blues classic Sweet Black Angel. After Nighthawk Ernest played with Earl Hooker, Houston Stackhouse and others before heading to the California in 1956. After arriving in California, Lane worked with Jimmy Nolen and George Harmonica Smith before being recruited by old buddy Ike Turner to be a member of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. After leaving Ike, Ernest joined a group called the Goodtimers, who eventually wound up backing the Monkees for about a year on tour. Through the late 1960's through the early 1970's he played and recorded for Canned Heat before giving up music altogether until 1999, when Ernest performed again with Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm Band until his Ike's death in 2007.

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Marshall Drew Band,

Marshall Drew was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a town whose contributions to blues music many decades ago sealed its musical legacy. Drew himself became interested in music at a young age, learning his first guitar chords at age 5 and writing his first song at 8. “I guess I was a fairly normal kid,” Drew says. “The only thing that set me apart was that I really loved music. I’d invite my friends over to play and just put on one of my dad's old Beatles albums! To me, that was a good time, but they were probably bored out of their minds...” Drew’s dedication to music eventually paid off, and he became a renowned young guitarist around his hometown, playing with several local bands throughout his teens and early twenties. He logged countless miles playing blues music in bars and festivals around the Mississippi Delta. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Blues Got Me Again - Jackie Brenston

Jackie Brenston (August 15, 1930 – December 15, 1979) was an African American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's band, the first version of the proto-rock and roll song "Rocket 88". Brenston was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States. Returning to Clarksdale from army service in 1947, Brenston learned to play the tenor saxophone, linking up with Ike Turner in 1950 as sax player and occasional singer in his band. The local success of Turner’s Kings of Rhythm prompted B. B. King to recommend them to studio owner Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee, where the band made several recordings in early March 1951, including "Rocket 88", on which Brenston sang lead and which he was credited with writing. Phillips passed the recordings on to Chess Records in Chicago, who released "Rocket 88" as by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", rather than under Turner's name. The record soon reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and stayed at that position for over a month. Phillips' later claimed that this was the first rock and roll record, this has often been repeated by others, although there are numerous other candidates. Phillips used the success of the record to start Sun Records the following year. After one further recording session, Brenston and Turner parted company, and Brenston went on to perform in Lowell Fulson's band for two years. He returned to play in Turner's band from 1955 to 1962. Although he occasionally sang with the band, Turner apparently barred him from singing "Rocket 88". By now an alcoholic, Brenston continued playing in local bands. After a final recording session with Earl Hooker in 1963, he worked occasionally as a truck driver before a fatal heart attack in Memphis at the age of 49 If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Blues Come Home - Clayton Love and Sid Wallace

Pianist Clayton Love was a prominent member of Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm during the mid-'50s, making some of his finest platters with the legendary band. But Love made his first vinyl appearance on Lillian McMurry's Jackson, MS-based Trumpet Records in 1951 with his own jump band, the Shufflers. The combo was a fixture around Vicksburg, where Love was attending Alcorn A&M as a pre-med student. Love's cousin, Natchez bandleader Earl Reed, had recorded for Trumpet and recommended his young relative to McMurry. Love's 1951 debut, "Susie"/ "Shufflin' with Love," exhibited infectious enthusiasm if not a great deal of polish. From there, Love moved over to Aladdin in 1952 (with saxist Raymond Hill's band backing him), Modern (with Turner on guitar) and Groove in 1954, and in 1957, Love fronted and played the 88s with Turner and the Kings of Rhythm on their Federal platters "Do You Mean It," "She Made My Blood Run Cold," and "The Big Question." Turner had nothing to do with Love's pair of 1958 singles for St. Louis-based Bobbin Records; bassist Roosevelt Marks led the backing band for the clever coupling "Limited Love"/ "Unlimited Love." Long settled in the Gateway City, Love made an album for Modern Blues Recordings in 1991 with fellow ivories aces Johnnie Johnson and Jimmy Vaughn, Rockin' Eighty-Eights. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Shake Em On Down / Mystery Train - Wade Walton

Wade Walton is a unique individual having spent his entire life in Clarksdale, cutting hair and slapping out blues rhythms on his razor strap. A barber for 55 years Wade has probably known more blues performers and has performed for and with more blues performers than anybody else around the Clarksdale area. No trip to Clarksdale would be complete without a trip to Wade Walton's barber shop. Many a Blues fan has made the trip to sit in his chair and listen to him talk about and perform the Blues. A great guitarist and harp player in his own right he's also a mean barber so you get double your money's worth. Wade is a favorite performer at Blues Festivals and he brings along his razor strap to show folks how it's done. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

