Re: [Harp-L] re: Review of Cadillac Records Movie

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

I can't remember exactly when I first heard blues on Detroit AM radio in the 
50s. 

But a lot of you youngsters have to remember that ANYTHING that had a guitar 
in it (and that includes country and blues) was considered rock 'n' roll back 
in the 50s and played on the top 40 rock stations. And it sold, too. And among 
this mix was a lot of pure blues. At same time, many blues tunes were turned 
into rock tunes. Some were written as blues but became rock. Lieber & Stoller 
wrote Hound Dog for Big Mama Thornton that was transformed by Elvis into rock 
after he heard a lounge act do a speeded up verson in Vegas.

But most teenagers didn't really care: if it had a good beat and you could 
dance to it, it was rock 'n' roll to them. I remember famous "rock" hits by Slim 
Harpo, and one of the biggest rock hits "Got My Mojo Working"   by rock star 
Muddy Waters.

And clear channel radio stations (who had the only broadcast signal on that 
band in the whole country) could be heard all over the country at night because 
of the signal bounce. Even smaller stations could be heard.

And don't forget the border stations in Mexico with their mega-watt 
transmitters (illegal in the US) aimed at USA teens.

At the same time, the black stations in Detroit tended to play uptown blues 
-- which often wasn't as good as the blues (we thought was rock) played on the 
rock stations.

So blues was always in the air.   

It was not mainstream, but neither was country, which was also going on at 
the same time.

The folk revival of the 50s-60s led the rediscovery of old blues players from 
the 30s and sent them across the country: Son House, Mississippi John Hurt. 
Big Bill Broonzy (who died in 1958) appeared on 
Studs Turkel's radio show in Chicago and was certainly heard by lots of 
people who were not tuned into the blues community, but they were tuned into Studs.


Phil


 



In a message dated 12/20/08 11:06:59 AM, jameshoskinz@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:


> In the 1950's/60's I grew up a germanic white farm boy in Iowa, in our 
> house
> I heard Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Wynonnie Harris, BB King, a whole lot
> of Louis Jordan, and all the 40's/50's swing and jump stuff, plus a great
> deal of jazz. (And of course, Lawrence Welk at Grandma's after Sunday
> dinner!) This probably was a bit unusual (not L.Welk), and maybe doesn't
> qualify as a "blues scene," but I don't believe 'that music' ever went as
> unnoticed and ignored as so many seem to think. My take has always been that
> if my parents, in Dallas County Iowa had 78's by these artists, there had to
> be plenty of others. It wasn't unusual to pull in radio from Chicago, Kansas
> City, St Louis, and even Texas, Ok, or Mexico at night back then in the
> midwest. It was all AMERICAN MUSIC, and I think many of us were listening,
> or it wouldn't be so ingrained in us today. The Butterfield's and
> Bloomfield's certainly boosted the attention, and popularized the music,
> much as Akroyd and Belushi, or SRV, but as art, I've often had questions as
> to whether that was a good thing or not. It was after seeing Butterfield in
> early 1967 that I bought my first marine band, but the seed had been planted
> long before, you didn't have to be black, or even live in a city to be
> exposed to the blues in the 50'/60's.
> That is just my take on that 'blues revival' thing, JD
> 
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> 




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