Patrice Moncell

A vocalist of enormous God-given talent and profound skill and delivery, Patrice Moncell is a super sonic force of Blues, Soul, Gospel, and Jazz . From Ma Rainey to Bessie Smith, from Etta James to Aretha Franklin, Mahalia Jackson to Yolanda Adams, Billie Holiday to Nancy Wilson and beyond, Patrice sings every note with such emotional intensity that you will believe she has lived every line. Take a listen and let Patrice take you on a musical journey filled with joy, pain, triumph, celebration, rhythm, soul, and rocking blues. Born In Meridian, Mississippi, Patrice has done her home town and home state proud. In The Classical idiom she sang alto with the New England Vocal Ensemble at their Carnegie Hall presentation of The Mozart Requiem and Bethoven's Mass in C major with The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. She was twice honored as female vocalist of the year by the Jackson Music Awards and will be celebrated as Mississippi's Rhythm and Blues Diva at this year's award ceremony held in Jackson, Mississippi on July 15, 2002. The vocal artistry of Patrice can be heard on her debut release "Woman Enough" and on Grammy Award-winning jazz legend Casandra Wilson's new "Belly of the Sun" release on Blue Note/Capitol Records, where Patrice sings in both English and Portuguese. International tours have taken Ms Moncell to Italy, Spain, Germany, Sicily and Switzerland where she brought the spirit down and the audiences to their feet while performing with the world-renowned Roots Gospel Voices Of Mississippi. Patrice has also caught the eye and ear of Hollywood. She played the character May Wilkins in the film "Stop Breakin' Down", the life of blues legend Robert Johnson, and she is featured in the Starz encore Network's documentary, "The Last Of The Mississippi Jukes." A voice of majestic beauty, power and soul; a personality that is as bright and warm as the Mississippi noonday sun; a charisma, stage presence, and magnetism that dazzles, excites and compels an audience to leave their worries behind and have a great time... This is the gift of Patrice Moncell. ...

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Rev. Cleophus Robinson

While never achieving the commercial success of many of his contemporaries, the Rev. Cleophus Robinson was a prominent figure on the gospel circuit throughout the better part of the post-war era, perhaps best known for hosting a coast-to-coast gospel television series which ran for a quarter century. Born March 18, 1932 in Canton, MS, according to family legend, Robinson suddenly sang his first gospel song, "Who Will Be Able to Stand?," at the age of three; from that point on, he sang regularly while working in the cotton fields, influenced in great measure by his mother Lillie, a gospel shouter in the tradition of Mahalia Jackson whose own vocal prowess was renowned throughout the region. As a teen, Robinson gave his first solo recitals at St. John's Church of Canton; in 1948, he moved to Chicago, where he performed in a variety of area churches and appeared with the Roberta Martin Singers alongside Jackson herself. Through Evelyn Gay of the Gay Sisters, Robinson was introduced to Miracle Records chief Lee Egalnick, and in September 1949 he went into the studio to make his debut recordings. Credited as Bro Cleophus Robinson, he issued the single "Now Lord"; sales were unimpressive, and he soon relocated to Memphis, where he moved in with his uncle, the Reverend L.A. Hamblin (who in 1968 recorded the sermon "When God Walks Out of the Field" for the Jewel label). After finishing high school, Robinson began his own weekly radio show, The Voice of the Soul, and began regularly appearing with famous gospel artists as they passed through town, among them Brother Joe May, who became something of a mentor to the young singer. During the same period he began collaborating with pianist Napoleon Brown, who played with Robinson both on record and at live dates for the next several decades. Pray for Me In 1953, Robinson signed to the Houston-based Peacock Records, soon issuing the single "In the Sweet By and By"; he released several more efforts for the label, none of them hugely successful, before deciding to pursue a career as an actor. After enrolling as a drama major at Leymole College, he frequently found himself called away from his studies to promote his records; his grades suffered, and after a year he returned to music full-time. By 1956, Robinson's gospel career was in a rut, and he had yet to score a hit record; that all changed upon the release of "Pray for Me," a duet recorded with his sister Josephine James. A year later, he moved to St. Louis to accept a position with the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church, resulting in an erratic recording schedule which ended with the 1962 release of the LP Pray for Me. Throughout the decade, Robinson also hosted his Hour of Faith weekly radio program; beginning in 1964, he also starred in his own gospel TV program. In 1962, Robinson signed to Battle Records, a subsidiary of Riverside, and there recorded a number of tracks backed by the Gospel Chimes before returning to Peacock in 1964. His first release after going back to the label, "Solemn Prayer," was that rare sermon record which became a major seller. Later that same year, he moved to Savoy, scoring another hit a year later with "How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by God"; by the end of 1965, he had again returned to Peacock, where his music adopted a bluesier flavor. After touring Europe, Robinson made yet another label change in 1969, this time jumping to Nashboro; there he scored his biggest hit ever with "Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up," a crossover hit with white audiences as well. It led to a return engagement with Savoy in the '70s, and in 1975, he appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Robinson's pace slowed in the years to follow, although in 1980 he sang at the White House and in 1986 notched another hit with "Save a Seat for Me."

