Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?

Subject: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Bobert
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 09:55 PM

Well now, over that last couple of years I have really gotten into Son House's music. I know that he quit playin' in '48 when Willie Brown dies and then went to work as a porter on the railroad. And I know that after some 15 years of not playin' that a few white kids tracked him down and persuaded him to get back into playing and that he played the Newport Folk Festival (64?). And I know he was a mentor to both a Young Robert Johnson and later to Muddy Waters.
And I know he lots of probelms with booze and the conflicts he perceived as a man of God with the "devil's music" but that's generally what I know of the man.

Any Catters see him? Any other comments about the man or his music?

Bobert

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 11:13 PM

You bet Bobert. Carried his case and all. Toronto was an absolute hub of trad Blues in the sixties. Got to meet (and chauffeur) quite a few folks...Sonny and Brownie, Bukka White, Son, Carl Martin (my favourite) and even the finest of them all, Lonnie Johnson.

T'was fun.

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: JohnnyBGoode
Date: 21 Nov 02 - 11:34 PM

Lonnie Johnson! Wow!

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 09:34 AM

So, Rick, what are your memories of Son? Did you talk with him any? I have a video of him and he's talkin' about this confict within him between his Faith and the blues but, fir the life of me, having spent a good portion of my earlier life around black folks, only understand about half of what he's sayin'.

How'd he sound on stage?

Come on Rick, give somethin' up, pal...

Bobert

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Peter T.
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 09:38 AM

There is a video (Available from Stefan Grossman) of Son House, Howling Wolf, and others at a psuedo-juke joint at Newport, plus other footage of him playing. It is fascinating, but terribly depressing (Son House is terribly drunk).


("Death Letter Blues" is the greatest recording I have ever heard).

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 10:32 AM

Peter T.,

Death Letter Blues is amazing, isn't it.

The first time that I heard Son House was on a CD that I bought that was recorded in the sixties in England. I was absolutely taken with his voice, his power, his passion, his delivery. I then bought the Plantation Recordings and found it much more reserved. I enjoy it, but not as much as the one from the Blues revival period.

Rick, Son House, Bukka White, Lonnie Johnson. Man I'm jealous. I don't often wish I was ten years older, but havinf been born in '59 I can only hear these guys on CD. I wish I could have seen them live.

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 12:48 PM

Well Bobert, I talked to them all and tried:

A. Not to act or sound like an asshole. (you would not BELIEVE how fucking patronizing some young white blues aficianados could be!)

B. Not to fall into the trap of providing acohol for acceptance.

But Son House? Nope, he scared the shit outta me. I'm sure he was a friendly man, and probably understood how the circumstances of the blues revival had changed his life.... but this guy was (to me) The REAL THING. Those "crossroads" legends kinda made sense, the few times I was around Son. I just kept my mouth shut, carried his case, and drove him to the Mariposa Festival in my Mom's car.

Rick

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: greg stephens
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 12:58 PM

Yes I saw him in lancaster, England, probably early 70's I would guess. He was old, decrepit, possibly drunk and his performance was repetitive and pretty tentative. But he was SON HOUSE and I will remember it for ever.

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Bobert
Date: 22 Nov 02 - 06:01 PM

Know how you felt, Rick. I met John Lee Hooker and he did the same thing to me. Whew. Scarey...

Yeah, "Death Letter" is one good song but I love doing "Empire State Express" myself.

Bobert

Subject: RE: Any Catfolk ever hear Son House live?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 24 Nov 02 - 01:09 AM

I saw Son House in Chicago. Booker T. Washington White too. I've got a good slide I took of Bukka White at the University Of Chicago Folk Festival playing his guitar (that old metal resophonic) behind his head. Another one I took of Bukka when he walked into the music store I was working at in Chicago on the street level of the Old Town School Of Folk Music building on North Avenue. I seem to recall him saying that all the songs we think of as classics now were done off the top of his head in the studio just one time----and he never did 'em again until city people made him listen to his old 78 rpm records from 30 years earlier.

Pretty amazing.

Art Thieme