Blues on My Mind: Recent Episodes
Julia B Simon
Discussion of blues music. Each episode analyzes one or two blues songs. Topics cover lyrics, musical structure, history and meaning of songs.
What did Shemekia Copeland's father, Johnny Copeland, do to help her career? What are the influences on her singing? Why aren't there more daughters of the blues. Explore these and other questions in Shemekia Copeland's "My Kind of Guy."
How do people come to play the blues? What's the relationship between the blues and the church? Explore these and other questions in Kenny Neal's "Bloodline."
What is stride piano? What does it sound like? What does James P. Johnson contribute to Bessie Smith's rendition of "Back Water Blues"? Explore these and other questions.
Why did Muddy Waters record an acoustic album in 1965? How does the sound on the LP differ from his electric work? Why is he singing about leaving Chicago? Explore these and other themes.
What do blues and zydeco have in common? What does it sound like when a zydeco artist covers a blues song? Explore these and other questions with Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Roller's version of "Baby, Please Don't Go."
What's new about the Chicago sound of Toronzo Cannon? What kind of a contract is he talking about? What does it have to do with the history of the blues? Explore these and other questions.
How does B. B. King tell a story? What are the lyrical elements? What does he achieve with Lucille? Explore these questions in "Sweet Sixteen."
Why does Lonnie Johnson get overlooked as a blues musician? What's different about his music? What is his social message? Explore these questions in "Don't Ever Love."
What characterizes Buddy Guy's sound? What do the blues symbolize in songs? Explore these and other questions in "First Time I Met the Blues."
Why do a tribute album to Big Bill Broozy? How can songs evoke pain and sadness and still sound happy? Explore these and other issues in Billy Boy Arnold's version of "Sweet Honey Bee."
What characterizes Albert Collins's playing style? How does he achieve that signature sound? Explore Albert Collins's blues in "Lights Are On but Nobody's Home."
Christmas blues are rarely about the actual holiday and certainly never religious. They more often discuss loneliness, jail time, illness, cheating or sex. Explore these themes in songs by Blind Blake, Peetie Wheatstraw, Champion Jack Dupree and Eddie C. Campbell.
How do blind musicians play guitar? What kinds of choices to musicians make in covering older material? Explore these questions in The Jeff Healey Band's "Stop Breakin' Down."
What draws men to young women? Why are these relationships frustrating? Are the blues full of misogyny? Explore these questions in Muddy Waters's "She's Nineteen Years Old."
Why don't blues songs talk about guilt or shame or regret? Why does Robert Cray address these emotions that most blues songs avoid? Explore themes of the modern blues.
What do you get when you combine blues, R&B, honky-tony country, doo-wop, gospel and rockabilly? Fantastic blues out of Washington, DC with The Nighthhawks.
Why is there talk in some blues songs? Where does this tradition come from? Explore these questions in the urban blues of The Mannish Boys' "Call My Job."
What are the different ways that controlled emotion can be expressed? What's more effective for expressing emotions, screaming or speaking calmly? What about the instruments? Explore these and other question in Muddy Waters's "Nine Below Zero/"
How do you modernize the Delta blues? What are the innovations that can keep the blues alive? Explore these questions in Keb' Mo's "Perpetual Blues Machine."
What's the relationship between women and cars? What does Tab Benoit have in common with Robert Johnson? Explore these questions in Benoit's "Too Many Drivers at the Wheel."
Where is Avalon, MS? Why does Mississippi John Hurt prefer it to New York? How was he "rediscovered" in 1963 after recording in 1928? Explore these and other questions in this episode of the podcast.
What do the Chicago blues sound like today? How do you put a new twist on an old classic? Discuss these issues in The Cash Box Kings's performance of Muddy Waters's "Country Boy."
Who are the musicians that continued the Chicago sound after Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and all the other greats? Do they retain that same sound? What do they sing about? Explore these questions in Aron Burton's "Garbage Man."
What characterizes the style of the West Side of Chicago? What distinguishes West Side and South Side styles? Explore these and other questions in Otis Rush's "I Can't Quit You Baby."
What is Parchman Farm? How did the state of Mississippi get into the business of sharecropping? Explore these questions in Bukka White's "Parchman Farm Blues."