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Big Daddy Kinsey

Big Daddy Kinsey (March 18, 1927 — April 3, 2001) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. Born Lester Kinsey in Pleasant Grove, Mississippi, United States, he was a slide guitarist and harp blower with roots in both the Mississippi Delta and post-war Chicago Blues styles. Kinsey worked with local bands only long enough for his sons to mature into top-flight musicians, and since 1984 (when Kinsey recorded his debut album, Bad Situation) the family act has become one of the hottest attractions in contemporary blues. Kinsey's material ranged from deep blues in the Muddy Waters vein to hard-rocking blues with touches of funk and reggae, courtesy of sons Donald and Ralph. In the early 1990s Kinsey released one of the most successful albums of his career, I Am the Blues which featured contributions from Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Sugar Blue and Pinetop Perkins. His three sons Donald, Ralph and Kenneth formed the contemporary blues band, The Kinsey Report, along with Ron Prince, in 1984. The Kinsey Report recorded and toured as his backing band until April 2001 when in Gary, Indiana, he succumbed to prostate cancer, and died at the age of 74

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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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Smokestack Lightnin' - Butch Cage/Clarence Edwards

The Old Time Black Southern String Band tradition had rarely been recorded and by the 1960's had almost died out. When, in 1959, folklorist Harry Oster "discovered" Butch Cage (fiddle and vocals) and Willie B. Thomas (vocals and guitar) in Zachary, Louisiana they had been supplying the dance music at house parties and dances as well at church services for their back-country neighbors. This CD represents some of their broad repertoire of old time fiddle tunes, blues, pop and gospel music and is a rare glimpse into a world that has all but vanished from America's musical landscape. 1. Bugle Call Blues 2. Some Day Baby 3. Mean Old Frisco 4. The Piano Blues 5. Hen Cackle 6. The Dirty Dozen 7. Rock Me Mama 8. It Ain't Gonna Rain No More 9. Easy Rider Blues 10. Whoa Mule 11. I Had A Dream Last Night (All I Had Was Gone) 12. Careless Love Blues 13. Sneaky Ways 14. Since I Layed My Burden Down 15. You've Gotta Move “If you haven’t heard this driving, raucous, almost free-form black country dance music, then I envy you for the treat you will experience…It’s not all blues; there’s gospel, ragtime, country dance tunes and popular song, but the blender that Cage and Thomas put these genres through gives them a unique flavor that belongs to the rural community they lived in and served as musicians.” -Paul Vernon, fROOTS

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Prisoner of Love - Lester Young and Teddy Wilson

Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and sometime clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Famous for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, and grew up in a musical family. His father, Willis Handy Young, was a respected teacher, his brother Lee Young was a drummer, and several other relatives played music professionally. His family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, when Lester was an infant and later to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Although at a very young age Young did not initially know his father, he learned that his father was a musician. Later Willis taught his son to play the trumpet, violin, and drums in addition to the saxophone. Lester Young played in his family's band, known as the Young Family Band,in both the vaudeville and carnival circuits. He left the family band in 1927 at the age of 18 because he refused to tour in the Southern United States, where Jim Crow laws were in effect and racial segregation was required in public facilities On December 8, 1957, Young appeared with Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, and Gerry Mulligan in the CBS television special The Sound of Jazz, performing Holiday's tunes "Lady Sings The Blues" and "Fine and Mellow". It was a reunion with Holiday, with whom he had lost contact for years. She was also in decline at the end of her career, and they both gave moving performances. Young's solo was brilliant, considered by many jazz musicians an unparalleled marvel of economy, phrasing and extraordinarily moving emotion. But Young seemed gravely ill, and was the only horn player who was seated (except during his solo) during the performance. By this time his alcoholism had cumulative effect. He was eating significantly less, drinking more and more, and suffering from liver disease and malnutrition. Young's sharply diminished physical strength in the final two years of his life yielded some recordings with a frail tone, shortened phrases, and, on rare occasions, a difficulty in getting any sound to come out of his horn at all. Lester Young made his final studio recordings and live performances in Paris in March 1959 with drummer Kenny Clarke at the tail end of an abbreviated European tour during which he ate next to nothing and virtually drank himself to death. He died in the early morning hours of March 15, 1959, only hours after arriving back in New York, at the age of 49. He was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. According to jazz critic Leonard Feather, who rode with Holiday in a taxi to Young's funeral, she said after the services, "I'll be the next one to go." Holiday died four months later at age 44.

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Matchbox Blues - Melvin Taylor

Melvin Taylor (born March 13, 1959 in Jackson, Mississippi, United States) is an American electric blues guitarist, based in Chicago, Illinois. Born in Mississippi, Taylor relocated to Chicago in 1962. In his adolescence, Taylor joined The Transistors, a band managed by his future father-in-law, playing popular music of the 1970s at talent shows and nightclubs. After the Transistors broke up in the early 1980s, Taylor devoted his attention to playing blues in the Chicago's West Side clubs. During the 1980s he joined Pinetop Perkins and The Legendary Blues Band in a year long European tour, and since the late 1980s he has been making regular tours of Europe with his own group, where they have opened for B.B. King, Buddy Guy, and Santana. Taylor's recordings include two songs he first recorded for a French record label: Blues on the Run, originally recorded in 1982, and 1984's Plays the Blues for You. Back in the US, Taylor signed to Evidence Music and entered the studio with John Snyder to record Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band, which showcased his original songwriting. He returned in late 1996 to record his second US album, Dirty Pool. Taylor's debut remains the Evidence label's best-selling release. Though his singing is relaxed, even sometimes conversational, his guitar improvisations have much of Jimi Hendrix's tightly curled strength. He used to play regularly at Rosa's Lounge in Chicago. Taylor's most recent album, Beyond the Burning Guitar, was recorded in Misty Creek Studios in Fairfax, Virginia. He also recorded a cover of the Eminem song, "Love The Way You Lie" with the rapper, Matt Christian, at Misty Creek Studios.

