September 23, 2020

New shows will soon be starting up again on KSCU, 91.5fm                                                 

KSCU will be having DJs returning to the airwaves in a different fashion and I’ll get into that in a moment but, first, I’d like to talk about the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  So much adoration has been expressed over the weekend that I don’t think I can add anything beyond that, but the repercussions really scare me.

I’ve been extremely good about keeping my public political voice stifled the past few years, but just imagine what a numerically unbalanced Supreme Court and a mentally unbalanced Donald Trump could do, things that could make a 200,000 pandemic death toll appear trivial.  First off, Democrats could have an overwhelming victory reversed by claims of voter mail fraud thus returning defeated Republican Senators (and the Donald himself) to controlling the legislature as well as the judicial and executive branches, thus setting up Trump for a third or even permanent term.  Corporations would get increased rights as poor folk would lose medical services and more, climate change denial will bring about a hell for all our grandchildren’s children and dictatorship would become the national standard. The Republicans could finally achieve their longstanding goal of privatizing the Postal Service and, who knows, Trump might even have his Reich take away the rights of blacks and women to vote.  And this is not even a worst case scenario, just what popped into my head first thing Monday morning.  All this makes me glad that, in 64 years in this country, I never gave up my Canadian citizenship.  At least a decade ago, I did not agree with my mother when she said that Republicans had no morals, but I’m afraid 2016 proved her right; I’m glad she wasn’t here to see it.

Make sure you vote.  It really matters.

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Now, about KSCU.  The station has determined not to let the university lockdown keep DJs from airing their passions by allowing us to submit prerecorded shows until such time as the studio becomes physically available again.  I have been granted the time slot I requested, Sunday evenings from 7 to 10PM and, as soon as I can figure out how to inject commentary into my playlists (no small feat for this old man), I shall join the regular Sunday Blues rotation (9AM-1PM) in presenting some exciting music for your listening entertainment.

My presentations will be considerably different than they have been recently.  Since 2014 I have included only three or maybe four artists per show with extensive biographies in this blog in order to let you know more about the artists, mostly deceased, so you can acquire more of their music.  I may throw in a show in this vein every now and then, but for the most part the playlists will be one track per artists and be almost 160 minutes of music (2CDs) with commentary added to that.  I am fortunate that there will be no one following me so I can say as much as I feel relevant, probably making each show run past its three hours by about fifteen minutes.  Something this change will allow is more chatter about the artists and songs over the air, something I feel had been shortchanged when I didn’t wish to duplicate the information in the blog. 

There are two issues that make a show every week difficult: one is showing up that often and two is the time required to write the bios.  Since neither of these will be relevant, it is my hope to be able to fill every Sunday evening with music you will enjoy.  I wonder if remote shows will be an option after the studio is open, particularly because I might not have to take a summer vacation when the building closes up at 7PM.  *************************

A couple of notes I would like to say: I heard Dave the Blues Dude is recovering from a serious medical condition and I am looking forward to his quick return to the Sunday morning Blues rotation.  Get well, my friend.

And I just found out one of my favorite harmonica players around here, Jim Ilges, passed away in June of a non-COVID illness.  His wife and friends are gathering some of his recordings (all I have are a couple of cassettes) and I will get more info in the future, perhaps enough for a small bio.

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And to wind up this posting, I went through one of my computers and put together this playlist which I may use, modify or totally discard as an example of what you might hear.  As soon as I have a show prepared. I shall get back to you.

Key to the Highway

   John Hammond

Jamaica Farewell

   Harry Belafonte

Down the Road Apiece

   Amos Milbourne

Be Proud to Be a Black Man

   Bee Houston

You Don’t Love Me No More

   Billy Boy Arnold

If I Had My Way I’d Tear This Building Down

   Blind Willie Johnson

Here’s a Little Girl

   Blue Lu Barker

Back Door Man

   The Blues Project

Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me

   Bluesiana Triangle

I Got My Eyes on You

   Buddy Guy

Walking Blues

   The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Work Song

   Cannonball Adderly

Evil is Going On

   Canned Heat

Rockin’ at the Philharmonic

   Chuck Berry

Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar)

   Deanna Bogart

Killing Floor

   The Electric Flag

Who’s Been Talking?

   Howlin’ Wolf

Boogie, Don’t Blot

   Earl Hooker

I Held My Baby Last Night

   Elmore James

Low Tide

   Freddy King

Moose on the Loose

   Harpdog Brown

Death Has No Mercy

   Henry Butler

Leaving West

   Hubbard & Turrentine with the CTI All Stars

Walking the Ceiling

   Hound Dog Taylor

Li’l Liza Jane

   Huey “Piano” Smith

J.B.’s Crawl

   J.B. Hutto

Open the Door, Richard

   Jack MacVea

Cold Sweat

   James Brown

Night Rock

   Jimmy Dawkins

I Ain’t Got You

   Jimmy Reed

Bashin’

   Jimmy Smith

Roll ‘em Pete

   Jimmy Witherspoon

White Sox Stomp

   Jimmy Yancey

Senora Nancye

   John Handy

Boom Boom, Gonna Shoot You Down

   John Lee Hooker

Shake Your Money Maker

   John Littlefield

Dipper’s Blues (Part 1)

   Joe Liggins

Hoodoo Man

   Junior Wells

Who’s Making Love

   Katie Webster

Blues is a Woman

   Lou Rawls

Beware Brother

   Louie Jordan

Bloomington Closer

   Luther Allison

Keep a-Lovin’ Me Baby

   Magic Sam

That’s Enough of That Stuff

   Marcia Ball

C Rocker

   Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon

Your Mind is on Vacation

   Mose Allison

I Got My Mojo Working

   Muddy Waters

Try a Little Tenderness

   Otis Redding

Homework

   Otis Rush

The River’s Invitation

   Percy Mayfield

She Walks Right In

   Professor Longhair

What’d I Say

   Ray Charles

I Smell Trouble

   Ronnie Earl

Sykes’ Advice Blues

   Roosevelt Sykes

Peter Gunn Theme

   Roy Buchanan

Roy Rides (AKA Nip Time)