What does Memphis blues sound like? What is signifying? Explore these and other questions in Albert King's "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong."
What distinguishes the sound of the South side of Chicago? How does Koko Taylor embody that sound? What is she asking, really, about this man? Explore these and other questions.
What happens when you combine soul singing with blues artistry? How does a soul singer interpret the blues? Explore these questions and the meaning of B. B. King and Gladys Knight's cover of "Please Send Me Someone to Love."
What are the elements that make-up Piedmont Style blues? Explore the mastery of Blind Blake's performance style in "Georgia Bound."
Where is the Piedmont? What distinguishes this style of blues? Explore these questions in
Blind Boy Fuller's "Cat Man Blues."
Explore the cool west coast sound of Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers do "Talk to Your Daughter."
Interview of Julia Simon about her book, Time in the Blues,on the Music Preserves Foundation Stage at the Doheny Blues Festival in May 2019. The interview covers sharecropping, Parchman Farm, convict labor and how they shape time in the blues.
Explore the west coast harmonica sound of singer, songwriter, harmonica player, James Harman in his song "It's All Right Now."
What do you get when you mix blues, rockabilly, jump, swing and humor? You get the high energy fun of Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Explore the elements of their sound.
Where did the west coast sound come from? Who originated it? What are its signature features? Explore these and other questions in an analysis of T-Bone Walker's "Party Girl."
What distinguishes the blues out of Texas? Explore the blues of guitar great Johnny Winter and his recording of "Third Degree."
What does Texas style sound like? Where is Abilene? What does it represent? Explore these questions in Lightnin' Hopkins' "Abilene."
What kind of music is associated with Kansas City? What kind of blues? How do musical styles evolve. Explore these questions in an episode dedicated to Big Joe Turner's "Jumpin' at the Jubilee."
What's up with the women in St. Louis? Why are they so mean? Explore what Lonnie Johnson has to say about St Louis in his "Low Down St Louis Blues."
Where is Friars Point? Why does Susan Tedeschi mention it? What is the significance of the other cities mentioned? Explore blues places in this episode of the podcast.
What does the blue bird represent? Is it the bluebird of happiness or is it an incarnation of the blues? Why use a bluebird to carry a letter? Explore these questions in Jimmy Rogers' "Blue Bird."
Is this song really about a cat? Could it be about something else? Explore playful ambiguity in Memphis Minnie's "Black Cat Blues."
What does restrained power sound like? What does it symbolize? Explore these questions in Muddy Waters's live performance of "Howlin' Wolf."
What's a boll weevil? What did it do? Why sing about a boll weevil? What might a boll weevil represent? Explore these questions in Charley Patton's "Mississippi Boll Weevil Blues."
What does a rooster symbolize in 1960s Chicago? Is it just a rooster or is it something more? Explore these questions in Howlin' Wolf's "Little Red Rooster."
Why depict a woman as a milkcow? Who is the calf? Why is her milk turning blue? Explore these questions in Robert Johnson's "Milkcow's Calf Blues"
How are animals used as metaphor? What might a monkey represent? Explore these questions in Tampa Red's "She Want to Sell My Monkey."
What are labor conditions like in the rural South? On levee camps? What kinds of labor are mules used for? Explore these questions in Texas Alexander's "Levee Camp Moan Blues"
Why represent a woman as a spider? What do spiders represent? How does one break free from a web? Explore these questions in Muddy Waters' "Mean Red Spider."
When is a bumble bee not a bumble bee? Why would Memphis Minnie want to be stung? Explore the meaning of Memphis Minnie's "Bumble Bee."
How are a mix of emotions conveyed, especially those around conditions in the North and South? How do musical styles combine to represent a complicated history of migration and frustrated dreams and desires? Explore these questions in Muddy Waters' "I Can't Be Satisfied."
What is a Terraplane? How does it relate to a woman? What do cars represent to the blues audience of the Depression? Explore these questions in Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues."
How and why do women mix playfulness and seriousness to make statements? What about demands and threats? Explore these questions in Debbie Davies' "I'm Not Cheatin' Yet"
Explore female sexuality as expressed in the women's "classic" blues. Discover how race, gender and history contribute to the themes of the women's blues.
Explore the lyric expressions and slang of Big Bill Broonzy's "I Feel So Good." Although it appears joyful, there is a touch of tension underneath the happiness.