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Well You Know I Love You - Dusty Brown

Dusty Brown was born in Mississippi in 1929. Like many of his fellow bluesmen he migrated to Chicago in 1946 looking for a better life for his family. In 1955 he recorded ‘He Don’t Love You’ for the Parrot label. This was a superior example of Chicago blues at its best, which also featured the driving piano of Henry Gray. Dusty has updated this song for our release with all the fire of the original. Dusty embarked on a tour of Europe in 1972. In 1975 he opened a lounge in Chicago Heights, Illinois called Dusty’s Lounge and featured many of his Chicago blues friends, including Sunnyland Slim and Hip Lankchain. Dusty moved back down South in the early ‘90’s and has recently returned to Chicago where he has been reviving his music career appearing at many clubs and festivals.



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The Call - Othar Turner and the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band

Othar Turner's Rising Star Fife & Drum band (Turner, fife; G.D. Young, bass drum; E.P. Burton, snare; Eddie Ware, snare) play "the call" to picnic night at Othar's farm. Shot by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, August 1978. Othar "Otha" Turner (June 2, 1907 – February 26, 2003) was one of the last well-known fife players in the vanishing American fife and drum blues tradition. He was born in Madison County, Mississippi, and lived his entire life in northern Mississippi as a farmer, where in 1923, aged 16, he learned to play fifes fashioned out of rivercanes. Turner's Rising Star Fife and Drum Band (which consisted of friends and relatives) primarily played at farm parties. They began to receive wider recognition in the 1990s. They appeared on Mississippi Blues in Memphis Vol. 1 in 1993, followed by inclusion in many other blues collections. They released their own critically acclaimed album Everybody Hollerin' Goat in 1998. This was followed by From Senegal to Senatobia in 1999, which combined bluesy fife and drum music with musicians credited as "the Afrossippi Allstars". The title, Everybody Hollerin' Goat, refers to a tradition Turner began in the late 1950s of hosting Labor Day picnics where he would personally butcher and cook a goat in an iron kettle, and his band would provide musical entertainment. The picnics began as a neighborhood and family gathering; it grew over the years to attract musical fans, first from Memphis, Tennessee, and later from all over the world. The song, "Shimmy She Wobble", from Everybody Hollerin' Goat was featured in the 2002 film, Gangs of New York. Martin Scorsese, the film's director, featured Turner in his 2003 PBS mini-series The Blues as a link between African rhythms and American blues. The concept was continued on the 2003 album Mississippi to Mali by Corey Harris. The album was dedicated to Turner, who died a week before he was scheduled to record for the album. His granddaughter and protégé Shardé Thomas, then 12 years old, filled in for the recording sessions. Othar Turner died in Gravel Springs, Mississippi, aged 95, on February 26, 2003. His daughter, Bernice Turner Pratcher, who had been living in a nursing home for some time suffering from breast cancer, died the same day, aged 48. A joint funeral service was held on March 4, 2003, in Como, Mississippi. A procession leading to the cemetery was led by the Rising Star and Fife Band, with Shardé Thomas, then 13 years old, at its head playing the fife.

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Magic Slim memorial tribute set for Chicago

MAGIC SLIM MEMORIAL TRIBUTE AND BENEFIT SET FOR CHICAGO The blues community will come together to honor Magic Slim, a towering figure in the genre for many years who passed away on February 21st at the age of 75.   A NIGHT FOR MAGIC, a tribute to Magic Slim, will take place on Thursday, March 28th in Chicago. Born Morris Holt in Torrance, Mississippi in 1937, the guitarist, performer, bandleader, and recording artist went on to enjoy a career that brought him national and international recognition and acclaim. He was considered one of the foremost practitioners of the raw, gut-bucket, back alley blues associated with the postwar Chicago blues sound. He and his band, the Teardrops, became known as the "last real Chicago blues band" and were one of the busiest and best-loved blues groups around.   "A NIGHT FOR MAGIC" THURSDAY, MARCH 28th THE MAYNE STAGE 1328 W. MORSE AVENUE, CHICAGO 7:00 pm  TICKETS $25 The host band for the evening will be The Teardrops, fronted by Slim's son, Shawn Holt, who just became a member of the band at the beginning of the year. The rest of the lineup will include John Primer, Otis Clay, Eddy Clearwater, Billy Branch, Lonnie Brooks, Wayne Baker Brooks, Dave Specter, Eddie Shaw, Nick Moss, Grana Louise, Big Time Sarah, Zac Harmon, Carl Weathersby, J.W. Williams, Jimmy Burns, Linsey Alexander, Steve Cushing, the Chicago Blues All-Stars and more to be announced.  All proceeds from the event will go to Slim's family. For those who can't make the event but would like to make a donation to the family, donations can be made to Magic Slim's wife, Ann Holt, and mailed to her c/o Slim's manager, Martin Salzman, at 22 W. Washington, Suite 1500, Chicago, IL 60602. Slim's slash and burn guitar technique, booming vocals, and intense style was the blueprint that spawned much of the music played by modern blues artists and rock and rollers.  Living Blues magazine called Slim and the Teardrops "a national treasure." and they became one of the most sought-after headliners for festivals in Europe, Japan, and South America. Magic Slim and the Teardrops won the coveted Blues Music Award in 2003 as "Blues Band of the Year," one of six times Slim won a BMA, considered the highest honor in the blues.  In 2011 the state of Mississippi erected a Blues Trail Marker in Slim's honor in front of a building in Grenada where his mother operated a restaurant.  For more information visit www.blindpigrecords.com.