   Roy Milton and his Solid Senders

Sentimental Journey

   Ruth Brown

Said I Wasn’t Gonna Tell Nobody

   Sam and Dave

Going to New York

   The Siegel-Schwall Blues Band

Bring it on Home

   Sonny Boy Williamson II

I Ain’t Broke

   Tab Benoit and Jimmy Thackery

Lonely Avenue

   Taj Mahal

Flatfoot Sam

   Terry Hanck

Walk that Mess

   Tiny Bradshaw

Stagger Lee

   Wilson Pickett

Mr. Blues is Coming

   Wynonie Harris

April 27, 2020


Key to the Highway    PLEASE READ;  no shows ‘til September                                                   
Since your health is more important than my trivial little show, I am starting with something I heard about recently in hopes you will all read it.  I very much trust the CBS news and they had a New Hampshire ER doctor who had just served with the New York hospitals and came back with a conclusion I had not thought of.  By the time anyone admitted themselves to the hospital in a condition serious enough to be put on a ventilator, their blood oxygen content was already down to 50% (normal being 94-100%), a level comparable to being on top of Mount Everest.  It was only then that they had started to feel difficulty in breathing and, had they known their O2 level was declining below the normal level, they might have been able to act more quickly.  There is an inexpensive tool (about $50) that will easily inform you: a pulse oximeter, so named because it registers both your pulse rate and oxygen level.
If you have ever spent any time in the hospital, you likely had a device clamped onto one of your finger ends (they open the jaws and close it on the last knuckle or two) and that is the oximeter, a simple and totally painless procedure.  I believe it works through infrared readings and definitely does not penetrate the skin so it is good for your entire household.  At the end of the doctor’s approximately five minute dissertation, the news anchor said they were available at your drugstore but that is in error.  I went to Walgreen’s and they were out and the clerk told me customers had said they had been to several other drug stores with the same result.
I had already been online but figured Walgreens would carry a quality product as opposed to choosing from several brands offered on Amazon, but after calling back the next day I was informed they had been out for more than a month.  I immediately went back to Amazon and ordered one for myself and one for my son’s household, even paying an extra $40 to expedite shipment to about one month’s delivery time as opposed to about two months otherwise; still, it only came to $111 total, about what two would cost at a drug store.  I will continue to call Walgreens every Wednesday and Friday around noon (their delivery days) until mine come in order to get it as early as possible.
I am not paranoid about the Coronavirus but am prepared to take prudent steps to avoid or diminish it.  This is certainly not as good as actually getting tested but it might at least set your mind at rest to a degree.  Knowledge is power!  Hopefully you guys are already aware of all this but I strongly recommend you at least consider purchasing one as quickly as possible.  After all, as I’ve said recently, I can’t afford to lose any of my listeners.
And regarding my show, I doubt that KSCU will open its studio before the Summer semester and, since it closes on Sundays at 7PM those months, unless I do a fill in to help the Blues department  I will not be back on the air until September, hopefully between 7PM and midnight two Sundays a month.  Stay safe and please make the best of your situation.

