Bobby Rush: Raw (#1 CD of 2007)

Every time I put my pants on backwards I have an incredible day!  So when I realized that I had indeed done it again I knew this was gonna be a good one and was it ever...

It all starts a few months ago when my friend Vlad Gomez phoned me from a club in Toronto as he was listening to Bobby Rush and Honeyboy Edwards acoustic at a club.  At the time I couldn't believe what I was hearing in the background.  When he got home Vlad lent me each artist's CD (both signed) from the gig.  I had Bobby Rush's RAW playing in my car for 3 straight months.  (Even beat Lucinda and Mary Gautier's record.)  Well, as the story goes, and this will be a surprise to Vlad, I lost Bobby Rush's CD at the Saskatoon Blues Festival.  CD's are like socks in the dryer in my life...they just go missing no matter how much I value them.  Anyway, I was on a mission to get another one for Vlad but how to get a signature?  In the planning phase for this project I realized that Bobby Rush was playing in Greenwood, Mississippi the same time I was going to be in the Delta.  So...

Tonite I was taken to the side of the stage by Bobby's son, Carl, where I watched, video taped and photographed the show.  The vibe was incredible.  Funk like you wouldn't believe and that band was TIGHT!  Now it wasn't the acoustic show but I didn't expect that.  What I also didn't expect was how friendly and open Bobby and his son were with me.  After signing a few new RAW CD's (Vlad, yours is on its way home), he gave me another of his discs, signed a photograph and gave me his card to contact him at home any time I would like to.  Can you freakin' believe it!!!!!

This day and night will live vividly in my memory for the rest of my life.  I will get a chance to see Bobby again as he is nominated for two International Blues Awards:  Traditional Blues and Soul.  Talk about versitile eh?

That's it...over and out!

Kat "Delta" Danser

Charlie Patton: The Mentor of All Mentors

Charlie Patton is credited with creating the Delta Blues sound we love so much.  He is the grandpappy of them all and was born, raised and worked on the Dockery Plantation.  Musicians he is credited with teaching include Muddy Waters, BB King, Elvis, Robert Johnson and Son House.  Chances are if you were playing acoustic blues early in the 20th century you learned from Charlie Patton.  

Everything in the Delta seems 'just around the corner'.  In this instance just around the corner from Dockery Farms is Moorhead, Mississippi where the 'Southern Cross The Dog'.  A famous crossroads all of their own referring to the Southern and Yazoo rail crossing.  WC Handy went on to write and record Yellow Dog Blues.  As you can see there is little left of the track but thankfully it has been saved for the 'Delta Blues Hunters' with a monument as well.  

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better...

KD xoxo