Don't Know Why - MARY WILSON, BILL WYMAN & THE RHYTHM KINGS

Mary Wilson (born March 6, 1944) is an American vocalist, best known as a founding member of the popular sixties group The Supremes. Wilson remained as member of the group following the departures of group mates Diana Ross and Florence Ballard until the group disbanded in 1977. Wilson has since released two solo albums and released two autobiographies, Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme and Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together, both books later released as an updated combination. Wilson has since carried on her career as a concert performer, musical activist and organizer of various museum displays of the Supremes' famed costumes. Wilson was inducted alongside Ross and Ballard as member of the Supremes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Mary Wilson was the first child born to Sam and Johnnie Mae Wilson, a domestic worker who later became a housewife, in Greenville, Mississippi. The Wilsons later had a son, Roosevelt, and a daughter, Catherine, who is known as "Cat". As a baby, Mary moved first to St. Louis and then to Chicago before settling with her aunt and uncle, Ivory ("I.V.") and John L. Pippin, in Detroit. At the age of six, she was returned to the custody of Johnnie Mae, who had spent time in Mississippi. This was a confusing time for Mary, as she had been led to believe that Ivory and John L. were her parents. By the age of twelve, Mary and her family had settled at Detroit's Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. In 1958, Mary Wilson met Florence Ballard while both attended junior high school. They quickly became close friends with a mutual interest in music. When Milton Jenkins, manager of male vocal group The Primes, decided to form a female spin-off group called The Primettes, he recruited Ballard, who recruited Wilson. Wilson then recruited a new friend of hers, Diane Ross, and Jenkins added Betty McGlown to complete the lineup. By 1961, The Primettes had signed to Motown Records, replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, and changed their name to The Supremes; In 1962, a pregnant Martin quit the group, reducing them to a trio. The Supremes went two years without a Top 40 hit, finally scoring with "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" in 1963 which began a long streak of Holland–Dozier–Holland-penned Top 10 hits, including ten US #1 hits, beginning with "Where Did Our Love Go". In 1967, after three years of phenomenal success, Motown CEO Berry Gordy changed the name of the group to Diana Ross & the Supremes and after a period of tension, Florence Ballard was removed from the Supremes in July 1967 and Gordy chose Cindy Birdsong to take her place. Although hits were less frequent during this time period, Diana Ross and the Supremes enjoyed their two biggest-selling hits in 1968 ("Love Child") and 1969 ("Someday We'll Be Together"), respectively. Ross gave her final performance with group on January 14, 1970 at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. At the final performance, the replacement for Diana Ross, Jean Terrell, was introduced. According to Wilson, after this performance, Berry Gordy wanted to replace Terrell with Syreeta Wright. Wilson refused, leading to Gordy stating that he was washing his hands of the group thereafter. This claim is also made by Mark Ribowsky. The group was soon re-christened "The Supremes". The "New Supremes";– Wilson, Terrell, and Birdsong;– continued their hit-making process from 1970 through 1972 with hits like "Up the Ladder to the Roof", "Stoned Love", "River Deep – Mountain High" (with the Four Tops), "Nathan Jones", and "Floy Joy". Wilson began sharing leads with Terrell on several of the singles, including "Touch", "Floy Joy", and "Automatically Sunshine". In 1994, The Supremes were recognized with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Blvd. Cindy Birdsong temporarily left the group in April 1972 to start a family and was replaced by singer Lynda Laurence, formerly of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove group. This collaboration did not last long. After the Stevie Wonder-produced "Bad Weather" failed to ignite much interest in 1973, both Terrell and Laurence departed from the group. Wilson enlisted Scherrie Payne, Freda Payne's younger sister, and welcomed back Cindy Birdsong to carry on the group. It took nearly two years for Motown to produce new recording contracts for the Supremes, during which time the group concentrated on live performances, and Wilson married Dominican businessman Pedro Ferrer. Wilson took charge of the Supremes, assisting her husband in managing, and sharing lead vocal duties with Payne in the group. This lineup continued on until 1976, when Birdsong was replaced by Susaye Greene, also a former Wonderlove member. With Greene, the Supremes recorded two disco-flavored albums with some success, including the release of their final top forty hit "I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" which also ranked number 1 on the dance charts. By the start of 1977, Wilson had finally decided to leave The Supremes and start her solo singing career, after the three of them could not agree on the Supremes' musical direction, leaving Payne and Greene to try - unsuccessfully - to find a replacement for her. Her "farewell" performance with the group in its last line-up occurred on Sunday, June 12 of that year at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, England. In 1979, Wilson became involved in a protracted legal battle with Motown over their management of the Supremes. After an out-of-court settlement, Motown signed Wilson to the label on a solo recording contract. Marvin Gaye was scheduled to produce Wilson's first album. However, Gaye was unable to produce the album because he preoccupied with his divorce from Berry Gordy's elder sister Anna Gordy, leaving the material to be produced by Hal Davis. In August 1979, Wilson's debut solo album entiltled Mary Wilson, was released. The album took Wilson's solo work further into a mixture of R&B and disco. The album's lead single, "Red Hot", peaked at #95 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. An extended version of "Red Hot" made available as a 12-inch single earned the song a #85 spot on the disco charts in October 1979. In March 1980, Wilson released the album's second single, "Pick Up the Pieces". In mid-1980, Wilson had begun working on her second album for Motown with English record producer Gus Dudgeon, who had produced the tracks "Love Talk", "Save Me", "You Danced My Heart Around the Stars" and "Green River" for the record. However, Wilson was later released from her contract with Motown. Also in the mid-1980s, Wilson began to concentrate on musical theater, starring in various productions throughout a 20-year period, including "Beehive", "Dancing in the Streets", "Leader of the Pack", "Mother Hubbard, Mother Hubbard", "Grandma Sylvia's Funeral", "Sister Idella's Soul Shack" "Sophisticated Ladies", "The Vagina Monologues" and "Supreme Soul". In 1981, Wilson signed with Nightmare Records,a label that aimed to record new material with former Motown artists, she recorded several singles for the label, none of them reached chart status in the US. In 1984, after a successful reunion of The Temptations, Wilson was approached by Motown to reform the Supremes with Scherrie Payne and Cindy Birdsong, but after careful consideration and advice from Berry Gordy, Wilson declined. In 1986, Wilson released her first heavily publicized autobiography, "Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme" concentrating on the sixties era of the original Supremes lineup. The book