March 14, 2020


Key to the Highway   KSCU 103.3FM       
No show until at least March 29th
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 So I went to the Poor House Bistro Wednesday for their tribute to Ron Thompson; had a good time, met some new friends and spoke to some familiar faces, but I didn’t stay as long as I would have liked.  My stomach was feeling a little queasy and it ain’t so much fun drinking water instead of beer, but also I still had work to do on my Sunday show. 
I was surprised by the number of people already there when I arrived just before 6PM, which I thought was the starting time, but obviously I was wrong.  I heard a few people recall tales about Ron and listened to videos of him performing at the Bistro.  It was odd because I wanted to clap whenever the music stopped. 
I was also surprised that no one seemed concerned about personal contact; no masks and everybody wanted to shake hands.  I’m not paranoid about the virus but, mostly for other’s benefit, I have been avoiding hugs or handshakes, but not there.
I told a couple of people I would send them the tribute to Ron that I wrote so that is at the end of this note.  I also wish to thank Kelly, one of those new friends, who called up when he heard me playing Ron’s music and I mentioned the essay I did.  He took it upon himself to create a notice with a link to that blog and distribute it around the Bistro.  Obviously, Ron Thompson still has some strong fans.
When I got home and opened my emails I discovered the building that houses KSCU will close at 7PM on weekends through March 28th and could go even longer if the Coronavirus precautions are extended.  Oh well, put that show on hold until next year’s St. Patrick’s Day!  You guys all take care; I can’t afford to lose any listeners!
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Every time I thought about Ron Thompson in recent years, I wanted to kick my butt around the block a few times because I let a golden opportunity pass me by.  It was a no-brainer.  Certainly because I feel that I do interviews terribly, I never got around to inviting Ron to KKUP for an interview although I knew he was happy to do it.  It would have been such a natural fit because my show ended at 5PM on Wednesday afternoons and Ron had a weekly gig a coupla miles away at the Poor House Bistro starting at 6PM.  I often stopped by for a couple of beers and some Blues on my way home, but before I capitalized on the situation Ron’s health started a strong downhill trend and he had to give up the gig.
Ron was a big supporter of community Blues radio.  He performed a couple or three times at KKUP’s Blues marathons and added slide guitar to one of Johnnie Cozmik’s J.C. Smith Band CDs.  Speaking of Johnnie, there was a time when he was often unavailable as my alternating host so he made arrangements for Ron’s sister, going by the name Mercy Baby, to cover the shows he couldn’t make.
I first heard about Ron when I was living in Ben Lomond around 1978.  A guy I met had him play at a party and, knowing I was into Blues, he was proud to play a tape from it for me.  Later, in the early 80s when I started tending bar, a friend of mine who knew Ron played an LP for me because I was a big time Magic Sam fan and he figured I would verify what he already knew, that it was, indeed, not Magic Sam but Ron Thompson.  I wasn’t very familiar with Ron, but it certainly was not anywhere near Sam’s style.  The album, Just Pickin’, is one of the three CDs used on today’s playlist, along with Just Like a Devil and Magic Touch.  I also have a John Lee Hooker live 1977 recording from the Keystone in Palo Alto, a 2CD set titled the Cream, which includes Ron and John Garcia on guitars and the harmonica of Charlie Musselwhite, so it may be included on a future show.
Ron, one of the most revered Bay Area Bluesmen in recent decades, was born in Oakland on July 5th 1953 and grew up in Newark.  A multi-instrumentalist, Thompson mastered piano, harmonica and mandolin, but it was his guitar playing that most set him aside from the rest, whether it was alone on an acoustic country Blues or in a full band setting headed up by his vocals and electric guitar, especially powerful in the bottleneck slide style.
Ron began learning slide shortly after picking up guitar at the age of eleven.  He spent about five years playing the Bay Area clubs on his own and backing other artists, most notably Little Joe Blue, in his late teens.  In 1975, Ron joined John Lee Hooker’s Coast to Coast Blues Band where he stayed as bandleader for at least three years, then formed Ron Thompson and the Resisters in 1980.  After signing with Takoma Records, Ron had his first release in 1983, Treat Her Like Gold.  In addition to his own gigs, Thompson was still a popular backing guitarist for folks like Lowell Fulson, Etta James and Big Mama Thornton.  Ron made a connection with Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood in the early 80s and came together in Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale, performing when the schedules of both musicians aligned.
His second album, Resister Twister, was released by Blind Pig in 1987, garnishing Ron a Grammy nomination, followed in 1990 by Just Like a Devil, a collection of tunes gleaned from his appearances on Mark Naftalin’s Blue Monday Party radio show and released on the pianist’s Winner label.  Naftalin is probably best known from his part on the early Paul Butterfield Blues Band albums before he, like so many other white Chicago Bluesmen, moved to the Bay Area.  (Think Michael Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite.)
In 2007, Ron’s album Resonator showed him as an acoustic solo performer. His last album, Son of Boogie Woogie, came out in 2015 on keyboardist Jimmy Pugh’s Little Village Foundation label and Pugh’s 2018 comments to the Marin Independent are poignant.   “Not only can he play the blues, he can sing it in a way that’s more convincing than practically anyone these days.  He grew up in tough circumstances in East Oakland, and I don’t think you can find a better example of someone who’s that believable, that authentic. He’s the real deal.”
It takes a lot to impress Tom Mazzolini, longtime Blues DJ and for decades mastermind of the San Francisco Blues Festival (in its last years the longest running Blues festival in the country), but Ron managed to pull it off.  “He played a long time with John Lee Hooker, and really got the Hooker style down.  When I heard him play slide (guitar), I thought he was the reincarnation of Elmore James.”  And, more explicitly, "I've always felt Ron is the most talented blues guitarist I have ever seen. He can do it all. He's extraordinarily gifted. What many folks aren't aware of is that Ron was a huge asset in the re-emergence of John Lee Hooker. He was the foundation for that boogie sound."
The enthusiastic praise continues from Andy Grigg, music critic for Real Blues magazine, who wrote: "If you haven't experienced Ron T. live, I can't even begin to convey the absolute go-for-broke Blues rave-ups and sweat-soaked pandemonium Thompson and his Resistors dispense on a nightly basis. When it comes to slide guitar workouts, I would say he's the Best in the World, and yet the man sings his ass off too."
In addition to the Bistro, in recent years Ron played local venues such as Biscuits & Blues in San Francisco or Fremont’s Mojo Lounge, even San Jose’s JJ’s in its heyday.  He honed his sound in East Bay clubs like North Richmond’s Playboy Club and Oakland’s Deluxe Inn or Eli’s Mile High Club.
Among his other domestic performances, which included many of the major Blues festivals, Ron’s international performances included the Jazz and Blues Sessions in Berne, Switzerland, as well as stages in Poland, Mexico, and Belize.  The list of musical luminaries Thompson played or recorded with is extensive, notably Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner, Elvin Bishop, Bill Medley, Huey Lewis, Dr. John, Bobby Womak, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Cray, Z.Z. Top, Big Mama Thornton, Bruce Willis, Luther Tucker, Jimmy McCracklin, Pee Wee Crayton, Carla Thomas, Booker T. Jones, Percy Mayfield, Etta James, B.B. King, and Jimmy Reed. 
When another Bay Area Blues legend, harmonica man Mark Hummel, assembled a lineup in 2013 for a tribute tour honoring Jimmy Reed, the Chicago Blues master who died in Oakland in 1976, with most notably Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin, Little Charlie Baty, Joe Louis Walker and Kenny Neal, Thompson’s long time friend Hummel emailed that “Ron stole the show!”
On tour after recording Chris Isaak’s San Francisco Days, Isaak warned the audience, "You might think these crowd barriers are here to keep you away from the stage. They're not. They're here to keep Ron Thompson away from you!"  Steve Cropper, guitarist, songwriter and founding member of Booker T and the MGs, stated, “What this guy knows, you can’t get out of a book”, but perhaps John Lee Hooker put it best and most simply: “Ron Thompson, he’s my main man!”
Aside from his one Grammy nomination, Ron didn’t acquire nationwide acclaim reached by many he performed with; still, he was held in the highest local esteem, Mayor Gavin Newsom proclaimed Sept. 5, 2007, as Ron Thompson Day in San Francisco.  He twice won Bammies (Bay Area Music Awards) and a Colorado Blues Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  He also made it into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Ron passed away eight days ago on Saturday, February 15th at the age of 66 after long suffering the ravages of diabetes.  He required a leg to be amputated in 2017 and had been in a coma for about the last month due to a hypoglycemic seizure.  A memorial is being planned for April, according to Hummel.  Although his website, rtblues.com, appears to have been last revised around 2014 you still might want to check it for any updates that may occur.  Or maybe his Facebook page @ronthompsonofficial.
Ron told the Bay Area News Group in 2005, “Blues is like a medicine, or religion to me,  It’ll cleanse your soul.”

March 7, 2020


2020-03-01  6-11PM     
Lou Rawls   
Taj Mahal   
Hot Tuna   
Key to the Highway   KSCU 103.3FM 
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For those of you receiving this from my email list, I am trying something new – some graphics, photos and album covers to be specific, in hopes of enhancing the mailing.  It doesn’t seem to work so, after my normal method, I have enclosed an attachment in its original two column format; my cousin tells me it is easier to read that way on his phone. Please let me know if you think they add to or distract from the writing.  Any feedback would be appreciated.  I like today’s lineup, all Blues but each with a slant all their own, lots of good music and source material for the write-ups.

