Homegrown Radio 3/4/11 – John Hayes

Yes, you read that right: I’ll be your Homegrown Radio entertainer this month.  As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’m just wrapping up a 3-month recording project, so I’m taking the liberty of letting you know about this very homegrown recording operation each Friday in March on Homegrown Radio. 

Now you may be glad to hear that a sales pitch is not in the offing.  I’ll only be selling the actual cd (called simply & appropriately, I think, RFD Blues) at performances.  However, by the month’s end—probably much sooner—I’ll be able to provide you with a link where you can download any or all of the songs for free in mp3 format.  The album will contain 15 songs—just over 46 minutes of music.   

I’d orginally envisioned the album (or albums—at one point I played with the idea of two cds) as being more diverse in content, but by in large the songs by “non trad blues” folks just didn’t quite make the grade.  I’ll keep working on these songs & probably will perform them until I can get them to the proverbial “next level.”  I also dropped several traditional blues cuts that weren’t quite up to level of the best tracks.  This left me with following 15 cuts, which I feel completely comfortable about taking to the general public. 

1.    Preachin’ the Blues (House/R. Johnson)
2.    Katie Mae (Hopkins)
3.    Highway 61 Revisited (Dylan)
4.    Green River Blues (Patton)
5.    Poor Lazarus (trad.)
6.    Banty Rooster Blues (Patton)
7.    Black Snake Moan (Jefferson)
8.    Rainy Day Blues (Hopkins)
9.    Moon Goin’ Down (Patton)
10.    Cool Drink of Water (T. Johnson)
11.    Mama Tain‘t Long ‘Fore Day (McTell)
12.    T.B. Blues (Rodgers)
13.    From a Buick 6 (Dylan)
14.    Weeping Willow Blues (Fuller)
15.    Highway 61 (McDowell)

Seven of these songs have appeared previously on the Monday Morning Blues series, but the cd versions have gone thru the mastering process, so the sound should be noticeably better.  Another song, “Cool Drink of Water,” is a different take than the one that appeared earlier, & in a different key.  

Today’s song is, as you see, the lead off song to the collection, Son House’s boisterous “Preachin’ the Blues” (with a bit of lyrical interpolation from Robert Johnson’s thoroughly revised version of the song, which is also known as “Up Jumped the Devil.”)  I’m playing the Gold Tone resonator guitar slide style & capoed on the second fret to put the song in the key of E.   

Hope you enjoy the song, & stay tuned for more Homegrown Radio & download information!