was a huge success but was also controversial in its description of the relationship between members of the group. Wilson racked up a long list of television appearances during this period on talk shows, sitcom guest spots and television specials. Wilson also became a regular solo performer at this time in top casinos and resorts sharing billing with comedians such as Jay Leno and Joan Rivers,. In 1987, Wilson recorded the songs, "Sleeping in Separate Rooms", "Stronger in a Broken Part" and "The One I Love" for Atlantic Records. Wilson had expected to have a record deal with the label, but the deal was cancelled and the songs remain unreleased. In 1989, Nightmare Records became Motorcity Records. Although Wilson never recorded a full album for the label, she recorded a cover version of "Oooh Child". In 1990, she released a follow-up best-selling book called "Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together", which followed the group and her life through the seventies. Her concert work also increased in the US, although she had more legal troubles with Motown over ownership of the name "Supremes" which she used to identify herself with for tour work. Wilson initiated a court case against Kaaren Ragland, who served as a back-up singer for Wilson for several years, to prevent Ragland from calling a group she formed "The Sounds of the Supremes," but the court found in Ragland's favor.". In 1991, Wilson left Motorcity, a year before it went out of business. She then signed with the independent record label, CEO Records, and began recording her second solo album. In 1992, Wilson released a CD Walk the Line for CEO Records. It featured her cover of the Five Stairsteps song,"Ooh Child", which was originally released under Nightmare Records. The album also featured a cover of the Jennifer Holliday classic, I Am Changing. The album's lead single,"One Night With You", was followed by "Walk the Line", which was the title track to the album. CEO Records filed for bankruptcy protection the day after releasing this work, causing the album to fall out of place on the charts. The relatively few copies made available quickly sold out. Wilson claimed she had no knowledge of the label's financial problems and was deceived into signing with them for the release. Despite this setback, Wilson continued an international concert career. In 1995, Wilson released the song "U" by the Contract Recording Company which became a chart hit in the UK and in 1996, Wilson's song, "Turn Around", was released on Da Bridge Records, although Wilson never had a full recording contract with either of the labels. In 2000, an updated version of Wilson's two autobiographies was released as a single combined book. It was released under the title,"Dreamgirl & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme". Also in 2000, Duryea Entertainment released a CD by Wilson entitled,I Am Changing, although it was not considered an official studio album of Wilson's. In late 1999, Diana Ross arranged a Supremes reunion tour scheduled to begin in the summer of 2000. Both Ross and Wilson publicly acknowledged that Wilson was not contacted about the tour until late December 1999. Offered two million dollars and no artistic control, Wilson counter-offered to join the tour for five million dollars, eventually settling for a figure of four million. Reports as to why vary between the two singers, but Ross decided to do the tour with two singers who had joined The Supremes after Ross had left the group, Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne. Intense media scrutiny of the disagreement between Wilson and Ross and the tour itself ensued, and many fans of the original Supremes felt that the tour could not rightly be described as a "reunion". The Return to Love Tour was canceled after fulfilling less than half of its scheduled dates. In 2001, Wilson starred in the national tour of the 1985 Best Musical Tony Award nominee "'Leader of The Pack — The Ellie Greenwich Story. In 2002, she was featured in a documentary film on American soul music, Only the Strong Survive, and was appointed by Secretary of State Colin Powell as a Culture-Connect Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, appearing at international events arranged by that agency. Motown's 45th anniversary show in 2003 featured Wilson and Birdsong with Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child subbing for Ross, who chose not to appear. In 2006, Wilson released a DVD, Mary Wilson Live at the Sands, which features many of the Supremes hits and much of her newer material. The DVD was distributed by Universal Music Group, the now-parent company of Motown Records. Also in 2006, Wilson underwent angioplasty surgery after complaining of chest pains; she recovered quickly and resumed her engagements. The 2007 release of the film Dreamgirls, a work loosely based on the real-life Supremes, found Wilson sharing several appearances with the film's stars. In December 2007, Wilson released a live CD of her jazz and standards act called Up Close: Live from San Francisco. In April 2008, the Australian singing group Human Nature released a CD with Wilson guest-starring in a rendition of "River Deep – Mountain High" with the group, a cover of the 1970 hit by the post-Ross Supremes and the Four Tops. In June 2010, Wilson released Mary Wilson: Live from San Francisco . . . Up Close, a limited edition live DVD of her "Up Close" show. In recent years, Wilson has made headlines for proposing a bill to ban impostor groups from performing under the names of 1950s and 1960s rock groups, including Motown groups such as The Marvelettes and The Supremes. The bill has now passed in 27 states. Wilson has also been touring and lecturing across the U.S., speaking to various groups nationwide. Her lecture series, “Dare to Dream”, focuses on reaching goals and triumph over adversity. Wilson's charity work includes the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the American Cancer Society, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, the Easter Seals Foundation, UNICEF, The NAACP, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the All-Star Network, and Figure Skaters of Harlem, a youth organization devoted to helping children towards entering the Olympics. Most recently, Wilson became the Mine Action spokesperson for the Humpty Dumpty Institute, a NYC-based non-profit organization forging innovative[citation needed] public-private partnerships designed to help solve specific international problems. In April 2008, Wilson made a special appearance on 20/20 to participate in a social experiment involving pedestrians reacting to a young woman (Ambre Anderson) singing "Stop! In the Name of Love" with intentional amateurishness. Wilson approached the woman and gave her constructive criticism towards her style in contrast to the pedestrians whose reactions were positive yet dishonest. On March 5, 2009, she made a special appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show which ended in a special performance with her, Paul O'Grady and Graham Norton. Wilson has also been involved with a touring exhibition of the Supremes' former stage wear, which has been on exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, USA, and on May 12, 2008 commenced its European tour, starting at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Over 50 sets of gowns are shown in rotation, starting with early informal wear from the early 1960s, and including famous gowns worn on television specials and nightclub appearances by the group in the 1960s and 1970s.   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! 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When I Lay My Burden Down - Furry Lewis