Since the graphics don't work here either, feel free to send me your email address and I'll send you a notice before each Sunday I'm on and whether I start at 6 or 7PM.  Send it to me at coyledon@yahoo.com
Lately I have been acquiring CDs of Soulful male singers (and Aretha Franklin, too) instead of the strong instrumentalists I usually favor.  We played Little Junior Parker a couple of shows ago, but he had been in my collection for quite a long time.  Recent acquisitions I am anxiously waiting to build shows around include Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke, but I am now presenting you Mister Lou Rawls; so much great music, so few shows to fit it in!  When I think of Lou, one word comes to mind: elegance.
Hot Tuna was a recent change as I had much of this done a while ago, otherwise I would have never been able to do as much carnage to my typing fingers in the two weeks since the last broadcast.  A band about as local as you can get, I just figured their unique style was about the best complement to the rest of the show.
It is a rare occasion when, after completing my essay about an artist, I come away with the feeling that I know the person, and Taj Majal stands tall in that small crowd.  Because of what I’ve learned, I believe that he cares deeply not only for his music but for his people, and his people are all of us.
I will be back again next Sunday with a strong grouping of British Blues Bands for my annual St. Patty’s Day “extravaganza”.     enjoy
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Here is a man who could sing the Blues with the best of them, put out Soul as powerful as Otis Redding, or croon his Pop as well as any of the “Sepia Sinatras”.  In other words, whatever Lou Rawls laid down, he was in rarified air among his competitors.  Born Louis Allen Rawls on December 1st 1933 in Chicago and raised by his grandmother on the city’s South Side, he began by singing in the Baptist choir from age seven and getting into Black secular vocalists such as Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock and Billy Eckstine as a teenager.  He was in a Gospel harmony group called the teenage Kings of Harmony with schoolmate Sam Cooke before joining the Holy Wonders, then in 1951 took Cooke’s place in the Highway QCs.
Lou’s first recording dates were early in 1954, for Specialty Records with the Chosen Gospel Singers, after the group installed him as a member during a tour of Chicago the year before.  He was also in the Pilgrim Travelers before enlisting in the Army in 1956 where he served as a paratrooper.  Discharged in 1958, he rejoined the Travelers as they went on tour with Sam Cooke who, along with Lou, was in the car that crashed into a truck during the tour’s Southern leg.  Cooke wasn’t hurt bad, but one passenger died and Rawls was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital but came out of a five and a half day coma, taking three months to fully regain his memory during his yearlong recuperation period.
Upon recovery, Lou opted to go the secular route and headed out to Los Angeles playing clubs, coffee houses and just about any place that would allow him on stage.  He even got an acting role in an episode of the TV show 77 Sunset Strip before becoming better known.  He was signed in 1962 to Capitol Records after producer Nick Venet heard him at a coffee shop near the label’s headquarters.  We’ll hear most of his first album, Stormy Monday, with Les McCann’s Trio providing a great Jazzy backdrop for Bluesy Lou, in our second Rawls set.  Also in 1962, he provided backup vocal on old friend Cooke’s song Bring It on Home to Me.
Subsequent albums found Lou backed by various ensembles including Big Bands, even strings, as Capitol sought out its niche for Rawls.  On stage, Lou was developing opening monologues to some of his tunes, particularly to point out social injustices, which the audience soaked in along with the music.  A couple of his raps can be heard on today’s opening set taken from his breakout Gold album,1966’s LIVE!  That was also the year Rawls set his sights on a more R&B style with his album Soulin’ which featured Love is a Hurtin’ Thing, a tune that came close to the Pop Top Ten while climbing all the way to #1 R&B by year’s end.
Although 1967’s Dead End Street only got to #3 R&B, it garnered him his first Grammy for the Best R&B Vocal Performance.  His next hit was the 1969 cover of Mabel Johns’ Your Good Thing (is about to End) and, despite a drop-off in album sales, he was still a popular entry on the TV variety shows and maintained a consistent presence in Vegas.
After a decade with Capitol, Rawls signed on with MGM, leading off with another major hit in the 1971 song Natural Man which earned him another Grammy after reaching the Top Twenty in both the Pop and R&B listings.  Despite this, MGM was not pushing Lou in the direction he wanted to go, instead to more lightweight Pop fare, and they parted company in 1972.  Rawls would remain without a label except for a brief stint with Bell Records before teaming up with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International, leader of the highly orchestrated Philly Soul sound.
He had immediate success as the All Things in Time LP went Platinum on its ascent to the Top Ten, and its included single You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine reached the very top of the R&B charts and #2 in Pop.  The song was bolstered by its additional approval in the Disco clubs.  The followup Groovy People made it into the R&B Top Twenty and he remained one of the label’s top artists through the end of the decade, including 1977’s LP Unmistakably You bringing him his third Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance with its Top Ten R&B single See You When I Get There.  Later in 1977 he was successful with the When You Hear Lou, You’ve Heard It All album and single Lady Love, winding up his charting for the label in 1979 with the title track from Let Me Be Good to You placing #11 R&B.
A new decade and a chance to help a favorite cause found Lou starting up the annual Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon which raised millions of dollars in the coffers of the United Negro College Fund.  His work on the telethon had an unintended bonus feature in that it made it easy for him to play the role of the grand old man of Soul rather than seeking commercial success, which is not to say that he was resting on his laurels.  He was signed to Epic Records between 1982 and 1986 but his heart was more in his telethon work and extensive touring of American military bases worldwide.  A 1987 reunion with Gamble and Huff brought about Lou’s last chart entry in the single I Wish You Belonged to Me.  He wound up the 80s with sessions at the legendary Jazz label Blue Note including the Grammy nominated At Last album in 1989.
Midway through the 90s, Lou was getting more acting roles in movies (Leaving Las Vegas) and on TV as well as voice over work in cartoons (Hey Arnold and Rugrats) which he got into when he sang on the Garfield specials.  Most of his 90s releases were focused on holiday music, but his own label released the Jazzy album Season’s 4 You in 1998.  He finally got around to his first solo Gospel album in 2001, I’m Blessed, followed the next year by Oh Happy Day.  He also put out a 2003 tribute album, Rawls Sings Sinatra on Savoy Jazz.  Lou Rawls passed away January 6th 2006 after a two year battle with cancer.
When You Hear Lou, You've Heard It All
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Taj Mahal,


