Re: [Harp-L] Cadillac Records - Little Walter



Funny, I'm just reading* Blues With a Feeling*, Little Walter's rather
exhaustive biography (a rich resource for blues harp players), and was
surprised to find that he didn't just start drinking after he got to
Chicago, as was portrayed in the film. In the film, if I remember right, he
takes a nip to overcome his stage fright, Muddy and all the guys were doing
it, and then goes from teetotaler to full blown alcoholic in a rather short
time - which leads to his demise. That is not they way it was, of course.
Little Walter was no saint, who is? He was, like most people, a complex mix
of positive and negative aspects, and someone who was influenced by his
rather unsettled childhood and his own rambling nature. That he
revolutionized the harmonica as a lead instrument in a blues music is
indisputable. He was born with a great musical gift and started developing
that gift very early on - on the harmonica. His real story is worth checking
out for the very few here who have not read Tony Glover's book. It gives the
real lowdown on that potent time when the blues left the Delta, got
electrified and then was assimilated into Rock and Roll. It also is a great
look at the role that the harmonica had in the music of that period in the
hands of Little Walter, Sonny Boys I and II, Big Walter, James Cotton and
many others.

Cadillac Records is a little fact and a lot of fiction - Hollywood, that's
what they're good at. Guess I will have to check it out again, this time on
Youtube, get another take on it.

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 8:15 AM, Bill Kumpe <bkumpe@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> I'm not saying it's right.  But I am saying don't tamper with history about
> these characters just because we like their music.  They were not saints
> for
> the most part. (Excepting maybe Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie
> Johnson,
> Josh White and maaaybe Son House.)  The blues lifestyle killed many of its
> servants one way or another.  All I'm saying is be truthful about it. Don't
> slander them but don't try to make them something they're not either.
>
> Bill Kumpe
> Tulsa, OK
>
>
>



This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.