Walter E. "Furry" Lewis (March 6, 1893 - September 14, 1981) was an American country blues guitarist and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Lewis was one of the first of the old-time blues musicians of the 1920s to be brought out of retirement, and given a new lease of recording life, by the folk blues revival of the 1960s Walter E. Lewis was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States, but his family moved to Memphis when he was aged seven. Lewis acquired the nickname "Furry" from childhood playmates. By 1908, he was playing solo for parties, in taverns, and on the street. He was also invited to play several dates with W. C. Handy's Orchestra. His travels exposed him to a wide variety of performers including Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Alger "Texas" Alexander. Like his contemporary Frank Stokes, he tired of the road and took a permanent job in 1922. His position as a street sweeper for the City of Memphis, a job he would hold until his retirement in 1966, allowed him to remain active in the Memphis music scene. In 1927, Lewis cut his first records in Chicago for the Vocalion label. A year later he recorded for the Victor label at the Memphis Auditorium in a session with the Memphis Jug Band, Jim Jackson, Frank Stokes, and others. He again recorded for Vocalion in Memphis in 1929. The tracks were mostly blues but included two-part versions of "Casey Jones" and "John Henry". He sometimes fingerpicked, sometimes played with a slide. He recorded many successful records in the late 1920s including "Kassie Jones", "Billy Lyons & Stack-O-Lee" and "Judge Harsh Blues" (later called "Good Morning Judge"). In 1969, Lewis was recorded by the record producer, Terry Manning, at home in Lewis' Beale Street apartment. These recordings were released in Europe at the time by Barclay Records, and then again in the early 1990s by Lucky Seven Records in the United States, and again in 2006 by Universal. Joni Mitchell's song, "Furry Sings the Blues", (on her Hejira album) is about Lewis and the Memphis music she experienced in the early 1970s. Lewis despised the Mitchell song and demanded she pay him royalties. In 1972 he was the featured performer in the Memphis Blues Caravan, which included Bukka White, Sleepy John Estes, Clarence Nelson, Hammy Nixon, Memphis Piano Red, Sam Chatmon, and Mose Vinson. Before he died, Lewis opened twice for The Rolling Stones, played on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, had a part in a Burt Reynolds movie, W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), and had a profile in Playboy magazine. Lewis began to lose his eyesight because of cataracts in his final years. He contracted pneumonia in 1981, which led to his death from heart failure in Memphis on September 14 of that year, at the age of 88. He is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in South Memphis, where his grave bears two headstones, the second purchased by fans

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Little Melvin Underwood

Melvin Underwood was born on December 24, 1935 in a little Mississippi town called Mt. Helen. He was raised under the old time Baptist Church and his mother, who was a sharecropper, moved the family to Vicksburg, where Melvin got his first earful of music. Clarence Gatemouth Brown came to town and had just recorded a tune called "Okee Dokee Stomp" and as Melvin puts it, "He okee dokee stomped it." That night Melvin decided that was what he wanted to do, got himself a second hand guitar and harmonica, and taught himself to play. Within one year, he formed a little group and got some work at a little club in Tululu, Louisiana. From there he worked venues, other towns, and finally ended up in Monroe, Louisiana, where he stayed for several years. It was there in Monroe, where Melvin heard B.B. King when he came to town and where their eventual friendship began. One night B.B. invited Melvin to play on stage with his big band. And as Little Melvin tells it, "the whole world just lit up for me." After that, whenever B.B. played in Monroe (on the weekend), he would stay over and come to Melvin's Monday night gigs, and would in turn sit in with Melvin's band. After that, Melvin met and became friends with many other artists like: Bobby Bland, Little Jr. Parker, Rocco Gordon, Larry Birdsong, Jimmy Beck and Jimmy Reed. Through the years he worked and toured with many of these artists and eventually a friend of his, Otis Jackson, introduced Melvin to Ivory Joe Hunter. Ivory Joe needed a backup group and Little Melvin's band was the strongest band around. Melvin toured with Ivory Joe for a few years and at a hectic pace which took them all over the country... from Atlanta, Georgia, they hit L.A and Lake Charles... then Orange, Texas, Beaumont, Houston, Corpus Christie, San Antonio, Curryville, and back to Houston. He met and played with Little Willie John in Memphis, Tennessee and Amarillo, Texas. There were many gigs in places around the country. Finally, a couple of bad car accidents and Ivory Joe's heart trouble put the band out of commission for a while. After that, Melvin went on by himself to live and work in Florida. It was a frantic schedule of endless one nighters which was hard for Melvin at that time, because his wife was very sick with cancer. After working all around Florida, Melvin continued on to Indiana, then Asbury Park, New Jersey, and up into Quebec, finally settling in Lakewood, New Jersey. After the death of his brother, Melvin slowed down for some years. "I just drifted for a while, but I finally came back to earth... Thank God for that. Now I'm back and ready to go! And I hope this CD tells a story for a whole bunch of people. Listen carefully. You'll be hearing a lot from Little Melvin. Hang in there."