Taj Mahal in 2007
Our next artist differs from most of those I choose because, one: he is contemporary and I believe still performing, and two: Blues is just one of the musics he has advanced during his half century of performing.  Another one of my all time favorite artists, he uses the stage name Taj Mahal but was born Henry St. Clair Fredericks on May 17th 1942 in Harlem, New York, then grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and did not endure many of the hardships generally associated with the early lives of most Bluesmen.  Hopefully, this is a sign of improved racial conditions in the latter half of the 20th century and not just a singular situation.  Like I said, hopefully.  A multi-instrumentalist as well as vocalist, most frequently he can be heard playing guitar, piano, banjo or harmonica.
Taj was born into a musical family.  His mother was a schoolteacher who sang Gospel in her church’s choir and his father was a Jazz arranger and piano man from the West Indies, working with Ella Fitzgerald (who called him The Genius) as one example.  The Fredericks house was often the meeting place of musicians from the Caribbean and Africa as well as the US, so the young Henry was exposed to multiple genres of music as the family would listen to shortwave radio music broadcasts from all over the world.  His parents got him Classical piano lessons and he also learned the clarinet, trombone and harmonica.  His father ran his own construction company but, when Taj was eleven, was killed when a tractor overturned and crushed him.  Within a couple of years, Taj’s mother wed a man who allowed the teenager to play his guitar.  His first lessons came from Lynwood Perry, a kid his own age who had moved from North Carolina.  Perry’s uncle was the well known Bluesman Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, author of the oft-recorded Its All Right including a version by Elvis Presley.
His musical tastes continued their diversity as he enjoyed and studied African music, became interested in the Jazz works by the likes of Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and Milt Jackson, and sang in a Doo Wop group in high school.  When he was sixteen, Taj went to work at a dairy farm outside Springfield and by nineteen he was foreman.  "I milked anywhere between thirty-five and seventy cows a day. I clipped udders. I grew corn. I grew Tennessee redtop clover. Alfalfa"…"You have a whole generation of kids who thinks everything comes out of a box and a can, and they don't know you can grow most of your food."
When Taj graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, majoring in animal husbandry and minoring in veterinary science and agronomy, he fully intended on becoming a farmer and his support of family farming has led him to performing often at Farm Aid events.
Around 1960, as he was starting college, Henry began going by the name Taj Mahal after his growing interest in Mahatma Ghandi, India, and the proper use of social tolerance.  He headed up an R&B band, Taj Mahal and the Elektras, and also joined Jesse Lee Kincaid in a duo.
Kincaid and Taj were in Santa Monica in 1964 where they assembled the band Rising Sons, whose lineup at one point had Ry Cooder, future Byrds member Kevin Kelly and Ed Cassidy, soon to become better known as the drummer and co-founder of the band Spirit.  The band signed with Columbia, but the label only released one single by the multiracial group, and there remained their legacy until, in 1992, Legacy Records released a CD with most if not all of the group’s sessions.  In the band’s short lived heyday, they opened for Otis Redding, Sam the Sham, The Temptations and Martha and the Vandellas at L.A. hotspots like the Whiskey a Go Go and the Trip.
On the West Coast, Taj was also working with Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Louis and Dave Myers, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, and Hammy Nixon.  The last three were artists typical of a large number who first recorded in the 20s, got lost with the great depression (although Estes was able to record up to 1941) and restarted their careers in the Folk Blues Revival of the 50s, of whom Mahal spoke, “I was lucky enough to realize that during that time was the last window that those guys were going to be out.  A young black man interested in their music, this was something that they felt real positive about, because they didn’t see this.  I knew an awful lot of what they were playing, and this was very rare.  I came to them on a level of correct reverence that they were ready to deal.  I would take ‘em to some place where they could get some ribs and some beans and some peas and some rice and some greens and corn bread.  Take ‘em to the barbershops and the places that they wanted to go and hang out; if you were hungry and want some ham hocks and lima beans, a hamburger is just not gonna make it.
“They were very open with me.  What was going on for me, and I was very conscious of it, was that there was a transference of information from one generation to the next that would have actually skipped over me if I hadn’t been aware and culturally inclined … the majority of Afro-Americans at the time had no idea, were not even interested in these musicians, or were embarrassed that they existed.  My mind said that there was something here bigger than that kind of emotional response to years of mistreatment and second class citizenship.  It was a case of people throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  I said I will just be bigger than all of this and not let these personal things throw me off the track of what I’m supposed to be doing.”
After the Sons broke up, Mahal remained with Columbia and put together a new band with Cooder and Jesse Edwin Davis, a Kiowa from Oklahoma and an accomplished studio guitarist.  The ensemble cut three LPs: Taj Mahal in 1968, The Natch’l Blues in 1969 and, later that year the double album Giant Step and De Old Folks at Home.  This is pretty much it for my collection, but Taj recorded a dozen albums for Columbia before departing in 1976.  Towards the end of his time with the label, Taj began incorporating Jazz, Reggae, West Indian and other Caribbean musics into his repertoire.
“People are of the mind that I went to Jamaica, heard Jamaican music, and came back.  No!  Jamaican music was inside my house.  My stepfather’s Jamaican.  I spent a lot of time dancing to this music.  When you’re raised with Marcus Garvey and Jazz and a different kind of political slant in your life that includes Blues and all these other things that are in and around it, you have a different kind of view of the whole diaspora, the African diaspora.  To top that was growing up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood, and within your own ethnic group there are different people from different cultures.  You see the blend and you see the differences.  You see it more as a tossed salad or a mosaic as opposed to a melting pot.”
After a hard earned rest and recuperation trip to Spain, 1970’s Happy Just to be Like I Am represented his first foray into Caribbean rhythms, then the next year’s 2LP live The Real Thing presented more of a New Orleans flavor including, on some tunes, a full tuba section.  In 1968, Mahal appeared in The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus, a film that Jagger and Company were apparently not pleased with so it sat on some dusty shelf until the mid-90s DVD debut.  In 1972 he wrote the Grammy nominated score and acted in the Cicely Tyson movie Sounder and served the same dual purposes in the sequel.  Taj made three albums for Warner Bros. Records including the score for the 1977 movie Brothers, but tastes were changing as Heavy Metal and Disco were dominating the markets.