How do the urban blues respond to cheating? Explore confrontation, restraint, agency and humor in the face of cheating in Albert King's "Laundromat Blues."
How do the blues tackle the issue of government relief? What happens when the government fails to help those in need? Explore these issues in Kirk Fletcher's "Welfare Blues."
Underneath seemingly joyous songs often lurks anxiety and concerns specific to African American experience. Explore the subtext of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Bring It on Home."
You've been hurt, but you still have faith. Faith in what? What's going to happen to make things right? How is this faith expressed? Explore these questions in Bobby "Blue" Bland's "Farther Up the Road."
Do you ever dream something and wake up to find it isn't true? Does the dream ever make you question your waking life? Explore these questions in Big Bill Broonzy's "Just a Dream (On My Mind)."
Why construct a violent persona who waits for a fight? Why include sexual bravado? What is Muddy Waters ready for in "I'm Ready"?
How does hope turn to sadness, anger and even revenge? How was the Great Migration reflected in the blues? Explore these questions in Sonny Boy Williamson's "Springtime Blues."
What kind of feelings do you experience waiting to serve time in jail? What if it's a life sentence in a notoriously bad prison? Explore these questions in Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie's "Joliet Bound"
Is death really preferable to some toxic relationships? How does a meditation on death become a moral reckoning of life? Explore these questions in Skip James's "Cypress Grove Blues."
What happens when you try to drive the blues away with alcohol? Does drinking help things or make things worse? Explore these questions in Robert Johnson's "Malted Milk."
How do people respond to abandonment? Does gender matter in songs about abandonment? Is someone's leaving always negative? Explore these questions in Ma Rainey's "Memphis Bound Blues."
What forms of betrayal are expressed in the blues? What's the link between personal, romantic and economic betrayal? Explore these questions in Eddie Boyd's "Five Long Years."
When do the blues signal anger and frustration more than sadness and hurt? How do anger and frustration get expressed in the blues? Explore these topics in Muddy Waters's "Southbound Train."
What does it mean to personify the blues? How does it change our understanding of the blues when they are portrayed as an exterior force? Explore the blues as an outside force in Jimmy Rogers's "Blues Leave Me Alone."
What does having the blues or feeling blue mean in blues songs? Explore the meaning of the feeling of the blues in relation to the music in B. B. King's "Everyday I Have the Blues."
Why would blues songs encourage you to seize the day? Take advantage of opportunities for fun when you can? What happens to time when you stop worrying about the future? Explore these issues in T-Bone Walker's "T-Bone Shuffle."
How do blues songs invoke the tradition of the blues? How do references to songs from the past affect the way we hear songs? Explore these questions in The Nick Moss Band's "The High Cost of Low Living" in relation to Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and Elmore James's "Dust My Broom."
How do singers make the past seem present? What kinds of story-telling techniques do blues singers employ to make the past come alive? Explore these questions in Son House's "Death Letter."
How do we recount stories that project out into the future? How do we think about a time when wrongs will be righted? What does karma sound like in a blues song? Explore these questions in Freddie King's "Someday, After Awhile."
How does a storyteller create fantasy? What cues does the audience listen to? How does B. B. King's Memphis sound with horns help him to create meaning? Explore these questions in "Beautician Blues."
How do we think about youth once its over? How do certain events become turning points? How is the self defined in relation to certain events? Memphis Minnie's "In My Girlish Days" presents a tale of female of self-affirmation in adulthood.
What happens to time when you realize something? How does a realization change your view of the past? What does "fattening frogs for snakes" mean? Explore these questions in Bumble Bee Slim's (Amos Easton) "Fattening Frogs for Snakes."
How does addiction affect our experience of time? A discussion of "Canned Heat Blues" explores the kind of dwelling in the present characteristic of addiction. Discover how the interplay between vocal delivery and guitar work can push listeners to dwell in the present.
How do the women's "classic" blues represent time? What might waiting mean for a woman during the Great Depression? Discussion and analysis of Bessie Smith's "In the House Blues."
What does waiting do to our experience of time? How can a blues song make us feel time slowing down? What does waiting mean? Using Muddy Waters' "Long Distance Call," I discuss the musical and lyrical representations of waiting and what they mean.