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Your Imagination - John Primer

John Primer (born March 3, 1945, Camden, Mississippi) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues singer and guitarist He played guitar at Theresa's, a club in Chicago, between 1974 and 1980. He was influenced by Muddy Waters' former sideman, Sammy Lawhorn, who taught him to play slide guitar. He joined the Chicago Blues All-Stars of Willie Dixon in 1979, then the Muddy Waters's band until the latter's death in 1983. Then he joined the Teardrops of Magic Slim and began a solo career on Wolf Records. In 1995 he released, The Real Deal, with songwriting and singing techniques showing the influence of both Dixon and Slim. 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!

Five Long Years - Little Junior Parker

Junior Parker (May 27, 1932 – November 18, 1971) was an American Memphis blues singer and musician.Junior Parker was born in either Clarksdale, Mississippi, or West Memphis, Arkansas. He sang in gospel groups as a child, and played on the various blues circuits beginning in his teenage years. His biggest influence as a harmonica player was Sonny Boy Williamson, with whom he worked before moving on to work for Howlin' Wolf in 1949. Around 1950 he was a member of Memphis's ad hoc group, the Beale Streeters, with Bobby 'Blue' Bland and B.B. King. In 1951 he formed his own band, the Blue Flames, with the guitarist Pat Hare. Parker was discovered in 1952 by Ike Turner, who signed him to Modern Records. He put out one single on this record label, "You're My Angel." This brought him to the attention of Sam Phillips, and he and his band signed onto Sun Records in 1953. There they produced three successful songs: "Feelin' Good" (which reached # 5 on the US Billboard R&B chart), "Love My Baby," and "Mystery Train", later covered by Elvis Presley. For Presley's version of "Mystery Train", Scotty Moore borrowed the guitar riff from Parker's "Love My Baby", played by Pat Hare. "Love My Baby" and "Mystery Train" are considered important contributions to the rockabilly genre. Later in 1953, Parker toured with Bobby Bland and Johnny Ace, and also joined Duke Records. Parker and Bland headed the highly successful Blues Consolidated Revue, which became a staple part of the southern blues circuit. He continued to have a string of hits on the R&B chart, including the smooth "Next Time You See Me" (1957); re-makes of Roosevelt Sykes' song "Driving Wheel" (1961), Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago", Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" (1963), and Don Robey's "Mother-in-Law Blues" (1956); plus his own "Stand by Me" (1961). His success was limited after he left Duke in 1966. He recorded for various labels, including Mercury, Blue Rock, Minit, and Capitol. Parker died on November 18, 1971, at age 39, in Blue Island, Illinois, during surgery for a brain tumor. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth".He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001. One music journalist noted, "For years Junior Parker deserted downhome harmonica blues for uptown blues-soul music".
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Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis

Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis (March 2, 1925 – December 28, 1995) was an American electric blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. He played with John Lee Hooker, recorded an album for Elektra Records in the mid 1960s, and remained a regular street musician on Maxwell Street, Chicago, for over 40 years.

He was also known as Jewtown Jimmy, and is best remembered for his songs "Cold Hands" and "4th And Broad"
He was born Charles W. Thompson, in Tippo, Mississippi. In his teens, Davis learned to play guitar from John Lee Hooker, and the two of them played concerts together in Detroit in the 1940s, following Davis' relocation there in 1946. Prior to his move to Detroit, Davis had worked in traveling minstrel shows. This included a spell with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. Davis later spent nearly a year living in Cincinatti, Ohio, before he moved to Chicago in 1953. He started performing regularly in the marketplace area of Maxwell Street, playing a traditional and electrified style of Mississippi blues.

In 1952, he recorded two songs under his real name for Sun Records. They were "Cold Hands" and "4th and Broad", and despite being offered to both Chess and Bullet, they were not released. The exact timing of Davis' adoption of his new name is uncertain, but in 1964, under his new pseudonym, he waxed a couple of tracks for Testament. They appeared on the 1965 Testament compilation album, Modern Chicago Blues. His songs were "Crying Won't Make Me Stay" and "Hanging Around My Door".The album also included a track from another Chicago street performer, John Lee Granderson, as well as more established artists such as Robert Nighthawk, Big Walter Horton, and Johnny "Man" Young. Music journalist, Tony Russell, wrote it was "music of great charm and honesty".

In 1966, Davis recorded a self-titled album for Elektra Records, which Allmusic's Jason Ankeny called "a fine showcase for his powerful guitar skills and provocative vocals". Davis recorded several tracks for various labels over the years without commercial success.

He owned a small restaurant on Maxwell Street called the Knotty Pine Grill, and performed outside the premises during the summer months.[4] Davis continued to play alfresco in Chicago's West Side for decades, up to his latter years. In July 1994, Wolf Records released the album, Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 11, the tracks of which Davis had recorded in 1988 and 1989. The collection included Lester Davenport on harmonica, and Kansas City Red playing the drums.