Taj took the slowdown as an opportunity to move to Kauai, Hawaii in 1981 where he formed the Hula Blues Band complete with Hawaiian influences, initially a bunch of guys getting together for fishing and fun.  Then the group began to gig and tour regularly but they went relatively unnoticed through most of the decade until Gramavision recorded them in 1987 for the album Taj.  1988 saw Shake Sugaree, the first of three children’s books he wrote.
In the 90s he recorded for the Private Music label maintaining his knack for diversity as he played Blues, R&B, Pop and Rock.  He collaborated with both Eric Clapton and Etta James in the decade.  During the 90s, Taj also built strong ties with the Music Maker Relief Foundation, remaining on the nonprofit’s advisory board thru at least 2019 and probably currently.  Taj earned another Grammy nomination in 1991 for the score for the play Mule Bone.  Taj’s musical diversity continued, as exemplified by the 1993 album title World Music, then Mumtaz Mahal from 1995 teamed Taj with classical Indian musicians, while traditional Hawaiian music was the focus on the 1998 Sacred Island album with the Hula Blues Band
1997 brought him his first Grammy for Senor Blues as the Best Contemporary Blues Album.  In 1998 he joined musicians including Cindi Lauper, Joan Osborne, the Chieftains, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm on Largo, an Americana album based on the works of Antonin Dvorak.  His second Grammy was for Shoutin’ in Key in 2000 and, like his previous winner, it was recorded with the Phantom Band.
Taj found his time spent on the 1999 album Kulanjan, where he played along with Mali’s Griot singer Toumani Diabate, to be a profound experience, stating it “embodies his musical and cultural spirit arriving full circle”, indeed causing him to change his name to Dadi Kouyate.  “After recording with these Africans, basically if I don't play guitar for the rest of my life, that's fine with me....With Kulanjan, I think that Afro-Americans have the opportunity to not only see the instruments and the musicians, but they also see more about their culture and recognize the faces, the walks, the hands, the voices, and the sounds that are not the blues. Afro-American audiences had their eyes really opened for the first time. This was exciting for them to make this connection and pay a little more attention to this music than before.”  He also had contributions to Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti’s 2002 Red Hot and Riot, a compilation whose entire proceeds went to help fund AIDS charities.
Despite his other roots releases, Taj still has strong feelings towards his Blues.  "You can listen to my music from front to back, and you don't ever hear me moaning and crying about how bad you done treated me. I think that style of Blues and that type of tone was something that happened as a result of many white people feeling very, very guilty about what went down."  And, “The Blues is a tone that puts me in contact with a lot of things, culturally, spiritually, cosmically.  I really enjoy it and I’m not going to let it go, because it’s that good.
In February of 2006, Taj became the official Blues Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and in March, along with his sister Carole Fredericks, took home the Foreign Language Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages for their work towards intercultural communication.  A compilation, The Essential Taj Mahal, was deemed by the Blues Music Awards to be the Historical Album of the Year and, as if all that wasn’t enough, 2006 also saw Taj contributing to Olmecha Supreme’s hedfoneresonance album.  The group’s leader was his son, Ahmen Mahal (AKA Imon Starr) and included Deva Mahal, possibly Ahmen’s wife or sister.
In 2008, Taj’s Maestro was boosted by an all star cast of cameos including Diabate, Angelique Kidjo, Ziggy Marley, Los Lobos, Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, becoming a nominee for Best Contemporary Blues Album; in all he has ten Grammy nominations throughout his career.
In May 2011, Mahal was the recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  He appeared in the 2013 documentary, The Byrd Who Flew Alone, about his longtime friend Gene Clark of the Los Angeles Rock band, The Byrds.
In 2014, the Americana Music Association honored him with their Lifetime Achievement award, and he put together an album with the Blind Boys of Alabama, Talkin’ Christmas, in time to close out the year.
In May of 2017, the partnership album with Keb Mo, TajMo, was released and among the guests were Bonnie Raitt, Joe Walsh and Shiela E.  Six of the albums eleven songs were originals and it earned Mahal his third Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues album..
A month later, Taj could be seen in the documentary The American Epic Sessions, an award winning film about the early recordings of the 1920s.  Mahal plays Charley Patton’s High Water Everywhere into the first electrical sound recording system and appeared in much of the accompanying documentary American Epic series, providing his insights into the rural artists, many of whom became inspirations decades later in the Folk Blues revival of the 50s and on Taj himself.
Taj can justifiably be considered a strong student of music in general, indeed a scholar of the Blues in particular.  I saw an episode of the PBS TV show History Detectives where Taj was asked to explain the history of the banjo from its beginnings in Africa, through its preferred status among the stringed Blues instruments until the guitar was able to increase its volume through the use of wire strings, to how it is today considered almost solely a tool for the country and folk musicians.  However inaccurate my memory might be here, it is sufficient to say that the man’s knowledge and presentation were uniquely impressive. 
Taj appreciates the freedom his producers have given him to explore his trade.  “There is a lot of music that people do not get to hear, and it’s unfortunate.  It’s because of marketing and the fact that somebody (at the record company) says you won’t like this.  But the people who come hear me get to hear everything I know about.”  To reduce that happening in the future, Mahal has started his own recording company, Kandu Records.  “I’ll be working with some young contemporary people to get their work out there.  I might like to produce some people in the not-so-distant future.”
If Taj had his choice, it would be for more of his concerts to be outdoor performances.  "The music was designed for people to move, and it's a bit difficult after a while to have people sitting like they're watching television. That's why I like to play outdoor festivals - because people will just dance. Theatre audiences need to ask themselves: 'What the hell is going on? We're asking these musicians to come and perform and then we sit there and draw all the energy out of the air.' That's why after a while I need a rest. It's too much of a drain. Often I don't allow that. I just play to the goddess of music-and I know she's dancing."  The only time I got to see him on stage was at one of the San Francisco Blues Festivals and I seem to remember him playing almost exclusively the piano.