Wade Walton & Honeyboy Edwards

Wade Walton is a unique individual having spent his entire life in Clarksdale, cutting hair and slapping out blues rhythms on his razor strap. A barber for 55 years Wade has probably known more blues performers and has performed for and with more blues performers than anybody else around the Clarksdale area. No trip to Clarksdale would be complete without a trip to Wade Walton's barber shop. Many a Blues fan has made the trip to sit in his chair and listen to him talk about and perform the Blues. A great guitarist and harp player in his own right he's also a mean barber so you get double your money's worth. Wade is a favorite performer at Blues Festivals and he brings along his razor strap to show folks how it's done. Don't miss him if he's scheduled in your town. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Cat Head Mini Blues Festival and more in Clarksdale, Mississippi, this weekend

Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art store in Clarksdale, Mississippi, continues its 10th anniversary celebrations – October 4-7, 2012

(Cat Head store in Clarksdale. Photo art by Chuck Lamb.) "UMPTEENTH" CAT HEAD MINI BLUES FEST HIGHPOINT OF THIS WEEKEND'S EVENTS AT "1 OF AMERICA'S 17 COOLEST RECORD STORES" (CLARKSDALE, MISSISSIPPI) – October 2, 2012 – 10 years ago, marketing executive Roger Stolle left his corporate job in St. Louis to pursue a blues mission in the Mississippi Delta. He opened Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art in the historic downtown of Clarksdale, Mississippi. He also started the "Cat Head Mini Blues Fest" tradition. "The first year I opened, I tried some live blues at my store after one of the area's big blues festivals was over," Stolle recalls. "I was surprised how many folks showed up. I usually book the older, more traditional blues players, and that really struck a chord with blues fans." In recent years, Stolle has held three, increasingly bigger Cat Head Mini Blues Fests a year – causing blues industry friends like Sirius-XM's Bluesville host Bill Wax to question, "Why do you still call it a 'Mini Fest'?" Now held after April's Juke Joint Festival (Clarksdale, MS), August's Sunflower River Blues Festival (Clarksdale, MS) and October's King Biscuit Blues Festival (Helena, AR), the Cat Head blues festival concept has taken on a life of its own. "I have some attendees who don't necessarily make it to the big, 'official' festival earlier in the weekend," Stolle says. "They wait till Sunday and just come for the Cat Head event. Others stay over an extra night to enjoy it. I guess they must be playing hooky come Monday morning!" As Cat Head – the store – continues its year of 10th Anniversary events, this weekend's "umpteenth" Mini Fest of the year (Sunday, October 7th) caps off a long weekend of store happenings. CAT HEAD DELTA BLUES & FOLK ART EVENTS: - Thurs., 10/4 @ 11am - Julia Magness & Ben Stevens (from Austin Texas). - Fri., 10/5 @ 11am - “Catfish & Cotton” book signing with live blues music. - Sat., 10/6 @ 11am - Ben Stevens blues performance. - Sun., 10/7 @ 9am - CAT HEAD MINI BLUES FEST featuring many of the movie stars from “M for Mississippi,” “We Juke Up in Here” and “Hard Times”... Robert “Wolfman” Belfour, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Big George Brock, All Night Long Blues Band and more. 9am till. Rain or shine street festival. Plus BBQ available from Big Red. “Please tip your musicians.” (Cat Head also has a bonus event later next week: Thurs., 10/11 @ 3pm - Bernie Pearl & Mike Barry blues performance.) All of the live blues events at Cat Head are always free, though Stolle hopes that event-goers also become customers. He says he works hard to tempt them with a mini warehouse full of blues music and collectibles. "Cat Head is the store I always wanted to walk into but could never find," Stolle says. "It's nothing but the blues – CDs, DVDs, books, magazines, artwork, T-shirts and souvenirs. As a blues fanatic myself, it's not hard for me to understand why we get tourists from around the world every year." (Stolle at Cat Head. Photo by Billy Howell, "Legends" magazine.) Since opening in 2002, Clarksdale's Cat Head store and its related recording, documentary and live music projects have garnered numerous honors – from Keeping the Blues Alive and Blues Music Awards to multiple guidebook inclusions and accolades in music magazines such as Paste, which called Cat Head "1 of the 17 coolest record stores in America." Cat Head is located at 252 Delta Avenue in the historic downtown of Clarksdale, Mississippi – just 30 minutes from this weekend's King Biscuit Blues Festival grounds in nearby Helena, Arkansas. More on the "Cat Head story" as well as a live music calendar and guide to Clarksdale can be found on-line at www.cathead.biz. Store and event updates posted regularly on Facebook under "Roger Stolle." Stolle can be emailed at roger@cathead.biz.