Davis died of a heart attack in December 1995, in his adopted hometown of Chicago. He was 70 years old
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MY WOMAN IS TIRED OF ME LYIN' - PAPA GEORGE LIGHTFOOT

Papa Lightfoot, also known as Papa George Lightfoot (March 2, 1924 – November 28, 1971), born Alexander Lightfoot, was an American blues singer and harmonica player. Born in Natchez, Mississippi, Lightfoot recorded several sessions in his late twenties – for Peacock Records in 1949 (which were never issued), Sultan Records in 1950, Aladdin Records in 1952, and Imperial Records in 1954. After final singles for Savoy Records in 1955 and Excello Records in 1956, Lightfoot quit recording, still an obscure Southern blues harmonica player. As interest grew in rural Delta blues in the 1960s, Lightfoot's name became more well-known, and in 1969 record producer Steve LaVere went to Lightfoot's home town of Natchez, and asked him to record again. The result was the album Natchez Trace, released on Vault Records in 1969, which brought Lightfoot briefly to the forefront of the blues revival. Rural Blues Vol. 2 followed on Liberty Records later that same year. However, his comeback was cut short by his death in late 1971 of respiratory failure. The recordings were reissued in 1995 as Goin' Back to the Natchez Trace, with six additional tracks and recorded monologue
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People Get Ready - Willie Chambers

Willie Chambers is a singer, guitarist, and former member of The Chambers Brothers, a rock band in the 1960s with hits such as "In The Midnight Hour, "I Can't Turn You Loose", and "Time Has Come Today". He was a founding member of The Chambers Brothers and stayed with them until their eventual break up. He sang lead on one of their hits, a cover of Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour". He also co-wrote their biggest hit "Time Has Come Today" with his brother Joe. He would later work as a session musician. In 2006 he sat in with a group called Vince and the Invinceables at a benefit concert for Arthur Lee of the group Love. More recently, he has become more active and has collaborated with artists such as Louis Metoyer, and involved with the Artie Vegas Revue. He has also been involved with Australian born artists such as Jessie Sparks and singer Stephen Rowe, appearing in his "Restless Soul" video. He and his brother Joe Chambers, contributed to the song "Calendar Years" which featured on Sparks' EP

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Soul Serenade - Willie Mitchell

Willie L. Mitchell (March 1, 1928 – January 5, 2010) was an American soul, R&B, rock and roll, pop and funk record producer and arranger, who ran Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. He was best known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, which released albums by a large stable of popular Memphis soul artists, including Mitchell himself, Al Green, O. V. Wright, Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles. Born and raised in Ashland, Mississippi, Mitchell moved to Memphis when he was in high school. He attended Rust College. At the age of eight, he began to play the trumpet. While in high school, he was a featured player in popular local big bands. He later formed his own combo, which from time to time included musicians such as trumpeter Booker Little, saxophonists Charles Lloyd, and George Coleman, and pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. Mitchell landed a job with the Home of the Blues record label as a producer, then left to join Hi Records as both a recording artist and a producer. Known at the recording studio as "Papa Willie", Mitchell earned his nickname by taking over the reins of Hi Records in 1970 and guiding it through its most successful period. Mitchell's productions have been much noted for featuring a hard-hitting kick drum sound (usually played by pioneering Memphis drummer Al Jackson, Jr. of Booker T. and the MG's). A trumpeter and bandleader in his own right, Mitchell released a number of popular singles for Hi Records as an artist in the 1960s, including "Soul Serenade." It peaked at #43 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1968. Through the 1980s Mitchell ran his own independent record label, Waylo Records. Acts on the label included Billy Always and Lynn White. He and Al Green revived their successful recording partnership in 2003 when Green recorded I Can't Stop, his first collaboration with Mitchell since 1985's He is the Light. Their 2005 follow-up project was Everything's OK. Mitchell died in Memphis on January 5, 2010 from a cardiac arrest. His final work was producing the final Solomon Burke studio album, Nothing's Impossibile, released in June 2010.
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Ashes In My Whiskey - Walter Davis

Walter Davis (March 1, 1912 – October 22, 1963) was an African American blues singer and pianist. Davis had a rich singing voice that was as expressive as the best of the Delta blues vocalists. His best-known recording, a version of the train blues standard "Sunnyland Blues", which he released in 1931, is more notable for the warmth and poignancy of his singing than for his piano playing. Two more of his best known songs were "Ashes In My Whiskey" and "Blue Blues". He was also billed as 'Hooker Joe' Davis was born on a farm in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and ran away from home at about 13 years of age, landing in St. Louis, Missouri. During the period from the late 1920s through the early 1950s he played club dates in the South and the lower Midwest, often with guitarist Henry Townsend and fellow pianist Peetie Wheatstraw, and recorded prolifically. Roosevelt Sykes accompanied him on his first records (1930–33); thereafter he had the ability or confidence to play for himself. He was among the most productive and popular recording artists in blues, cutting about 180 sides between 1930 and 1952, several of which ("M&O Blues", "Angel Child" and "Come Back Baby") have been taken up by other singers. Davis appears to have stopped performing professionally around 1953. Suffering from health problems, primarily a stroke, he settled in St. Louis, Missouri, supporting himself as a night clerk at a hotel and as a preacher. He died in St. Louis in 1963, aged 51. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2005. In October 2012 the Killer Blues Headstone Project, a nonprofit organization, placed a headstone on Davis's unmarked grave at Greenwood Cemetery in Hillsdale, Missouri. The stone was unveiled at the 2012 Big Muddy Blues Festival in St. Louis, Missouri. Davis is no relation to the jazz pianist, Walter Davis, Jr.

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