“In the end, ultimately the music plays you, you don’t play the music.”
It seems as though I mentioned all of Taj Mahal’s accomplishments but, no, Wikipedia lists a whole lot more so I will include it as the conclusion to this essay, beginning with the albums.  Today we used the Rising Sons CD, then 1966’s debut Taj Mahal, and we close with the 1996 Phantom Blues, not only the name of the album but also the band who backed Taj on his two Grammy winning albums over the next five years.
·       1968 – Taj Mahal
·       1968 – The Natch'l Blues
·       1969 – Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home
·       1971 – Happy Just to Be Like I Am
·       1972 – Sounder (original soundtrack)
·       1973 – Oooh So Good 'n Blues
·       1974 – Mo' Roots
·       1975 – Music Keeps Me Together
·       1976 – Satisfied 'n Tickled Too
·       1976 – Music Fuh Ya'
·       1977 – Brothers
·       1977 – Evolution
·       1987 – Taj
·       1988 – Shake Sugaree
·       1991 – Mule Bone
·       1991 – Like Never Before
·       1993 – Dancing the Blues
·       1995 – Mumtaz Mahal (with V.M. Bhatt and N. Ravikiran)
·       1996 – Phantom Blues
·       1997 – Señor Blues
·       1998 – Sacred Island AKA Hula Blues (with The Hula Blues Band)
·       1999 – Blue Light Boogie
·       1999 – Kulanjan (with Toumani Diabaté)
·       2001 – Hanapepe Dream (with The Hula Blues Band)
·       2008 – Maestro
·       2014 – Talkin' Christmas (with Blind Boys of Alabama)
·       2016 – Labor of Love
·       2017 – TajMo (with Keb' Mo')
   Live albums
·       1971 – The Real Thing
·       1972 – Big Sur Festival - One Hand Clapping
·       1979 – Live & Direct
·       1990 – Live at Ronnie Scott's
·       1996 – An Evening of Acoustic Music
·       2000 – Shoutin' in Key
·       2004 – Live Catch
Live DVDs
·       2002 – Live at Ronnie Scott's 1988
·       2006 – Taj Mahal/Phantom Blues Band Live at St. Lucia
·       2011 – Play The Blues Live From Lincoln Jazz Center – with Wynton Marsalis and Eric Clapton, playing on "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" and "Corrine, Corrina"
Movies
·       1972 – Sounder – as Ike
·       1977 – Brothers
·       1991 – Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
·       1996 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
·       1998 – Outside Ozona
·       1998 – Six Days, Seven Nights
·       1998 – Blues Brothers 2000
·       1998 – Scrapple
·       2000 – Songcatcher
·       2002 – Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
·       2017 – American Epic
·       2017 – The American Epic Sessions
TV Shows
·       1977 - Saturday Night Live: Episode 048 Performer: Musical Guest
·       1985 - Theme song from Star Wars: Ewoks
·       1992 – New WKRP in Cincinnati – Moss Dies as himself
·       1999 – Party of Five – Fillmore Street as himself
·       2003 – Arthur – Big Horns George as himself
·       2004 – Theme song from Peep and the Big Wide World
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I have never been a fan of many of the psychedelic era San Francisco bands.  I did like the Grateful Dead’s Bluesy debut album but Jerry Garcia said he wished they’d never made it and their Blues content dropped off sharply after the death of Pigpen.  Janice Joplin was good with Big Brother but then went in a Pop direction.  Country Joe and the Fish, while enjoyable, were more of a novelty act to me.  I did like the Folk-Rock (pre-psychedelia) of the Jefferson Airplane until I became almost totally immersed in the Blues, so it’s always possible I missed out on some other quality music.  Today we listen to an Airplane offshoot, Hot Tuna, formed initially as an acoustic duo of guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bass player Jack Casady around 1969 while both were still key parts of the Airplane.  Jorma and Jack’s lives were intertwined as far back as their school time friendship in Washington, D.C., playing together in a group called the Triumphs, and when Kaukonen became a founding member of the Airplane in 1965, Casady was not long in following.
The Kaukonen / Casady combo actually got a chance to perform while the Airplane’s female lead singer, Grace Slick, was sidelined after a throat surgery. They were augmented by fellow Airplane members Paul Kantner on rhythm guitar and drummer Joey Covington, and male lead singer Marty Balin also participated.  The ensemble played around the San Francisco area until Jefferson Airplane was fit to support their Volunteers album in concert, released in October 1969.  Their playlists were based on some of the Airplane material mixed with Kaukonen’s penchant for Folk, Blues and Rags.  Once Slick returned to the stage, what would become Hot Tuna opened before the full Airplane lineup took over the show.  In September 1970 they had a gig at Pepperland in San Rafael and drew a good critical response, making playing without the Airplane a viable option. 
The pair made their recorded debut with 1970’s Hot Tuna, an acoustic live set of material gleaned from a week-long stay at Berkeley’s New Orleans House, and had the addition of Will Scarlett on harmonica.  These concerts were the first time they used the name Hot Tuna and initially the proposed album name was to be Hot Sh*t, but for some odd reason their label, RCA, convinced them otherwise.  The album contains some very good material, particularly the expanded version of the album, which contains the original versions of five of the eight songs we’ll be hearing today, but the album seems kind of toned down after having listened to the later electric versions.  Scarlett’s harmonica is subdued in comparison to the violin of Papa John Creach and certainly the live and loud mode suits my palate better.  Still, in addition to the aforementioned five, there are four more tunes well worthy of a future look deeper into their music, in particular Kaukonen’s solo instrumental Mann’s Fate.  The roots of what the band was all about are definitely here.
First Pull Up, Then Pull Down
After the first album came out, Kantner was gone and Jorma’s brother Peter played rhythm guitar, only to be replaced himself by Paul Ziegler.  When Marty, Jack and Jorma disagreed about finances; Balin left both Tuna and the Airplane at the same time.  In the meantime, Papa John joined both groups in October as the bands concluded their joint tour in November, the last show being at New York’s Fillmore East.
The band went electric for their 1971 follow-up LP, First Pull Up, Then Pull Down, adding another member from the Airplane’s cast, violinist Creach, and the quintet was rounded out by drummer Sammy Piazza.  This was one piece of their vinyl I had in my collection and it was responsible for developing my idea of whom Hot Tuna was.  Similar to their first album, five of this LP’s seven songs are found in today’s sets.  The album was recorded at the Chateau Liberte, a favorite venue for the band, nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains outside of Los Gatos and much closer to Summit Road.  I only went there once or twice; it was a great environment for music but I could do without the heavy biker element.  It might have been Tuna and / or the Doobie Brothers that I saw; my memory is a little vague, likely due to the era.
After the Airplane’s Volunteers tour, their appearances slowed remarkably for about a year and a half, but Kaukonen and Casady were doing well enough on their own.  They also took part on four songs from Creach’s two solo albums.