FILMING CONCLUDES FOR "WE JUKE UP IN HERE" AS ADDITIONAL SPONSORS CLIMB ABOARD

(CLARKSDALE, MS)  In 2008, music producers Jeff Konkel and Roger Stolle took viewers on a road trip through the birthplace of the blues in the award-winning film “M For Mississippi.” Now the duo is set to return with a new film exploring what remains of the once-thriving tradition of juke joints in the Mississippi Delta. Filming concluded last week for “We Juke Up In Here: Mississippi’s Juke Joint Culture at the Crossroads.” The DVD/CD set will be released in April 2012 but is available now for pre-order at www.wejukeupinhere.com. “Great blues music can be enjoyed anywhere, whether it’s at a big outdoor festival or an upscale supper club. But we believe the best place to hear it is in a dimly lit juke filled with tough characters, treacherous women and lukewarm beer,” Konkel said. “This film aims to prove our point.” Production for “We Juke Up In Here” began in May and continued through the summer and fall. The project reunites Stolle and Konkel with their “M For Mississippi” cinematographer and co-producer Damien Blaylock. Also returning from the previous production was sound engineer Bill Abel. The team was rounded out by talented videographer and photographer Lou Bopp. Although the movie’s production included film shoots in venues throughout the Delta, the film largely focuses on Red’s Lounge, a long-running juke in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and its owner Red Paden. Over the past decade, Red’s Lounge has emerged as the most active juke joint in the region, hosting live blues every weekend by some of the state’s best-loved bluesmen. “There are plenty of so-called ‘juke joints’ in Mississippi that book live music during festival weekends when thousands of tourists flood the region,” Stolle said. “But the test of a real juke is what happens when the crowds go home. Red books real-deal blues into his juke week-in and week-out, all year round. He’s like the last of the Mohicans.” Other venues to be featured in the film include Po’ Monkey’s Lounge in Merigold, Mississippi and the Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi. In addition to insightful interviews with juke owners, patrons and musicians, “We Juke Up In Here” will feature gritty performances by Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood, Elmo Williams & Hezekiah Early, Robert Lee “Lil’ Poochie” Watson, Big George Brock, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and Terry “Harmonica” Bean. “We Juke Up In Here” will be released as a deluxe box set featuring a DVD, a CD soundtrack and a glossy pullout booklet with multiple essays, notes and color photos. The DVD will include the feature-length documentary along with a treasure trove of bonus features including unreleased scenes, production stills, a promotional trailer, closed captioning, foreign-language subtitles and more. The DVD will be region-free and playable on DVD players worldwide. The box set will retail for $29.99 (US). Customers who pre-order “We Juke Up In Here” from www.wejukeupinhere.com will receive the product before its official release and at a discounted price of $25 (US) plus free shipping worldwide. Several marketing sponsors have stepped forward with financial support to assist in the production of the movie. The filmmakers’ principal sponsor and partner is the Rootsway Roots & Blues Association (www.rootsandblues.org), a nonprofit organization from Parma, Italy. Founded in 2004, the group is dedicated to promoting rural and indigenous American and African-American musical art forms throughout northern Italy. Rootsway has brought several Mississippi blues performers to Italy in recent years. Additional sponsors include: AJStephans Company/Jeff Rose (www.ajstephans.com), Cathead Vodka (www.catheadvodka.com), Jerry and Marge Konkel, Lemuria Books (www.lemuriabooks.com), Nayati Dreams (www.nayatidreams.fr), The New Roxy (www.newroxyclarksdale.com), Roadhouse Lou, and Smokestack Blues (www.smokestackblues.com). Additional sponsorship opportunities remain for “We Juke Up In Here”. To inquire about sponsorships, e-mail the filmmakers at info@wejukeupinhere.com. “We Juke Up In Here” is a joint production of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art (www.cathead.biz) and Broke & Hungry Records (www.brokeandhungryrecords.com).

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Goin Down Slow - Blind Mississippi Morris

Blind Mississippi Morris (born Morris Cummings, April 6, 1955, Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States) is an American blues artist.

Cummings lost his sight at the age of four, but that did not stop him from learning the blues. Morris has become a popular blues act on Beale Street. Morris and his band, the Pocket Rockets, are known as the "real deal from Beale". Morris has a talented lineage. His cousins, Robert and Mary Diggs, led the Memphis Sheiks, and his aunt, Mary Tanner, played with the Harps of Melody. Morris is also a cousin of the late Willie Dixon.

Morris is the very embodiment of the Delta bluesman. He has been called a new disciple of the Delta blues, he was rated one of the 10 best harmonica players in the world by Bluzharp magazine. He has performed with musicians such as B. B. King, Rufus Thomas, Muddy Waters, David Porter and many other Memphis, Tennessee artists.
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