Reduced to a quartet with the absence of Scarlett, 1972’s Burgers’ lineup was enhanced by Nikki Buck’s piano and organ on a couple of tunes, the guitar and vocal of Richmond Talbott on one, and even the Byrds’ David Crosby vocalizing on a song.  The band’s name came from when the boys played  Keep on Truckin’ before it appeared on this album that, in response to the lyric “What’s that smell like fish, oh baby”, a witty audience member shouted back “Hot Tuna!”
Papa John had left Tuna before the recording of The Phosphorescent Rat, electing to stay with the Airplane as Jack and Jorma officially dropped out, so his time in the band was more limited than I realized, and a change in style was required.  Before the album’s supporting tour, Piazza was let go as Kaukonen wished to return to a semi-acoustic mode.  Next up was Kaukonen’s solo album Quah.  In July 1974, the band went full on electric Heavy Rock, including an October appearance on the TV show The Midnight Special.
Hot Tuna was again a trio for their 1975 release, America’s Choice, but with Bob Steeler behind the drums, where he was on Tuna’s other 1975 album, Yellow Fever.  Hoppkory would come out in 1976 with the same three participants.  It would be fair to describe them as a power trio for this part of their career as concerts featured free-flow jams and long sets, even up to six hour uninterrupted sets.  In 1977, Jorma began to play a solo set before the main performance and their last concert was November 26th at the Paladium.
As Jack and Jorma were finding their differences worsening, an upcoming 1978 tour was cancelled with Jorma covering the dates as a solo act.  Their label put out Double Dose in 1978, a 2LP set of recordings from their tour the year before and the 1979 release, Final Vinyl, appears to be essentially a bunch of studio leftovers.
Kaukonen came out with another solo release, Jorma, before joining the New Wave band, Vital Parts.  Casady’s career also moved into New Wave territory as he fronted the group SVT, but both would revert to their familiar ways in 1984 with Jack rejoining Airplane members Kantner and Balin in the KBC Band while Jorma went back to his acoustic Folk and Blues roots.
But the two seemed destined to play together and the Hot Tuna name was used again on occasional dates leading up to returning full time in 1986. A 1983 reunion tour, with rhythm guitarist Michael Falzarano and drummer Shigemi Komiyama forming the quartet, featured old material mixed with new, but the Hard Rock style had fans reportedly leaving the venues.
After the band reformed in 1986, Kantner returned to the fold for 1987 and 1988, bringing with him some classic Airplane tunes to add to the mix.  Grace Slick even joined them on stage at the Fillmore one night in March 1988.  Kaukonen and Casady joined in the Jefferson Airplane reunion album and tour in 1989 including a Hot Tuna set between Airplane sets on each show.
Not long after the Airplane tour, 1990’s Pair a Dice Found became the first set of new material since 1976’s Hoppkory. Things to follow were mostly live releases as the group varied between acoustic and electric shows.  1992’s two Live at Sweetwater albums were mostly acoustic, featuring guests Bob Weir, Maria Muldaur and former Airplane keyboardist Pete Sears; Sears would join full time later in the decade; he and Falzarano, a multi-instrumentalist, would stay into the new century.
Aside from the CD Keep on Trucking, which RCA released in 2006 as a retrospective best of their years with the label, not much worthy of note happened in the century’s first decade.  As the band continued with its habit of a fluid lineup, Steady as She Goes was recorded at Levon Helm’s Woodstock studio and came out in April 2011, their first studio album in two decades.  Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite was prominent in Tuna’s 2011 tours as he was joined at different times by guitarists Jim Lauderdale, David Bromberg, G.E. Smith, Steve Kimock and Larry Campbell and vocalist Teresa Williams.  Both Williams, who had appeared on the Steady album, and Campbell, who had produced it, were still touring with the group as of the date Wikipedia’s article was entered.  
I picked up a CD box set including five of their first seven albums, but today’s airing is from a disc I might have ripped from a San Jose library, Classic Hot Tuna; Electric; there is also an acoustic version.
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For Your Information
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KSCU Local Music
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA
95053
KSCU radio’s studio is located in the basement of Benson Hall
KSCU’s Sunday morning Blues rotation has the Jakester, Mister G, Dave the Blues Dude and the Bluesevangelist between 9AM and 1PM.  Sherri Jones does her Blues show between 10:30AM and 12:30PM on Saturdays.  And, of course, me!
The best way to reach me is by email at coyledon@yahoo.com (my computer’s autocorrect adds a letter t, so if that shows up here please remove it before trying to contact me; apparently, cotyledon is some kind of botanical term).  I do send out my blog via email so, if you would like to be added to that list, just give me your address and I’d be happy to do so, otherwise all my writings going back to 2014 are still available at key2highway.blogspot.  I do recommend the direct email to let you know when I will be on, especially now that I will occasionally waiver from the second and fourth week of each month format.  Thank you all for your continued support.  Feel free to call me during the show; it gets lonely in the dungeon.
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Southside Blues / Tobacco Road
St. James Infirmary
Goin’ to Chicago Blues
The Girl from Ipanema
Street Corner Hustler’s Blues / World of Trouble
I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water
   Lou Rawls   29mins
Live
Statesboro Blues
Candy Man
.44 Blues
11th Street Overcrossing
Walking Down the Line
Take a Giant Step
2:10 Train    
Last Fair Deal Gone Down
Baby What You Want Me to Do
I Got a Little
   The Rising Sons   29mins
Taj Mahal performing in 1971
Bill Graham intro, Never Happen No More
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning 
I Know You Rider
Uncle Sam’s Blues
   Hot Tuna   27mins   
Hot Tuna 1972. Casady and Kaukonen in front, Creach and Piazza in back.
In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down
(They Call It) Stormy Monday
See See Rider
I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town
‘Tain’t Nobody’s Business
Sweet Lover
God Bless the Child
A Little Les of Lou’s Blues
Blues is a Woman
   Lou Rawls with Les McCann, Ltd.   30mins
Stormy Monday
Leaving Trunk
Checking Up On My Baby
Everybody’s Got to Change Sometime
The Celebrated Walkin’ Blues
EZ Rider
Dust My Broom
Diving Duck Blues
   Taj Mahal   30mins
        Taj Mahal in 2005
John’s Other
Candy Man
Rock Me Baby
Come Back Baby
   Hot Tuna   29mins
Dead End Street
Trouble Down Here Below
A Natural Man
You Can Bring Me All Your Heartaches
On Broadway
Righteous Woman / I Wanna Little Girl
Breaking My Back (Instead of Using My Mind)
Bring It on Home
Show Business
You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
   Lou Rawls   33mins
The Hustle is On
I Need Your Loving
First Pull Up, Then Pull DownLovin’ in my Baby’s Eyes
Oo Poo Pah Doo
Lonely Avenue
Don’t Tell Me
What Am I Living For
We’re Gonna Make It
Let the Four Winds Blow
   Taj Mahal   30mins
Taj Mahal in June 2007